The Ocean Cat's Paw: The Story of a Strange Cruise

by George Manville Fenn

  CHAPTER FIFTY ONE.

  THAT'S SAINT HELENA.

  Night, and no sign of the brig. Morning, and the doctor and his nephewboth on deck, with a sail in sight upon the distant horizon, while justbeyond it, looming up, was what seemed to be a dark cloud.

  "There she is!" cried the doctor, glass in hand. "We will soon know thetruth now, Rodd."

  "That, sir?" said a voice close behind them. "That's Saint Helena."

  The doctor started round as though he had been stung, to stare fiercelyin the frank face of Joe Cross, who looked rather thin andhollow-cheeked, but had declared himself well enough to take the morningwatch.

  "It is, sir," said the man, who took the doctor's angry stare for a lookof doubt. "That's right enough, though it don't look like an island.It's the big rock where they've got Bony shut up."

  "Bah!" snapped the doctor, and he turned on his heel and walked away.

  "Turned out of his bunk wrong side up'ards, sir?" asked the man, with asmile.

  "Pah!" ejaculated Rodd, and he stamped off in the other direction.

  "Old 'un's been giving it to him, I suppose," said Joe to himself. "Oh,I know; he'd been upsetting that bottle of fish soup as the skipperfetched me down to swab up last night--that as went all over theskipper's chart. Pore young chap! I'll go and smooth him down."

  "What do you want?" cried Rodd angrily.

  "Oh, nothing, sir. I only wanted to say I'm sorry I put your uncle outabout the island. I'm a bit deaf in one ear since I got hurt over thatfight, and I mis-underconstumbled him. He said, `There she is,' and Ithought he was talking about Bony's island, and he meant the brig."

  "Well, suppose he did? There she is."

  "Nay, sir; you take another look. That's a three-master, sir. Don'tyou see?"

  "Oh yes, I see now, Joe," said Rodd, who was rather ashamed of hispetulance to the man. "She was end on to us, and I didn't see themizzen. Why, she's in full sail!"

  "Yes, sir, a regular crowd of canvas, topgallants and stunsles all up,and if I haven't forgotten all about a man-of-war, that's what she is,as we used to say, by the cut of her jib, which is a very sensibleremark, sir, as from here her jib's quite out of sight."

  The doctor kept on deck till breakfast-time, sweeping the horizon withhis glass, while the skipper walked up and down with his longmahogany-covered glass tucked under his left arm, and his hands verydeep down in his pockets, while his shoulders were hitched up to hisears.

  Then breakfast, with everything hot except the conduct of the occupantsof the cabin. This was almost icy, and hardly a word was spoken.

  Up on deck again, with the schooner careening over to the pleasantbreeze, but no sign of the brig; but the three-masted vessel wasoverhauling them fast, and before long a gun said, Heave to, in the veryemphatic monosyllable so well understood in the Royal Navy.

  The skipper gave a glance at Uncle Paul with one eye, and that morningit seemed if as he had been suddenly afflicted with a cast, for theother eye turned outward and looked at Rodd.

  Then he gave the order to the man at the wheel, who with a few turns ofthe spokes ran the swift little vessel well up into the wind, her sailsbegan to flap, and she quietly settled down into a gentle rock upon thebeautifully rippled heaving sea. Then time went on, with the man-of-warbearing down upon them rapidly, while the doctor stood scowling angrilyat the rock which had so much to do with the fate of nations standingout more clearly in the sunlit air.

  In due time a boat full of men was swung down from the davits of thecruiser, the oars dipped, and she came skimming along with a steadypull, and every stroke pulled clean and with hardly a splash, till shecame alongside, when, to the delight of Rodd, there in the stern-sheetswere the same officer and middy who had overhauled them off the Africancoast.

  Rodd was all eagerness, and advanced ready to grasp hands with thereefer, but to his great surprise everything was coldly stern andformal. Two marines followed the officers on board, and the skipper,doctor, and Rodd were ordered down into the boat as prisoners, while aprize crew under the command of the middy, who looked more importantthan he did upon his first visit to the schooner, and stared at Rodd asif he had never seen him before, was left on board.

  Uncle Paul spoke to the lieutenant, but his words were received almostin silence, while no explanation being forthcoming, he sat still andfrowned.

  The sloop of war, their old friend, was soon reached, and the prisonerswere marched up to the quarter-deck where the captain stood waiting forthem, scanning them sternly before beginning to question the skipper asto the name of the schooner and their object in those waters.

  Questions were answered and explanations given in Captain Chubb's mostblunt and straightforward way, before the captain turned his searchingeyes upon Uncle Paul.

  "Then you are Dr Robson, sir?" he said.

  "Yes. May I ask--"

  "You are here carrying out a scientific research?"

  "Yes."

  "In company with your consort, Count Des Saix, of the French brig_Dagobert_?"

  "That's quite right, sir; but may I ask--"

  "Why you are my prisoners? Certainly. But I will shorten matters bytelling you that your scientific research was a plot to carry off theprisoner of the British Government, the ex-emperor Napoleon Bonaparte."

  "No, sir, I'll be hanged if it was!" cried the doctor.

  "Which plot has completely failed," added the captain. "As I have said,sir, you are my prisoner."

  "And what about Captain Chubb, here, and my nephew?"

  "They are prisoners too, of course."

  "But my schooner--my pleasure yacht?" said the doctor.

  The captain slightly shrugged his shoulders, as he smiled--

  "That will be well taken care of, sir, you may depend."

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

  "Ah, Rodd, my boy," said the doctor, shortly afterwards, "you aregetting plenty of adventures; but you needn't be uncomfortable. Thiswill all be cleared up. Well, Chubb, I am afraid you were right; at anyrate the King's officer seems to be quite of your opinion."

  "Yes, sir, but wait a bit," said the captain. "I suppose they'll get usclose in, and I shouldn't be at all surprised if we find, when we get tothe other side of the island, that they've got the brig snug in shelterthere."

  "What, captured too?" cried Rodd excitedly.

  "Yes, sir. This sloop of war is kept here to cruise about the islandand keep strangers off. That's what she's for."

  CHAPTER FIFTY TWO.

  I HAVE SINNED--FORGIVE.

  That same afternoon the sloop of war was lying close inshore, with thebrig and schooner near at hand, when a barge put off from thelanding-place bearing the Governor and other officials, who werereceived at the gangway of the sloop with the customary salute, andshortly afterwards a little informal court was held, with the prisonerspresent, while the First Lieutenant of the sloop gave evidence to theeffect that just after dark he had observed, from the anchorage wherethe sloop lay, a light, evidently intended for a signal, exhibited in apeculiar way from the masthead of some vessel.

  He had noticed the brig now lying at anchor some distance in the offingearly in the evening, but an adverse wind had prevented the sloop fromgoing out. This light appeared at intervals during the next two hours,and on reporting the matter to the captain it was consideredsufficiently suspicious for the brig from which it evidently came to beoverhauled. This was done during the night; the prisoners brought in;and they were here to give an account of themselves.

  Upon being asked if there was any difficulty in overhauling and seizingthe brig, which appeared to be well manned and armed, the lieutenantsmiled and said no, for the simple ruse of answering the brig's signalby the exhibition of lights in a similar way brought her close inshore,and then in the darkness the rest was easy, for it fell perfectly calm,and the sudden advance in the darkness of three well-armed boats maderesistance vain.

  "They offered no resis
tance, then?" asked the Governor.

  "Oh yes," was the reply; "a very brave resistance; but they wereoverpowered by numbers and brought in."

  As this evidence was given the Count and his son stood together, theformer looking calm and dignified, the latter defiant, and when askedwhat defence he had to make for his clandestine approach to a placewhere it must have been well-known to him landing could be only allowedby the special permission of the Governor, and told that it wasperfectly evident his coming could have but one intent, to aid in theescape of the prisoner who had been so long in the island--the Countspoke out at once bravely and earnestly in the defence of those who werethere standing as fellow-prisoners.

  He wished, he said, to exonerate the English doctor and the captain ofthe schooner from all participation in his attempt. They had met on thehigh seas quite by accident, and finding how carefully the prison of hisaugust master was watched, he had led the doctor into the belief that hetoo was engaged upon a scientific expedition.

  Just then the eyes of the two lads met, and as Rodd darted an angryindignant look at Morny, the latter made a deprecating gesture, while heseemed to say, Be merciful; you do not know all.

  The Count went on, taking the whole blame of the proceedings uponhimself, and asking for mercy for his son, who had acted entirely underhis orders and had been perfectly obedient, as a son should be. As hespoke these words he looked hard at Rodd, and then at his uncle, whostood frowning there.

  "I failed in my enterprise," continued the Count, "for I was growingdesperate at the difficulties which surrounded me. Certain signalsshould have answered mine, and the lights which were shown from thedirection of the shore were not exactly those which I anticipated. But,as I have said, I was growing desperate at my want of success, and inthe hope that after all these signals might mean that my august masterwould be brought off in a fishing-boat, I risked all and allowed myselfto be deluded, as it were, into what proved to be a trap. I have nomore to say, gentlemen, save this, that I ask no mercy for myself.Whatever the English laws award to one who has acted as I have done, Iaccept. But my son, as I have said, was entirely under my orders, andas for my crew, they have only been my faithful servants, and tried tocarry out my will. England must be too brave to wish to punish such asthese. As to the doctor, his nephew, and the crew of the schooner, itwould be absurd for England after my explanation to say more to themthan `Go in peace.'"

  There was perfect silence for a minute or so, and then the Governor, oneof his staff, an officer of foot who was the commander of the militaryforce stationed in the island, and the captain of the sloop, held ashort consultation together, after which the officers drew back intotheir places and left the Governor to speak.

  "Dr Robson," he said, "Captain Ellison, in command of the sloop of war,has told me of his previous meeting with you at the mouth of one of theWest African rivers, and the way in which your vessel was fitted out,and of the state of your papers. Everything, in fact, goes to prove theperfect truth of your story and the fact of your ignorance of the planfor the escape of the prisoner. I can offer you no apology for yourbeing made prisoner and brought here, for I think that due considerationwill prove to you that you were somewhat imprudent in your action andchoice of friend. You and yours, sir, are perfectly at liberty to leavethe island at once. As for you, Count Des Saix," he continued, "as theGovernor of this island I have certain duties to perform, and after suchan important and daring attempt as yours, I must tell you that in spiteof peculiar circumstances which I will refer to shortly, this mattercannot end here. It is an affair of diplomacy in which others areconcerned as well as England. For the present you and your people mustconsider yourselves prisoners pending the arrival of the dispatches thatI must send to the British Government. Yours, sir, was a daring andextremely hazardous plot, designed in extravagance and I may say inignorance of the impossibility of its execution. The prisoner was tooclosely guarded and watched, and, as you have seen, it was quiteimpossible for your vessel to approach this island without being seized.I gather that you have been a naval officer in the service of the lateGovernment of France, and I presume that it was from a feeling ofdevotion to the Emperor Napoleon--I should say, our prisoner here--thatyou and your friends devoted yourselves to this task, which has provedso signal a failure. Sir, I can only admire your act and the devotionof the followers of the late Emperor."

  "Sir, to us," cried the Count, "your way of speaking of our augustmaster is little better than an insult. With us there is no lateEmperor; he is still the ruler of the French Empire, our august masterwhile he lives."

  "Sir," said the Governor, slowly and gravely, "mine is the painful dutyto announce to you that my words were well chosen and correct, that yourdesigns were as hopeless as they were vain; the late Emperor Napoleondied two nights since."

  The Count gave a violent start, gazing wildly in the Governor's eyes, asif asking whether his words were true. Then turning to his son he tookoff his cap and stood in silence with his head bowed down, before sayingin a low broken voice that reached no farther than the ears of UnclePaul and Rodd--

  "Morny, my son, we were faithful to the end, even though we failed. Ouraugust master is free at last. But our country lives, and in the futurethere is always for us _la France_."

  There were several meetings between Uncle Paul, Rodd, and theprisoners--if prisoners they could be deemed, for their captivity was ofthe easiest kind--before the schooner set sail for England and home, andduring one of these, when all seemed once more the best of friends, thedoctor was heard to say--

  "Yes, of course, I forgive him now, and you know, Des Saix, since thatsort of a trial we had I have never said one word of reproach. I wasnot going to trample on a fallen man. But, you know, all that business,to use a coarse old English expression, sticks in my gizzard. It wasnot honourable, nor gentlemanly; I won't add noble. I don't think youought to have done it to one who trusted you and helped you as I did.Now, look here; do you think it was a good example to set your son?"

  "My friend," said the Count humbly--"May I still call you my friend?"

  "As long as you live, sir!" cried the doctor warmly.

  "Then I say to you, No; it was dishonourable, treacherous, and vile.But my sword was devoted to the service of my dead master, my life washis, and I was ready to give all to save him from his unhappy fate. CanI say more than this: I have sinned. Forgive."

  As matters turned out it was many, many months, owing to an accident tothe schooner and the delays in re-fitting at Las Palmas, and long staysmade in the Mediterranean--the entrance to which could not be passedwithout a cruise within--before the _Maid of Salcombe_ approached theEnglish coast, and, oddly enough, once more Captain Chubb was driven totake refuge for a few hours at Havre-de-Grace, where one of the firstthings to be noticed was the familiar brig.

  Inquiries followed at last, and Rodd and his uncle learned that thevessel had been lying there for some time while her captain, the Count,and his son were at Paris.

  No: the officer in charge of the brig could give no information abouttheir residence in Paris, but he had heard that they were not going tosail in the brig again, as they were about being appointed to a largeship in the King's Navy.

  "Humph, Rodd!" said the doctor. "This sounds like good news."

  "Yes, uncle, but we must try and see them again."

  "Would you like to?"

  "Of course!" cried Rodd warmly. "For a good long talk about old days."

  "Perhaps," said the doctor, "they may hear of our return, and may try tosee us."

  "And if they do, uncle?"

  "Well," said the doctor, smiling, "they know our address."

  THE END.

 

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