by M. P. Shiel
XXXIX
THE "BOODAH'S" LOCK-UP
Three days after the Manifesto the marriage of Miss Stickney of NewYork with Lord Alfred Cowern was to take place, this having been putoff owing to the _Kaiser_ tragedy; and so, on the day of the Manifesto,Baruch Frankl, the Jew, was crossing to a wedding which, even inthe midst of great events, had stirred up a considerable rumour andsensation, since the American guests were to consist of the _coterie_known as the "Thirty-four", all millionaires, while "the cake" was toweigh three-quarters of a ton, each guest's grub to cost $500, and forthat breakfast the Neva had been ravished for fish and Siamese crags fornests.
Frankl, however, was never destined to taste those five hundred dollarmouthfuls. It happened in this way: as the _Boodah's_ searchlights,destroyed in the battle, were not yet repaired, in the intervalsome lawless ships took the chance on dark nights to skulk past withextinguished lights; now, the captain of Frankl's chartered steamerhad that bright idea (being of adventurous turn), when night fell fortyknots east of the _Boodah_, so he came to Frankl, and broached thescheme.
"Not for Joe", was Frankl's answer: "pay the Pirate his taxes and bedone".
"It could be worked as sweet as a nut, sir!" persisted the skipper, witha watering mind.
"Well, so long us _you_ take the risk, perhaps--but no, sir, I'd rathernot".
On which the skipper winked self-willed to himself, and, putting outnine miles from the _Boodah_ his three lights, went dashing past.
And the attempt would have succeeded, had it not been for the fact thatthe night was pitch-dark, and that _another_ ship was trying that veryventure with extinguished lights. And these two ships met, bow to bow,with such an energy of adventurous smartness, that both sharply sank.
The sea, however, being smooth, all hands were saved; and now, since theboats lay forlorn on the vast, with nothing but the _Boodah's_ swarmof moons to move to, for the _Boodah_ they started, while Frankl casttwinkling fingers to the sky, and cursed that night, as the oars withslow wash journeyed through turgid murk toward the very den of thedevil.
When they reached the _Boodah_ they were conducted down to apolice-court, and there shivered an hour in a dreary light, till threeofficials in peaked caps and frock-coats came, sat on a Bench, and,after hearing evidence, pronounced sentence of seven months against thecaptains, and one against Frankl.
These were led away by police blue-jackets, and Frankl groaned throughthe night in a box as cold as the cells of Colmoor.
The next morning Quilter-Beckett, making a report in Hogarth's _salon_,mentioned the incident, saying: "Here are the names, with the sentences;I shall send the sailors home..." and Hogarth's eyes, resting on thedocument, chanced to catch that name of Frankl.
At once he turned pale, for his first thought was: "Frankl must havebeen going to the wedding, in which case _Someone Else_ may be withhim".
But her name was not there....
He rose and paced; and he said low: "No one else on either of theships?"
"No, my Lord King".
Then up lifted Hogarth's brow, alight with fun, and he muttered: "Allright, Caps-and-tassels".
He said aloud: "Quilter-Beckett, this Frankl I know. Did you never hearanything about Caps-and-tassels at Westring? _He_ is Caps-and-tassels.Now tell me, which is your biggest blue-jacket?"
"Man called Young, my Lord King".
"Then, have a suit of Young's sea-clothes put upon this Frankl, andlet him be brought before me in the Throne Room this morning after theAudience. He was fond of liveries...."
Accordingly, by half-past eleven Frankl entered the Throne Room, where,as soon as its rosy translucency broke upon his gaze, an "Oh!" ofadmiration groaned from him, in spite of his weight of misery, henot walking, but being lifted forward in successive swings by hisarmpits--up the first steps to the outer circle of balustrade, forwardto the second steps and the inner balustrade, within which shone thethrone, and Hogarth, crowned and large in robes, on it.
The two warders, intent upon portering Frankl, and not noticing the capwhich still covered his eyebrows, one now in sudden scare whispered:"Off with your cap, you...!" on which Frankl snatched it off, graspingthrough superabundant sleeves, he at the same moment a fury and adazzled man, the throne before him incredible, like a dream which oneknows to be a dream, in structure not unlike the Peacock Throne ofAkbar, its length fourteen feet, seating thirteen persons in recesses,standing on a gold platform with three concave steps set with ringsof sapphire, and consisting of a central part and two wings, the wingsbeing supported on twisted legs (one had been broken), and made offretted ivory mosaicked with cabochon emerald, ruby, topaz, turquoise,chrysoberyl, diamond, opal, the large central part, with its recesses,being also of ivory, gold-arabesqued, its mosque-shape canopy (ofHindoo enamel-work on the outside) being supported by eleven pillars ofemerald; at the top of each pillar a dolphin (hence the name "DolphinThrone") made of turquoise, jasper, pearl, sardius, and at the bottom ofeach pillar a _guldusta_, or bouquet, of gems; the concave ceiling onemass of stones, representing a sea in which sailed three Dutch galleons,and seven dolphins sported.
But all that Frankl saw of it was its opulence: for his terror lest thewarders should let him go occupied his mind.
And precisely the thing which he feared came upon him, for Hogarth said:"Warders, retire".
And now Frankl, all unsupported, stood in unstable equilibrium, anonstooping to his finger-tips, then straining doubtfully forward withstruggling arms from a too backward poise: for not only did the trouserslie a twisted emptiness far below his feet, but the feet themselveswere lost in Young's boots, so he stood like Scaramouch, a mere sack,a working of his chin wobbling down his beard, and there was a blaze inhis stare which Hogarth, unfortunately, did not well estimate.
They faced each other, alone, save for the body-guard at thecircumference of the room.
"Was it _you_ that sent me to Colmoor?" Hogarth suddenly asked in a lowvoice, stooping forward.
"_Me_!" shrieked Baruch Frankl, pointing a hanging sleeve-end to hisbreast: "as Jehovah is my witness--"
"Were you about to _swear_? For ever the same?--tyrant and worm? It_was_ you. Now tell it me right out: you have nothing to fear: for youcannot be vain enough to imagine that I would harbour enmity againstyou".
"It wasn't me, I say again, my Lord King!"--Frankl trampled a littlebackward, then stooped over-poised to his finger-tips: "with whatmotive? Oh, that's hard--to be accused. They have already given mea month--my God! a month! And only because I am a Jew. But it wasn'tme--that I'll swear to God--"
Hogarth rose to his height, descended, put his hand upon Frankl'sshoulder. "Well, leave that. But--_my sister_!"
His hand felt the shoulder beneath it start like fits.
"Your sister!" Frankl screamed with a face of scare: "Why, what of hernow?"
"Frankl, you are frightened: you know, Frankl, _where she is_!"
"Me? O, my Good God, what is this! Me, poor sinner, know where yoursister is, my Lord King? Why, spare me! spare me, God of Hosts! Why,you've only got to ask yourself the question--"
"Listen to me, Frankl", said Hogarth, bending his blazing brow low overthe Jew: "I have searched for that woman through the world, and have notfound her. All the time, mind you, I felt convinced that you know whereshe is; and you may wonder why--years ago--I did not have you seized.I will tell you why: it was because I had a sort of instinct that God,whom I serve continually with tears and prayers, would not fail inHis day to show me her face: and to-day you are here. Do you suppose,Frankl, that you will go away without telling me where she is? And inorder to hurry you, listen to what I say to your warders--"
He touched a button in the balustrade, and to the warders said: "If atany time this man should demand pencil and paper, supply them, and taketo your Admiral what he writes. To-day his food shall be fare from yourown table; to-morrow three loaves and water; from the third day one loafand water; till further orders".
Up shot Frankl's shivering arms, while Ho
garth, training his ermines andpurples, paced away.
That was on the day following the Manifesto.
