by Renee Duke
As they fell, Dane saw the seaman lunge at Paige and snatch something from her before being felled by a heavy cork ring. The ring had been thrown by the young man courting his girlfriend. Having apparently been snapped out of his preoccupation by all the commotion, he was now dashing toward the rail to help Paige with Hetty and Pip, who were somehow still clinging to it.
That, and the blurry spectacle of other passengers and crewmen racing onto the scene, was all Dane managed to take in before he struck the water and was compelled to give his attention to his own predicament. Almost as good a swimmer as he was a runner, he did not give way to panic. Having taken a deep breath before plunging beneath the waves, he waited until his descent slowed and, with the sea salt stinging his eyes, tried to locate the surface.
For a moment, he was totally disoriented. Then he found he could vaguely make out a figure moving above him. Assuming it to be his assailant, he struck out away from him as he fought his way upwards.
When he broke through to the surface, he stopped to gulp in some air before taking a look around. Without his glasses, his ability to judge distance was somewhat diminished and the look was not reassuring. The ship seemed much farther away than he would have liked. Granted, it was turning, which meant some kind of procedure for retrieving stray passengers must be in play, but the bone-chilling coldness of the water was sapping his strength. Could he hold out until they got back to him?
Or rather, to them, for the other person to whom that applied was also splashing around not far to his left. And certainly not far enough to his left to suit him. In fact, this person was now moving toward him rather than the ship, which could only mean he was more interested in getting Dane than getting rescued.
Alarmed, Dane turned and tried to swim away. He became even more alarmed as he found himself unable to do so. He felt a sharp tug and then a tingling sensation before being drawn back toward the other swimmer. Fighting against what he took to be an unfortunate passing current, he could make no headway at all. It was almost as though he were being pulled toward his adversary by a magnet.
Doubling his efforts, he glanced back over his shoulder and thought he saw a flash of light from the ship. A flare perhaps. Did they have flares in Victorian times? He couldn’t remember.
The sea around him began to churn wildly and, suddenly, nothing else mattered. The current that had been carrying him along vanished, and it was all he could do to keep his head above water. A wave slammed into him, stunning him. From that point on, he was only dimly aware of what was happening. Another flash, this time all around him. A calmer sea. The return of the current. A hand reaching out to him. People shouting. A splash. More hands. Hands pulling at him, lifting him up.
When Dane fully regained his senses, he was back on the deck of the ship being wrapped in a blanket, the centre of attention for a vast crowd from all classes.
“Word’s got round,” said Hetty, handing him his glasses. “Took the other kids long enough to start yelling, but once they did, people didn’t half come running. Miss Elwood here was at the head of the pack.”
A nod from Miss Elwood confirmed this. “I’d only just come on deck after taking Dr. Matthews down to Mrs. Pender. I couldn’t believe what was happening. What a wicked, wicked man, to try and hurt little children.”
“Where is he now?” Dane asked, looking around anxiously.
“Bottom of Davy Jones’s Locker, I expects,” said Hetty. “He went under as soon as he hit the water. Weren’t nobody saw him come up.”
“Then who was swimming towards me?”
“The boy who saved you, of course,” said Miss Elwood. “The one who was doing the magic tricks the other day. Such a fine young man. He’s foreign, but spoke excellent English. After they hauled the two of you up, I tried to thank him for what he did, and he gallantly dismissed it as nothing, saying he was just pleased to have been close enough to help. It’s a good thing he was. None of the other rescuers seemed to realize you had gone into the water along with that evil wretch. The brave lad dove in immediately, even before you surfaced. He obviously saw where you’d gone in and was able to keep a fix on it.”
“Pretty good fix. I saw him right above me. I thought…I thought it was that other guy. That’s why I tried to swim away.”
“As would anyone,” declared Miss Elwood. “What a horrid experience.”
“Which is now, thankfully, over,” said Mrs. Bathurst. “Take Daniel back to your cabin, Prudence. I’ll ask Dr. Matthews to take a look at him for you.”
“I’m okay now,” Dane assured her.
“The doctor will be the judge of that. And the sooner you get into some warm, dry, clothes, the better.”
A nearby seaman nodded. “That’s right young sir. Won’t do to catch a chill. T’other lad’s already gone below to dry off.”
“Very sensible of him,” said Mrs. Bathurst. “Now, come along the rest of you. You’re staying with me. Miss Elwood will see to Daniel.”
“No,” said Dane. “I mean, thank you, Miss Elwood, but I’d rather be with my sister. And my cousin. And them.” He indicated Hetty and Pip.
“I dare say he would find their presence more comforting than mine, aunt,” said Miss Elwood.
“Aye, familiar faces serve best when young ones has had an upset, ma’m,” the seaman put in.
“Hmph. Very well. But just for a little while. And you children are not to talk about that awful man. It’s best to just forget him.”
The awful man was, of course, exactly what they did want to talk about, but when they got back to the cabin, Paige insisted Dane change into his nightclothes and get into bed first.
“Do as I say,” she said sternly, when he protested. “I’m older than you, and slightly bigger than you, and, until you do your green belt test in October, two whole karate belts higher.”
“What’s karate?” asked Hetty.
“What I would have liked to have used on that sailor. Unfortunately, he was pretty good at blocking my punches.”
“Didn’t block that life belt though, did he?” Hetty, giggled. “Surprised it didn’t knock him cold.”
“Didn’t it?” said Dane, remembering. With girls present, he was having to struggle out of his wet clothes under cover of a blanket.
“Nah. He got right up and started yelling in some foreign language. Four sailors, and even a couple of passengers, tried to take him down, but he threw off every last one. Some of ’em were right burly, too. But then Mr. Pender come up from behind without him noticing, and fetched him a real good ’un. And that did put him out. Think they’s got him locked up somewheres now.”
“Good,” said Paige, handing her brother his nightshirt. “He took the medallion, Dane. Yanked it right off my neck.”
“Told you it weren’t something to flash about,” Hetty reminded her.
“I didn’t. It was under my blouse, which, you’ll notice, is a high-necked blouse. I don’t know how he could have seen any part of it, but I guess he must have.”
“Blokes like him don’t miss much. Did you see his eyes? Proper evil-looking, they were.”
Paige agreed. “Yeah, they were. He gave me the creeps.”
“Me too,” said Jack. “He was glaring at me right before he went for you.”
“Probably weren’t too happy about you and Jane and Lizzie stopping the Ripper from tossing me and Pip over the side. They seemed like pretty good mates.”
“Well, Mrs. Granger did say the police thought the Ripper had an accomplice. Do you think the guy in the cape really was Jack the Ripper?” Paige asked Dane as he climbed into bed.
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Even if he wasn’t, he must have committed some dark deed or he wouldn’t have been trying to get rid of witnesses. Did you get the medallion back from the other one?”
Paige nodded, and took it off to show him. “He still had it in his hand when the other sailors dragged him below. Luckily, Jane saw him grab it. She told Mr. Pender it was mine, and he went and got it for m
e. I could have sworn the chain got snapped—in fact, I know it did—but look at it. It’s completely intact.”
“Maybe it can self-repair,” said Dane.
Hetty snorted. “Fix itself, you mean? Go on! It’s more likely Mr. Pender pushed the broken bits back together. Your specs was a bit bent after meeting up with the deck and he straightened them out no problem. He’s pretty strong, you know.”
But the medallion’s chain did not look as though any broken bits had been pushed back together. It was, as Paige had said, completely intact.
Chapter Nineteen
Despite the doctor’s assurances that Dane was unharmed, Miss Elwood kept him in bed for the rest of that day and let all the children sleep in the next morning.
Assuming—probably correctly—that displays of bad temper would lead to unpleasant consequences, Jack had endured early risings without much complaint. He therefore took full advantage of this unexpected indulgence, as did Hetty and Pip.
It was Paige and Dane who awoke within minutes of each other, roused by the sound of their chaperone and the doctor talking out in the corridor.
“It’s very strange,” said Miss Elwood. “My aunt tried to find Dane’s rescuer to give him a reward, but no one’s seen him since he was brought back aboard.”
“Yes, so I’ve heard,” Dr. Matthews replied. “The purser thinks he’s a stowaway. They usually try to keep a low profile, but some of them are bold enough to mingle with the passengers. If this one’s heroic deed has brought him unwelcome attention, he’s probably taken fright and gone into hiding.”
“I trust the captain’s told the crew not to spend too much time looking for him?”
“I believe those were their instructions. With luck, they won’t ferret him out by accident whilst looking for that villain of a sailor. He’s escaped, you know, and has thus far managed to avoid recapture. But we passed another ship in the night. It’s possible he jumped overboard and tried to get to it.”
“Would he have been able to?”
“I don’t know. It would have been quite a swim, but if he thought he was up to it, he might have taken the risk. He’d only have had prison to look forward to once we made land. Well, good day to you, Miss Elwood. I’ll pop back when the boy’s awake and put your mind at rest concerning his condition. I’m sure he’s all right.”
Physically, Dane was all right, but Paige was not surprised to hear he felt as troubled by what they had overheard as she did.
“Can’t say I like it much either,” Jack said when they repeated the conversation to the others. “Good luck to the boy, if he’s in hiding, but I’d rather that other fellow wasn’t on the loose. He was a nasty piece of work.”
“And he seemed to have it in for us,” mused Dane. “Us, not Hetty and Pip. It was like he was taking our interference personally.”
Jack nodded. “I thought that. And it’s funny, but I can’t shake the idea I’ve seen him before.”
“Maybe we have,” said Paige. “London’s a big place. We could have seen him somewhere without taking conscious note of it. Especially if he was lurking in the shadows watching us.”
“Expect he was.” Hetty no longer seemed concerned. “That’s how the Ripper knew where to find us. But you don’t have to worry. They’s both gone now. If we passed another ship last night, you can bet old scary eyes made for it. ’Twouldn’t be in his interest to stop on this ’un.”
The others would probably have remained anxious if increasingly stormy weather had not focussed their attention on being seasick again. And Paige and Dane could not help feeling just a tad pleased that this time, Jack’s travel bands proved ineffective and he was laid just as low as they were.
The ship docked in Halifax after what veteran travellers all agreed was an unusually long crossing, even for the winter months. Used to the tight security of their own terrorist-conscious age, Paige was a little surprised at how easily they entered the country. At that time, British subjects were free to move around the Empire as they pleased, and Canada was eager to welcome anyone who wasn’t a criminal or mentally or physically disabled.
The train journey to Kingston was equally uneventful. Mrs. Bathurst’s brother met her in what had once been, albeit briefly, Canada’s capital city. A stocky man with thinning hair, Quentin Hargrove was a year or two younger than Mrs. Bathurst, and considerably more jovial.
“What’s all this, Winnie?” he asked, waving at the group of children. “We asked for one little girl. You appear to have brought an entire orphanage with you.”
“Oh, Quentin, I told you in my last letter I’d be escorting a few other children.”
“A few, yes. I count ten. Ten is not ‘a few’.”
“There were originally only four extras. The others were added at the last moment. I dispatched a telegraph message to that effect before leaving England. Or rather, Prudence did. You did, didn’t you Prudence?”
“No. I was so busy getting ready for the trip, I asked Mercedes to do it.”
“Mercedes? That flibbertygibbet? Really Prudence! You know your cousin cannot be relied upon to carry out even the simplest of tasks.”
“I’m very sorry, Aunt Winifred, Uncle Quentin.”
Mr. Hargrove laughed. “Don’t worry about it, Pru. We’ve a large house. We’ll manage until someone claims the little dears. Which one’s mine, by the way?”
“Elizabeth,” said Mrs. Bathurst, pushing her forward. “The others should have been claimed by now. Someone from the Hazelbrae Home was supposed to be here to take them on to Peterborough.”
At that very moment, a man and two women hurried into the station.
“Mrs. Bathurst?” the tallest woman inquired. “I’m from Hazelbrae. I’m so sorry not to have been here when the train came in. I stopped to collect Mr. and Mrs. Sawyer. They have a farm just outside of Kingston and want a girl to help Mrs. Sawyer with the housework.”
“The oldest one’d probably do best.” Mr. Sawyer jerked his thumb toward Paige and looked at her in an appraising manner she found disquieting.
“Patience is not a Barnardo child,” Mrs. Bathurst informed him. “She and her brother reside in Canada and are returning to their home.”
“Next biggest, then,” said Mr. Sawyer, transferring his attention to Elizabeth.
“Elizabeth already has a placement. Jane might be a good choice, however.”
Mr. Sawyer scowled and shook his head. “Too small.”
“Just now, perhaps,” said the Hazelbrae woman, “But she’ll get bigger and stronger and—”
“We’re not keeping her in clothes and victuals ’til that happens,” snapped Mr. Sawyer. “Pick out an older one and ship her to us.”
With that he turned and stomped out of the station, his wife trotting behind him.
“What a rude man,” said Miss Elwood.
Mr. Hargrove grimaced. “Some of the local farmers are a bit rough around the edges.”
“I doubt that one stops at the edges,” said Paige.
All of the adults gave her a sharp look, but did not reprove her.
“Yes, well, I’m afraid Mr. Sawyer’s view is shared by others,” said the lady from Hazelbrae. “Older children are in high demand, but younger ones are not up to heavy farm work. Just last week an inspector brought back two he felt were doing more than they should. And four other eight to ten-year-olds have recently been returned by their employers. Along with an older girl who was mistreated and must be restored to health. I’m afraid that means we’re a bit pushed for space at the moment. I can take the three youngest girls you’ve brought, but would it be possible for you to keep charge of the older ones, Mrs. Bathurst? And the little boy? It will only be for a few days.”
Mrs. Bathurst looked unsure. “I don’t know.” My brother—”
“—is pleased to help out,” said Mr. Hargrove. “Come for them whenever you’re ready. My address is on this card.”
The woman inclined her head and accepted the card. “Thank you. We have places in mi
nd for the children who’ve come back to us. If we can get those ones settled, I’ll return for these sometime next week. Unless someone in this area wants one, of course. I’ll contact some of the approved families so they can come and have a look. If they’re at all interested, you can let them take whichever child seems best suited to them. We’ll take care of the paperwork later on. You’ve worked with Dr. Barnardo for a long time, Mrs. Bathurst. We have every confidence in your judgement.”
After she’d gone off with Elsie, Abigail, and Daisy, Mr. Hargrove brought his horse-drawn carriage round to the front of the station.
“Strewth! T’nt half cold here,” Hetty said as they squeezed into it. “I thought it were a mite nippy on the boat, and in that Halifax place and all, but this!”
“Oh it’s not nearly as cold here as it is on the prairies, or even in other parts of Ontario,” Mr. Hargrove cautioned. “Nor is it as cold as it’s going to be a few weeks from now. Newcomers tend to feel it quite keenly their first year or two.”
“S’pose you two is used to it,” Hetty said to Paige and Dane.
“Not really,” Paige replied, “We live in southern British Columbia. We usually only get a few snowstorms and the odd cold snap.”
Mr. Hargroves’s eyebrows went up. “British Columbia? My, you’ve a long journey ahead of you. Will the Hazelbrae people be seeing to that, Winnie?”
“I don’t think so. I was told arrangements would be made for them. I was not apprised as to their exact nature.”
“It’s all right,” Jack assured her. “Uncle Clive has a business contact in this area. We’ve got a letter of introduction. We’re supposed to go to him as soon as we’ve sorted things out for Hetty and Pip.”
