Inez said she would be glad to do so, and Fred uttered some sharp exclamation, which caused both of the dusky natives to spring to their feet and hasten to the side of the proa nearest the shore, where they waited the chance to help her aboard. Inez noticed that the islanders were muscular, athletic fellows, with such a peculiar appearance that she could not avoid staring at them for a few seconds. Each was fully six feet in height—an unusual stature among the South Sea Islanders—and their breasts, arms and legs were tattooed with all sorts of figures and representations. Since these portions of their anatomy were uncovered, the singular ornamentation was very prominent.
They had the curious tattooing on their cheeks, noses and foreheads, so that their appearance was repellent. Besides this, their teeth were black, their noses large and flat, and their mouths wider than there was any necessity for. Their heads were bare, and, indeed, were furnished by nature with all the covering they could need. The hair was very long, but frizzly, so that as it curled up about their ears and crowns, it formed an immense bushy screen, which gave their heads prodigious size. Their hands and feet were very large, and it would have been hard, in short, to discover anything in their looks that could attract a person toward them. Surveying them dispassionately, one could not help suspecting they belonged to a tribe of cannibals.
However, Inez did not show any repulsion which she might have felt, but stepping close to the proa took the extended hand, and sprang lightly aboard of the strange craft. The natives immediately withdrew, leaving the young captain, as he appeared to be, to conduct the fair visitor around the “ship,” whose dimensions did not require much time to investigate.
Fred explained that the proa was a vessel peculiar to the Indian and Central Pacific oceans, and that it could sail with great swiftness, going either forward or backward with equal readiness. It is a favorite boat used for inter-communication between hundreds of the islands of the South Seas, and the Malays employ them in a different form for their piratical expeditions. They owe their swiftness mainly to the fact that they stand so high out of the water, are very narrow, and present such a large surface to the wind.
“They are good for short voyages,” said Fred, “but I shouldn’t want to start for New York or Liverpool in one of them.”
“How long will it take us to reach the island from which you came?” asked Inez.
“If we start early tomorrow morning, with a good wind, we ought to be there at the end of two days.”
This was shorter time than he had given Mate Storms, but he was now striving to speak the truth.
“And suppose we are overtaken by one of those terrible tempests which sometimes visit this part of the world?”
“We cannot escape the risk, no matter where we are. The storm that would sink a proa might cause a seventy-four to founder, and the only way you can shun danger is to stay here all your life. I hardly think that such is your wish, Miss Inez.”
“No; I am as anxious to leave as are Mr. Storms and the captain. Indeed, I think I am more so, for I understand that they expect to wait until tomorrow morning, while if I had my wish I would start this very hour.”
“We are at the disposal of yourself and friends,” Sanders courteously responded; “but the reason for delay is that thereby we expect to be compelled to spend but a single night on the voyage, while if we started now we should have two.”
CHAPTER XXVIII
The Mate Becomes Captain
“Poor Jack!” murmured Abe Storms, hastening after him. “I have been fearing this very thing. He has taken the matter more to heart than I, and there has been a look in his eye in the last few weeks which showed he was not right; but I thought, when he found he was going back to his home again, he would almost instantly regain his mental equipoise.
“But it has operated the other way, and I shouldn’t wonder if he is as wild as a loon. When we get him away, dress him up, change his food, and give him a sight of a Boston vessel, he will be sure to come around; but, he has said too much already.
“I wonder what sort of a fellow that Fred Sanders is?” added Storms, whose intellect seemed to be sharpened by the same cause which overturned that of the captain. “I would be glad to trust him fully, but somehow, I can’t. While he is courteous and kind—and, no doubt, means to carry us all to the inhabited island, where we shall be able to take care of ourselves—there is something about him that awakens distrust. The fact of his having been five years, as he says, in these South Sea Islands, shows that all is not right, which is confirmed by his dislike of saying anything about his earlier history.
“The best thing in his favor is his youth, and yet,” continued Storms, thoughtfully, “that, after all, may be the worst. It would seem that he is too young to have done a great deal of evil; and yet, if he has committed many transgressions, it is a woful record for such a lad. It was too bad that the captain hinted that we have so much means, and he wouldn’t have done it had he been in his right mind; but it has produced an effect upon Sanders, as I could see by the flash of his eyes, and the apparently indifferent questions he asked afterwards.
“But we have saved our ammunition,” muttered Storms, a minute later, compressing his lips; “and I know how to use my revolver, and it is only for a short time that I shall have to maintain watch.”
While Abe Storms was talking to himself in this fashion, he had his eye on the captain, who was walking slowly toward that portion of the island where the pearls had been concealed so carefully, and there could be no doubt of his errand. He did not hear the soft footstep behind him, which was so regulated that it came up with him just as the latter paused at the all-important spot.
The captain first looked out to sea, and then behind him, catching sight, as he did so, of the smiling countenance of his mate—so far as his countenance could be seen through the wealth of beard.
“Hello! What are you doing here?” asked the captain, in a voice which showed some perplexity, if not displeasure.
“What are you doing here?” asked Storms, in turn, slapping him familiarly on the shoulder. “I suppose we came upon the same errand, as we are so soon to leave for home. The pearls are buried here, and we must carry them away with us.”
“How do you know that’s what I came for, Abe?”
“I’m only saying I suspect it’s your business. I know it’s mine.”
Captain Bergen was a little bewildered by the sharp manner in which the good-natured mate caught him up, and, while he seemed to be debating with himself what to say, Storms took his arm and led him a short distance off, and, seating him on the beach, said:
“There’s no hurry about the business, Jack, for we won’t start until tomorrow morning at daylight, so as to have as few nights on the voyage as possible, and we had better decide on the proper course for us to take.”
“That is correct,” replied the captain, assenting so quietly that his friend hoped he would remain easily manageable.
“You remember, Jack, that when we buried the pearls there, we divided them—your half is in a strong canvas bag, so packed that they won’t rub together, or make any noise; and mine are in another sack. The single pearl which belongs to Inez is also carefully covered; and now we must manage to get away with them, without letting Sanders know they are in our possession.”
“What do you want to do that for?” demanded the captain, turning fiercely upon the mate. “I like that fellow. He’s going to put me on a ship and send me back to Boston; and any one who does that does me a service worth more than all the pearls in the world. I am going to give him all mine, and I hope Inez will do the same. I shall do my best to persuade her, and if you don’t, Abe, you and I are deadly enemies, and I’ll kill you the first chance!”
Storms showed his shrewdness by the manner in which he managed the poor fellow.
“That’s all right, Jack,” he replied, assuming a look and expression of anger, as he glared upon the lunatic, well aware that he must make him afraid of him. “If it’s any fun for you
to talk in that style, I’ll let you do it once, but don’t you try it again. Did I ever tell you about those sixteen persons that I killed up in New Hampshire before we started out with the Coral?”
“No!” gasped the captain, looking at him with awe.
“Well, I won’t tell you now,” said the mate, with the same frightful earnestness, “for it would make you feel too bad. If they hadn’t made me mad, I wouldn’t have killed them, and I’ll let up on you if you do not say anything of the kind again. If you do, I’ll get mad, Jack.”
“By the great horn spoon!” exclaimed the alarmed captain, “I’ll let the matter drop, if you will.”
“All right,” said the mate, relenting somewhat.“And, mind you, don’t you go to talking to Sanders about it. Don’t you tell him another thing, and never mention the word pearls.”
“I won’t—I won’t!” was the meek rejoinder of poor Captain Bergen, who had been completely cowed by the fierceness of his mate.
“I’m an awful man when my wrath is roused!” Abe Storms thought it best to add; “and it was just rising to the boiling-point when you were lucky enough to take back your foolish expression.”
“What are we going to do now?” asked the captain, apparently anxious to turn the current of conversation into a more agreeable channel.
“We’ll go back and make ready to leave on the proa. We have considerable to do before we depart. There are a number of things in the cabin that we must carry with us.”
“Yes, that’s so; I forgot that. But, Abe—don’t you get mad!—what about them?”
“Just never you mind,” replied the mate with an important wave of the hand. “I’ll attend to them.”
“All right. I was afraid you would forget ’em!”
It pained Storms to tyrannize over his superior officer in this fashion, but stern necessity compelled him to become the real captain. The intention of the mate when he first followed his friend was to dig up the pearls and give him his share, but he saw that that would never do. It would precipitate a tragedy to allow the lunatic any option in the matter. So, without any further reference to the pearls, the two rose to their feet and walked slowly back in the direction of the proa, talking on no particular subject, since the mate was desirous of diverting the mind of the captain as much as possible.
The discoveries of the next few minutes did not serve to lighten the apprehension of Storms, for when he reached the proa the two islanders seemed to be enjoying a siesta, while neither Fred Sanders nor Inez was in sight.
Suspecting what was wanted, one of the natives roused up and pointed toward the sea, jabbering some odd words, which could not be understood, but which Storms concluded were meant to indicate the direction taken by the couple.
“That’s almost the path to the spot where we were,” he thought, as he turned and walked away, holding the arm of the captain within his own.
Sure enough, they had not gone far when they caught sight of Fred and Inez sitting on the beach, just as if they were at some fashionable seaside resort in summer time, and were chattering no particular sense at all. Storms noticed that the place was such as to command a view of that where he and the captain had held their conversation, and where their precious possessions were buried.
“I wonder whether that was done on purpose?” he thought. “It may be he meant nothing, but I fear he took Inez along merely to hide the fact that he was playing the spy upon us.”
It was not pleasant to believe this, and yet the suspicion was rooted pretty firmly in the mind of the mate, who, perhaps, was becoming over-suspicious.
“Ah, how are you?” asked Sanders, with a laugh, changing his lounging to the sitting position. “I conducted Miss Inez over the proa, so as to make her acquainted with the craft, as you may say, and since that didn’t take long, we thought we would try a little stroll down here, where we could have a talk without those natives staring at us. How is your friend?” asked the young man, suddenly lowering his voice to such a sympathetic key that Storms felt guilty for the moment for ever having suspected him capable of wrong.
“I’m a little uneasy about him,” was the reply, as both glanced at the captain, who sat down beside Inez and began talking to her, “for he seems to have broken up all at once. He was such a strong man, just in the prime of vigorous manhood, that it would hardly be supposed he would give away so suddenly.”
“I think he will soon recover, for the change will be so radical, and the awakened hope so strong, that he will be sure to rally in the course of a few days.”
“I hope so,” was the response, “but he must be watched very carefully.”
CHAPTER XXIX
Farewell to the Island
The weather remained enchanting. The tropical heat was tempered by the ocean breeze, which stole among the palms, and across the island, and where the crew, and those who had lived there so long, lounged in the shadow, or sauntered in the sunshine, when the orb sank low in the western sky.
It was curious that now, after the coming of the proa, when no other help was needed, the signal at the masthead, as it may be called, seemed to have acquired an unusual potency; for, on two separate occasions during the afternoon, the island was approached by vessels, who were given to understand that the parties on shore were provided for. Mate Storms, now the captain, very much doubted whether he did a wise thing in declining this proffered assistance, but the main reason for doing so was the fact that the pearls were still buried, and he knew of no way of getting them without discovery.
One of the ships was a Dutch one, from Java, and the other was British, bound for Ceylon—neither very desirable, as they would have compelled a long, roundabout voyage home. But Storms would have accepted the offer of one on account of his distrust of the young man, Fred Sanders, but for the reason given.
Captain Bergen, after the “setting back” given him by Storms, became quiet and tractable, and stayed almost entirely with Inez, for whom he showed the greatest affection. Since she was tenderly attached to him, and sympathized in his affliction, this kept the two together almost continually—an arrangement which it was plain to see was not agreeable to Fred Sanders, though he was too courteous to make any mention of it.
During the afternoon such goods as were deemed necessary were transferred to the proa, which lay at anchor in the lagoon. These were not very numerous or valuable, and consisted mostly of garments which Storms had manufactured for Inez.
When night came, after a meal had been eaten on shore close to where the proa lay, it was arranged that Sanders should sleep on board with his crew—if two men might be termed such—while the others should stay in their cabin, as was their wont.
Storms contrived this on the plea that his companion, the captain, would be more tractable. His real purpose was to gain a chance to secure the pearls unnoticed. The young man made not the slightest objection to the plan, for he had too good sense to do so; nor did his silence in that respect lull the suspicions of Storms himself.
“I wish there was not such a bright moon,” said the mate to himself, not far from midnight, “for I need all the quiet and darkness I can get; and I don’t see any use of waiting longer,” he added.
Captain Bergen had been sleeping quietly for several hours, while the silence in the apartment of Inez showed that she, too, was wrapped in slumber, and possibly dreaming of far-away scenes, of which her memory was so misty and indistinct.
As to those upon the proa, everything must necessarily be conjecture; but, in the middle of the night, with his senses on the alert, and his imagination excited, Abe Storms conjured up all sorts of fancies and suspicions. There were many times when he believed that these men, including the boyish leader, were the worst kind of pirates, who were only waiting the chance to secure the pearls, when they would either desert or treacherously slay them. But, since meditation and idleness could avail nothing, he rose from his couch upon the floor, and, making sure that his loaded revolver was in place, he stole out from among the palm trees, a
nd began moving in the direction of the spot where his treasures lay hid.
He did this with the utmost precaution, glancing in every direction at each step, frequently pausing and changing the course he was pursuing, and, in short, doing everything he could think of to prevent detection. The full moon rode high in an almost unclouded sky, and the air was as charming as that of Italy. The solemn roar of the ocean and the irregular boom of the long, immense swells breaking against the shore and sending the thin sheets of foam sliding swiftly up the bank, were the only sounds that greeted his ears.
“That is wonderful!” exclaimed the searcher, for all at once he descried a ship, under full sail, seemingly within two hundred yards of shore. “If these parties hadn’t arrived today this craft wouldn’t have come within a score of miles of us.”
The ship looked like a vast bird, when with all sail set and her black hull careening to one side under the wind, she drove the foaming water away from her bows, and sped forward as if pursuing or fleeing from some enemy.
Whether the watch saw the signal of distress in the moonlight, cannot be known, but the vessel speedily passed on, and vanished in the night, while Mate Storms, recalling his thoughts, and seeing no one near him, moved directly to where he had deposited his riches such a long time before, and to which he only made an occasional visit.
He had advanced too far to retreat, whether he was seen or not, and he stooped down and began digging with his hands and sheath-knife. It was only a short distance, when he struck something, and a moment after drew up a small, strong canvas bag. Soon came another, and then a smaller one, which contained the wonderful pearl that belonged to Inez Hawthorne. They were all there, and had not been disturbed.
“Now, it only remains to keep these in my possession,” was his thought, as he straightened up and started to return. “I would give half of them if they were at home and safe in the bank—Hello!”
The Edward S. Ellis Megapack Page 109
