Several other men were sitting round the fire. They were Habakkuk Coot, sniffing as usual and drinking spiced ale; Old Master Granger, guffawing at Gilbot, and sipping his neat rum with obvious relish; Cip de Musset, chewing a chunk of coarse, black tobacco, a habit much disapproved of by the Islanders, who thought the weed a dangerous newfangled drug, and of no use save to sell to other people; and one or two others. All very merry and cheerful and good company to each other.
Blueneck drank his rum and, beginning to feel more cheerful, he leaned forward a little to join in the talk.
“Ah! a wonderful funny thing that be,” Granger was saying, as he shook his head sagely. “You’re right, a wonderful funny thing.”
“Ah! and what’s more, it ain’t the first time it’s happened,” put in another man casually.
“What?”
In an instant the company’s attention was fixed on the new speaker, and he looked round as though he were going to say something very secret.
“Six months ago on Ray Island,” he said.
“Oh, everyone knows that, Tom Fish. Go home with your old stories!”
There was a note of disappointment in their voices and they all laughed. The man muttered something about there being old and old, and subsided.
Blueneck came a little nearer.
“Might I ask what you are talking about?” he said.
Cip de Musset rolled his quid into his cheek and spat before he replied.
“A row-boat load o’ rum and two men lost going from here to Bradwell,” he said laconically.
“Ah,” said Granger, “wonderful strange.”
“What, ain’t the boat been washed up?” said Blueneck, glad to enter into the conversation.
“No, nothing found at all,” said Granger eagerly as he shifted his position slightly. “Nothing at all. But, ah well,” he added, “I don’t know what’s come to them.”
“Would the Preventative men have catched them, think you?” remarked Cip, chewing.
“Now that are likely,” said Granger sarcastically. “Ain’t it? There not being a sign of a Preventative man these nine months! Oh, yes, Master de Musset, it are likely they’d be spry enough to catch two chaps in a row-boat in the middle of the Blackwater without a soul on the Island or the mainland knowing aught. Lord, you ought to ha’ been an excise man yourself, you ought.”
“Maybe, Granger, maybe,” said Cip de Musset placidly and without ceasing to chew.
“Maybe they drank the liquor and then pulled out the bung and sunk her theirselves,” suggested Habakkuk, sniffing violently.
Granger turned slowly in his seat and let his gaze fall upon the nervous little man for a second or two before he spoke.
“Ah! Master Rheum-in-the-head, maybe they did,” he said, “and maybe the devil come along and carried them off in a thunder-cloud, or maybe a sea-serpent swallowed them. Eh?”
Habakkuk looked into the others’ unsmiling faces and sniffed, while a weak, ineffectual little smile spread over his bilious, pimply face, and then, as Granger betrayed no amusement, it struck him that he must have said something sensible, so he answered, “Ay, most likely,” wagging his head sagely.
The company burst into a roar of laughter, and Habakkuk, feeling that this time he had been witty, joined with them happily.
“Ah, no, but it is unnatural,” continued Granger thoughtfully after the laughter had subsided. “And ye know it ain’t the first time a row-boat o’ rum and two chaps have been lost,” he went on. “Just in the same way, too, started off after dawn and never seen no more. Ah, unnatural, that’s what it is.”
“The currents be plaguy strong out i’ the channel,” said French, looking up for a moment.
Granger was up in arms at once.
“Currents!” he ejaculated. “Now tell me, just tell me, Master French, do you think either Clarry Kidley or Gustave Norton would be likely to run into anything like that, an’ if they did to stay in it? Just tell me!”
French shrugged his shoulders and continued to explain to Red the kitten’s natural objection to being stroked from tail to ears.
Granger looked round triumphantly. “Ah, I don’t know, I don’t know,” he said at last.
“More do we,” said Habakkuk with a sniff, and the talk drifted to other channels.
Blueneck was feeling that perhaps the world was not so dreary a place as he had imagined, when the door burst open, and young Tant Pullen rushed in without a hat and very breathless. He looked round the room for a moment as though searching for someone. At last his quick, bright eyes fell upon Blueneck and he darted over to him.
“Look out you, get out of here and hide quick,” he gasped as well as he could for lack of breath.
The Spanish sailor looked at him in surprise, and the rest of the company seeing that something was afoot turned to listen.
Tant took the sailor by the collar when he saw that the man did not move.
“Quick, hurry, or he’ll get you,” he said.
Blueneck opened his mouth in astonishment.
“Why—what?” he ejaculated.
Tant took a deep breath.
“My mother’s bin beatin’ my father, because he said that she’d took presents from strangers,” he volunteered. The company began to laugh and Blueneck still looked bewildered.
Tant gave one anxious look at the door.
“Mother says I was to come and tell you,” he said.
Again the circle rocked and the mystified Blueneck looked up.
“Well?” he said.
Tant sighed.
“You best come,” he said, “my father’s wonderfully riled after he’s been beat by my mother, an’ he’s coming up here, to beat you, now.”
“Oh!” The company went off into another paroxysm of laughter, and Blueneck began to see a little more light in the matter. “Let him come,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.
Hal stepped forward from the dresser where he had been arranging tankards.
“You better go, Master Blueneck,” he said. “Joe’s wonderfully strong, and after he’s bin beat by his wife there’s no holding him.”
Blueneck hesitated. Then he shrugged his shoulders. Whatever he was, Dick Delfazio’s mate was no coward and he stood his ground.
“I’m not feared,” he said, “let him come.”
Hal looked at Gilbot, who had been watching the scene attentively.
“Ohsh hesh all right,” said the old man. “Let him come, Hal.”
Hal shrugged his shoulders, and sent Anny upstairs to look at the guest’s room. Then he quietly and unobtrusively moved everything movable to the sides of the room so leaving a clear space in the centre.
The company also shrugged their shoulders and edged a little away from Blueneck, so that the sailor found himself sitting alone on a bench. He looked round him uneasily, but did not move.
Suddenly Tant, who had been looking out of the window, remarked in a stage whisper, “Here he come,” and then dived under a pile of sacking in a far corner.
Nobody spoke and the silence was almost uncomfortable. Little Red noticed it, and after looking about put his arms round French’s neck and climbed on to his knee.
“Put Win into your pocket,” he whispered, “she got hurt last time Nan and Pet fought.”
French obeyed and, moving a little further into the chimney corner, he looked up shyly at Sue, who smiled and came round the high seat to sit beside him.
French made room for her on the inside of the bench, and she took Red from him and held the child herself.
By this time heavy footsteps could be heard coming across the yard, and the Ship waited in a silence only broken by Habakkuk’s sniffs and the plaintive mews of Red’s little kitten who was shut in the darkness of French’s big pocket.
Then the door was kicked open with such a clatter that Habakkuk nearly fell off his seat with nervousness, and Joe stalked into the room. All his usual good-humour was gone and he seemed, to Blueneck at least, to have got quite six
inches taller. He stood for a moment looking round, his face flushed and his eyes dark with fury; a long livid weal ran from his left eye to the corner of his mouth, and he trembled with anger as he stood there breathing heavily. Then, as he caught sight of Blueneck, he gave one whoop of exultation and leapt across the room landing on the top of the unfortunate man, whom he proceeded to punch with all his might.
Blueneck was no indifferent fighter himself, and, as Joe’s first blow landed in his ribs, a dull light of anger kindled in his eyes and he forced his way to his feet, and then the greatest fight that the old Ship Tavern had ever witnessed began. They closed in, and Blueneck tried to take advantage of his superior strength by grasping his opponent round the body and swinging him over his head, but Joe was too wiry for that. Seizing his opportunity he dropped low, and throwing his arms round the sailor’s knees he suddenly crouched so that the man fell over and stretched his body full length on the floor. Before he could again regain his feet Joe was upon him and they rolled over and over together kicking, the Spaniard swearing softly. Joe said nothing but grit his teeth and fought steadily and swiftly, always making for the man’s throat. At last he got there; the Spaniard lay on his back and Joe, making a desperate dive between his clawing hands, grasped at the hairy throat and held on tightly.
Blueneck’s mouth opened, and his eyes bulged; slowly his movements grew less effectual, and more convulsive. Joe held on grimly and without a word; finally he stood up.
“Give him a rum,” he said. “I’ve not done with him yet by a long way.”
Nobody spoke, but Hal stepped forward with the rum. He had drawn it in readiness, and between them he and Joe raised the half-strangled man to his feet and forced the spirit down his throat. Then, as he grew stronger, Joe took him firmly by the collar and dragged him out of the inn, without a word or a glance behind him.
Sue was on her feet in an instant.
“Will he kill him?” she cried.
Hal shrugged his shoulders.
“No,” he said, “I don’t reckon so—and if he does, what’s a Spaniard, anyway?”
“Yesh,” said Gilbot, holding out his rumkin to be refilled. “What’s a Spaniard, anyway? Letsh have a shong.”
And as Joe, his wrath hardly one whit abated, dragged the half-suffocated Blueneck down the road to the sea, he heard the jovial strains of “Pretty Poll “roared out in lively chorus from the Ship’s kitchen:
“Pretty Poll she loved a sailor
And well she loved he,
But he sailed to the mouth
Of a stream in the South,
And was lost in the rolling sea,
Lost in the rolling sea!”
Ah, ha,” said Joe between his teeth as he shook his unfortunate captive by the collar. “And that’s what you’re goin’ to be, my lad, ‘lost in the rolling sea.’ ”
Blueneck opened his mouth to expostulate, but Joe swung him round like a meal sack and tightened his neckerchief, so that it was all he could do to breathe, and they hurried on.
Joe strode over the ground at a tremendous pace dragging the Spaniard after him. And not one other word did he speak till they came to the water-side, where Joe’s little row-boat, the Amy, flopped and see-sawed on the rising tide.
Still keeping one hand on Blueneck’s collar, Joe stopped, caught at the riding-line, and pulled it in.
“Get in,” he commanded.
Blueneck obeyed as meekly as a lamb, and Joe stepped in after him, and pushed off. He rowed steadily for some seconds and, as the water was very calm, made good progress. About twenty-five yards from the shore he pulled in the oars and sat looking at the other man a full minute. Then he spoke sharply.
“Change places and row a bit,” he said. Blueneck shrugged his shoulders and did not move.
Joe’s eyes began to sparkle and a dull flush suffused his neck and face.
“Do as I say,” he said quietly.
The fresh air and the rum had revived Blueneck and he began to feel angry again. Still he did not move. Joe seized an oar; holding it in both hands, he wielded it above his head; it was a clumsy weapon, however, and the boat rocked dangerously. Instinctively Blueneck drew back and before he knew what he was doing raised himself to a sitting position on the gunwale; this was Joe’s opportunity, and he grasped it. Lowering the oar as swiftly as possible he hove it sharply into the Spaniard’s stomach, who immediately doubled up and fell backwards into the water.
Joe crawled along the boat and looked over the side. Blueneck came up a little to the left and seized hold of the side; Joe pushed him off, and he sank again and tried to strike out for the shore, but his wind was gone and he floundered, gasping.
Joe looked at him critically.
“You won’t come near my wife no more,” he observed, as he threw the helpless man a line. “Oh, no, you can’t come in my boat dripping as ye are,” he said cheerily as the other, wild-eyed and half-drowned, clawed at the boat. “You hang on that there line and I’ll tow ye in,” Joe continued, and suiting the action to the word picked up both oars and struck out.
When at last the keel grated on the soft shingle, Joe got out and after first dropping his anchor looked round for Blueneck. The man lay still in the water, both hands tightly grasping the line, the ripple of the waves tossing him to and fro.
Joe dragged him in, threw him down on a bank of dry seaweed, and stood looking at him for a minute or two.
“Ah, I wonder if he be dead now,” he said to himself, and he bent down to lift the sailor’s eyelids. He tore open the wet remains of Blueneck’s best surcoat and put his hand in the left side.
Then he stood up and shrugged his shoulders.
“Ah, well!” he said, addressing the unconscious body, “seeing that you ain’t dead, you may as well live, but you won’t come round my house in a hurry again, or there won’t be any not quite dead about it—see?”
Blueneck opened his eyes for a second and then fell back again into unconsciousness.
Joe looked round him, heaved a sigh of relief and, as he strolled off up to the Ship, his face assumed once more its wonted good-humour, his heavy sandy lashes fell half-over his eyes as usual, and, thrusting his thumbs in his belt, he whistled as clearly, happily, and tunefully as a linnet in May.
Chapter XI
Everything on the shore was very dark and very silent when Blueneck regained consciousness and sat up. His head ached and his body was stiff and cold while his clothes, still wet and sticky with brine, clung to him uncomfortably.
He peered round in the darkness striving to remember where he was and what had happened to him. There was no moon, or at least if there was it was so hidden behind the clouds as to be of no use to anyone, and he could only faintly distinguish a kind of haze some quarter of a mile in front of him which he supposed was the sea. Behind him he could see nothing at all, only blackness. He put out a cold, trembling hand and felt cautiously about; the first thing he touched was the dry crumbly seaweed. Not sure what it was he grasped a handful of it and pulled it up. Immediately the sickening stench of stale salt water arose and he spat and swore aloud. Then he reached out his other hand and touched still more seaweed. He groaned with stiffness and pain and threw himself back on the heap. As he did so his shoulders encountered something hard and he almost screamed aloud so much did it jar him. Changing to a sitting posture again he felt for the obstacle and found that whatever it was lay beneath the seaweed. Wearily he pushed the stuff aside and thrust his hand into the clammy depths beneath. The hard thing was lower down still and he burrowed feverishly in a tired thoughtless way, hardly knowing what he did or why he did it.
Suddenly he paused, and felt more gingerly—yes, surely he could not be mistaken, he was running his hand over the hard round belly of a rum keg. He twisted round quickly and winced as his stiffened muscles twinged at the movement. Beside the first keg he felt another; and yet another at the side of that. He lay back exhausted by the effort and wondered at his find. He had no doubt it was some smugg
ler’s private store, but was surprised that on such a lawless coast such secrecy should be resorted to. He knew that in Mersea everyone was more or less his own master and thought that it was therefore a rather unnecessary precaution.
When he had arrived thus far in his thoughts, however, he felt a return of the giddiness which he had before experienced and lay back, his eyes open, staring in front of him.
He had not lain so many minutes before he caught the glimmer of a light in the distance and he stared at it in surprise. It was not coming from the sea and was therefore not the riding light of a boat, neither was it coming from the direction of the brig or the Ship Inn, but from the West, from the lonely strip of coast between the little villages of East Mersea and West Mersea.
Nearer and nearer it came, till he could see how it jogged and danced along the beach, swaying from side to side, pausing a minute here, and then darting off again, sometimes vanishing completely only to reappear considerably nearer.
Blueneck watched it fascinated, a strange uncanny fear creeping over him; everywhere was so dark and lonely, and he strained his eyes peering at the light fancying that he saw sometimes a man behind it, sometimes a beast, or a fiend. This fear grew upon him every moment, and he tried to struggle to his feet, but his legs were too benumbed to bear him and he sank back again.
The light came nearer and nearer, dancing and swaying more than ever. In a flash the story of the lost row-boat ran through his mind and his flesh began to creep.
Like most sailors, and Spaniards especially, Blueneck was very superstitious; he shuddered and his teeth chattered as he imagined the thing that was holding the lantern to be first a blue swollen corpse with dead sightless eyes, then a rampaging devil with swinging tail and ram’s horns, and then a mermaid whose white teeth were adder’s fangs, and whose lips were the nightshade’s berries.
His hand crept up to his neck where a little wooden crucifix usually hung, but it was gone; he must have lost it in the fight with Joe. He trembled and mouthed a prayer.
The light seemed to be making straight for him, and as it came nearer wild unearthly crooning noises came from it.
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