Other formats

    Adobe Portable Document Format file (facsimile images)   TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The Expedition of Captain Flick: A Story of Adventure

Chapter XVIII. A Council of Three

page break

Chapter XVIII. A Council of Three.

“If we the question now decide
Our doings may be marr'd by Fate;
Yet her behest may be defied
If we the question now decide.
Come weal, come woe-whate'er betide,
We can but do our best, and wait.
If we the question now decide
Our doings may be marr'd by Fate.”

That evening Harry, Flick, and myself held a very important and very necessary council of war in the cabin of the yacht. Ixtael had rowed us outside in his scarlet barge, and immediately on our arrival we had reported to Harry all that we had witnessed. In his turn he had stated that during our absence the yacht had been surrounded by the canoes of the negroes, of whom he had purchased plenty of butter, eggs, fresh fruit, vegetables, and meat. He had paid them in Victorian silver, as they refused to accept gold, of which they appeared to know nothing; but what they would do with such coinage, save wear it as ornaments, he could not page 201 guess. In due time Ixtael ordered all the canoes back into the port, and carefully closed the iron gates for the night. Now we were left as lonely as on the previous evening. Dinner was over, and, seated in the cabin, we were discussing the situation. There was plenty to talk about.

“Well,” said Harry, leisurely filling his pipe, “I am glad to know that Bertha is well treated, and finds herself comparatively happy during her enforced captivity. Of course, I assured old Evans, there, that it would be so. Still, I am glad to know it for certain.”

“Bertha can look after herself, Hal. She has plenty of pluck, and knew well enough that we would come after her to Isk. She is also certain that she will be rescued before this marriage takes place. Oh, I assure you she prefers to be Lady Evans, of Shropshire, rather than Queen of Isk.”

“The rescue,” said Flick, nursing his chin reflectively, “will be difficult.”

“It will be difficult to accomplish without bloodshed,” observed Harry stolidly; “but for my part I rather hope there will be a row, just to show these niggers that they cannot kidnap English ladies with impunity.”

“I don't think the negro mind can grasp that idea Hal.”

page 202

“Then the negro mind must be taught to grasp it,” he retorted. “They are a pack of devils on that island. I only wonder that they should be such fools as to keep their hands off us for three months.”

“It's a good idea, that,” said Flick, with a quick nod. “We have to thank their religious fanaticism for that.”

“No, my dear captain, you are quite wrong. We have to thank that very crafty old lady, Basilea. She is playing some game, of which this truce forms an element. What her game is I am not certain; but I have an idea.”

“And your idea?”

“Has to do with you, my dear Hal—with you and your good looks.”

Harry laughed a trifle uneasily, and frowned. He thought I was chaffing him, and he was prepared to resent my humour in a careless, jocular fashion. As for Flick, the remark quite nonplussed him, and he stared at me from under his shaggy eyebrows with a kind of fierce surprise. I gave neither of them time to make any comment, but, producing Bertha's letter from my breast pocket, I continued my discourse. The above remark may be taken as a text, whereon I was about to deliver a sermon.

“I did not read you all this communication,” said I, smoothing out the letter on the table. “If I page 203 remember, I stopped at the point where Bertha arrived at Isk.”

“Yes, Sir Denis, you did,” observed Flick, following my speech attentively.

“As you see, Flick, the letter is inscribed on the smooth linen used by the natives of Isk instead of paper. That proves that Bertha must have written this after her arrival here. In fact, she remarks as much, and says she was over a week here before she wrote a word. During that time she made a discovery concerning Basilea and Harry.”

“Deuce take me if I understand you!” cried my friend testily. “I have never set eyes on the woman.”

“I know that; but she has set eyes on your portrait.”

“Well, and supposing she has, what then?”

“Why, your portrait, Harry, and your good looks, procured us this truce which we are so glad of.”

“Gad!” said Roaring Tom, laughing, “you don't mean to say that Basilea is in love—with Harry's picture?”

“Well,” said I slowly, “I think we might put it in that way.”

Harry blushed, Flick laughed again, but neither of them made any remark; as a matter of fact, they did not know what to say.

“You know the earlier portion of Bertha's letter,” page 204 I continued. “She woke to find herself on board the scarlet ship. Like ourselves, that poisoned air made her very sick, and she did not recover until she was landed on the Levantine coast. There she was put into a litter and carried across the mountains to Euphrates River. The red ship, as you know, was taken to pieces by its crew like a toy, and transported on the backs of mules by the route we saw marked on the map. Bertha says that the negroes paid the natives of that country well for the loan of the mules, so they must have plenty of money. When this business was despatched, the red ship was put together again on the Euphrates. She was floated again on a navigable part of the river, and when the negroes re-embarked with Bertha, they rowed and sailed south through the Indian Ocean to Isk.”

“It was before then that Dosk was lost?”

“It was before then that Dosk was murdered,” I answered, glancing at the letter. “He gained nothing by his treachery, for he was thrown overboard in the Indian Ocean, with a stone at his heels. I can't say that I regret the death of that Judas.”

“Served the little beast right,” growled Flick. “I'd have done the same myself had I caught him. Go on, Sir Denis; we know all this.”

“Of course. But now comes the part that you don't know,” said I impressively. “On her arrival at Isk, page 205 Bertha was placed in the Temple of the Star, where we saw her to-day. She was presented to Hesperus, who approved of her as his future queen; and she now waits for the elapse of three months to be married to him.”

“That is,” said Harry grimly, “if we do not get her aboard this boat in the meantime.”

“Bertha,” I continued, “carried with her, when she was kidnapped, a double leathern photograph frame containing two portraits—one of myself, and one of her brother. Basilea saw the photograph of Harry, and was greatly taken with it.”

“I am immensely flattered,” said Harry gravely. “You said she was old, Flick?”

“Old and d—d artful, lad.”

“Basilea,” said I, “made inquiries about Harry, and learned from Bertha that he would certainly try to rescue her. Knowing that all strangers were slain as soon as they arrived, the old lady cast about for some means whereby she could save Harry's life, and see him.”

“Why should she take that trouble, Denis?”

“My dear Hal, you are certainly either the dullest or the least conceited of mortals; she took that trouble because she loves you.”

“Nonsense!” he said, reddening, and looking uncomfortable.

page 206

“I assure you it is a fact, for Bertha puts it very plainly. I am pleased at her fancy myself, as, to save you, and consequently us, she promulgated this law forbidding the shedding of strange blood until the marriage of Bertha with the king. Thus, my dear Hal, owing solely to your very fascinating face, we have scored one against the inhabitants of Isk. For three months we are perfectly safe.”

“And afterwards?” growled Roaring Tom with interest.

“Afterwards, my dear captain, you, I, and the crew shall be slaughtered to grace the festival, and Harry's life will be spared, on condition that he marries this old lady.”

“I'll see her hanged first!” said Harry hotly.

“But I thought the priestesses of Venus couldn't marry?” said Flick. “At least, Dosk told me as much.”

“No doubt he did,” I replied dryly. “But I tell you, Flick, this artful old woman is the real ruler of the island, and can make or unmake laws at will. It is with her we will have to deal, not with the niggers, or with the puppet of a king, who has no real power.”

I folded up the important letter, and restored it to my pocket. The accident of Basilea seeing the photograph, the knowledge which we had obtained page 207 that she was in love with Harry, placed a powerful weapon in our hands, and one which I was resolved to turn to advantage. In the mean time, I made no further remark, but waited to hear what the commander of our expedition had to say. Flick meditated for a few minutes, then raised his head and rubbed his hands.

“You are right, Sir Denis; you generally are right,” said he brightly. “This discovery made by Miss Bertha will be of great service to us. By using it carefully we may not only rescue the young lady but secure the statue.”

“I don't see how, Flick,” said Harry doubtfully.

“I do, and I'll explain my strategy later on, lad. In the mean time we must ingratiate ourselves with the islanders, and during the three months make them believe that we do not see through their iniquitous little plans. The first thing is to inspire them with confidence, so to do that we must take the boat into port.”

“I protest against that, Flick,” exclaimed Harry energetically. “While we lie outside there is always a chance of getting away. But once in that pool, shut in by chasm and iron gates, it will be the devil's own job getting out into open water. If we lose the Carmen, we lose everything.”

“Dear lad, we will not lose the boat,” said Flick page 208 quietly. “Do you think I am the man to thrust myself into a position whence there is no retreat? I want the ship in that port for two reasons. Firstly, to inspire the islanders with confidence, and to lull them into false security by making them believe that we do not see their game; and secondly, to facilitate the escape of your sister and the getting of the statue. I shall anchor the yacht directly before the temple, so that in case we have to use force, a small party of us may jump on the quay, run up those stairs, and take the shrine by storm. Then it will be easy to ship both your sister and the statue straight off.”

“That's all very fine,” said I satirically, “but if we storm the temple there will be a row; if there is a row the islanders will be up in arms; and then, how do you propose to force your way through the chasm into this bay again?”

“Why,” said Flick sharply, “I have taken stock of that chasm, and it is of ample width for the boat to get through; also there is plenty of water. I will pilot the boat in to-morrow, myself, and then I will know how to pilot her out.”

“You forget the serious obstacle of the iron gates, captain.”

“Oh, I'll explode those with a submarine mine. Remember we have ample time before us, so it will page 209 not be difficult to lay down a few charges of dynamite. Those gates will be smashed to pieces in double-quick time.”

“The negroes will be after us in boats while we force the chasm,” objected Harry.

“What! With thirty men armed with rifles picking off the negroes, and our gun yonder smashing the boats! Don't you worry about that, lad.”

“It's my opinion that we should lie out here, Flick.”

“And it's my opinion we shouldn't,” growled the other. “The entrance to this bay is over two miles wide, and I expect a pretty tidy sea can get up. In the event of a storm our boat might be dashed against the cliffs and go smash. Then,” he added, with a grim smile, “I expect we should follow the boat's example.”

“But look here,” said Harry, “why not keep the yacht on the other side of the island, and conduct Bertha across the plain you speak of, which runs from the volcano to the low coasts we saw the other day?”

“Bah! How the deuce am I to berth the boat in an open sea, within hail of a nasty set of reefs? Where is your seamanship, lad? As to crossing the whole length of the island with the girl, why the negroes might cut our party to pieces before we page 210 got half way-to say nothing of the difficulty of getting that infernal statue overland.”

“You may well call it an infernal statue, Flick,” said I crossly, “for it has led us all into this trouble.”

“I admit that; but I now wish to repair my fault by getting Miss Bertha aboard as quickly as possible. Let us put into port, lads, and lie off the temple, then you will see how I can conduct a compaign. I haven't knocked about the world for fifty years without learning a thing or two.”

“There is another thing you have forgotten,” said Harry suddenly, “we shall probably have to fly under cover of darkness. That chasm is a nasty place for a ship to find herself in at night.”

“I don't see why we should fly by night,” replied Flick stolidly; “if we storm the temple and carry off your sister by force, it won't much matter if it's night or day. On the other hand, if we can get her aboard by strategy-a course I much prefer-we will probably steal through yonder chasm-”

“In utter darkness!”

“No! By electric light; you forget what a powerful search-light we have aboard.”

“H'm!” said Harry, rising. “I forgot the searchlight.”

After that remark the discussion was dropped by common consent, and we went on deck. The yacht page 211 was riding easily at anchor under a serene and starry sky, and the horn of the moon shining behind the island threw the black bulk of the cliffs directly on us. Their serrated summits arose fantastically against her light; and the wide gap of the gulch looked even blacker than usual in the funereal gloom of our surroundings. The riding lights of the yacht rose and fell as she swung to the tide, and the little wavelets out in the black space of the bay, showed here and there a glint of light. None of us paid attention to the scene—we were all thinking of the stake for which we were playing: I of Bertha, Flick of his statue, and Harry, I have no doubt, of his sister also. Beyond those black rocks, within the massive strength of those iron gates, she was shut in as in prison, isolated among semi-civilized barbarians from her lover, brother, and friend. I made no attempt to gloss over the fact that we had a hard task before us; we were playing for more than Bertha's liberty, for more than Flick's looting—we were playing for our lives.

“Well, Flick,” said Harry, after a pause of some length, “you are the commander of this expedition, so do as you please.”

“Good,” said Flick, laying his hand on the young man's shoulder. “To-morrow the yacht shall be anchored before the Temple of the Star.”

page 212

Over the line of the cliffs we could just see the round crest of the volcano, and while Flick was speaking my eyes were fixed on the mighty peak. A heavy pillar of smoke was rising therefrom, and as I looked a red jet of flame played fitfully among the wreaths of vapour. My exclamation drew the attention of my companions to the sight, and we watched the menacing, fire-charged could with some uneasiness.

“The deuce!” muttered Flick doubtfully. “It will spoil our plans if that volcano blows up.”

I thought so too. In the face of that sign it seemed madness to shut up our boat in the port of Isk.