I had no clear purpose in my mind, I think. Did not Edmund Burke tell us that the age of chivalry3 is dead? But half the battle in this curious work of ours is knowing what the other fellow is up to and I have never been able to sit down quietly under uncertainty4.
Swiftly I mounted the rocky slope from the shore. Behind me the gulls5 uttered their mournful cries as they hung above the placid6 sea and in the woods around me there was the loud chatter7 of birds. But there was no sound of human voice.
Then suddenly I came upon Marjorie Garth in a little open space between two moss-grown boulders8. Though I could hardly believe my own eyes there was no mistake about it; for her face was turned towards me. And she was struggling in the arms of Custrin. Her face was very pale and in her grey eyes was a look of despair which I shall not easily forget. She was wearing no hat and her gold-brown hair tossed to and fro as with one hand thrust in her opponent's face, she fought desperately10 to keep him off.
It all happened in a flash. The next thing I knew, I felt the bite of my knuckles11 in Custrin's damp neck as, my hand firmly clutching his collar, I tore him backwards12. All my resentment13 against this false, sleek14, smooth-spoken creature welled up within me and I exulted16 to feel him stagger and wilt17, then crumple18 up in a grasp which I willed to be as violent and brutal19 as mind and muscle could make it.
Caught unawares he reeled backwards inert20, for a fraction of a second a dead weight in my hold. But then he reacted. I felt his wiry frame stiffen21 as he struggled to elude22 me. But I held fast and swinging him round, gave him my fist in his face.
It was the force of my own blow that sent him from my hands,—staggering against a rock which brought him up standing23. A single word he spoke15.
"Herr!" he cried and the word burst in a kind of sob24 from his throat. In the crisis his native tongue came to his lips and in that moment I knew Dr. Custrin for a German.
There was murder in his quick, black eyes. His hand clawed for his hip-pocket but I was at him at once, driving for his face again. This time he dodged25 the blow and I felt my wrist rasp on the rough boulder9 behind him. For all his pretty drawing-room ways he was game enough, and with outstretched hands made at my throat.
But I drew back swiftly and as he came at me, let fly with my left to the point of the chin. He stopped dead, his eyes goggling26, his head sagging27 on his shoulders. Then he crumpled28 up in a mass at my feet.
I turned to Marjorie. She stood, where I had found her, against the other boulder, dabbing29 at her lips with her handkerchief, her breath coming and going in quick gasps30.
"The beast!" she said and her voice broke. "The beast!"
Then, plaintively31 like a little child, she cried:—
"Where is Daddy? Oh, please, will you take me to him...."
"Your father has gone to fetch the yacht," I answered and broke off in sheer perplexity. Where was the Naomi? The unexplained appearance of Marjorie on the island complicated matters horribly. Alone I was content to face the prospect32 of eluding33 Clubfoot and the vengeance34 he would surely try to wreak35 on me. But with a woman....!
There was nothing for it but to put into execution the plan I had already formed. I must find—and that without an instant's delay—a hiding-place and withdraw there with the girl. That must be my first care. The future must look after itself.
And the cipher36? My intention had been to scale the terraced rock to follow up the next clue. There were caves there in which we could shelter and the topmost terrace would surely afford a view over the sea and enable us to sight the Naomi as soon as she appeared off the island.
We would make for the terraces and lie, snugly37 hidden there, until the yacht came back. And in this way I might also continue to follow up the clue to the treasure. But we must have food and arms. We should have to go back to the cave on the shore.
I looked at Custrin. He lay like a log.
I glanced down at my clothes and realised that my appearance must be nothing less than forbidding—my face grimy and unshaven, my white drill torn and stained and my boots all soggy with sea-water.
"You look so tired.... and so grave," she said. "What can have happened?"
"Let us go back to the camp," I rejoined, "and I'll tell you as we go."
"But we can't go away and leave him like this!" she expostulated.
"When you have heard my story," I rejoined, "you will think as I do. He'll be all right. He's stirring already. Come! Let's go back to the shore!"
As we turned in the direction of the beach, I said:—
"But how on earth did you come to be here? What has happened to the Naomi?"
A little red crept into the girl's cheeks and she bit her lip.
"I wasn't going to be left behind. I told Captain Lawless so. I insisted on joining Daddy on shore. There was an awful row, but"—triumphantly—"I had my own way in the end. It was really Dr. Custrin who managed it for me. He said he would take the responsibility of explaining to Daddy that I would come. And, as the captain was anxious to be off, he said he would let us keep the launch. The Naomi went on to Alcedo...."
"But," I said, "where have you been since yesterday?"
Marjorie laughed mischievously41.
"Daddy will be out of his mind when I tell him," she replied. "I spent the night at a prospector's camp. Dr. Custrin found that he knew some of the men there."
I stared at her in astonishment42.
"Was the leader a club-footed man?" I asked.
"Yes!" rejoined the girl in a bubble of laughter. "Such a funny old thing.... a German. There were lots of Germans there. It was quite extraordinary.... like a dream!"
"But," I protested, "why didn't you land on our beach? Why was it necessary to spend the night with these people? A girl like you, alone!"
"Oh," she laughed back at me, "you needn't be so scandalised. I can take care of myself. I meant to bring Yvonne, my maid, you know, with me, but the silly creature lost her courage when it came to dropping into the launch and she wouldn't come. Just as we were through the surf-bar we were caught in that tremendous thunderstorm and we had to run straight for the shore. We tied up the launch and started to walk through the woods. Then we came upon this party of prospectors43. Dr. Custrin seemed very surprised to find them there. He said it would be impossible to locate your camp in the dark and we should have to stay the night. They were all very nice to me and I had a room in a sort of wooden hut just above the beach."
Mentally, I took off my hat to Custrin. Not only had he contrived44 to get ashore45 without arousing suspicions but he had brought with him a most valuable hostage. Grundt had spoken of having the means of bringing us to our senses. Now I knew what he had had in mind....
"When I woke up this morning," Marjorie continued, "I found that everybody, including Dr. Custrin, had gone. A hideous-looking negro was left in charge. There was some man ill, too, in one of the huts. The negro seemed to be watching me all the time and I got horribly frightened. So, after waiting a long time for the doctor to come back, I decided46 to start off and find Daddy and you for myself. The sick man called the negro into the hut for a moment and I got away. Then I met Dr. Custrin in the woods and he tried to stop me. He wanted to kiss me, too...."
She paused and looked at me curiously.
"You hit him very hard, didn't you?" she remarked.
"I thought you were going to kill him," said the girl. "You must have a very bad temper, Major Okewood," she added sedately48.
After what I had already gone through that day, it galled49 me to think of the two of us chatting away as inconsequently as though we were on the lawns at Ascot. No man, I grant you, could have had a more charming companion than Marjorie Garth and she was as pretty as a picture in the plain tussore riding costume she wore with a rakish little brown felt hat.
But I was in no mood for badinage50. I was haunted by the imminent51 peril52 of our position and weighed down by my responsibility for the safety of this girl. So bluntly, for my nerves were on edge and every flowering bush seemed to conceal53 an enemy, I told her how things stood. She listened very quietly but when I had finished I noticed that her little air of raillery had gone.
"If you only knew," I concluded, "how bitterly I reproach myself for bringing you into this...."
"When you came on board the Naomi," Marjorie said gently, "you could not tell that you would be followed to the island."
"That," I rejoined rather forlornly, "is my only excuse."
We halted in the woods on coming in sight of the sea. The beach was deserted54, as we had left it, with the sea-birds wheeling ceaselessly over the bay and the tide lapping gently on the white sand.
"We shall have to hurry," I warned, "for we must be in our new retreat before it is dark."
I bade her wait there while I fetched from the cave the knapsack I had packed and the Winchester.
I advanced cautiously down the shore. I wondered what Grundt was doing. How oppressive the island silence was! It unsettled me. I thought of the strange unnatural56 hush57 which is said to precede an earthquake.
I bent58 down and lifted the pall59 of creeper screening the mouth of the cave. As I entered a bulky form rose up from one of the beds. There was no mistaking that massive figure, its slow, deliberate movement. I sprang back but the creeper hampered60 my movements and before I could gain the open, my shoulders were firmly grasped, my arms pinioned61. I sought to twist myself free but I was held by those who must have held a man before and I could barely struggle in that iron grip. As I thus stood helpless I heard Marjorie cry out.
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1
ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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3
chivalry
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| n.骑士气概，侠义；（男人）对女人彬彬有礼，献殷勤 | |
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uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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gulls
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| n.鸥( gull的名词复数 )v.欺骗某人( gull的第三人称单数 ) | |
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placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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chatter
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| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
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8
boulders
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| n.卵石( boulder的名词复数 )；巨砾；（受水或天气侵蚀而成的）巨石；漂砾 | |
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boulder
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| n.巨砾；卵石，圆石 | |
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desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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11
knuckles
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| n.（指人）指关节( knuckle的名词复数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝 | |
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12
backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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sleek
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| adj.光滑的，井然有序的；v.使光滑，梳拢 | |
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15
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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16
exulted
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| 狂喜，欢跃( exult的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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17
wilt
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| v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎；(指人)疲倦，衰弱 | |
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18
crumple
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| v.把...弄皱，满是皱痕，压碎，崩溃 | |
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brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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inert
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| adj.无活动能力的，惰性的；迟钝的 | |
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stiffen
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| v.(使)硬，(使)变挺，(使)变僵硬 | |
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elude
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| v.躲避，困惑 | |
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23
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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24
sob
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| n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣 | |
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25
dodged
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| v.闪躲( dodge的过去式和过去分词 )；回避 | |
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26
goggling
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| v.睁大眼睛瞪视， （惊讶的）转动眼珠( goggle的现在分词 ) | |
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sagging
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| 下垂[沉，陷]，松垂，垂度 | |
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crumpled
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| adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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29
dabbing
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| 石面凿毛，灰泥抛毛 | |
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30
gasps
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| v.喘气( gasp的第三人称单数 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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31
plaintively
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| adv.悲哀地，哀怨地 | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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33
eluding
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| v.（尤指机敏地）避开( elude的现在分词 )；逃避；躲避；使达不到 | |
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34
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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wreak
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| v.发泄；报复 | |
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36
cipher
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| n.零；无影响力的人；密码 | |
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37
snugly
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| adv.紧贴地；贴身地；暖和舒适地；安适地 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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prone
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| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
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40
slumbers
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| 睡眠，安眠( slumber的名词复数 ) | |
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41
mischievously
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| adv.有害地；淘气地 | |
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42
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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43
prospectors
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| n.勘探者，探矿者( prospector的名词复数 ) | |
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44
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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45
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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46
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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47
savagely
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| adv. 野蛮地，残酷地 | |
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48
sedately
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| adv.镇静地，安详地 | |
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49
galled
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| v.使…擦痛( gall的过去式和过去分词 )；擦伤；烦扰；侮辱 | |
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50
badinage
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| n.开玩笑，打趣 | |
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51
imminent
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| adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的 | |
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52
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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53
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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54
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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55
mellowing
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| 软化，醇化 | |
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56
unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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57
hush
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| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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58
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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59
pall
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| v.覆盖，使平淡无味；n.柩衣，棺罩；棺材；帷幕 | |
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60
hampered
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| 妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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61
pinioned
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| v.抓住[捆住]（双臂）( pinion的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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