Lawless was at Clubfoot's throat, worrying him like a terrier with a rat. Then, of a sudden, Carstairs and Mackay were there, twisting together with a leathern thong5 those great hairy wrists, one of which dripped blood. I stood helpless, watching, as in a dream, Garth raise up his daughter and rock her still form in his arms. In her right hand she still clasped my automatic with which she had saved my life.
There was a shrill6 cry from the entrance of the hollow. With skirts flying Yvonne, Marjorie's French maid, darted7 in. "O, ma chérie! Ma chérie!" she moaned as with tears rolling down her face, she dropped to her knees by the girl's side. Now Garth was holding a flask8 to his daughter's lips. Presently to my unspeakable relief, she stirred slightly, then opened her eyes.
"I'm all right," she murmured, "quite all right really! Ah! Yvonne!"
And she closed her eyes again.
Garth stood up, a tall and commanding figure of a man in his spotless white drill, and looked at me, tatterdermalion that I was, with a four days' growth of beard and unkempt hair, my clothes torn and stained, my boots gashed9 almost to ribbons by those cruel rocks.
"She's only fainted," he replied. "My poor, poor lass...."
Then, swallowing his feelings, he demanded fiercely:
"Where is this man Custrin?"
"Dead," I answered. "I shot him...."
What had happened in the forest had seemed natural enough. But, with the Naomi, civilisation12 had returned to Cock Island and my admission sounded horribly cold-blooded in my ears. As briefly13 as might be, but without concealing14 any salient fact, I told Garth the story of what had supervened after his departure with Carstairs. With ill-concealed impatience15 and with reddening cheeks he listened to my tale; but he grew too angry to hear me to the end. When I told him how I had come upon Marjorie in the room behind the galley16 he burst out in fury.
"So this is the end of your wild-goose chase! My little girl, alone and unprotected, in the hands of these savages17! By God, Major Okewood, if any harm has come to her through your doing...."
"When I asked your help to get to Cock Island, Sir Alexander," I answered, "I had no means of knowing where this adventure would lead us. Nor had I any suspicion that I would, that I could, be followed. Otherwise I should never...."
He cut me short with an angry gesture of the hand.
"I don't want to hear any more. It is no thanks to you that my poor girl has not lost her life through your reckless folly18. I had my doubts all along as to how far I could trust myself to your judgment19. If I had any idea that you and that blackguardly doctor between you would have dragged my little girl into it...."
This was too much even from a distraught parent.
"It was none of my doing that Miss Garth came ashore20," I retorted hotly. "And as for Custrin, it was you who unhesitatingly accepted him at face value. You even suggested that he should join our expedition...."
"But for you, Custrin would never have come on board. You'll not contest that, I suppose? I wish to Heaven the Naomi had never seen you...."
"I can only say how very deeply I regret the terrible experience Miss Garth had to undergo," I began.
But he only snorted.
"I don't want to hear any more from you!" he retorted and walked away.
I was keenly aware of the hostile atmosphere he radiated and it added to my utter sense of forlornness. But Lawless was speaking to me, as I stood dumbfounded, clapping me on the back, asking if I were all right.
"The gang's hooked it," he chuckled21. "With the report of the Naomi's gun they must have just bolted off to their launch in Sturt Bay, way across the island, leaving their skipper to his fate. A dangerous man, that, major! We saw the launch.... it's a sea-going submarine chaser.... crossing the bar and making for the open sea. Sir Alexander was all for my going after 'em. But I told him it was no good with their start...."
Then he told me of the immense surprise which the appearance of the Naomi's launch had occasioned on board the yacht as she lay off Alcedo Rock.
"When the old man found that I had let Miss Garth ashore with the doctor," the captain continued, "I thought he was going out of his mind. He raged like a wild man. Whew! but it was hot work for a bit. He called me every name he could lay his tongue to and I'm damned if I know whether I'm in his service yet or know. I've been carpeted once or twice in my time and talked to rough but I never did see such a dido as Sir Alexander raised! And he's fighting mad with you, too....."
"I have the same impression myself!" I answered.
"We put about at once," Lawless resumed, "and ran for the island. Jock Mackay crammed22 on every ounce of steam he could raise. He had nightmare every night thinking of the coal-bill! We dropped anchor off the bar and took the launch ashore at once. As we came in through the lagoon23, I caught through my glasses the flash of your heliograph from the cliffs in the centre of the island. So directly we landed we made for the high ground...."
"I hadn't a notion how to let you know where we were," said I, "until I thought of the mirror. It was rather a forlorn hope because, as you saw, things were getting a bit pressing when you arrived...."
Someone touched my elbow. Mackay stood there.
"Yon great Gairman is asking to speak with you!"
They had stretched Clubfoot out on his blankets beneath the tree. I hate to see a man trussed up anyway, and a queer sort of misguided pity stole into my heart as I looked down on Grundt, whom I had feared so greatly, strapped24 hand and foot.
At my approach he opened his eyes. They were still grim and fearless.
"If my men had come," he said truculently25, "you would never have escaped. But they ran and left me,—von Hagel, a German officer, with the rest. Truly, I begin to think the sun has set on my unfortunate country!"
He checked and seemed to think.
"Young man, young man, that you had known me in my prime! But the foundations of my life have been knocked away. Okewood, I am getting old!"
The perspiration26 was damp on his brow. I could see the sweat glisten27 on the bristles28 of his iron-grey hair.
"In my day, in the years of Germany's greatness, I was all-puissant! I had but one master—the Emperor himself! No one—no one, do you understand?—not the Imperial Chancellor29 nor even the head of the Civil Cabinet, who was a greater man than he—dare give me—der Stelze, orders! Yet I had no official position! My name was in no Rang-Liste and I held no decorations. Der Stelze was not to be bought by those glittering crosses and stars with which so many of my fellow-countrymen loved to hang themselves! No, I was the secret power of the throne, the instrument of His Majesty30. And, with this one exception, the highest in the land trembled at my name...."
His voice sounded tired; and it seemed to me that, of a sudden, he had, in truth, become an old man. His figure had relaxed; he appeared to have grown grosser of body than of yore; the flesh of his face was sagging32 and his cheeks had fallen in.
"This was to have been the last adventure," he resumed and stared at me defiantly33, "the last of how many? Friends of my master told me of this hoard34 and delegated me to proceed to Central America to track it down. What they would have given me for my pains would have sufficed to enable me to realise my dream of settling down on a little property I have in Baden, and of passing the evening of my days in peace...."
"And what did your friends want the money for?" I asked.
"That," retorted Grundt proudly, "is the business of my master!"
His words gave me my answer; for I knew of the existence of secret funds destined35 to bring the Hohenzollerns back to the throne which they had so shamefully36 abandoned.
"You matched yourself against me, Okewood," Grundt said suddenly, "at a time when already the axe31 was laid at the roots of the German oak. In the long seclusion37 which followed my wound—they found it necessary, as you know, to give out that I was dead—I used sometimes to think that our duel38 was a miniature reproduction of the struggle between Germany and England. And in neither case am I quite clear as to why the Engl?nder won!"
"Perhaps it was a case of conscience, Herr Doktor?"
The German looked up at me in surprise.
Lawless at my side uttered a loud exclamation40. He was bending down over the blankets.
"The treasure!" he exclaimed, "by gum, you've found it!"
And he held up a shining piece of gold.
Funny, I had forgotten all about it.
"On those blankets, captain," said I, "you'll find all the treasure we're ever likely to get out of Cock Island. I located the hiding-place all right. But the treasure's gone. There are fifteen gold-pieces there—I counted them. That's all that's left of it...."
"Then that was why the gang was in such a hurry to be off!" cried Lawless.
I shook my head.
"They didn't find the treasure either," I replied. "Somewhere scattered44 among the rocky ravines and valleys of this island, a hundred thousand pounds in American eagles and German twenty-mark pieces are lying. Old Man Destiny had it in for us, captain. He sent a volcanic45 eruption46 which blew the treasure sky-high!"
"Jimini!" exclaimed Lawless in a hushed voice.
"It's an awfu' pity!" ejaculated Mackay mournfully.
Yvonne came. Marjorie was asking for me, she said. I found her sitting up, Garth at her side. The light was slowly mellowing47 and the sinking sun cast long shadows across the hollow. The sky was all marbled with red and gold flecks48.
Rather shyly Marjorie thrust a slim white hand into mine. It may have been my fancy; but I think I saw Garth wince49.
"So you did come out on top after all?" she said. "Sit down there beside Daddy and tell me all about it from the beginning. You found the treasure then?"
"I found where it had been hid," I replied. "But it had vanished...."
"Vanished?" cried Marjorie, and I swear there was dismay in her voice.
"Vanished?" echoed Garth.
"That was part of one box which had survived the volcanic eruption which scattered Ulrich von Hagel's horde51 to the four winds. You remember that wisp of smoke we saw rising from the hillside in front of the great image? Well, I discovered that it came from a deep fissure52 in the mountainside at the foot of the idol53. From the little cairn of stones, which still stands on the edge of the cliff, it was clear that the treasure had been stored in a cave which appears to have been hollowed out of the rock in front of the idol.
"Where that cave was is now a yawning hole belching54 forth55 smoke and streams of lava56. In fact, as far as I can judge, the treasure was blown clean out of the mountainside. That this surmise57 is correct is shown, I think, by my discovery of the remains58 of a wooden box in which were still a few gold pieces. Other fragments of charred59 wood were scattered around. For the rest the treasure is gone and will never be recovered!"
Marjorie's eyes rested mournfully on my face; but I could not meet her gaze.
"But how did you discover all this?"
"The passage by which I escaped from the burial-chamber brought me out within a hundred yards of the image. The sulphur fumes60 from the fresh cone61 of the volcano caught me by the throat directly I emerged into the open. My one idea was to find you. So I crammed the gold pieces in my pocket and made for Horseshoe Bay to see if the yacht had returned. Finding no sign of her or you I started to reconnoitre. I guessed that Clubfoot and his party would be watching somewhere near the terraced rock and sure enough, as I was prowling in the undergrowth near here, I saw the whole gang file out towards the rock. I watched where they had come from and creeping up saw you and Grundt in conversation. The only thing that mattered then was to get you out of Grundt's clutches. I saw no signs of any guards but I made sure that Clubfoot would have help within easy reach. As I was turning things over in my mind I heard the Naomi's gun. So I decided62 to risk everything on a final bluff42 and I acted at once...."
"When they told me you were not in the cave," said Marjorie, "I couldn't believe my ears. How on earth did you manage to escape?"
"Well," I replied, "you remember that stone table on which the mummies lay? Under one of them I found, let in the table, a flat stone carved with a turtle. I don't know whether you realise the significance of that sign. The turtle was the mark of that celebrated63 buccaneer, Captain Roberts, who, in the old days, was a great man in these waters. The buccaneers are known to have used Cock Island for obtaining fresh meat and water—you can read about it in the 'Sailing Directions'—so the sign of the turtle set me thinking.
"I tried to get the stone up but it was firmly cemented in the table. However, in my pushing and thrusting I leant against the table edge and suddenly the whole top swung round outwards64 into the cave leaving a hole about five feet deep. The hole was the opening of a passage several hundred yards long which led into the open air——"
"But how did you manage to close the opening behind you?"
"Quite simply. I arranged the mummies as they were before, covering the turtle stone, then standing65 in the hole I drew the table-top back into place again. It is quite solid and does not ring hollow—the simplest and neatest device of its kind I ever saw. Roberts and his men must have used the burial-chamber for some sort of secret meetings, I imagine. Perhaps in their day Cock Island was inhabited...."
There was so much I had to ask, so much I would have said. But the presence of her father, dour66 and intractable, threw an invisible bar between us. I felt embarrassed and miserable—because I realised I suppose, that our island dream was at an end.
"It is getting dark," said Garth, standing up. "Come, Marjie, it's time we were back on board!"
He did not include me in the summons. Yet I should have to sail with him again. He could not maroon67 me there.
"Only as far as the beach," I replied. "We have to decide what's to be done with our friend yonder...."
"I'll come on board later," I said, "if Sir Alexander will allow me...."
"We must, of course, take Major Okewood back with us to Rodriguez," Garth observed stiffly.
"Daddy!" she cried indignantly.
We went down to the shore in silence. As we emerged from the woods, John Bard71 came striding up the beach.
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1
placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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thong
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| n.皮带；皮鞭；v.装皮带 | |
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shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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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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flask
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| n.瓶，火药筒，砂箱 | |
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gashed
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| v.划伤，割破( gash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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10
faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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11
gulped
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| v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的过去式和过去分词 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住 | |
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12
civilisation
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| n.文明，文化，开化，教化 | |
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briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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14
concealing
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的现在分词 ) | |
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15
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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galley
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| n.（飞机或船上的）厨房单层甲板大帆船；军舰舰长用的大划艇； | |
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17
savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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18
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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21
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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crammed
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| adj.塞满的，挤满的；大口地吃；快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满；填入；临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式) | |
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23
lagoon
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| n.泻湖，咸水湖 | |
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24
strapped
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| adj.用皮带捆住的，用皮带装饰的；身无分文的；缺钱；手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词)；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带 | |
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25
truculently
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perspiration
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| n.汗水；出汗 | |
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glisten
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| vi.（光洁或湿润表面等）闪闪发光，闪闪发亮 | |
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28
bristles
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| 短而硬的毛发，刷子毛( bristle的名词复数 ) | |
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29
chancellor
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| n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长 | |
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30
majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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32
sagging
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| 下垂[沉，陷]，松垂，垂度 | |
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33
defiantly
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| adv.挑战地，大胆对抗地 | |
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34
hoard
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| n./v.窖藏，贮存，囤积 | |
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35
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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shamefully
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| 可耻地； 丢脸地； 不体面地； 羞耻地 | |
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seclusion
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| n.隐遁，隔离 | |
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38
duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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39
warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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40
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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41
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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42
bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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43
bluffing
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| n. 威吓，唬人 动词bluff的现在分词形式 | |
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44
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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45
volcanic
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| adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的 | |
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46
eruption
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| n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作 | |
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47
mellowing
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| 软化，醇化 | |
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48
flecks
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| n.斑点，小点( fleck的名词复数 )；癍 | |
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49
wince
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| n.畏缩，退避，（因痛苦，苦恼等)面部肌肉抽动；v.畏缩，退缩，退避 | |
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50
queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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51
horde
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| n.群众，一大群 | |
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52
fissure
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| n.裂缝；裂伤 | |
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53
idol
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| n.偶像，红人，宠儿 | |
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54
belching
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| n. 喷出，打嗝 动词belch的现在分词形式 | |
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55
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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56
lava
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| n.熔岩，火山岩 | |
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57
surmise
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| v./n.猜想，推测 | |
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58
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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59
charred
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| v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式)；烧焦 | |
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60
fumes
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| n.(强烈而刺激的)气味，气体 | |
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61
cone
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| n.圆锥体，圆锥形东西，球果 | |
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62
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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63
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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64
outwards
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| adj.外面的，公开的，向外的；adv.向外；n.外形 | |
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65
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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66
dour
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| adj.冷酷的，严厉的；（岩石）嶙峋的；顽强不屈 | |
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67
maroon
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| v.困住，使（人）处于孤独无助之境；n.逃亡黑奴；孤立的人；酱紫色，褐红色；adj.酱紫色的，褐红色的 | |
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68
tact
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| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
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69
obtrude
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| v.闯入；侵入；打扰 | |
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70
Flared
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| adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
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71
bard
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| n.吟游诗人 | |
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