Dr. Fabos Hears the News.
We rowed to the yacht without an instant’s delay and made known the good news to the crew. Their cheers must certainly have been heard by half the population of Villa1 do Porto. Quite convinced that the Jap would fetch me out of the trap, Captain Larry had ordered a supper to be prepared in the cabin, and hardly were we aboard when the corks2 were popping and the hot meats served. It was touching3 to witness the good fellows’ delight, expressed in twenty ways as seamen4 will—this man by loud oaths, another by stupefied silence, a third by incoherent roaring, a fourth by the exclamatory desire that he might not find salvation5. A man learns by misfortune by what measure of love his friends estimate him. In my case I learned it upon the deck of the White Wings, and have never forgotten the lesson.
Okyada, be sure, was the hero of the hour, and we had him down to the cabin immediately, and there pledged him in our saki that comes to us by way of Rheims. So much there was to tell upon both sides that neither side knew where to begin. Strangely elated myself, and suffering from the reaction of the nerves which sets a man walking upon air, I told them very briefly6 that I had been trapped to the hills, not by stratagem7, but by force, and that if they had come an hour later, it would have been to a sepulchre. On their side, the strident voice of Timothy related twenty circumstances in a breath, and unfailingly began in the middle of his story and concluded with the beginning.
“We presented ourselves to the authorities as ye ordered us to do, and bad cess to them, they had no English at all to speak of. That was after me friend, Larry, had hunted the innkeeper round the town for to keep him humble8 in spirit. I went to the Consul’s man and says I, ‘’Tis an Englishman I am upon the high seas though of another nation ashore9, and treat us civilly,’ says I, ‘or be damned if I don’t wipe the floor with ye.’ ’Twas a mellow-faced party, and not to be made much of. The gendarmes10 were no better. There was wan11 av them that had a likeness12 to the Apostle John, but divil a word of a sane13 man’s gospel could I get out of the fellow. The tale went that ye had gone to St. Michael’s, and ’twas by your own will that ye went. I made my compliments to the man who said it, and told him he was a liar14. Ean, me bhoy, your friend Fordibras and his friend the Hebrew Jew have bought this island body and soul. The very cable shakes hands with them. We had to go to St. Michael’s to send a bit of a message at all.”
I interrupted him sharply.
“Did you send the cables, then, Timothy?”
“Would I be after not sending them? And me friend in his grave! They went the day before yesterday. ’Twill be like new wine to Dr. Ean, says I, dead or alive. So we sailed to St. Michael’s. Your fine fellow of a Jap, he was alone twenty hours in the hills. Man, he has the eyes, the ears, the feet of a serpent, and if he’s not a match for the Jew divil, may I never drink champagne15 again.”
I assented16 a little gravely. His news meant very much to me. You must know that, before I landed at Villa do Porto at all, I had entrusted17 to Timothy and to Captain Larry certain messages which were to be cabled to Europe in the gravest emergency only. These messages would tell Scotland Yard; they would make known to the Government and to the Admiralty, and even more important than these, to the great diamond houses, that which I knew of the Jew, Val Imroth, and of his doings upon the high seas. From this time forth18 the warships19 of three nations would be scouring20 the ocean for such witnesses to my story as only the ocean could betray. If, from one point of view, I welcomed the thought, a shadow already lay upon my satisfaction. For if Imroth were arrested, and with him the man known as General Fordibras, what, then, of Joan and her fortunes? These men, I believed, were capable of any infamy21. They might well sacrifice the child to their desire for vengeance22 upon the man who had discovered them. They might even bring her to the bar of a Court of Justice, charged as an accomplice23 in these gigantic thefts they had committed so many years. To this end they had put my stolen jewels about her neck, and so baited their devilish trap from the earliest hours. I am convinced now that their ultimate object was murder—when it could be safely done, and when the whole of my story was known to them.
“You sent the cables two days ago, Timothy—and what then?” I asked him, not wishing to make too much of it before them. “Have you had any reply from Murray?”
Captain Larry intervened, pointing out that the cables had been sent from St. Michael’s.
“We had to get the ship back, sir,” he said. “I was determined24 not to leave this place without you if we waited here a twelvemonth. As for the authorities, it was, as Mr. McShanus says, all blubber and fingers, and the General’s money hot in their pockets. When we got back from St. Michael’s, the little Jap came down to the harbour with his story. You were up in the hills, he said, and there was a spring to be dammed to get you out. He had done what he could, rolling the rocks into the water with his own hands until he could hardly stand upright for fatigue25, but we sent a boat’s crew up last night and another to-night, and they played bowls with the stones like the good men they are. I would have gone down with your servant, but he’d the conceit26 to go alone. It’s natural to such a man—no words, no fuss, just a coil of rope about his waist and a couple of revolvers in his hands. He took the Scotch27 boatswain because he says Scotchmen give nothing away—‘Honourable Englishmen too much tongue,’ he says. I left it with him, because I believe he spoke28 the straight truth. When he had gone up we posted a couple of men on the shore here, and Mr. McShanus and I took our stand at the cliff’s head. We hadn’t been there more than half an hour when the first of the rifle-shots was fired. We saw a number of men on the hill-side, and they had fired a rifle for a signal, as we supposed, to others on the shore below. By-and-by we heard another rifle-shot, but saw no one. A little while after that you came down.”
I told them that there were two men stone dead at the entrance to the tunnel, and this astonished them greatly. We could only surmise29 that the Jew’s sentinels had quarrelled amongst themselves, and that the second of the shots had been fired by a wounded man as his comrade emerged from the tunnel. Be it as it might, the hazardous30 nature of my escape became plainer every moment. It needed but Larry’s intimation that a steamer had left the island two hours ago to tell me that my life had been saved almost as by a miracle.
“They have heard from Europe that the game is up, and are running to another haven,” I said. “There was no longer anything to be got from me, so out came their pistols. If they touch at any port north of Tangier, the police will lay hands upon them. That is not likely. My own opinion is that they are running for the great ship which we saw drifting out there in mid-Atlantic. If it is correct, the game becomes exciting. We can leave no message which can be safely delivered. Should the Government send a cruiser, the officer of it will hardly set out for a blind-man’s bluff31. If we had coal enough ourselves?——”
Captain Larry interrupted me with scarce an apology.
“That was one of my reasons for going to St. Michael’s, doctor. Mr. McShanus will tell you that we were lucky. We filled our bunkers—at a stiff price, but still we filled them. The yacht is ready to put to sea this instant if you so desire it.”
His news both amazed and troubled me. I will not deny that I had been much tempted32 to stand by the island until I had definite news of Joan Fordibras and her safety. And now the clear call came to embark33 without an instant’s delay upon a quest which I owed both to myself and to humanity. Undoubtedly34 I believed that the Jew had taken refuge upon the Diamond Ship. Behind that belief there stood the black fear that he might have carried the child with him to be a hostage for himself and his fellow rogues35, and to stand between my justice and his punishment. This I knew to be possible. And if it were so, God help her amid that crew of cut-throats and rogues, hidden from justice upon the unfrequented waters of the Southern Ocean.
But it might not be so, and pursuit of them might leave her to perils36 as great, and insult as sure, in one or other of those criminal dens37 the rogues had built for themselves in the cities of Europe. Surely was it a memorable38 hour and manifest of destiny when it found the yacht ready to put to sea without delay.
“Captain,” said I, “do the men understand that this is a voyage from which none of us may return?”
“They so understand it, Dr. Fabos.”
“And do they consent willingly?”
“Turn back, and you are upon the brink39 of a mutiny.”
“Then let us go in God’s name,” said I; “now, this very hour, let us do that duty to which we are called.”
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1
villa
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| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
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corks
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| n.脐梅衣；软木( cork的名词复数 )；软木塞 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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seamen
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| n.海员 | |
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salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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6
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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stratagem
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| n.诡计，计谋 | |
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humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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9
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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10
gendarmes
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| n.宪兵，警官( gendarme的名词复数 ) | |
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11
wan
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| (wide area network)广域网 | |
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12
likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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13
sane
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| adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的 | |
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14
liar
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| n.说谎的人 | |
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15
champagne
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| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
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16
assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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17
entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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18
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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warships
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| 军舰，战舰( warship的名词复数 )； 舰只 | |
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scouring
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| 擦[洗]净，冲刷，洗涤 | |
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infamy
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| n.声名狼藉，出丑，恶行 | |
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22
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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23
accomplice
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| n.从犯，帮凶，同谋 | |
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24
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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26
conceit
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| n.自负，自高自大 | |
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27
scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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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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29
surmise
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| v./n.猜想，推测 | |
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30
hazardous
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| adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的 | |
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31
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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32
tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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33
embark
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| vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机 | |
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34
undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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rogues
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| n.流氓( rogue的名词复数 )；无赖；调皮捣蛋的人；离群的野兽 | |
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perils
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| 极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境） | |
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37
dens
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| n.牙齿，齿状部分；兽窝( den的名词复数 )；窝点；休息室；书斋 | |
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memorable
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| adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的 | |
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brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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