THE MARRIAGE OF CAPTAIN KETTLE

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 57, 6 March 1912, Page 11

THE MARRIAGE OF CAPTAIN KETTLE

By C J. UJTCLIFFE HYNE

CHAPTER Xll—iContinued.) 6ir George Chesterm.in was impressed. •Violet, I wish to heaven you were back B t Las Palnias." "And I'm devoutedly glaa I'm not. Do vou think I'm not curious too?" "Oh, I'M admit your curiosity. But I'm getting to be of Captain Kettle'* opinion—the one thing we are reasonably lure of arriving at out of all thi=. is the unexpected. He said those fellow, were as busy as a hive of bee*. It will probably occur to your wisdom that bee? gometimes sting," and when they do they can be disgustingly dangerous. I re jseiriber once, when you were a small child, vou must needs stir up a hive in the Hall garden with a walking stick. 1 remember the way you got stung about the legs. Remarkably fine pair of legs. *oo you had at that time." •As 1 have now, and as they suit me dora to the ground you needn't refer to them further. But if you know bees .« zoing to sting, it's veiy easy to take precautions, and then they can't get at "I tried being a bee master once," said 6ir George, pulling the big retriever's "f'jjl gir, I envy you there. I always hope to retire from the sea some day, ,ad take up a country life." •'Then vou take my tip. and let bees -toM I "alwavs preferred to let thet other'expert handle them after I'd made the first few attempts." •■I think it would be most eomfortible. sir, if vou'd allow me just to run yon and the ladies back to Las Palmas first before we tackled the job. cir George Chesterman lay back in his thiir and laughed. "My good skipper." he said, "you're dangling the bait o1 a real lively new sensation before my no.->e, and then" vou propose to whisk it away. and put me back again in cotton wool. Oh, Diamond, Diamond, you little know what you have done." Captain Kettle pulled rather nervously it his red torpedo beard. "Than am I to understand, sir, that you " "I am here To watch this busine-s put through, and to help as far as I can. tou're the better man of the two, captain, in every way. an you "are in comrnnnrl now, and I wish you to remain in command. I here and now reiiign my billet nf idle passenger and critic of eockt:i:ls. I ask to serve under you. and am ready to take up any job Vou tliink I am capable of, from personal aide-de-camp down to assistant cook. Miss Enn also, if I know anything about her, will do every oun'C she can, and if unforfnr.ately anyone sets hurt, well —I believe she once picked up some hospital training the month she tired of the senFi'ion of beinjr sweet upon a doctor. TSir ship and all that's inside her is at ■yonr entire disposal, and if you want another ship and more men, sav the word, and I'll set them for you. I'd no idea rhffl we left England, we were going to e<ftr.«'«p against whut roots uncommonly fe i private war. but, by God, now VtPt! in for it, I'm going to sec it throaty

" Tie blood of the Chestermans is evidently stirred," said Violet. " I call upon you all to hear me deliberately utter the word Hooroo. Captain Kettle, I endorse my newly-awakened brother's words, I am yours to command."

"Sir and miss/' said the little sailor, fc you shall never regret the confidence liVwn in me, and 111 pull that steamboat out, if I have to murder half the niggers in Africa to get her clear. It's not tesiness, of course, to say such a thing, bat a job like this always comes in sweeter to one when it turns out a lot harder than one had any decent reason to expect. I tell vou there were nights when we were in the surf boat when we erept in to see what they were op to, when I could have sung to think •hat a hard nut that white man ashore wm baking for me to crack." "But I thought you were to make a map on one of the islets, and sleep in i tent?"

"That was the scheme, miss, but you •** with these Moors all over the place, it occurred to me that they could either •■ha or raft themselves across to the Muds at the other side of the Lagoon " they felt that way inclined, and' it's unpleasant having one's sleep disturbed. »> we Bred it out in the boat, and the **tsa below had the floorboards. Those *P of coal weren't wasted either. We *ei them as anchors for three of our ■«k buoys. You see, I didn't think J* *H worth while to go ashore and ™2d those leading marks I spoko about, °M»!tte it was as likely as not with a ■Wt white man to put them up to it, would pull them down and '*B9 them in other spots, so that anybelying on them to mn in by would W! up Ms ship on some reef he'd cafcu•W ll aToid - You sec - the trouble ™m the shore over yonder is that *jUl made to a pattern, with no out£7™* features that one can pick up 10 *M a hearing on." • * a* duT 1 took DO stove on the **»*■ «TP you COOk?" Uit , We > st ate our But I «. !i Md wero S lad !t ' tra s «tt en^S-"" 7 thc hands did ** raed S, «r, thu *' Md that ™ s the gall* not kL~* t D thls station n ad evidently ** ' ! at befoM ' and the Y thought 4»3 • v aem; and th «y followed us T WW night with their tired flap-flap-£2. JT svi ™ning , besl ae the boat, *«*«• E™f' f ßVer slee P in S- tDI the to in.,, iv- lose temper and wanted «4 to let'^ 63 - ° f Course ' X wa « n ' fc * for Waste vour cartridges, ttem t)»f D?atl ? r of Bel »tinient, and told •hat rt 7 kept aliTe - which w aa wouldn't* 7 Were paid fof - ne Wrds But I bJ"" 1 * to P** their eves out. .» COUH Bet them to see ifc 'WMnaU i ]USt to show TOU ho»- un**f «^*s*? ds are 1 a ° officer, I ereVy 0 7 at Fve had to attend to *ot»th7 of m y six— and most of them •eared at oace H uat because thev were •id il». eemg those birds alwavs there, «way 8 gtarmg at them those unwinking eyes." w »eman came up: "Chief Engineer ** eight kMte"* y ° U ' hC ' a S ° t Bt * am *«2ffi" S* Kettle. "Then, ler hi" s sir and miss, Til take «.*■' •* once." often'L* * much - term that one •ucb »„ J S to mariners that *°ald mi** U a " aa rrnS seaman." It Carttuf'tf"J?, e to Bee *•»** hihel put to «<«• tf h j; * le - Hu <*7 he was to tie •fcUful *'Lagers, and resourceful, and 'Mn,Treekie* ?1? noth ing else would WWltjiriT" • * be was nevßr a man i - n»K» with any Teasel under his

command, when those risks could be legitimately avoided.

He knew the caliabilities of the Wonga roo to the last ounce. Under his command she had been tuned up amongst other things to give a full knot more speed than she had logged in coming down the Xorth Sea. Yet (thanks to the genius of her designer) she was probably the unhandiest little thing of her size afloat, and there was no getting over the fact of those unpremeditated sheers out of her course. When the whim seized her, and from no other ascertainable cause, she would at intervals, and without the slightest warning, take a sudden lunge to starboard from which no amount of helm would steady her until she had had her fling. The which was an uncomfortable habit when one was navigating her down a narrow fairway.

The run in shore was unnerving I enough to the spectator. There was a moderate swell running, and, though the bottle-green water did not break unless it was especially irritated, here and there little annular gardens of surf spoke of dangers out of sight. As they drew nearer the shore, and rose them to the eye, many of the reefs protruded, and the passage grew more and more ugly. Dog teeth of rock suddenly bit their way through smooth, oily surfaces of the water, and as suddenly were Bheathed. and in other places smooth whale-backs of sand were for a moment uplifted and as quickly eclipsed.

"It isn't what you see in this beastly channel," Sir George muttered to his sister, "as what you don't see, that make the real dangers." "It's a regular maze," Violet agreed. '■' l can't think how anyone can thread it. What would happen, do you suppose, if we touched."

"The odds are, I should say, the swell would break her back within five minutes, and we should cither have to try the hotels on shore, or try a cruise in the boats. Beginning to be sorry you came, eld lady?" "I wouldn't miss it for a new set of furs. But if we're anxious, what must anvone responsible be?"

"If you mean the skipper, I've just walked forrard till I could get a look up at him. He's stuck there on the upper bridge looking like a graven image. The man at the wheel's got his eyes about a foot out of his head, and that fellow Smith that he's given brevet-rank to as third mate is hanging on to the engineroom telegraph as though it was the only friend he'd got left on earth. I took a look down the engine-room skylight as I passed, and saw the old chief caressing the throttle with his own fair fingers, and the great J.lcTodd in pairson standing by the reversing gear. Oh! I tell you, Violet, everybody's quite up to the importance of what's going on, and ready to do every inch he knows if he's called upon. Great Scott! what's that? Pooh, it was only the backwash of that surf hitting her. By the way the old tub trembled, I thought she'd bumped on a. rock."

In and out, first to starboard and then | to port, the Wongaroo wag danced, as the record of the hidden channel unreeled itself from Captain Kettle's brain, and was transmitted per orders and human hands to the powers that governed her. Twice an angle was too acute for her to turn in her stride, and Kettle had to send her hard astern on a reversed helm to get her r'ound. And up one narrow zigzag he backed boldly for a whole half mile, with only a narrow canal of deep water to allow for mistakes, and spouting reefs on either beam ready to account for the smallest error of judgment or performance. But still I object to the word daring. It was merely an exhibition of iron nerve accompanied by perfect skill. The water grew smoother as they, crept inside the shelter of the outer reefs, and the channel grew more intricate.

"I swear no steamboat could have dodged in here," said Sir George, after Kettle had taken the Wongaroo through a particularly intricate figure of eight, "without engines and a human crew to help her." "The answer to that statement is that she did," retorted his sister. "What I can't understand is how any man can store up in his head all these little bits of distances, and changes of coarse, without a mark to help him except those half-dozen trumpery buoys, and with prompt shipwreck as a penalty for the least mistake."

"To which I remark," was the brotherly reply, "that your own pet idol is doing it this minute before your very attractive eyes, so don't talk rot. Don't you thank you'd better go below and get the steward to give you a cup of tea?"

'T do not in the least. But I suppose that's an intimation that you think we're getting to the end of the trip, and that once round the comer our African brothers may shoot at us." "Yes—by Gad, though, Violet, I didn't know we were so close. There's the Norman Towers opening out from behind that bluff. Did you ever eee anything coated with a more flawless coat of rust? By Gad, look out!"

LrrstinatHwely Sir George stepped in front of his sister, who just as instinctively took hold of his loose, baggy, old shooting coat by the rear to drag him aside.

Tlxen there came to them the shattering roar of a braes gun, loaded with black powder, and fired at close quarters, the crash of a etone shot impacting on iron plates, and presently the tinkle of the gravel to which the shot had been reduced, dropping down upon their heads and into the water alongside, in a miniature hailstorm. Sir George glanced up at the tipper 'bridge. The little sailor, binoculars in hand, cold cigar between his teeth, was standing there unruffled, and fully occupied in his pilotage. CHAPTER XHI. SAINT M. BEBGASH, B A. Sir George Chesterman put down the glasses and relit his pipe. I'm hanged if I can make out those heaps of chocolate-coloured stone you told us about, skipper. There's the cliff all right that you said they were quarrying from, but the shore below it is swept as clean as the floor of a ball-room." "Yes, sir. That's one of the things that's bothering me a good deal." "And I suppose the other is: Where have our dusky friends all bolted to? They bang off their tin cannon at us just as might have been expected, and then, instead of putting up the battle which one might reasonably suppose ought to follow, they calmly vanish.

Dyou suppose they're just lying doggo j under decks till we are kind enough to ciur I

It's possible, sir."

"With their poekete full of paving stones, the aforesaid, to fire at us when Wt pull alongside? By the way, could they have pocketed all the stone you saw?"

"Xo, sir, certainly not. There must have been thousands of tons of it. They were working, working, working, day after day, many hundreds of them. Indeed, the more I think of it the more I am convinced the heaps didnt grow as they ought to have done." "Why, what do vou mean?"

''lt almost seems as if they must have been carting it away under cover of night whilst we were hanging about here in the surf boats, and then as soon as our .backs are turned off goes the rest of it. As you say, sir, the beach now « swept as clear as a chapel floor over all the space behind the Towers and up to the foot of the cliff."

"Well," said Sir George, "they can't have evaporated into thin air, all of them. Suppose we just sit down and smoke for half-an-hour, and see if we can't spot someone peeping at us either from the steamer or behind some bit of cover on the land side." "With ladief to take care of here on board," said Captain Kettle with a sigh, "that's the .best thing we can do. We must move very cautious. We can't afford to take the usual men's risks."

So they set to work with binoculars and telescopes to search for what they could find. On the Atlantic side the scheme of the land and seascape was simple enough. There was a long, straggling row of reefs and islets, noisy on the outer edges with a white frill of surf, and apparently tenanted only by seafowl. A Moor or two might certainly have been hidden in unseen folds of the larger dunes, but the mode of their ferriage across the Lagoon was not apparent, and it was hardly likely they would have cut themselves adrift from any possible base. Africa, on the other side of the lagoon, presented in that latitude an edge as straight as if it had been ruled, with the one exception of a small curved peninsula like a human fist and arm, mainly of chocolate-coloured rock, which was thrust out into the lagoon, and in the hollow of this, the crook of the arm, so to speak, the Xorman Towers was harboured. Beyond the straight edge of the hot yellow beach lay dunes of sand which bristled here and there with clumps of dry grey grass.

"I can gee birds running in and out of those grass tufts." said Kettle, peering through his long, old-fashioned ship's telescope. "They don't seem worried. They aren't attempting to fly. That shows there are no men about."

"Here's where I come in," said Sir George with a laugh. "Those are Barbary partridge, and about the most unsporting game bird to shoot at on the face of Africa. You have almost to kick them up before they'll rise to be comfortably shot. Try further, skipper." The heads of live-oaks and argan trees showed .beyond the dunes, stretching over a wide flat, and then there were scrubclad foothills and then steeper slopes that ran back into colossal mountains.

"The Atlas, I suppose those big lumps at the hack," said Sir Oeorge. "Don't know, sir. I'm a sailor, and my geography doesn't go inland past the beach."

"I think all the big mountains that run out to the .Atlantic about here belong to the Atlas Bangs, or one of its spun. Is that cloud up at the top there, 6»> you suppose, or snow?" "It mar be either."

"And there may be villages to any extent, or even towns for that matter, tucked away out of our sight in the valleys and folds of that range, and we should be none the wiser. Pm afraid, skipper, we can't trace the barracks of your black regiment by merely staring at the countryside."

"Just take a line. sir. pltease, over that palm tree with the stem like a catapult. D'ye' cull that blue haze just a bit of heat mist, or is it cooking smoke?" The sailor stared, and his employer stared, and again they decided that it mieht be either.

"If you very knowing people," said Violet Chesterman. "will .bring your eyes nearer home and take a look at the partridges again, you'll see they're all tending to run one wav, and that's north. And those do*ty little things amongst them are quail 1 , I suppose?" "And by gad, skipper, look there; did you see that ? And he was heading north, too."

"I saw a big animal, sir." "Moroccan wild boar, and bolting like a good-un, wasn't he? Kow. his eminence the pig doesn't run out of the way of one man, nor, if he's that way out, will he sometimes shift for forty. I should say there's distinct reason to expect visitors presently down at the southern end of the beach there."

"That's at the back of the Xorman Towers, sir, where they were before. Almost looks as if the first comers had padded a good .hard road to that point, and late callers stick to the same track. Well, H 'will simplify matters if they make a rule of that."

'The range from here to there is, say, four hundred and fifty, or perhaps five hundred yards. Shooting will be a bit difficult across sand in this heat, because of the refraction, but we ought to get on to the target after a shot or two. What do you say if we point out when they begin to arrive that -we regard this section of the Continent as part of the British Empire, and that this isn't our at-home dayf

"I want yon to remember, sir, as I'm remembering." said Captain Kettle, patiently, "that we've got ladies on board and can't afford to make mistakes. I know it means that we shall miss some fun. But I want them to be allowed to make the first moves." "Then," said Sir George, "that puts mv rifle out of action for the time being, and. bv the Speaker's Eye, there's the mark!" (To be continued on Saturday).