Chapter XXV.

Otago Witness, Issue 1917, 17 August 1888, Page 30

Chapter XXV.

We Sight a Ship. It was like coming out of a sepulchre to step from that forecastle on deck, where the glorious sun was, and the swaying shadow;:, and where the wind gushed in a soft breathing over the bulwark rails, with weight enough in it to hold the canvas stirlegs, and to raise a gentle hissing alongside like the seething of champagne. I spied Vanderdecken on the poop, and. near him Imogene, so I hastened aft to greet the girl and salute' the great bearded figure that nobly towered beside her. She looked fragrant and sweet as a white rose in the dewy morn, wore a straw hat turned up on one side and looped to stay there with a parti-coloured rosette ; and though this ribbon was faded with age, and the straw yellow and dull through keeping the gear did' suit her oeauty most divinely ; and I could have knelt and kissed her hand, so complete a princess did she appear in the royal perfections of her countenance and shape. To turn from the spark of her violet eye, the rosincss of her lip, the life that teemed in the expression of her face, like a blushing light shining through fragile porcslain, to turn from her to the great silent figure near her, with piercing gaze directed over the taff-rail, his beard trembling to the downrush of air from the mizzen, was to obtain aproper contrast to enable you to realise in the aspect of that amazing person the terrible conditions of his existence and the enormous significance of his sentence. . With a smile of pleasure at the sight of me, Imogene bade me good-morning, saying, " I am before you, for the first time since you have been in the ship." " I was out of my cabin half an hour ago, perhaps longer," said I. " What think you I have been doing? Exploring the sailors' quarters and inspecting the kitchen." And 1 tossed up my hands and turned up my eyes that she might guess what I thought of those places. Then meeting Vanderdccken's gaze, which he had brought to bear upon me with a frowning roll of the eyes, I took off my hat, giving him a bow. ile greeted me in his imperious stormy way, and asked me what I thought of his ship. I replied, " She is a very fine vessel, sir." " Did they lift the hatches to show tho cargo to you ?'" he exclaimed. I answered smartly, " No," perceiving that he was aware I had been below in the forepart. " How does my forecastle show to your English prejudice?" he said. '•"Oh, mynheer !" said I, smiling with a

look at Imogene, whose eyes were fixed in the quarter over the stern into which Vanderdecken had been staring,' "so far from 1 Englishmen being prejudiced, at all events in naval matters, we are continually taking ideas from other nations, particularly from the French, whose ships of war we imitate and admire. Perhaps,'' said I, " that is one of the reasons why we are incessantly capturing the vessels' of that nation." But the conceit was lost, because this man had flourished before we had become the terror of the French that our admirals have since marie the English flag to be. Imogens cried out ia Dutch, "Do you know, Mr Fenton, that there is a sail in sight?" My heart gave a bound, and following the indication of her ivory-white ■ forefinger, which pointed directly astern, I saw the tiny gleam of what was unquestionably a skip's canvas, resembling the curved tip of a guli's wing. '• Ay, to be sure, yonder's a sail 1" I exclaimed, after keeping my ej'es fixed upon it a while to make sure, and I added in Dutch, " Which way, madame, does the captain say she is steering ?" " Directly after us," she replied. "Judge for yourself, sir," said Vanderdecken, motioning with his hand toward a telescope that 'stood against the deckhouse. It was the ancient, heavy tube I had observed in his cabin. I picked it up, rested it upon the rail — it was too weighty for the support of my left hand — and worked away wit hit at the sail astern. It was a feeble old glass, magnifying, 1 should suppose, to the proportion of a crown to a groat. In fact I could see as well with the naked eye. It was Vanderdecken's telescope, however;, and a curiosity; and still -feigning to view the sail, I secretly ran my eye over the tubes, noticing, in very faint letters, the words, " Cornelius Van der Decken, Amsterdam, 1650," graved in flowing characters upon the large tube. •'She is heading after us, you think, mynheer ?" said Vanderdecken, as I rose. " I could not say, sir. Has she grown since you first observed her." " Yes." He took the glass and levelled it very easily, and I met 'Imogene's gaze as she glanced from him to me, as though she was sure I could not but admire the 1 massive, manly figure of that man. drawn to his full height, and in such a posture as one would love to see him painted in. "•She is certainly steering our course," said he, speaking with his eye at the tube. " I hope she may not prcve an English man-of-war. Who can tell ? If a merchantman, be her nationality what it may, we'll speak her for tobacco, for that's a commodity we must have." I looked earnestly and with a face flushed with hope at Imogene; but she glanced away from me to the sail, signalling to me by this action in a manner unmislakeable, to be wary. Vanderdecken put down the glass, cast "a look aloft at the set of his canvas and the 1 trim of his yards, and then called to Arents to heave the log. Some seaman came aft, in response to the second mate's call, and, bringing out a reel and sand glass from the deck-house, measured the speed of the ship through the water, precisely as we at this day do, so ancient is this simple device of •telling a-ship's speed of passage through the' water by paying out a line marked with knots to the running of sand ! I heard Arents say that the vessel was going three knots and a-half. "At that rate," said I to Imogene, whilst Vanderdecken remained aft, watching in a soulless manner the automaton- like motions of the men engaged in hauling the litie' in and reeling it up, " that vessel yonder, if she be actually heading our way, will soon overhaul us." "Mr Fenton," said she, with subdued energy 'in her soft voice, "I earnestly pray you, neither by word, look, or sign to give Captain Vanderdecken the least reason to suspect that you mean to escape from liis ship and rescue me whenever the chance shall oiler. I will tell you why I say this : just now he spoke of you to me, and said if an opportunity offered he should put you on board any vessel that would-receive you, no matter where she was bound to, and then he asked what you and I chiefly talked about. There was more sternness in his manner than ever I recollect in him when addressing me." % " "If I thought him capable of human emotions," said I " I should reckon him jeal- 1 ous." "But he has human emotions — he loves his wife and children," she replied. " Ay, but who is to know that that love is j not left to linger in him as a part of his curse?" said I. "By which I mean, if he was not suffered to remember his wife and children and love them, he might not show himself very eager to round the Cape. Possibly he wants to get rid of me, not because he dislikes me as a man, but because that malignant baboon, Van Vogelaar, may have been speaking against me, putting fears into his head touching his treasure, and working upon his duty as a Hollander — a compatriot of De Rnyter, God help him — to hate me as an Englishman." " But he loves me too, Mr Fenton," said she. "As a father might," said I, not liking this, yet amused »by her sweet tenaciousness. " Yes, as a father ; but it shows he has capacity for other emotions outside those which you deem necessary for the duration of the sentence," " I ought to believe so if he hates me," said I, looking his way and observing 1 that he had turned his back upan us and was watching the sail astern. "Bo all this as it will, you shall find me as careful as you can desire." "If," said fhe, plaintively, "he shonld become even faintly suspicious of your intentions, he might set you ashore, should ;ve not meet.with a ship to receive you, and then what would become of you?— and what would become of me, Mr Fenton ? " " Have no fear," said I ; "he shall discover nothing in me to make him suspicious. As to his setting me ashore, that he could do, and whether I bhould be able to outwit him in such a manoeuvre, I cannot tell; but in no other way could he get rid of me, unless by throwing me overboard."

"He would not do -tnat," she "exclaimed, shaking her head ; " nor do I £hink he would force you from this ship if he could find no ground for distrust. But something affecting you has worried his mind, I am certain, or he would not have declared his intention to send you to another vessel. He believes he is going straight home. Why, then, should he be not willing to carry you ? Maybe he heard from Arents that you were below exploring the ship. Oh, Mr Fenton, be cautious ! If not for your own sake, then for mine 1 " She involuntarily brought her little hands together into a posture of prayer with the earnestness of her entreaty, and her warmth flowed rosily to her cheeks, so that, though she spoke low, her manner was impassioned, and I saw how her dear heart was set upon my delivering her, and how great was her terror lest my thoughtlessness should end in procuring our separation. However, 'I had no time to then reassure her, though I resolved henceforth to walk with extraordinary circumspection, seeing that the people I had fallen amongst were utterly unintelligible to me, being so composite in their deadaliveness that it was impossible to come at their motives and feelings, if they possessed any resembling ours. I say I had not time to reassure her, for Prins arrived to report breakfast, which brought Vanderdecken to us. Little was said at table, but that little was quite enough to make me understand the wisdom of Imogene's fears, and to perceive that if I did not check my curiosity to inspect the ship so as to be able to deliver a true account of this strange and fearful fabric, I stood to lose Imogene the chance of escape, which my presence in the vessel provided her with. No matter which of the two mates had the watch on deck, Van Vogelaar always sat down at meals first, Arents following. He was beside me this morning as usual, coming fresh from his cabin ; and when we were seated, Vanderdecken told him there was a ship astern. ' j " How heading, skipper 1 " "As we go, without doubt. She hath grown swiftly since first sighted, yet hangs steady in the same quarter." " Leb her hoist any colours but those of this gentleman's country 1" said Van Vogelaar, with an ugly sneer. » "Should that happen, captain, will you fight her 7" I asked, quietly. " If she be a ship of war — no ; for what are oiu defences against the culverins and demiculverins of your ships, and how shall we match perhaps 400 sailors with our slender company 1 ?" replied Vandprdecken, with an evil glitter in his eyes, and grasping his beard as his custom was when wrathful thoughts surged in him. M She may prove a harmless merchantman — perhaps a sturdy Hollander, that will give you plenty of tobacco for a little of your silver," said Imogene, striking in with her sweet smile and melodious voice, like a sunbeam upon turbulent waters. " If .you are in doubt, why not shift your helm, gentlemen ?" said I. . " Ah, skipper ! " cried Van Vogelaar, sardonically, "we have an adviser here. It is . fit that a Dutch ship should be served by an English pilot ! " I .held my peace. At this moment the clock struck, and the parrot, as though some fiend was inside her green bosom prompting ' her to breed trouble, cried out " sHltp %X)\X fli ! " with fierce energy, severely, clawing her wires, and exhibiting more agitation than seems possible in a fowl of naturally dull and leaden motion. " I believe she speaks the truth," exclaimed Van Vogelaar, turning his face towards the cage. " The parrot hath been known to possess a witch-like capacity of forcasting and divining." : " Oh, but you know, heer, that she had that sentencp by heart when the captain bought her," said Imogene, with a mixed ail of distress and petulance in her face. "I -know, madam," ho replied, "that yonder bird never spolo those words wifb Such energy as she now puts into them before •this gentleman arrived." Vanderdecken looked at him and then at me, but did not speak. " What do you suspect from the increased energy of the bird's language?" said I, fixing my eyes upon the mate. He would not meet my gaze, but answered with liis eyes upon his plate, " What is your motive in examining tin's ship, sir ?"' " The harmless curiosity of a sailor," I replied. He was about to speak, but I lifted my hand, , meaning to entreat silence whilst I continued, but he, mistaking the gesture for a threat, shrank very abjectedly from his seat, proving himself a timorous, cowardly fellow, and the more to be feared, perhaps, for being so. " Captain Vanderdecken," said I,'keeping my hand lifted, that he and his mate might understand I intended no menace, " I know not what base and degrading charges Herr Van Vogelaar would insinuate. I am an honest man and mean well, and, sir, add to that the gratitude of one whose life you have preserved. You were pleased, on one occasion, to speak kindly of my countrymen, and regret that feud should ever exist between two nations whose genius seems to have a common root. I trust that your sympathy with a Britain will cause you to turn a deaf ear to the unwarrantable hints against my honour as an English seaman, dropped by your first mate." To this speech Vanderdecken made no reply ; indeed, I would not like to swear that he had heeded so much as a syllable Df it. Van Vogelaar resume I the posture on his seat, from which he had started on my raising my hand, and went on with his meal. Shortly after this Imogene left the table and entered her cabin ; on which, weary of the sullen and malignant company of the mate, and the ghostly silence and fiery eyes of Captain Vandkerdecken, I rose, bowed to the skipper, and went on deck. Lost in thought, I continued gazing until presently I grew sensible of the presence of someone standing close beside me. It was Imogene. On the weather quarter was Van Vogelaar, surveying the sail with folded arms and stooped head. His face wore a malignant expression, and in his stirlessness ho resembled an effigy, wrought with exqxiisite skill to a marvellous imitation of apparel and shape. ■ " Where is*9le captain ?" I asked.

"He is smoking in the cabin,'-' Imogene 'answered. " Yonder rascal is evidently my enemy,", said I. " All will be well if you show no curiosity," she replied, softly. "Do you not remember that I cautioned you at the very beginning ? My belief is that the mate is mad you should know of the treasure in this ship, and will be eager to get rid of you least you should contrive to possess it." "But how?" 11 By acquainting the master of the ship you are transferred to with the wealth in this vessel. Add to this fear — for he has a share in all they recover from w recks, and in a portion of the cargo — his hatred of you for your men firing at him." " I begin to see," said I, " that there are several strokes of human nature still to be witnessed among these unhappy wretches, spit.c of their monstrous age, the frightful- i ness of the Curse they are under, an:l their being mcc who are alive in death — corpses j reflecting vitality just as the dead moon shines. But needs must where the devil drives ; speculating will not serve ; we must wait." I watched her whilst she looked at the sail in our wake ; emotion darkened and lightened in the violet of her eyes as the blue folds of heaven seem to deepen and brighten with the breathing of the wind ; through her delicate lips her rose sweet breath came and went swiftly. She started, looked at Van Yogelaar, aloft at the canvas, round the deck, j with a sharp tremble running through her j light form, and cried out with an hysteric swiftness, and in a voice full of tears, " You will not leave me to this wretched fate, Mr Fenton ? You will not leave mo in this dreadful ship ! " I grasped her hand. " I swear before the Majesty of that offended God, whose eye is on this ship as we thu3 stand, that it I am forced to leave you it will be at the cost of my life ?" {To be continued.')