CHAPTER VII
THE CAPTAIN OF THE "RAJAH" STRIKES OIL
THE captain strode gloomily to the evil-smelling den he called the cabin, and Stranleigh went down the steps with him, seating himself at the table.
"Now, captain," he began, "can we be overheard?"
"No, sir."
"Well, I come here as your friend. I want to save you, if possible."
"Save me?"
"Yes."
"I don't need any saving."
"Yes, you do, and a good deal of it. I thought at first that Frowningshield was the sole culprit, and that you were merely an innocent victim. I learned to-day that such was not the case; in fact, I surmised it before, because when you assisted in planting those mines across the Paramakaboo River you must have known you were committing a capital offense."
"Then it wasn't an accident; you did send down the logs?"
"Of course I did."
"You watched us ever since we arrived there?"
"Yes, I came from England for that purpose. I left a week after you did, and was there a week before you, more or less. My man, Mackeller, whom you kidnapped on board this steamer at Southampton——"
"I didn't kidnap him, sir. It was Frowningshield."
"Oh, I know all about it. Mackeller is on my boat now, within three hundred yards of where you are sitting. He was up on the hilltop with a telescope, scrutinizing every action of yours since you landed."
"But I'm compelled to obey orders."
"Oh, no, you aren't. If you are ordered to do a criminal action, you must not only refuse, but you are in honor bound to give information to the authorities."
"I had nothing to do with putting Mackeller into the hold. Frowningshield put him in, and I didn't know he was there till we were more than a day out. It was me insisted he should be sent ashore with the pilot. Frowningshield wanted to take him with us."
"That's neither here nor there, captain. Of course, whenever you knew a man had been kidnapped in that way aboard your ship, you should have turned, made straight back to Southampton, giving information to the authorities. But even if such an unlawful action did not arouse your suspicions you must have known perfectly well when you planted those mines that it wasn't toy balloons you were putting in the water. It's too late to pretend innocence. You've been bribed to commit a crime."
"The floating mines weren't set in English waters."
"My dear sir, your offense is against international law. No man is allowed to place floating mines in a river up which a British steamer may ascend, and so far as that is concerned, you deliberately put them there to wreck a British steamer. You are at this moment commanding a pirate ship filled with stolen ore."
"I know nothing about that, sir. This ship was chartered, and I was told by my owners to obey the orders of them that chartered her, and that's old Schwartzbrod and his gang."
"We're merely losing time, captain. You talk about charters and owners. Well, I am the owner of the Rajah. I bought her from Sparling & Bilge."
"So you say. That's nothing to do with me. Even if you bought the ship, you are bound by law to carry out the charter. Till a charter runs out and isn't renewed, owners are helpless. I obey the charter while it holds, and as long as I do that I'm doing nothing wrong."
"You are perfectly well aware of what you are doing. I am convinced of that. You were not born yesterday. Now, you are not sailing toward Portugal, you are sailing toward a policeman, and it is from that policeman I wish to save you."
"Oh, yes, you'd like to get possession of the ship and cargo for yourself, wouldn't you?" sneered the captain.
"Yes, exactly."
"Well, you won't get it!" cried the master angrily, bringing his huge fist down on the table. "Talk to me of thieving! What are you? Why, you're a pirate, that's what you are. I said so to Frowningshield, and he wouldn't believe me. He thought you wouldn't dare come aboard of me on the high seas; that you knew better. You and your policeman! Why, damn it all, I'd be justified in hanging you from the yardarm!"
"You couldn't do that, captain," protested Stranleigh, with great mildness.
"Why couldn't I?"
"Because those two masts of yours are not provided with yardarms. You might possibly hang me from the funnel, or allow me to dangle in chains from one of the arms of your steam crane, but that's all."
"Why don't you and your gang of ruffians climb aboard here like real pirates, and make me walk the plank?"
"I have climbed aboard like a real pirate, and I am going to make you walk the plank."
"The devil you are!" cried the captain, rising, his two clenched hands resting on the table, his naturally florid face still further flushed with wrath. "I'll show you—I'll show you what we do to men of your kind that dare to come aboard a ship on the high seas."
"Sit down, my dear man, sit down," pleaded Stranleigh soothingly. "Don't bluster. What's the use of making a fuss? Let's discuss the thing amicably."
"Make me walk the plank, will you?" roared the captain, a-quiver with resentment.
"Oh, well, well, if you object, of course that puts a different complexion on the matter. I thought that walking the plank was a customary nautical amusement. I seem to have been misled by friend Clark Russell. If it isn't etiquette, let's say no more about it. Do sit down, captain."
But the captain wouldn't sit down. His eyes glared, his face grew redder, and his lips quivered with animosity.
"You come alongside with your toy yacht!"
"It's a toy, captain, that spins along a little faster than this old tub."
"You and your jackanapes dressed up like naval officers, dare to come aboard o' me."
"That's splendid, captain. I like that phrase, 'aboard o' me.' I'm delighted to have Clark Russell corroborated from your mouth. Yes, I come aboard o' you. What then?"
"What then? Why, then you try to browbeat me in my own cabin, on my own ship. Who the devil do you think you are, I'd like to know?"
"I am Earl Stranleigh of Wychwood."
The captain now, without being told, slowly relapsed into his chair, and gazed across the table at the young man. That latent respect for the aristocracy which permeates even the most democratic of his Britannic Majesty's subjects caused an instant collapse of the truculence which had threatened an abrupt conclusion to the conference. Curiously enough, the honest captain never thought of questioning the statement, which had been made in a quiet, but very convincing tone.
"Earl Stranleigh!" he gasped.
"Yes; of Wychwood. We always insist on the Wychwood, though I'm sure I don't know why, for there isn't another Lord Stranleigh, and Wychwood is far from being the most important of my estates. Still, there you have it, captain. English life is full of incongruities."
"The rich Lord Stranleigh?" questioned the captain, with an accent on the adjective.
"I've just told you there's only one."
"Then why in the name of Neptune are you pirating on the high seas? Is that the way you made your money?"
"No, my money was more or less honestly accumulated by my ancestors, but I think their method was highway robbery rather than piracy. The looting of land that didn't belong to them seemed to occupy their spare time, and so, what with the rise of manufacturing cities in the midlands, on portions of our property, the discovery of coal mines, and what not, my family prospered better than it deserved, and here am I the twentieth-century representative of it."
"If that is so, why the deuce are you meddling in this affair?"
"Because I like to see a man minding his own business. The ship which you so worthily sail is mine. I bought her a few days after you left Southampton. Here is the deed of transfer, and here is the letter I spoke of, written to you by Messrs. Sparling & Bilge, informing you that I am the new owner, that I shall be responsible for your pay hereafter, and as a consequence they will be much obliged, as, indeed, so shall I, if you do what I tell you."
The captain read the documents with slow care, then looked up.
"It's Sparling & Bilge's signature all right, and nobody knows it better than I do, but what about the cargo? Do you intend to unship at Lisbon?"
"No, I intend to run it to Plymouth."
"But even if the ship's yours, the cargo isn't."
"Surely you knew they were stealing the ore, captain?"
"They told me they had a right to it for three months. Mr. Schwartzbrod showed me papers to that effect. That's why they were in such a hurry. Wanted to get as much out in the time as they could, and offered me a bonus of five thousand pounds over and above my wages if I ran three voyages to Lisbon, and two thousand for each extra voyage within the time."
"Then, captain, why didn't they concentrate their energies on the mining of the ore, and not bother with the mining of the river?"
"Why, Frowningshield told me that they were on the lookout for some pirates that was going to interfere with them. We didn't intend to blow up any vessels unless they were determined to come up the river in spite of us. That's why we didn't put the mines at the mouth of the river. On the high ground west of the camp, Frowningshield had two men on watch all the time. If they saw any ship approach, they were to go down the river in a boat that was kept below the mines, and order the steamer to go back. If the captain wouldn't go back, then he came on at his own risk."
"I see. And did Frowningshield tell his men to inform captain and crew that the river was mined?"
"I don't know."
"Now, captain, talking as one seafaring man to another, didn't all this, in conjunction with the large sums of money promised you, strike you as rather fishy? Did this appear to you an honest trading?"
"Well, earl, I've sailed to all parts of distant seas, and I've known things done that would have looked mighty queer in Southampton Harbor, and yet they were all right as far as ever I knew. Things happen in the South Seas that would seem rather odd in Bristol Channel, you know."
"You didn't think you were running any risk, then?"
"Oh, risk! A seafaring man runs risks every time he leaves port. If this was a risk, there was good money at the end of it, and that isn't always the case when a man ships on a tramp steamer nowadays, what with everything cut to pieces by foreign competition. You see, earl, men born to money don't always appreciate what people will do who're trying to pile up a little cash against their old age. I've got a wife and family in a hired house in Southampton—three girls I've got at home, earl, and girls is helpless left poor—not to mention my old woman."
The captain's eyes took on a dreamy, far-away look that seemed to penetrate and question the future. He had, for the moment, forgotten the young man sitting opposite him, and went on as if talking to himself.
"There's a piece of land running down to Southampton water—five acres and a bit more. Somebody built a cottage there and put up a flagpole on the lawn in front. Then they got tired of it, and it's for sale. A thousand pounds they want for the place, everything included. There's a few trees, and there's outhouses; splendid spot to raise chickens. Then there's a veranda in front, and an oldish man might sit in an easy-chair smoking his pipe, and see the American liners come sailing past. And my family's living in a rented house on a back street. I've always wanted that bit of land, earl, but never had the money to spare, and when I come to settle down, like as not somebody else will own it, and we couldn't afford it, anyhow. Risks? Of course there's risks, but when I think of that little cottage—well, I took the risk, earl."
"My dear captain," said the earl softly, "your bit of land makes me ashamed of myself, and of my moral lectures. I have so much land, and others have so little. Here's a hard-working man like you, landless, and here's a loafer like me with thousands of acres! Hang me if I wouldn't turn Radical were it not for the awful example of William Thomas Stead. Well, captain, that plot of land is yours from this moment. If somebody else has bought it in your absence, we'll evict them. I'll go bail that old Schwartzbrod will pay you all he promised whether you make the voyages or not. Indeed, you are not going to make the voyages, as a matter of fact. I don't believe Schwartzbrod ever intended to keep his promise, and I very much doubt if you could collect. Now, I'm an excellent collector, and I think I can persuade Schwartzbrod to plead for the privilege of paying you. You see these city men are much too sharp for simple, honest chaps like you and me. After you had done their work, they would have left you in the lurch if you were caught, or cheated you out of your compensation if you escaped. You may depend upon it, Schwartzbrod and his crowd have done everything in the most legal manner. Indeed, as a matter of fact, the last time I saw him he wheedled a document from me which I have reason to believe covers the villainy of this expedition. I do not in the least doubt that if I took the case into the law courts I'd get beaten. That's why I preferred to fight the case on the high seas, where an injunction can't be served till it's too late. You and I, captain, are not shrewd enough to be a match for these rascals."
There was almost a smirk of self-satisfaction on the captain's face as he found himself thus linked with a man of Lord Stranleigh's rank.
"Well, earl," he said, "what do you want me to do?"
They were interrupted by the heavy steps of the mate coming down the stairs.
"What do you want?" roared the captain. "Get out of here."
"Beg pardon, sir," explained the mate, "but they're getting uneasy on the yacht, and want to know what's become of the boss."
"Just excuse me for a moment, captain," said Stranleigh, "and I'll speak to them. You know you did rather tyrannize over us when we first hailed you, and they probably think you've Mackellered me. I rather flatter myself I've made a pun there, for 'keller' is the German for cellar."
The young man sprang lightly up the steps, and went over to the bulwarks.
"Is it all right, sir?" shouted Mackeller.
"All right, thank you."
"It's getting dark, you know. Hadn't I better heave a revolver up to you, and if they try any tricks you can fire it off, and we'll be aboard before you can say 'Schwartzbrod.'"
"Ah, Mackeller, Mackeller, you're always thinking of deadly weapons and acts of piracy! No wonder I get a bad name in marine circles. Everything's going smoothly, and I expect to be with you within ten minutes."
Stranleigh returned to the cabin, where he found the captain sitting, staring into vacancy. Some one had lit an odorous oil lamp.
"Well, captain, before answering your question, I wish to say that I am interested in mercantile traffic aside from my ownership of the Rajah. Before I left England I reserved for you the berth of captain on a new steamer called the Wychwood, twice the size of this boat, that is intended for the South American trade. I think she will be ready for you by the time we reach Plymouth, and the moment we are in Plymouth I shall hand you a check for a thousand pounds to secure that bit of land by Southampton water. What sort of a crew have you aboard here? A mutinous lot, or easy going?"
"Oh, the crew's all right, earl. They're Devon men, most of them. It was a rough lot of passengers we took out under charge of Frowningshield, but they herded most by themselves, and held no truck with the crew. The crew's all right, sir."
"Do you think any of the crew knew what was going on?"
"No, I don't suppose anybody knew what was going on but me and Frowningshield."
"Would you like to have your present crew with you on the new steamer?"
"Yes, sir, I would."
"Officers, too?"
"Yes, I would. Officers, too."
"Very well, I want you to come aboard my yacht, and be captain of her from here to Plymouth. Take the mate with you, if you like, or any of the other officers, and take such of the crew as are not Devon men. I'll put some of my own fellows aboard in their place."
"You mean me to leave the ship, my lord?"
"Yes. The yacht's captain and mate will take the place of you and your mate."
The captain's face was a study of indecision and doubt.
"It doesn't seem quite right, my lord."
"Your late owners have told you to obey me, and I am your new owner. It is quite right. I have merely transferred you to the yacht as if I were transferring you to a ferry boat in order to take you the more quickly to your new command. We'll reach Plymouth in a fortnight, or three weeks before the Rajah does. I'd rather you didn't go to Southampton, but if you think you can keep out of sight, I don't mind your running across there, seeing your family, and securing that property. Indeed, if the property is still in the market, and the house empty, there's no reason why you shouldn't move your people into it. You'll have time enough, then you can return to Plymouth, see to your new ship, and engage what men you need to supplement the Rajah's crew when she arrives."
The captain made no reply: bowed head and wrinkled brow showed that a mental conflict was going on.
"I suppose you are very well known in Southampton?"
"No," he said; "not so well known as you might think. I'm there for a little while, then off on a long voyage. Not as well known as might be."
"You see, captain, I'm determined to get out of old Schwartzbrod the money wherewith to pay not only you, but Frowningshield and his men. I don't intend to leave them marooned there while Schwartzbrod sits safe in London, so I wish no rumor of what has taken place to reach the ears of Schwartzbrod and his syndicate, therefore I don't want you to be seen and recognized by anybody, if possible, and if you are recognized I am anxious that you should not talk about what has occurred."
"I see. You want to get all the witnesses shipped off to South America. Well, you know, my lord, meaning no disrespect, your way of doing things seems a little fishy too, as you said a while ago."
"Of course it looks fishy, but you must fight a whale with a shark if you haven't got a harpoon. I must either go to law, which is the harpoon, with old Schwartzbrod, who is the whale, or else adopt his own methods, and play the shark. You've got to choose which course of fish you're going to take, and you've got to give your order to the waiter now."
"Suppose I refuse, what will you do? Attempt to capture us?"
"Bless you, no. I'll merely follow you, just as a shark follows a doomed vessel. The moment you approach a port that contains a British consul, I'll dash on ahead, show my papers, and set the law in motion, which, as I have informed you, I am reluctant to do. The moment that happens I can't save you, captain. I don't know what the penalty is, or whether there is a penalty. Perhaps your obedience to orders may allow you to slip through the meshes of the net, and then again perhaps it won't. If it doesn't, then that little cottage on Southampton water, which was yours a moment ago, will never be occupied by your family. Oh, hang it all, I'm either coercing or bribing you now, whichever it is. You must make a free choice. Whatever happens, I'll buy that piece of land, and present it to your wife, if you will tell me where it is, and give me her address. Now, captain, make your choice: the whale or the shark."
The captain heaved a deep, almost a heart-rending sigh, that seemed to come from the very bottom of his boots. He rose slowly and ponderously, and stretched forth his hand.
"Lord Stranleigh," he said solemnly, as one about to cross the Rubicon, "Lord Stranleigh, I am ready to walk the plank."
When Lord Stranleigh emerged from the captain's cabin of the Rajah, and drew a long, satisfying breath of the sweet evening air outside, he saw that the moon had risen, while the glow from the sunset still tinted the western sky. The slight breeze from Africa had completely died away, and the sea lay around the two ships smooth as a polished mirror. At a word from Stranleigh the captain of the yacht drew her alongside the Rajah, and the engines of both steamers stopped. Captain Wilkie, forewarned, had all his belongings packed, and they were speedily swung aboard the black steamer. The captain of the Rajah, and his mate, flung their possessions into boxes, and thus the transfer was made without loss of time.
"Mackeller," said Stranleigh, "I fear that luxury is thrown away on you, and besides, experience on the yacht has shown you that there is little chance of anything exciting happening. It must discourage you to remember that none of your repeating rifles have even been unpacked, so I will cause the cases to be swung aboard the Rajah, with sufficient ammunition to massacre our entire naval force, and I'll give you six of my gamekeepers. You can either use the gamekeepers to shoot the crew, or arm the crew and eliminate the gamekeepers. I had intended to take the crew of the Rajah upon the yacht, and put the crew of the yacht on the Rajah, but I am so selfish that I cannot bring myself to trust those clumsy seafarers from a tramp steamer with the somewhat delicate organization of my yacht. Will you accept the commission, and sail for home on the comfortless Rajah?"
"I shall be delighted, sir," said Mackeller.
"You see, I feel just a little uncertain about the wisdom of leaving Captain Wilkie unprotected with what is, after all, a strange crew. Their captain gives them a good character, but Captain Wilkie, who is a martinet in his way, may get at loggerheads with them, so it is well that he should have a bloodthirsty commander and irresistible force at his beck and call. But remember, Peter, that for every sailor you shoot, one of your gamekeepers must take to the sailoring trade, which might turn out inconvenient in a storm, so repress your war spirit until the captain orders it to belch forth. I imagine your frowning appearance as, resembling the German Emperor, you walk the deck, will quell any incipient mutiny in the bud, if buds are quelled. Nevertheless, it is safer to hold the rifles in the background in case of an emergency. So call for six volunteers from among my men, and then fling your trunk aboard the lugger, after which it will be good-by till I meet you again at Plymouth."
When the exchange was completed the white yacht drew away from the tramp and speedily disappeared to the north like a ghost. Captain Wilkie watched her departure with regret, and was unhappy at his promotion to the unkempt and dirty tramp steamer, with her slouching crew, dressed like scarecrows. The new commander of the yacht felt equally out of place in this trim, scrupulously clean, nickel-plated, bride's-cake of a ship, while the sailors, in their spick-and-span natty uniforms, gave him the impression of being in a nightmare where an uncouth private had been placed in charge of a company of officers. As he was about the same size as Wilkie, the useful Ponderby, at Stranleigh's orders, fitted him out next morning in a gorgeous uniform which added to the beauty of his outward appearance without materially augmenting his inward comfort. However, the bluff captain understood his business, no matter what costume he wore, and Stranleigh, studying him very unobtrusively as the voyage went on, came to place a great confidence in him, and felt rather ashamed of the distrust that had caused him to transfer the captain from the Rajah to the yacht. Before a week was past, he was certain that this gruff sea dog would have taken the Rajah direct to Plymouth once he had given his word, quite as faithfully as Captain Wilkie was doing. Although Stranleigh said nothing of this trust, and even doubted if the simple old man had seen the reason of the change, he nevertheless resolved to make amends, though not in words. The weather throughout had been almost obtrusively gentle, and Stranleigh complained that the voyage was falsifying all of Clark Russell's novels. He grumbled to the doctor that his faith in Clark Russell was undergoing a tremendous strain.
"When we reach a dead calm in one of Clark Russell's novels," he said to the doctor, "we always know what to expect. Suddenly out of the west comes a ripping cyclone which lays us over on our beam ends. Then wild, blinding rain and utter darkness, lit up only by vivid flashes of lightning. Every one has to cling to whatever is nearest him: overboard go the chicken coops, and there is such a general pandemonium that the voice of command cannot be heard. Crash go the masts, funnels, and what not: we right ourselves, staggering under the mountainous waves, and find ourselves a dismantled hulk next morning, with the cook missing, and no hot rolls for breakfast. Now, in reality we have had evenings without a zephyr afloat, then follows a peaceful night, and morning comes with a maidenly blush, like that on a new-born rose. I imagine the ocean has improved since Clark Russell's time, or perhaps the Government weather bureau has regulated things. We are a wonderful people, doctor, and at last Britannia really does rule the waves."
Fast as his yacht was, the young man had become tired of the voyage. He yearned for his morning paper and a stroll down Piccadilly. When well across the placid Bay of Biscay, he called up one of his wireless telegraphers, and said to him:
"I say, my son, cannot you tune up your heavenly harp, and pull us some news down out of the sky? Aren't we within the Marconi range of civilization yet?"
"Yes, sir. Several private messages have come through, and some scraps of news, but nothing important. The chancellor of the exchequer is speaking in the House of Commons on some bill, so far as I understand it, to regulate the Bank of England."
"I fear that wouldn't be very exciting reading, my boy, and besides, I don't understand finance, and never did. Still, I'd welcome even the words of a politician this evening, so if the chancellor is still talking, write out what he says. And, by the way, if you get a chance to talk back, you might ask the horizon what races were on to-day, and which horses won. After all, it is encouraging to know that the chancellor of the exchequer is on his feet. That shows that old England is still a going concern. It seems a year since I was there."
The operator departed for the telegraphic cabin, and Stranleigh went on with his cigar and after-dinner coffee. Presently the young man returned with a grin on his face.
"He's at it again, sir," he said, and handed Stranleigh a sheet of paper headed:
"CHANCELLOR EXCHEQUER.
"During the past decade our bank rate has been in a state of constant fluctuation, changing many times, and ranging from two-and-a-half to seven per cent., a variation which has exercised anything but a beneficial effect upon business. The gold in the issue department of the Bank of England usually amounts to about thirty millions of pounds, which are shown to be inadequate to the needs of our time. On the other hand, the Bank of France rarely allows its reserve to fall below a hundred millions of pounds, with a consequence that the French bank rate remains steady at from two-and-a-half to three per cent., and has not risen to four per cent. for thirty years. In the twelve months preceding the report of 1904 the bank rate of France had not been changed once, while our own bank rate had jumped from——"
Here Stranleigh crumpled the paper into a ball in his hand, and flung it into the ocean.
"Great heavens!" he cried. "I wonder what kind of a brain revels in that sort of rot! And not a word about the races! What do these telegraphers imagine news is, anyhow?"
The ignorant young man little dreamed that the message he was reading would exercise an astounding influence on his own career on that day when the Bank of England was compelled by the new Act of Parliament to raise its reserve of gold from thirty millions of pounds to one hundred millions. A world-wide financial disturbance lay ahead which Stranleigh did not suspect any more than did the wise lawmakers who passed the bill by a large majority. Most of them, including his lordship, thought the races more important and interesting.
The captain strolled aft. More and more as the days went on the frivolous young man's liking for this veteran of the sea had increased, in spite of the fact that the captain had endeavored to carry away his gold mine.
"Sit down, captain," he cried. "What will you drink?"
"A cup of coffee, to keep me awake. I expect to be up all night, or at least till we pass the Ushant."
"Right you are, and coffee it is. Oh, by the way, I have changed my mind, you must change your course. Instead of striking straight across from Ushant to Plymouth, steer your course up the Channel for Southampton."
"Very good, earl."
"And I've also changed my mind regarding that bit of land of yours."
"Oh, have you, earl?" said the captain, with a catch in his voice, and disappointment visible on his countenance.
"Yes, that's the reason we're going to Southampton. You will lay this yacht up—I think that is the nautical term—alongside your bit of land. As you know, I am anxious that you shouldn't be seen, and also that nobody aboard should have a chance to talk."
"I'll see to that, earl."
"My dear man, don't call me earl. I told you I was an earl in strict confidence. Haven't you noticed that everyone addresses me as 'sir,' and I don't even insist on that. We are all free and equal at sea, except the captain, who rules over us. When we reach Southampton water I'll go ashore in the motor boat, will call on the land agent, secure the estate of five acres, give the deeds to your wife, and invite her and the family to come up and view the cottage."
"She knows where it is, sir. We've often been there together."
"Then you'll grant no shore leave, not even to yourself. You'll keep the lads busy while I'm ashore. Take the yacht to the nearest coaling station, wherever it is, and fill her up with black diamonds. We may want to go to New York, for all I know. What time do you expect to pass Ushant?"
"About one bell, sir; half an hour after midnight."
"How long is the run from Ushant to Southampton?"
"We should do it easy in eleven hours."
"Then we'll reach there at noon to-morrow? Very good. You had better, perhaps, run me right up to Southampton, attend to the port formalities, see to the coaling, and be lying off your bit of property by six o'clock next evening. I'll stop the night at a hotel, so you needn't trouble about me. How large is your family, captain?"
"The three eldest are at sea, and the three girls at home with the missus."
"Three girls? Oh, that's jolly! Very well, I think we've everything arranged. You will see that the motor boat is ready for me at the landing both to-morrow afternoon and all next day. I shall probably want to run up the bay to the bit of land, or down, whichever it is. I suppose you can point it out to me as we pass?"
"Oh, yes, sir. I never enter or leave Southampton without looking at that bit of ground."
"Very well. At about five o'clock p.m. day after to-morrow I shall invite the missus and the three girls to take a trip with me in the motor boat. Arriving there I shall hand the keys and the deeds to the lady of the house, and if you come ashore I'll introduce you to the family. You may stop all night ashore. Next morning take the yacht, and navigate her slowly round to Plymouth. There you may give everybody shore leave, but don't overdo it. You understand what I want, which is that no man shall talk about the mine in West Africa or the transfer in midocean, so I expect you to keep your section of the crew in hand. I can answer for my fellows. Oh, yes, by the way, I'll take my woodmen off at noon to-morrow, together with all that are left of my gamekeepers, and send them home, including the excellent Ponderby, so you will have none to deal with except those belonging to the yacht."
The Woman in White did even better than the captain anticipated, and landed her owner in Southampton at ten minutes to eleven. He bade farewell to his men, and dispatched them to their homes, none the poorer for their long voyage. He visited the land agent's office, transacted his business within ten minutes, drew his check, and told the manager to have the papers ready by twelve o'clock next day. Then he went to the back street, and knocked at the number the captain had given him. The door was opened by a buxom young woman, in whose flashing eyes he recognized her father.
"Well, my dear," he said, chucking her under the chin, "are you the gallant captain's daughter, as we say in the revised version of 'Pinafore'?"
The girl drew back in righteous anger, and if a dagger glance of the eyes could have slain, he would have been in danger, but the callous young man merely laughed.
"Mother at home?" he asked.
"Who are you?" demanded the offended girl.
"That's the same question your father asked me. It's a secret, and I'll tell it only to your mother."
At this moment the mother, hearing the high tones of her daughter, and fancying something was wrong, appeared in the hall; a stout, elderly woman, who frowned at the tall, nattily dressed stranger.
"My name is Stranleigh, madam, and I am by way of being a shipowner. Your husband is one of my captains."
"He is nothing of the sort. He is captain of the Rajah."
"Quite right, and I am the owner of the Rajah. Your husband has just bought that little bit of property down the bay; the one with a cottage and a flag pole, you know."
"What are you talking about, sir? My husband is hundreds and hundreds of miles away at sea."
"Oh, no, madam, it's you who are at sea. Of course, he didn't buy the property personally. I have acted as his agent, and I come merely to tell you of the transaction. The deeds are promised by noon to-morrow, when I am promising myself the pleasure of handing them to you."
"Then his venture has turned out a success? I had my doubts of it."
"So had I, madam, but we who predict disaster are often confounded. Everything is all right, as you remark." Then, turning to the one who had let him in, he said reproachfully: "Please don't scowl at me like that, but close the door and invite me into the parlor. Don't you see I'm a visitor?"
The girl said nothing, but looked at her mother.
"Come this way, sir," said the woman, opening the door at the left, whereupon the girl, with visible reluctance, closed the front door.
"Where are the other two girls?" demanded Stranleigh.
"They are in the kitchen, sir."
"Please send for them. I wish to see the whole family, being so well acquainted with the captain."
The still unmollified door opener, at a nod from her mother, disappeared, returning shortly with the two younger children shrinking bashfully behind their elder sister, who quite evidently ruled the household.
"Ah," said Stranleigh, "what a fine family! It is evident that these girls did not depend for their beauty solely on their father."
"I think," said the elder girl haughtily, "that my father is the finest looking man in the world."
"You'll change your mind some of these days, miss, or I'm greatly mistaken. I admit the worth of your father, but you'll never see his picture on a beauty post card. And now, if you're prepared for a bit of news, and if every one promises not to faint, I'll tell you what it is."
"Oh, he isn't arrested?" cried the wife in alarm.
"Arrested? Of course not. Why should he be? He is coaling my yacht at this moment somewhere in Southampton harbor, within half a mile of where you are sitting."
There were some shrieks of surprise at this intelligence, but Stranleigh went on unheeding.
"Now, as I have told you, the cottage is yours, and I wish you to do something very enterprising; to hustle, as they say in America. My motor boat is down at the landing, and can take you to and from the cottage as often as you like, and it will be speedier than tram or cab or railway carriage. Missus, you will be chief of the finest burst of shopping Southampton has ever seen. Your husband will land at the cottage at six o'clock to-morrow night. The chances are that the empty house will not be any the worse for a little cleaning, so your eldest daughter here should take with her a host of charwomen, and scrub the edifice from top room to basement. Then, madam, you are to go to whatever furniture shop you choose, ignore all that you now possess, and furnish every room in that house before four o'clock to-morrow."
"But, sir, that will cost a mint of money, and we——"
"Yes, I didn't expect it done for nothing, and I haven't the remotest idea what the total will be. But here are three hundred pounds to go on with. I got this purposely to-day in crisp Bank of England notes. Whatever more is needed I will pay you to-morrow."
"But how are we ever to pay you, sir?" asked the astonished woman.
"No need of that, madam. Your husband did me a very great service, and I am merely arranging this as a pleasant surprise for him, and also because of the intense admiration your eldest daughter exhibits for me."
The girl tossed her head.
"He's a humbug, mother; don't believe him. There's something bogus in all this. I'll warrant you those notes are counterfeit. He wants to get us out of the house, and then steal the furniture. I read about a person like him in the papers. He got seven years."
Lord Stranleigh laughed.
"Why, how sharp you are, unbelieving creature. You've guessed it the first time. Is the furniture in this villa worth three hundred pounds?"
"No, it isn't," said the girl promptly.
"Very well. Take those notes to the bank, and get golden sovereigns for them, leaving your mother on guard till you return. They'll probably ask you where you got them, and you will answer thus: 'They are the proceeds of a draft for three hundred pounds which Lord Stranleigh of Wychwood cashed at the London and County to-day, at half-past eleven.' If they still wish to know how you came by them, say that Lord Stranleigh is the owner of several steamships, and that your father is captain of the largest of them. Say nothing of the Rajah, because he is now chief of a steamer twice her size. I took notes because they were lighter to carry, but when you get the gold I hope you will do what I ask of you, and leave this house promptly, so that I can steal its furniture without molestation."
"Are you Lord Stranleigh?" gasped the mother.
"Yes, madam, and there's one other favor I beg of you, and of these three charming girls. Mention to nobody that your father has returned. Neither he nor I wish this known for a while yet, and I am quite sure four women can keep the secret, even if one man can't."
"There's nothing wrong, is there?" asked the anxious woman.
"Nothing wrong at all. It's merely a matter concerning his new ship, which lies at Plymouth, where he must go on the morning of day after to-morrow."
Energetic as the captain's family was, they never put in such a day and a half of nervous, capable speed in their lives before, and this included the intervening night, during which none of them slept.
By five o'clock in the afternoon everything was ship-shape, although not quite to the satisfaction of the eldest daughter, and at six Lord Stranleigh had the felicity of introducing the captain to his possessions, human and material, old and new. Then he rushed back in his motor boat, and took the train to London.