CHAPTER LII
THE CAPTAIN TAKES HIS STAND
It was now July, and the captain and Edna had returned to Paris. Theworld had been very beautiful during their travels in England, andalthough the weather was beginning to be warm, the world was verybeautiful in Paris. In fact, to these two it would have been beautifulalmost anywhere. Even the desolate and arid coast of Peru would have beento them as though it were green with herbage and bright with flowers.
The captain's affairs were not yet definitely arranged, for the finalsettlement would depend upon negotiations which would require time, butthere was never in the world a man more thoroughly satisfied than he. Andwhatever happened, he had enough; and he had Edna. His lawyers had made athorough investigation into the matter of his rights to the treasure hehad discovered and brought to Europe, and they had come to a conclusionwhich satisfied them. This decision was based upon equity and upon thelaws and usages regarding treasure-trove.
The old Roman law upon the subject, still adhered to by some of the Latincountries of Europe, gave half of a discovered treasure to the finder,and half to the crown or state, and it was considered that a good legalstand could be taken in the present instance upon the application of thisancient law to a country now governed by the descendants of Spaniards.
Whether or not the present government of Peru, if the matter should besubmitted to it, would take this view of the case, was a subject ofconjecture, of course, but the captain's counsel strongly advised him totake position upon the ground that he was entitled to half the treasure.Under present circumstances, when Captain Horn was so well prepared tomaintain his rights, it was thought that the Peruvian authorities mighteasily be made to see the advisability of accepting a great advantagefreely offered, instead of endeavoring to obtain a greater advantage, inregard to which it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to legallyprove anything or to claim anything.
Therefore, it was advised that a commission should be sent to Lima toopen negotiations upon the subject, with instructions to make noadmissions in regard to the amount of the treasure, its present places ofdeposit, or other particulars, until the Peruvian government shouldconsent to a satisfactory arrangement.
To this plan Captain Horn consented, determining, however, that, if thenegotiations of his commission should succeed, he would stipulate that atleast one half the sum paid to Peru should be devoted to the advantage ofthe native inhabitants of that country, to the establishment of schools,hospitals, libraries, and benefactions of the kind. If the commissionshould not succeed, he would then attend to the matter in his own way.
Thus, no matter what happened, he would still insist upon his claimto one fifth of the total amount as his pay for the discovery of thetreasure, and in this claim his lawyers assured him he could befully secured.
Other matters were in a fair way of settlement. The captain had madeShirley and Burke his agents through whom he would distribute to theheirs of the crew of the _Castor_ their share of the treasure which hadbeen apportioned to them, and the two sailors had already gone to Americaupon this mission. How to dispose of the _Arato_ had been a difficultquestion, upon which the captain had taken legal advice. That she hadstarted out from Valparaiso with a piratical crew, that those pirates hadmade an attack upon him and his men, and that, in self-defence, he hadexterminated them, made no difference in his mind, or that of hiscounsellors, as to the right of the owners of the vessel to the return oftheir property. But a return of the vessel itself would be difficult andhazardous. Whoever took it to Valparaiso would be subject to legalinquiry as to the fate of the men who had hired it, and it would be,indeed, cruel and unjust to send out a crew in this vessel, knowing thatthey would be arrested when they arrived in port. Consequently, hedetermined to sell the _Arato_, and to add to the amount obtained whatmight be considered proper on account of her detention, and to send thissum to Valparaiso, to be paid to the owners of the _Arato_.
The thoughts of all our party were now turned toward America. As timewent on, the captain and Edna might have homes in different parts of theworld, but their first home was to be in their native land.
Mrs. Cliff was wild to reach her house, that she might touch it with themagician's wand of which she was now the possessor, that she might touchnot only it, but that she might touch and transform the whole ofPlainton, and, more than all, that with it she might touch and transformherself. She had bought all she wanted. Paris had yielded to hereverything she asked of it, and no ship could sail too fast which shouldcarry her across the ocean.
The negroes were all attached to the captain's domestic family. Maka andCheditafa were not such proficient attendants as the captain might haveemployed, but he desired to have these two near him, and intended to keepthem there as long as they would stay. Although Mok and the three otherAfricans had much to learn in regard to the duties of domestic servants,there would always be plenty of people to teach them.
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In his prison cell Banker sat, lay down, or walked about, cursing hisfate and wondering what was meant by the last dodge of that rascalRaminez. He never found out precisely, but he did find out that the visitof Professor Barre to his cell had been of service to him.
That gentleman, when he became certain that he should so greatly profitby the fact that an ex-brigand had pointed him out as an ex-captain ofbrigands, had determined to do what he could for the fellow who hadunconsciously rendered him the service. So he employed a lawyer to attendto Banker's case, and as it was not difficult to prove that the accusedhad not even touched Cheditafa, but had only threatened to maltreat him,and that the fight which caused his arrest was really begun by Mok, itwas not thought necessary to inflict a very heavy punishment. In fact, itwas suggested in the court that it was Mok who should be put on trial.
So Banker went for a short term to prison, where he worked hard andearned his living, and when he came out he thought it well to leaveParis, and he never found out the nature of the trick which he supposedhis old chief had played upon him.
The trial of Banker delayed the homeward journey of Captain Horn and hisparty, for Cheditafa and Mok were needed as witnesses, but did not delayit long. It was early in August, when the danger from floating icebergshad almost passed, and when an ocean journey is generally most pleasant,that nine happy people sailed from Havre for New York. Captain Horn andEdna had not yet fully planned their future life, but they knew that theyhad enough money to allow them to select any sphere of life toward whichordinary human ambitions would be apt to point, and if they neverreceived another bar of the unapportioned treasure, they would not onlybe preeminently satisfied with what fortune had done for them, but wouldbe relieved of the great responsibilities which greater fortune mustbring with it.
As for Mrs. Cliff, her mind was so full of plans for the benefit of hernative town that she could talk and think of nothing else, and couldscarcely be induced to take notice of a spouting whale, which wasengaging the attention of all the passengers and the crew.
The negroes were perfectly content. They were accustomed to the sea, anddid not mind the motion of the vessel. They had but little money intheir pockets, and had no reason to expect they would ever have muchmore, but they knew that as long as they lived they would have everythingthat they wanted, that the captain thought was good for them, and to ahigher earthly paradise their souls did not aspire. Cheditafa would servehis mistress, Maka would serve the captain, and Mok would wear fineclothes and serve his young master Ralph, whenever, haply, he should havethe chance.
As for Inkspot, he doubted whether or not he should ever have all thewhiskey he wanted, but he had heard that in the United States thatdelectable fluid was very plentiful, and he thought that perhaps in thatblessed country that blessed beverage might not produce the undesirableeffects which followed its unrestricted use in other lands.