CHAPTER XLII
A STRUGGLE
I think that at first sheer amazement had controlled the Spaniard'sthoughts. But whatever the cause of the control was, it soon passedaway; then the whole fiery nature of the man seemed to sweep from himlike a torrent:
"And so all the learned arguments with which you have overwhelmed me,were but a cloak to cover your possession of the treasure which it wasgiven to me and mine to guard. I might have guessed, that without thecertainty of possession you would not have been so obdurate to my offer,given in all sincerity as it was. From other things, too, I might haveknown! That woman, so old, who watches you with eyes that see more thanis to see, and who have reason of her own to mistrust you, she telledto me that nightly she has heard you dig in the rock as though you makegrave. Take care it is not so! I am guardian of that treasure; and I amdesperate! Already have I told you that all things are to me, all waysto fulfill the trust of my fathers. We are here alone! I am armed; andalready my life is forfeit to this course. Yield yourself, then, to me!"
Like a flash of light he had drawn a dagger from his breast; and with anupward sweep of his hand held it poised, either to strike or throw.But already I had taken warning from his eyes. Ever since danger hadthreatened Marjory, I had carried my revolver with me; even at night itrested under my pillow. The practice which Marjory and I had often had,till she had taught me the old trick which her father had taught her ofgetting "the drop" on an adversary, stood me now in good stead. Whilsthe had been drawing his dagger, I had already covered him; he finishedthe words of his command straight into the muzzle of my six-shooter.I said as quietly as I could, for it was with a mighty effort I keptapproximately calm under stress of such a sudden attack:
"Drop that dagger! Quick; or I shall shoot it from your hands!" Herecognised his helplessness in the matter. With a despairing sigh heopened his fingers; the dagger fell jingling to the floor. I went on:
"Now hold up your hands, well above your head! Move back to the wall!"He did so, and stood facing me with a disdainful smile. I stooped, andwith my right hand picked up the dagger, still keeping him covered withmy left. I put the weapon on the far side of the table, and approachedhim. He did not move, but I could see that he was sizing me up. Thisgave me no anxiety, for I knew my own strength; and I had also a shrewdidea that if he had any other arm about him he would not be calculatinghis chances for a physical struggle. Cautioning him that his lifedepended on his stillness, for I still held my revolver to his breast, Ipassed my hand lightly over him; he had manifestly no other weapon. Theonly sign of one was the sheath of his dagger; this I took from him.I placed the dagger in it and put it in my own pocket; then I drew achair to the middle of the room and motioned him to sit down. He obeyedsullenly. Having by this time regained something of my serenity of mind,I spoke:
"Your pardon, Sir, for the indignity to which I have been obliged tosubmit you; but I am sure you will remember that it was not I who beganthe question of force. When you thought it right to draw arms upon me inmy own house, you made it necessary that I should protect myself. Now,let me say something in answer to your charge against me. The finding ofthe treasure has nothing whatever to do with my theory of action;I should hold my present view just as strongly had we not made thediscovery. Indeed, I may say that since we have had actual possession ofthe treasure, it seems not nearly so desirable as it had been. So far asI am concerned, I don't care a straw whether I have ultimate possessionof it or not; but I am so fixed up that if I waive my rights--that is ifI have any to waive--that I may aid in doing a repugnant thing to a verydear friend. That I shall not do. I shall oppose its doing by any meansin my power!" The Spaniard saw a chance, and spoke:
"But if I undertake----" I cut him short:
"Sir, in this matter you are not in a position to undertake. By your ownshowing, you are simply bound to fulfill your trust and to restore thetreasure to the King, who will restore it to the Pope; or to restore itto the Pope direct." He answered quickly:
"But I can stipulate----" again I interrupted him for this was a uselessroad to travel;
"How can you stipulate? You would, or might, be told to simply fulfillthe duty that had been undertaken for you. Did you refuse, from whatevermotive, no matter how justly founded, on ground of right or honour, youwould not be holding to the simple terms of your trust. No! sir. This isno private affair to be settled by you or me, or by us both together. Itbelongs to politics! and international politics at that. The Governmentof Spain is desperately in want of money. How do you know to what shift,or to what specious argument it will condescend in its straits. I haveno doubt that, should anything be done contrary to your idea of fairplay, you would be grievously pained; but that is not to the point. YourGovernment would not take thought for any wish of yours, any more thanfor aught of mine. Your King is a minor; his regent is a woman, and hiscouncillors and governors are all men chosen to do what they can to savetheir country. Sir, but a few minutes ago you professed it your duty totake any step, even to crime and dishonour, to carry out your duty.Indeed, you drew a weapon upon me, a presumably unarmed man, in my ownhouse in which you are a self-invited guest. Suppose some of theGovernment of Spain hold ideas of their duty, equally strong and equallyunscrupulous; who then is to answer for what they do. Why, in such case,they would undertake anything, until they had got possession of thetreasure; and would then act entirely upon what they would call their'better judgment.'" His native pride awoke in an instant for he saidhotly:
"I would have you know, Senor, and remember always when you talk with aSpaniard, that our statesmen are not criminals, but men of honour." Ibowed instinctively as I answered him:
"Sir, I have no doubt whatever, and I speak in all sincerity, that youyourself are, under normal circumstances, a man of the highest honour.Your self-sacrificing offer has shewn me that; and I have added to thatknowledge by seeing the pain you have suffered at even the thought ofdishonour." Here he bowed low, and there was a look of gratitude in hiseyes which touched me to the quick. "And yet even you have openly toldme that all your belief in honour, all your life-long adherence to itsbehests, will not keep you from fulfilling a duty should these thingsclash. Nay more, you have already done things which I take it are atvariance with your principles. How then can you, or I, believe thatother men, of less lofty lineage and less delicate sense of honour,will forego an advantage for their country in distress, yielding to atheoretical point of right or wrong. No sir" I went on pitilessly, for Ifelt that it would be a kindness to him to shut absolutely this door ofhope, "We must take no step which will place in the hands of others theguardianship of that treasure, of which you have hitherto conceivedyourself trustee, and of which I now believe myself to be the owner."For fully several minutes we faced each other in silence. His face grewmore and more fixed and stern; at last he stood up with such a look ofresolution that instinctively my fingers tightened round the butt of myrevolver. I thought that he might be about to throw himself upon me, andattempt even at such odds as were against him, a struggle for presentmastery. Then, without moving from his place, he spoke:
"When I have done all I can to fulfill my trust in its completeness,and have failed, I shall ask the government of my country to makerepresentation to her friend England of a friendly claim, so that we mayget even a part of the treasure; and then I will devote myself to theavenging of my honour on those who have foiled me in my duty!" This wasa sort of speech which braced me up again. It was a promise of war, manto man, and I could understand it better than the subtleties which nowenmeshed us. I put my pistol back in my pocket, and bowed to my opponentas I answered:
"And when that time comes, Sir, you will find me at your service; howyou will; where you will; and when you will. In the meantime, when firstyou place the matter on the international plane, I shall take care thatthe American government, in which dear friends of mine are interested,shall make friendly demand of her friend, England, that she shall takeno step with regard to this particular treasure--if indeed it be the
n inher possession--which may be used to the detriment of the trans-Atlanticpower. Thus you see, sir, that time must in any case elapse before afinal settlement. Nothing can be done till the close of the present war,when I take it that immediate need of the sinews of war shall haveceased to exist. Be very careful, then, how you take any steps to bringupon the scene other powers than ourselves; powers vastly more strong,and vastly less scrupulous--perhaps." He answered nothing, but looked atme a long time in silent cold disdain. Then he said quietly:
"Have I your permission, Senor, to depart?" I bowed, and brought himto the door. When outside he turned, and, lifting his hat high in anold-fashioned, stately way, bowed. He passed up the laneway towardsWhinnyfold, without once glancing back.
As I stood looking at him, I saw in the dusk Gormala's head now andagain showing above the low green bank which guarded the edge of thecliff. She was bent double, and was in secret following the Spaniard.
I went back to the house to think over matters. Altogether, we weregetting so complicated that there did not seem any straight road totake. In the back of my mind I had a firm idea that the best thingI could do would be to hand over the treasure to the custody of thepolice; inform the Sheriff; and get my solicitor to enter a formal claimof ownership, wherever the claim should be made. Then I should getMarjory to come upon our honeymoon. I could see that her mind wasalmost, if not quite, made up to accept this step; and for a while Ilost myself in a day dream.
I came back to the reality of things by dimly and gradually realisingthat it had grown dark. So I made preparation for the night, bearing inmind that I had a vast treasure in my possession, and that a desperateman who claimed to represent its ownership was aware that I had it inthe house. It was not till I had seen to the fastenings of every windowand door, that I began to prepare a meal.
By this time I was exceedingly hungry; when I had eaten I seated myselfbefore a rousing fire of pine logs, lit my pipe, and began to think.Without, the wind was rising. I could hear it whistle along the roof,and now and again it roared and boomed down the chimney; the leapingfire seemed to answer its call. I could not think definitely; mythoughts kept whirling in a circle from the Spaniard to the treasure,from the treasure to Gormala, from Gormala to Marjory, and from Marjoryback to the Spaniard again. Every time the cycle became complete and mythoughts came back to Marjory, my rapture as I thought of her and ofour future, became clouded by a vague uneasiness. It was out of thisthat the thought of Don Bernardino came to commence the next round ofthought. In all my mental wanderings he became a dominant character;his pride, his sense of duty which subordinated even honour, hisdesperation, his grief, all seemed to be with me and around me. Now andagain I trembled, when I thought that such self-sacrificing forces mightbe turned against Marjory.
Little by little, despite all my anxiety, stole over me the dispositionof sleep. I was indeed almost worn out. The events of the past few dayshad crowded together so quickly that I had had no time for pause. Eventhe long sleep which had crowned the vigil in the water cave had notenabled me to lay in, so to speak, a provision of sleep; it had been thepayment of a debt to nature rather than the putting by of capital. Ihad the consoling thought that Marjory had promised me she would notleave Crom Castle till I came. Safe in this thought I rolled myself inrugs--choosing those that she had used--and fell asleep.
I think that even in sleep I did not lose the sense of my surroundings,for in dreams my thoughts ran in their waking channel. Here again, allthe disturbing elements of my life of late became jumbled together; anda sort of anxiety regarding something unknown seemed to brood over me.So far as I remember, I slept fitfully; waking often in a sort of agonyof indefinite apprehension. A couple of times I made up the fire whichwas falling low, for there was a sort of companionship in it. Without,the wind howled more loudly, and each time as I sank back to rest Ipulled the rugs more closely around me.
Once, I started broad awake. I thought I heard a cry, and naturally, inmy present frame of mind, my thoughts flew to Marjory in some danger;she was calling me. Whatever the cause was, it reached my brain througha thick veil of sleep; my body answered, and before I had time to thinkof why or wherefore, I was standing on the floor broad awake, alert andpanting. Again there came a sharp cry outside, which threw me in aninstant into a cold sweat. Marjory was in danger and was calling me!Instinctively I ran to the window, and pulling open the shutters, threwup the sash. All was dark outside, with just that cold line on the farEastern horizon which told of coming dawn. The wind had risen high, andswept past me into the room, rustling papers and making the flamesdance. Every now and again a bird swept by me on the wings of thewind, screaming as it flew; for the house was so close to the sea thatthe birds took no note of it as they would ordinarily do of a humanhabitation. One of them came so close that its scream seemed to soundloudly in my ears; it was doubtless just such a cry as this which hadtorn me from my sleep. For a while I hesitated whether I should go rightaway to Crom; but second thoughts prevailed. I could not get into thehouse at such an hour, without creating alarm and causing comment. So Iwent back to the chimney corner, and, piling on fresh logs and snugglinginto my nest of rugs, soon found sleep again descending on me. Theserenity of thought which comes with the day was using its force....
This time I woke more slowly. The knocking was continuous andimperative; but it was not a terrifying sound. We are all more or lessused to such sounds. I listened; and gradually consciousness of mysurroundings came back to me. The knocking was certainly persistent....I put on my shoes and went to the door.
Outside was Mrs. Jack, looking troubled and hot in spite of the cold ofthe wind which seemed to sing around the house. As I opened the door,she slipped past me and closed it behind her. Her first words made myheart sink, and my blood run cold with vague terror:
"Is Marjory here?"