CHAPTER XII
THE LURE OF GOLD
"Philip, I want to tell you something."
"Something pleasant?"
"No."
"Then why tell me?"
"Because, unhappily, it must be told. I hope you will forgive me,though I shall never forgive myself. Oh, my dear, my dear, why did weever meet? And what am I to say? I--well, I have promised to marryanother man."
"Disgraceful!" said Philip.
Though Iris's faltered confession might fairly be regarded asastounding, Philip was unmoved. The German captain had given him acigar, and he was examining it with a suspicion that was pardonableafter the first few whiffs.
"Philip dear, this is quite serious," said Iris, momentarilywithdrawing her wistful gaze from the far-away line where sapphire seaand amber sky met in harmony. Northeastern Brazil is a favored clime.Bad weather is there a mere link, as it were, between unbroken weeks ofbrilliant sunshine, when nature lolls in the warmth and stirs herselfonly at night under the moon and the stars. That dingy trader, the_Unser Fritz_, ostensibly carrying wool and guano from the Argentine toHamburg, was now swinging west at less than half speed over the longrollers which alone bore testimony to the recent gale. Already a deeptint of crimson haze over the western horizon was eloquent, in nature'sspeech, of land ahead. At her present pace, the _Unser Fritz_ wouldenter the harbor at Pernambuco on the following morning.
Iris, her troubled face resting on her hands, her elbows propped on therails of the poop on the port side, looked at Philip with an intensesadness that was seemingly lost on him. His doubts concerning thecigar had grown into a certainty. He cast it into the sea.
"I really mean what I say," she continued in a low voice that vibratedwith emotion, for her obvious distress was enhanced by his evidentbelief that she was jesting. "I have given my word--writtenit--entered into a most solemn obligation. Somehow, the prospect ofreaching a civilized place to-morrow induces a more ordered state ofmind than has been possible since--since the _Andromeda_ was lost."
"Who is he?" demanded Hozier darkly. "Coke is married. So is Watts.Dom Corria has other fish to fry than to dream of committing bigamy.Of course, I am well aware that you have been flirting outrageouslywith San Benavides----"
"Please don't make my duty harder for me," pleaded Iris. "Before I metyou, before we spoke to each other that first day at Liverpool, I hadpromised to marry Mr. Bulmer, an old friend of my uncle's----"
"Oh,--he? . . . I am sorry for Mr. Bulmer, but it can't be done,"interrupted Hozier.
"Philip, you do not understand. I--I cared for nobody then . . . andmy uncle said he was in danger of bankruptcy . . . and Mr. Bulmerundertook to help him if I would consent. . . ."
"Yes," agreed Philip, with an air of pleasant detachment, "I see. Youare in a first-rate fix. I was always prepared for that. Coke told meabout Bulmer--warned me off, so to speak. I forgot his claims at oddtimes, just for a minute or so, but he is a real bugbear--a sort ofmatrimonial bogey-man. If all goes well, and we enter Pernambucowithout being fired at, you will be handed over to the British Consul,and he will send a rousing telegram about you to England. Bulmer, ofcourse, will cause a rare stir at home. Who wouldn't? No wonder youare scared! It seems to me that there is only one safe line of actionleft open."
Iris did not respond to his raillery. She was despondent, nervous,uncertain of her own strength, afraid of the hurricane of publicitythat would shortly swoop down on her.
"I wish you would realize how I feel in this matter," she said, with apersistence that was at least creditable to her honesty of purpose. "Awoman's word should be held as sacred as a man's, Philip."
He turned and met her eyes. There was a tender smile on his lips.
"So you really believe you will be compelled to marry Mr. Bulmer?" hecried.
"Oh, don't be horrid!" she almost sobbed. "I cuc--cuc--can't help it."
"I have given some thought to the problem myself," he said, for, intruth, he was beginning to be alarmed by her tenacity, thoughdetermined not to let her perceive his changed mood. "Curiouslyenough, I was thinking more of your dilemma than of the signals when wewere overhauled by the _Sao Geronimo_ this morning. Odd, isn't it, howthings pop into one's mind at the most unexpected moments? While I wascoding our explanation that we were putting into Pernambuco forrepairs, and that no steam yacht had been sighted between here and theRiver Plate, I was really trying to imagine what the cruiser's peoplewould have said if I had told them the actual truth."
His apparent gravity drew the girl's thoughts for an instant fromcontemplating her own unhappiness.
"How could you have done that?" she asked. "We are going there to suitSenhor De Sylva's ends. We have suffered so much already for his sakethat we could hardly betray him now."
Hozier spread wide his hands with a fine affectation of amazement.
"I wasn't talking about De Sylva," he cried. "My remarks were strictlyconfined to the question of your marriage. I know you far too well,Iris, to permit you to go back to Bootle to be lectured and browbeatenby your uncle. I have never seen him, but, from all accounts, he is arather remarkable person. He likes to have his own way, irrespectiveof other folks' feelings. I am a good guesser, Iris. I have a prettyfair notion why Coke meant to leave our poor ship's bones on a SouthAmerican reef. I appreciate exactly how well it would serve Mr. DavidVerity's interests if his niece married a wealthy old party likeBulmer. By the way how old is Bulmer?"
"Nearly seventy."
Even Iris herself smiled then, though her tremulous mirth threatened todissolve in tears.
"Ah, that's a pity," said Hozier.
"It is very unkind of you to treat me in this manner," she protested.
"But I am trying to help you. I say it is a pity that Bulmer should bea patriarch, because his only hope of marrying you is that I shall diefirst. Even then he must be prepared to espouse my widow. By the way,is it disrespectful to describe him as a patriarch? Isn't there someproverb about three score years and ten?"
"Philip, if only you would appreciate my dreadful position----"
"I do. It ought to be ended. The first parson we meet shall becommandeered. Don't you see, dear, we really must get married atPernambuco? That is what I wanted to signal to the cruiser: 'The_Unser Fritz_ is taking a happy couple to church.' Wouldn't that havebeen a surprise?"
Iris clenched her little hands in despair. Why did he not understandher misery? Though she was unwavering in her resolution to keep faithwith the man who had twitted her with taking all and giving nothing inreturn, she could not wholly restrain the tumult in her veins. Marriedin Pernambuco! Ah, if only that were possible! Yet she did not flinchfrom the lover-like scrutiny with which Philip now favored her.
"I am sure we would be happy together," she said, with a patheticconfidence that tempted him strongly to take her in his arms and kissaway her fears. "But we must be brave, Philip dear, brave in thepeaceful hours as in those which call for another sort of courage.Last night we lived in a different world. We looked at death, you andI together, not once but many times, and you, at least, kept him atbay. But that is past. To-day we are going back to the commonplace.We must forget what happened in the land of dreams. I will never loveany man but you, Philip; yet--I cannot marry you."
"You will marry me--in Pernambuco."
"I will not because I may not. Oh, spare me any more of this! Icannot bear it. Have pity, dear!"
"Iris, let us at least look at the position calmly. Do you reallythink that fate's own decree should be set aside merely to keep DavidVerity out of the Bankruptcy Court?"
"I have given my promise, and those two men are certain I will keep it."
"Ah, they shall release you. What then?"
"You do not know my uncle, or Mr. Bulmer. Money is their god. Theywould tell you that money can control fate. We, you and I, mightdespise their creed, but how am I to shirk the claims of gratitude? Iowe everything to my uncle. He rescue
d my mother and me from direpoverty. He gave us freely of his abundance. Would you have me failhim now that he seeks my aid? Ah, me! If only I had never come onthis mad voyage! But it is too late to think of that now. Perhaps--ifI had not promised--I might steel my heart against him--but, Philip,you would never think highly of me again if I were so ready to rend thehand that fed me. We have had our hour, dear. Its memory will neverleave me. I shall think of you, dream of you, when, it may be, someother girl--oh, no, I do not mean that! Philip, don't be angry with meto-day. You are wringing my heart!"
It was in Hozier's mind to scoff in no measured terms at the absurdtheory that he should renounce his oft-won bride because a pair ofelderly gentlemen in Bootle had made a bargain in which she was stakedagainst so many bags of gold. But pity for her suffering joined forceswith a fine certainty that fortune would not play such a scurvy trickas to rob him of his divinity after leading him through an Inferno tothe very gate of Paradise. For that is how he regarded the perils ofFernando Noronha. He was young, and the ethics of youth cling toromance. It seemed only right and just that he should have been provedworthy of Iris ere he gained the heaven of her love. There might beportals yet unseen, with guardian furies waiting to entrap him, and hewould brave them all for her dear sake. But his very soul rebelledagainst the notion that he had become her chosen knight merely togratify the unholy ardor of some decrepit millionaire. He laughedsavagely at the fantasy, and his protest burst into words strange onhis lips.
"I shall never give you up to any other man," he said. "I have won youby the sword, and, please God, I shall keep you against all claimants.Twenty-two men sailed out of Liverpool on board the Andromeda, and itwas given to me among the twenty-two that I should pluck you fromdarkness into light. I had only seen you that day on the wharf, yet Iwas thinking of you constantly, little dreaming that you were within afew yards of me all the time. I was planning some means of meeting youagain when our surly-tempered skipper bade me burst in the door thatkept you from me. And that is what I have been doing ever since,Iris--breaking down barriers, smashing them, whether they were fleshand blood or nature's own obstacles, so that I might not lose you.Give you up! Not while I live! Why, you yourself dragged me away fromcertain death when I was lying unconscious on the _Andromeda's_ deck.A second time, you saved not me alone but the ten others who are leftout of the twenty-two, by bringing us back to Grand-pere in the hourthat our escape seemed to be assured had we put out to sea. We aremore than quits, dear heart, when we strike a balance of mutualservice. We are bound by a tie of comradeship that is denied to most.And who shall sever it? The man who gains three times the worth of hisship by reason of the very dangers we have shared! To state such a madproposition is to answer it. Who is he that he should sunder thosewhom God has joined together? And what other man and woman nowbreathing can lay better claim than we to have been joined by theAlmighty?"
The strange exigencies of their lives during the past two days hadordained that this should be Philip's first avowal of his feelings.Under the stress of overpowering impulse he had clasped Iris to hisheart when they were parting on the island. In obedience to a strongerlaw than any hitherto revealed to her innocent consciousness the girlhad flown to his arms when he came to the hut. And that was all theirlove-making, two blissful moments of delirium wrenched from a time of agaunt tragedy, and followed by a few hours of self-negation. Yet theysufficed--to the man--and the woman is never too ready to count thecost when her heart declares its passion.
But the morrow was not to be denied. Its bitter awakening had come.In the very agony of a sublime withdrawal Iris realized what manner ofman this was whom she had determined to thrust aside so that she mightkeep her troth. She dared not look at him. She could not compel herquivering lips to frame a word of excuse or reiterated resolve. With aheart-breaking cry of sheer anguish she fled from him, running awayalong the deck with the uncertain steps of some sorely strickencreature of the wild.
He did not try to restrain her. Heedless of the perplexed scowl withwhich Coke was watching him from the bridge, he looked after her untilshe vanished in the cabin which had been vacated for her use by thechief engineer of the vessel. Even her manifest distress gave him asense of riotous joy that was hardly distinguishable from the keenestspiritual suffering.
"Give you up!" he muttered again. "No, Iris, not if Satan broughtevery dead Verity to aid the living one in his demand."
Coke, to whom tact was anathema, chose that unhappy instant to summonhim to take charge of the ship. The German master and crew had notcaused trouble to their conquerors after the first short struggle.They washed their hands of responsibility, professed to be satisfiedwith the written indemnity and promise of reward given by De Sylva, andotherwise placed the resources of the vessel entirely at his disposal.A more peaceable set of men never existed. Though they numberedsixteen, three more than the usurpers, it was quite certain that thethought of further resistance never entered their minds. If anything,they hailed the adventure with decorous hilarity. It formed a welcomebreak in the monotony of their drab lives. Of course, they wereutterly incredulous as to the ability of a scarecrow like Dom Corria tofulfil his financial pledges. Therein they erred. He was really avery rich man, having followed the illustrious example set bygenerations of South American Presidents in accumulating a finecollection of gilt-edged scrip during his tenure of office, which saidscrip was safely lodged in London, Paris, and New York. But the worldalways refuses to associate rags with affluence, and these worthyTeutons regarded De Sylva and Coke as the leaders of a gang ofdangerous lunatics who should be humored in every possible way until aport was reached.
It was precisely that question of a port which had engaged Coke inearnest consultation with De Sylva and San Benavides on the bridgewhile Iris and Hozier were lacerating each other's feelings on the poop.
Apparently, the point was settled when Hozier joined the triumvirate.Coke glanced at the compass, and placed the engine-room telegraph at"Full Speed Ahead," for the _Unser Fritz_ had once been a British ship,and still retained her English appliances.
"Keep 'er edgin' south a bit," said he to Hozier. "There's no knowin'w'en that crimson cruiser will show up again, but we must try and steala knot or two afore sundown."
The order roused Hozier from his stupor of wrathful bewilderment.
"Why south?" he asked. "If anything, Pernambuco lies north of ourpresent course."
"We're givin' Pernambuco the go-by. It's Maceio for us, quick as wecan get there."
Hozier was in no humor for conciliatory methods. He turned on hisheel, and walked straight to where De Sylva was leaning against therails.
"Captain Coke tells me that we are not making for Pernambuco," he said,meeting the older man's penetrating gaze with a glance as firm andself-contained.
"That is what we have arranged," said Dom Corria.
"It does not seem to have occurred to you that there is one person onboard this ship whose interests are vastly more important than yours,senhor."
"Meaning Miss Yorke?" asked the other, who did not require to looktwice at this stern-visaged man to grasp the futility of any words butthe plainest.
"Yes."
"She will be safer at Maceio than at Pernambuco. Our only danger ateither place will be encountered at the actual moment of landing. AtMaceio there is practically no risk of finding a warship in the harbor.That is why we are going there."
"And not because you are more likely to find adherents there?"
"It is a much smaller town than Pernambuco, and my strength liesoutside the large cities, I admit. But there can be no question as toour wisdom in preferring Maceio, even where the young lady's well-beingis concerned."
"I think differently. At Maceio there are few, if any, Europeans. AtPernambuco the large English-speaking community will protect her, nomatter what President is in power. I must ask you to reconsider yourplan. Land Miss Yorke and me at Pernambuco, and then betake yourselfand those who foll
ow you where you will."
Coke jerked himself into the dispute.
"'Ere, wot's wrong now?" he demanded angrily. "Since w'en 'as a secondofficer begun to fix the ship's course?"
"I am not your second officer, nor are you my commander," said Philip."At present we are fellow-pirates, or, at best, running the gravestrisk of being regarded as pirates by any court of law. I don't care acent personally what port we make, but I do care most emphatically forMiss Yorke's safety."
"We've argied the pros an' cons, an' it's to be Maceio," growled Coke.
Dom Corria's precise tones broke in on what threatened to develop intoa serious dispute.
"You would have been asked to join in the discussion, if, apparently,you were not better engaged at the moment, Mr. Hozier," he said. "Iassure you, on my honor, that there are many reasons in favor of Maceioeven from the exclusive point of view of Miss Yorke's immediate future.She will be well cared for. I promise to make that my firstconsideration. The army is mainly for me, and Senhor San Benavides'sregiment is stationed at Maceio. The navy, on the other hand, supportsDom Miguel Barraca, who supplanted me, and we shall surely meet acruiser or gunboat at Pernambuco. You see, therefore, that commonprudence----"
"I see that, whether willing or not, we are to be made the tools ofyour ambition," interrupted Hozier curtly. "It is also fairly evidentthat I am the only man of the _Andromeda's_ company whom you have notbribed to obey you. Well, be warned now by me. If circumstances failto justify your change of route, I shall make it my business to settleat least one revolution in Brazil by cracking your skull."
San Benavides, hearing the names of the two ports, understood exactlywhy the young Englishman was making such a strenuous protest. He movednearer, laying an ostentatious hand on the sword that clankedeverlastingly at his heels. He had never been taught, it seemed, thata man who can use his fists commands a readier weapon than a sword inits scabbard. Hozier eyed him. There was no love lost between them.For a fraction of a second San Benavides was in a position of realperil.
Then Dom Corria said coldly:
"No interference, I pray you, Senhor Adjudante. Kindly withdraw."
His tone was eminently official. San Benavides saluted and steppedback. The dark scar on De Sylva's forehead had grown a shade lighter,but there was no other visible sign of anger in his face, and hisluminous eyes peered steadily into Hozier's.
"Let me understand!" he said. "You hold my life as forfeit if anymischance befalls Miss Yorke?"
"Yes."
"I accept that. Of course, you no longer challenge my direction ofaffairs?"
"I am no match for you in argument, senhor, but I do want you tobelieve that I shall keep my part of the compact."
Coke, familiar with De Sylva's resources as a debater, and by no meansunwilling to see Hozier "taken down a peg," as he phrased it; eager,too, to witness the Brazilian officer's discomfiture if the second mate"handed it to him," thought it was time to assert himself.
"I'm goin' to 'ave a nap," he announced. "Either you or Watts musttake 'old. W'ich is it to be?"
"No need to ask Mr. Hozier any such question," said the suave DomCorria. "You can trust him implicitly. He is with us now--to thedeath. Captain San Benavides, a word with you."
"South a bit," repeated the skipper. "Call me at two bells in thesecond dog."
He was turning to leave the bridge with the Brazilians when a cheeryvoice came from a gangway beneath.
"Yah, yah, mine frent--that's the proper lubricant. I wouldn't giveyou tuppence a dozen for your bloomin' lager. Well, just a freshener.Thanks. Ik danky shun!"
"You spik Tcherman vare goot," was the reply.
"Talk a little of all sorts. Used to sing a Jarman song once. Whatwas that you was a-hummin' in your cabin? Nice chune. I've a musicalear meself."
Someone sang a verse in a subdued baritone, tremulous with sentiment.The melody was haunting, the words almost pathetic under the conditionsof life on board the disheveled _Unser Fritz_. They told of Vienna,the city beloved of its sons.
Es gibt nur eine Kaiser Stadt, Es gibt nur eine Wien.
"Shake, me boy!" cried the enraptured Watts to the ship's captain. "Ido'n' know wot it's all about, but it's reel fine. Something to dowith a gal, I expect. Well, 'ere's one of the same kidney:
I know a maiden fair to see, Take care! She can both false and friendly be, Beware, beware! Trust her not, She is fooling thee!"
Mr. Watts was both charmed and surprised when the friendly skipperjoined in the concluding lines in his own language. But his pleasurewas short-lived. Coke's inflamed visage glowered into the mess room.
"Sink me if you ain't a daisy!" he roared, pouncing on a three-quartersfilled bottle of rum. "D'you fancy we're goin' to land you at Maceiocryin' drunk? No, sir, not this time. Over it goes, an' if you ain'tdam careful, over you go after it!"
Watts could have wept without the artificial stimulus of the rum. Tosee good liquor slung into the sea in that fashion--well, it was a sin,that's wot it was! But Coke's furious eye quelled him; and revel andsong ceased.
Above, on the bridge, Hozier smiled sourly at the squall which had sosuddenly beset the fair argosy of the convivial-minded Watts. He triedto invest the incident with an excess of humor. Any excuse would serveto still certain disquieting doubts that were springing into alarmingactivity. Had he gone the best way to work in allaying Iris'sconscience-stricken qualms? Was he justified in adopting such a boldline with De Sylva? Could it be possible--no, he refused to harbor anymean thought of Iris. She loved him, he was sure; his love for her wasat once a torment and an excruciating bliss, and both of these wearingsensations sadly detracted from the efficiency of the officer of thewatch. So our distracted Philip pulled himself up sharply, paced backand forth between port and starboard, and surveyed ship, binnacle, andhorizon with alert vigilance.
On the fore-deck groups of sailors and firemen belonging to bothvessels were fraternizing. There could be little room for speculationas to the subject of their broken talk. It was of De Sylva, ofBrazil's new dictator, of the gold he would control when he becamePresident again. The slow-moving Teutonic mind was beginning toassimilate the notion that there was money in this escapade. That thetatterdemalion then closeted with the _Unser Fritz's_ captain couldobtain a certified check for a million sterling, and twenty-five timesas many millions of francs, and even then remain a man of means, wasunbelievable; but if he regained power, that was different. _Ende gut,alles gut_. There might be pickings in it.
Soon after sunset Iris reappeared. She walked on the after deck withSan Benavides, and seemed to be listening with great attention tosomething he was telling her. Hozier was often compelled to look thatway in order to make certain that the _Sao Geronimo_ was notoverhauling the ship in one of her circling flights over the widechannel. He wondered what in the world San Benavides was saying thathis chatter should be so interesting, and he acknowledged with a pangthat Iris was deliberately avoiding his own occasional glances in herdirection.
There is no saying what would have happened had he known that theBrazilian was relating the scene that took place on the bridge,suppressing its prime motive, and twisting it greatly to Hozier'sdetriment, though with an adroit touch that deprived Iris of any powerto resent his words. Indeed, she read her own meaning into Philip'sanxiety to reach Pernambuco, whereas San Benavides was striving toinstill the belief that she would find excellent friends at Maceio.She was far too loyal-hearted to suspect Philip of a hidden purpose inurging that the voyage should end in one port rather than another. Butshe could not forget that he said repeatedly they would be married inPernambuco. Indeed, the promise had a glamour of its own, even thoughit could never be fulfilled. More than once her cheeks glowed with arush of color that San Benavides attributed to his own delightfulpersonality, and, when she paled again, his voice sank to a deeplysympathetic note.
And here came Watts, rejuvenated, having imbibed many pints of
thedespised lager, and humming gaily:
Beware, Beware! Trust her not! She is foo-oo-ooling thee!
Confound the fellow. Why could he not chant the piratical doggerelthat Coke abhorred? That, at least, would have been more appropriateto present surroundings? But would it? Ah, Philip felt a twinge then."Touche!" chortled some unseen imp who plied a venomous rapier. Thankgoodness, a sailor was standing by the ship's bell, with his hand on abit of cord tied to the clapper. It would soon be seven o'clock. Eventhe companionship of the uncouth skipper was preferable to thisbrooding solitariness.
When Hozier was relieved, and summoned to a meal in the saloon withNorrie and some of the ship's own officers, Iris was nowhere visible.He went straight to her cabin, and knocked.
"Who is it?" she asked.
"I, Philip. Will you be on deck in a quarter of an hour?"
"No."
"But this time _I_ want to tell _you_ something."
"Philip, dear, I am weary. I must rest--and--I dare not meet you."
"Dare not?"
"I am afraid of myself. Please leave me."
He caught the sob in her voice, and it unmanned him; he stalked off,raging. He remembered how the fiend, in Gounod's incomparable opera,whispered in the lover's ear: "Thou fool, wait for night and the moon!"and he was wroth with himself for the memory. While off duty he keptstrict watch and ward over the gangway in which Iris's cabin wassituated. It was useless; she remained hidden.
The _Unser Fritz_ was now heading southwest, and "reeling off her tenknots an hour like clockwork," as Norrie put it. The Recife, thatenormous barrier reef which blockades hundreds of miles of theBrazilian coast, caused no anxiety to Coke. He was well acquaintedwith these waters, and he held on stoutly until the occulting light ofMaceio showed low over the sea straight ahead. It was then aftermidnight, and the land was still ten miles distant, but the shippromptly resumed her role of lame duck, lest a prowling gunboat met andinterrogated her.
As Coke had told Iris she might expect to be ashore about two o'clock,she waited until half-past one ere coming on deck. Despite herunalterable decision to abide by the hideous compact entered into withher uncle and Bulmer, her first thought now was to find Hozier. Thoughthe sky was radiant with stars, a slight haze on the surface of the seashrouded the ship's decks and passages in an uncanny darkness. Coke'sorders forbade the display of any lights whatsoever, except those inthe engine-room and the three essential lamps carried externally. Sothe _Unser Fritz_ was gloomy, and the plash of the sea against her wornplates had an ominous sound, while the glittering white eye of thelighthouse winked evilly across the black plain in front.
In a word Iris was thoroughly wretched, and not a little disturbed bythe near prospect of landing in a foreign country, which would probablybe plunged into civil war by the mere advent of De Sylva. It needhardly be said that, under these circumstances, Hozier was the one manin whose company she would feel reasonably safe. But she could not seehim anywhere. Coke and Watts, with the Brazilians and a couple ofGermans, were on the bridge, but Hozier was not to be found.
At last she hailed one of the _Andromeda's_ men whom she met in agangway.
"Mr. Hozier, miss?" said he. "Oh, he's forrard, right up in the bows,keepin' a lookout. This is a ticklish place to enter without a pilot,an' we've passed two already."
This information added to her distress. She ought not to go to him.Full well she knew that her presence might distract him from anall-important task. So she sat forlornly on the fore-hatch, waitingthere until he might leave his post, reviewing all the bizarreprocession of events since she climbed an elm-tree in the garden ofLinden House on a Sunday afternoon now so remote that it seemed to bethe very beginning of life. The adventures to which that elm-treeconducted her were oddly reminiscent of the story of Jack and theBeanstalk. For once, the true had outrivaled the fabulous.
The steamer crept on lazily, and Iris fancied the hour must be nearerfive o'clock than two when she heard Hozier's voice ring out clearly:
"Buoy on the port bow!"
There was a movement among the dim figures on the bridge. A minutelater Hozier cried again:
"Buoy on the starboard bow!"
She understood then that they were in a marked channel. Already theroad was narrowing. Soon they would be ashore. At last Hozier came.He saw her as he jumped down from the forecastle deck.
"Why are you here, Iris?" was all he said. She looked so bowed, sohumbled, that he could not find it in his heart to reproach her forhaving avoided him earlier.
"I wanted to be near you," she whispered. "I--I am frightened, Philip.I am terrified by the unknown. Somehow, on the rock our dangers weremeasurable. Here, we shall soon be swallowed up among a whole lot ofpeople."
They heard Coke's gruff order to the watch to clear the falls of thejolly-boat. The _Unser Fritz_ was going dead slow. On the starboardside were the lights of a large town, but the opposite shore was somberand vague.
"Are we going to land at once, in a small boat?" said Iris timidly.
"I fancy there is a new move on foot. A gunboat is moored half a miledown stream. You missed her because your back was turned. She hassteam up, and could slip her cables in a minute. They saw her from thebridge, of course, but I did not report her, as there was a chance thatmy hail might be heard, and we came in so confidently that we arelooked on as a local trader. Come, let us buy a programme."
He took her by the arm with that masterful gentleness that is socomforting to a woman when danger is rife. Even his jesting allusionto their theatrical arrival in port was cheering. They reached thebridge. Some sailors were lowering a boat as quietly as possible.
Dom Corria approached with outstretched hand.
"Good-by, Miss Yorke," he said. "I am leaving you for a few hours, notlonger. When next we meet I ought to have a sure grip of thePresidential ladder, and I shall climb quickly. Won't you wish meluck?"
"I wish you all good fortune, Dom Corria," said Iris. "May your planssucceed without bloodshed!"
"Ah, this is South America, remember. Our conflicts are usually shortand fierce. _Au revoir_, Mr. Hozier. By daybreak we shall be betterfriends."
San Benavides also bade them farewell, with an easy grace not whollydevoid of melodramatic pathos. The dandy and the man of rags climbeddown a rope ladder, the boat fell away from the ship's side, and thenight took them.
"What did he mean by saying you would be 'better friends'?" whisperedthe girl. "Have you quarreled?"
"We had a small dispute as to the wisdom of landing you here," saidPhilip. "Perhaps I was wrong. He is a clever man, and he surely knowshis own country."
"Mr. Hozier!" cried Coke.
"Yes, sir."
"Is all clear forrard to let go anchor?"
"Yes, sir."
"Give her thirty. You go and see to it, will you?"
Hozier made off at a run.
Iris recalled the last time she heard similar words. She shuddered.Would that placid foreshore blaze out into a roar of artillery, and theworn-out _Unser Fritz_, like the worn-out _Andromeda_, stagger andlurch into a watery grave.
But the only noise that jarred the peaceful night was the rattle of thecable and winch. The ship fell away a few feet, and was held. Therewas no moving light on the river. Not even a police boat or Customslaunch had put off. Maceio was asleep; it was quite unprepared for thehonor of a Presidential visit.