New Arabian Nights

  CHAPTER IITELLS OF THE NOCTURNAL LANDING FROM THE YACHT

  I RETURNED to the den to cook myself a meal, of which I stood in greatneed, as well as to care for my horse, whom I had somewhat neglected inthe morning. From time to time I went down to the edge of the wood; butthere was no change in the pavilion, and not a human creature was seenall day upon the links. The schooner in the offing was the one touch oflife within my range of vision. She, apparently with no set object,stood off and on or lay to, hour after hour; but as the evening deepened,she drew steadily nearer. I became more convinced that she carriedNorthmour and his friends, and that they would probably come ashore afterdark; not only because that was of a piece with the secrecy of thepreparations, but because the tide would not have flowed sufficientlybefore eleven to cover Graden Floe and the other sea quags that fortifiedthe shore against invaders.

  All day the wind had been going down, and the sea along with it; butthere was a return towards sunset of the heavy weather of the day before.The night set in pitch dark. The wind came off the sea in squalls, likethe firing of a battery of cannon; now and then there was a flaw of rain,and the surf rolled heavier with the rising tide. I was down at myobservatory among the elders, when a light was run up to the masthead ofthe schooner, and showed she was closer in than when I had last seen herby the dying daylight. I concluded that this must be a signal toNorthmour’s associates on shore; and, stepping forth into the links,looked around me for something in response.

  A small footpath ran along the margin of the wood, and formed the mostdirect communication between the pavilion and the mansion-house; and, asI cast my eyes to that side, I saw a spark of light, not a quarter of amile away, and rapidly approaching. From its uneven course it appearedto be the light of a lantern carried by a person who followed thewindings of the path, and was often staggered and taken aback by the moreviolent squalls. I concealed myself once more among the elders, andwaited eagerly for the new-comer’s advance. It proved to be a woman;and, as she passed within half a rod of my ambush, I was able torecognise the features. The deaf and silent old dame, who had nursedNorthmour in his childhood, was his associate in this underhand affair.

  I followed her at a little distance, taking advantage of the innumerableheights and hollows, concealed by the darkness, and favoured not only bythe nurse’s deafness, but by the uproar of the wind and surf. Sheentered the pavilion, and, going at once to the upper storey, opened andset a light in one of the windows that looked towards the sea.Immediately afterwards the light at the schooner’s masthead was run downand extinguished. Its purpose had been attained, and those on board weresure that they were expected. The old woman resumed her preparations;although the other shutters remained closed, I could see a glimmer goingto and fro about the house; and a gush of sparks from one chimney afteranother soon told me that the fires were being kindled.

  Northmour and his guests, I was now persuaded, would come ashore as soonas there was water on the floe. It was a wild night for boat service;and I felt some alarm mingle with my curiosity as I reflected on thedanger of the landing. My old acquaintance, it was true, was the mosteccentric of men; but the present eccentricity was both disquieting andlugubrious to consider. A variety of feelings thus led me towards thebeach, where I lay flat on my face in a hollow within six feet of thetrack that led to the pavilion. Thence, I should have the satisfactionof recognising the arrivals, and, if they should prove to beacquaintances, greeting them as soon as they had landed.

  Some time before eleven, while the tide was still dangerously low, aboat’s lantern appeared close in shore; and, my attention being thusawakened, I could perceive another still far to seaward, violentlytossed, and sometimes hidden by the billows. The weather, which wasgetting dirtier as the night went on, and the perilous situation of theyacht upon a lee shore, had probably driven them to attempt a landing atthe earliest possible moment.

  A little afterwards, four yachtsmen carrying a very heavy chest, andguided by a fifth with a lantern, passed close in front of me as I lay,and were admitted to the pavilion by the nurse. They returned to thebeach, and passed me a second time with another chest, larger butapparently not so heavy as the first. A third time they made thetransit; and on this occasion one of the yachtsmen carried a leatherportmanteau, and the others a lady’s trunk and carriage bag. Mycuriosity was sharply excited. If a woman were among the guests ofNorthmour, it would show a change in his habits and an apostasy from hispet theories of life, well calculated to fill me with surprise. When heand I dwelt there together, the pavilion had been a temple of misogyny.And now, one of the detested sex was to be installed under its roof. Iremembered one or two particulars, a few notes of daintiness and almostof coquetry which had struck me the day before as I surveyed thepreparations in the house; their purpose was now clear, and I thoughtmyself dull not to have perceived it from the first.

  While I was thus reflecting, a second lantern drew near me from thebeach. It was carried by a yachtsman whom I had not yet seen, and whowas conducting two other persons to the pavilion. These two persons wereunquestionably the guests for whom the house was made ready; and,straining eye and ear, I set myself to watch them as they passed. Onewas an unusually tall man, in a travelling hat slouched over his eyes,and a highland cape closely buttoned and turned up so as to conceal hisface. You could make out no more of him than that he was, as I havesaid, unusually tall, and walked feebly with a heavy stoop. By his side,and either clinging to him or giving him support—I could not make outwhich—was a young, tall, and slender figure of a woman. She wasextremely pale; but in the light of the lantern her face was so marred bystrong and changing shadows, that she might equally well have been asugly as sin or as beautiful as I afterwards found her to be.

  When they were just abreast of me, the girl made some remark which wasdrowned by the noise of the wind.

  “Hush!” said her companion; and there was something in the tone withwhich the word was uttered that thrilled and rather shook my spirits. Itseemed to breathe from a bosom labouring under the deadliest terror; Ihave never heard another syllable so expressive; and I still hear itagain when I am feverish at night, and my mind runs upon old times. Theman turned towards the girl as he spoke; I had a glimpse of much redbeard and a nose which seemed to have been broken in youth; and his lighteyes seemed shining in his face with some strong and unpleasant emotion.

  But these two passed on and were admitted in their turn to the pavilion.

  One by one, or in groups, the seamen returned to the beach. The windbrought me the sound of a rough voice crying, “Shove off!” Then, after apause, another lantern drew near. It was Northmour alone.

  My wife and I, a man and a woman, have often agreed to wonder how aperson could be, at the same time, so handsome and so repulsive asNorthmour. He had the appearance of a finished gentleman; his face boreevery mark of intelligence and courage; but you had only to look at him,even in his most amiable moment, to see that he had the temper of aslaver captain. I never knew a character that was both explosive andrevengeful to the same degree; he combined the vivacity of the south withthe sustained and deadly hatreds of the north; and both traits wereplainly written on his face, which was a sort of danger signal. Inperson he was tall, strong, and active; his hair and complexion verydark; his features handsomely designed, but spoiled by a menacingexpression.

  At that moment he was somewhat paler than by nature; he wore a heavyfrown; and his lips worked, and he looked sharply round him as he walked,like a man besieged with apprehensions. And yet I thought he had a lookof triumph underlying all, as though he had already done much, and wasnear the end of an achievement.

  Partly from a scruple of delicacy—which I dare say came too late—partlyfrom the pleasure of startling an acquaintance, I desired to make mypresence known to him without delay.

  I got suddenly to my feet, and stepped forward. “Northmour!” said I.

  I have never had so shocking a surprise in all my days. He leaped o
n mewithout a word; something shone in his hand; and he struck for my heartwith a dagger. At the same moment I knocked him head over heels.Whether it was my quickness, or his own uncertainty, I know not; but theblade only grazed my shoulder, while the hilt and his fist struck meviolently on the mouth.

  I fled, but not far. I had often and often observed the capabilities ofthe sand-hills for protracted ambush or stealthy advances and retreats;and, not ten yards from the scene of the scuffle, plumped down again uponthe grass. The lantern had fallen and gone out. But what was myastonishment to see Northmour slip at a bound into the pavilion, and hearhim bar the door behind him with a clang of iron!

  He had not pursued me. He had run away. Northmour, whom I knew for themost implacable and daring of men, had run away! I could scarce believemy reason; and yet in this strange business, where all was incredible,there was nothing to make a work about in an incredibility more or less.For why was the pavilion secretly prepared? Why had Northmour landedwith his guests at dead of night, in half a gale of wind, and with thefloe scarce covered? Why had he sought to kill me? Had he notrecognised my voice? I wondered. And, above all, how had he come tohave a dagger ready in his hand? A dagger, or even a sharp knife, seemedout of keeping with the age in which we lived; and a gentleman landingfrom his yacht on the shore of his own estate, even although it was atnight and with some mysterious circumstances, does not usually, as amatter of fact, walk thus prepared for deadly onslaught. The more Ireflected, the further I felt at sea. I recapitulated the elements ofmystery, counting them on my fingers: the pavilion secretly prepared forguests; the guests landed at the risk of their lives and to the imminentperil of the yacht; the guests, or at least one of them, in undisguisedand seemingly causeless terror; Northmour with a naked weapon; Northmourstabbing his most intimate acquaintance at a word; last, and not leaststrange, Northmour fleeing from the man whom he had sought to murder, andbarricading himself, like a hunted creature, behind the door of thepavilion. Here were at least six separate causes for extreme surprise;each part and parcel with the others, and forming all together oneconsistent story. I felt almost ashamed to believe my own senses.

  As I thus stood, transfixed with wonder, I began to grow painfullyconscious of the injuries I had received in the scuffle; skulked roundamong the sand-hills; and, by a devious path, regained the shelter of thewood. On the way, the old nurse passed again within several yards of me,still carrying her lantern, on the return journey to the mansion-house ofGraden. This made a seventh suspicious feature in the case—Northmour andhis guests, it appeared, were to cook and do the cleaning for themselves,while the old woman continued to inhabit the big empty barrack among thepolicies. There must surely be great cause for secrecy, when so manyinconveniences were confronted to preserve it.

  So thinking, I made my way to the den. For greater security, I trod outthe embers of the fire, and lit my lantern to examine the wound upon myshoulder. It was a trifling hurt, although it bled somewhat freely, andI dressed it as well as I could (for its position made it difficult toreach) with some rag and cold water from the spring. While I was thusbusied, I mentally declared war against Northmour and his mystery. I amnot an angry man by nature, and I believe there was more curiosity thanresentment in my heart. But war I certainly declared; and, by way ofpreparation, I got out my revolver, and, having drawn the charges,cleaned and reloaded it with scrupulous care. Next I became preoccupiedabout my horse. It might break loose, or fall to neighing, and so betraymy camp in the Sea-Wood. I determined to rid myself of itsneighbourhood; and long before dawn I was leading it over the links inthe direction of the fisher village.