CHAPTER XXIII. HOSTAGES
Peter Blood stood in the pillared portico of Government House, and withunseeing eyes that were laden with pain and anger, stared out across thegreat harbour of Port Royal to the green hills rising from the farthershore and the ridge of the Blue Mountains beyond, showing hazily throughthe quivering heat.
He was aroused by the return of the negro who had gone to announce him,and following now this slave, he made his way through the house to thewide piazza behind it, in whose shade Colonel Bishop and my Lord JulianWade took what little air there was.
"So ye've come," the Deputy-Governor hailed him, and followed thegreeting by a series of grunts of vague but apparently ill-humouredimport.
He did not trouble to rise, not even when Lord Julian, obeying theinstincts of finer breeding, set him the example. From under scowlingbrows the wealthy Barbados planter considered his sometime slave, who,hat in hand, leaning lightly upon his long beribboned cane, revealednothing in his countenance of the anger which was being steadilynourished by this cavalier reception.
At last, with scowling brow and in self-sufficient tones, Colonel Bishopdelivered himself.
"I have sent for you, Captain Blood, because of certain news that hasjust reached me. I am informed that yesterday evening a frigate left theharbour having on board your associate Wolverstone and a hundred men ofthe hundred and fifty that were serving under you. His lordship and Ishall be glad to have your explanation of how you came to permit thatdeparture."
"Permit?" quoth Blood. "I ordered it."
The answer left Bishop speechless for a moment. Then:
"You ordered it?" he said in accents of unbelief, whilst Lord Julianraised his eyebrows. "'Swounds! Perhaps you'll explain yourself? Whitherhas Wolverstone gone?"
"To Tortuga. He's gone with a message to the officers commanding theother four ships of the fleet that is awaiting me there, telling themwhat's happened and why they are no longer to expect me."
Bishop's great face seemed to swell and its high colour to deepen. Heswung to Lord Julian.
"You hear that, my lord? Deliberately he has let Wolverstone loose uponthe seas again--Wolverstone, the worst of all that gang of pirates afterhimself. I hope your lordship begins at last to perceive the folly ofgranting the King's commission to such a man as this against all mycounsels. Why, this thing is... it's just mutiny... treason! By God!It's matter for a court-martial."
"Will you cease your blather of mutiny and treason and courts-martial?"Blood put on his hat, and sat down unbidden. "I have sent Wolverstoneto inform Hagthorpe and Christian and Yberville and the rest of my ladsthat they've one clear month in which to follow my example, quit piracy,and get back to their boucans or their logwood, or else sail out of theCaribbean Sea. That's what I've done."
"But the men?" his lordship interposed in his level, cultured voice."This hundred men that Wolverstone has taken with him?"
"They are those of my crew who have no taste for King James's service,and have preferred to seek work of other kinds. It was in our compact,my lord, that there should be no constraining of my men."
"I don't remember it," said his lordship, with sincerity.
Blood looked at him in surprise. Then he shrugged. "Faith, I'm not toblame for your lordship's poor memory. I say that it was so; and Idon't lie. I've never found it necessary. In any case ye couldn't havesupposed that I should consent to anything different."
And then the Deputy-Governor exploded.
"You have given those damned rascals in Tortuga this warning so thatthey may escape! That is what you have done. That is how you abuse thecommission that has saved your own neck!"
Peter Blood considered him steadily, his face impassive. "I willremind you," he said at last, very quietly, "that the object in viewwas--leaving out of account your own appetites which, as every oneknows, are just those of a hangman--to rid the Caribbean of buccaneers.Now, I've taken the most effective way of accomplishing that object. Theknowledge that I've entered the King's service should in itself go fartowards disbanding the fleet of which I was until lately the admiral."
"I see!" sneered the Deputy-Governor malevolently. "And if it does not?"
"It will be time enough then to consider what else is to be done."
Lord Julian forestalled a fresh outburst on the part of Bishop.
"It is possible," he said, "that my Lord Sunderland will be satisfied,provided that the solution is such as you promise."
It was a courteous, conciliatory speech. Urged by friendliness towardsBlood and understanding of the difficult position in which the buccaneerfound himself, his lordship was disposed to take his stand upon theletter of his instructions. Therefore he now held out a friendly hand tohelp him over the latest and most difficult obstacle which Blood himselfhad enabled Bishop to place in the way of his redemption. Unfortunatelythe last person from whom Peter Blood desired assistance at that momentwas this young nobleman, whom he regarded with the jaundiced eyes ofjealousy.
"Anyway," he answered, with a suggestion of defiance and more than asuggestion of a sneer, "it's the most ye should expect from me, andcertainly it's the most ye'll get."
His lordship frowned, and dabbed his lips with a handkerchief.
"I don't think that I quite like the way you put it. Indeed, uponreflection, Captain Blood, I am sure that I do not."
"I am sorry for that, so I am," said Blood impudently. "But there it is.I'm not on that account concerned to modify it."
His lordship's pale eyes opened a little wider. Languidly he raised hiseyebrows.
"Ah!" he said. "You're a prodigiously uncivil fellow. You disappoint me,sir. I had formed the notion that you might be a gentleman."
"And that's not your lordship's only mistake," Bishop cut in. "You madea worse when you gave him the King's commission, and so sheltered therascal from the gallows I had prepared for him in Port Royal."
"Aye--but the worst mistake of all in this matter of commissions,"said Blood to his lordship, "was the one that trade this greasy slaverDeputy-Governor of Jamaica instead of its hangman, which is the officefor which he's by nature fitted."
"Captain Blood!" said his lordship sharply in reproof. "Upon my soul andhonour, sir, you go much too far. You are...."
But here Bishop interrupted him. He had heaved himself to his feet, atlast, and was venting his fury in unprintable abuse. Captain Blood,who had also risen, stood apparently impassive, for the storm to spenditself. When at last this happened, he addressed himself quietly to LordJulian, as if Colonel Bishop had not spoken.
"Your lordship was about to say?" he asked, with challenging smoothness.
But his lordship had by now recovered his habitual composure, and wasagain disposed to be conciliatory. He laughed and shrugged.
"Faith! here's a deal of unnecessary heat," said he. "And God knows thisplaguey climate provides enough of that. Perhaps, Colonel Bishop, youare a little uncompromising; and you, sir, are certainly a deal toopeppery. I have said, speaking on behalf of my Lord Sunderland, that Iam content to await the result of your experiment."
But Bishop's fury had by now reached a stage in which it was not to berestrained.
"Are you, indeed?" he roared. "Well, then, I am not. This is a matter inwhich your lordship must allow me to be the better judge. And, anyhow,I'll take the risk of acting on my own responsibility."
Lord Julian abandoned the struggle. He smiled wearily, shrugged, andwaved a hand in implied resignation. The Deputy-Governor stormed on.
"Since my lord here has given you a commission, I can't regularly dealwith you out of hand for piracy as you deserve. But you shall answerbefore a court-martial for your action in the matter of Wolverstone, andtake the consequences."
"I see," said Blood. "Now we come to it. And it's yourself asDeputy-Governor will preside over that same court-martial. So that yecan wipe off old scores by hanging me, it's little ye care how ye doit!" He laughed, and added: "Praemonitus, praemunitus."
"What shall that mean?" quoth Lo
rd Julian sharply.
"I had imagined that your lordship would have had some education."
He was at pains, you see, to be provocative.
"It's not the literal meaning I am asking, sir," said Lord Julian, withfrosty dignity. "I want to know what you desire me to understand?"
"I'll leave your lordship guessing," said Blood. "And I'll be wishing yeboth a very good day." He swept off his feathered hat, and made them aleg very elegantly.
"Before you go," said Bishop, "and to save you from any idle rashness,I'll tell you that the Harbour-Master and the Commandant have theirorders. You don't leave Port Royal, my fine gallows bird. Damme, I meanto provide you with permanent moorings here, in Execution Dock."
Peter Blood stiffened, and his vivid blue eyes stabbed the bloated faceof his enemy. He passed his long cane into his left hand, and with hisright thrust negligently into the breast of his doublet, he swung toLord Julian, who was thoughtfully frowning.
"Your lordship, I think, promised me immunity from this."
"What I may have promised," said his lordship, "your own conduct makesit difficult to perform." He rose. "You did me a service, Captain Blood,and I had hoped that we might be friends. But since you prefer tohave it otherwise...." He shrugged, and waved a hand towards theDeputy-Governor.
Blood completed the sentence in his own way:
"Ye mean that ye haven't the strength of character to resist the urgingsof a bully." He was apparently at his ease, and actually smiling. "Well,well--as I said before--praemonitus, praemunitus. I'm afraid that ye'reno scholar, Bishop, or ye'd know that I means forewarned, forearmed."
"Forewarned? Ha!" Bishop almost snarled. "The warning comes a littlelate. You do not leave this house." He took a step in the direction ofthe doorway, and raised his voice. "Ho there..." he was beginning tocall.
Then with a sudden audible catch in his breath, he stopped short.Captain Blood's right hand had reemerged from the breast of his doublet,bringing with it a long pistol with silver mountings richly chased,which he levelled within a foot of the Deputy-Governor's head.
"And forearmed," said he. "Don't stir from where you are, my lord, orthere may be an accident."
And my lord, who had been moving to Bishop's assistance, stood instantlyarrested. Chap-fallen, with much of his high colour suddenly departed,the Deputy-Governor was swaying on unsteady legs. Peter Blood consideredhim with a grimness that increased his panic.
"I marvel that I don't pistol you without more ado, ye fat blackguard.If I don't, it's for the same reason that once before I gave ye yourlife when it was forfeit. Ye're not aware of the reason, to be sure; butit may comfort ye to know that it exists. At the same time I'll warnye not to put too heavy a strain on my generosity, which resides at themoment in my trigger-finger. Ye mean to hang me, and since that's theworst that can happen to me anyway, you'll realize that I'll not boggleat increasing the account by spilling your nasty blood." He cast hiscane from him, thus disengaging his left hand. "Be good enough to giveme your arm, Colonel Bishop. Come, come, man, your arm."
Under the compulsion of that sharp tone, those resolute eyes, and thatgleaming pistol, Bishop obeyed without demur. His recent foul volubilitywas stemmed. He could not trust himself to speak. Captain Blood tuckedhis left arm through the Deputy-Governor's proffered right. Then hethrust his own right hand with its pistol back into the breast of hisdoublet.
"Though invisible, it's aiming at ye none the less, and I give you myword of honour that I'll shoot ye dead upon the very least provocation,whether that provocation is yours or another's. Ye'll bear that in mind,Lord Julian. And now, ye greasy hangman, step out as brisk and lively asye can, and behave as naturally as ye may, or it's the black streamof Cocytus ye'll be contemplating." Arm in arm they passed through thehouse, and down the garden, where Arabella lingered, awaiting PeterBlood's return.
Consideration of his parting words had brought her first turmoil ofmind, then a clear perception of what might be indeed the truth of thedeath of Levasseur. She perceived that the particular inference drawnfrom it might similarly have been drawn from Blood's deliverance of MaryTraill. When a man so risks his life for a woman, the rest is easilyassumed. For the men who will take such risks without hope of personalgain are few. Blood was of those few, as he had proved in the case ofMary Traill.
It needed no further assurances of his to convince her that she haddone him a monstrous injustice. She remembered words he had used--wordsoverheard aboard his ship (which he had named the Arabella) on the nightof her deliverance from the Spanish admiral; words he had uttered whenshe had approved his acceptance of the King's commission; the words hehad spoken to her that very morning, which had but served to move herindignation. All these assumed a fresh meaning in her mind, deliverednow from its unwarranted preconceptions.
Therefore she lingered there in the garden, awaiting his return that shemight make amends; that she might set a term to all misunderstanding.In impatience she awaited him. Yet her patience, it seemed, was to betested further. For when at last he came, it was in company--unusuallyclose and intimate company--with her uncle. In vexation she realizedthat explanations must be postponed. Could she have guessed the extentof that postponement, vexation would have been changed into despair.
He passed, with his companion, from that fragrant garden into thecourtyard of the fort. Here the Commandant, who had been instructed tohold himself in readiness with the necessary men against the need toeffect the arrest of Captain Blood, was amazed by the curious spectacleof the Deputy-Governor of Jamaica strolling forth arm in arm andapparently on the friendliest terms with the intended prisoner. For asthey went, Blood was chatting and laughing briskly.
They passed out of the gates unchallenged, and so came to the mole wherethe cock-boat from the Arabella was waiting. They took their places sideby side in the stern sheets, and were pulled away together, always veryclose and friendly, to the great red ship where Jeremy Pitt so anxiouslyawaited news.
You conceive the master's amazement to see the Deputy-Governor cometoiling up the entrance ladder, with Blood following very close behindhim.
"Sure, I walked into a trap, as ye feared, Jeremy," Blood hailed him."But I walked out again, and fetched the trapper with me. He loves hislife, does this fat rascal."
Colonel Bishop stood in the waist, his great face blenched to the colourof clay, his mouth loose, almost afraid to look at the sturdy ruffianswho lounged about the shot-rack on the main hatch.
Blood shouted an order to the bo'sun, who was leaning against theforecastle bulkhead.
"Throw me a rope with a running noose over the yardarm there, againstthe need of it. Now, don't be alarming yourself, Colonel, darling. It'sno more than a provision against your being unreasonable, which I amsure ye'll not be. We'll talk the matter over whiles we are dining, forI trust ye'll not refuse to honour my table by your company."
He led away the will-less, cowed bully to the great cabin. Benjamin,the negro steward, in white drawers and cotton shirt, made haste by hiscommand to serve dinner.
Colonel Bishop collapsed on the locker under the stern ports, and spokenow for the first time.
"May I ask wha... what are your intentions?" he quavered.
"Why, nothing sinister, Colonel. Although ye deserve nothing less thanthat same rope and yardarm, I assure you that it's to be employed onlyas a last resource. Ye've said his lordship made a mistake when hehanded me the commission which the Secretary of State did me the honourto design for me. I'm disposed to agree with you; so I'll take to thesea again. Cras ingens iterabimus aequor. It's the fine Latin scholarye'll be when I've done with ye. I'll be getting back to Tortuga and mybuccaneers, who at least are honest, decent fellows. So I've fetched yeaboard as a hostage."
"My God!" groaned the Deputy-Governor. "Ye... ye never mean that ye'llcarry me to Tortuga!"
Blood laughed outright. "Oh, I'd never serve ye such a bad turn as that.No, no. All I want is that ye ensure my safe departure from Port Royal.And, if ye're reasonable
, I'll not even trouble you to swim for it thistime. Ye've given certain orders to your Harbour-Master, and others tothe Commandant of your plaguey fort. Ye'll be so good as to send forthem both aboard here, and inform them in my presence that the Arabellais leaving this afternoon on the King's service and is to pass outunmolested. And so as to make quite sure of their obedience, they shallgo a little voyage with us, themselves. Here's what you require. Nowwrite--unless you prefer the yardarm."
Colonel Bishop heaved himself up in a pet. "You constrain me withviolence..." he was beginning.
Blood smoothly interrupted him.
"Sure, now, I am not constraining you at all. I'm giving you a perfectlyfree choice between the pen and the rope. It's a matter for yourselfentirely."
Bishop glared at him; then shrugging heavily, he took up the pen andsat down at the table. In an unsteady hand he wrote that summons to hisofficers. Blood despatched it ashore; and then bade his unwilling guestto table.
"I trust, Colonel, your appetite is as stout as usual."
The wretched Bishop took the seat to which he was commanded. As foreating, however, that was not easy to a man in his position; nor didBlood press him. The Captain, himself, fell to with a good appetite.But before he was midway through the meal came Hayton to inform himthat Lord Julian Wade had just come aboard, and was asking to see himinstantly.
"I was expecting him," said Blood. "Fetch him in."
Lord Julian came. He was very stern and dignified. His eyes took in thesituation at a glance, as Captain Blood rose to greet him.
"It's mighty friendly of you to have joined us, my lord."
"Captain Blood," said his lordship with asperity, "I find your humour alittle forced. I don't know what may be your intentions; but I wonder doyou realize the risks you are running."
"And I wonder does your lordship realize the risk to yourself infollowing us aboard as I had counted that you would."
"What shall that mean, sir?"
Blood signalled to Benjamin, who was standing behind Bishop.
"Set a chair for his lordship. Hayton, send his lordship's boat ashore.Tell them he'll not be returning yet awhile."
"What's that?" cried his lordship. "Blister me! D'ye mean to detain me?Are ye mad?"
"Better wait, Hayton, in case his lordship should turn violent," saidBlood. "You, Benjamin, you heard the message. Deliver it."
"Will you tell me what you intend, sir?" demanded his lordship,quivering with anger.
"Just to make myself and my lads here safe from Colonel Bishop'sgallows. I've said that I trusted to your gallantry not to leave him inthe lurch, but to follow him hither, and there's a note from his handgone ashore to summon the Harbour-Master and the Commandant of thefort. Once they are aboard, I shall have all the hostages I need for oursafety."
"You scoundrel!" said his lordship through his teeth.
"Sure, now, that's entirely a matter of the point of view," said Blood."Ordinarily it isn't the kind of name I could suffer any man to apply tome. Still, considering that ye willingly did me a service once, andthat ye're likely unwillingly to do me another now, I'll overlook yourdiscourtesy, so I will."
His lordship laughed. "You fool," he said. "Do you dream that I cameaboard your pirate ship without taking my measures? I informed theCommandant of exactly how you had compelled Colonel Bishop to accompanyyou. Judge now whether he or the Harbour-Master will obey the summons,or whether you will be allowed to depart as you imagine."
Blood's face became grave. "I'm sorry for that," said he.
I thought you would be, answered his lordship.
"Oh, but not on my own account. It's the Deputy-Governor there I'm sorryfor. D'ye know what Ye've done? Sure, now, ye've very likely hangedhim."
"My God!" cried Bishop in a sudden increase of panic.
"If they so much as put a shot across my bows, up goes theirDeputy-Governor to the yardarm. Your only hope, Colonel, lies in thefact that I shall send them word of that intention. And so that you maymend as far as you can the harm you have done, it's yourself shall bearthem the message, my lord."
"I'll see you damned before I do," fumed his lordship.
"Why, that's unreasonable and unreasoning. But if ye insist, why,another messenger will do as well, and another hostage aboard--as I hadoriginally intended--will make my hand the stronger."
Lord Julian stared at him, realizing exactly what he had refused.
"You'll think better of it now that ye understand?" quoth Blood.
"Aye, in God's name, go, my lord," spluttered Bishop, "and make yourselfobeyed. This damned pirate has me by the throat."
His lordship surveyed him with an eye that was not by any meansadmiring. "Why, if that is your wish..." he began. Then he shrugged, andturned again to Blood.
"I suppose I can trust you that no harm will come to Colonel Bishop ifyou are allowed to sail?"
"You have my word for it," said Blood. "And also that I shall put himsafely ashore again without delay."
Lord Julian bowed stiffly to the cowering Deputy-Governor. "Youunderstand, sir, that I do as you desire," he said coldly.
"Aye, man, aye!" Bishop assented hastily.
"Very well." Lord Julian bowed again and took his departure. Bloodescorted him to the entrance ladder at the foot of which still swung theArabella's own cock-boat.
"It's good-bye, my lord," said Blood. "And there's another thing."He proffered a parchment that he had drawn from his pocket. "It's thecommission. Bishop was right when he said it was a mistake."
Lord Julian considered him, and considering him his expression softened.
"I am sorry," he said sincerely.
"In other circumstances..." began Blood. "Oh, but there! Ye'llunderstand. The boat's waiting."
Yet with his foot on the first rung of the ladder, Lord Julianhesitated.
"I still do not perceive--blister me if I do!--why you should not havefound some one else to carry your message to the Commandant, and kept meaboard as an added hostage for his obedience to your wishes."
Blood's vivid eyes looked into the other's that were clear and honest,and he smiled, a little wistfully. A moment he seemed to hesitate. Thenhe explained himself quite fully.
"Why shouldn't I tell you? It's the same reason that's been urging meto pick a quarrel with you so that I might have the satisfaction ofslipping a couple of feet of steel into your vitals. When I acceptedyour commission, I was moved to think it might redeem me in the eyes ofMiss Bishop--for whose sake, as you may have guessed, I took it. ButI have discovered that such a thing is beyond accomplishment. I shouldhave known it for a sick man's dream. I have discovered also that ifshe's choosing you, as I believe she is, she's choosing wisely betweenus, and that's why I'll not have your life risked by keeping you aboardwhilst the message goes by another who might bungle it. And now perhapsye'll understand."
Lord Julian stared at him bewildered. His long, aristocratic face wasvery pale.
"My God!" he said. "And you tell me this?"
"I tell you because... Oh, plague on it!--so that ye may tell her;so that she may be made to realize that there's something of theunfortunate gentleman left under the thief and pirate she accounts me,and that her own good is my supreme desire. Knowing that, she may...faith, she may remember me more kindly--if It's only in her prayers.That's all, my lord."
Lord Julian continued to look at the buccaneer in silence. In silence,at last, he held out his hand; and in silence Blood took it.
"I wonder whether you are right," said his lordship, "and whether youare not the better man."
"Where she is concerned see that you make sure that I am right. Good-byeto you."
Lord Julian wrung his hand in silence, went down the ladder, and waspulled ashore. From the distance he waved to Blood, who stood leaning onthe bulwarks watching the receding cock-boat.
The Arabella sailed within the hour, moving lazily before a sluggishbreeze. The fort remained silent and there was no movement from thefleet to hinder her departure. Lord Julian ha
d carried the messageeffectively, and had added to it his own personal commands.
CHAPTER XXIV. WAR
Five miles out at sea from Port Royal, whence the details of the coastof Jamaica were losing their sharpness, the Arabella hove to, and thesloop she had been towing was warped alongside.
Captain Blood escorted his compulsory guest to the head of the ladder.Colonel Bishop, who for two hours and more had been in a state of mortalanxiety, breathed freely at last; and as the tide of his fears receded,so that of his deep-rooted hate of this audacious buccaneer resumed itsnormal flow. But he practised circumspection. If in his heart he vowedthat once back in Port Royal there was no effort he would spare, nonerve he would not strain, to bring Peter Blood to final moorings inExecution Dock, at least he kept that vow strictly to himself.
Peter Blood had no illusions. He was not, and never would be, thecomplete pirate. There was not another buccaneer in all the Caribbeanwho would have denied himself the pleasure of stringing Colonel Bishopfrom the yardarm, and by thus finally stifling the vindictive planter'shatred have increased his own security. But Blood was not of these.Moreover, in the case of Colonel Bishop there was a particular reasonfor restraint. Because he was Arabella Bishop's uncle, his life mustremain sacred to Captain Blood.
And so the Captain smiled into the sallow, bloated face and the littleeyes that fixed him with a malevolence not to be dissembled.
"A safe voyage home to you, Colonel, darling," said he in valediction,and from his easy, smiling manner you would never have dreamt of thepain he carried in his breast. "It's the second time ye've served me fora hostage. Ye'll be well advised to avoid a third. I'm not lucky to you,Colonel, as you should be perceiving."
Jeremy Pitt, the master, lounging at Blood's elbow, looked darkly uponthe departure of the Deputy-Governor. Behind them a little mob of grim,stalwart, sun-tanned buccaneers were restrained from cracking Bishoplike a flea only by their submission to the dominant will of theirleader. They had learnt from Pitt while yet in Port Royal of theirCaptain's danger, and whilst as ready as he to throw over the King'sservice which had been thrust upon them, yet they resented the mannerin which this had been rendered necessary, and they marvelled now atBlood's restraint where Bishop was concerned. The Deputy-Governorlooked round and met the lowering hostile glances of those fierce eyes.Instinct warned him that his life at that moment was held precariously,that an injudicious word might precipitate an explosion of hatred fromwhich no human power could save him. Therefore he said nothing. Heinclined his head in silence to the Captain, and went blundering andstumbling in his haste down that ladder to the sloop and its waitingnegro crew.
They pushed off the craft from the red hull of the Arabella, bent totheir sweeps, then, hoisting sail, headed back for Port Royal, intentupon reaching it before darkness should come down upon them. And Bishop,the great bulk of him huddled in the stem sheets, sat silent, his blackbrows knitted, his coarse lips pursed, malevolence and vindictivenessso whelming now his recent panic that he forgot his near escape of theyardarm and the running noose.
On the mole at Port Royal, under the low, embattled wall of the fort,Major Mallard and Lord Julian waited to receive him, and it was withinfinite relief that they assisted him from the sloop.
Major Mallard was disposed to be apologetic.
"Glad to see you safe, sir," said he. "I'd have sunk Blood's ship inspite of your excellency's being aboard but for your own orders by LordJulian, and his lordship's assurance that he had Blood's word forit that no harm should come to you so that no harm came to him. I'llconfess I thought it rash of his lordship to accept the word of a damnedpirate...."
"I have found it as good as another's," said his lordship, cropping theMajor's too eager eloquence. He spoke with an unusual degree of thatfrosty dignity he could assume upon occasion. The fact is that hislordship was in an exceedingly bad humour. Having written jubilantlyhome to the Secretary of State that his mission had succeeded, he wasnow faced with the necessity of writing again to confess that thissuccess had been ephemeral. And because Major Mallard's crisp mostachioswere lifted by a sneer at the notion of a buccaneer's word beingacceptable, he added still more sharply: "My justification is here inthe person of Colonel Bishop safely returned. As against that, sir, youropinion does not weigh for very much. You should realize it."
"Oh, as your lordship says." Major Mallard's manner was tinged withirony. "To be sure, here is the Colonel safe and sound. And out yonderis Captain Blood, also safe and sound, to begin his piratical ravagesall over again."
"I do not propose to discuss the reasons with you, Major Mallard."
"And, anyway, it's not for long," growled the Colonel, finding speech atlast. "No, by....." He emphasized the assurance by an unprintable oath."If I spend the last shilling of my fortune and the last ship of theJamaica fleet, I'll have that rascal in a hempen necktie before I rest.And I'll not be long about it." He had empurpled in his angry vehemence,and the veins of his forehead stood out like whipcord. Then he checked.
"You did well to follow Lord Julian's instructions," he commended theMajor. With that he turned from him, and took his lordship by the arm."Come, my lord. We must take order about this, you and I."
They went off together, skirting the redoubt, and so through courtyardand garden to the house where Arabella waited anxiously. The sight ofher uncle brought her infinite relief, not only on his own account, buton account also of Captain Blood.
"You took a great risk, sir," she gravely told Lord Julian after theordinary greetings had been exchanged.
But Lord Julian answered her as he had answered Major Mallard. "Therewas no risk, ma'am."
She looked at him in some astonishment. His long, aristocratic face worea more melancholy, pensive air than usual. He answered the enquiry inher glance:
"So that Blood's ship were allowed to pass the fort, no harm could cometo Colonel Bishop. Blood pledged me his word for that."
A faint smile broke the set of her lips, which hitherto had beenwistful, and a little colour tinged her cheeks. She would have pursuedthe subject, but the Deputy-Governor's mood did not permit it. Hesneered and snorted at the notion of Blood's word being good foranything, forgetting that he owed to it his own preservation at thatmoment.
At supper, and for long thereafter he talked of nothing but Blood--ofhow he would lay him by the heels, and what hideous things he wouldperform upon his body. And as he drank heavily the while, his speechbecame increasingly gross and his threats increasingly horrible; untilin the end Arabella withdrew, white-faced and almost on the verge oftears. It was not often that Bishop revealed himself to his niece. Oddlyenough, this coarse, overbearing planter went in a certain awe of thatslim girl. It was as if she had inherited from her father the respect inwhich he had always been held by his brother.
Lord Julian, who began to find Bishop disgusting beyond endurance,excused himself soon after, and went in quest of the lady. He had yet todeliver the message from Captain Blood, and this, he thought, would behis opportunity. But Miss Bishop had retired for the night, andLord Julian must curb his impatience--it amounted by now to nothingless--until the morrow.
Very early next morning, before the heat of the day came to render theopen intolerable to his lordship, he espied her from his window movingamid the azaleas in the garden. It was a fitting setting for one who wasstill as much a delightful novelty to him in womanhood as was the azaleaamong flowers. He hurried forth to join her, and when, aroused fromher pensiveness, she had given him a good-morrow, smiling and frank, heexplained himself by the announcement that he bore her a message fromCaptain Blood.
He observed her little start and the slight quiver of her lips, andobserved thereafter not only her pallor and the shadowy rings about hereyes, but also that unusually wistful air which last night had escapedhis notice.
They moved out of the open to one of the terraces, where a pergola oforange-trees provided a shaded sauntering space that was at once cooland fragrant. As they went, he considered her admiringly,
and marvelledat himself that it should have taken him so long fully to realizeher slim, unusual grace, and to find her, as he now did, so entirelydesirable, a woman whose charm must irradiate all the life of a man, andtouch its commonplaces into magic.
He noted the sheen of her red-brown hair, and how gracefully one of itsheavy ringlets coiled upon her slender, milk-white neck. She wore a gownof shimmering grey silk, and a scarlet rose, fresh-gathered, was pinnedat her breast like a splash of blood. Always thereafter when he thoughtof her it was as he saw her at that moment, as never, I think, untilthat moment had he seen her.
In silence they paced on a little way into the green shade. Then shepaused and faced him.
"You said something of a message, sir," she reminded him, thus betrayingsome of her impatience.
He fingered the ringlets of his periwig, a little embarrassed how todeliver himself, considering how he should begin. "He desired me," hesaid at last, "to give you a message that should prove to you that thereis still something left in him of the unfortunate gentleman that...that.., for which once you knew him."
"That is not now necessary," said she very gravely. He misunderstoodher, of course, knowing nothing of the enlightenment that yesterday hadcome to her.
"I think..., nay, I know that you do him an injustice," said he.
Her hazel eyes continued to regard him.
"If you will deliver the message, it may enable me to judge."
To him, this was confusing. He did not immediately answer. He found thathe had not sufficiently considered the terms he should employ, and thematter, after all, was of an exceeding delicacy, demanding delicatehandling. It was not so much that he was concerned to deliver a messageas to render it a vehicle by which to plead his own cause. Lord Julian,well versed in the lore of womankind and usually at his ease with ladiesof the beau-monde, found himself oddly constrained before this frank andunsophisticated niece of a colonial planter.
They moved on in silence and as if by common consent towards thebrilliant sunshine where the pergola was intersected by the avenueleading upwards to the house. Across this patch of light fluttered agorgeous butterfly, that was like black and scarlet velvet and largeas a man's hand. His lordship's brooding eyes followed it out of sightbefore he answered.
"It is not easy. Stab me, it is not. He was a man who deserved well. Andamongst us we have marred his chances: your uncle, because he could notforget his rancour; you, because... because having told him that in theKing's service he would find his redemption of what was past, you wouldnot afterwards admit to him that he was so redeemed. And this, althoughconcern to rescue you was the chief motive of his embracing that sameservice."
She had turned her shoulder to him so that he should not see her face.
"I know. I know now," she said softly. Then after a pause she added thequestion: "And you? What part has your lordship had in this--that youshould incriminate yourself with us?"
"My part?" Again he hesitated, then plunged recklessly on, as men dowhen determined to perform a thing they fear. "If I understood himaright, if he understood aright, himself, my part, though entirelypassive, was none the less effective. I implore you to observe thatI but report his own words. I say nothing for myself." His lordship'sunusual nervousness was steadily increasing. "He thought, then--sohe told me--that my presence here had contributed to his inability toredeem himself in your sight; and unless he were so redeemed, then wasredemption nothing."
She faced him fully, a frown of perplexity bringing her brows togetherabove her troubled eyes.
"He thought that you had contributed?" she echoed. It was clear sheasked for enlightenment. He plunged on to afford it her, his glance alittle scared, his cheeks flushing.
"Aye, and he said so in terms which told me something that I hope aboveall things, and yet dare not believe, for, God knows, I am no coxcomb,Arabella. He said... but first let me tell you how I was placed. I hadgone aboard his ship to demand the instant surrender of your uncle whomhe held captive. He laughed at me. Colonel Bishop should be a hostagefor his safety. By rashly venturing aboard his ship, I afforded himin my own person yet another hostage as valuable at least as ColonelBishop. Yet he bade me depart; not from the fear of consequences, forhe is above fear, nor from any personal esteem for me whom he confessedthat he had come to find detestable; and this for the very reason thatmade him concerned for my safety."
"I do not understand," she said, as he paused. "Is not that acontradiction in itself?"
"It seems so only. The fact is, Arabella, this unfortunate man hasthe... the temerity to love you."
She cried out at that, and clutched her breast whose calm was suddenlydisturbed. Her eyes dilated as she stared at him.
"I... I've startled you," said he, with concern. "I feared I should. Butit was necessary so that you may understand."
"Go on," she bade him.
"Well, then: he saw in me one who made it impossible that he should winyou--so he said. Therefore he could with satisfaction have killed me.But because my death might cause you pain, because your happiness wasthe thing that above all things he desired, he surrendered that part ofhis guarantee of safety which my person afforded him. If his departureshould be hindered, and I should lose my life in what might follow,there was the risk that... that you might mourn me. That risk he wouldnot take. Him you deemed a thief and a pirate, he said, and addedthat--I am giving you his own words always--if in choosing between ustwo, your choice, as he believed, would fall on me, then were you in hisopinion choosing wisely. Because of that he bade me leave his ship, andhad me put ashore."
She looked at him with eyes that were aswim with tears. He took a steptowards her, a catch in his breath, his hand held out.
"Was he right, Arabella? My life's happiness hangs upon your answer."
But she continued silently to regard him with those tear-laden eyes,without speaking, and until she spoke he dared not advance farther.
A doubt, a tormenting doubt beset him. When presently she spoke, he sawhow true had been the instinct of which that doubt was born, for herwords revealed the fact that of all that he had said the only thingthat had touched her consciousness and absorbed it from all otherconsiderations was Blood's conduct as it regarded herself.
"He said that!" she cried. "He did that! Oh!" She turned away, andthrough the slender, clustering trunks of the bordering orange-treesshe looked out across the glittering waters of the great harbour tothe distant hills. Thus for a little while, my lord standing stiffly,fearfully, waiting for fuller revelation of her mind. At last it came,slowly, deliberately, in a voice that at moments was half suffocated."Last night when my uncle displayed his rancour and his evil rage, itbegan to be borne in upon me that such vindictiveness can belong only tothose who have wronged. It is the frenzy into which men whip themselvesto justify an evil passion. I must have known then, if I had not alreadylearnt it, that I had been too credulous of all the unspeakable thingsattributed to Peter Blood. Yesterday I had his own explanation of thattale of Levasseur that you heard in St. Nicholas. And now this... thisbut gives me confirmation of his truth and worth. To a scoundrel such asI was too readily brought to believe him, the act of which you have justtold me would have been impossible."
"That is my own opinion," said his lordship gently.
"It must be. But even if it were not, that would now weigh for nothing.What weighs--oh, so heavily and bitterly--is the thought that but forthe words in which yesterday I repelled him, he might have been saved.If only I could have spoken to him again before he went! I waited forhim; but my uncle was with him, and I had no suspicion that he was goingaway again. And now he is lost--back at his outlawry and piracy, inwhich ultimately he will be taken and destroyed. And the fault ismine--mine!"
"What are you saying? The only agents were your uncle's hostility andhis own obstinacy which would not study compromise. You must not blameyourself for anything."
She swung to him with some impatience, her eyes aswim in tears. "You cansay that, and in spite of his message
, which in itself tells how muchI was to blame! It was my treatment of him, the epithets I cast at himthat drove him. So much he has told you. I know it to be true."
"You have no cause for shame," said he. "As for your sorrow--why, if itwill afford you solace--you may still count on me to do what man can torescue him from this position."
She caught her breath.
"You will do that!" she cried with sudden eager hopefulness. "Youpromise?" She held out her hand to him impulsively. He took it in bothhis own.
"I promise," he answered her. And then, retaining still the hand shehad surrendered to him--"Arabella," he said very gently, "there is stillthis other matter upon which you have not answered me."
"This other matter?" Was he mad, she wondered.
Could any other matter signify in such a moment.
"This matter that concerns myself; and all my future, oh, so veryclosely. This thing that Blood believed, that prompted him..., that ...that you are not indifferent to me." He saw the fair face change colourand grow troubled once more.
"Indifferent to you?" said she. "Why, no. We have been good friends; weshall continue so, I hope, my lord."
"Friends! Good friends?" He was between dismay and bitterness. "It isnot your friendship only that I ask, Arabella. You heard what I said,what I reported. You will not say that Peter Blood was wrong?"
Gently she sought to disengage her hand, the trouble in her faceincreasing. A moment he resisted; then, realizing what he did, he sether free.
"Arabella!" he cried on a note of sudden pain.
"I have friendship for you, my lord. But only friendship." His castle ofhopes came clattering down about him, leaving him a little stunned. Ashe had said, he was no coxcomb. Yet there was something that he didnot understand. She confessed to friendship, and it was in his powerto offer her a great position, one to which she, a colonial planter'sniece, however wealthy, could never have aspired even in her dreams.This she rejected, yet spoke of friendship. Peter Blood had beenmistaken, then. How far had he been mistaken? Had he been as mistaken inher feelings towards himself as he obviously was in her feelings towardshis lordship? In that case ... His reflections broke short. To speculatewas to wound himself in vain. He must know. Therefore he asked her withgrim frankness:
"Is it Peter Blood?"
"Peter Blood?" she echoed. At first she did not understand the purportof his question. When understanding came, a flush suffused her face.
"I do not know," she said, faltering a little.
This was hardly a truthful answer. For, as if an obscuring veil hadsuddenly been rent that morning, she was permitted at last to see PeterBlood in his true relations to other men, and that sight, vouchsafedher twenty-four hours too late, filled her with pity and regret andyearning.
Lord Julian knew enough of women to be left in no further doubt. Hebowed his head so that she might not see the anger in his eyes, for asa man of honour he took shame in that anger which as a human being hecould not repress.
And because Nature in him was stronger--as it is in most of us--thantraining, Lord Julian from that moment began, almost in spite ofhimself, to practise something that was akin to villainy. I regretto chronicle it of one for whom--if I have done him any sort ofjustice--you should have been conceiving some esteem. But the truthis that the lingering remains of the regard in which he had held PeterBlood were choked by the desire to supplant and destroy a rival. He hadpassed his word to Arabella that he would use his powerful influence onBlood's behalf. I deplore to set it down that not only did he forget hispledge, but secretly set himself to aid and abet Arabella's uncle in theplans he laid for the trapping and undoing of the buccaneer. He mightreasonably have urged--had he been taxed with it--that he conductedhimself precisely as his duty demanded. But to that he might have beenanswered that duty with him was but the slave of jealousy in this.
When the Jamaica fleet put to sea some few days later, Lord Juliansailed with Colonel Bishop in Vice-Admiral Craufurd's flagship. Not onlywas there no need for either of them to go, but the Deputy-Governor'sduties actually demanded that he should remain ashore, whilst LordJulian, as we know, was a useless man aboard a ship. Yet both set outto hunt Captain Blood, each making of his duty a pretext for thesatisfaction of personal aims; and that common purpose became a linkbetween them, binding them in a sort of friendship that must otherwisehave been impossible between men so dissimilar in breeding and inaspirations.
The hunt was up. They cruised awhile off Hispaniola, watching theWindward Passage, and suffering the discomforts of the rainy seasonwhich had now set in. But they cruised in vain, and after a month ofit, returned empty-handed to Port Royal, there to find awaiting them themost disquieting news from the Old World.
The megalomania of Louis XIV had set Europe in a blaze of war. TheFrench legionaries were ravaging the Rhine provinces, and Spain hadjoined the nations leagued to defend themselves from the wild ambitionsof the King of France. And there was worse than this: there were rumoursof civil war in England, where the people had grown weary of the bigotedtyranny of King James. It was reported that William of Orange had beeninvited to come over.
Weeks passed, and every ship from home brought additional news. Williamhad crossed to England, and in March of that year 1689 they learnt inJamaica that he had accepted the crown and that James had thrown himselfinto the arms of France for rehabilitation.
To a kinsman of Sunderland's this was disquieting news, indeed. It wasfollowed by letters from King William's Secretary of State informingColonel Bishop that there was war with France, and that in view of itseffect upon the Colonies a Governor-General was coming out to theWest Indies in the person of Lord Willoughby, and that with him came asquadron under the command of Admiral van der Kuylen to reenforce theJamaica fleet against eventualities.
Bishop realized that this must mean the end of his supreme authority,even though he should continue in Port Royal as Deputy-Governor. LordJulian, in the lack of direct news to himself, did not know what itmight mean to him. But he had been very close and confidential withColonel Bishop regarding his hopes of Arabella, and Colonel Bishop morethan ever, now that political events put him in danger of being retired,was anxious to enjoy the advantages of having a man of Lord Julian'seminence for his relative.
They came to a complete understanding in the matter, and Lord Juliandisclosed all that he knew.
"There is one obstacle in our path," said he. "Captain Blood. The girlis in love with him."
"Ye're surely mad!" cried Bishop, when he had recovered speech.
"You are justified of the assumption," said his lordship dolefully. "ButI happen to be sane, and to speak with knowledge."
"With knowledge?"
"Arabella herself has confessed it to me."
"The brazen baggage! By God, I'll bring her to her senses." It was theslave-driver speaking, the man who governed with a whip.
"Don't be a fool, Bishop." His lordship's contempt did more thanany argument to calm the Colonel. "That's not the way with a girl ofArabella's spirit. Unless you want to wreck my chances for all time,you'll hold your tongue, and not interfere at all."
"Not interfere? My God, what, then?"
"Listen, man. She has a constant mind. I don't think you know yourniece. As long as Blood lives, she will wait for him."
"Then with Blood dead, perhaps she will come to her silly senses."
"Now you begin to show intelligence," Lord Julian commended him. "Thatis the first essential step."
"And here is our chance to take it." Bishop warmed to a sort ofenthusiasm. "This war with France removes all restrictions in the matterof Tortuga. We are free to invest it in the service of the Crown. Avictory there and we establish ourselves in the favour of this newgovernment."
"Ah!" said Lord Julian, and he pulled thoughtfully at his lip.
"I see that you understand," Bishop laughed coarsely. "Two birds withone stone, eh? We'll hunt this rascal in his lair, right under thebeard of the King of France, and we'll take him this time, if
we reduceTortuga to a heap of ashes."
On that expedition they sailed two days later--which would be some threemonths after Blood's departure--taking every ship of the fleet, andseveral lesser vessels as auxiliaries. To Arabella and the world ingeneral it was given out that they were going to raid French Hispaniola,which was really the only expedition that could have afforded ColonelBishop any sort of justification for leaving Jamaica at all at sucha time. His sense of duty, indeed, should have kept him fast inPort Royal; but his sense of duty was smothered in hatred--that mostfruitless and corruptive of all the emotions. In the great cabin ofVice-Admiral Craufurd's flagship, the Imperator, the Deputy-Governor gotdrunk that night to celebrate his conviction that the sands of CaptainBlood's career were running out.