STORY ONE, CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
THE SHADOW DARKENED.
In the horror of those moments Hester Pugh felt nerveless, and after thefirst spasmodic attempt to shriek there was no necessity for the handpressed so tightly over her lips as she was lifted by a strong arm andcarried back a few paces, and then held firmly against the bulwarks.
The next moment, as with starting eyes she gazed wildly about in searchof help, her captor's lips were placed close to her, and words thatseemed to scorch her brain were hissed into her ear.
"Have I not warned you sufficiently? But for the intense love I bearyou, this moment would be your last. One plunge, and it would beimpossible to save you in this darkness, and no one would realise whodid the deed. Do you wish me to make use of the knowledge I gainedto-day with those dynamite experiments; because, listen, I have notlooked on in vain. One touch of a wire--one that I have laid--and thisship and all on board would be in fragments. That would have happenedif you had gone forward to-night and betrayed me. Once more, listen; itis useless for you to fight against your fate, for I am not alone here;and when I cease watching you others take up the task. There. See, Irelease and trust you after what I have said."
He took his hand from the trembling woman's lips, but grasped hertightly still, lest she should sink down fainting.
"Now return quietly to your cabin," he continued, "and remember this.You think to save Dutch Pugh and the rest by betraying me. Instead ofthat you will send them to their death. Now go back without a sound."
Hester felt her arm released, and that she was free. Her first wildthought was to run forward, shrieking for help; her next that Laurewould keep his word, and, controlling herself she tottered withoutstretched hands back to the cabin stairs, and reached the littlecabin where Bessy was already asleep, and then, sinking on her knees,prayed for help in this time of need.
That night of agony seemed as if it would never pass away, for Hestercrouched there sleepless and watching, starting at every sound, andtrembling lest the Cuban should be already putting some diabolicalscheme into action. At length the day broke, and quite exhausted shesank into a troubled slumber, from which she awoke affrighted with thefeeling upon her that Laure was bending down trying to read her face andtell whether she was going to warn her husband or not.
A smile of relief crossed her lips, though, as she saw that it was BessyStudwick, and she listened calmly to her chidings, but refused to go tobed.
"It was so foolish," said Bessy, "to sit there the night through. It isnot the way to grow strong."
From the noise on deck it was evident that preparations for diving wererapidly going on, and now another dread assailed Hester. She felt surethat Dutch would be one of the first to go down, and she shuddered asshe thought of the sharks, and determined to make an effort to dissuadehim.
She was on the point of going on deck when Laure's words stayed her.She was watched, and if she tried to communicate with her husband mighthe not interpret it as an attempt to betray him, and in an instantcompass his destruction.
"If I only knew what to do?" she moaned. "If I could but warn him ofthe danger they might seize that villain in time. I will warn him atall hazards."
She was ready to die to save Dutch from peril, but she was socircumstanced that her warning would compass his destruction, and shesank back feeling at last that she could not betray what she knew.
For the moment she was reassured by hearing Dutch's voice, and directlyafter Bessy came to fetch her into the cabin to breakfast, where allsave she were in high spirits, no one having a suspicion of the dangerthat threatened them. The talk was all of the treasure, and thespecimen ingots that Laure had shown them were mentioned, while toHester's horror she found that the Cuban was apparently forgotten.
It soon became evident to her that all the preparations had been made,and she followed the actors in the busy scene to be enacted on deck assoon as the hurried meal was at an end.
Dutch had glanced at her once, and her heart throbbed with pleasure asshe read his look as one more of sorrow than anger, and this lastdetermined her to speak to him at all hazards.
The air-pump was ready, with Rasp dictating and ordering the men about;and had Hester felt any hesitation before, the sight of Dutch drawing onthe heavy india-rubber suit determined her to act.
"I don't think their teeth would go through this," he said coolly to MrParkley, "if they come; but we'll do what we said, and that will keepthem off."
He went on with his preparations, and twice over, as she saw him nearingreadiness, Hester approached, but, each time on glancing round, she sawthat the Cuban had his eyes fixed upon her, and she shrank away.
At last, however, Dutch was ready, all but having the great copperdiving-helmet screwed on. A stout leather belt was round his waist,heavy leaden-soled boots upon his feet; square weights of lead hung fromthe copper gorget round his neck and breast and back; the long tube wasattached to helmet and air-pump, and a keen handy axe and a long sharpdouble-edged knife lay ready for placing in his belt, side by side witha heavy iron bar.
A stout wooden ladder, in joints, had been fitted together and securedto the gangway, its foot being within a few inches of the sand that layin the midst of the sunken wreck, which, seen through the clear water,seemed, although five fathoms down, but a very little distance from thekeel of the schooner.
There too was the signalling rope ready for placing round the diver; andto make the preparations more complete, the galvanic battery wascharged, and half-a-dozen little dynamite cartridges, attached to asmany thin wires, lay ready for hurling in the direction of anyapproaching shark and exploding in the water. This, it was considered,might kill it, but would certainly scare it away, while the size was notlarge enough to injure the diver, protected by his helmet. A carefulinvestigation had resulted in not one of the monsters being seen, andall hoped that the explosions of the previous day had killed and scaredall that they need fear for the present.
Very good theories all these, but those on board forgot that a good dealof refuse food was thrown overboard by 'Pollo every now and then, andthat this floated away slowly on the current, and might act as anattraction to the fish some distance away.
The air-pump was tried, and proved, thanks to Rasp, in excellentcondition. Such of the crew as were not to work at the pump were ingood places for observation, partly to satisfy their own curiosity, forthe novelty of the coming experiment quite excited them, partly to keepwatch for sharks and give ample warning; while a portion of the deck wasmarked off, where the apparatus was placed, and no one but those at workwas allowed to pass the ropes. Here Rasp had arranged his coils withmathematical exactness; the rope for signalling was as carefullyarranged, and men stationed at the pump, to the use of which he haddrilled them; and in addition a stouter coil with a spring hook wasready, the spring being held in Rasp's hand.
"I think you had better have it attached, Pugh," said Mr Parkley.
"Nonsense!" replied Dutch, smiling; and as his countenance lit up Hesterthought he had never looked so true and brave before. "Why, anyonewould think I was a novice, who had never been down."
"'Taint that, Mr Pug," said Rasp, "it's on account of those long-nosedsharks. You just have it on, and if we sees one o' the warmint comingwe'll haul you up in a way such as'll startle him."
"I'm not afraid of the sharks," said Dutch, taking up and feeling thepoint of the great dagger-like knife. "A man can but the once."
"My dear Pugh," exclaimed Mr Parkley, "don't talk in that cynical way.Of course, a man can only die once; but do you think I want to go to theend of my days feeling that I had murdered you by my neglect. My dearboy, I would not exchange your life for twenty sunken ship-loads oftreasure."
"Thank you, Parkley," said Dutch, taking and wringing his hand, "Ibelieve you."
"Then, come, you will have the rope attached?"
"No, no, it will only be in the way."
"My dear fellow, it will not. It is not as if you we
re going down thehold of a ship. All is clear; there is not even a rock in your way,only a few upright ribs that you can easily avoid."
"But it is such a childlike preparation," said Dutch, petulantly."Here, give me the helmet, Rasp."
"Yah, you allus was as obstinate as a mule, Mr Pug," said the oldfellow, handing the great casque with its barred visor. "If you don'thave the rope, I won't give you a good supply of wind--there!"
"I'm not afraid of that, Rasp," said Dutch, laughing; and then, as hestood with the helmet on his arm, he turned cold and stern again, for hesaw Hester approach, and as she did so the others involuntarily drewaway.
"What is it?" he said, coldly.
"Dutch," she whispered, as she laid her hands upon his shoulders, "yourtrue, faithful wife, who has never wronged you in thought or deed,implores you to take the precaution they ask."
"Pish!" he exclaimed, contemptuously.
"You do not believe me, dear," she continued, with the tears streamingdown her cheeks; "but God is my judge that I speak the truth. Oh,Dutch, Dutch!" she continued, as she saw his face begin to work, "someday you will know all, and your heart will bleed for the agony you havecaused me."
"Hester," he said, in the same low tone, "I'd give twenty years of mylife to have back the same old trust in you, but it is gone, gone forever."
"No," she replied, with a bright look beaming in her face, "it is not:the truth is coming--coming soon, and when it does, Dutch, you will comeback to my heart with the knowledge that your little wife has forgivenyou your injustice from the first, that she loves you more dearly thanever."
"You forgive me?" he said bitterly.
"Yes, the wrong you have done me, Dutch. You have nothing to forgive mebut for keeping my secret for your sake."
There was such an air of candour and truth in her countenance that hadthey been alone he would have clutched her to his breast, but he knewthat they were watched by many eyes, and restraining himself he saidquietly:
"It is enough now. Tell me this--will you--when I return--"
"You're a-going to have on that rope, ain't you, Mr Dutch?" said Rasp,interrupting them.
"Yes. You can get it ready," replied Dutch.
"God bless you for that," whispered Hester earnestly.
"Now, go back," he said quietly; "there must be no scene here. You neednot be afraid for me; I shall incur no risks now, in the hope that, asyou say, you can make all clear between us. You will explain all--everything to me when I come up."
With a wild look of delight she was about to say yes, when she quailedand shrank away, for at a little distance behind Dutch she saw Laureapparently busy arranging the rope there around the deck, but evidentlyhearing all that was said.
"You promise?" said Dutch sternly.
"Spare me, oh, my darling," she moaned. "I dare not--oh I dare notspeak."
"What," he whispered, "is this your truth?"
"It is for your sake," she moaned, "for your sake," and with droopinghead she crept away.
"Come, come, little woman," said Mr Parkley, taking her hand; "be firm,be firm; he shall not come to harm."
"Not he, mum, while old Tom Rasp is alive to help," growled the oldfellow.
"Perhaps you'd better go below, my dear," said Mr Parkley.
"No," said Hester firmly, and drawing herself up; "I shall stay."
"Then you shall, my dear; but," he added, with a smile, "woman for ever!You've won the day: he's going to have the life-rope."
The old doubts, which had been growing fainter and which would, nodoubt, have been entirely swept away by an explanation, came back morestrongly again at Hester's refusal, and with a feeling of rage andbitterness Dutch raised the helmet, placed it upon his head, and signedto old Rasp to come and screw it on.
This the old fellow did after securing the extra life-line to his belt,but not before Dutch had had a few words with Mr Parkley as to themanagement of the dynamite and wires.
The men on the look-out could see no sharks, all being apparently quiteclear, and at last, when with hatchet and knife in his belt, and thewheel of the air-pump beginning to clank, Dutch moved towards thegangway, trailing after him the long india-rubber tube, there was a loudcheer, and everyone leaned forward in eager excitement.
"Now to solve the problem, Studwick," said Mr Parkley, who wasevidently excited, and who dabbed his face to get rid of the drippingperspiration. "Is it to be luck or ill-luck?"
"That I'll tell you by-and-by," said the captain, smiling; and like MrWilson and the doctor, he stood up on the bulwarks to help to keep agood lookout for sharks.
"Now look here, Mr Parkley," said Rasp, who had assumed the management,and dictated as if everything belonged to him, "just you place Mr Jonesthe mate, here with three men to let that there life-line run softlythrough their hands when it's pulled, and to heave in the slack when itisn't; but when I give the word they're to run it in with all theirmight--take hold of it, you know, and run along the deck."
Hester Pugh's breath caught, as now, with dilating eyes, she watched herhusband, who, as calmly as possible, stepped on to the ladder, and beganto descend step by step, till his shoulders were immersed, when hepaused for a moment to alter the way in which the tube hung from hishelmet; then Rasp, passing it through his hands, and giving a word ortwo of advice to the men at the pump, the helmet disappeared beneath thesurface, and in place of the hissing noise heard as the air escaped fromthe valve, there came foaming up a continuous stream of bubbles throughthe limpid water.
The men gave another cheer, and the Cuban, who had crept round close toHester, looked down over the bulwark, full of curiosity to see whatwould follow.
Down, down, down went Dutch, armed with a small sharp shovel, made inthe shape of the ordinary spade of a pack of cards, and so bright wasthe water that his every motion was perfectly plain to those on deck, ashe stepped from the ladder to the bed of the old vessel, and, aftertaking care that the tube should be clear of the ladder, walked slowlybetween the black ribs of the old galleon towards what had evidentlybeen the stern.