CHAPTER XXXV
GENERAL NEWRY'S MAGNIFICENT YACHT
The biography of Captain Penn Sharp had been quite romantic within thepreceding year. In company with his brother he had been a detective inNew York during the greater portion of his lifetime. He had been anhonest and upright man; but in spite of this fact he had saved acompetence for a man of small desires before he was fifty years old. Hehad never been married till the last year of his life.
He had what he called a "profession," and he had attended to it veryclosely for twenty years or more. When he "had a case to 'work up,'" hetook it to his humble lodging with him, and studied out the problem.There was nothing in his room that could be called a luxury, unless alibrary of two hundred volumes were classed under that head; and hespent all his leisure time in this apartment, having absolutely novices. He was a great reader, had never taken a vacation, and saved allhis money, which he had prudently invested.
In his younger days he had been to sea, and came home as the mate of alarge ship when he was twenty-two. His prospects in the commercialmarine were very promising; but his brother, believing he had peculiartalent for the occupation in which he was himself engaged, induced himto go into the business as his partner. He had been a success; but mendo not live as he did, depriving himself of rest or recreation, withoutsuffering for it. His health broke down.
Confident that a voyage at sea would build him up, he applied to CaptainRinggold for any place he could offer him. Only the position ofquartermaster was available. He was glad to obtain this on board of sucha steamer. He had told his story, and the commander needed just such aperson. Mrs. Belgrave had married for her second husband a man who hadproved to be a robber and a villain. Her son Louis had discovered hischaracter long before she did, and, after fighting a long and severebattle, had driven him away, recovering a large sum of money he hadpurloined.
Captain Ringgold ascertained in Bermuda that the villain had anotherwife in England. He promoted his quartermaster to the position of thirdofficer, and set him at work as a detective on the case. The recreanthusband had inherited a fortune in Bermuda, had purchased a steam-yacht,and was still struggling to recover the wife who had discarded him,believing the "Missing Million" was behind her.
The deserted English wife had been sent for by her uncle, who had becomea large sugar planter in Cuba. Sharp found her; and her relative haddied but a short time before, leaving her a large fortune. The wretchwho had abandoned her was arrested for his crimes, and sent back to NewYork, and was soon serving a long sentence at Sing Sing. He had beenobliged to leave his steam-yacht, and it had been awarded to his wife.
By the influence of Captain Ringgold, Penn Sharp had been appointedcaptain of her; and he had sailed for New York, and then for England, inher. The lady was still on the sunny side of forty, and Sharp hadmarried her. After this happy event, they had sailed for theMediterranean; and the commander and passengers of the Guardian-Motherhad met them at Gibraltar. How Captain Penn Sharp happened to be incommand of the Blanche was a mystery to Captain Ringgold, though it waspossible that the million or more of Mrs. Penn Sharp enabled her tosupport such a steam-yacht.
It seemed as though Captain Sharp would never release the hand of thecommander of the Guardian-Mother, who had not only been a good friend tohim in every sense of the word, but he had unintentionally put him inthe way of achieving the remarkably good fortune which had now crownedhis life.
"I don't know what to make of this, Captain Sharp," said he of theGuardian-Mother. "Are you in command of this fine steamer?"
"Without a ghost of a doubt I am," replied he of the Blanche, with arenewed pressure of the hand.
"Of course I am astonished, surprised, astounded, as I ought to be on anoccasion like this. About the last I knew of you, you had just gotmarried. Have you become so accustomed to married life that you areready to leave your wife on shore while you wander over the oceanagain?" asked the visitor in a good-humored, rallying tone.
"Not a bit of it, my dear Captain. My wife is worth more to me than allthe money she brought me, though she is as much of a millionaire asyoung Mr. Belgrave, we find. She is on board of the Blanche at thismoment; and Ruth will be delighted to see you and all your people."
"I am glad all is so happy with you, and I may be tempted to marrymyself," laughed the commander.
"You are already tempted, and you will yield to the temptation."
"I have not been tempted like Adam in the garden; if I had been, Ishould have swallowed the apple whole," replied Captain Ringgold, whohad never said so much before on this delicate subject to any person."It will have to be Adam this time that does all the tempting. But Iwish you would explain to me how you happen to be fixed up here likeAladdin in one of his fairy palaces. I suppose, of course, you aresailing in your own steamer?"
"Not at all; for though we have money enough now, we are not disposed tothrow it away upon a ship with so much style about her as the Blanchecarries over the ocean. But I have not asked you about your party onboard of the Guardian-Mother. I like that title, and if I had had thenaming of the Blanche, I should have called her the ProtectingGrandmother, or something of that sort."
"The company on board of my ship are all in excellent health andspirits. By the way, we have a dinner party at six, and you and yourwife must assist; and it will be a most unexpected pleasure."
"I will go; but it is four now, and we haven't half time enough to doour talking. But come to my cabin; and then, if you will excuse me for amoment, I will notify Mrs. Sharp, so that she may be ready for thedinner."
Captain Sharp sent the sailor at the gangway to show the visitor to hiscabin, while he went aft on his errand. Captain Ringgold found the cabinconsisted of two apartments, one of which was evidently his wife'sboudoir; and nothing could have been more elegant or convenient. Infact, it was Oriental magnificence, though the portion appropriated tothe commander was fitted up with the usual nautical appliances. Theoccupant of the cabin soon appeared; and he acted as though he wanted tohug his visitor, though he satisfied himself by taking his hand again.He evidently credited the captain of the Guardian-Mother with both hiswife and his fortune.
"Now take this arm-chair, Captain Ringgold, and we will have it out,"said the commander of the Blanche. "My wife will be ready in an hour,and she will be delighted to see Mrs. Belgrave and the rest of theparty; for she is particularly fond of that lady, though they have bothbeen in the same relation to Scoble."
"I think the name of Scoble has not been mentioned for nearly a year onboard of the Guardian-Mother. But you told me, Captain Sharp, that youand your wife were not the owners of this fine craft," suggested thevisitor, leading to the solution of the mystery which perplexed him.
"We are not; and I am sailing in the employ of General Newry," answeredthe other; and Captain Ringgold imagined that the name was spelled inthis manner, though there was a twinkle in the eyes of the speaker.
"General Newry; I never heard of him. One of those Englishmen who havewon their spurs and their fortunes in India, I suppose," added thevisitor.
"Not at all; and he is not even an Englishman."
"Not an Englishman!" exclaimed the puzzled captain. "Is he a Frenchmanwith that name?"
"Not even a Frenchman."
"I came on board of the Blanche almost angry enough to break something,for certain members of my party have been hunted and hounded the wholelength of the Mediterranean; and I am determined to put a stop to it,"said Captain Ringgold, getting back some of the spirit in which he hadboarded the steamer. "I am of the same mind still."
"You will have no further trouble with your troublesome customer," saidCaptain Sharp, with a very agreeable smile.
"How do you know?"
"As the boys say, because I know; I do not guess at it."
"You do not understand the matter."
"I know more about it than you do."
"Do you know Ali-Noury Pacha?"
"I do; intimately."
"Then you know that he
is one of the greatest scoundrels that ever wentsix months without being hung," said he of the Guardian-Mother warmly.
"There I must beg to differ from you. He may have been what you say inthe past, but he is not in the present," replied he of the Blanche,quite as decidedly as the other had spoken.
Captain Ringgold proceeded to demonstrate the truth of his remarkconcerning the Pacha by relating his experience from Mogadore toAlexandria, detailing the plots and conspiracies of His Highness and hisagents against the peace and safety of his party. Captain Sharp admittedthe truth of all the attempts to capture Miss Blanche and LouisBelgrave.
"Then you must admit that he is an unmitigated scoundrel," added CaptainRinggold.
"Much that you charge to him was the work of his agents."
"He hatched up the conspiracy with Mazagan, for Louis heard every wordof it in the cafe at Gallipoli. The attempt was made in Pournea Bay inthe Archipelago to take Miss Blanche and Louis out of the Maud."
"I grant it; but Mazagan far exceeded his instructions, as he did atZante."
"How much money did the Pacha offer Mazagan to obtain the personsmentioned?"
"Twenty thousand dollars, or a hundred thousand francs; but that is abagatelle to him. The Pacha is another man now," added the ex-detectiveimpressively.
"How long has he been another man?" asked Captain Ringgold withsomething like a sneer.
"Over six months."
"But Mazagan has been operating the same old scheme in Egypt within twomonths," protested the commander of the Guardian-Mother very vigorously.
"Then he was not acting under the instructions of the Pacha."
"We should have found it difficult to believe that if you had told it tous in Cairo," said the objector in a manner that might have made one whodid not know the captain decidedly belligerent. "Mazagan told Louis thatthe Pacha had offered him two hundred thousand francs if he succeeded inhis enterprise, or half that sum if he failed."
"Then the fellow lied!" exclaimed the captain of the Blanche.
"He told Louis if he would persuade his trustee to give him half thefull amount of the reward, he would collect the other half of HisHighness, as promised in case of failure."
"That Mazagan is a villain and a scoundrel I have no doubt," saidCaptain Sharp. "Since the affair at Zante, the Pacha has had no hand inthe matter."
"But the steamer of His Highness, the Fatime, has been in Rosetta incommand of Mazagan," put in the objector with earnestness, believing hisreply would demolish the truth of his companion's statement.
"That can be explained," answered the commander of the Blanche. "If youbelieve there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, it isquite time for me to tell my story; and I hope you will take a differentview of the Pacha's present character, as I believe you will."
"Where is the distinguished Moor now?" asked Captain Ringgold,carelessly and flippantly, as though it was of no consequence to himwhere he was.
"He is in the cabin."
"In the cabin!" exclaimed the commander of the Guardian-Mother, leapingout of his chair with an utter lack of dignity for him. "What cabin?"
"The cabin of the Blanche, of course."
"Is this his steamer?"
"It is."
"You told me it was General Newry's," said the visitor with a frown, ashe buttoned up his coat as though he was about to take his leave of sucha disagreeable locality. "General N-e-w-r-y."
"N-o-u-r-y is the way he spells it," interposed the ex-detective. "Sitdown, Captain. He is a general of the highest rank in the army ofMorocco, and he prefers to cruise under this title."
"If this is the steamer of Ali-Noury Pacha, it is time for me to leave."
"I hope you will hear my story before you go; for I assure you I havebeen honest and sincere with you, telling you nothing but the truth. Ihated and condemned the vices of His Highness as much as you do,Captain; I have told him so to his face, and that was the foundation ofhis reformation."
Captain Ringgold concluded to hear the story.