Mr. Wicker''s Window

  CHAPTER 21

  Exhausted as he was by his long vigil and the effort needed to changehis shape, it was another hour or more before Chris could sleep thatnight. The sound of that heavy but held-back breathing, so close toZachary and himself in the black hold, frightened Chris almost more,once he was safe in his cabin and hammock, than it had at the time.Zachary had bolted up the ladder like a frightened squirrel, withChris, as a fly, holding on for dear life. Even so, Zachary moved nonetoo fast to suit Chris, who flew off toward his own cabin in achattering fright. The lumpy form of Amos, asleep in his hammock, wasreassuring, but Chris lay shivering and puzzling for a long timebefore he finally fell asleep.

  The next day, lying on his stomach in the hot sun, he dozed with hischeek on his folded hands, his mind going over and over the details ofthe night before. Try as he would, Chris could not remember havingseen any member of the crew even near the hatch leading to the hold.

  Let's see, he began in his mind, a bunch of the men weresinging--Bowie was one of 'em. They went down to their quarters first.They were really closest to the hatch. Mr. Finney called Abner up tothe bridge, and Abner came back and went down a while later. Guess Mr.Finney went to his quarters--I don't remember seeing him cross thedeck or come over that way at all.

  Then--let's see--Captain Blizzard took a turn around the deck. It wasgetting dark. He joked with the cook at the galley door, and probablywent on, for I didn't see him come by again. Next, Ned Cilley wasrelieved at the helm by Elbert Jones, who took over. Ned went on down.

  Or did he? Chris wrinkled his brow with concentration. I _guess_ so,he thought, but I don't _know_ so. It looks to me as if it could havebeen one of several people, and I'll be switched if I know who. I'llkeep my eyes open. Maybe whoever it was will give himself away somehowand give me a clue.

  The _Mirabelle_ was nearing Tahiti. The air was balmy, and already adifferent fragrance pervaded it, together with a softer quality whichChris now knew meant land.

  At noon one day Captain Blizzard announced to Chris and Amos: "Shouldthe wind keep up as it is now, by nightfall or by dawn at the latest,we should sight Tahiti. We've water and fresh stores to take onthere." He beamed over his many chins at the two boys. "'Tis a fairplace, is Tahiti, and one you lads will have an interest and apleasure in seeing."

  Chris lost no time, as soon as he could do it without being noticed,in hurrying down to his cabin. Locking the door, he took the conchshell from his sea chest and held it to his ear. The voice of hisfriend--so far distant now!--came to his ear and Chris smiled withthe pleasure this brief link with home gave him.

  "Nearly to Tahiti, eh, my lad?" came Mr. Wicker's voice. "Then listencarefully. Ask for a private interview with the Captain, and when youare alone with him, tell him that these are my orders: He is to sailon past his usual anchorage, making all speed. You will know thereason for it at sundown today. Tell Captain Blizzard to go around thepoint--he will know--and continue for twelve leagues farther on. Thismust be done by night, for he must not slacken. Then he will see bymoonlight a reef. The water is phosphorescent, and when it breaks overthe reef it will shine in the night. Then must he heave to, and youwill go over the side, and as a fish, find out the channel, for thecoral is dangerous and the way into the cove almost impossible to findeven by day.

  "The land there is like a cup with a chip in its rim; the chip is theentrance to the cove. This entrance, overhung by slanting trees andjungle, is just large enough to allow for the passage of the_Mirabelle_.

  "Nevertheless," went on Mr. Wicker's voice in the shell, "the mastsand the sides of the ship could be seen from the sea. So with allhaste, once anchored in the cove, the men must go ashore, bring backpalm fronds and leafy branches and camouflage--as you say in yourtime--the _Mirabelle_ from her topmost mast to the water's edge.

  "Let the men rest, but by midafternoon have them hide along the shorefacing the sea, for they shall all be witnesses to what is totranspire. Then you must do your part, for you must board ClaggettChew's ship and see to it that his vessel does not gain many days'advantage over the _Mirabelle_. By daylight the _Mirabelle_ will findher way safely to sea again, and you will rejoin her with the aid ofthe rope." The voice paused and then enquired, "Is all this clear?"

  Chris tapped three times, his heart thumping with excitement at theprospect of the imminent action.

  Going up to the Captain's cabin, he took advantage of a moment whenMr. Finney and Amos were outside to ask Captain Blizzard if he mightspeak with him alone.

  "Certainly my boy," boomed out the Captain, his blue eyes abruptlykeen and penetrating. "Mr. Finney will be some time on deck. We cannotbe overheard in here."

  He motioned to a stool as he let himself fall heavily into a teakwoodarmchair made especially for his bulk. But Chris was too excited tosit down, and delivered his message standing.

  When he described how in the night--that very night, he realized witha jumping pulse--he was to go over the side of the _Mirabelle_ andfind out the channel, the Captain looked at him piercingly.

  "How now, lad," he said in his deep voice, "how are you to find thechannel in the dark?"

  This was a question Chris was unprepared for, but he took a longbreath which gave him a moment of extra time, and then replied.

  "I--I see uncommonly well by night, Captain sir," he said, "and I'm avery strong swimmer."

  His face froze with nervousness that this might not do as an answer,and he stood stiff and still before Captain Blizzard. The Captain satforward in his chair looking at him for a long moment, considering.Then he said: "Well, I do not care for it, I cannot say I do. Thisship is more to me than wife or mother or family. She's all I have,young man, and you can understand that to trust her to so young a lad,clever though you may be, to go safely past jagged coral reefs into acove I never even guessed at, well"--he threw out a hand and thenrubbed his chin with it--"You can understand I do not fancy it.However," and he leaned back in his chair again, "I take orders fromMr. Wicker, the owner of the _Mirabelle_, and since he says so, thisis how it must be."

  He paused, fingering his lower lip and looking sideways in areflective fashion at Chris standing before him.

  "He told me you would have information from him for me, from time totime. We shall say no more, but I trust you understand theresponsibility you have? This ship, its cargo, and its men will be inyour hands."

  Chris felt cold for a moment, chilled as he had never been before, buthe spoke up firmly. "Yes sir. I think I can do it safely, or I shouldnot try, sir."

  Captain Blizzard's round pink face creased in his winning smile. "Aye,aye. No doubt. Just bear it in mind at the time, eh lad?"

  "I shall sir," Chris replied.

  He then went on to describe what else was to follow--the covering ofthe ship with leaves to make it blend with its surroundings.Camouflage was not a word the Captain, or anyone else of his time, yetunderstood.

  "After we see--whatever we are to see," Chris ended, "I'll be absentfor a while. What can be said during that time, sir?" Chris thought toask. Captain Blizzard pondered for some minutes, and Chris wasgrateful that he asked no questions. At last he answered.

  "I shall say you have a tropical fever, Christopher," he said. "I amsomewhat skilled in medicaments--I have to be, as captain of a ship,and the crew know it. I shall say that you are in my own cabin so thatI can care for you. I shall allow no one to enter it but myself. Itwill be a most contagious fever for a time," he added with his eyestwinkling. "I shall bring you food with my own hands. Nothingmuch--broth and gruel, and I daresay I can eat it myself if I cannotthrow it out the porthole!" He winked at Chris. "Have no fear on thatscore, Christopher." He looked steadily at the boy in front of him."You have your part to carry out, I have mine."

  Not since he had left Mr. Wicker had Chris felt such confidence as hedid in the words and actions of Captain Blizzard. He knew now that hisabsence, for as long as he had to be away, would be covered up andsatisfactorily accounted for.

  Their conversation had taken
some little while. As they went over forthe last time all the details of what lay ahead of them in the nextfew hours, Chris, glancing out the windows of the Captain's cabin, sawthe splendors of a tropical sunset streaking the sky.

  "Oh sir!" he cried, "Mr. Wicker said we'd know the reason why we musttake shelter tomorrow at sundown today. And now it _is_ sundown!"

  With quite surprising silence and agility for so large a man, CaptainBlizzard was out of his chair and half-way to the door of his cabinbefore Chris had much more than finished speaking. Over his shoulder,continuing with rapid quiet steps to the bridge of the _Mirabelle_, hesaid: "Run down to your cabin and fetch up that good spyglass ofyours, my boy. We shall have a good look, for as you know, night fallsin a few moments after sundown in these waters."

  Racing to his cabin and back, even in those few seconds Chris couldsee a change in the sky. The brilliance of the colors, theirextravagant and awe-inspiring cloud effects, had taken on an intensityof light which meant they were at their peak.

  Standing beside Captain Blizzard on the bridge, Mr. Finney and Amosjust beyond, Chris and the Captain looked through Chris's powerfulspyglass at the wide stretch of the horizon.

  All around lay only the sea and the dazzling sky. Not even a porpoiseor flying fish broke the surface of the water which was placid savefor the long swells over which the _Mirabelle_ dipped her white sails.The color ebbed from the sky as if drained from some celestial bowl,and in the place of the scarlets and turquoise, the clear yellows andthe plums, came a deep blue that was the forerunner of a fine clearnight.

  Chris turned slowly, his glass to his eyes, searching the edge of whatwas now their world, and especially the line where the sea and skymeet.

  All at once, as if a white dagger had stabbed the rim of the ocean,white sails grew upward against the encroaching night, and Chris foundwhat he had been looking for.

  "There sir!" he cried, pointing to the distance, and the Captain andMr. Finney swung their glasses to where his finger led, far astern ofthe _Mirabelle_.

  Captain Blizzard's round cheerful face hardened as he looked, and Mr.Finney's lugubrious countenance seemed positively despairing, whileAmos hopped on one foot crying: "Leave me look through your glass,Chris! What do you see? What is it you-all see?"

  It was Captain Blizzard who answered him.

  "We see the _Venture_, Amos, Claggett Chew's ship, coming up fastastern. Let us all pray that the wind holds."