Marjorie Read online

  CHAPTER XX

  A BAD NIGHT

  Now our Captain had not been very long gone when the fair weather provedas fitful as a woman's mood, and the smiling skies grew sullen. Thatsame moaning of the wind which we had heard with such terror on thepreceding evening began to be heard again, and its sound struck a chillinto all our hearts. The evening sky waxed darker, and the water thathad been placable all day grew mutinous and mounted into waves--not verymighty waves, indeed, but big enough to make us all fearsome for thesafety of our ship, for where the Royal Christopher was, perched uponthat bank of ill omen, the force of the water was always greatest in anyagitation, and there was ever present to our minds the chance that shemight go to pieces before some sudden onslaught of the sea. In the faceof that common peril we all forgot our watchfulness of each other, andJensen and the sailors worked as earnestly to do all they could for thesafety of our vessel as on our side Lancelot and I and the stoutfellows under our command worked.

  It was in all this trouble and hubbub that Marjorie showed herself to bethe gallantest girl in the world. She was resolved to stay withLancelot, but she was no less resolved to hamper him not at all by herpresence. So when I came at dusk to the Captain's cabin to consult withLancelot, who had shifted his quarters thither, I found his sister withhim, but very changed in outward seeming. For she had slipped on asea-suit of Lancelot's and her limbs were hid in a pair of seaman'sboots and her fair hair coiled out of sight under a seaman's cap, and inthis sea change she made the fairest lad in the world and might havebeen my Lancelot's brother to a hasty eye. She had a mind, she said, toplay the man till fortune mended, and vowed to take her share of workwith the best of us. At which Lancelot smiled sweetly and commended herwisdom in changing her rig, and as for me I would have adored her morethan before, had that been possible, to find her so adaptable to danger.But there was little for her to do save to encourage us with hercomradeship, and that she did bravely through it all, acting as any boymessmate might, and taking her place so naturally and simply in thosehours of trial that it was not until later that I thought how strangelyand how rarely she carried herself and how quietly she played her part.

  "HER FAIR HAIR WAS COILED OUT OF SIGHT UNDER A SEAMAN'SCAP."]

  I shall never forget that terrible night on board the ship, with thewaves smacking our poor sides, that groaned at every blow, and the windmoaning through the ruined rigging in a kind of sobbing way, as if allthe elements were joining in a requiem for our foredoomed lives. Therewas never a moment when we could be sure that the next might not be ourlast; never a moment when we could not tell that the next wave might notsweep the ship with riven timbers into hopeless wreck, and plunge uspoor wretches into the stormy seas to struggle for a few secondsdesperately and unavailingly for our lives.

  Through all that dismal night there was but little for us to do, and soI passed a portion of my time in the cabin fortifying my heart with theperusal of the book Mr. Davies gave me. I did not on that night neglectthe thoughts of religion. Indeed, if I had been of a mind to, whichHeaven be praised I was not, I could not have very well done so. Foramong our people there was a reverend man, one Mr. Ephraim Ebrow, whomextreme poverty had tempted to accompany Captain Amber's party, andthis excellent man was at all times ready to deliver an exhortation, orto favour us with readings from the Holy Book. He was truly one of theChurch Militant, and came of an old fanatique stock, and in moments ofdanger he was as gallant and as calm as any seasoned adventurer. He hada very fine voice, and it was no slight pleasure to hear him put up aprayer, or deliver a sermon, or read out chapters of the Scriptures inthe authorised version. He himself, because he was no mean scholar, waswont to search the Scriptures from a Hebrew copy which he always carriedwith him. On this night he read to us many portions of the Scriptures,and got us to pray with him, and did many things of the kind that wentto stay our alarm and strengthen our trust in the merciful wisdom ofProvidence. But that I found balm in the Holy Word was no reason why Ishould not find courage also from the plain words of a plain swordsman.So I read in my book by the light of a ship's lantern, and tried to givemy thoughts to the exercise of weapons.

  While I was reading thus in the cabin the door swung ajar, for eversince the accident the furniture of the ship was all put out of gear.Presently I heard the tramping of feet along the passage, and then thedoor was pushed open and Cornelys Jensen stood in the doorway and staredat me. I lifted my eyes and stared back at him.

  'This is a wise way of passing the time,' he said with a sneer.'Book-learning, forsooth, when the ship may go to pieces every instant.'

  The tone of his voice galled me, and I answered him angrily, perchancerashly.

  'I am no bookman,' I said. 'But there is nothing to do at this hour, andI feel no need for sleep.' For we had divided the night in watches, butI was wakeful as a hare that is being chased, and could not close myeyes to any purpose.

  'Nay,' said I, 'there are worse things than reading a good book. Whereis your black flag, Master Jensen?'

  You should have seen how, just for a moment, he glared at me. He wasarmed, of course, and I think at that moment that he was sorely mindedto take my life. But I had a pistol on the table, and my hand lay on thepistol, and the muzzle pointed across the table very straightly in thedirection of Cornelys Jensen. Then the angry look fell away from hisface, and he broke into long, low laughter, moving his head slowly upand down, and fixing me very keenly with his bright eyes.

  'You are a smart lad,' he said at last. 'What the plague have you to dowith my black flag?'

  'What have you to do with it were a question more to the point,' Ianswered him, and I make no doubt now that in speaking as I did I wasdoing a very foolish thing. But I was only a boy, and inexperienced, andindeed all my life I have been given to blurting out things that mayhapI had better have kept to myself.

  He laughed again.

  'Nay,' he said, 'it is one of my most treasured possessions. I hauled itdown with mine own hands from a pirate ship in my youth, when wecaptured the bark of that nefarious sea rover Captain Anthony. I havecarried it with me for luck ever since, and it has always brought meluck--always till now.' Then he nodded his head again slowly twice orthrice. 'I will give it to you if you wish, Master Ralph,' he said; 'Iwill give it to you for luck.'

  'I do not want it,' I said angrily, being somewhat confused with theturn things had taken. 'I am not superstitious for luck.'

  Which indeed was not true, for I never met a seaman yet who was notsuperstitious; but I was wrathful, and I knew not what to say.

  'Very well,' he said, 'very well. But you are welcome to it if youwish.'

  Then he went out of the cabin without another word and drew the doorbehind him. I sat still for some seconds listening to the sound of hisdeparting footstep.

  Now I was bitterly vexed with myself. I had done a vain thing. I had putJensen upon his guard by showing him that I knew something at least ofhis purposes, and I had put it into his power to offer a very readyexplanation of suspicious circumstances. Indeed, how was I to know thatwhat he said was not true? There was nothing whatever on the face of itunlikely, and if he told such a story to Captain Marmaduke, why, it wasten chances to one that Captain Marmaduke would implicitly believe inhim. For there was no doubt about it, Captain Marmaduke had a greatregard for Cornelys Jensen.

  There was nothing for it but to tell Lancelot of what Jensen had said,and I did this with all dispatch. My statement had at least the effectof convincing Lancelot that I had in very fact seen what I had describedto him about the flag. But I could see that Jensen's explanation had itseffect upon him very much as I felt sure that it would have its effectupon Captain Marmaduke. Lancelot had nothing like the same regard forJensen that his uncle had, but I knew that he did follow his uncle'slead in trusting him.

  'You see, Ralph,' he said to me, 'this is a very likely story. Jensen isan old sailor. My uncle has told me a thousand times that he has servedagainst pirates in his youth. What more natural than that he shouldpreserv
e such a trophy of his prowess as the captured flag of some suchvillain as that same Captain Anthony, of whom I have often heard? But wewill be watchful none the less, and well on our guard.'

  I could see that Lancelot did not share my fears as regarded Jensen,although he was troubled by the mutinous carriage of certain of thecrew. I know that I was very apprehensive and unhappy, and that itseemed to me as if that night would never end.