CHAPTER XVII. SIR JOHN AND MISS ALLEN

While I stood there, sweating in the heat and pain below, expecting the reappearance of the old steward, I heard the windlass at work again, and faint cries as of men straining up the topsails.

Suddenly I recognized Hawkson’s voice near the main-hatch, and a moment later the section was slid aside and he came below.

“Get me out of this!” I roared at him, as he came up. “Get me out, or there’ll be murder aboard.”

“Steady, steady! D’ye expect me to turn ye loose when ye talk of murder? Sink ye, Heywood! what’s come over ye, anyways?”

“If you’re the man you claim to be,” I said, hotly, “turn my hands loose, and stand before me for ten minutes. Only ten minutes, Hawkson, and, if I don’t kill you, you may eat me alive. You may choose any weapon, and I’ll take my bare--”

“Tut, tut, what kind o’ hysteria is this? What’d 145I want t’eat ye alive for? Sink ye for a crazy boy! who’d eat a tough youngster like you, boy? What--well--oh, ho!”

He had come close to me, and had noticed my ear. Then he chuckled in his quiet way, his ugly face working with amusement.

“Yes,” I said, “that’s the old steward’s doings, and he’ll probably come back to finish me.”

“Well, well, oh, ho, ho!” he laughed. “Didn’t I tell you the old fellow would try his hand on you? But it’s a trifle; stand clear.”

Here he loosened the irons, and I stood forth, rubbing my sore wrists that were now partly paralyzed by being held so long.

“It’s all right. Go up on deck and lend a hand, as soon as you get your head cleared up. Mind ye, now, it was a rat that bit ye, understand? Don’t make any more trouble. If ye want to kill the steward, do it some other time. I had hard work savin’ ye, an’ I don’t want any more trouble.”

I went forward, and, after bathing my sore ear, I went on deck in time to see the last of Nassau.

The sun was shining brightly and the air was hot, but the trade-wind was fresh, and we went to sea at a rapid rate under royals. Bill asked me where I had been, and Martin stopped me to make some remark of the wild day before, but neither appeared to know what had happened, save that 146every one had gotten very drunk. Tim was not aboard, and I never saw him again. He had disappeared, and nothing but his broken irons were left to tell of his departure. The bos’n, however, was on watch, and he spoke vaguely afterward about a small boat coming alongside with a woman in it. Just what part Richards had played in the game, it was, of course, impossible to find out, but before long I knew that Tim and his family had made a voyage across the Florida channel in a small boat, and had probably succeeded in evading pursuit. No further notice of the affair was taken by the officers aft for reasons better known to themselves, and Renshaw chose to remain ashore, taking no further interest in the enterprise.

It was now evident that we had started on our voyage for blacks, and that escape from the barque was impossible. I was angry enough, but remembered that desertion merited some roughness, and, upon the whole, I had been pretty well treated.

Henry gave me a furtive look from his ferret eyes as I passed him on deck. He had done no more than his duty in chasing me, and I, therefore, bore him no malice because he had been successful. It was several days before he would trust himself near me, however, and kept his eyes busy as we went about the vessel attending to our various occupations.

147The day was perfect for navigating the reef, and, as my hands were badly used up, I spent much time forward, watching the shoals and banks, that were distinctly visible under five or six fathoms of water. We could run in this, and at such a depth, with the sun shining, a very small object could be seen upon the coral bottom. Yankee Dan and his daughter were upon the poop with Hicks and Howard. The girl was to go with us as far as St. Helena on our voyage to Africa.

Mr. Gull had volunteered this much information, and the men were somewhat curious in their gaze aft.

The passengers took no notice of this, but spent the afternoon watching the reef or bank, the young girl being much entertained by the various sights upon the bottom.

In the afternoon I went upon the poop to clean the guns and otherwise attend them, and the young lady gave me a nod of recognition. She evidently remembered that shot, for I found out afterward it had cost her father a pretty sum, and for a time it looked as if there would be no slaver cleared at Nassau.

The governor, however, compromised on a handsome fee for damages, as the shot had plunged clear through his parlour, leaving only a small hole in both walls to mark its passage. How much of 148this fee found its way into Howard’s pocket, it was hard to determine, but he evidently was not forgotten. The affair was not alluded to again except among the men.

Hicks scowled at me, but said nothing, and then I kept close watch upon him, as he appeared to still bear me some malice for having been present at Renshaw’s mishap. He was a bold and unscrupulous rascal, and would have taken a lively interest in my jump over-side, had they insisted on it, with a shot to each foot. His manner toward the young girl irritated me also, for, while I’m far from being a priest, yet there is a certain respect for young women every honest sailor has, and which was apparently entirely absent in this man’s manner. They were evidently talking of Renshaw, for I heard Hicks mention his name sadly in connection with the dishonourable affair at the card-table that had caused his abandonment by people of his own class.

“I see,” said Miss Allen, “cheating over a game of cards is highly wrong, but cheating a man out of his wife’s affections is highly commendable. A strange code of morals you Englishmen have. In your class, perhaps, the money is more valuable. Is that it?”

“Whatever his sins were, let us not judge them,” said Hicks. “As for the class you speak of, I can 149only answer that a wife’s affections are valued by most men according to the wife. Don’t you think a woman has pretty much the same gauge to measure by?” And, as he spoke, he leaned toward her, looking her straight in the eyes until she flushed crimson.

“I have broken all of the ten commandments for women,” said Hicks, slowly, still keeping his gaze fixed upon her, “and I would break them all gladly for the woman I love.”

“A self-confessed saint!” she answered, somewhat uneasily.

“Well, slaving is not the least of my ambitions,” said he, carelessly. “Perhaps you think there is nothing in running a cargo of blacks? It may be there’s little, but, if we were overhauled with your father aboard and a crowd below, even ‘trading’ would not appear an innocent occupation.”

“I know it, but what can I do? Do you suppose I think everything that papa does is right?”

“I would hardly accuse you of such lack of judgment,” said Hicks, laughing and glancing at Howard and her father in conversation near the break of the poop.

“But because papa does strange things, you needn’t think I believe they are good,” she said, with some feeling. “As for slavery, it’s only wrong in the abstract. How could the poor blacks look 150out for themselves? They must be taken care of. What on earth would we do without servants?”

“I was not trying to convince you that you were a desperate pirate,” said Hicks, still laughing. “Only to show you what a saint had the pleasure of talking to you. When you have lived with me a time, you’ll realize it better--”

“When what?” she exclaimed.

“When we’ve been married a few seasons, you’ll--”

“When is a good word,” she said, angrily. “How dare you speak to me like that, Sir John!”

“I dare much more,” he answered, quietly, his handsome face setting into an expression of grim determination, “but this is hardly the place to declare it.”

I thought it was about time for me to leave that vicinity, and I strapped the vent-cover on the gun I was attending to ostentatiously, and started forward. Hicks never gave me even a passing glance, but, as I went forward, I heard steps sounding upon the companionway aft, and, turning for a moment, I beheld the head and shoulders of Mr. Curtis emerging from the cabin. He looked a moment at Hicks and the girl, and then went over to where they stood, near the taffrail, while I joined the watch on the main-deck.

As I went down the lee steps, I caught a glimpse 151of Watkins in the cabin, making a grimace I could hardly fail to understand. He was out of reach, and I could only stop and curse him, until Mr. Gull came out and asked me what was the matter. Then I turned and lent Bill and Martin a hand at the weather main-brace, for we had gotten well clear of the bank, and were running off to the westward on our course for the other side.