Story 1--Chapter XXXVII.
“Good-Bye.”
Rasp had placed a man at the pump and a supply of air was being kept up, a supply now augmented by another man being sent to help turn the wheel, while with a grim look of satisfaction Rasp took hold of the life-line and tightened it a little, to feel the unwilling diver’s movements.
“He’ll be pulling hard directly,” chuckled the old fellow. “Only let him see a shark—one of his first cousins—a villain. Wonder what Mr Dutch’ll say when he knows how we’ve been serving out the scoundrel as—”
“What does all this mean?” exclaimed Dutch, coming so suddenly upon the group that they started asunder, and the air-pump stopped.
“On’y giving that rascal a lesson in diving,” growled Rasp.
“Whom? What do you mean? You surely don’t mean to say that Lauré, the prisoner—”
“They’re on’y having a lark with him, sir,” said Oakum.
“Quick, there! Pump, you scoundrels,” exclaimed Dutch; and the wheel spun round once more. “Rasp, Oakum, pull here. You dogs, if mischief has befallen that man I can never forgive you.”
Setting the example he hauled upon the life-line, and ’Pollo running to his help, the Cuban was dragged to the surface, and lay motionless on the deck as Dutch freed him of his helmet and exposed his livid face.
“Quick! Call up Mr Meldon,” cried Dutch; but that gentleman was already on deck, and, to the great relief of Dutch, declared the Cuban to be still alive.
It had been a narrow escape for him, as, between dread and the want of air, another few seconds would have sufficed to finish his career. As it was, quite an hour escaped before he recognised those who had worked hard to restore him, and then it was with a malignant grin of disappointed malice.
“He’ll do now,” said the doctor; and as the patient seemed disposed to sleep, they left him—Oakum, who was exceedingly penitent for the part he had taken, being stationed as sentry at the door.
Meanwhile Captain Studwick had taken advantage of the breeze and tide, and the schooner was once more under way, threading her course amongst the rocks, and gradually leaving the cocoanut-fringed strand behind.
Everyone was on deck watching the receding shores, and in full expectation of some new danger springing up to hinder their homeward journey, for with the treasure they had on board it was determined to tempt fortune no more, but to make all speed across the Atlantic as soon as they had cleared the inland sea.
Favourable winds sped the schooner at a rapid rate through the water, and all seemed so peaceful and happy that it raised a feeling of dread in those who had found the other portion of the voyage so rife with peril. Rasp shook his head, and said that they were not safe home yet, while Oakum was away; but as soon as Oakum began to croak and prognosticate evil, he changed his tone, and declared that they would soon be safely home.
The voyage home to Hester and Bessy seemed like a glimpse of heaven, for Hester was ever by the latter’s side, striving hard to make her forget the past, and revelling in her loving, grateful looks; while Bessy, though no words passed, knew that Meldon loved her with all his heart, though for her sake and lest he should arouse the jealous susceptibilities of her brother, he maintained silence. But she knew that the day must come when he would speak, and her heart leaped with joy as she saw his patient assiduity in attending to her brother, who now turned daily more and more towards him, and sought his help.
But the presence of two sick men was not without its influence on the little crew of the ship, and Captain Studwick, looked with nervous dread for what he saw must come ere long, and felt that the events might again be looked upon as an ill omen.
For though Mr Meldon said it not in so many words, he gave him fully to understand that poor John Studwick’s days were growing very few.
In fact the doctor felt that it was an open question whether Lauré or John Studwick would be the first to leave them, for the former seemed never to have recovered from the shock of his descent, but lay in a helpless, raving state, evidently growing weaker day by day, till, in place of getting up to sit and watch the sea from the cabin window, he now rarely rose, and then only with the assistance of old Rasp, who, as a kind of recompense for being the cause of his state, constituted himself his nurse, and waited on him night and day.
“I hate him like the very old ’un,” growled Rasp, when talking about him to Oakum; “but as I’ve had my bit of a go at him for what he did, I ain’t going to see him die like a dog for want of help.”
And so the days glided on till the schooner, with her freight of silver, was in mid-ocean, and still the fates favoured them. It was a lovely evening, and the sun was descending fast in the west, turning the sea into one heaving mass of orange and gold. Nearly every one was on deck—Mr Parkley and the captain together talking of the future of the voyage, and Mr Wilson seated with his chin resting on his hand gazing pensively at Bessy, who was kneeling beside the mattress on which her brother lay, his great eyes looking towards the golden-flooded sky. Dutch and Hester, too, were together, silent and thoughtful, while the solemn grandeur of the scene seemed to impress even the men forward, for they sat about the deck almost without a word.
It was with quite a start, then, that Dutch saw the doctor come up softly from below and approach him with a solemn look upon his face.
“Is anything wrong?” said Dutch, though he almost read what the other had to say.
“Your enemy will soon be powerless to work you evil, Mr Pugh,” was the reply; “he is dying, I think, fast.”
Hester shuddered and clasped her husband’s arm.
“Poor wretch!” exclaimed Dutch. “There,” he cried, impetuously, “don’t talk of enemies at such a time. I forgive him the ill he did to me. May God be merciful too!”
“Amen,” said Hester beneath her breath; and then she shuddered and clung more closely to her husband, for so shaken had her nerves been that it seemed to her even now they were not free from the Cuban’s influence.
“Can you not save his life?” said Dutch. “He should have time to repent.”
“But would he?” said Mr Meldon. “I fear life to him would only be the opportunity to work us all more ill.”
“For heaven’s sake, don’t think of that, man,” cried Dutch. “Have you tried all you could to save him?”
“I have tried all I know,” said the doctor earnestly. “I cannot think of one hour’s lapse of duty.”
“No, no, of course not,” said Dutch, holding out his hand. “I insult you by such a supposition.”
“Miss Studwick is beckoning to you, Mr Meldon,” exclaimed Hester suddenly; and turning they saw her upon her knees evidently in alarm.
“Poor fellow!” muttered the doctor almost in a whisper; but the young couple heard him, and stood watching anxiously, for though John Studwick’s death was expected, they had hoped that he might first reach home.
He had been gazing for quite an hour at the glorious sky, and had apparently been no worse than usual; but now the change had come suddenly, and no one knew it more than he.
For just as Bessy was bending over to speak to him, startled slightly by his lengthened silence, he turned to her and smiled lovingly and tenderly as his thin hand pressed hers.
“Kiss me, Bessy,” he said, in a low, strange voice; and as she gazed at him with dilating eyes, and pressed her lips to his, he said gently, “The doctor!”
It was then that Bessy beckoned anxiously to Mr Meldon, who came hastily across the deck and knelt down, taking the hand feebly stretched out to him.
“Not the pulse, doctor, the palm,” said John Studwick, his face lighting up with a strange unearthly smile.
“I’m not jealous now. Be kind to my darling sister. Good-bye.”
As Bessy burst into a fit of sobbing and lowered her head upon his breast, he laid his hand upon her glossy curls. Then seeing his father bending eagerly over him, he tried to raise his other hand, but it fell back, his lips formed the words “Good-bye” once more; and, as his eyes smiled up in his father’s face, the lines around them gradually hardened, the pupils dilated in a fixed stare, and those who gazed down upon him knew that the spirit had fled to its lasting home.