"There being no more we could do, and having instructed Jacobs to go down and rouse Mr Macleod himself if he saw the signal, I kept stealing back and forward on one side of the quarter-deck alone. The river was still as a mill-pond, except where it trembled in long streaky gleams from the sky, else I should at once have slipped cable and begun to go down, leaving the boats to come after us, if they did come, as they best could. There wasn't a breath of air yet, either, save what seemed now and then to waft out of the thick woods, and to bring the whole whispering buzz of them stifled together along the face of the water, with the heavy scent of the aloes and trailers on the bank, meeting the warm steam that crept across from the mangroves on the opposite shore. A hundred notions ran through my head, as I walked, of what might happen: whether the boats would miss the schooner altogether, and she drop down upon us in the meantime, either by the creek or the river—or whether Foster and his crew of Wapping blackguards would carry out what I'd no doubt they had at heart.
"But at any rate, as for a set of passengers and merchant sailors catching an armed schooner asleep, with one like that Frenchman in her, I had his fierce dark face too much before me whenever I thought of him to fancy the thing for a moment. That that man was in command of the stranger craft, and had some scheme in hand he would stir heaven and earth to carry out, unless you ground his head to powder, was an idea that came shivering sharp into me as I kept watching the dark mouth of the creek astern, and the glimmering reach beyond—looking almost to see the schooner's bowsprit shoot out of one of them, tide or wind though there was none. Frigate to frigate in a breeze, in fact, I should have minded my weather-gage pretty cautiously with him, if a seaman he was; but if he were bent on having the old Seringapatam at present, by heaven! what I feared was worse than either plunder or walking the plank—seeing there was a prize the judge had left on board, for which I felt a free-cruising captain would give all the treasures that fellows like Foster might think an Indian nabob had in his portmanteau.
"In fact, I saw Violet Hyde moving restlessly, two or three times, near the break of the poop, as she watched the dim opening astern, while her lady's maid kept close behind her, afraid to stay below; and waiting, idle as I was, I almost began for the time to forget everything else that might be going on, at thought of her being only a few feet off, with no one by but the servant-maid. The touch of her soft hand about my head an hour ago came back on me, and the drowsy creeping kind of hush of the tropical night seemed to bewilder my senses at every rustle of her dress—I shan't even deny that the notion seized me for half-a-minute, were the schooner to make prisoners of the boats' crews, how I might carry the Indiaman out to sea, and go Lord knows where with her. Then the idea of defending her, and saving her, made one wild with excitement—I felt as if I had the strength of twenty in me, almost longing to see the pirates' faces, especially the dark Frenchman's, and to wait till they came close on, when we could let drive into them, expecting to find us helpless. I made up my mind that Mr Brown there, and the missionary too, should work at a gun as soon as they were wanted—when, trip, trip, I heard her footstep coming down the poop-stair behind me, and stood trembling and tingling to my very finger-ends.
"'Mr Westwood,' said her low sweet voice, and I turned round. 'Yes, madam,' I answered, gulping down my breath. 'Have you heard—do you see anything?' 'They've scarce had time yet,' said I; 'of course the more cautious they are the better!' 'Oh!' continued she, her hands clasping together, and the shawl falling half off her head to one shoulder—'oh, if there should really be bloodshed at this moment—the river looks so fearfully gloomy and silent! How is it possible to bear this suspense any longer, sir? If we could only think they were not pirates after all!' 'Miss Hyde,' replied I seriously, as she seemed to wish me to speak, 'I can't have any doubt in my own mind what they are!' 'How! what? for mercy's sake!' exclaimed she, gazing earnestly at me. 'You musn't suppose all pirates to be bloody murdering ruffians, Miss Hyde,' said I hastily. 'There's one man belonging to that craft yonder, I'm sure, if he saw—if he stood where I stand just now, so near an angel——' The young lady shrank back with a startled look; but I wasn't master of myself longer, and out I broke: 'For God's sake forgive me, but I—I'd serve you like a slave—dearest Miss Hyde. I'll stand up to the last drop of my blood before——' 'Mr West—wood!' was the answer, hanging betwixt surprise and terror. But I burst out with, 'Confound that name!—my name is not Westwood, madam, and I'm no relation at all to the gentleman in India. I never said so, but your father mistook——' 'Who then—what are you—what design have you?' was her broken question; and she put one hand on the bulwarks as if for support, looking round from me to the woods, the river, and back to the ship and me again, so pale and terrified-like, that I could have cursed myself for my stupidity.
"'Good heaven, Miss Hyde!' said I, lowering my voice, 'I do believe you take me for one of the stranger's crew?' 'No—no!' faltered Violet; 'I—I—but the suspicions I heard to-day—you—you frightened me, sir!' 'Surely,' said I, ready to kneel at her feet, 'you must have known the truth of the matter, Miss Hyde. Why, here have I come afloat at a day's warning, bound for the East Indies—and all because I saw you that evening at the garden-door! Oh, for kindness' sake, Miss Hyde, pardon my boldness—but I couldn't let slip the only chance of telling you—it took me unawares, in fact! I'm not such a fool as to fancy that such a fellow as I can have the least hope in the world; but—but——' She stood quite still, not uttering a word, with her face turned from me, but I could notice the colour was all come back to her cheek, and more—and saw the shining falls of her loose hair heaving on the bosom of her white muslin dress, as it rose and fell gently. I leant over the bulwarks and ventured to look half-round; when, oh heavens! how did my heart quicken in me to see the least bit of a smile come over her lips, though her eyes were dropped toward the gun close by. I can't say what I might have been bold enough to do, in the whirl of the moment—when suddenly she started, drew the shawl up from her shoulders again, and seemed to recollect the whole case of the boats with a shudder, as she glanced wildly again up the reach astern of us, bringing me to myself, too, at the same time; and I stood looking with her, intent to mark the first turn of the tide.
CHAPTER XVIII
"The night was warm enough, however, in all conscience; and, if one had been fit to eye it calmly, a glorious scene to see was the sky that rose above our heads, glowing dark as indigo-blue through the rigging aloft, as the ship's tall spars stood up into it, from one rope-ladder to another; her main-truck like a white button against the midmost depth, with every line running distinct to its place across knots of stars, and single bright ones piercing sharp through the black squares of the shrouds; while all round from her it widened away, glittering and seething with lights, that brought the woods looming out bigger and blacker along the nearest shore, making the dirty brown river look dirtier and drearier than before, as the steam spread over the close mangrove bank on the other side, and began to creep low out upon the water like fleeces of wool, with the stars here and there sparkling from the far horizon through the straggling fringe of cocoas beyond, and the huge bloated baobabs that twisted up out of the tall guinea-grass, as if their roots were in the air. The next glance I caught from Violet Hyde showed nothing but the distress she was in; and I walked forward to hail Jacobs on the fore-to'-gallant-yard, asking if he saw the signal yet. 'No, no, sir,' answered he, 'not a sign on it up to this time.'
"So back again I went, gloomy enough myself, but trying to keep up my countenance, and saying I was sure we should see the boats come down with the tide when it turned.
"'Have you noticed the stars aloft, Miss Hyde?' said I, in a cheerful way, to take off her thoughts till the upshot came; 'they never saw these in Europe, nor a night like this!' She looked up, and for a moment or two the soft blue dark of the hollow seemed to sweep round both of us, catching you up into it; the Milky Way falling over to westward, like a track astern of the great star-ship down in the south; and Orion's figure to be made out overhead, with the belt about him, stretching off west out of the Milky Way—the Serpent streaming far up to his foot; then Magellan's two shining bits of cloud, and the dim one, seaward. There were patches to be seen blacker than ink, too, where you seemed to look through the sky, while every now and then a meteor shot far across it and fell, leaving a trail like a silver thread. 'Twas terrible, though, to see up into it, far away as they stood, and as steady as if we weren't there, when heaven only knew what might come down river next half-hour. I felt her shoulder touch me as she leant back—the starlight glistening in her blue eyes, and nothing but it between her lovely young face and the stars; and I don't know how, but it appears to me I thought during that half-minute as I never thought before, and as if I looked off the other side of the world for the first time—yet you couldn't expect a fellow's brain to breed such notions in a merchantman's forecastle, or a frigate's steerage or gun-room, as it did beside an Indiaman's bulwarks, entering for a moment or two into the very feelings of a creature like the judge's daughter, when her warm breath almost lighted on his cheek!