CHAPTER XXX
JACINTA CAPITULATES
The Carsegarry was not a fast vessel. Like most of the ocean tramp species, she had been built to carry the largest possible cargo on a very moderate consumption of coal, and speed was a secondary consideration. She had also been in the warmer seas for some time, with the result that every plate beneath her water-line was foul, and as she fell in with strong northwest breezes, she was an unusually long while on the way to Liverpool. Austin was thus not astonished to find a letter from Jefferson, written four or five days after he left Las Palmas, waiting him at Farquhar's brokers, which made it evident that his comrade had got to work again.
He smiled a trifle grimly as he read it, for he fancied that its optimistic tone had cost Jefferson—who alluded to his apprehensions about his arm very briefly—an effort, for the fact that he was asked to cable as soon as he had seen a doctor appeared significant. The rest of the letter concerned financial affairs.
"We have had a rough preliminary survey, and the result is distinctly encouraging," he read. "After making a few temporary repairs I expect to bring her on to Liverpool, and there is every reason to believe we can dispose of her for a good round sum. I could have got £10,000, ex-cargo, as she lies here. Palm oil, it also appears, is scarce and dear, at up to £30 the ton, from which it seems to me that your share should approximate £7,000. I have to mention that Brown is on his way to Liverpool and wants you to communicate with him at the address enclosed."
This was satisfactory as far as it went. The only trouble was that Austin was very uncertain whether he would live to spend what he had so hardly earned. His arm had become exceedingly painful during the voyage, and after a consultation with the ship broker he telephoned an eminent specialist.
"I will expect you at two o'clock," the doctor said. "If it appears advisable, we can, of course, avail ourselves, as you suggest, of any views the Tropical Disease men may favour us with. In the meanwhile, I will arrange for a gentleman who has made considerable progress in similar researches to meet you."
Austin went out of the broker's office with three hours to spare, and wandered aimlessly about the city in a state of tense suspense. He felt that he could not sit still, and in any case he was dubious as to whether he was warranted in going back to the hotel. Indeed, he wondered whether he had any right to be at large at all, and after a while hung about the wharves, where there was less chance of any one coming into perilous contact with him. He had never spent such a morning in his life, and decided that what he had done and borne in Africa was not worth mention by comparison. Still, the hours dragged by, and at last he set out for the specialists' surgery without daring to wonder what the result would be, and found two gentlemen awaiting him there. One of them, who had grey hair and very keen eyes, motioned him to a chair.
"Now," he said, "before we proceed to an examination it might be better if you told us concisely what happened to you in Africa."
Austin, who sat down, did so, and wondered a little that he was able to speak coherently and quietly, for every nerve in him seemed tingling with tense anxiety. Then the man with the grey hair asked him a few terse questions about the negro's appearance, and when he had described it as well as he could remember, glanced at his companion.