Dr. Christobal and Gray were in great form, while Tollemache actually told a story. When the captain sent Boyle down from the bridge, Elsie made Tollemache repeat it—a simple yarn, detailing an all-night search for a Devonshire village, which he could not find because some rotter had deemed it funny to turn a sign-post the wrong way round.
“Huh, that’s odd,” said Boyle. “Reminds me of a thing that happened to a friend of mine, skipper of the Flower of the Ocean brig. Brown his name was, an’ he had a wooden leg. The day his son an’ heir was born, he dropped into a gin-mill to celebrate, an’ his stump stuck in a rope mat. He swore a bit, but he chanced to see on one of the half doors the name ‘Nosmo,’ an’, on the other, ‘King.’ ‘Dash me,’ says he, ‘them’s two fine names for the kid—Nosmo King Brown’—a bit of all right, eh? So he goes home an’ tells the missus. After the christenin’, he took a pal or two round to the same bar to stand treat. That time the two halves of the door were closed, an’ any ass could see that the letters stood for ‘No Smoking.’ Well, the other fellows told me his language was so sultry that his prop caught fire.”
So all was well with the Kansas.
Crawling quietly into the Straits of Magellan at daybreak, the ship put forth her best efforts in the run through the narrows. Passing Cape San Isidro, she signalled her name, and it was easy to see the commotion created by her appearance. The real furore began when she approached Sandy Point. A steam launch puffed off hastily from the side of a Chilean warship, and the commander brought the news that he had been sent specially from Coronel to search the western coast line thoroughly for the Kansas. He was about to return that day, to report his failure to discover any trace of the missing vessel, and he listened in amaze while Christobal gave him a succinct history of the ship’s doings. At the end, Courtenay presented him with a photograph of Elsie’s chart, to which many additions had been made by her under her lover’s directions. The position of the shoal, and of Pillar Rock, together with the set of the tidal current, were clearly shown, and it is probable that Good Hope Inlet, notwithstanding its dangerous approach, will be thoroughly surveyed one of these days. Then, perhaps, more may be heard of those lumps of silver and copper ore which the savages hurled at the Kansas.
The cruiser hurried away, under forced draft, to report from Coronel, the nearest cable-station. Thence she would go to Valparaiso, so she carried a sheaf of letters, and one passenger, Frascuelo. Finding that he could not execute the needed repairs at Sandy Point, Courtenay decided to make for Montevideo, where he would be in telegraphic communication with Mr. Baring. He was fortunate in finding a shipwrecked crew on shore, awaiting transport to England. He secured a full complement of officers and engineers, and the Kansas reached the chief port of Uruguay without any difficulty.
A sack-load of telegrams awaited the ship. The Chilean man-of-war put into Valparaiso, after calling at Coronel, nearly three days before the Kansas dropped anchor on the east coast. Hence, there was time for things to happen, and they seized the opportunity. The copper market had turned itself inside out; the firm of Baring, Thompson, Miguel & Co. had rebounded from comparative ruin to a stronger financial state than ever, and Señor Pedro Ventana, after shooting a man named José Anacleto, had considerately shot himself. Evidently, Frascuelo lost no time when he went ashore; Mr. Baring, too, reported that the dynamite wrapper had been traced to Ventana’s possession.
When Isobel Baring heard this final item she fainted so badly that Dr. Christobal thought it advisable she should be taken to a hotel while the ship remained in port. But she vetoed this proposal determinedly when she recovered her senses, and straightway confessed to Elsie that Ventana was her husband. She had foolishly agreed to marry him privately, and Anacleto had witnessed the ceremony. Within a month, she regretted her choice; there were quarrels, and threats; ultimately, an agreement was made that they should separate. Her father knew and approved of the arrangement. He could not afford to break openly with Ventana, and it must have been a dreadful shock to him when he learned that the scoundrel had plotted not only to destroy the ship but to murder his wife at the same time.
“So you see,” she added with a wan smile, “I did not give serious thought to your troubles, Elsie. Ventana could never have married you while I was alive.”
Elsie’s cheeks reddened.