CHAPTER XXIV
Now it was full speed ahead and a direct line for Corea. Once in the open sea, we struck straight through the Archipelago and took our chances of running down an island, as the captain had said. There was no dawdling this time, for the engines were run to the top of their power. As was the case with our former voyages in these waters, the weather was perfect and the sea smooth.
Our dinner that night was on the whole a silent festival. The jovial captain did not come down, and Mr. Hemster sat moodily at the head of the table, absorbed in thought and doubtless tortured with anxiety. Cammerford was the only member of the party who endeavoured to make a show of cheerful demeanour. His manner with women was one of deferential urbanity, and, as he never ventured to joke with them, he was justly popular with the sex. I quite envied him his power of pleasing, which was so spontaneous that it seemed a natural and not an acquired gift. The man appeared to possess an almost hypnotic power over his fellow-creatures, and although I believed him to be one of the most untrustworthy rascals alive, yet I felt this belief crumbling away under the magnetic charm of his conversation.
The old gentleman at the head of the table was evidently immune so far as Cammerford’s fascination was concerned. I surmised that there had come a hitch in the negotiations between them. There was no trace of uneasiness in Cammerford’s attitude, and his voice was as mildly confident as ever. No one would guess that he was practically a self-invited guest at this board. Our host was completely taciturn, but the unbidden guest never risked a snub by addressing a direct question to him, although he airily included Mr. Hemster with the rest of us within the area of his polite discourse. Hilda was scarcely more responsive than Mr. Hemster and seemed troubled because he was troubled, and as I possessed an instinctive dislike for Cammerford it will be seen that he had a most difficult rôle to play, which he enacted with a success that would have done credit to Sir Henry Irving himself. If there was indeed, as I suspected, a conflict between the elder man and the younger, I found myself wondering which would win, but such a quiet atmosphere of confidence enwrapped the latter that I began to fear Mr. Hemster had met his match, in spite of the fact that he held all the trump cards. Cammerford represented the new school of financiers, who juggled with billions as a former generation had played with millions. My sympathies were entirely with Mr. Hemster, but if I had been a sporting man my bet would have been laid on Cammerford. I mention this as an instance of the hypnotic power I have referred to. I knew that Cammerford could not form his gigantic trust and leave Mr. Hemster out; therefore, as I say, the elder man held the trumps. Nevertheless the bearing of Cammerford indicated such reserved assurance that I felt certain he would ultimately bend the old man to his will, and I watched for the result of this opposition of forces with the eagerness with which one awaits the climax of an exciting play on the stage.
After dinner Hilda came on deck for half an hour or thereabouts, and we walked up and down together. The excitement of the day and the uncertainty that lay ahead of us had told heavily on the poor girl, and I had not the heart to persuade her to remain longer on deck. She was rather depressed and admittedly weary of the life we were leading. So I took cowardly advantage of this and proposed we should get married at the American Consulate as soon as the yacht returned to Nagasaki. Then, I said, we could make our way to Yokohama and take passage on a regular liner for San Francisco.
To this proposal she made no reply, but walked demurely by my side with downcast eyes.
“Think of the glories of Chicago at this moment!” I cried enthusiastically, wishing to appeal to the home feeling. “Dinner finished; the roar of the traffic in the streets; the brilliancy of the electric light; the theatres open, and the gay crowds entering therein. Let us make for Chicago.”
She looked up at me with a wan little smile, and laughed quietly.
“You do need a guardian, as Papa Hemster says. I suppose it is about noon in Chicago at the present moment, and I don’t see why the theatres should be open at that hour. It is the roar of the wheat pit, and not of the traffic you are hearing. I fear your visit to Chicago was of the briefest, for your picture is not very convincing. Still, I confess I wish I were there now, if you were with me.” Then with a slight sigh she added, “I’ll accept that guardianship at Nagasaki. Good-night, my dear,” and with that she whisked away and disappeared before I was aware of her meditated escape.