‘They paid the penalty?’ said Carteret.
‘Yes! They were triced up to the yard-arm—two and two—a trial was dispensed with—Uncle Sam having passed a special ordinance with regard to such cases. The sharks had gathered around after the first corpses were dropped. It was a calm: they were torn in pieces almost as soon as the breath was out of their bodies. That the sea which had been crimsoned many a time with the blood of their innocent victims, should now be stained with their own, was only just retribution. Too merciful, of course; but we can’t go back to the methods of the Middle Ages—more’s [191] ]the pity! And now let us change the subject. “Land ho!” as an old captain of mine in the West Indies used to say when he heard the dinner bell.’
The melodious sound of a silver temple-gong announced the service of a meal as perfect in its way as anything arranged on salt water can be.
The wines, of the choicest French and Spanish vintages, were such as few ‘Amphitryons où l’on dîne’ have the privilege of presenting to a guest. The turtle soup would have tempted an alderman to change his religion. But once previously had Carteret tasted such Madeira as followed it. The fish, the prawn curry, the beautiful crested pigeons of the islands, guinea-fowls in size, pheasants in delicacy of flavour—without pursuing the detail, it may be assumed from Carteret’s testimony, then and afterwards, that a jury of gourmets would have been hard set to decide in favour of any naval competing function of the day. The dry champagne which followed the hock was of a known, accredited crû, but did not tempt Carteret to do more than reasonable justice to it. He had no intention of measuring strength of brain against his entertainer; more particularly with a vitally important stake on the cards. At a comparatively early hour he discussed with Hayston the more binding terms of the agreement, and argued them out, clause by clause, before they parted for the night. Not wholly satisfied with the propriety of concluding the affair after dinner, moderate as had been his potations, Carteret deferred the signing and sealing of the final instrument till [192] ]noon on the following day. Which was at once agreed to.
Captain Hayston, indeed, expressed his intention of sailing for foreign parts on the morrow. Thus, if all preliminaries were completed at mid-day, he would be free to lift anchor, and taking advantage of the breeze off the land would initiate action. Doubtless he had intelligence agents on whom he could rely—agents ‘steady of heart, and stout of hand’ as ever served king or minister, and who dared not play him false. When, therefore, the Leonora shook out her topsails and stood off the land, a point or two to the south of west, shaping a course for the crimson afterglow of the fading sunset, there were ten thousand of Carteret’s dollars in the double-handled casket of the slaver Leon Gonzales, late master of the Pedro Torero—also in the private escritoire an order for five hundred pounds, payable on demand by the firm of Robert Towns and Co., Fort Street, Sydney, endorsed by Oppenheimer Brothers, of Suva, Fiji.
If the course was altered at midnight, and shaped to one which would bring them close to Molokai, where the eventful dash and relief expedition would be carried out, who was to be the wiser?
. . . . . . . . .
The night, for which they had watched for nearly a week, was almost a calm—but overclouded, and dark as a wolf’s throat. The proverbial hand, when held before the face, was invisible.
[193]
]The Leonora, miles away at nightfall, had glided closer to the land and lay off and on. The dropping of an anchor near the forbidden shore would, of course, have aroused suspicion. The crew, with Bill Hicks at the steer oar, had been carefully chosen. The whale-boat, which, for reasons of his own, the Captain of the Leonora always had on board, was reliable on any sea, and against any of the winds of heaven. The crew was composed of Rotumah islanders, perhaps the best men—except those of Norfolk Island—in rough water or wild gale that the South Pacific breeds. They may have had a general idea of the nature of the service in which they were engaged, but were merely told that they were to pull quietly to the beach near a rocky point, where a post stood in the sand, with a small lantern attached to it. There they would see a man, wrapped in a cloak. As soon as the boat grounded, he would walk towards them. They were to run to meet him, lifting him carefully into the boat, as he had been ill. Then to pull their d—dest. Bill Hicks would see to that; and the quicker they got back to the brig the surer they would be of a tot of rum all round, and a pound of tobacco. But, if they valued their skins, they were not to come back without their passenger. It is not improbable that they were aware of the object and circumstances of the secret service. But—
Their’s not to make reply,