Leonie of the Jungle

by Joan Conquest

  CHAPTER XVI

  "For Fate has wove the thread of life with pain!"--_Pope_.

  When _empty_ Rockham is a haven of delight, whether the littleconnecting coves be awash with the tide, or the limpets, in an ungluedstate, are airing themselves awaiting the return of the water.

  You can wander at will, if you have the right boots on, over thenever-ending sharp ridges of the rocks; you can pass hours gathering_laver_, though it is not at its best just there; and you can findsea-anemones and such treasure-trove as pit props, and boxes of butter,yea! and even casks of wine after a storm if the gods be kind to you.

  Also you can don your bathing dress in comfort behind the wreck, one ofmany, which has remained as witness to the force of the terrific galesand the ripping propensities of the saw-teethed rocks.

  Walk in from Lee or Mortehoe, Woolacombe or Croyde, over fields inwhich lambs stand on their front feet in exuberance of youth, or caperon their back ones until called to order by their maternal parent; orthrough lanes lined with primroses and violets, or roses, or nuts, orberries, according to the season, whilst on the top twig of the highhedges yellow-hammers, chaffinches, robins and the like gossip to youabout the hawk hovering in the distance.

  Arrived there, pause on the edge of the incline. _Don't_ go down ifyou see a paper bag fluttering in the breeze, because a paper bag isbut a forerunner of lanky locks dripping on a towel-covered shoulder,and bare and uncomely feet fiddling in the warm sand, whilst adjacentis the rock over which the faded blue bathing dress hangs out to dry.

  Wait for the empty hour and then fly into the second cove, and thenext, and the next, but--_don't forget the tide_!

  The sand-covered rough-haired terrier stood with his head cocked on oneside, looking at the wonderful, waving, glistening mass in front of him.

  It certainly looked like seaweed, but it didn't smell like it, and longbits of it floated in the air just like golden threads; besides, therewas something uncanny about it which sent thrills into the roots of hisrough hair, causing it to rise in clumps along his spine.

  It looked as if there were something dead underneath, too, and yet itdidn't; anyway it certainly did not look as though it were meant to beplayed with or barked at; and he hastened back along the treacherousnarrow passage, which connects the two last coves, in search ofhim-who-knew-all and was never afraid.

  "No, old fellow!" was the only response he got to his invitation to"come and see." "I've already been fooled over anemones, and rooks,and passing cloud shadows, and very dead starfish--nothing' doin', socalm yourself!"

  But the dog backed into a pool, emitting barks which were strangled atbirth, snapped at a bit of rock which caught him unawares upon hisunprotected flank, trotted forward, backed again into the pool, andturning, ran down the passage, came back and did it all over again.

  Talk about water-drops wearing away a stone, why they are simply not init when compared with a dog's method of wearing down your resistance.After the fifth repetition of the above tactics the man rose,stretched, put his pipe in his pocket, and hurling a pebble at thedelighted quadruped, followed in its wake.

  "Just look at that, and don't say I've brought you here for nothing,"said the terrier, as plainly as he could with eyes and quivering bodyand tail.

  The man looked and held up a finger, which caused the dog to sit up andbeg, and walked as softly as possible up to Leonie who, tired out withworry, heartache, and a long swim, was sitting fast asleep on that oneslanting, delightfully comfortable rock seat, with her hair spread outover her face, and down to her knees, mantle wise, to dry.

  It is a somewhat ticklish job to lift an unknown lady's hair and tellher abruptly that you think the tide is on the turn, and the man stoodin perplexity, while his brain refused obstinately to register anythingmore practical than an overwhelming admiration for the picture beforehim.

  However, with the attempt to unravel the problem, his hand wentinstinctively to the pocket which held his pipe, and the slightmovement simultaneously upset his balance and solved the problem.

  He slipped with a rasp of nails on rock, waved his arms in a mannerlikely to cause envy in any mere flag-wagger, and recovered himselfwith all the clatter and confusion inseparable, under suchcircumstances, from the saving of self-respect and the knees of skirtor breeches.

  Quite unconscious that her stockings and high boots were upon anotherrock, her skirt only reached just below the knee and her legs andbeautiful feet were bare, Leonie sat up as straight as she could andpeered from between her masses of hair; upon which the dog, thinkingthat he alone was responsible for the discovery of this wild beast,yelped and barked and growled as he slid in and out of the pools.

  Pushing her hair back, and shielding her eyes from the sun and her facefrom the man, she flashed one swift glance from his shoes to his hair;that non-looking, all-seeing glance of woman which leaves forklightning at the post, and causes you to wish you had spent a littlemore time upon your toilet.

  Although she had barely looked at him, Leonie could have described theman before her down to the minutest detail.

  No doubt about it he was good to look upon, with his steady eyes, thestraight ultra-refined nose with slightly-distended nostrils, and a jawwhich, in shape and strength, belied the almost feminine beauty of themouth.

  He stood well over six feet, though you would hardly have thought sobecause of the massive shoulders which seemed to have been created tocarry the troubles of the entire world.

  His hands, the outward, visible and infallible sign of the inner man,were perfect male hands, long and thin with square-tipped sensitivefingers, and a certain look of steel about the back and wrists.

  But although he had been looking at her steadily for quite a minute,owing to some inexplicable overpowering sensation which had seized uponhim, he would most certainly not have been able to tell you the colourof her hair or that her feet were bare.

  "I beg your pardon," he said quite suddenly and a little hoarsely, "butmy dog brought me to you--and as I think the tide is on the turn, Ithought----"

  But any further description of his thoughts was cut short in mostunseemly fashion as, with an ear-splitting bark, the terrier hurledhimself into the girl's lap, standing up to put its fore-paws round herneck, wriggling and squirming until the four feet, collar, and headwere thoroughly knotted in the beautiful hair.

  Leonie held on to her scalp to lessen the pain as stray hairs wereliterally dragged out by the roots, whilst tears of agony streamed downher face on to the man's hands as he held the squirming animal andendeavoured to loosen its bonds.

  "Cut it!"

  "What! All that!"

  "Oh! I can spare it, but I can't stand the pain much longer, and Ican't bear having my head touched. Look, I'll hold the dog firmly onmy lap and bend my head, it won't hurt quite as much then, only do bequick!"

  She put both hands on the shivering dog, who seemed to have sensed thatsomething had gone agley, and pressing him down upon her knees bent herhead, and her hair fell in waves about the man's feet as he unclasped apocket-knife.

  What there was in the attitude, whether it was the humility of the benthead or the utter abandon of the waving hair about his knees, the mannever knew, but he suddenly began to hack savagely and ruthlessly atthe great strands until the dog was freed and flung far on to the sands.

  Then he bent and took hold of Leonie, lifting her bodily from her seatinto his arms, crushing her desperately against his breast.

  Just for one moment he stared down with blazing eyes, the nostrilsquivering slightly, and the lips drawn back enough to show the whiteeven teeth, whilst the rough tweed of his coat marked her cheek, andthe strength of his arms and hands bruised her body even through herclothes; then he frowned, pushed her hair almost roughly right off herface, and looked at her with the dawn of recognition in his eyes.

  And for just as long Leonie lay quite still, her eyes half closed, herscarlet mouth opened slightly, enough to show the small white teeth.

  And then, sh
e was standing on her feet with her hands clenched in hisagainst his breast.

  "_You_!"

  "And _you_!" she replied, striving gently to release her hands.

  "Forgive me! For God's sake forgive me! I--I have no excuse!"

  A seagull perched itself on the point of a jagged rock, uttered itsraucous cry and was gone towards Bull Point Lighthouse shining in thesun; a flock of rooks suddenly swirled from the cliffs, screamingbattle upon their opponents as Leonie answered.

  "There is nothing to forgive! Some things are beyond our ken. Willyou get me my boots and stockings?"

  Her hands shook ever so slightly under the strain of the control shewas forcing upon herself, and the pupils of her eyes were strangelydilated, looking like bits of night sky set in a moon circle; but shespoke and moved quickly as the man, having brought the foot-gear andunwound the cut hair from the abject dog, leant down and picked up atough seaweed root.

  "No!" she said sharply, laying her hand on his. "No! It's too late tobeat him!"

  "I _must_!"

  "I say _no_!"

  "But you don't understand!"

  Her lashes lay like a fringe on the cheek over which swept a flood ofcolour as she whispered so softly that the lap of the water almostdrowned the word.

  "_Please_!"

  Save for the murmur of the water there was no sound whatever in therock-strewn empty spot; and save for the swaying of the seaweed in thepools there was no movement as those two stood close to each other andFate counted time.

  Then Leonie smiled radiantly and sat down upon a rock with a stockingin each hand.

  "Come and lunch in the next cove!" her companion said in amatter-of-fact voice, carefully winding the cut strands of hair andslipping them, without asking permission, into his breast pocket."It's not so sunny in there, and I've cold soup and cold chicken,salad, jelly and cream--will you?"

  "Ra-ther!" said she, beginning to lace her boots. And picnicking _is_fun in the last cove at Rockham. The air smells so heavenly, the windis so soft, the clouds so lumpy and white; and there are little cavesin which to dress and undress for the purpose of bathing, to boil thekettle, or hunt for those little bits of over-dried wood which go offwith the report of a pistol and plop out to singe your garments.

  And so _very_ few get as far!

  Somehow the tide is generally on the turn, and if by chance it is not,the tortuous and narrow passages between the coves, with their rockingrocks and hidden pools, are enough to twist the ankles and temper ofanyone who is not Devon born or bred.

  "Yes! I am due to sail for India about this day month," said JonathanCuxson, Jan for short, a little later, as he drove the cold drumstickof a Devon chicken into the paper bag containing salt, while Leonie,holding the fellow leg in both hands, or at least the fingers of bothhands, gnawed right heartily at the middle thereof, and the pardoneddog sat quivering with hope deferred.

  "Isn't this perfectly wonderful," he went on, and Leonie mumbled"whum-whum" as interestedly and politely as her bone would allow. "Imean our meeting like this!"

  She smiled and sat forward, resting one hand upon the rocks, and thepuppy, with a lamentable slump in manners, crawled up from behind andgently relieved her of the bone which still had luscious scraps ofwhite flesh adhering to it, and a dream of a shining gristly knob atthe end.

  "Your idea of picnicing is somewhat luxurious," she said, taking acardboard plate full of jelly which he had smothered in cream. "Tellme what you are going to make of your life!"

  "You must blame or thank Mrs. Pugsley for the luxury. I'm atWoolacombe, perched on the top of the hill, and she simply spoils me.Will you have a cigarette?"

  Leonie shook her head, and the two great, hastily twisted plaitswriggled like shining snakes, causing the dog to lay one paw on hisbone and snarl.

  "I don't smoke!"

  "How delightful!" said Jan Cuxson. "I was sure you didn't--I lovewomen who smell of lavender."

  "Won't you smoke--your pipe--and tell me what you are going to make ofyour life."

  "They--the plans--have all been fogged up this morning !" he saidslowly after a moment's pause. "How strange it all is. Do you knowthat I was going up to town next week to hunt up _you_, of all people?Do you remember anything of my father's death?"

  "We don't talk about it," said Leonie quietly, and the man looked ather with a sudden questioning in the steady eyes.

  "I am taking on his work, you know, specialising in the brain. I havegot through all my exams quite decently, thanks, I think, to hiswonderful notes, have travelled a bit in the east, and before settlingdown intended to go to India--what for do you think?"

  Leonie shook her head. "Holiday?"

  "Er--yes, almost. You know I simply _loved_ my father, and his verylast entry in his book of notes was about _you_. One line was this:'Most interesting--shall go to India and find the ayah.' He died ofheart failure, you know, and he must have written the last line beforehe died--it is: 'The answer to the problem concerning Leonie Hetth isin the third volume upon----' There was nothing after that--I thoughthe would be awfully pleased if I carried out his last wishes, and meantto hunt you up and see if you were still--er--bothered with dreams andthen----"

  He stopped short as Leonie leapt to her feet and ran back from a wavewhich had most unexpectedly swirled upon her from behind a rock.

  "Quick!" she laughed, "quick--the tide will be in. Where's the dog?"

  The dog was cavorting with a crab in a pool.

  "Jingles!" sternly admonished his master, who was heaving everythingpell-mell into his haversack. "By the way, what became of Jingles thefirst?"

  A shadow crept into Leonie's eyes as she thought of the pain anddisaster she invariably seemed to bring to those she loved most.

  "He--he was run over--it was my fault, I whistled him across the roadand a car caught him. If we hurry," she continued, "we shall be intime for tea--Auntie will love to see you again!"

  "Oh! of course--I'd almost forgotten her--will she?"