Poison Island

by Arthur Quiller-Couch

  CHAPTER XXVII.

  THE MAN IN BLACK.

  Before ever I gained the gap I was panting, and as I panted the bloodran into my mouth from a deep scratch across the eyebrows. I tastedit as I ran. My shirt hung in strips, and one stocking flapped openon a rip from knee to ankle. But on the farther side of the ridge Iran no longer. I flung myself and fell through the matted fernsthat, veiling the trough of a half-dry watercourse, now checked mydescent as I clutched at them, now parted and let me drop and bruisemyself on the rocky bottom. In the end, I found myself on soft sandbeside the blessed water of the creek, bloodied indeed--for I hadtaken a shrewd knock on the bridge of the nose--but with a wrenchedshoulder and a jarred knee-pan for the worst of my hurts. I valuedthem nothing in comparison with the terrors left behind in the woods.The schooner lay in sight, scarcely half a mile below, and I sobbedwith gratitude as I dipped my face in the tide and washed off itsbloodstains.

  The tide was still at flood, and wanted (as I guessed) less than anhour of high water; but it left an almost continuous stretch of sandbetween me and the creek-head, and I found that the short intervalswhere it narrowed to nothing could be waded with ease. At first thecurve of the foreshore and the overhanging woods concealed the spitof beach where I had made fast my punt beside the dinghy; but at thecorner which brought the boats in sight I was aware of two figuresstanding beside them--Captain Branscome and Mr. Rogers.

  I walked forward hardily enough; I had drunk my fill of terror, andcould have faced the Captain had he been thrice as formidable.He did not help me at all, but stood with a thunderous frown, veryquiet and self-restrained, while I plodded my way up to him, over thesand.

  I think that, as I drew close, my battered appearance must haveshocked him a little. But his frown did not relax, and the musclesof his mouth grew, if anything, tenser.

  "You appear to have been in the wars," he said quietly."Has anything happened to the schooner?"

  "No, sir; at least not to my knowledge," was my answer; and he musthave; expected it, or he would have shown more perturbation."I saw her, not five minutes ago, lying at her moorings," I added,with a nod towards the bend of the creek which hid her from us.

  "Then why has Miss Belcher sent you?"

  "She did not send me, sir."

  "In other words, you have chosen to disobey orders?"

  I suppose he read some sullenness in my attitude, for he repeated thewords sharply, in a tone that demanded an answer.

  "I am sorry, sir; but all the same, it didn't seem fair to me to beleft on board without being consulted."

  I heard him take a short breath, as though my impudence him in thewind. For a full half a minute eyed me slowly up and down.

  "Get into your boat, sir, and return to the ship at once!Mr. Rogers, this child is impossible. I must do what I would gladlyhave avoided, and ask the ladies to give me more authority over him,since they will not exercise it themselves."

  At the implied sneer--and perhaps even more at the tone of it, soforeign to the Captain Branscome that I knew--I blazed up wrathfully.

  "If you mean by that," said I, "to threaten me with the rope's-end, Iadvise you to try it. And if you mean that I'm child enough to betied to apron-strings of a couple of women, that's just of a piecewith the whole mistake you're making. No one's disputing your rightto give orders--"

  "Thank you," he put in sarcastically.

  "--To those," I went on, "who appointed you captain. But I wasn'tconsulted, and until that happens, I shall obey or not, as I choose."

  Now, this, no doubt, was extremely childish, even wickedly foolish,and the more foolish, perhaps, because a few minutes ago I would havegiven all I possessed, including my prospective share in thetreasure, for Captain Branscome's protection. But somehow, sincesighting the island, I had lost hold of myself, and my temper seemedto be running all askew. Strange to tell, the Captain appeared to beaffected in much the same way.

  "Why, you little fool," said he, "are you mistaking this for apicnic?"

  "No," I retorted; "I am not. And, if you'll remember, it wasn't Iwho led the ladies to look forward to one."

  He planted himself before me, and said he, looking at me sternly--

  "See here, my boy, I don't want to make unpleasantness, and if youforce me to appeal to the whole ship's company, you know very wellyou will find yourself in a minority of one."

  "I don't care for that, sir. You'll be acting unfairly, all thesame."

  "We'll let that pass. You tell here in the act of breaking ship,that you're of an age to be consulted. Well, you shall have thebenefit of the doubt. You want to know, then, why I'm careful aboutletting you run ashore? What would you say if I told you the islandhas people upon it?"

  "Why, first of all, sir, that if you found it out before droppinganchor, it seems strange--your going ashore with Mr. Rogers andleaving the rest to take care of themselves. But if you'vediscovered it since--"

  "I have not. I am not sure the island is inhabited; but as we wererunning down the coast I saw something through my glasses--a coil ofsmoke beyond the hills on the eastern side. Now, if, as seemscertain, this fire was lit by human beings, it almost stands toreason they must have sighted our ship. Next comes the question Whydid I go ashore and take Mr. Rogers? Well, in the first place, wedidn't come here to lie at anchor and sail away again; and if theisland happened to be inhabited, and by people who don't want us,why, then, the sooner we nipped ashore and prospected, the better,for the spot where I sighted the smoke must lie a good five milesfrom here as the crow flies, and by the shape of the hills and theamount of scrub between 'em, those five miles must be equal tofifteen. But why (say you) did I take Mr. Rogers? I took Mr.Rogers, after consulting with Miss Belcher--"

  "Does _she_ know there are people on the island?"

  "She does. I took Mr. Rogers because, if danger there be, it seemedlikelier we should find it ashore than on board the schooner; andbecause, as the shortest way to make sure if these strangers wereafter our treasure, we had agreed to make straight for the clump oftrees described on the back of the chart and examine whether theground thereabouts had been visited lately or disturbed; and,further, because our search might require more strength and agilitythan I alone, with my lame leg, could command. I felt pretty easyabout the schooner. She can only be attacked by boat, and I searchedthe coast pretty narrowly on our way down without sighting one.If these men possess a boat, she probably lies somewhere on theeastern side, not far from their camp fire. If she lies nearer, itmust be somewhere under the cliffs to the south, in which case herowners would have a long journey to reach her, and that journey musttake them around the head of the creek here. But (say you) there maybe two parties on the island--one by the camp fire northward, andanother under the south shore. I'll grant this, though I think itunlikely; but, even so, to attack the schooner they must bring theirboat up the whole length of the entrance, where our people would haveher in view for at least two miles. This would give ample time for asignal to recall us, and on the chance of it I left Goodfellow incharge of two rockets with instructions to touch them off on a hintof danger."

  "Oh, oh!" said I. "So Mr. Goodfellow, too, knew of this?And Plinny, I suppose? And, in fact, you told every one but me?"

  "No, sir," said Captain Branscome, gravely; "I did not trouble MissPlinlimmon with these perhaps unnecessary fears. To a lady of hersensitive nature--"

  "Oh, well, sir," I interrupted and, turning aside pettishly, began tohaul my cockboat down to the water, "since you choose to treat melike a baby of six, I suppose it's no wonder you take Plinny for atimorous old fool."

  "Sir!" exploded Captain Branscome, and glancing back over my shoulderI saw him leaning on his stick and fairly trembling with wrath."This disrespectful language! And of a lady for whom--for whom--"

  "Disrespect?"--I whistled. "Is it worse to speak disrespect or toact it? I have known Plinny for years--you for a month or two; andone of these days, if this expedition gets into a mess--as it li
kelywill with such handling--that sensitive lady will make you seestars."

  I knew, while I uttered it, that my speech was abominablyill-conditioned; that Captain Branscome had, in fact, been holdingout the olive-branch, and that in common decency I ought to havecaught at it. In short, I felt my boyish temper going from bad toworse, and yet, somehow, that I could not apply the brake to it.

  "Why, confound the boy!" ejaculated Mr. Rogers. "What ever bee hasstung him?" And gripping me by the shoulder as I heaved at the boat,he swung me round to face him. "Look here, young Harry Brooks!Do you happen to be sickening for something, that you talk like agutter-snipe to a gentleman old enough to be your grandfather?Or, damme, have you and Goodfellow been coming to blows? By the noseof you and the state of your shirt a man would say you've come from astreet fight; and by your talk, that your head was knocked silly."

  "It's all very well, Mr. Rogers," said I, sulkily, "and I know Ioughtn't to have spoken like that, but I hate to be tyrannized over.That's why I didn't take your warning first along and pull back tothe ship--though I thank you for it all the same."

  "Eh?" said Mr. Rogers. "My warning? What in thunder is the boytalking about?"

  "When you saw me sculling for shore, here, about an hour ago," Iexplained, "you pretended not to see me, and went after CaptainBranscome; but I saw you, fast enough, standing on the bank yonder,under the trees."

  "For a certainty the child is mad!" Mr. Rogers stared at meround-eyed. "_I_ saw you? _I_ pretended not to? Why, man alive,from the time we left the ship I never set eyes on you (how shouldI?), nor ever guessed you were ashore till we came back and foundyour boat beside the dinghy. And as for standing under those trees,I was never on the bank there for one second--no, nor for the half ofone. The Captain and I walked around the spit together--the tide hascovered our footmarks or I could show 'em to you."

  "At any rate there _was_ a man," I persisted. "And he couldn't havebeen the Captain either, for he was wearing dark clothes--"

  "The devil! I say, Branscome, listen to this--"

  "I am listening," answered the Captain, gravely, taking, as hestepped forward, a long look at the bank above us and at the denseforest to right and left. "Did you see the man's face, Harry?"

  "No, sir, or I should not have mistaken him for Mr. Rogers. He wasstanding there, under the boughs, and seemed to be looking throughthem and watching me. I was sculling the boat along with a paddleslipped in the stern notch, and he let me come pretty close--Icouldn't have been two hundred yards away--when he slipped to theback of the trees, and I lost him."

  "You didn't see him again?"

  "No, sir; I didn't land just at once. I had a mind at first to putabout and row to the schooner, thinking that Mr. Rogers had meant itfor a hint. When I brought the boat ashore, five minutes later, hewas gone."

  "Which way did you take, then?"

  "I went straight after you, sir, up the waterfalls; but couldn't findany trace of you except at one spot just beside a waterfall--thefourth, it was--where some one had slipped a foot--"

  "Mr. Rogers," the Captain interrupted, "we had best get back to the_Espriella_ with all speed. I may tell you, Harry, that we neverwent up by the waterfalls at all. It was a climb, and my half-payleg didn't like the look of it. But, jump into your boat, boy, andpull ahead of us. You and I must do a little serious talking lateron."

  We pulled back briskly for the _Espriella_ and reached her just asshe began to swing with the turn of the tide. As we drew close--thecockboat leading--I glanced over my shoulder and spied Plinny leaningagainst the bulwarks by the starboard quarter, in the attitude of onegently enjoying the sunset scene; but at the sight of my torn shirtall her composure left her, and she came running to the accommodationladder, where she met me with a string of agitated questions.

  "Excuse me, ma'am," said Captain Branscome, as the dinghy fellalongside and he climbed on deck. "I have no wish to alarm you, and,indeed, there may be no cause at all for alarm. But Harry hasbrought us some serious news. He reports that there is a man--astranger--on the Island."

  "How could Harry have known?" was Plinny's unexpected response.

  "He is confident that he saw a man, somewhat more than an hour since,standing at the head of the creek."

  "Now, that is very curious," said Plinny; "for the gentleman told mehe had borrowed Harry's boat without being observed."

  "I--I beg your pardon, ma'am!" Captain Branscome stared about him."A gentleman, did you say?"

  "Yes, and such distinguished manners! He left a message for you--and,dear me, you should have heard how he praised my coffee!"