CHAPTER VII
CAPTAIN MARMADUKE'S PLAN
Seated in the back parlour, with his chair tilted slightly back, CaptainMarmaduke Amber set forth his scheme to us--perhaps I should say to me,for my mother had heard it all, or most of it, already, and paid, Ifancy, but little heed to its repetition. For all the attention I paid,I gained, I fear me, but a very vague idea of Captain Marmaduke'spurpose. I was far too excited to think of anything clearly beyond thefact that I was actually going a-travelling, and that the jovialgentleman with the ruddy face and the china-blue eyes was my good angel.Still, I gathered that Captain Amber would be a colonist--agentleman-adventurer; after a new fashion, and not for his own ends.
It was, indeed, a kind of Utopia which Captain Amber dreamt of foundingin a far corner of the world, beneath the Southern Cross. The Captainhad taken it into his gallant head that the old world was growing toosmall and its ways too evil for its people, and that much might be donein the way of the regeneration of human society under softersurroundings and beneath purer skies. His hope, his belief, was that ifa colony of earnest human beings were to be founded, established upontrue principles of justice and of virtue, it might set an example whichwould spread and spread until at last it should regenerate the earth.
It was a noble scheme indeed, prompted by a kindly and honourablenature, and I must say that it sounded very well as the periods swelledfrom Captain Amber's lips. For Captain Amber was a scholar and agentleman as well as a man of action, and he spoke and wrote with acertain florid grace that suited him well, and that impressed me at thetime very profoundly. It seemed to me that Captain Amber was not merelyone of the noblest of men--which indeed he was, as I was to learn oftenand often afterwards--but also one of the wisest, and that his scheme ofcolonisation was the scheme of a statesman and a philosopher.
How precisely the thing was to be done, and why Captain Marmaduke seemedso confident of finding a new Garden of Eden or Earthly Paradise at theother end of the world, I did not rightly comprehend then; nor, indeed,have I striven much to comprehend since. But I gathered this much--thatCaptain Marmaduke had retired from the service to carry out his fancy;that he had bought land of the Dutch in the Indies; that he had plentyof money at his command; and that the enterprise was all at his charges.One thing was quite certain--Captain Marmaduke had got a ship, and agood one too, now riding at anchor in Sendennis harbour; and inSendennis Captain Marmaduke only meant to stay long enough to gettogether a few more folk to complete his company and his colony. I wasto come along, not as a colonist, unless I chose, but as a kind ofcompanion to Lancelot, to learn all the tricks of the sailor's trade,and to return when Captain Marmaduke, having fairly established hiscolony, set out on his return voyage.
For it seemed that if I had forgotten, or seemed to have forgotten,Lancelot, he had not forgotten me, but had carried me in his thoughtsthrough all the months that had grown to years since last we met. Thus,when Captain Amber first began to carry out his dream of a colony,Lancelot begged him to give me a share in the adventure. For Lancelotremembered well my hunger and thirst for travel, and had sworn to helpme to my heart's desire. And it seemed to him that in this enterpriseof his uncle's lurked my chance of seeing a little of the world.
Captain Amber, who loved Lancelot better than any being in the worldsave one, promised that if I were willing, and seemed a lad of spirit, Ishould go along with Lancelot and himself to help build the colony atthe butt end of the world. As the ship was to sail from Sendennis--thatbeing Captain Amber's native place--he promised Lancelot that he wouldseek me out, and see if I pleased him, and if the plan pleased me. AndI, on fire with the thought of getting away from Sendennis and feelingthe width of the world--all I wanted to know was how soon we might bestarting.
'A fortnight is our longest delay,' the Captain said; 'we sail sooner ifwe can. Report yourself to me to-morrow morning between eleven and noon.You will find me at the Noble Rose. You know where that is, I suppose?'
Now, as the Noble Rose was the first inn in Sendennis, and one that thetown was proud of, I naturally knew of its whereabouts, though I was notso well acquainted with it as with a certain other and more ill-favouredhostelry that shall be nameless. The Noble Rose was in favour with thecountry gentry and the gentlemen of the Chisholm Hunt, and it wouldscarcely have welcomed a tradesman's son within its walls as readily asthe rapscallion Skull and Spectacles did. But I felt that I should bewelcomed anywhere as the friend of Captain Marmaduke Amber, for as afriend I already began to regard him. So I assured him that I would dulypresent myself to him at the Noble Rose on the morrow, between eleven ofthe clock and noon.
'That's right, lad,' he said; and then, turning to my mother, he tookher worn hand in his strong one, and, to my surprise and pleasure,kissed it with a reverential courtesy, as if she had been a Court lady.
As Captain Marmaduke turned to go I caught at his hand.
'Where is Lancelot?' I asked; 'is he here in Sendennis?' For in themidst of all the joy and wonder of this sea business my heart was onfire to see that face again.
Captain Marmaduke laughed.
'If he were in Sendennis at this hour he would be here, I make no doubt.He is in London, looking after one or two matters which methought hecould manage better than I could. But he will be here in good time, andit is time for me to be off. Remember, my lad, to-morrow,' and with abow for my mother and a bear's grip for me he passed outside the shop,leaving my mother and me staring at each other in great amazement. Butfor all my amazement the main thought in my mind was of a certainpicture of a girl's face that lay, shrined in a cedar-wood box, hiddenaway in my room upstairs. And so it happened that though my lips werebusy with the name of Lancelot my brain was busy with the name ofMarjorie.
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