I made sure; and there was always thedoubt, such doubt as comes to men who go to a merciless enemy and say,"Give us bread."
Now, I left my comrades at ten o'clock that night, when all sounds haddied away above and the voice of the sea growing angrier told me thatmy steps would not be heard.
"I shall go to Czerny, lads," said I, at the moment of leaving them,"and he will hear the story. I'll do my best for good shipmates, trustme; and if I do not come back--well, you'll know that I cannot. Goodnight, old comrades. We've sailed many a sea together and we'll sailmany another yet, God willing."
They all cried "Aye, aye, sir!" and pressed my hand with that affectionI knew they bore me. Little Dolly Venn, indeed, pleaded hard toaccompany me; but it seemed plain that, if life were to be risked, onealone should risk it; and, putting him off kindly, I mounted the ladderand raised the trap.
I was in Edmond Czerny's house, and I was alone.
* * *
Now, I had opened the trap, half believing I might find myself in someroom, perhaps in the kitchen of the house. Men would be there, I said,and Czerny's watch-dogs ready with their questions. But this was not atrue picture; and while there were arc lamps everywhere, the place wasnot a room at all, but a circular cavern, with rude apertures in thewall and curtains hung across in lieu of doors. This was not a littleperplexing, as you will see; and my path was not made more straightwhen I heard voices in some room near by, but could not locate them nortell which of the doors to avoid.
For a long time I stood, uncertain how to act. In the end I put my headround the first curtain at a venture, and drew it back as quickly.There were men in that place, half-naked men, grouped about the door ofa furnace whose red light flashed dazzlingly upon walls and ceiling andgave its tenants the aspect of crimson devils. What the furnace meantor why it was built, I was soon to learn; for presently one of the mengave an order, and upon this an engine started, and a whirr of fans andthe sucking of a distant pump answered to the signal. "Air," said I tomyself; "they are pumping air from above."
The men had not seen me, so quick was I, and so soft with the leathercurtain; and going tiptoe across the cave I stumbled at hazard upon adoor I had not observed before. It was nothing more than a big andjagged opening in the rock, but it showed me a flight of stairs beyondit, and twinkling lamps beyond that again. This, I said, must surely bethe road to the sea, for the stairs led upward, and Czerny, as commonsense put it, would occupy the higher rooms. So I did not hesitate anymore about it, but treading the stairway with a cat's foot I wentstraight on, and presently struck so fine a corridor that at any othertime I might well have spent an hour in wonder. Lamps were here--scoresof them, in wrought-iron chandeliers. Doors you saw with almost everystep you took--aye, and more than doors--for there were figures in thelight and shadow; men passing to and fro; glimpses of open rooms andtables spread for cards, and bottles by them; and wild men of allcountries, some sleeping, some quarrelling, some singing, some busy inkitchen and workshop. By here and there, these men met me in thecorridor, and I drew back into the dark places and let them go by. Theydid not remark my presence, or if they did, made nothing of it. Afterall, I was a seaman, dressed as other seamen were. Why should theynotice me when there were a hundred such in Czerny's house? I began tosee that a man might go with less risk because of their numbers than ifthey had been but a handful.
"I shall find Czerny, after all," said I to myself, "and have it outwith him. When he has spoken it will be time enough to ask, What next?"
It was a little consoling to say this, and I went on with moreconfidence. Passing down the whole length of the corridor, I reached apair of iron doors at last, and found them fast shut and bolted againstme. There was no branch road that I could make out, nor any indicationof the way in which I must open the doors. A man cannot walk throughsheer iron for the asking, nor blow it open with a wish; and there Istood in the passage like a messenger who has struck upon an emptyhouse, but is not willing to leave it. See Czerny that night I must,even if it came to declaring myself to the rogues who occupied therooms near by, and whose voices I could still hear. I had no mind toknock at the door; and, truth to tell, such a thing never came into myhead, so full it was of other schemes. Indeed, I was just tellingmyself that it was neck or nothing, when what should happen but thatthe great iron door swung open, and the little French girl, Rosamunda,herself stepped out. Staggered at the sight of me, as well she might be(for the electric lamp will hide no face), she just piped one prettylittle cry and then fell to saying:
"Oh, Captain Begg, Captain Begg, what do you want in this house?"
"My dear," says I, speaking to her with a seaman's liberty, "I want agood many things, as most sailors do in this world. What's behind thatdoor, now, and where may you have come from? Tell me as much, andyou'll be doing me a bigger kindness than you think."
She didn't reply to this at once, but asked a question, as little girlswill when they are thinking of somebody.
"Where are the others?" cried she; "why do you come alone? Where is thelittle one, Mister--Mister----"
"Dolly Venn," said I; "ah, that's the boy! Well, he's all right, mydear, and if he'd known that we were meeting, he'd have sent his love.You'll find him down yonder, in the cellar beyond the engine-house.Show me the way to Mister Czerny's door, and we'll soon have him out ofthere. He's come a long way, and it's all for the pleasure of seeingyou--of course it is." The talk pleased her, but giving her no time tothink about it, I went on:
"Mister Czerny, now, he would be living by here, I suppose?"
She said, "Yes, yes." His rooms were through the great hall which laybeyond the doors; but she looked so startled at the idea of my goingthere, and she listened so plainly for the sound of any voices, that Iread up her apprehensions at a glance and saw that she did not wish meto go on because she was afraid.
"Where is your old friend, the Frenchman?" I asked her on an impulse;"what part of this queer house does he sling his hammock in?"
She changed colour at this, and plainly showed her trouble.
"Oh, Mister Begg," says she, "Clair-de-Lune has been punished forhelping you on Ken's Island. He is not allowed to leave his room now.Mister Czerny is very angry, and will not see him. How can you think ofcoming here--oh, how can you do it?"
"It's easy enough," said I, lightly, "if you don't miss the turning andgo straight on. Never fear for me, young lady; I shall pull through allright; and when I do your friend goes with me, be sure of it. I won'tforget old Clair-de-Lune, not I! Now, just show me the road to thegovernor's door, and then run away and tell Dolly Venn. He'll beprecious glad to see you, as true as Scripture."
Well, she stood for a little while, hesitating about it, and then shesaid, as though she had just remembered it:
"Benno Regnarte is the guard, but he has gone away to have his supper.I borrowed the key and came through. If you go in, he will not questionyou. The governor may be on his yacht, or he may be in his room. I donot know. How foolish it all is--how foolish, Captain Begg! They maynever let you go away again!"
"Being so fond of my company," cried I, gaily. "Well, we'll see aboutit, my dear. Just you run off to Dolly Venn and leave me to do therest. Sailors get out where other people stick, you know. We'll have atry, for the luck's sake."
I held her little hand in mine for a minute and gave it a heartysqueeze. She was the picture of prettiness in a print gown and a bigSpanish shawl wrapped about her baby face. That she was truly alarmed,and rightly so, I knew well; but what could I do? It was Czerny or thepit. I chose Czerny.
Now, she had opened the iron door for me to pass by, and withoutanother word to her I crossed the threshold and stood in Czerny's verydwelling-house. Thereafter, I was in a vast hall, in a beautiful placefor all the world like a temple; with a gallery running round about it,and lamps swinging from the gallery, and an organ built high up in aniche above the far end, and doors of teak giving off all round, and agreat oak fire-place such as you see in English houses; and all roundthe dome of this wonderful r
oom great brass-bound windows, upon whichthe sea thundered and the foam sprayed. Softly lighted, carpeted withmats of rare straw, furnished as any mansion of the rich, it seemed tome, I do confess, a very wonder of the earth that such a place shouldlie beneath the breakers of the Pacific Ocean. And yet there it wasbefore my eyes, and I could hear the sea-song high above me, and thelamps shone upon my face; and, as though to tell me truly that here myjourney ended, whom should I espy at the door of one of the rooms butlittle Ruth Bellenden herself, the woman I had crossed the world toserve.
CHAPTER XVII
IN WHICH JASPER BEGG ENTERS THE HOUSE UNDER THE SEA
I drew back into a patch of shadow
The House Under the Sea: A Romance Page 24