Fighting Byng: A Novel of Mystery, Intrigue and Adventure

by A. Stone

  CHAPTER XXI

  While I was willing and eager for Howard to benefit to the limit onthe salvage there were certain things I must have if they could befound.

  "Howard," said I, "did you find the captain's strong box? There musthave been some money left if his cargo was incomplete."

  "Yes--I got one box. There may be more, but, as I said, I can stayunder only four or five minutes, which is not long to hunt, and deadHuns sitting around as if they were going to speak to you do not makea very pleasant audience, but I locked it down and she is just asclean as when sunk and the water is pretty cold there."

  "What was in the captain's chest?"

  "Well--considerable money. I have all the papers and will give them toyou."

  "Howard, why do you never use a diver's suit when you go sponging?Others use them."

  "Yes, I know they do, but I have always worked alone. That is, littleJim and I. In fact, I would not trust anyone to pump air to me but herand she is not strong enough. However, I would trust you and I can getan outfit to go down for what you want, and maybe we can find a way toget the stuff up faster."

  "I have got to have every scrap of evidence in that wreck. If ingetting that I can help anyway I will be glad. You must bear in mindwe have to be speedy. This man, Ramund, and his crowd being sent Northas prisoners will start something. It's a fair bet that they haveinfluence enough to be admitted to bail, the bank with which he isconnected furnishing that in almost any sum. They will try to protectthis valuable cargo laying down there and prevent us getting theevidence it will yield. And the Huns will be well prepared when theycome this time."

  Howard meditatively arose and walked out on the deck, but he returnedagain eagerly.

  "This is the off-season for sponging. I believe I can charter abrand-new schooner of four or five hundred tons. _Anti-Kaiser_ is hername. She has a new and complete diving outfit, besides pumps andeverything for raising spongers who get sunk; she has been coming herefor supplies."

  "How soon can you know?"

  "To-night or to-morrow morning."

  "That's settled then; get her as soon as possible. I will see what Ican do about getting a gun or two to mount on her, and a gunner. Bulowand Company are not going to lay down so easy."

  "I know where the _Anti-Kaiser_ is anchored and we will go there assoon as little Jim comes back," he replied, as only Howard Byng could,eager and unlimbered, and ready for big game.

  "There she is now--I thought it was time," he added, hearing herlaughter as the _Titian_ rounded the point into the little harbor andcame up to the wharf beside us. Little Jim was sitting as a queensurrounded with her marketing--pineapples, bananas, oranges, potatoesand all sorts of vegetables, and an immense armful of orange blossomsand flowers.

  "How would New Yorkers like to go seventy-five or a hundred miles tomarket?" he asked, as we walked out on the pier to see the inspiringpicture.

  I did not have time to answer before she came bounding toward herfather and at one spring landed in his arms with her bare legs abouthis waist and arms about his neck kissing him joyously.

  "Daddy, did you think I was gone too long? We came back just as soonas we could, but it took so long to get all the things. You were notuneasy, Daddy?" she asked, kissing him several times again.

  "No, Jim; when you are with Don I know you are safe, but Mr. Wood andI have an errand to do after supper and we want to get away as soon aspossible. Run with Don and see what you can do quickly," he replied,returning her caresses before letting her down.

  "Right away, Daddy," she replied, scampering toward the house, Howardfollowing her with his eyes until she disappeared, her knickerbockersand her short blouse reminding me of the boy I had thought her to be.

  "Somehow I wish she were not here to know what we will be doing," hesaid, turning to me with a long breath, almost a sigh, fingering hisshort, black beard.

  I turned and faced him, deciding that right now was the proper timefor little Jim to realize her dreams. I wondered if they could standthe separation.

  "This might be a longer job than you think, especially if we were tostrike some continued bad weather on the Gulf."

  "I know that," he replied thoughtfully.

  "The expense ceases to be a factor--why is now not the time to beginwith her education?" I asked bluntly.

  He searched me for a moment as if it was an insulting proposal. I knewhe felt it as a distinct shock.

  "Wood, I have never allowed myself to think of that time. I amcowardly, I suppose, and then I don't know where to send her, yet. Idon't believe she would know how to behave in girl's clothes. She hasalways dressed as she does now and never has craved the flub-dubs andfinery of other girls."

  "So much more reason you should not let her go on longer in this way.It is time now for her to come into her education and the refinementsof young womanhood."

  "Yes, I know you are right, but have I got the courage? I hate to seeher go at all, especially without a name. It's a fearful thing, Wood.And into that country that first treated me so well and then turned itto dead-sea fruit. Nothing but ashes inside, bitter, scalding ashes."

  "The world, that world, has not finished with you. Perhaps it will yetpronounce you great. You have done pretty well toward retrievingyourself. Bitter thoughts projected into the world are as substantialthings as poisoned arrows, dum-dum bullets or atrocities, and mayeventually return to plague us. If you can still improve in thatdirection I predict big things for you. Do you understand me, Howard?"

  "Wood, I comprehend;--a short time ago I would not. But the differencebetween theory and actual practice is great. You give me an awful bigorder."

  "I know it is, but you have already begun to fill it without coaching.Make a mighty effort--such an effort as only Howard Byng can make andthe ashes of this dead-sea fruit that you have been eating in prettygood quantities, will turn into a tonic to spur you on to morewonderful things--a magnificent life. I admit it is not a small thingto let little Jim leave you now, but it strikes me it is a real test.Are you going to let the bigness of Howard Byng come to the front?"

  "I know you are right," said he, walking, with head down, down alongthe pier toward his valuable warehouse, "maybe I just need someonelike you to prod and goad it into me, to put a rowel into myselfishness and make me wake up, but--but, you see, I don't know yetwhere and how to send her. I have always thought of taking her myself,but there's no time for that now."

  "Are you willing to be guided by me in the matter?"

  "Wood, you know I would rather take advice from you than from anyother living person. And why shouldn't I? You always set me right. Youstarted me right, but I got away from you, into a great deal oftrouble. Anything you are willing to say _you know_, I will take atone hundred per cent. In fact, I would be mighty glad if you couldtell me where to send her, but I don't know if I can stand it now," headded.

  "I believe I do know just where to send her, and also just how to gether there safely, perhaps more so than if you went as you haveplanned. And I will take the time to tell you how I happened to knowfrom personal contact. Let us go back in the boat and sit down again."

  He followed me into the cabin and sat down opposite where I couldstudy his face.

  "Howard," I began seriously, "in order to make this plain to you Imust give you some inside information that has not reached the public,and perhaps it never will officially, and for that reason treat it asultra-confidential.

  "When Germany began war on Europe it has been said and knownpositively that it was only a question of time when we would be in it,and that no preparation was made to meet that condition. But a greatdeal of work was done that has not begun to show yet. It is true thatpublic sentiment would not support raising an army and equipping it,owing to such Hun stuff as 'I Did Not Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier,'but other things perhaps as important were accomplished. One of themwas to determine just how much power the Hun had in this country. Thebeginning was made in schools of all kinds, colleges anduniversities, in fact, every
institution of an educational nature.

  "I put in the best part of two years analyzing teachers and professorstainted with Prussianism, whether it was imported or domestic. It wasa rare experience and required careful work. Directly or indirectly, Icame in contact with all of them, and in many cases visited theschools and colleges, interviewing professors and teachers under onesubterfuge or another, and in doing so developed some valuable andastounding information. It will require a big basket to hold the headsthat must fall from this work. If I had them sufficiently at ease andcould get them to use the words Kamerad, Kultur, and Middle Europe, bytheir face and tone I could tell. No one can repeat those wordswithout giving themselves away, if pro-Hun.

  "Girls' schools were the hardest to get into without revealing mypurpose, which was always desirable. A man knocking at their gates wasa big interrogation point, but I managed to see about all of them.Girls of to-day are mothers of to-morrow, and after all it's themothers that count, Howard.

  "I am telling you this," I went on, "expecting you to grasp theinference, in order to avoid going into details. I found a girls'school, perhaps two hours from New York, which is an ideal place forlittle Jim. The conditions are the best. She would be really educated,and be as safe as though at home and possibly more so, just now whenshe is advancing toward womanhood." I paused, watching Howard closely.

  "But, Wood," he replied, with great concern, "little Jim has alwaysbeen so free, wouldn't it be wrong to shut her up in a place likethat? What would she do without her flowers and being able to go aboutas she pleased?"

  "They have immense grounds, covered with a beautiful forest, in whichshe would be delighted. She can roam at will after school hours. Ofcourse, students can't leave the grounds, or rather the estate,without escort. There are flowers in greatest profusion, everything tomake the place attractive. It is the safest and best I found among allthat I visited. In fact, I went back once or twice on a specialinvitation to do a small favor."

  "But, Wood, she is not ready; she has no clothes; and how can she besent there alone?" he asked, as though frightened even at a seriousdiscussion of the matter.

  "Well"--I hesitated, a little excited myself at the prospect--"I thinkthat can be arranged. She could be put aboard the steamer at Key West,in charge of someone. I will also have one of our men, a friend, meetthe boat in New York, and see personally that she reaches the schoolabsolutely safe and protected every moment, better than you could doit yourself. My friend in New York will actually see her inside thegate and make it known that someone else is interested in her besidesher parent and that will count for a good deal."

  "You make it very plausible, and--well--let me sleep over it, andhear what she says about it in the morning," he replied, as we saw hercome bounding down the pier like a rubber ball to tell us supper wasready.