The Night Land & Other Romances

by William Hope Hodgson; Jeremy Lassen

  “Betsy’s an impudent maid,” said her father, smiling; “but from what she tells me you should have discovered that for yourself by this. Now let me know, please, this business about Benn.”

  I told him, and also gave my experience of the day before. The girl’s delight was great when she heard how I had disposed of the two foreigners; but her father was grave, and told me plainly that he thought the sooner I was out of the inn the better, and that the best thing I could do was to come up and stay with them, and bring my traps. This, of course, I accepted gladly; and so it was arranged.

  As we rose from lunch the girl said to me:

  “Come and see the old treasure chests.” And she led the way out of the dining-room into the lower hall. As we went across it was plain to me that money was not an over-plentiful commodity with them, and for this I rejoiced, for I had a double quantity of worldly goods, and—well, you can see the trend of my thoughts.

  On the north side of the hall the girl paused and drew my attention to two small chests, made of some dark-coloured wood that looked as hard as iron. But what was attracting my attention was that they were bound with massive bands of copper wrought in a distinctive pattern. And, you know, I had seen just such a pattern but a couple of days before.

  “My goodness!” I said; “I’ll bet there’s a chest of doubloons in the Wailing Gully. What a fool I am!” And I explained excitedly about the piece of copper which was fast to something in the bottom of the gully, as you will remember.

  Miss Dunton called to her father, and as soon as he had heard she went upstairs to get into her bathing costume, whilst I did the same thing in the Squire’s bedroom. I borrowed a mackintosh from him; and Miss Dunton came down similarly covered, and so the three of us set off, carrying some rope, a pickaxe, and a couple of iron bars to act as levers.

  We were soon at the side of the gully, opposite to the place where I had been painting, and found that we were just a few minutes before the “still.” We waited anxiously in the meanwhile, coiling the rope up free of kinks. Then as soon as the eddies and swirls had died away, and the wail of the gully had gone to an absolute silence, I caught up the end of the rope and took a header. I was fortunate in having located the exact spot, for I came down right over the piece of twisted iron rail of which I have told earlier, and the copper-work lay just under my hand. I grabbed excitedly at it, and drew myself down, until my eyes were within a few inches of it. I saw then quite plainly that it was firmly attached to something that looked like the corner of a small chest, from which it had been partly ripped. You can understand how I thrilled.

  The next thing I did was to bend the rope securely on to the massive copper-work, and then I was glad to shoot to the surface, where I found Miss Dunton in her bathing-dress, ready to come in to continue the search.

  “Found it!” I gasped. “It is a chest. I’ve made the rope fast to the copper-work; but I don’t suppose it’s any use pulling yet.”

  “Hurrah!” shouted the girl, and I climbed out of the water to give a hand on the rope; but though we pulled with all our might we could shift nothing. I took the pick then and went down again; but I soon found that I could do more good with my bare hands by easing the stones and shingle from around the chest. Presently Miss Dunton came down to help me, for she could dive beautifully. In this way we worked for about an hour, coming to the surface every minute to breathe; yet still the chest remained firm, and at last the Squire insisted that we should stop for a rest.

  Whilst we were resting he climbed one of the bigger rocks to see whether we were spied upon; and this way he saw the two foreigner upon the opposite side of the gully, watching us from among the rocks. He came down and told us what he had seen; then, as we were rested by now, we began again to dive, and work at the packed shingle about the treasure chest. In the meanwhile the Squire kept a secret watch upon the watchers, and in this way, with rests, another two hours passed; for we were able to work at the chest, despite the eddies and the swirls, by holding on to the rope, which we had hauled taut.

  By this time the evening had drawn in, and I refused absolutely to allow Miss Dunton to dive any more, but begged her father to take her home and make her rest and eat something whilst I kept watch. Then he could bring me out something to eat, and I would finish freeing the chest. In an undertone I suggested that he bring down a shot-gun with him, and not allow his daughter to return, as it was quite possible we might have to fight for the treasure.

  Whilst they were gone I put on my mackintosh and kept a watch from the top of the rock where the Squire had been spying. This way I saw presently that the smaller of the two men was creeping off among the rocks, evidently taking some message up to the village, which I guessed would bring down Benn and Captain Jutt, and perhaps some more scoundrels. So that you can imagine how impatiently I looked for the return of the Squire with his gun, for I had begun to realise that Benn and his crew would stick at nothing to secure the treasure.

  About half an hour later I saw the Squire returning, and with were two men carrying guns. But what troubled me was that Miss Dunton was also with them. When they arrived it was plain to me that there had been some trouble, for the Squire looked stern, and I could see that Miss Dunton had been crying. The Squire told me quite bluntly that he had asked her to remain at home, and she had flatly disobeyed him. The men he had brought with him were his two outdoor men, who acted also in the capacity of gamekeepers, and could consequently use a gun. These two men the Squire placed to his liking behind rocks, and when I had told him that the smaller of the spies had gone back to the village, probably to bring Benn and Jutt, and perhaps others, he took his post again on the rock to watch whilst Miss Dunton and I began again to dive, after I had drunk some beef-tea and rested a little. You see I did not dare eat anything solid, having to enter the water so soon.

  From then onward until dusk we worked at clearing the chest, by which time we were feeling so exhausted that we had to rest for a while, during which the Squire came down to say that a small body of men were coming among the rocks from the direction of the village. He then went back to his post, whilst I begged Miss Dunton to stop diving and get behind one of the rocks, as I could easily finish clearing the chest alone. Yet, at the same time, I told her how greatly I admired her skill in the water and her pluck, and that I could never nave managed without her. But, though I begged her, she still persisted that she would continue to so long as I continued; until at last I turned sharply on her, and told her that I would like to shake her soundly. Then, to my astonishment, she broke abruptly into quiet cryng, Which she did her best to hide. And suddenly I knew that she cared, and that so long as I ran any risk she intended to share it.

  “Thank God!” I said aloud. “Oh, my dear, my dear, now will you obey me, and take a great weight off my mind? And I on my part will promise not to be foolhardy.”

  “Yes,” she said, as simply as a child, and went back from the edge of the gully, to show that she obeyed me. Then I dived in again, and ten minutes later, after four short dives and breathing-spaces, I called out softly to the Squire that I believed the chest was free.

  At that the Squire came down from his post quickly and signalled to his men to come and give us a pull. He urged haste, for he had discovered that there were nearly a dozen men hidden among the rocks opposite. Then, all together, we pulled, and I felt the chest come away. We gave a smothered cheer, and a minute later, after desperate exertion, we had the chest up safe on the rock at the gully side. In the same instant there came a shout from the opposite bank. It was the landlord’s voice:

  “Hands up!” he shouted. “Hands up!”

  I glanced across the gully and saw that a line of men stood there, and in the half-gloom they seemed to be covering us with guns or rifles. In the same moment I heard the Squire whispering:

  “Down! Down on your face and take cover.” And in an instant I obeyed, and we got out of sight behind a rock. Yet there came no shots from the enemy; and suddenly I saw the whole sche
me, and whispered to the Squire that the demonstration on the opposite side was merely a “blind” to attract our attention, and to hide from us the fact that they had men on our side as well, who were probably even then creeping on to us.

  The Squire saw in a moment the probability of this, and faced round to his rear, keeping his gun handy, whilst I looked anxiously for Miss Dunton. Abruptly the Squire shouted to his men: “Look out on our side, lads! Look out!” and, raising his gun, fired at a moving shadow to our right. There came a hoarse shout of pain; and then, from more to the left, but only a few yards away, the voice of Betsy Dunton, calling my name in mad terror. I left my shelter and went over the rocks in my bathing-suit, swift and silent. There was the sound of a struggle among the rocks, and then I was there. It was the big dark foreigner, and he had got his hands on to my maid. I slipped my left hand under his chin, and bent his head back. His grip gave from the girl, and he tried to turn on me; but I caught the back of his head with my right hand, and drew him to his feet. Then I hit him with all my might, and left him among the boulders, whilst I picked up my girl.

  All around there was a sound of firing and then of men running. A big man blundered into me, carrying a cutlass, and made a wild swipe. I jumped to the side, with Betsy still in my arms. Then I came in on him, and got him full in the face with my right, so that he went staggering, and staggered right into the hands of the two gamekeepers, who beat him with the butts of their guns and then left him to crawl off.

  That was the end of the fight. The Squire told me he shot Benn in the legs, and at least three others of the enemy must have been shot. I had outed the big foreigner, and you know what happened to Jutt. The other men had run, and were anxious, I expect, not to have their names mixed up with a business that had turned out to have all pain and no gain, as you might say.

  It took us until midnight to get the chest home to the Hall, and when the value of .the doubloons was “proved,” the Squire’s banking account was strengthened by over nineteen thousand pounds. For my part, I have the maid, who still insists, in moments of impudence, that I am conceited; and when 1 would argue the point, stops my speech with kisses. Which, after all, is not an unpleasant way of being silenced.

  The Girl with the Grey Eyes

  Man, man, but you ought just to see her!” cried my chum Jack, in a very ecstasy of description. “She’s just about five feet two—I hate big girls—and dainty!’’ He made an expressive gesture with his hands and widened his eyes. “And her hands and feet!” He held out a mighty paw, “Just lost in mine, just lost!” he exclaimed, in an awestruck tone.

  “Her feet?” I queried.

  “Don’t rot!” he exploded. “All the same, I’ll bet her two feet’d go on my palm comfortably. Twos, I sh’d think. And her eyes, man; they’re—they’re—”

  But he had to give it up.

  “Marvellous?” I suggested.

  He shook his head with a sort of hopeless shake.

  “No; ’tisn’t that,” he said, and made a further endeavour to explain. “They’re grey—”

  “Eat all the world up,” I interpolated softly.

  But he went on, ignoring my suggestion:

  “Grey! I never saw such a grey in all my life! Honest! My God, Harry, the man she takes for her very own ’ll have her for his very own, and don’t you make any mistake!” He paused and ruminated for a few moments, then abruptly:

  “Met her in Bendigo six months back. Shook hands with her right off when we were introduced. No ceremony up there, y’know. Saw her then for the first time, and forgot I had hold of her hand till she pulled it loose from mine. I guess I felt mighty awkward.” He was quiet for an instant, then he said: “Never seen her from then until to-day, though I’ve thought of her heaps of times.”

  “And now she’s here in Melbourne?” I remarked.

  “Staying right here with us in this hotel,” he amended. “I was as close to her as I am to you; but she didn’t notice me any more than if I’d been dirt. I guess she’s forgotten me.” Again he fell upon quietness, evidently thinking hard.

  A few words of explanation here. Jack Venner and I were chums. We had chummed as boys at school, and had since found no reason to be anything else. At the age of eighteen I had gone into my father’s office, he being a country solicitor. My chum, who, though of good family, was without better prospects, had declared his intention of trying his luck in the Colonies; and this he had done so soon as his period of schooling had come to an end. In this wise I had seen nothing of him for nigh on six years; then his uncle—-whose affairs we managed—died, leaving the whole of his vast estates to him. And we at once advertised for the whereabouts of his nephew, but without success. Because of this it was decided that I should take a trip out to Australia and prosecute inquiries. And this I did, with the result that, after many months of patient inquiring, I found my man away up in the back blocks.

  We had come down to Melbourne preparatory to taking the first boat home, and had settled ourselves in a hotel for the few days that remained to us on Australian soil. Then, in the evening, as I was attending to my correspondence, my chum had come bursting into my room to inform me that he had run up against the “grey-eyed girl.” That is what he called her; for, as he had explained to me, when he was introduced to her he had failed to catch her name, and had not seen her since. And so here he was, pacing up and down the room, raving about this girl, and preventing me from getting on with my work.

  “She’ll be at dinner,” he said presently. “You’ll be able to see her then.”

  Now, I had intended to have dinner brought up to my room, so that I could continue my work uninterrupted, and I ventured to hint that such had been my intention. But to this he would extend no hearing, with the result that a little later I found myself at table nearly opposite a remarkably pretty girl, very dainty, and full of bright sayings and ways; so that I quite endorsed my chum’s good taste. In a little she chanced to glance across the table, and I saw her eyes, grey and clear—amazingly honest and beautiful. I stared, and was suddenly recalled to the rudeness of my stare by her sudden flush and look of cold displeasure. In the same moment my chum kicked me sharply on the ankle, so that I knew he had witnessed my annihilation. Presently he dragged me out into the verandah, and put this question to me:

  “What am I to do?”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, in turn.

  “To get to know her,” he explained. “She’s forgotten me dead. Never noticed me once, though I sat blank opposite to her through the whole of dinner.”

  “I’m sure I don’t know,” I answered. “We won’t know a soul who could introduce you. And, besides, I’m not at all sure that she is anxious for any fresh acquaintances.”

  The latter part of this I added in a meaning, voice, for the girl had seemed very well pleased to leave her entertaining in the hands of a tall, blond, rather fine-looking young man who had been her companion at dinner.

  At my suggestion Jack Venner frowned fiercely, and muttered something under his breath that sounded distinctly unamiable towards the person of the young lady’s manly friend.

  And here for a time the matter dropped, for I had to go back to my work.

  II

  I was awakened that night from my first-doze by a hand vigorously shaking me, and at that I sat up and demanded whether the place was afire. Jack’s voice answered me, assuring me that all was right, but that he had thought of a way in which he might become re-acquainted with the girl with the grey eyes. At that I told him he was a confounded ass to come waking me at midnight to tell me of some fool scheme which, from past experience of John’s plans, I knew would be absolutely lacking in reason and the rudiments of common-sense. And all this I told him with some vigour, for I had worked hard all the evening since dinner, and was dog-tired.

  Then I turned over on my side, pulled the clothes over my head, and refused to hear another word; so that in a minute he left me, going away in a sort of sullen rage, for which I did not altogether
blame him. Yet I knew that if once I allowed him to commence talking he would keep it up through the whole night, so that I was not filled with any very deep feeling of compunction.

  In the morning Jack treated me in what is known as a “distant” fashion, for which I thought him rather a fool. During the day he left me pretty much to myself, for which, to be truthful, I was not altogether displeased, although, perhaps, just a trifle annoyed; for I had a mint of work which needed my attention. That night Jack did not come near me; but the next morning I met him at breakfast, and found him in a more reasonable mood, though obviously occupied in his mind with some matter.

  “What about Miss Grey Eyes?” I asked, after some preliminary talk.

  He shook his head.

  “She’s always with that red-haired fool, confound him!” he burst forth. “I’ll show him that——” he began to say further, but pulled himself up.

  “What?” I asked, frankly curious. But he shook his head.

  “I’ve an idea,” he said, “but you’ll only throw cold water on it. All the same, I’ll bet that I get to know her within the next twenty-four hours.”

  “Better tell me your plan,” I suggested, half jestingly. “You’ll be getting yourself into some scrape. You’re not going to run off with her by force?” I asked, for I knew something of the direct character of my chum, and the question held in it a pinch of the salt of seriousness.

  “No,” he said slowly, and in a voice that suggested that the idea was not displeasing to him, “I’m not going to run away with her.”

  And that was all I could get out of him.

  That evening, as I was hard at work in my room, he burst in upon me in his characteristic, brusque manner.