The Adventures of Captain Horn

by Frank Richard Stockton

  CHAPTER XLV

  MENTAL TURMOILS

  Edna went home faint, trembling, and her head in a whirl. When she hadheard Cheditafa shout "Rackbird," the thought flashed into her mind thatthe captain had been captured in the caves by some of these brigands whohad not been destroyed, that this was the cause of his silence, and thathe had written to her for help. But she considered that the letter couldnot be meant for her, for under no circumstance would he have written toher as Madame Raminez--a name of which she had never heard. This thoughtgave her a little comfort, but not much. As soon as she reached thehotel, she had a private talk with Cheditafa, and what the negro told herreassured her greatly.

  He did not make a very consecutive tale, but he omitted nothing. He toldher of his meeting with the Rackbird in front of the Bon Marche, and herelated every word of their short conversation. He accounted for thisRackbird's existence by saying that he had not been at the camp when thewater came down. In answer to a question from Edna, he said that thecaptain of the band was named Raminez, and that he had known him by thatname when he first saw him in Panama, though in the Rackbirds' camp hewas called nothing but "the captain."

  "And you only told him I was the captain's wife?" asked Edna. "You didn'tsay I was Captain Horn's wife?"

  Cheditafa tried his best to recollect, and he felt very sure that he hadsimply said she was the captain's wife.

  When his examination was finished, Cheditafa burst into an earnestappeal to his mistress not to go out again alone while she stayed inParis. He said that this Rackbird was an awfully wicked man, and that hewould kill all of them if he could. If the police caught him, he wantedto go and tell them what a bad man he was. He did not believe the policehad caught him. This man could run like a wild hare, and policemen'slegs were so stiff.

  Edna assured him that she would take good care of herself, and, afterenjoining upon him not to say a word to any one of what had happeneduntil she told him to, she sent him away.

  When Edna sat in council with herself upon the events of the morning, shewas able to make some very fair conjectures as to what had happened. Thescoundrel she met had supposed her to be the wife of the Rackbirds'captain. Having seen and recognized Cheditafa, it was natural enough forhim to suppose that the negro had been brought to Paris by some of theband. All this seemed to be good reasoning, and she insisted to herselfover and over again that she was quite sure that Captain Horn had nothingto do with the letter which the man had been intending to give her.

  That assurance relieved her of one great trouble, but there were othersleft. Here was a member of a band of bloody ruffians,--and perhaps he hadcompanions,--who had sworn vengeance against her and her faithfulservant, and Cheditafa's account of this man convinced her that he wouldbe ready enough to carry out such vengeance. She scarcely believed thatthe police had caught him. For she had seen how he could run, and he hadthe start of them. But even if they had, on what charge would he be held?He ought to be confined or deported, but she did not wish to instituteproceedings and give evidence. She did not know what might be asked, orsaid, or done, if she deposed that the man was a member of the Rackbirdband, and brought Cheditafa as a witness.

  In all this trouble and perplexity she had no one to whom she could turnfor advice and assistance. If she told Mrs. Cliff there was a Rackbird inParis, and that he had been making threats, she was sure that good ladywould fly to her home in Plainton, Maine, where she would have iron barsput to all the windows, and double locks to her doors.

  In this great anxiety and terror--for, although Edna was a brave woman,it terrified her to think that a wild and reckless villain, purple withrage, had shaken his fist at her, and vowed he would kill Cheditafa--shecould not think of a soul she could trust.

  Her brother, fortunately, was still in Belgium with histutor--fortunately, she thought, because, if he knew of the affair, hewould be certain to plunge himself into danger. And to whom could sheapply for help without telling too much of her story?

  Mrs. Cliff felt there was something in the air. "You seem queer," saidshe. "You seem unusually excited and ready to laugh. It isn't natural.And Cheditafa looks very ashy. I saw him just a moment ago, and it seemsto me a dose of quinine would do him good. It may be that it is a sort ofspring fever which is affecting people, and I am not sure but thatsomething of the kind is the matter with me. At any rate, there is thatfeeling in my spine and bones which I always have when things are aboutto happen, or when there is malaria in the air."

  Edna felt she must endeavor in all possible ways to prevent Mrs. Clifffrom finding out that the curses of a wicked Rackbird were in the air,but she herself shuddered when she thought that one or more of the crueldesperadoes, whose coming they had dreaded and waited for through thatfearful night in the caves of Peru, were now to be dreaded and feared inthe metropolis of France. If Edna shuddered at this, what would Mrs.Cliff do if she knew it?

  As for the man with the white cap, who had walked slowly away about hisbusiness that morning when he grew tired of following the gendarmes, hewas in a terrible state of mind. He silently raged and stormed andgnashed his teeth, and swore under his breath most awfully andcontinuously. Never had he known such cursed luck. One thousand dollarshad been within two feet of his hand! He knew that the lady had that sumin her pocket-book. He was sure she spoke truthfully. Her verydenunciation of him was a proof that she had not meant to deceive him.She hesitated a moment, but she would have given him the money. In a fewseconds more he would have made her take the letter and give him theprice she promised. But in those few seconds that Gehenna-born baboonhad rushed in and spoiled everything. He was not enraged against thelady, but he was enraged against himself because he had not snatched thewallet before he ran, and he was infuriated to a degree which resembledintoxication when he thought of Cheditafa and what he had done. The morehe thought, the more convinced he became that the lady had not broughtthe negro with her to spy on him. If she had intended to break her word,she would have brought a gendarme, not that ape.

  No, the beastly blackamoor had done the business on his own account. Hehad sneaked after the lady, and when he saw the gendarmes coming, he hadthought it a good chance to pay off old scores.

  "Pay off!" growled Banker, in a tone which made a shop-girl, who waswalking in front of him carrying a band-box, jump so violently that shedropped the box. "Pay off! I'll pay him!" And for a quarter of a mile hevowed that the present purpose of his life was the annihilation, thebloody annihilation, of that vile dog, whom he had trampled into the dirtof the Pacific coast, and who now, decked in fine clothes, had arisen inParis to balk him of his fortune.

  It cut Banker very deeply when he thought how neat and simple had beenthe plan which had almost succeeded. He had had a notion, when he wentaway to prepare the letter for the captain's wife, that he would write init a brief message which would mean nothing, but would make it necessaryfor her to see him again and to pay him again. But he had abandoned this.He might counterfeit an address, but it was wiser not to try his handupon a letter. The more he thought about Raminez, the less he desired torun the risk of meeting him, even in Paris. So he considered that if hemade this one bold stroke and got five thousand francs, he would retire,joyful and satisfied. But now! Well, he had a purpose: the annihilationof Cheditafa was at present his chief object in life.

  Banker seldom stayed in one place more than a day at a time, and beforehe went to a new lodging, that night, he threw away his slouch-hat, whichhe had rammed into his pocket, for he would not want it again. He had hishair cut short and his face neatly shaved, and when he went to his room,he trimmed his mustache in such a way that it greatly altered the cast ofhis countenance. He was not the penniless man he had represented himselfto be, who had not three francs to jingle together, for he was a billiardsharper and gambler of much ability, and when he appeared in the street,the next morning, he was neatly dressed in a suit of second-hand clotheswhich were as quiet and respectable as any tourist of limited means couldhave desired. With Baedeker's "Paris" i
n his hand, and with a long knifeand a slung-shot concealed in his clothes, he went forth to behold thewonders of the great city.

  He did not seem to care very much whether he saw the sights by day or bynight, for from early morning until ten or eleven o'clock in the evening,he was an energetic and interested wayfarer, confining his observations,however, to certain quarters of the city which best suited hisinvestigations. One night he gawkily strolled into the Black Cat, and oneday he boldly entered the Hotel Grenade and made some inquiries of theporter regarding the price of accommodations, which, however, hedeclared were far above his means. That day he saw Mok in the courtyard,and once, in passing, he saw Edna come out and enter her carriage with anelderly lady, and they drove away, with Cheditafa on the box.

  Under his dark sack-coat Banker wore a coarse blouse, and in the pocketof this undergarment he had a white cap. He was a wonderful man to movequietly out of people's way, and there were places in every neighborhoodwhere, even in the daytime, he could cast off the dark coat and the derbyhat without attracting attention.

  It was satisfactory to think, as he briskly passed on, as one who hasmuch to see in a little time, that the incident in the Tuileries Gardenshad not yet caused the captain's wife to change her quarters.