The Wings of the Morning Page 10
CHAPTER X
REALITY _V_. ROMANCE--THE CASE FOR THE PLAINTIFF
Night after night the Pleiades swung higher in the firmament; day afterday the sailor perfected his defences and anxiously scanned the oceanfor sign of friendly smoke or hostile sail. This respite would not havebeen given to him, were it not for the lucky bullet which removed twofingers and part of a third from the right hand of the Dyak chief. Noteven a healthy savage can afford to treat such a wound lightly, and tendays elapsed before the maimed robber was able to move the injured limbwithout a curse.
Meanwhile, each night Jenks slept less soundly; each day his facebecame more careworn. He began to realize why the island had not beenvisited already by the vessel which would certainly be deputed tosearch for them--she was examining the great coast-line of China andSiam.
It was his habit to mark the progress of time on the rudely madesun-dial which sufficiently served their requirements as a clock. Irishappened to watch him chipping the forty-fourth notch on the edge ofthe horizontal block of wood.
"Have we really been forty-four days here?" she inquired, aftercounting the marks with growing astonishment.
"I believe the reckoning is accurate," he said. "The _Sirdar_ waslost on the 18th of March, and I make this the 1st of May."
"May Day!"
"Yes. Shall we drive to Hurlingham this afternoon?"
"Looked at in that way it seems to be a tremendous time, though indeed,in some respects, it figures in my mind like many years. That is when Iam thinking. Otherwise, when busy, the days fly like hours."
"It must be convenient to have such an elastic scale."
"Most useful. I strive to apply the quick rate when you are grumpy."
Iris placed her arms akimbo, planted her feet widely apart, andsurveyed Jenks with an expression that might almost be termed impudent.They were great friends, these two, now. The incipient stage oflove-making had been dropped entirely, as ludicrously unsuited to theirenvironment.
When the urgent necessity for continuous labor no longer spurred themto exertion during every moment of daylight, they tackled the box ofbooks and read, not volumes which appealed to them in common, butquaint tomes in the use of which Jenks was tutor and Iris the scholar.
It became a fixed principle with the girl that she was very ignorant,and she insisted that the sailor should teach her. For instance, amongthe books he found a treatise on astronomy; it yielded a keen delightto both to identify a constellation and learn all sorts of wonderfulthings concerning it. But to work even the simplest problem required aknowledge of algebra, and Iris had never gone beyond decimals. So thestock of notebooks, instead of recording their experiences, becamecovered with symbols showing how x plus y equaled x squared minus 3,000,000.
As a variant, Jenks introduced a study of Hindustani. His method was towrite a short sentence and explain in detail its component parts. Witha certain awe Iris surveyed the intricacies of the Urdu compound verb,but, about her fourth lesson, she broke out into exclamations ofextravagant joy.
"What on earth is the matter now?" demanded her surprised mentor.
"Don't you see?" she exclaimed, delightedly. "Of course you don't!People who know a lot about a thing often miss its obvious points. Ihave discovered how to write Kiplingese. All you have to do is to tellyour story in Urdu, translate it literally into English, and there youare!"
"Quite so. Just do it as Kipling does, and the secret is laid bare. Bythe same rule you can hit upon the Miltonic adjective."
Iris tossed her head.
"I don't know anything about the Miltonic adjective, but I am sureabout Kipling."
This ended the argument. She knitted her brows in the effort to masterthe ridiculous complexities of a language which, instead of simplysaying "Take" or "Bring," compels one to say "Take-go" and "Take-come."
One problem defied solution--that of providing raiment for Iris. Theunited skill of the sailor and herself would not induce unraveledcordage to supply the need of thread. It was either too weak or tooknotty, and meanwhile the girl's clothes were falling to pieces. Jenkstried the fibers of trees, the sinews of birds--every possibleexpedient he could hit upon--and perhaps, after experiments coveringsome weeks, he might have succeeded. But modern dress stuffs, weakenedby aniline dyes and stiffened with Chinese clay, permit of no suchexhaustive research. It must be remembered that the lady passengers onboard the _Sirdar_ were dressed to suit the tropics, and the hardusage given by Iris to her scanty stock was never contemplated by theManchester or Bradford looms responsible for the durability of thematerial.
As the days passed the position became irksome. It even threatenedcomplete callapse during some critical moment, and the two oftensilently surveyed the large number of merely male garments in theirpossession. Of course, in the matter of coats and waistcoats there wasno difficulty whatever. Iris had long been wearing those portions ofthe doctor's uniform. But when it came to the rest--
At last, one memorable morning, she crossed the Rubicon. Jenks hadclimbed, as usual, to the Summit Rock. He came back with the excitingnews that he thought--he could not be certain, but there wereindications inspiring hopefulness--that towards the west of the far-offisland he could discern the smoke of a steamer.
Though he had eyes for a faint cloud of vapor at least fifty milesdistant he saw nothing of a remarkable change effected nearer home.Outwardly, Iris was attired in her wonted manner, but if hercompanion's mind were not wholly monopolized by the bluish hazedetected on the horizon, he must have noticed the turned-up ends of apair of trousers beneath the hem of her tattered skirt.
It did occur to him that Iris received his momentous announcement withan odd air of hauteur, and it was passing strange she did not offer toaccompany him when, after bolting his breakfast, he returned to theobservatory.
He came back in an hour, and the lines on his face were deeper thanbefore.
"A false alarm," he said curtly in response to her questioning look.
And that was all, though she nerved herself to walk steadily past himon her way to the well. This was disconcerting, even annoying to apositive young woman like Iris. Resolving to end the ordeal, she stoodrigidly before him.
"Well," she said, "I've done it!"
"Have you?" he exclaimed, blankly.
"Yes. They're a little too long, and I feel very awkward, but they'rebetter than--than my poor old dress unsupported."
She blushed furiously, to the sailor's complete bewilderment, but shebravely persevered and stretched out an unwilling foot.
"Oh. I see!" he growled, and he too reddened.
"I can't help it, can I?" she demanded piteously. "It is not unlike ariding-habit, is it?"
Then his ready wit helped him.
"An excellent compromise," he cried. "A process of evolution, in fact.Now, do you know, Miss Deane, that would never have occurred to me."
And during the remainder of the day he did not once look at her feet.Indeed, he had far more serious matters to distract his thoughts, forIris, feverishly anxious to be busy, suddenly suggested that it wouldbe a good thing were she able to use a rifle if a fight at closequarters became necessary.
The recoil of the Lee-Metford is so slight that any woman canmanipulate the weapon with effect, provided she is not called upon tofire from a standing position, in which case the weight is liable tocause bad aiming. Though it came rather late in the day, Jenks caughtat the idea. He accustomed her in the first instance to the use ofblank cartridges. Then, when fairly proficient in holding andsighting--a child can learn how to refill the clip and eject each emptyshell--she fired ten rounds of service ammunition. The target was awhite circle on a rock at eighty yards, and those of the ten shots thatmissed the absolute mark would have made an enemy at the same distanceextremely uncomfortable.
Iris was much pleased with her proficiency. "Now," she cried, "insteadof being a hindrance to you I may be some help. In any case, the Dyakswill think there are two men to face, and they have good reason to fearone of us."
"Why did you not think of it before?" he demanded. "Don't you see, MissDeane, the possibility suggested by your words? I am sorry to becompelled to speak plainly, but I feel sure that if those scoundrels doattack us in force it will be more to secure you than to avenge theloss of their fellow tribesmen. First and foremost, the sea-going Dyaksare pirates and marauders. They prowl about the coast looking not somuch for a fight as for loot and women. Now, if they return, andapparently find two well-armed men awaiting them, with no prospect ofplunder, there is a chance they may abandon the enterprise."
Iris did not flinch from the topic. She well knew its grave importance.
"In other words," she said, "I must be seen by them dressed only inmale clothing?"
"Yes, as a last resource, that is. I have some hope that they may notdiscover our whereabouts owing to the precautions we have adopted.Perched up there on the ledge we will be profoundly uncomfortable, butthat will be nothing if it secures our safety."
She did not reply at once. Then she said musingly--"Forty-four days!Surely there has been ample time to scour the China Sea from end to endin search of us? My father would never abandon hope until he had themost positive knowledge that the _Sirdar_ was lost with all onboard."
The sailor, through long schooling, was prepared with an answer--"Eachday makes the prospect of escape brighter. Though I was naturallydisappointed this morning, I must state quite emphatically that ourrescue may come any hour."
Iris looked at him steadily.
"You wear a solemn face for one who speaks so cheerfully," she said.
"You should not attach too great significance to appearances. The owl,a very stupid bird, is noted for its philosophical expression."
"Then we will strive to find wisdom in words. Do you remember, Mr.Jenks, that soon after the wreck you told me we might have to remainhere many months?"
"That was a pardonable exaggeration."
"No, no. It was the truth. You are seeking now to buoy me up with falsehope. It is sixteen hundred miles from Hong Kong to Singapore, and halfas much from Siam to Borneo. The _Sirdar_ might have been drivenanywhere in the typhoon. Didn't you say so, Mr. Jenks?"
He wavered under this merciless cross-examination.
"I had no idea your memory was so good," he said, weakly.
"Excellent, I assure you. Moreover, during our forty-four daystogether, you have taught me to think. Why do you adopt subterfuge withme? We are partners in all else. Why cannot I share your despair aswell as your toil?"
She blazed out in sudden wrath, and he understood that she would not bedenied the full extent of his secret fear. He bowed reverently beforeher, as a mortal paying homage to an angry goddess.
"I can only admit that you are right," he murmured. "We must pray thatGod will direct our friends to this island. Otherwise we may not befound for a year, as unhappily the fishermen who once came here nowavoid the place. They have been frightened by the contents of thehollow behind the cliff. I am glad you have solved the difficultyunaided, Miss Deane. I have striven at times to be coarse, even brutal,towards you, but my heart flinched from the task of telling you thepossible period of your imprisonment."
Then Iris, for the first time in many days, wept bitterly, and Jenks,blind to the true cause of her emotion, picked up a rifle to which, inspare moments, he had affixed a curious device, and walked slowlyacross Prospect Park towards the half-obliterated road leading to theValley of Death.
The girl watched him disappear among the trees. Through her tears shonea sorrowful little smile.
"He thinks only of me, never of himself," she communed. "If it pleasesProvidence to spare us from these savages, what does it matter to mehow long we remain here? I have never been so happy before in my life.I fear I never will be again. If it were not for my father's terribleanxiety I would not have a care in the world. I only wish to get away,so that one brave soul at least may be rid of needless tortures. Allhis worry is on my account, none on his own."
That was what tearful Miss Iris thought, or tried to persuade herselfto think. Perhaps her cogitations would not bear strict analysis.Perhaps she harbored a sweet hope that the future might yet containbright hours for herself and the man who was so devoted to her. Sherefused to believe that Robert Anstruther, strong of arm and clear ofbrain, a Knight of the Round Table in all that was noble and chivalric,would permit his name to bear an unwarrantable stigma when--and sheblushed like a June rose--he came to tell her that which he hadwritten.
The sailor returned hastily, with the manner of one hurrying to performa neglected task. Without any explanation to Iris he climbed severaltimes to the ledge, carrying arm-loads of grass roots which he plantedin full view. Then he entered the cave, and, although he was furnishedonly with the dim light that penetrated through the distant exit, sheheard him hewing manfully at the rock for a couple of hours. At last heemerged, grimy with dust and perspiration, just in time to pay a lastvisit to Summit Rock before the sun sank to rest. He asked the girl todelay somewhat the preparations for their evening meal, as he wished totake a bath, so it was quite dark when they sat down to eat.
Iris had long recovered her usual state of high spirits.
"Why were you burrowing in the cavern again?" she inquired. "Are you ina hurry to get rich?"
"I was following an air-shaft, not a lode," he replied. "I amoccasionally troubled with after wit, and this is an instance. Do youremember how the flame of the lamp flickered whilst we were opening upour mine?"
"Yes."
"I was so absorbed in contemplating our prospective wealth that Ifailed to pay heed to the true significance of that incident. It meantthe existence of an upward current of air. Now, where the current goesthere must be a passage, and whilst I was busy this afternoon among thetrees over there,"--he pointed towards the Valley of Death--"it came tome like an inspiration that possibly a few hours' hewing and delvingmight open a shaft to the ledge. I have been well rewarded for theeffort. The stuff in the vault is so eaten away by water that it is nomore solid than hard mud for the most part. Already I have scooped outa chimney twelve feet high."
"What good can that be?"
"At present we have only a front door--up the face of the rock. When mywork is completed, before tomorrow night I hope, we shall have a backdoor also. Of course I may encounter unforeseen obstacles as I advance.A twist in the fault would be nearly fatal, but I am praying that itmay continue straight to the ledge."
"I still don't see the great advantage to us."
"The advantages are many, believe me. The more points of attackpresented by the enemy the more effective will be our resistance. Idoubt if they would ever be able to rush the cave were we to hold it,whereas I can go up and down our back staircase whenever I choose. Ifyou don't mind being left in the dark I will resume work now, by thelight of your lamp."
But Iris protested against this arrangement. She felt lonely. The longhours of silence had been distasteful to her. She wanted to talk.
"I agree," said Jenks, "provided you do not pin me down to something Itold you a month ago."
"I promise. You can tell me as much or as little as you think fit. Thesubject for discussion is your court-martial."
He could not see the tender light in her eyes, but the quiet sympathyof her voice restrained the protest prompt on his lips. Yet he blurtedout, after a slight pause--
"That is a very unsavory subject."
"Is it? I do not think so. I am a friend, Mr. Jenks, not an old one, Iadmit, but during the past six weeks we have bridged an ordinaryacquaintanceship of as many years. Can you not trust me?"
Trust her? He laughed softly. Then, choosing his words with greatdeliberation, he answered--"Yes, I can trust you. I intended to tellyou the story some day. Why not tonight?"
Unseen in the darkness Iris's hand sought and clasped the gold locketsuspended from her neck. She already knew some portion of the story hewould tell. The remainder was of minor importance.
"I
t is odd," he continued, "that you should have alluded to six years amoment ago. It is exactly six years, almost to a day, since the troublebegan."
"With Lord Ventnor?" The name slipped out involuntarily.
"Yes. I was then a Staff Corps subaltern, and my proficiency in nativelanguages attracted the attention of a friend in Simla, who advised meto apply for an appointment on the political side of the Government ofIndia. I did so. He supported the application, and I was assured of thenext vacancy in a native state, provided that I got married."
He drawled out the concluding words with exasperating slowness. Iris,astounded by the stipulation, dropped her locket and leaned forwardinto the red light of the log fire. The sailor's quick eye caught theglitter of the ornament.
"By the way," he interrupted, "what is that thing shining on yourbreast?"
She instantly clasped the trinket again. "It is my sole remainingadornment," she said; "a present from my father on my tenth birthday.Pray go on!"
"I was not a marrying man, Miss Deane, and the requisite qualificationnearly staggered me. But I looked around the station, and came to theconclusion that the Commissioner's niece would make a suitable wife. Iregarded her 'points,' so to speak, and they filled the bill. She wassmart, good-looking, lively, understood the art of entertaining, wasfirst-rate in sports and had excellent teeth. Indeed, if a man selecteda wife as he does a horse, she--"
"Don't be horrid. Was she really pretty?"
"I believe so. People said she was."
"But what did _you_ think?"
"At the time my opinion was biased. I have seen her since, and shewears badly. She is married now, and after thirty grew very fat."
Artful Jenks! Iris settled herself comfortably to listen.
"I have jumped that fence with a lot in hand," he thought.
"We became engaged," he said aloud.
"She threw herself at him," communed Iris.
"Her name was Elizabeth--Elizabeth Morris." The young lieutenant ofthose days called her "Bessie," but no matter.
"Well, you didn't marry her, anyhow," commented Iris, a trifle sharply.
And now the sailor was on level ground again.
"Thank Heaven, no," he said, earnestly. "We had barely become engagedwhen she went with her uncle to Simla for the hot weather. There shemet Lord Ventnor, who was on the Viceroy's staff, and--if you don'tmind, we will skip a portion of the narrative--I discovered then whymen in India usually go to England for their wives. Whilst in Simla onten days' leave I had a foolish row with Lord Ventnor in the UnitedService Club--hammered him, in fact, in defence of a worthless woman,and was only saved from a severe reprimand because I had been badlytreated. Nevertheless, my hopes of a political appointment vanished,and I returned to my regiment to learn, after due reflection, what avery lucky person I was."
"Concerning Miss Morris, you mean?"
"Exactly. And now exit Elizabeth. Not being cut out for matrimonialenterprise I tried to become a good officer. A year ago, whenGovernment asked for volunteers to form Chinese regiments, I sent in myname and was accepted. I had the good fortune to serve under an oldfriend, Colonel Costobell; but some malign star sent Lord Ventnor tothe Far East, this time in an important civil capacity. I met himoccasionally, and we found we did not like each other any better. Myhorse beat his for the Pagoda Hurdle Handicap--poor old Sultan! Iwonder where he is now."
"Was your horse called 'Sultan'?"
"Yes. I bought him in Meerut, trained him myself, and ferried him allthe way to China. I loved him next to the British Army."
This was quite satisfactory. There was genuine feeling in his voicenow. Iris became even more interested.
"Colonel Costobell fell ill, and the command of the regiment devolvedupon me, our only major being absent in the interior. The Colonel'swife unhappily chose that moment to flirt, as people say, with LordVentnor. Not having learnt the advisability of minding my own business,I remonstrated with her, thus making her my deadly enemy. Lord Ventnorcontrived an official mission to a neighboring town and detailed me forthe military charge. I sent a junior officer. Then Mrs. Costobell andhe deliberately concocted a plot to ruin me--he, for the sake of hisold animosity--you remember that I had also crossed his path inEgypt--she, because she feared I would speak to her husband. Onpretence of seeking my advice, she inveigled me at night into adeserted corner of the Club grounds at Hong Kong. Lord Ventnorappeared, and as the upshot of their vile statements, which created animmediate uproar, I--well, Miss Deane, I nearly killed him."
Iris vividly recalled the anguish he betrayed when this topic wasinadvertently broached one day early in their acquaintance. Now he wasreciting his painful history with the air of a man far more concernedto be scrupulously accurate than aroused in his deepest passions by thememory of past wrongs. What had happened in the interim to blunt thesebygone sufferings? Iris clasped her locket. She thought she knew.
"The remainder may be told in a sentence," he said. "Of what avail weremy frenzied statements against the definite proofs adduced by LordVentnor and his unfortunate ally? Even her husband believed her andbecame my bitter foe. Poor woman! I have it in my heart to pity her.Well, that is all. I am here!"
"Can a man be ruined so easily?" murmured the girl, her exquisite tactleading her to avoid any direct expression of sympathy.
"It seems so. But I have had my reward. If ever I meet Mrs. Costobellagain I will thank her for a great service."
Iris suddenly became confused. Her brow and neck tingled with a quickaccess of color.
"Why do you say that?" she asked; and Jenks, who was rising, either didnot hear, or pretended not to hear, the tremor in her tone.
"Because you once told me you would never marry Lord Ventnor, and afterwhat I have told you now I am quite sure you will not."
"Ah, then you _do_ trust me?" she almost whispered.
He forced back the words trembling for utterance. He even strove weaklyto assume an air of good-humored badinage.
"See how you have tempted me from work, Miss Deane," he cried. "We havegossiped here until the fire grew tired of our company. To bed, please,at once."
Iris caught him by the arm.
"I will pray tonight, and every night," she said solemnly, "that yourgood name may be cleared in the eyes of all men as it is in mine. And Iam sure my prayer will be answered."
She passed into her chamber, but her angelic influence remained. In hisvery soul the man thanked God for the tribulation which brought thiswoman into his life. He had traversed the wilderness to find an oasisof rare beauty. What might lie beyond he neither knew nor cared.Through the remainder of his existence, be it a day or many a year, hewould be glorified by the knowledge that in one incomparable heart hereigned supreme, unchallenged, if only for the hour. Fatigue, anxiety,bitter recollection and present danger, were overwhelmed and forgottenin the nearness, the intangible presence of Iris. He looked up to thestarry vault, and, yielding to the spell, he, too, prayed.
It was a beautiful night. After a baking hot day the rocks wereradiating their stored-up heat, but the pleasant south-westerly breezethat generally set in at sunset tempered the atmosphere and made sleeprefreshing. Jenks could not settle down to rest for a little whileafter Iris left him. She did not bring forth her lamp, and, unwillingto disturb her, he picked up a resinous branch, lit it in the dyingfire, and went into the cave.
He wanted to survey the work already done, and to determine whether itwould be better to resume operations in the morning from inside theexcavation or from the ledge. Owing to the difficulty of constructing avertical upward shaft, and the danger of a sudden fall of heavymaterial, he decided in favor of the latter course, although itentailed lifting all the refuse out of the hole. To save time,therefore, he carried his mining tools into the open, placed inposition the _cheval de frise_ long since constructed for thedefence of the entrance, and poured water over the remains of the fire.
This was his final care each night before stretching his weary limbs onhis couch of branches. It
caused delay in the morning, but he neglectedno precaution, and there was a possible chance of the Dyaks failing todiscover the Eagle's Nest if they were persuaded by other indicationsthat the island was deserted.
He entered the hut and was in the act of pulling off his boots, when adistant shot rang sharply through the air. It was magnified tenfold bythe intense silence. For a few seconds that seemed to be minutes helistened, cherishing the quick thought that perhaps a turtle, wanderingfar beyond accustomed limits, had disturbed one of the spring-guncommunications on the sands. A sputtering volley, which his trained earrecognized as the firing of muzzle-loaders, sounded the death-knell ofhis last hope.
The Dyaks had landed! Coming silently and mysteriously in the dead ofnight, they were themselves the victims of a stratagem they designed toemploy. Instead of taking the occupants of Rainbow Island unawares theywere startled at being greeted by a shot the moment they landed. Thealarmed savages at once retaliated by firing their antiquated weaponspoint-blank at the trees, thus giving warning enough to wake the SevenSleepers.
Iris, fully dressed, was out in a moment.
"They have come!" she whispered.
"Yes," was the cheery answer, for Jenks face to face with danger was avery different man to Jenks wrestling with the insidious attacks ofCupid. "Up the ladder! Be lively! They will not be here for half anhour if they kick up such a row at the first difficulty. Still, we willtake no risks. Cast down those spare lines when you reach the top andhaul away when I say 'Ready!' You will find everything to hand upthere."
He held the bottom of the ladder to steady it for the girl's climb.Soon her voice fell, like a message from a star--
"All right! Please join me soon!"
The coiled-up ropes dropped along the face of the rock. Clothes, pick,hatchet, hammer, crowbars, and other useful odds and ends were swungaway into the darkness, for the moon as yet did not illumine the crag.The sailor darted into Belle Vue Castle and kicked their leafy bedsabout the floor. Then he slung all the rifles, now five in number, overhis shoulders, and mounted the rope-ladder, which, with the sparecords, he drew up and coiled with careful method.
"By the way," he suddenly asked, "have you your sou'wester?"
"Yes."
"And your Bible?"
"Yes. It rests beneath my head every night. I even brought ourTennyson."
"Ah," he growled fiercely, "this is where the reality differs from theromance. Our troubles are only beginning now."
"They will end the sooner. For my part, I have utter faith in you. Ifit be God's will, we will escape; and no man is more worthy than you tobe His agent."