Hurricane Island by H. B. Marriott Watson (free novels to read .TXT) 📕

bitterly, "that I resent the way in which my testimony has been received, and at Buenos Ayres, if we ever reach that port, I shall beg to be relieved of my duties and have my contract cancelled."

"If Mr.--Mr. Morland does not object certainly I shall not, Dr. Phillimore," said Day drily.

"Oh, come, captain," said I impatiently; "we are in a peril together and you stand on ceremonies."

"That has yet to be proved," he said.

Even as he spoke a noise announced the return of the party, and Sir John Barraclough entered.

"Your man's missing," said he.

Day uttered an exclamation, and the Prince's frown deepened.

"There's no one in the cabin," said Barraclough.

At that instant a knock fell on the door. "Is the doctor here?" said a voice which I recognised at once. Barraclough opened the door and Holgate stood on the threshold.

"It has been reported to me as I came on duty," he said, "that Adams is missing, doctor. It seems a bad case. He was delirious, and two of the men say they heard a plunge. The port-hole is open."

"It's a lie!" I cried.

Holgate's face twitched. "It's the report made to me," he said; "I came at once," and the fang showed clear under his upper lip.

"It is foul play!" I said. "He was not likely to throw himself overboard. It all belongs to the plot."

"Was this man delirious?" asked Day of me.

I hesitated. "For a time he was slightly," I answered.

"He was delirious when he told you these things?"

"That I deny."

He turned to Ellison. "What do you say, quartermaster?"

"I don't know, sir," said the man in confusion. "He didn't seem quite--quite all right."

"Ah!" said Day, looking at Mr. Morland.

"Good heavens, sir, would you take a common sailor's word before a doctor's?" I asked indignantly.

"No, Dr. Phillimore, I am only weighing the evidence," said he coolly. "This man was, according to you, delirious for a time. He made some communication as to a plot. Then he disappears. It is either conspiracy or delirium. Either accounts for the facts. Which are we to believe?"

"You forget the attempt on me," I said hotly.

"Not at all," he said, "I have not forgotten that--accident. But it hardly gets us further. It fits in with either supposition--the plot or"--he paused--"the delirium," he added significantly.

"Gentlemen, I wish you good night, or good morning," I said, turning on my heel. "And I will beg of you, Mr. Morland, to grant me the privilege of a substitute when we reach Buenos Ayres."

Mr. Morland did not answer. He made an impatient gesture, and then:

"Are you satisfied, Captain Day?" he asked.

"Quite," was the laconic answer.

"Then may I request you will see that discipline is kept among your men," said the Prince severely, and stalked out of the cabin.

Barraclough broke into laughter. "Upon my soul----" he began, but was interrupted by an angry exclamation.

"Be good enough, sir, to keep your counsel till it is asked, sir," said Day, trembling with fury. "I have too many princes and baronets here for my taste." He stamped round the room in agitation. "My men!" he cried. "Good Lord, what have I had to do with them? I wish I'd never seen the figurehead of the yacht. Good Lord! my men! I would sooner run an excursion steamer than submit to this."

Barraclough eyed him without any emotion, even with hard hostility. The exit of the Prince had stayed my departure, and abruptly Day came to a pause by me.

"That will do, gentlemen," he said quietly. Holgate, who was at the door, opened it, and his round face swung gently on his shoulders till his gaze rested on me again. Something flickered in it, something like a leer on that malicious blackness, and then he was gone. Day stood stock-still looking by me after him. As I turned to follow he addressed me.

"Dr. Phillimore, if you can spare a moment before you change," he said civilly, "I shall be glad of a few minutes."

I answered promptly, wondering, and the door closed behind Barraclough.

"Doctor, I haven't slept a wink for nights," burst out the captain suddenly; "I must have something."

He had a haggard, drawn look, and his eyes seemed sunken in his head. At once I was the professional man, and not an officer of the ship.

"Sit down, sir," said I, "and tell me. What is it?"

He sat down shakily. "I don't like my officers, doctor, and I don't like my employer," he said peevishly. I held his pulse, which was jumping.

"What else," I said.

"You are not a married man?" he inquired, looking at me restlessly. "No; never mind," he paused, and proceeded in his ridiculously precise voice. "I had the misfortune to lose my wife and my son in a fortnight--about a month ago. It has rather upset me."

It might have seemed comic communicated in that matter-of-fact tone, but somehow it struck me as tragic. That this vain, self-contained, and reticent man should confess to the frailty of humanity to a man he disliked was the measure of his suffering.

"I can mend the sleep, captain," said I. "You must do the rest."

"Good God!" he shook his head and stood up.

"No," said I, "sit down. I'll see to you. Let me ring."

In a few minutes I had my case of instruments, and carefully extracted what I wanted, while Day looked on feverishly impatient.

"I'm going to do what has already been done this night," I said gravely, "but in a better cause."

I raised the syringe, and bade him put back the sleeve of his pyjama. A rush of pain went through my arm which had been bruised and battered in the sea, and suddenly the cabin went from me. For the first and only time in my life I fainted.

When I came to Day was bending over me, glass in hand, a look of solicitude on his face.

"It seems we have changed places," said I feebly, "and that you are my physician."

He set the glass down. "Doctor, I did you less than justice just now," he said quickly. "But I have had my troubles."

I picked myself up slowly. "I will now resume," I said, smiling.

"If you are able," he said doubtfully, and then, "Heavens, I should like just one hour of sleep."

"You shall sleep till eight bells, I promise you," I answered, and once more I took the syringe.

He sighed as if in anticipation. "Doctor," he said, as he lay back. "Not a word of this. We must talk about the other thing. I don't like my officers. I'll tackle this question to-morrow. There's something in it."

I bade him "good night," and left with the conviction that in the difficulties before us Captain Day would count for little. To face such emergencies as I felt must now be faced we had no need of a neurotic subject.

Nevertheless I was mistaken in one particular. Day sent for me next morning, and I found him in quite a brisk, cheerful state. He did not allude to what had occurred between us, but came straight to the subject of the plot.

"Nothing has happened, doctor," he said.

I knew nothing could happen, for the disappearance of Adams meant that the conspirators were not ready with their plans. Otherwise they would not have been so determined to rob me of my evidence. This I explained, and he listened attentively.

"You see the difficulty," he said at last. "There is no corroboration of your story, and I can take no action. I will have an inquiry into Adams's disappearance, of course, but I fear nothing will come of it." He rubbed his hands nervously. "I wish to God it would."

This was astounding from the man, but, as I looked into his eyes, I could see how deeply his nervous system had been shocked, and once more I despaired of such a captain in such circumstances. I carried my misgivings to Legrand, with whom the events of the night had seemed to bring me in closer relationship.

"The old man's all right," he said. "A better seaman doesn't exist. There's nothing he doesn't know."

"Except human nature," said I.

"Well, that may be. But who knows much about that?" said the second officer, setting his sextant. "You say we're slumbering over a volcano. I daresay we are. It's more or less what we're paid to do, and take all risks. Things are quiet enough now, anyway."

Was this another sceptic, where I had sought to find an ally?

"I am used by this to ridicule," I began drily.

"Who on earth is ridiculing you?" he asked. "You have only given us something to think of--and something pretty tall, too."

I shrugged my shoulders. "I suppose it is my word against Holgate's," I said wearily.

"Holgate's!" he said, lowering his sextant swiftly. "Holgate's! I wouldn't trust Holgate if he were on a dozen oaths--not if he were swung at a yard-arm, and were making Christian confession," he said passionately.

"Nor would I," I said softly after a pause. We exchanged glances. He resumed his sextant.

"The only thing to be done," he said, "is to keep a watch. We shall know shortly. Excuse me, doctor, I must take the bearings."

Routine must go on aboard ship, but this cool attitude, reasonable as it was, was not to my taste in my condition. Things moved as smoothly as before; the watch came and went, and the bells tolled regularly; but with the knowledge that I had that something evil was brewing, I fretted and worried and grew out of temper. The powers that were responsible for the safety of the ship and her good conduct were indifferent to the danger, or else incredulous. I alone knew how incompetent was the captain to secure his vessel, and the attitude of "Mr. Morland" filled me with contempt. It was very well for a royal prince in his palace, surrounded by his guard, servitors, and dependants, to assume an autocratic attitude, and take things for granted. But it was another case when he had deliberately abandoned that security and launched himself upon a romantic, not to say quixotic, career, in which nothing was certain. Yet upon the promenade deck the Prince and his sister took their constitutionals as if nothing had happened or would happen, and, as before, Mlle. Trebizond joined them, and her laugh floated down to us, musical and clear. Would nothing make them understand the peril in which they stood?

In all this vexation of spirit I still found time to be amused by Lane. The affair of Adams was, necessarily, public property, and the inquiry promised by Day was in process. Adams was gone, gone overboard, as I knew, and I could have put my hand on his murderer, if I could not also identify the man who had made an attempt to be mine. Lane, on the rumour of the night's proceedings reaching him, sought me, and complained. It was ludicrous, but it was characteristic of the man, as I had come to know him.

"Where do I come in?" he asked plaintively. "You might have given me a call, doctor."

"I wish I had been sleeping as sound as you," I said.

"Oh, hang it, man, it's dull enough on this beastly boat.