_ Barry's thoughts kept him busy along with his duties for half an hour, by which time the schooner had taken up her boat, and a general transfer of men had been accomplished. The big pinnace, which belonged to the invisible gunboat, took on board the Dutch seamen and the survivors of Leyden's band, leaving the
Barang's crew under Rolfe and Blunt on board the schooner with Barry. Tom Little was in close conversation with Houten, and Gordon stood by as if quietly awaiting the outcome of it. Old Bill Blunt was forward, making the decks rattle with his lusty roar as he drove the little brown sailors to their jobs of preparing for sea. Outwardly the old fellow had managed to keep intact; it was only when he cut himself a quid of tobacco by jamming the plug into the sheave of a block and sawing at it with one hand that it could be noticed his left hand never left his belt and that his sleeve was dark and soggy.
Mrs. Goring and Natalie Sheldon appeared on deck while Little and Houten were still talking, and they had regained their color and self-control, only revealing a slight shudder of recollection when their eyes fell upon the devastated creek. Houten noticed this and cut short his consultation.
"So, dot iss settled, Mister Leedle," he said abruptly and met the ladies with a vast and paternal smile. "Captain Barry, when dot launch I had comes back from dot gunboat, we schall sail. Mister Leedle has agreed to go back to the station unt take charge until Mister Gordon returns, unt he takes dot launch unt some navy mans to stay mit him in case dose leedle brown mans ouf Leyden's make more bodder. So now mine boy Hendrik schall tell you somedings, yes?"
Barry kept silent, merely nodding. Vandersee spoke in low tones to Gordon and Mrs. Goring for a moment, received their aquiescence to his question, then faced the skipper with an expression of resignation to a task not entirely to his liking.
"Some of the story is not very pleasant, Barry, so I'll make it brief," he said. "It's due to you and to Little, otherwise I'd ask you to let your doubts remain unanswered. Beginning with my uncle's engagement of Little and yourself, at that time everybody concerned believed that gold was to be found on this river,--everybody, that is, except Leyden and Gordon here. Gordon desires me to tell the entire story, so I am not going to waste time by repeated apologies. The chief thing in this gold business is that Houten believed it implicitly, and naturally he wanted to know where his property was going to. Hence your engagement.
"Now to explain some of the mystery that has bothered you, Captain, it was discovered by my government some time back that Leyden was operating a tremendous opium smuggling business, and the entire interior of the island was in his grip. You'll see now how he could command such numbers of native fighters to drive you out or kill you. Eventually I was detailed to the duty of running him down. I am, as you perhaps have gathered, a lieutenant in the Dutch navy."
"Yes, yes," interrupted Barry, interested, yet hotly impatient to arrive at matters more closely concerning him personally. "That is all right, Vandersee. I know that, and that Mrs. Goring is your sister, and that she came here in my ship and stole my picture and why," he ran on, giving the lady a reassuring grin as he mentioned the theft of the photo by the brutal name. "I know, too, the connection between the opium running and the gold-dust swindle; you told me that; but I can't see yet why there was any necessity to compel me to keep my hands off that fellow, since we were all out for him, though on different errands. Seems to me a lot of useless waste of energy when he could have been taken weeks ago if you had made me acquainted with the inside of the business."
As he spoke, Mrs. Goring's face paled, and pain entered her eyes. Gordon patted her shoulder tenderly, and Natalie soothed her with soft speech. Vandersee waited for a moment until the pain had been banished by a brave smile and she nodded to him resolutely, then he resumed in reply to Barry:
"That is the real story, Captain. Juliana and I have not been blessed with parents since childhood. Mr. Houten is the only parent my sister has known. While she lived in his house, she met Gordon, and they soon became engaged to each other. I think you'll spare her the details, Barry, when I tell you this: While Gordon was absent on a business trip Leyden entered Juliana's home, became very intimate with my uncle, and was soon trusted utterly. Then subtle tales began to trickle in to Juliana and Mr. Houten about Gordon; and after a while they forced belief. They grew worse, and as they got blacker, Leyden's influence with my uncle increased until Houten accepted him as a partner and as a suitor for my sister's hand." Mrs. Goring shuddered violently, and Barry sensed that the climax to her story was near. Vandersee went on: "Barry, my sister fell under the spell of that man, and--"
Vandersee's calm was not equal to his task. It was Gordon who took up the story, and his voice vibrated with passion:
"The beast took her away and then flung her adrift on the port of Singapore, Barry! There was a little truth and a lot of lies in those tales circulated about me. True, I had been using liquor rather more than was good for a white man out here; but when I heard of this last piece of villainy, I simply went a complete mucker. I got so low and vile that I gradually lost my resolve to find him and choke the foul life out of him. When, after years, he came to me in this river and made his proposition about using the post as an entry port for his drug under cover of the gold-dust myth, I was even so far gone down the track as to agree to everything, if only I could be kept supplied with liquor. I willingly robbed Houten, although everything I ever had, this post, the last chance anybody on earth would give me, I owe to him." Gordon paused, passed a caressing hand along Mrs. Goring's arm, and concluded: "I only came to my senses, and to a promise of life again, when this lady came here and found me. Barry, a noble woman is a wonderful work of God!"
"I believe that," replied Barry quietly. "So that is why you stowed away in my ship, Mrs. Goring? If I had known, you should never have been refused a passage when you asked."
"That was not all, Captain," smiled the woman, her face transfigured by her triumph. "I came chiefly to be at hand when this sweet girl needed a friend," she said, patting Natalie's hand. "We knew she was to have a terrible awakening. We, I particularly, knew the man who had fascinated her. Besides that, I came to help my brother; and, above all, Captain, I came to satisfy myself whether love could really die."
Natalie had listened intently to a story she already had heard, and at Mrs. Goring's concluding words she shivered slightly and added: "And by God's grace, it cannot--if it is love."
Barry glanced inquiringly at the girl, and she blushed rosily. He said softly: "You have something to say in this, I'm sure, for you made a remark about the success of my expedition that was quite at variance with some of your earlier remarks to me."
"Why--I have scarcely anything to say," Natalie hesitated with heightened color. "I ought to tell you why I seemed to doubt you, though. That is due to you, after you have lost your ship and everything in my behalf. I am ashamed to tell it, but I was completely fascinated by that man. I believed in him utterly, and so did the Mission folks. You can believe that when I gave up the Mission work at his word and placed myself under his protection from your crew of pirates, as he called you."
"Go on," urged Barry, as she paused.
"That is all, I think, Captain. While I believed him, of course I doubted you, whom I had met but once or twice. Then after Mr. Gordon recovered and I heard a dispute one day between him and Leyden, when Gordon and I had been left alone for an hour, I saw a light and demanded to know the truth of Mrs. Goring, whom I had grown to love. The story she told was duplicated by Mr. Gordon, and again by Lieutenant Vandersee, backed up by a stolen glimpse at the
Padang's papers, showing she had cleared for Europe, and not for Batavia, as I had been led to believe. I was forced to see the horrible situation I had placed myself in; for if this schooner ever got out to sea--" She stopped in distress, and Barry pressed her hand gently. He asked quietly:
"And you believe in me now, Natalie?"
"I have never doubted you since that horrible day I saw you on the ant hill. But since that day I, too, have played a part. Mrs. Goring's proved wrongs and my own narrow escape steeled me to help Vandersee, as he asked me. I did my poor best, Captain; but I am so glad it's all over."
Barry realized that the tale was told. His first impulse was to give Gordon a hard hand-grip of friendship; his second to tell Mrs. Goring his high opinion of her courage and loyalty. He followed both impulses, but felt a little embarrassment in addressing the lady of various names. He took Mrs. Goring's hand in his and remarked with a smile:
"I scarcely know how to address you now. Is it Mrs. Goring? or have I got it wrong? Should it be Mrs. Gordon? Pardon me if I'm floundering."
"Not Gordon, yet, Captain," she replied, and again the hint of pain in her eyes was banished by a resolute smile. "I am still Miss Vandersee. I have never been married. I took a married name after--after--well, there was a little one, you know," she murmured softly, "a tiny life to be guarded from the poison of tongues. So I stole a name for its sake. It is dead now. I am Miss Vandersee."
A deep silence was marked by the men walking away and leaving the two women to their own thoughts; and the relief was welcomed when Vandersee reported the steam launch in sight. In five minutes it was alongside, and the men in her held the ladder for Little. The ex-typewriter salesman travelled light enough now, for all his worldly belongings reposed somewhere among the drenched and shattered interior of the brigantine.
"Well, so long, Jack Barry, old scout!" he shouted, after he had made his
adieux to the rest. "We've had a lot o' sport since I dug you out o' the dumps in Batavia. I'm staying here until Mr. and Mrs. Gordon come to relieve me; then I'll see you again, either in Java, or at the post, if you decide to try Celebes again. Stick to Cornelius, Jack. He's tickled silly with you; never mind about the ship you lost. So-long, all!"
The cheery fellow dropped into the launch and waved her on her way up the river with a lordly air of command that brought a grin of reminiscence to Barry's face. Then Houten's rumbling voice boomed in his ear, and he heard his destiny and that of all hands.
"Captain Barry, you have done well. Noddings dot I expected you to do vas undone. I am satisfied. Friendt Leedle iss to be mine superintendent in Java ven Gordon unt the niece he iss stealing from me are retty to return to the post. Yah, Captain, dot iss deir choice. Gordon iss to be mine partner, anyvay. As for Captain Barry, I dond't know," he chuckled, regarding the skipper with eyes that twinkled and shot between Barry's face and Natalie just behind him. The girl colored like a peony, as if some unsuspected instinct within her told her whither his words were driving. "I haf better ships as the old
Barang, Captain, unt in my launch alongside I haf some pags ouf goldt dust dot iss to be a wedding present for a leedle lady I know ouf py der name ouf Natalie. Yes? No? How iss it, mine childrens?"
Natalie ran below, overcome with confusion. The old trader turned to Barry, his whimsical humor giving place to cold business. "For now, Barry, I haf to say take this schooner to Surabaya. It iss at the orders ouf dot navy mans. Hendrik has to rejoin his ship, unt it will take a week or so to clean oop all dose leedle things left py dose opium runners, I come mit you, too, unt if you are short ouf a mate, I can stand a watch yet. Now schall we start? Hendrik joins his ship outside."
"Man the windlass, Rolfe, and heave away!" shouted Barry, alight with excitement at what he had surprised on Natalie's face as she ran below. The mention of wedding presents might be a little premature; but Jack Barry knew enough to seize his chance and at least do his best to make it mature. He saw the mate take his men to the windlass, and cast a look at the boom-sails, all ready to hoist, since they had simply been let go when the schooner anchored and not made fast.
"Blunt!" he hailed.
"Aye, aye, sir!"
"Can you handle a watch with that crippled fin?"
"Crippled? Bless ye, Cap'n, I ain't crippled!"
"That arm, man."
"Huh! Ain't I got one left? Come on, Bullies! Clap on to them halliards!"
"All right," cried Barry. "Hoist away. Mains'l first."
Barry ran below to look out charts and rulers and the other navigating implements necessary for simple point-to-point navigation. He found Natalie sitting in the main saloon with her chin in her cupped hand, gazing into the future. Her eyes grew dusky and her face flooded with color as he stopped by her chair and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Well, lady mine," he said, finding sudden boldness in her confusion. "Are you thinking of what old Cornelius said?"
"Not entirely," she replied, meeting his gaze with eyes that swiftly changed to disconcerting clearness. "Why should it be necessary for Mr. Houten to say anything?"
Barry had graduated from the awkward class, though perhaps not long ago. He swept her up in his arms, triumphantly aware that she struggled and submitted, and his lips sought hers in a first kiss. But suddenly, when her submission seemed absolute, Natalie revealed a strength that amazed and puzzled him. She writhed free from his grasp and said with a low little laugh:
"I was not thinking about what Cornelius said--but of what you once said to Juliana--Jack!"
He was staggered for a second, then he remembered, and would have followed her. But she ran into her own cabin and shut the door upon him. His duties compelled him to hurry, for the cable was coming in fast, and overhead the heavy canvas began to rattle and flap in the wind as the schooner swung. He entered the cabin that had been used as a chart room and rummaged the desk for parallel rulers and dividers; but a soft step behind him brought him to a stand quickly. Natalie stood beside him, a soft glow on her face, her eyes shining like stars now, and in her hand she held out a photograph to him.
"You said that when next you took this, it would be when I placed it in your cabin," she said, meeting his eyes with a blushing challenge.
Their souls met, spoke, and understood. She did not refuse him her lips now but surrendered with glad abandon. The hoarse roar of Rolfe, reporting the anchor apeak, and the bellowing bass of old Bill Blunt giving the word to belay the peak halliards, failed to disturb them. A second shout from the mate was answered by Barry's:
"Avast heaving a bit! I'm not ready yet."
But Natalie shyly looked up into his face and gave him her first order:
"No, Jack, tell them to heave away--that's how you say it, isn't it? Let us hurry home, before I tire of my terrible pirate."
"Pirate gladly, girl of mine. Am I not taking gold out of Celebes?"
"Sordid creature!" she pouted, averting her lips in mock displeasure. But in her face was a light that shone from her heart, and that heart knew quite well what gold Jack Barry was carrying away from Celebes.
[THE END]
Aylward Edward Dingle's Book: Gold Out of Celebes
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