This little scornful stroke, which was extremely happy in that it was unintelligible to Nakier and the others, had the desired effect.

'Why, if it is all right, then I suppose it _be_ all right,' I heard Jacob say, and a few moments after his figure, with 'longsh.o.r.e clumsiness, came slowly down the rigging.

As he sprang from the bulwark rail on to the deck, he whipped off his cap and dashed it down on to the planks, and with the utmost agitation of voice and manner danced around his cap as he vociferated while he flourished his fist at Abraham:

'Now, what did Oi say? All along Oi've been a-telling ye that that there pork job was agoing to get our throats cut. Whoy didn't ye stop it? Whoy didn't ye tell the Capt'n what you seed and knowed? Froight! Whoy, I moight ha' died in that there top and rolled overboards, and what yarn was ye going to give my missis as to my hending, if so be as ever ye got ash.o.r.e at Deal agin?'

He continued to shout after this fashion, meanwhile tumbling and reeling about his cap as though it were a mark for him upon the theatre of this deck on which to act his part. But though it appeared a very ecstasy of rage in him, the outbreak seemed wholly due to revulsion of feeling.

Nakier stood motionlessly eyeing him; the others also remained at table, all preserving their sentinel postures. At last the fellow made an end, put his cap on, and was silent, breathing hard.

'Will you come in, sah? Will you enter, lady? Misser Wise, it is allee right. Come along, Jacob, my mate!'

Thus saying, Nakier re-entered the cuddy, and the four of us followed him. There was a dark stain on the bare plank close against the coaming or ledge of the door of the Captain's cabin. It was the short, wild, startled sideways spring which Abraham gave that caused me to look at it. The very soul within me seemed to shrink at the sight.

Nakier exclaimed, 'It is easy to sc.r.a.pe out,' motioning with his little delicately-shaped hand as though he sc.r.a.ped. He then addressed one of the fellows at the table, who nodded, sweeping the air with his arm as he did so.

It now occurred to me, with the marvellous swiftness of thought, that the cap containing the men's knives still lay upon the deck where Nakier had lodged it at Helga's feet, and the instant motion of my mind was to return to the quarter-deck, pick the cap up, and heave it over the rail.

But I reflected that not only might an act of this sort enrage the crew by losing them their knives--it would also imply profound distrust on our part. I also considered that, if they designed to kill us, they would be able to manage that business very well without their knives--for there was the carpenter's tool-chest forward, which would supply them with plenty of deadly weapons, not to mention the cabin knives, which Punmeamootty had charge of, and of which several were at all times to be found in the galley. All this pa.s.sed through my mind in the s.p.a.ce that a man might count five in, so amazing is the velocity of imagination; and my resolution was formed in this matter even while I continued to measure the few steps which separated the table from the cuddy door.

Nakier went to the head of the table, and, putting his hand upon the Captain's chair, exclaimed, bowing with inimitable grace to Helga as he spoke:

'Will de sweet mees sit here?'

She pa.s.sed along the little file of five men and took the chair. I do not know whether she had seen that mark on the deck I have spoken of.

She was of a deathlike whiteness, but her eyes shone spiritedly as she ran them over the coloured faces of the queer figures erect on either hand the table, and never at any time since the hour when the dawn showed me her pretty face aboard the _Anine_, apparelled as she then was as a boy, had I observed more composure and resolution in her countenance.

I stood close beside her, and Abraham and his mate were on her right.

Nakier went on gliding feet to the fore-end of the table and said something to the men. What language he expressed himself in I did not then, and still do not, know. The effect of his speech was to cause the whole of them to extend their arms towards us with the forefingers of both hands together. The posture, for the moment, was absolutely as though to Nakier's command they had simultaneously levelled firearms at us! Jacob fell back a step with a growl of alarm.

'What is all this, Nakier?' I called out.

'It is to say we are all your brodders, sah. It is my country sign of friendship.'

Their hands fell to their sides, but immediately afterwards Nakier spoke again to them, whereupon every man levelled his forefingers, as before, at Helga. Again Nakier spoke, and Punmeamootty left the cuddy.

'I wish he'd talk English,' exclaimed Abraham, wiping his forehead.

'Who's to know what's agoing to happen?'

'It is allee right, Misser Wise,' said Nakier, with a soft smile, half of reproach, half of encouragement. 'Punmeamootty hab gone to fetch de Koran for we to swear to be true and not harm you.'

CHAPTER V.

A CONFERENCE.

There was now a pause. How am I to convey the dramatic character of this interval of silence? The hush of the night worked like a spirit in the vessel, and the silence seemed to be deepened rather than disturbed by the dull, pinion-like beat of the mainsail swinging into the mast, by the occasional creak breaking forth from some slightly strained bulkhead, and by the half-m.u.f.fled gurgling of some little lift of dark water laving the barque's side. I could witness no temper in the men.

Wherever there lay a scowl, it was no more than a part of the creature's make. Their faces were by this time familiar to me, and I could not mistake. Custom had even diminished something of the fierceness, and I may say the hideousness, of the lemon-coloured man, whose corrugated brow and savage eyes had been among the earliest details of this ship to attract my attention on boarding her. Yet with the memory in me of what had just now been enacted--with thoughts in me of two corpses scarcely yet cold sinking, still sinking, at but a little distance from the vessel--these men opposed a horribly formidable array of countenances to the gaze. Their various dyes of complexion were deepened by the lantern light; the grotesque character of their attire seemed to intensify their tragic appearance. Their figures were as motionless as though they were acting a part as statues in a stage representation. At intervals one or another would look to right or left, but in the main their eyes were directed our way, and were chiefly fixed upon Helga.

Jacob stared as though in a dream; Abraham, with his under-jaw hanging loose, appeared to be fascinated by Nakier. I longed to plunge into this silence, so to speak, to expend in speech and questions the emotions which were keeping my heart fiercely beating; but I was held dumb by the notion that this stillness was a part of the solemnities which were to be employed for the protection of our lives.

Punmeamootty re-entered the cuddy holding a book. Nakier took it from him, and, coming round to us, said:

'Look, lady! look, sah! You see dis is de Koran'--I observed that he sometimes said _de_ and sometimes _the_--'it is our religion. We swear upon it. Look, to make sure!'

I received the volume, and examined it. It was a ma.n.u.script, bound in leather, with a flap, and very elegantly ornamented on the sides and back with some sort of devices in gold and colour. The writing was in red, and every page was margined with a finely ruled red line. What tongue it was written in I could not, of course, tell. I have since supposed it was in Arabic; but for us it might as well have been the Talmud as the Koran. I returned the book to Nakier.

'It is allee right, you see, sah,' he exclaimed, showing his wonderfully white teeth in a smile of gentle, respectful congratulation that put a deeper glow into his eyes and gave a new beauty to his handsome features.

'It may be the Koran,' said I. 'I cannot tell. I will take your word.'

He turned to the men, and, with a pa.s.sionate gesticulation, addressed them; on which they shouted out all as one man:

'Yaas! yaas! Al-Koran! Al-Koran!'--nodding and pointing and writhing and working with excess of Asiatic contortion.

'We are quite content,' said I.

Nakier withdrew to his end of the table, carrying the book with him. He stood erect, blending the grace of a reposing dancer with an air of reserved eagerness and enthusiasm.

'Lady and you, sah!' he exclaimed, while every dusky eye along the table was fixed intently upon him, 'you sabbee why we kill de Capt'n and Misser Jones? Them two bad men--them two wicked, shocking men. They would make we poor Mussulmans sin, and would send we to h.e.l.l. And why?

Dey not care at heart our soul for to save. We came here for work: we gib dem _dis_ for dere money'--he elevated his clenched hands, and then gesticulated as though he pulled and hauled--'not dis, which is Allah's,' striking his breast vehemently; by which, I presume, he signified his spirit or conscience.

A rumbling murmur ran round the table. I should not have supposed the fellows understood the man; but acquiescence was strong in every tawny face, and a universal nod followed when he struck his bosom.

'We not all Malay,' he continued, 'but we are all men, lady. We hab feeling--we hab hunger; we drink and cry and laugh like you all who are white and do not believe in de Prophet. We have killed dose two shocking wicked men, and we are not sorry. No; it is justice!' he added, with a sudden piercing rise in his melodious voice, and a flush of the eye that was emphasized somewhat alarmingly by an unconscious clutch of his hand at the empty sheath strapped to his hip. But his manner instantly softened, and his voice sweetened again, though his behaviour seemed, while it lasted, to exercise an almost electrical influence over his people. They fluttered and swayed to it like ears of wheat brushed by a wind, darting looks at one another and at us. But this ceased on Nakier resuming his former air.

'Dis ship,' said he, 'is boun' to Table Bay. Some of us belong to Cape Town. Allee want to get to Afric, and dem as not belong to Cape Town ship for dere own country. But dis ship must not steer for Cape Town.

When we arrive, it is asked, "Where is de Capt'n? Where is Misser Jones?" and we must not tell,' said he, smiling.

'But where do you wish to go, then?' said I, almost oppressed by the sudden simultaneous turning of the men's dark fiery eyes upon me.

'Near to Cape Town,' said he.

'But what do you call near to Cape Town?' I asked.

'Oh, dere will be a river--we find him. We anchor and go ash.o.r.e and walkee, walkee,' he exclaimed.

Helga gave a little start.

'What you and your mates wants is that we should put ye ash.o.r.e somewhere?' said Abraham.

'Yaas, dat's so,' called the fellow named Pallunappach.e.l.ly.

'No, no!' cried Nakier, 'not somewhere, Misser Vise. Near Cape Town, I say. Not too far for we to walkee.'

'But to set ye ash.o.r.e, anyhow?' exclaimed Abraham.