Читать книгу Eve's Island - Edgar Wallace - Страница 7

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HACKITT'S statement was conveyed in two interviews. He spoke according to the book in the sense that he had elaborate notes and a diary to which he referred. In the second interview, in his anxiety for accuracy, he made several corrections of the foregoing narrative, but none of any consequence. In the main they dealt with trifling discrepancies of dates.

The reader will observe that Mr. Hackitt employs excellent English, and I suspect the influence of Eve Smith in this matter, though the subject is too delicate for me to question Hackitt about.

"THE next morning Captain Tatham came to me with a half-smile as though something had amused him.

"'We have kidnapped a newspaper correspondent,' he said, and told me that in one of the steamer's cabins he had discovered, asleep and unconscious of the change that had come over the fortunes of the ship, a Mr. Callus, a correspondent who had been engaged investigating the condition of Angola and the charges of slave trading brought against the Government.

"A few minutes later Mr. Callus came on deck.

"He was a man of about thirty, of medium height. He wore his moustache brushed up in the German fashion. He tackled Tatham and demanded an explanation, which the Captain very readily gave him, to my surprise giving a frank account both of his plans and the happenings of the previous night.

"Callus listened in silence, but I could see that, being a reporter and on the look-out for a startling piece of news, he wasn't sorry to be with us.

"'You will of course understand, Captain Tatham,' he said, 'that I am not in this business of yours. I shall probably give evidence against you at your trial, and be present when you're hanged, but my interest is the interest of the observer. I shall write you a formal protest against being carried off against my will, and shall expect you to regard me as a prisoner of war.'

"I was surprised afterwards to learn that Mr. Callus was not Scotch, but Irish. Captain Tatham agreed, and the two went below to breakfast. I forgot in my evidence yesterday to say that the one article of hold baggage possessed by the expedition was a huge bale carefully packed and roped, which was handled with extraordinary care. I should imagine it weighed about three-quarters of a hundredweight. After breakfast Captain Tatham gave me the course. We were then about a hundred miles west of Loanda. I immediately changed the course to S.W. by W.

"I knew what is now called Tatham Island by repute. It lies about ten degrees to the north-west of Tristan da Cunha and is about 950 miles from Rio.

"Speaking generally, the voyage was a pleasant one. Three days out we had squally weather and a beam sea that kept the Pealo on the roll, but we only carried this weather for half a day. What surprised me about the voyage was the remarkable aptitude shown by the men for sea work, and I am inclined to believe that, of Captain Tatham's mixed company, a very fair percentage had at some time in their lives followed the sea as a profession.

"The seamanship of these men and their remarkable willingness (such of them as were new to the life) to learn, removed one of the anxieties that had been with me since this extraordinary voyage started.

"The other worry, however, was not so easily removed. Immediately after we left port I had made an examination of the bunkers, and found to my satisfaction that the ship had been coaled—probably on the day before our arrival. Mr. Callus confirmed this supposition. But, even so, it was apparent to me that there was not sufficient fuel for a 3000 miles voyage, and I mentioned this fact to Captain Tatham.

"By keeping our speed down to a minimum we might eke out our coal supply to last 2000 or even 2500 miles steaming, but even supposing we reached the island, we would be to all intents and purposes a derelict if we were without the necessary fuel to make the return trip. As in all other matters, Captain Tatham was remarkably optimistic.

"'I have thought of that,' he said, 'and I've ordered a coal ship from Pernambuco to meet us.'

"I was somewhat staggered by this statement, but when he gave me the precise latitude and longitude (I think it was 10 West 16 South, as near as I can recollect) in which we were to pick up the collier, I realized that I had to do with a most resourceful man.

"The weather continuing fine, Captain Tatham suggested that an excellent opportunity presented itself for changing the appearance of the ship, and to this I agreed. There was a fair quantity of paint in the ship's stores, and we found in the ship's hold a number of tins consigned to Matheson and Deal of Boma.

"So I got the men to work, a number slung over the ship's side being engaged in turning the hull of the Pealo from its smart whiteness to a dirty slate colour, very much like that adopted in the Royal Navy. The funnel was treated in the same way, and all the upper works were also 'painted out.' The name Pealo was indicated by gun-metal letters, and these we removed and dropped into the sea, and the word 'Scoutina' substituted. I asked Captain Tatham how he arrived at the name, and he said it was feminine for 'Scout,' and was chosen to remind the crew of their connection with Kitchener's Scouts during the war.

"When the painting had been completed, he started his men to work rigging up queer contrivances out of canvas and some spare derrick gear. I asked Mr. Callus, who smiled and said that Captain Tatham was working the naval manoeuvre racket—that the Scoutina was going to play the ass in the lion's skin. I did not ask Tatham what the scheme was, knowing that in fullness of time he would tell me. Seven days out, and as nearly as possible 100 miles south-west of St. Helena, we sighted a steamer right ahead. I had been figuring things out, and when Tatham told me that this must be the Canker—our collier—I ventured to express my amazement that he could have arranged so far ahead—for Pernambuco was 21 days' sail from the rendezvous.

"He then told me that when he had been in London he had been offered a very lucrative appointment. He gave me no further information, and left me just as puzzled as ever, for I could see no connection between the appointment he had been offered in London and our picking up with the collier in mid-ocean. The only further thing he said was: When the puljanes came down on the tao they can afford to pay for their amusement. To-day they'll pay in coal.' This was all gibberish to me, and it was not till very recently, when I read the' History of the Philippines,' that I saw its significance. When we came within signalling distance, Captain Tatham told me to fly the Belgian ensign and the signal 'P.T.X.O.,' which I did, the ship answering 'L.B.'

"On consulting my signal-book I saw that these could not possibly be intelligently translated by the commercial code, and gathered from that that we were making prearranged signals. We slowed down till we lay at two cables' length from each other.

"The sea was perfectly smooth with a slight swell, but I did not consider it advisable to get any closer. The collier had a boat lowered and there came on board the master of the Canker—an elderly seaman to whom Captain Tatham introduced himself.

"After a brief interview, which seemed to pass off to the satisfaction of Captain Giles (the master of the Canker), the work of coaling ship began.

"Naturally it was a tedious and wearisome business, but Captain Tatham, with extraordinary ingenuity, got a hawser-carrier rigged between the two ships, by means of which the work was to some extent lightened, but night was near at hand before the last load was put on board.

"The captain of the collier had expressed his surprise at the smallness of our ship; from the quantity of coal he had brought he had evidently expected a craft of 4000 or 5000 tons, but in a few smooth sentences Captain Tatham had settled any doubt that might have been in the skipper's mind.

"We had previously cleared out all the holds for the reception of the coal, and when the coaling operations had been completed, and Tatham and the skipper had had a parting drink, I made an inspection below and found that we had enough coal on board for eight weeks' continuous steaming.

"We signalled 'Good-bye' and steamed away, the Canker going due north-west, and we were continuing west and a point south till she was out of sight.

"Then Captain Tatham instructed me to alter our course, and we doubled back eastward, then northward, then southward again, until the following morning found us as nearly as possible in the place where we had coaled the day previously.

"At daybreak the whole crew was engaged in cleaning away the signs of coaling, and in rigging up the canvas contrivances of which I spoke. Mr. Callus sat on the bridge with me smoking a cigar, and taking a keen interest in all that was happening. He had been locked in his cabin during the coaling operations, as a precautionary measure. Whilst the 'crew' were fixing the canvas and booms under the direction of Captain Tatham, Callus kept up a running fire of caustic criticism, and it was from this that I began to realize that the plan was to alter the appearance of the Scoutina until she resembled a gun-boat.

"Wooden guns were mounted fore and aft, a tiny fighting top was constructed out of canvas on the foremast, and two small ventilators projecting over the edge had the appearance of quick firers.

"This touch seemed to annoy Callus.

"'Who ever saw a gun-boat with fighting tops!' he exclaimed; and Tatham grinned.

"'It's a new idea,' was his reply.

"A whole day passed without incident, but at eight bells in the afternoon watch of the second day a steamer came over the horizon.

"She headed straight for us.

"We made no sign till she ran up the British flag, then at Tatham's order I flew the White Ensign.

"I did it with some qualms, because it is a serious matter to masquerade as a British man-o'-war, but Tatham seemed to regard his act without concern.

"The ship could not have been half a mile distant when we broke our ensign, but the effect was electrical, for she heeled over and swung round in a wide circle, as though she'd thought of a sudden engagement in the north and was anxious to keep it.

"We had all our flags ready. Tatham had spent the whole morning sorting them out and patching them up, and we signalled—

"'Heave to, I am coming aboard.'

"She made no answer, and Tatham signalled—

"'Heave to, or I'll sink you.'

"To that she answered—

"'Cannot understand.'

"Nevertheless she slowed down, and Tatham asked—

"'What ship is that?'

"She answered—

"'Greenwich Hove. London to Philippines. General cargo.'" Tatham rearranged his flags, and said—

"'I am coming on board to see your papers. Open up hold No. 3 for inspection.'

"It was one of the most mysterious messages I had ever seen sent, and was on a par with his extraordinary knowledge of the collier.

"The ship made no reply for a while, then she put up—

"'Have infectious disease on board.'

"I heard Tatham guffaw as we decoded the message.

"'Am sending a doctor—stop your engines or I'll disable you.

"With that she stopped, and we came up with her.

"It was now close on sunset, and by Tatham's order I steamed slowly to the westward of the steamer.

"I think his idea was to come between the light and the Greenwich Hove, so that the spurious character of our armaments should not be detected. We lay off about eight cables from the steamer, and one of our wooden guns was ostentatiously turned in her direction.

"A boat was lowered, and Tatham sprang into it with half a dozen men.

"There was a certain uniformity about their appearance—they wore blue jerseys and were hatless—that might very easily deceive the casual observer. They rowed beautifully too. I think, though, that I was the most naval-looking member of the party, because I was clean-shaven and wore my 'company' jacket, and the Coastwise Line had chosen the badges of rank worn by their officers to correspond with the Royal Navy badges.

"They lowered the gangway for us and Tatham went up, followed by myself.

"There was a group of officers standing at the head of the gangway, and they looked suspiciously at Tatham in his civilian dress, and in a most unfriendly way at me.

"Tatham introduced himself.

"'I am the British Vice-Consul from Benguela, and I am deputed by the Consul at St. Paul de Loanda to make a search of your ship.'

"'You have a warrant?' asked the commander.

"For answer Tatham waved his hand in the direction of the 'warship.'

"'There is my warrant,' he said,

"'For what are you searching?' the Captain demanded.

"'Contraband of war,' said Tatham coolly. 'You are carrying arms to the Philippines for the use of the Puljanes; you are carrying them at the order of Señor de Costa of the firm of De Costa Riez and Co., of Little Saville Street, E.C. You were instructed to pick up a collier here, and proceed on your voyage.'

"'You seem to know all about it,' said the skipper; 'there are fourteen cases consigned to the Philippines, they are described on my bills as "hardware." I know nothing more.'

"Tatham bowed.

"'You will be good enough to get your boats out and bring these cases alongside the gun-boat,' he said. 'You may then continue your voyage, reporting the circumstances to the British Consul at your first port of call.'

"'Suppose I refuse?' asked the Captain.

"Tatham looked very grave. He entered so thoroughly into the part he played that for the moment he was the British Consul.

"'In that case,' he said, 'I shall have no other course open but to instruct Commander Smith '(here he indicated me with a nod) 'to place you under close arrest, and to convey your ship into the nearest port.'

"The Captain hesitated, then turned to his second and gave orders for the boats to 'go away.'

"It was dark when the first consignment came alongside.

"We allowed nobody aboard, but got a derrick out and cranked the arms on board, package by package. As fast as they came Tatham had them opened. The consignment included 100 Winchester rifles and 20,000 rounds of ammunition, but what seemed to please Tatham most was a maxim gun with tripod and spare parts.

"We were hoisting in the last crate when the skipper's voice hailed us over the side.

"'What do you want?' said Tatham.

"'I want to come aboard,' said the skipper.

"Tatham thought a little, then he gave orders to throw over a monkey ladder, and the skipper came up hand over fist.

"All lights had been extinguished on the deck, the big branch lamp which we had used for taking in the arms being swung over the side at such an angle as to throw a light on the laden boats, without revealing the peculiarities of our deck hamper.

"But the old man was shrewd enough. There was some reflection of our light from the sea, and his quick glance at the 'guns' and the dummy 'casemates' told him all he wanted to know. He turned on Tatham, but I could see Tatham fingering his revolver.

"'What is the meaning of this?' said the skipper.

"'Piracy,' said Tatham, as coolly as you please, 'which is only one degree more respectable than carrying arms to half-breed cut-throats.'

"Those were his very words, and the old skipper seemed choked.

"When he got his voice, he said—

"'You'll have to answer for this, my friend.'

"'Not at all,' said Tatham, 'any more than you will'; and then he started to talk as I have often heard him. He had a trick of speech-making (he told me once he had run for the Membership of the Legislative Assembly in Rhodesia) and, like somebody else I've read about, had a way of talking to you as though you were a public meeting. I have a good memory for things of that kind, and although I may not be exact to a word or two it is impressed almost word for word on my mind. This is how he started—

"'It is difficult to appreciate in how so far the doctrine falsely ascribed to the Jesuits, that evil may be done that good may result, is justified in practice. Here we have a problem which exemplifies the plausibility of such a theory. A is a firm engaged in nefarious traffic, B is a shipowner furthering the immoral objects of A, C is a person himself questionably employed, who in order to further schemes which on first inspection may appear to be of a dubious character, utilizes the guilt of A and the complicity of B. In doing so he commits an illegal act, which has the effect of preventing A from committing one many degrees worse—'

"'I don't want a speech or a blooming sum in proportion,' interrupted the skipper roughly. 'I want your name, and the name of this ship.'

"Tatham said nothing. I have sometimes thought he was a singularly vain man, for he could easily be ruffled by any remark that reflected upon what he considered to be his especial personal gifts. And I have reason to know that he greatly prided himself upon two qualities, one of which was his power of delivery, and the other his attainments as a writer of despatches. He walked to the side of the ship where the ladder hung and pointed to it.

"'That is your way, Captain. Let me advise you to go whilst you're safe.'

"The Captain obeyed: there was something in Tatham's voice that was very ominous. We saw the boats row back to the side of the Greenwich Hove, then, with all our lights out, we set a course due south.

"If I remember rightly, I have already told you that Captain Tatham confided his plans to Mr. Callus, the newspaper correspondent. Mr. Callus knew something of the island. He reminded us of the wreck of the Queen of Plata in 1872. It had been of particular interest to the English people at the time. In July of that year the Middle Park Stud had been sold, and a number of thoroughbreds purchased on behalf of the Argentine Stock Company had been despatched by the Queen of Plata to South America. The ship had been driven out of its course by severe gales, her propeller shaft had broken, and nothing was ever heard of her until a bottle was picked up in which was a brief message that she had gone down with all hands off the Île de Desolation.

"'It was before I was born, of course,' said Mr. Callus, in a tone which suggested that this was the weak point in the story, but although I myself was young at the time, I remembered the particulars very clearly.

"Tatham was interested and asked whether the ship had carried specie, and at what point of the island she foundered, and whether salvage operations had ever been attempted. You may gather from that simple inquiry that Captain Tatham, although he was out for a big stake, by no means despised the smaller fish that might be drawn into his net.

"I remember the night of that talk very well. It was the night after we parted company from the Greenwich Hove, and we were sitting on the little navigation bridge. The moon was at its full, the sea calm as a mill pond, and no sound broke the silence save the 'throb, throb' of the screw. It was the sort of night when your thoughts stray to the Homeland and to those who are near or dear, and whilst there were few in all America who cared whether I lived or died, yet there were some whose 1305761h-images/ came to my mind and filled me with an irritating sadness.

"Nothing seemed to depress Tatham, however; he was as cheerful as a cricket, so cheerful that Callus set himself, out of sheer cussedness, to tone him down. We had been discussing the island, and Tatham had been talking largely of methods for conveying the gold to England. He would, he said, work the alluvial first, till a large enough quantity had been collected, then he would send the Scoutina to England to dispose of it and to buy machinery for working the reef.

"'Supposing there is no alluvial,' said Callus.

"'In that case,' said Tatham, 'we must work the quartz as best we can.'

"'Suppose there is no quartz—no gold at all, in fact,' suggested Callus.

"Tatham clicked his lips impatiently, and began one of his public addresses.

"'There is no more convincing and alarming evidence of incipient insanity,' he said, 'than that afforded by the inability to argue vital questions to a logical conclusion. In contradistinction to this, there is no viler use to which the human imagination may be put to than the anticipation of difficulties. All human effort is so much waste force, if behind the will to do, there lurks the fear of failure.'

"Mr. Callus yawned.

"'Cut it out,' he said.

"Though Tatham dismissed the possibility of failure so easily I could see that the thought worried him. He had one of his day-dreams—I can think of no other description for them—and sat three hours on end with his feet cocked up on the rail staring into space.

"I happened to be by his side when he recovered and he turned to me, just as though we were continuing the conversation of the night before last, and said—

"'Even if gold is absent, there is no reason why other minerals, or even diamonds, should not exist on the island.'

"Five days after this we sighted the island.

"Its first appearance is like that of Table Mountain, except that instead of sloping gradually left and right as Table Mountain appears to slope when seen from the sea, its walls fall sheer. The nearer we got to it the more wall-like its shore appeared. I approached cautiously, for, in spite of the soundings recorded on Captain Ford's chart, I was by no means certain that we might not discover the submerged reef upon which it is understood the Queen of Plata sank.

"I had men in the chains taking soundings and slowed down to quarter speed. We were unable to get bottom at twenty fathoms, and we gradually drew nearer the rock. I then got over a deep-sea lead—we had patent sounding apparatus in the chart-room, but I did not see the necessity for using it.

"I found bottom at sixty fathoms and anchored.

"The weather had continued fine, and the sea smooth to moderate, but in the lee of the island it was like a sheet of glass.

"It was too late to do anything that night, save to get Captain Tatham's baggage on deck—the bale of which I have spoken, and which when opened proved to be a small balloon.

"I was then to understand the reason for certain of Captain Tatham's 'purchases' at Loanda. One of these which puzzled me was a carboy of some acid, and a number of sacks of some weighty material which had been stowed away below.

"I have a very elementary knowledge of practical chemistry, but I know enough to realize now that the sacks contained zinc shavings, and that Captain Tatham intended to generate hydrogen for the inflation of the silk envelope.

"The process of filling the balloon occupied the greater part of the next day. Fortunately for us, there was little or no wind.

"The operation was, I think, rather hampered than helped by Captain Tatham himself, who in the very middle of it was seized with an idea. This was no other than that the buoyancy of the balloon might be increased by the admixture of some fancy gas that he had thought out, and which he instantly christened 'Tathomegen.'

"I do not know the formulae of this new element, but I understand that it was produced by passing equal volumes of oxygen and hydrogen through steam. Half a day was wasted in the generation of the necessary oxygen, which unfortunately refused to answer the tests that Tatham and Callus applied, and the Captain was regretfully compelled to continue filling his balloon as he had commenced.

"We had an anxious time that night, however, for one of those sudden squalls for which these seas are famous sprang up and the balloon almost carried away. About one o'clock in the morning we had a consultation, and it was decided to deflate the balloon in spite of the fact that we had not sufficient chemicals to generate a further supply of gas. Tatham, however, was optimistic. He had a scheme for producing coal gas—he had thought of it in the night—and I am under the impression that he was seriously disappointed when the wind abated as suddenly as it had arisen, and the necessity for deflating passed.

"I have not yet described very fully the appearance of the island, but what struck me was its singular smoothness. That is, the polished appearance of the cliffs. It was as though somebody had gone over them with emery-paper and leather, and had polished them until they shone. On the north side of the island there was no break in the continuity of the 'wall,' on the eastern side there was an almost perpendicular flaw—a huge rent that split the rock from summit to base. There was no appearance of any possible foothold.

"The subterranean river we discovered without any difficulty, the roof of the tunnel through which the river poured was plainly visible at low water. At the time I thought Captain Ford had made an unnecessary mystery of the existence of this river, which was plainly discernible, but afterwards I had reason to change my opinion. The morning of our landing was bright and summery. We had anchored to the north of the island, and such wind as there was N.N.W., a point W. This was favourable to our plans, and at twelve o'clock Captain Tatham and one of his men (a man named Taunton) stepped into the sling which had been improvised and the rope by which it was attached paid out.

"The airship rose dead straight, but when it had reached a height of about three hundred feet, it bore to the north—that is, away from the island, and I gathered that the balloon had struck a southerly current.

"Through a megaphone Tatham directed me to steam to the other side of the island. I accordingly got up my anchor and stood out to sea to avoid the reef, and made for the western side, where, as I judged, the air current would be favourable for a landing. We gave the balloon another hundred feet of rope, and this apparently enabled Tatham to secure a bird's-eye view of the island. I gathered that he was pleased with what he saw, for from time to time he shouted down disjointed remarks such as 'Splendid!', 'Magnificent!' 'Bully!'

"I need hardly say that I did not regard Captain Tatham's plan for effecting a landing with any degree of confidence. I expected that it would be an arduous and lengthy business. For one tiling it was impossible to bring the ship sufficiently close to land to allow the balloon party to throw a line ashore, even if they had means of securing an anchorage. Everything depended upon the air currents, and it seemed for a time as though these were determined to baffle us.

"At the north of the island these were due south, at the west they blew persistently south-east, at the south they canted the balloon in exactly the opposite direction to which the Captain desired. It was when we had returned to our original anchorage that the luck changed, for a current of air caught the little gas-bag and drove it on to the island.

"I took a risk and stood the ship for the shore, paying out another fifty feet of line.

"For a moment it seemed that we failed; for the fool balloon came swinging back. Then the full force of the breeze caught it, and it was carried over the top of the cliff out of sight. We waited for an anxious ten minutes. Tatham had the tackle to secure the balloon; all depended upon the wind holding. Apparently it held, for at the end of that period the Captain reappeared and shouting incoherently through his megaphone.

"He had taken up with him a light line and block, and before night came, as it did with a rush, we had managed to pass up blankets and food, a couple of rifles and fifty rounds of ammunition. The next morning we hauled down the balloon, and two more men were sent up. Tatham specially invited Callus, but the reporter promptly declined to trust his life to the frail machine—which, by the way, needed all the gas we could generate before it consented to rise again.

"The second ascent was not successful, and Tatham gave instructions for a landing to be made on the narrow beach on the north-eastern side of the island. With some difficulty the line was unshipped and re-established on the high cliff overhanging the beach.

"Although our resources were considerably taxed, owing to the shortage of spare gear on the Scoutina, by the splicing of lines, and with the assistance of the donkey engine, we hoisted a couple of light spars and other tackle, and on the third day Tatham had fixed up a serviceable derrick capable of bearing the weight of all the equipment he required.

"All this time men were joining the Captain, and after a week's hard work the hoisting equipment was in capital order. The hardest task of all was getting the donkey engine ashore. I could see this was necessary, for the old arrangement necessitated the use of odds and ends of rope and cable, to complete the enormous length of line required. The donkey engine had to be taken to pieces and sent up in parts—and this meant hand hauling, because Captain Tatham's suggestion that the engines of the ship should be employed, that the propeller should be unshipped and a winding drum fixed in its place, was too impracticable for consideration.

"On the second Sunday following our arrival, in company with Mr. Callus, I paid my first visit to the interior of the island. We were hauled up to the top of the cliff, and Captain Tatham received us."