The Iron Pirate Part 29

The tea which Mary made was very fragrant, and Roderick's cigars had a fine rich flavour of their own, to which we did justice, as we sat long that afternoon, and I told of the days in Ice-haven. It was a long story, as you know, and I could but give them the outline of it, or, in turn, hear but a tenth part of their own anxieties and ceaseless efforts in my behalf. It appeared that when I had failed to return to the hotel on that night when I followed Paolo to the den in the Bowery, Roderick had gone at once to the yacht, and there had learnt from Dan of my intention. He did not lose an instant in seeking the aid of the police, but I was even then astern of the _Labrador_, and the keen search which the New York detectives had made was fruitless even in gleaning any tidings of me. Paolo was followed night and day for twenty-four hours; but he was shot in a drinking-den before the detectives laid hands on him, and only lived long enough to send Mary a message, telling her that her pretty eyes had saved the _Celsis_ from disaster in the Atlantic. On the next day both the skipper and Roderick made public all they knew of Black and his crew, and a greater sensation was never made in any city. The news was cabled to Europe over half-a-dozen wires, was hurried to the Pacific, to j.a.panese seas--it shook the navies of the world with an excitement rarely known, and for some weeks it paralysed all traffic on the Atlantic. Cruisers of many nations were sent in the course of the great ocean-going steamers; arms were carried by some of the largest of the pa.s.senger s.h.i.+ps, and the question was asked daily before all other questions, "Is the nameless s.h.i.+p taken?" Yet, it was no more than a few weeks' wonder; for we had fled to Ice-haven, and people who heard no more of the new piracy asked themselves, "Are not these the dreams of dreamers?"

Meanwhile Roderick and Mary, who suffered all the anguish of suspense, returned to Europe, and to London, there to interview the First Lord of the Admiralty, and to hear the whole matter discussed in Parliament.

Several wars.h.i.+ps and cruisers were despatched to the Atlantic, but returned to report the ill result of their mission, which could have had but this end, since Black was then in the shelter of the fjord at Greenland, and none thought of seeking him there. Nor was my oldest friend content with this national action and the subsequent offer of a reward of 50,000 for the capture of the nameless s.h.i.+p or of her crew, for he put the best private detectives in the city at the work, sending two to New York, and others to Paris and to Spezia. These fathomed something of the earlier mystery of Captain Black's life, but the man's after-deeds were hidden from them; and when the weeks pa.s.sed and I did not come, all thought that I had died in my self-appointed mission--another of his many victims.

It was but a few days after this sorrowful conviction that Black and I went to London, and were seen by Inspector King, who had watched night and day for the man's coming. The detective had immediately telegraphed to the Admiralty, and to Roderick, who had reached my hotel to find that I had already left. Then he hurried back to Southampton, there to hear of the going of the wars.h.i.+ps and to wait with Mary tidings of the last great battle, which meant life or death to me.

Long we sat discussing these things, and very bright were a pair of dark eyes that listened again to Roderick's story, and then to more of mine. But Roderick himself had awoke from his lethargy, and his enthusiasm broke through all his old restraint.

"To-morrow, why, to-morrow, by George, you'll astound London. My dear fellow, we'll go to town together to claim the 50,000 which the Admiralty offered, and the 20,000 from the Black Anchor Line, to say nothing of American money galore. You're made for life, old man; and we'll take the old yacht north to Greenland, and hunt up the place and Black's tender, which seems to have escaped the ironclads, and it'll be the finest trip we ever knew."

"What does Mary say?" I asked as she still held my hand.

"I don't mean to leave you again," she answered, and as she spoke there was a great sound of cheering above, and a great tramp of feet upon the deck; and as we hurried up, the hands I loved to see crowded about me, and their shouting was carried far over the water, and was taken up on other s.h.i.+ps, which threw their search-lights upon us, so that the night was as a new day to me, and the awakening from the weeks of dreaming as the coming of spring after winter's dark. Yet, as the child-face was all lighted with radiant smiles, and honest hands clasped mine, and the waters echoed the triumphant greeting, I could not but think again of Captain Black, or ask myself--Is the man really dead, or shall we yet hear of him, bringing terror upon the sea, and death and suffering; the master of the nations, and the child of a wanton ambition? Or is his grave in the great Atlantic that he ruled in the mighty moments of his power? Ah, I wonder.

THE END.

_Other Works by the same Author._

RED MORN.

THE GIANT'S GATE.

THE GARDEN OF SWORDS.

A PURITAN'S WIFE.

THE SEA WOLVES.

THE IMPREGNABLE CITY.

THE LITTLE HUGUENOT.

Ca.s.sELL & COMPANY, LIMITED.