The Tale of Timber Town Part 70

"I had better not read it," said Jack. "Let Miss Summerhayes do so."

"I've no secrets from _you_, lad. There's nothing in it you shouldn't know; but, no, no, 'tain't for my dar'ter's eyes. It's from my brother's lawyers, to say he's dead."

"What, dead?"

"Yes, died last January. They say he had summat on his mind; they refer me to this packet here--his journals." The Pilot took up two fat little books, in which a diary had been kept in a clear, clerkly hand. "I've been looking them through, and it's all as clear as if it had been printed."

Scarlett sat down, and looked at the old man earnestly.

"I've told you," continued Summerhayes, "how I hated my brother: you've heard me curse him many a time. Well, the reason's all set down in these books. It worried him as he lay sickening for his death. To put it short, it was this: He was rich--I was poor. I was married--he was single. He had s.h.i.+ps--I had none. So he gave me command of one of his tea-clippers, and I handed over to his care all I held dear. But I believed he proved unworthy of my trust. And so he did, but not as I thought. Here in his diary he put down everything he did while I was on that voyage; writing himself down blackguard, if ever a man did. But he owns that however base was his wish, he was defeated in the fulfilment of it. And here, as he was slowly dying, he puts down how he repents. He was bad, he was grasping, he was unscrupulous, but he wasn't as bad as he wished to be, and that's all you can say for him. I bury my resentment with his body. He's dead, and my hatred's dead. To prove his repentance he made his Will, of which this is a certified copy."

The Pilot handed to Jack a lengthy legal doc.u.ment, which had a heavy red seal attached to it, and continued, "To my dar'ter he leaves the bulk of his money, an' to me his s.h.i.+ps. There, that ends the whole matter."

Jack read the deed while the Pilot smoked.

"You're a rich man, Captain Summerhayes," said he, as he handed back the doc.u.ment to its owner.

"If I choose to take the gift," growled the Pilot.

"Which you must, or else see an immense sum of money go into the maw of Chancery."

"Chancery be smothered! Ain't there my dar'ter Rose?"

"Yes, but she couldn't take the s.h.i.+ps except at your wish or at your death."

"Then she shall have 'em."

"Nonsense, Pilot. You know now that your brother never wronged you unpardonably. You own that in a large measure you misjudged him. Now then, place your unfounded charge against his evil intention, and you are quits. He tried to square himself by leaving you half his wealth, and you will square yourself with him by accepting his gift. If you don't do that, you will die a worse man than he."

The Pilot was silent for some time, and drummed the table with his fingers.

"I don't like it," he complained.

"You must take it. If you don't, you will drag before the public a matter that must grieve your daughter."

"All right, I'll take it; but I shall hold it in trust for my gal."

"That is as you please."

"But there's one good thing in it, Jack. Sartoris! Rosebud! Come here.

There's a gentleman wants to see you."

Rose Summerhayes and the s.h.i.+pless Captain, when the Pilot opened his mail, had retired to the kitchen, in order that the old man, who was evidently upset by his news, might digest it quietly. They now reappeared, looking half-scared lest the heavens had fallen on the Pilot.

They were astonished to see him radiant, and laughing with Jack.

"Now, my gal and Captain Sartoris, sir, I've got a little matter to clear up. I own there was a problem in them letters as almost bamfoozled me. I confess it almost beat me. I own it got the better of me considerably. But this young man, here--stand up, Jack, and don't look as if you'd stolen the sugar out of the tea-caddy--this young man, my dear, pulled me through. He put it to me as plain as if he'd bin a lawyer an' a parson rolled into one. The difficulty's overcome: there's nothing of it left: it don't exist."

Sartoris' eyes opened wider and wider as he gazed in astonishment at the Pilot, who continued, "Yes, Sartoris, you well may look, for I'm goin'

to tell you something you don't expect. You are to have another s.h.i.+p. I have letters here as warrant me in saying that: you shall have command of another s.h.i.+p, as soon as you land in England."

"D'you mean to say your brother has forgiven the wreck of _The Witch_?

You must be dreaming, Summerhayes."

"Probably I am. But as soon as you reach home, Sartoris, there's a s.h.i.+p waitin' for you. That ends the matter."

He turned abruptly to Scarlett.

"There's something I have to say to you, young feller. My gal, here, came to me, the night before last--when some one we know of was in a very queer street--she came to me, all of a shake, all of a tremble, unable to sleep; she came to me in the middle of the night--a thing she'd never done since she was six years old--an' at first I thought it was the hysterics, an' then I thought it was fever. But she spoke plain enough, an' her touch was cool enough. An' then she began to tell me"----

"Really, father," Rose exclaimed, her cheeks colouring like a peony, "_do_ stop, or you'll drive me from the room."

"Right, my dear: I say no more. But I ask you, sir," he continued, turning to Scarlett. "I ask _you_ how you diagnose a case like that.

What treatment do you prescribe? What doctor's stuff do you give?" There was a smile on the old man's face, and his eyes sparkled with merriment.

"I put it to you as a friend, I put it to you as a man who knows a quant.i.ty o' gals. What's the matter with my dar'ter Rose?"

For a moment, Jack looked disconcerted, but almost instantly a smile overspread his face.

"I expect it arose from a sudden outburst of affection for her father,"

he said.

But here Sartoris spoilt the effect by laughing. "I suspect the trouble rose from a disturbed condition of the heart," said he, "a complaint not infrequent in females."

"An' what, Cap'n, would you suggest as a cure?" asked the Pilot; his eyes twinkling, and his suppressed merriment working in him like the subterranean rumbling of an earthquake.

"Cast off the tow-rope, drop the pilot, and let her own skipper shape her course"--this was the advice that Sartoris gave--"to my mind you've been a-towin' of her too long."

"But she's got no skipper," said Summerhayes, "an', dear, dear, she's a craft with a deal too much top-hamper an' not near enough free-board to please me, an' her freight's valued at over fifty thousand. Where's the man, Sartoris, you'd guarantee would take her safely into port?"

The two old sailors were now bubbling with laughter, and there were frequent pauses between their words, that their mirth might not explode.

"There was a time," said Sartoris, "there was a time when I'd ha' bin game to take on the job meself."

"What!" exclaimed Rose. "You? Why, you're old and shaky and decrepit."

"Yes, I don't deny it--I'm a bit of a hulk, my dear," but Sartoris laughed as he spoke. "I may have to pa.s.s in my cheques, any day. That's why I stand aside; but I'll find you the man to take my place. Here 'e is!" The grizzled old sailor seized Scarlett by the arm, and pushed him towards the girl. "This is him. He's got his master's ticket all right; an' though he's never had command of a s.h.i.+p, he's anxious to try his hand. Pilot, my advice is, let 'im have her."

"Thank 'e, Cap'n." Here the Pilot's laughter, too long suppressed, burst forth with a terrific roar, in which Sartoris joined. "I mark what you say, Cap'n. I take your advice." His words again halted to make way for his t.i.tanic laughter. "I believe it's about the best thing I can do." He had now caught hold of Scarlett's hand. "Come here, my gal." Taking hold of Rose's hand also, he said, "My dear, I built you--an' I pride myself your lines are beautiful, though I've never told you so till now--I launched you in life, an' now I put you in charge of the best skipper I can lay hands on. Always answer your helm quick, take care you don't fall away to lee-ward in making your course, an' I'll go bail he'll treat you fair an' safely carry you into port."

He put his daughter's hand into Jack's.

"There," he said. "A long voyage an' a happy one. May you weather every storm." And, walking to the window, the Pilot made pretence of looking out on the roses in the garden, in order to hide the moisture which clouded his eyes.

CHAPTER x.x.xIX.

Tresco Makes the Ring.