A Bid for Fortune/Chapter 4
CHAPTER IV.
I SAVE AN IMPORTANT LIFE.
To a man whose life has been spent in the uttermost parts of the earth, amid barbaric surroundings, and in furtherance of work of a kind that the civilised world usually denominates dangerous, the seaside life of England must afford scope for wonderment and no small amount of thoughtful consideration. And certainly if there is one place more than another where, winter and summer alike, amid every sort of luxury, the modern Englishman may be seen relaxing his cares and increasing his energies, the name of that place is Bournemouth. Built up amid pine-woods—its beauties added to in every fashion known to the fertile brain of man, Bournemouth stands, to my mind, pre-eminent in the list of British watering-places.
Leaving Lyndhurst Road, I travelled to this excellent place by a fast train, and immediately on arrival made my way to the office of Messrs. Screw & Matchem with a view to instituting enquiries regarding the yacht they had advertised for hire. It was with the senior partner I transacted my business, and a shrewd but pleasant gentleman I found him.
Upon making known my business to him, he brought me a photograph of the craft in question, and certainly a nice handy boat she looked. She had been built, he went on to inform me, for a young nobleman, who had made two very considerable excursions in her before he had been compelled to fly the country, and was only three years old. I learned also that she was lying in Poole harbour, but he was good enough to say that if I wished to see her she would be brought round to Bournemouth the following morning, when I could inspect her at my leisure. As this arrangement was one that exactly suited me, I closed with it there and then, and thanking Mr. Matchem for his courtesy, betook myself to my hotel. Having dined, I spent the evening upon the pier—the first of its kind I had ever seen—listened to the band, and, if the truth must be told, diverted myself with thoughts of her to whom I had plighted my troth and whose unexpected departure from England had been such a sudden and bitter disappointment to me.
Next morning, faithful to promise, the Enchantress sailed into the bay and came to an anchor within a biscuit throw of the pier. Chartering a dinghy, I pulled myself off to her and stepped aboard. An old man and a boy were engaged washing down decks, and to them I introduced myself and business. Then for half an hour I devoted myself to overhauling her thoroughly. She was a nice enough little craft, well set up, and from her run looked as if she might possess a fair turn of speed; the gear was in excellent order, and the old man in charge told me she had been repaired and thoroughly overhauled that selfsame year.
Having satisfied myself on a few other minor points, I pulled ashore and again went through the gardens to the agents' office. Mr. Matchem was delighted to hear that I liked the yacht well enough to think of hiring her at their own price (a rather excessive one, I must admit) for three months, and, I don't doubt, would have supplied me with a villa in Bournemouth and a yachting box in the Isle of Wight, also on their own terms, had I felt inclined to furnish them with the command. But fortunately I was able to withstand their temptations, and having given them my cheque for the requisite amount, went off to make arrangements and to engage a crew.
Before nightfall I had secured the services of a handy lad in place of the old man who had brought her round from Poole, and was in a position to put to sea. Accordingly next morning off I set for a trip round the Isle of Wight. Before we had brought the Needles abeam I had convinced myself that the boat was an excellent sailer, and when the first day's voyage was over I had found no reason to repent my bargain.
And I would ask you here, is there any other amusement to compare with yachting? Can anything else vie with it? Suppose a man to be a lover of human craftmanship—then what could be more to his taste than a well-built yacht? Is a man a lover of speed? Then what could he wish for better than the rush over the curling seas, the graceful fabric quivering under him like an eager horse, the snowy line of foam driving away from either bow, and the fresh breeze singing merrily through the shrouds overhead, bellying out the stretch of canvas till it seems as if the spars must certainly give way beneath the strain they are called upon to endure!
Is a man a lover of the beautiful in nature? Then from what better place can he observe earth's beauties than a yacht's deck? From there he views the stretch of country ashore, the dancing waves, the blue sky flaked with fleecy clouds above his head, while the warm sun shine penetrates him through and through till it finds his very heart and stays there, making a better and certainly a healthier man of him.
Does the world ever look so fair as at daybreak, when Dame Nature is still half asleep, and the water lies like a sheet of shimmering glass around him, and the great sun comes up like a ball of gold out of the unknown east with a solemnity that makes one feel almost afraid? Or at night, anchored in some tiny harbour when the lights are twinkling ashore, and the sound of music comes wafted across the water, with a faintness that only adds to its beauty, to harmonise with the tinkling of the waves alongside. Review these things in your mind and then tell me what recreation can compare with yachting?
Not having anything to hurry me, and only my own thoughts to keep me company, I took my time; remained two days in the Solent, sailed round the island, put in a day at Ventnor, and so back to Bournemouth. Then, after a day ashore, I picked up a nice breeze and ran down to Torquay to spend another week sailing slowly back along the coast, touching at various ports, and returning eventually to the place I had first hailed from.
In relating these trifling incidents it is not my wish to bore my readers, but to work up gradually to that strange meeting to which they were the prelude. Now that I can look back in cold blood upon the circumstances that brought it about and reflect how narrowly I escaped missing the one event which was destined to change my whole life, I can hardly realise that I attached such small importance to it at the time. Somehow I have always been a firm believer in Fate, and indeed it would be strange, all the things I am about to tell you considered, if I were not. For when a man has passed through so many extraordinary adventures and not only come out of them unharmed, but a happier and a great deal more fortunate man than he has really any right to be, he may claim the privilege, I think, of saying he knows something about his subject.
And, mind you, I date it all back to that visit to the old home and to my uncle's strange reception of me, for had I not gone down into the country I should never have quarrelled with him, and if I had not quarrelled with him I should not have gone back to the inn in such a dudgeon, and in that case I should probably have left the place without a visit to the bar, never have seen the advertisement, visited Bournemouth, hired the yacht or—but there I must stop. You must work out the rest when you have heard my story.
The morning after my third return to Bournemouth I was up by daybreak, had had my breakfast, and was ready to set off on a cruise across the bay, before the sun was a hand's breadth above the horizon. It was as perfect a morning as any man could wish to see. A faint breeze just blurred the surface of the water, tiny waves danced in the sunshine, and my bark nodded to them as if anxious to be off. The town ashore lay very quiet and peaceful, and so still was the air that the cries of a few white gulls could be heard quite plainly, half a mile or so away. Having hove anchor, we tacked slowly across the bay, passed the pier-head, and steered towards Old Harry Rock and Swanage Bay. My crew was for'ard, and I had possession of the tiller.
As we went about opposite Canford Cliffs, something moving in the water ahead of me attracted my attention. We were too far off to make out exactly what it might be, and it was not until five minutes later, when we were close abreast of it, that I discovered it to be a bather. The foolish fellow had evidently ventured further out than was prudent, had struck a strong current, and was now being washed swiftly out to sea. But for the splashing he made to show his whereabouts, I should in all probability not have seen him, and in that case his fate would have been sealed. As it was, when we came up to him he was quite exhausted.
Heaving my craft to, I leapt into the dinghy, and pulled towards him, but before I could reach the spot he had sunk. At first I thought he was gone for good and all, but in a few seconds he rose again. Then, grabbing him by the hair, I passed an arm under his, and dragged him unconscious into the boat. In less than three minutes we were alongside the yacht again, and with my man's assistance I had got him aboard. Fortunately a day or two before I had had the forethought to purchase some brandy for use in case of need, and my Thursday Island experiences having taught me exactly what was best to be done under such circumstances, it was not long before I had brought him back to consciousness.
In appearance he was a handsome young fellow, well set up, and possibly nineteen or twenty years of age. When I had given him a stiff nobbler of brandy to stop the chattering of his teeth, I asked him how he came to be so far from shore.
"I am considered a very good swimmer," he replied, "and often come out as far as this, but to-day I think I must have got into a strong outward current, and certainly but for your providential assistance I should never have reached home alive."
"You had a very narrow escape," I answered, "but thank goodness you're none the worse for it. Now, what's the best thing to be done? Turn back, I suppose, and set you ashore."
"But what a lot of trouble I'm putting you to."
"Nonsense! I've nothing to do, and I count myself very fortunate in having been able to render you this small assistance. The breeze is freshening, and it won't take us any time to get back. Where do you live?"
"To the left there! That house standing back upon the cliff. Really I don't know how to express my gratitude."
"Just keep that till I ask you for it. Now, as we've got a twenty minutes' sail before us, the best thing for you to do would be to slip into a spare suit of my things. They'll keep you warm, and you can return them to my hotel when you get ashore."
I sang out to my crew to come aft and take the tiller, while I escorted him below into the little box of a cabin, and gave him a rig out. Considering I am six feet two, and he only five feet eight, the things were a trifle large for him; but when he was dressed I couldn't help thinking what a handsome, well-built, aristocratic-looking young fellow he appeared. The work of fitting him out accomplished, we returned to the deck. The breeze was freshening and the little hooker was ploughing her way through it, nose down, as if she knew that under the circumstances her best was expected of her.
"Are you a stranger in Bournemouth?" my companion asked as I took the tiller again.
"Almost," I answered. "I've only been in England three weeks. I'm home from Australia."
"Australia! Really! Oh, I should so like to go out there."
His voice was very soft and low, more like a girl's than a boy's, and I noticed that he had none of the mannerisms of a man—at least, not of one who has seen much of the world.
"Yes, Australia's as good a place as any other for the man who goes out there to work," I said. "But somehow you don't look to me like a chap that is used to what is called roughing it. Pardon my rudeness."
"Well, you see, I've never had much chance. My father is considered by many to be a very peculiar man. He has strange ideas about me, and so you see I've never been allowed to mix with other people. But I'm stronger than you'd think, and I shall be twenty in October next."
Somehow I thought I couldn't be very far out in his age.
"And now if you don't mind telling me—what is your name?"
"I suppose there can be no harm in telling you. I was told if ever I met anyone and they asked me, not to tell them. But since you saved my life it would be ungrateful not to let you know. I am the Marquis of Beckenham."
"Is that so! Then your father is the Duke of Glenbarth?"
"Yes. Do you know him?"
"Never set eyes on him in my life, but I heard him spoken of the other day."
I did not add that it was Mr. Matchem who, during my conversation with him, had referred to him, nor did I think it well to say that he had designated him the "Mad Duke." And so the boy I had saved from drowning was the young Marquis of Beckenham. Well, I was moving in good society with a vengeance. This boy was the first nobleman I had ever clapped eyes on, though I knew the Count de Pannroff well enough in Thursday Island. But then foreign Counts ought not to reckon, perhaps.
"But you don't mean to tell me," I said at length, "that you've got no friends? Don't you ever see anyone at all?"
"No, I am not allowed to. My father thinks it better not. And as he does not wish it, of course I have nothing left me but to obey. I must own, however, I should like to see the world—to go a long voyage to Australia, for instance."
"But how do you put in your time? You must have a very dull life of it."
"Oh, no! You see I have never known anything else, and then I have always the future to look forward to. When I am twenty-one, you see, I shall take my seat in the Lords, and be my own master. As it is now I bathe every morning. I have my yacht, I ride about the park, I have my studies, and I have a tutor who tells me wonderful stories of the world."
"Oh, he's been about, has he?"
"Dear, yes! He was a missionary in the South Sea Islands, and has seen some very stirring adventures."
"A missionary in the South Seas, eh? Perhaps I know him."
"Were you ever in those seas?"
"Just a bit, I reckon. Why, I've spent almost all my life there."
"Were you a missionary?"
"You bet not. The missionaries and my friends don't cotton to one another, and you can put your money on that!"
"But they are such good men!"
"That may be. But still, as I say, we don't somehow cotton. All the same I'd like to set my eyes upon your tutor."
"Well, you will. I think I see him on the beach now. I expect he'll be wondering what has become of me. I've never been out so long before."
"Well, you're close home now, and as safe as eggs in a basket."
Another minute brought us into as shallow water as I cared to go. Accordingly, heaving to, I brought the dinghy alongside and we got into her. Then casting off, I pulled my lord ashore. A small, clean-shaven, parsonish-looking man, with the regulation white choker, stood on the shore waiting for us. As I beached the boat he came forward and said:
"My lord, we have been very anxious about you. We feared you had met with an accident."
"I have been very nearly drowned, Mr. Baxter. Had it not been for this gentleman's prompt assistance I should never have reached home again."
"You should really be more careful, my lord. I have warned you before. Your father has been nearly beside himself with anxiety."
"Eh?" said I to myself. "This does not sound quite right. Anyhow, Mr. Baxter, I've seen your figurehead somewhere before—but you were not a missionary then, I'll take my affidavit."
Turning to me, my young lord held out his hand.
"You have never told me your name," he said almost reproachfully.
"Dick Hatteras," I answered, "and very much at your service."
"Mr. Hatteras, I shall never forget what you have done for me. That I am most grateful I hope you will believe. I know that I owe you my life."
Here the tutor's voice chipped in again, as I thought, rather impatiently.
"Come, come, my lord. This delay will not do. Your father will be growing still more nervous about you. We must be getting home!"
Then they went off up the cliff path, and I returned to my boat.
"Mr. Baxter," I said to myself again as I pulled off to the yacht, "I want to know where I've seen your face before. I've taken a sudden dislike to you. I don't trust you; and if your employer's the man they say he is, well, he won't either. That's all."
Then, having brought the dinghy alongside, I made the painter fast, clambered aboard, and we stood out of the bay once more.