The captain attributed this satisfactory condition of affairs to the rules and regulations, though a slight indiscretion on the part of Mr.
Tasker, necessitating the unframing of the doc.u.ment to add to the latter, caused him a little annoyance.
The first intimation he had of it was a loud knocking at the front door as he sat dozing one afternoon in his easy-chair. In response to his startled cry of "Come in!" the door opened and a small man, in a state of considerable agitation, burst into the room and confronted him.
"My name is Chalk," he said, breathlessly.
"A friend of Mr. Tredgold"s?" said the captain. "I"ve heard of you, sir."
The visitor paid no heed.
"My wife wishes to know whether she has got to dress in the dark every afternoon for the rest of her life," he said, in fierce but trembling tones.
"Got to dress in the dark?" repeated the astonished captain.
"With the blind down," explained the other.
Captain Bowers looked him up and down. He saw a man of about fifty nervously fingering the little bits of fluffy red whisker which grew at the sides of his face, and trying to still the agitation of his tremulous mouth.
"How would you like it yourself?" demanded the visitor, whose manner was gradually becoming milder and milder. "How would you like a telescope a yard long pointing-"
He broke off abruptly as the captain, with a smothered oath, dashed out of his chair into the garden and stood shaking his fist at the crow"s-nest at the bottom.
"Joseph!" he bawled.
"Yes, sir," said Mr. Tasker, removing the telescope described by Mr.
Chalk from his eye, and leaning over.
"What are you doing with that spy-gla.s.s?" demanded his master, beckoning to the visitor, who had drawn near. "How dare you stare in at people"s windows?"
"I wasn"t, sir," replied Mr. Tasker, in an injured voice. "I wouldn"t think o" such a thing-I couldn"t, not if I tried."
"You"d got it pointed straight at my bedroom window," cried Mr. Chalk, as he accompanied the captain down the garden. "And it ain"t the first time."
"I wasn"t, sir," said the steward, addressing his master. "I was watching the martins under the eaves."
"You"d got it pointed at my window," persisted the visitor.
"That"s where the nests are," said Mr. Tasker, "but I wasn"t looking in at the window. Besides, I noticed you always pulled the blind down when you saw me looking, so I thought it didn"t matter."
"We can"t do anything without being followed about by that telescope,"
said Mr. Chalk, turning to the captain. "My wife had our house built where it is on purpose, so that we shouldn"t be overlooked. We didn"t bargain for a thing like that sprouting up in a back-garden."
"I"m very sorry," said the captain. "I wish you"d told me of it before.
If I catch you up there again," he cried, shaking his fist at Mr.
Tasker, "you"ll remember it. Come down!"
Mr. Tasker, placing the gla.s.s under his arm, came slowly and reluctantly down the ratlines.
"I wasn"t looking in at the window, Mr. Chalk," he said, earnestly. "I was watching the birds. O" course, I couldn"t help seeing in a bit, but I always shifted the spy-gla.s.s at once if there was anything that I thought I oughtn"t-"
"That"ll do," broke in the captain, hastily. "Go in and get the tea ready. If I so much as see you looking at that gla.s.s again we part, my lad, mind that."
"I don"t suppose he meant any harm," said the mollified Mr. Chalk, after the crestfallen Joseph had gone into the house. "I hope I haven"t been and said too much, but my wife insisted on me coming round and speaking about it."
"You did quite right," said the captain, "and I thank you for coming. I told him he might go up there occasionally, but I particularly warned him against giving any annoyance to the neighbours."
"I suppose," said Mr. Chalk, gazing at the erection with interest-"I suppose there"s a good view from up there? It"s like having a ship in the garden, and it seems to remind you of the North Pole, and whales, and Northern Lights."
Five minutes later Mr. Tasker, peering through the pantry window, was surprised to see Mr. Chalk ascending with infinite caution to the crow"s-nest. His high hat was jammed firmly over his brows and the telescope was gripped tightly under his right arm. The journey was evidently regarded as one of extreme peril by the climber; but he held on gallantly and, arrived at the top, turned a tremulous telescope on to the horizon.
Mr. Tasker took a deep breath and resumed his labours. He set the table, and when the water boiled made the tea, and went down the garden to announce the fact. Mr. Chalk was still up aloft, and even at that height the pallor of his face was clearly discernible. It was evident to the couple below that the terrors of the descent were too much for him, but that he was too proud to say so.
"Nice view up there," called the captain.
"B-b-beautiful," cried Mr. Chalk, with an attempt at enthusiasm.
The captain paced up and down impatiently; his tea was getting cold, but the forlorn figure aloft made no sign. The captain waited a little longer, and then, laying hold of the shrouds, slowly mounted until his head was above the platform.
"Shall I take the gla.s.s for you?" he inquired.
Mr. Chalk, clutching the edge of the cask, leaned over and handed it down.
"My-my foot"s gone to sleep," he stammered.
"Ho! Well, you must be careful how you get down," said the captain, climbing on to the platform. "Now, gently."
He put the telescope back into the cask, and, beckoning Mr. Tasker to ascend, took Mr. Chalk in a firm grasp and lowered him until he was able to reach Mr. Tasker"s face with his foot. After that the descent was easy, and Mr. Chalk, reaching ground once more, spent two or three minutes in slapping and rubing, and other remedies prescribed for sleepy feet.
"There"s few gentlemen that would have come down at all with their foot asleep," remarked Mr. Tasker, pocketing a shilling, when the captain"s back was turned.
Mr. Chalk, still pale and shaking somewhat, smiled feebly and followed the captain into the house. The latter offered a cup of tea, which the visitor, after a faint protest, accepted, and taking a seat at the table gazed in undisguised admiration at the nautical appearance of the room.
"I could fancy myself aboard ship," he declared.
"Are you fond of the sea?" inquired the captain.
"I love it," said Mr. Chalk, fervently. "It was always my idea from a boy to go to sea, but somehow I didn"t. I went into my father"s business instead, but I never liked it. Some people are fond of a stay-at-home life, but I always had a hankering after adventures."
The captain shook his head. "Ha!" he said, impressively.
"You"ve had a few in your time," said Mr. Chalk, looking at him, grudgingly; "Edward Tredgold was telling me so."
"Man and boy, I was at sea forty-nine years," remarked the captain.
"Naturally things happened in that time; it would have been odd if they hadn"t. It"s all in a lifetime."
"Some lifetimes," said Mr. Chalk, gloomily. "I"m fifty-one next year, and the only thing I ever had happen to me was seeing a man stop a runaway horse and cart."
He shook his head solemnly over his monotonous career, and, gazing at a war-club from Samoa which hung over the fireplace, put a few leading questions to the captain concerning the manner in which it came into his possession. When Prudence came in half an hour later he was still sitting there, listening with rapt attention to his host"s tales of distant seas.