"Think of the orphans you could be a father to!" added Mr. Stobell, making the most of an unwonted fit of altruism.
The captain looked inquiringly at Mr. Tredgold.
"And widows," said Mr. Stobell, and, putting his pipe in his mouth as a sign that he had finished his remarks, gazed stolidly at the company.
"Stobell must be referring to a story Chalk told us of some precious stones you buried, I think," said Mr. Tredgold, reddening. "Aren"t you, Stobell?"
"Of course I am," said his friend. "You know that."
Captain Bowers glanced at Mr. Chalk, but that gentleman was still busy with his shoe-lace, only looking up when Mr. Tredgold, taking the bull by the horns, made the captain a plain, straightforward offer to fit out and give him the command of an expedition to recover the treasure. In a speech which included the benevolent Mr. Stobell"s hospitals, widows, and orphans, he pointed out a score of reasons why the captain should consent, and wound up with a glowing picture of Miss Drewitt as the heiress of the wealthiest man in Binchester. The captain heard him patiently to an end and then shook his head.
"I pa.s.sed my word," he said, stiffly.
Mr. Stobell took his pipe out of his mouth again to offer a little encouragement. "Tredgold has broke his word before now," he observed; "he"s got quite a name for it."
"But you would go out if it were not for that?" inquired Tredgold, turning a deaf ear to this remark.
"Naturally," said the captain, smiling; "but, then, you see I did."
Mr. Tredgold drummed with his fingers on the arms of his chair, and after a little hesitation asked as a great favour to be permitted to see the map. As an estate agent, he said, he took a professional interest in plans of all kinds.
Captain Bowers rose, and in the midst of an expectant silence took the map from the bureau, and placing it on the table kept it down with his fist. The others drew near and inspected it.
"n.o.body but Captain Bowers has ever seen the other side," said Mr.
Chalk, impressively.
"Except my niece," interposed the captain. "She wanted to see it, and I trust her as I would trust myself. She thinks the same as I do about it."
His stubby forefinger travelled slowly round the coast-line until, coming to the extreme south-west corner, it stopped, and a mischievous smile creased his beard.
"It"s buried here," he observed. "All you"ve got to do is to find the island and dig in that spot."
Mr. Chalk laughed and shook his head as at a choice piece of waggishness.
"Suppose," said Mr. Tredgold, slowly-"suppose anybody found it without your connivance, would you take your share?"
"Let"em find it first," said the captain.
"Yes, but would you?" inquired Mr. Chalk.
Captain Bowers took up the map and returned it to its place in the bureau. "You go and find it," he said, with a genial smile.
"You give us permission?" demanded Tredgold.
"Certainly," grinned the captain. "I give you permission to go and dig over all the islands in the Pacific; there"s a goodish number of them, and it"s a fairly common shape."
"It seems to me it"s n.o.body"s property," said Tredgold, slowly. "That is to say, it"s anybody"s that finds it. It isn"t your property, Captain Bowers? You lay no claim to it?"
"No, no," said the captain. "It"s nothing to do with me. You go and find it," he repeated, with enjoyment.
Mr. Tredgold laughed too, and his eye travelled mechanically towards the bureau. "If we do," he said, cordially, "you shall have your share."
The captain thanked him and, taking up the bottle, refilled their gla.s.ses. Then, catching the dull, brooding eye of Mr. Stobell as that plain-spoken man sat in a brown study trying to separate the serious from the jocular, he drank success to their search. He was about to give vent to further pleasantries when he was stopped by the mysterious behaviour of Mr. Chalk, who, first laying a finger on his lip to ensure silence, frowned severely and nodded at the door leading to the kitchen.
The other three looked in the direction indicated. The door stood half open, and the silhouette of a young woman in a large hat put the upper panels in shadow. The captain rose and, with a vigorous thrust of his foot, closed the door with a bang.
"Eavesdropping," said Mr. Chalk, in a tense whisper.
"There"ll be a rival expedition," said the captain, falling in with his mood. "I"ve already warned that young woman off once. You"d better start tonight."
He leaned back in his chair and surveyed the company pleasantly.
Somewhat to Mr. Chalk"s disappointment Mr. Tredgold began to discuss agriculture, and they were still on that theme when they rose to depart some time later. Tredgold and Chalk bade the captain a cordial good-night; but Stobell, a creature of primitive impulses, found it difficult to shake hands with him. On the way home he expressed an ardent desire to tell the captain what men of sense thought of him.
The captain lit another pipe after they had gone, and for some time sat smoking and thinking over the events of the evening. Then Mr. Tasker"s second infringement of discipline occurred to him, and, stretching out his hand, he rang the bell.
"Has that young woman gone?" he inquired, cautiously, as Mr. Tasker appeared.
"Yessir," was the reply.
"What about your articles?" demanded the captain, with sudden loudness.
"What do you mean by it?"
Mr. Tasker eyed him forlornly. "It ain"t my fault," he said, at last. "I don"t want her."
"Eh?" said the other, sternly. "Don"t talk nonsense. What do you have her here for, then?"
"Because I can"t help myself," said Mr. Tasker, desperately; "that"s why. She"s took a fancy to me, and, that being so, it would take more than you and me to keep "er away."
"Rubbish," said his master.
Mr. Tasker smiled wanly. "That"s my reward for being steady," he said, with some bitterness; "that"s what comes of having a good name in the place. I get Selina Vickers after me."
"You-you must have asked her to come here in the first place," said the astonished captain.
"Ask her?" repeated Mr. Tasker, with respectful scorn. "Ask her? She don"t want no asking."
"What does she come for, then?" inquired the other.
"Me," said Mr. Tasker, brokenly. "I never dreamt o" such a thing. I was going "er way one night-about three weeks ago, it was-and I walked with her as far as her road-Mint Street. Somehow it got put about that we were walking out. A week afterwards she saw me in Harris"s, the grocer"s, and waited outside for me till I come out and walked "ome with me. After she came in the other night I found we was keeping company.
To-night-tonight she got a ring out o" me, and now we"re engaged."
"What on earth did you give her the ring for if you don"t want her?"
inquired the captain, eyeing him with genuine concern.
"Ah, it seems easy, sir," said the unfortunate; "but you don"t know Selina. She bought the ring and said I was to pay it off a shilling a week. She took the first shilling to-night."
His master sat back and regarded him in amazement.