Half A Chance.
by Frederic S. Isham.
PART ONE
CHAPTER I
MR. GILLETT"S CHARGE
"By all means, m"deah, let"s go down between decks and have a look at them."
"Of course, if you wish, Sir Charles, although--Do you think we shall be edified, Mr. Gillett?"
"That depends, m"lady,"--and the speaker, a man with official manners and ferret-like eyes, shifted from one foot to another,--"on what degree, or particular cla.s.s of criminal your ladyship would be interested in," he added. "If in the ordinary category of skittle sharper or thimblerigger," with a suspicion of mild scorn, "then I do not imagine your ladyship would find much attraction in the present cargo. But, on the other hand," in a livelier tone, "if your ladyship has any curiosity, or shall we say, a psychological bent, regarding the real out-and-outer, the excursion should be to your liking. For,"
rubbing his hands, "a properer lot of cutthroats and bad magsmen, it has never been my privilege to escort across the equator; and this is my sixth trip to Australia!"
"How interesting! How very interesting!" The lady"s voice floated languidly. "Sir Charles is quite right. We must really go down. At any rate, it will be a change, after having been shut up so long in that terrible state-room."
"One moment, m"lady! There"s a little formality that must be observed first."
"Formality?" And the lady, who was of portly appearance and uncertain age, gazed from the speaker standing deferentially before her, to a man of size, weight and importance seated in a comfortable chair at her side. "What does he mean, Sir Charles?"
"Regulations, m"lady--m"lord!" was the answer. "No one allowed on the prisoners" deck without the captain"s permission. There he is now."
"Then be good enough to beckon to him!" said the lady.
But this Mr. Gillett, agent of the police, discreetly declined to do; Captain Macpherson was a man not to be beckoned to by any one; much less by him. As he stood squarely in the center of the ship, he looked like a mariner capable of commanding his boat and all the people aboard; indeed, some of the characteristics of his vessel seemed to have entered into his own make-up; the man matched the craft. Broad-nosed, wide of beam, big, ma.s.sive, obstinate-looking, the _Lord Nelson_ plowed aggressively through the seas. With every square sail tugging hard at her st.u.r.dy masts, she smote and over-rode the waves, and, beating them down, maintained an unvarying, stubborn poise. But although she refused to vacillate or shuffle to the wooing efforts of the uneasy waters, she progressed not without noise and pother; foamed and fumed mightily at the bow and left behind her a wake, receding almost as far as the eyes might reach. Captain Macpherson looked after the bubbles, cast his glance aloft at the bulging patches of white, and then condescended to observe the agent of the police who had silently approached.
"Sir Charles and lady, and Sir Charles" party have expressed, Captain Macpherson, the desire to obtain permission to visit the prisoners"
deck."
Captain Macpherson looked toward Sir Charles and his lady, the other pa.s.sengers lounging around them, a little girl, at the rail, her hair, blown windward, a splash of gold against the blue sky. "What for?" said the skipper bruskly.
"To have a look at the convicts, I suppose."
"What good"ll that do them?" growled the commander. "Idle curiosity, that"s what I call it. Well, go along. Only, I"ll hold you accountable, and bear this in your mind, no tracts!"
"I don"t think," replied Mr. Gillett with some asperity, "you need be apprehensive on that score, Captain Macpherson. Sir Charles and m"lady are not that sort."
"Well, keep them away from the bars. The weather has nae improved the tempers of a few of the rapscallions, and they"d like naught better than a chance for their claws."
"Thanks for the permission, and," a little stiffly, "the admonition, which latter," turning away, "a man whose lifelong profession has been dealing with convicts is most likely to stand in need of and heed."
Captain Macpherson frowned, stumped the other way, then looked once more aloft, and, by the exercise of that ingenuity peculiarly his own, found new tasks for the sailors. Aboard any ship, especially a ship of this character, it was his theory and practice that discipline could not be too strictly maintained and the men on the _Lord Nelson_ knew no idle moments.
"May I go, too?"
The child with the golden hair desisted in her occupation of watching the flying-fish and other _real_-winged creatures, and, leaving the rail, walked toward the group that was about to follow Mr. Gillett. She was a very beautiful girl of ten or eleven; slim, delicately fashioned, of a definite proud type. But although she held herself erect, in an unconscious patrician sort of way, there was, also, about her something wayward and different from the conventional, aristocratic set. The disordered golden hair proclaimed it, while in the depths of the fine, blue eyes manifold changing lights told of a capriciousness out of the pale of a stiffly decorous and well-contained caste.
"May I go, too, aunt?" she repeated.
"Why, of course!" interposed a blase, cynical-appearing young man who had just emerged from the cabin. "Don"t know where she wants to go, or what she wants to do; but don"t say she can"t; really you mustn"t, now."
"Well, since you insist on spoiling her, Lord Ronsdale--"
He twisted a blond mustache which adorned a handsome face that bore many marks of what is called experience of the world. "Couldn"t do that!
Besides, Jocelyn and I are great chums, don"t you know. We"re going to be married some day when she grows up."
"_Are_ we?" said the child. "The man _I_ marry must be very big and strong, and must _not_ have light hair."
Lord Ronsdale laughed tolerantly.
"Plenty of time for you to change your mind, don"t you know. Meanwhile, I"ll not despair. Faint heart, and so on. But," turning to Sir Charles, "where is it she "wants to go?""
"To see the convicts."
"Convicts? Ah!" He spoke rather more quickly than usual, with accent sharper.
"You didn"t know who your neighbors were going to be when you decided so suddenly to accompany us?"
"No." His voice had a metallic sound.
Sir Charles addressed Mr. Gillett. "Tell us something more definite about your charges whom we are going to inspect. Meant to have found out earlier in the voyage, but been so jolly seasick, what with one gale after another, I for one, until now, haven"t much cared whether we had Claude Duval and d.i.c.k Turpin themselves for neighbors, or whether we all went straight to Davy Jones" locker together. A bad lot, you have already informed us! But how bad?"
"Well, we haven"t exactly M. Duval or Mr. Turpin in the pen, but we"ve one or two others almost as celebrated in their way. There"s Billy Burke, as desperate a cracksman as the country can produce, with,"
complacently, "a record second to none in his cla.s.s. He"--and Mr.
Gillett, with considerable zest entered into the details of Mr. Burke"s eventful and rapacious career. "Then there"s the ""Frisco Pet," or the "Pride of Golden Gate," as some of the sporting papers call him."
"The "Frisco Pet!" Lord Ronsdale started; his color slightly changed; his lashes drooped over his cold eyes. "He is on board this vessel?"
"Yes; you remember him, my Lord, I dare say?"
"In common with many others," shortly.
"Many of the gentry and t.i.tled cla.s.ses did honor him with their attention, I believe."
"Why," asked Jocelyn, whose blue eyes were fastened very intently on the face of the police agent, "did they call him such a funny name, the "Frisco Pet?"
"Because he"s a yankee bruiser, prize-fighter, or was, before the drink got him," explained Mr. Gillett. "And originally, I believe, he hailed from the land of the free. Some one brought him to London, found out about his "talents" and put him in training. He was a low, ignorant sailor; could scarcely write his own name; but he had biceps and a thick head. Didn"t know when he was whipped. I can see him yet, as he used to look, with his giant shoulders and his swagger as he stepped into the ring. There was no nonsense about him--or his fist; could break a board with that. And how the shouts used to go up; "the pet!" "a quid on the pet!" "ten bob on the stars and stripes!" meaning the costume he wore.
Oh, he was a favorite in Camden Town! But one night he failed them; met some friends from the forecastle of a Yankee trader that had dropped down the Thames. Went into the ring with a stagger added to the swagger.
Well, they took him out unconscious; never was a man worse punished. He never got back to the sawdust, and the sporting gentlemen lost a bright and shining light."
"Broke his heart, I suppose," observed Sir Charles.
"How could that break his heart?" asked the child wonderingly. "I thought when people had their hearts broken--"
"Jocelyn, don"t interrupt!" said the wife of Sir Charles. "Although," to her husband, in a lower tone, "I must confess these details a little tiresome!"