The other repeated the performance, but beyond seeing that some word of three syllables was indicated the skipper obtained no information.
"You can speak a little louder," he said, somewhat crustily.
"Bigamy!" said George, breathing the word solemnly.
"You?" said the skipper.
George nodded. "And if my first only gets hold of that paper, and sees my phiz and reads my name, I"m done for. There"s my reward for saving a fellow-critter"s life. Seven years."
"I"m surprised at you, George," said the skipper sternly. "Such a good wife as you"ve got too."
"I ain"t saying nothing agin number two," grumbled George. "It"s number one that didn"t suit, I left her eight years ago. She was a bad "un I took a v"y"ge to Australia furst, just to put her out o" my mind a bit, an" I never seed her since. Where am I if she sees all about me in the paper!"
"Is she what you"d call a vindictive woman?" inquired the other.
"Nasty-tempered, I mean."
"Nasty-tempered," echoed the husband of two. "If that woman could only have me put in jail she"d stand on "er "ead for joy."
"Well, I"ll do what I can for you if the worst comes to the worst," said the skipper. "You"d better not say anything about this to anybody else."
"Not me," said George fervently, as he rose, "an" o" course you------"
"You can rely on me," said the skipper in his most stately fashion.
He thought of the seaman"s confidence several times during the evening, and, being somewhat uncertain of the law as to bigamy, sought information from the master of the _Endeavour_ as they sat in the latter"s cabin at a quiet game of cribbage. By virtue of several appearances in the law courts with regard to collisions and spoilt cargoes this gentleman had obtained a knowledge of law which made him a recognized authority from London Bridge to the Nore.
It was a delicate matter for the master of the _John Henry_ to broach, and, with the laudable desire of keeping the hero"s secret, he approached it by a most circuitous route. He began with a burglary, followed with an attempted murder, and finally got on the subject of bigamy, _via_ the "Deceased Wife"s Sister Bill."
"What sort o" bigamy?" inquired the master of the brig.
"Oh, two wives," said Captain Thomsett.
"Yes, yes," said the other, "but are there any mitigating circ.u.mstances in the case, so that you could throw yourself on the mercy o" the court, I mean?"
"_My_ case!" said Thomsett, glaring. "It ain"t for me."
"Oh, no, o" course not," said Captain Stubbs.
"What do you mean by "o" course not"?" de-manded the indignant master of the _John Henry_.
"Your deal," said Captain Stubbs, pushing the cards over to him.
"You haven"t answered my question," said Captain Thomsett, regarding him offensively.
"There"s some questions," said Stubbs slowly, "as is best left unanswered. When you"ve seen as much law as I have, my lad, you"ll know that one of the first principles of English law is, that n.o.body is bound to commit themselves."
"Do you mean to say you think it _is_ me?" bellowed Captain Thomsett.
"I mean to say nothing," said Captain Stubbs, putting his huge hands on the table. "But when a man comes into my cabin and begins to hum an"
haw an" hint at things, and then begins to ask my advice about bigamy, I can"t help thinking. This is a free country, and there"s no law ag"in thinking. Make a clean breast of it, cap"n, an I"ll do what I can for you."
"You"re a blanked fool," said Captain Thomsett wrathfully.
Captain Stubbs shook his head gently, and smiled with infinite patience.
"P"r"aps so," he said modestly. "P"r"aps so; but there"s one thing I can do, and that is, I can read people."
"You can read me, I s"pose?" said Thomsett sneeringly.
"Easy, my lad," said the other, still preserving, though by an obvious effort, his appearance of judicial calm. "I"ve seen your sort before.
One in pertikler I call to mind. He"s doing fourteen years now, pore chap. But you needn"t be alarmed, cap"n. Your secret is safe enough with me."
Captain Thomsett got up and pranced up and down the cabin, but Captain Stubbs remained calm. He had seen _that_ sort before. It was interesting to the student of human nature, and he regarded his visitor with an air of compa.s.sionate interest. Then Captain Thomsett resumed his seat, and, to preserve his own fair fame, betrayed that of George.
"I knew it was either you, or somebody your kind "art was interested in," said the discomfited Stubbs, as they resumed the interrupted game.
"You can"t help your face, cap"n. When you was thinking about that pore chap"s danger it was working with emotion. It misled me, I own it, but it ain"t often I meet such a feeling "art as yours."
Captain Thomsett, his eyes glowing affection-ately, gripped his friend"s hand, and in the course of the game listened to an exposition of the law relating to bigamy of a most masterly and complicated nature, seasoned with anecdotes calculated to make the hardiest of men pause on the brink of matrimony and think seriously of their position.
"Suppose this woman comes aboard after pore George," said Thomsett.
"What"s the best thing to be done?"
"The first thing," said Captain Stubbs, "is to gain time. Put her off."
"Off the ship, d"ye mean?" inquired the other.
"No, no," said the jurist. "Pretend he"s ill and can"t see anybody. By gum, I"ve got it."
He slapped the table with his open hand, and regarded the other triumphantly.
"Let him turn into his bunk and pretend to be dead," he continued, in a voice trembling with pride at his strategy. "It"s pretty dark down your fo"c"sle, I know. Don"t have no light down there, and tell him to keep quiet."
Captain Thomsett"s eyes shone, but with a qualified admiration.
"Ain"t it somewhat sudden?" he demurred.
Captain Stubbs regarded him with a look of supreme artfulness, and slowly closed one eye.
"He got a chill going in the water," he said quietly.
"Well, you"re a masterpiece," said Thomsett ungrudgingly. "I will say this of you, you"re a masterpiece. Mind this is all to be kept quite secret."
"Make your mind easy," said the eminent jurist.
"If I told all I know there"s a good many men in this river as "ud be doing time at the present moment."
Captain Thomsett expressed his pleasure at this information, and, having tried in vain to obtain a few of their names, even going so far as to suggest some, looked at the clock, and, shaking hands, departed to his own ship. Captain Stubbs, left to himself, finished his pipe and retired to rest; and his mate, who had been lying in the adjoining bunk during the consultation, vainly trying to get to sleep, scratched his head, and tried to think of a little strategy himself. He had glimmerings of it before he fell asleep, but when he awoke next morning it flashed before him in all the fulness of its matured beauty.
He went on deck smiling, and, leaning his arms on the side, gazed contemplatively at George, who was sitting on the deck listening darkly to the cook as that worthy read aloud from a newspaper.