"Well," said Augusta; "it"s a queer sort of message; but I"ll try."
Accordingly, taking little d.i.c.k by the hand, she went across to where the two sailors were sitting outside their hut, and putting on her sweetest smile, first of all asked Mr. Bill if he would mind doing a little tattooing for her. To this Mr. Bill, finding time hang heavy upon his hands, and wishing to be kept out of the temptation of the rum-cask, graciously a.s.sented, saying that he had seen some sharp fish-bones lying about which would be the very thing, though he shook his head at the idea of using gunpowder as the medium. He said it would not do at all well, and then, as though suddenly seized by an inspiration, started off down to the sh.o.r.e.
Then Augusta, as gently and nicely as she could, approached the question with Johnnie, who was sitting with his back against the hut, his battered countenance wearing a peculiarly ill-favored expression, probably owing to the fact that he was suffering from severe pain in his head, as a result of the debauch of the previous night.
Slowly and with great difficulty, for his understanding was none of the clearest, she explained to him what was required; and that it was suggested that he should provide the necessary _corpus vile_ upon which it was proposed that the experiment should be made. When at last he understood what it was asked that he should do, Johnnie"s countenance was a sight to see, and his language was more striking than correct. The upshot of it was, however, that he would see Mr. Meeson collectively, and Mr. Meeson"s various members separately, especially his eyes, somewhere first.
Augusta retreated till his wrath had spent itself, and then once more returned to the charge.
She was sure, she said, that Mr. Johnnie would not mind witnessing the doc.u.ment, if anybody else could be found to submit to the pain of the tattooing. All that would be necessary would be for him to touch the hand of the operator while his (Johnnie"s) name was tattooed as witness to the will. "Well," he said, "I don"t know how as I mind doing that, since it"s you as asked me, Miss, and not the d----d old hulks of a Meeson. I would not lift a finger to save him from "ell Miss, and that"s a fact!"
"Then that is a promise, Mr. Johnnie?" said Augusta, sweetly ignoring the garnishing with which the promise was adorned; and on Mr. Johnnie stating that he looked at it in that light, she returned to Mr. Meeson.
On her way she met Bill, carrying in his hands a loathsome-looking fish, with long feelers and a head like a parrot, in short, a cuttle-fish.
"Now, here"s luck, Miss," said Bill, exultingly; "I saw this gentleman lying down on the beach there this morning. He"s a cuttle, that"s what he is; and I"ll have his ink-bag out of him in a brace of shakes; just the ticket for tattooing, Miss, as good as the best Indian-ink--gunpowder is a fool to it."
By this time they had reached Mr. Meeson, and here the whole matter, including Johnnie"s obstinate refusal to be tattooed was explained to Bill.
"Well," said Augusta at length, "it seems that"s the only thing to be done; but the question is, how to do it? I can only suggest, Mr. Meeson, that the will should be tattooed on you."
"Oh!" said Mr. Meeson, feebly, "on me! Me tattooed like a savage--tattooed with my own will!"
"It wouldn"t be much use, either, governor, begging your pardon," said Bill, "that is, if you are agoing to croak, as you say; "cause where would the will be then? We might skin you with a sharp stone, perhaps, after you"ve done the trick, you know," he added reflectively. "But then we have no salt, so I doubt if you"d keep; and if we set your hide in the sun, I reckon the writing would shrivel up so that all the courts of law in London could not make head or tail of it."
Mr. Meeson groaned loudly, as well he might. These frank remarks would have been trying to any man; much more were they so to this opulent merchant prince, who had always set the highest value on what Bill rudely called his "hide."
"There"s the infant," went on Bill, meditatively. "He"s young and white, and I fancy his top-crust would work wonderful easy; but you"d have to hold him, for I expect that he"d yell proper."
"Yes," said Mr. Meeson; "let the will be tattooed upon the child. He"d be some use that way."
"Yes," said Bill; "and there"d allus be something left to remind me of a very queer time, provided he lives to get out of it, which is doubtful.
Cuttle-ink won"t rub out, I"ll warrant."
"I won"t have d.i.c.k touched," said Augusta, indignantly. "It would frighten the child into fits; and, besides, n.o.body has a right to mark him for life in that way."
"Well, then, there"s about an end of the question," said Bill; "and this gentleman"s money must go wherever it is he don"t want it to."
"No," said Augusta, with a sudden flush, "there is not. Mr. Eustace Meeson was once very kind to me, and rather than he should lose the chance of getting what he ought to have, I--I will be tattooed."
"Well, bust me!" said Bill, with enthusiasm, "bust me! if you ain"t a good-plucked one for a female woman; and if I was that there young man I should make bold to tell you so."
"Yes," said Mr. Meeson, "that is an excellent idea. You are young and strong, and as there is lots of food here, I dare say that you will take a long time to die. You might even live for some months. Let us begin at once. I feel dreadfully weak. I don"t think that I can live through the night, and if I know that I have done all I can to make sure that Eustace gets his own, perhaps dying will be a little easier!"
CHAPTER X.
THE LAST OF MR. MEESON.
Augusta turned from the old man with a gesture of impatience not unmixed with disgust. His selfishness was of an order that revolted her.
"I suppose," she said sharply to Bill, "that I must have this will tattooed upon my shoulders."
"Yes, Miss; that"s it," said Bill. "You see, Miss, one wants s.p.a.ce for a doccymint. If it were a ship or a flag, now, or a fancy pictur of your young man, I might manage it on your arm, but there must be breadth for a legal doccymint, more especially as I should like to make a good job of it while I is about it. I don"t want none of them laryers a-turning up their noses at Bill Jones" tattooing."
"Very well," said Augusta, with an inward sinking of the heart; "I will go and get ready."
Accordingly she adjourned into the hut and removed the body of her dress and turned down the flannel garment underneath it in such a fashion as to leave as much of her neck bare as is to be seen when a lady has on a moderately low dress. Then she came out again, dressed, or rather undressed, for the sacrifice. Meanwhile, Bill had drawn out the ink-bag of the cuttle, had prepared a little round fragment of wood which he sharpened like a pencil by rubbing it against a stone, and had put a keen edge on to a long white fishbone that he had selected.
"Now, Mr. Bill, I am ready," said Augusta, seating herself resolutely upon a flat stone and setting her teeth.
"My word, Miss; but you have a fine pair of shoulders!" said the sailor, contemplating the white expanse with the eye of an artist. "I never had such a bit of material to work on afore. Hang me if it ain"t almost a pity to mark "em! Not but what high-cla.s.s tattooing is an ornimint to anybody, from a Princess down; and in that you are fortunit, Miss, for I larnt tattooing from them as _can_ tattoo, I did."
Augusta bit her lip, and the tears came into her eyes. She was only a woman, and had a woman"s little weakness; and, though she had never appeared in a low dress in her life, she knew that her neck was one of her greatest beauties, and was proud of it. It was hard to think that she would be marked all her life with this ridiculous will--that is, if she escaped--and, what was more, for the benefit of a young man who had no claim upon her at all.
That was what she said to herself; but as she said it, something in her told her that it was not true. Something told her that this young Mr.
Eustace Meeson _had_ a claim upon her--the highest claim that a man could have upon a woman, for the truth must out--she loved him. It seemed to have come home to her quite clearly here in this dreadful desolate place, here in the very shadow of an awful death, that she did love him, truly and deeply. And that being so, she would not have been what she was--a gentle-natured, devoted woman--had she not at heart rejoiced at this opportunity of self-sacrifice, even though that self-sacrifice was of the hardest sort, seeing that it involved what all women hate--the endurance of a ridiculous position. For love can do all things: it can even make its votaries brave ridicule.
"Go on," she said sharply, "and let us get it over as soon as possible."
"Very well, Miss. What is it to be, old gentleman? Cut it short, you know."
""_I leave all my property to Eustace H. Meeson_," that"s as short as I can get it; and, if properly witnessed, I think that it will cover everything," said Mr. Meeson, with a feeble air of triumph. "Anyhow, I never heard of a will that is to carry about two millions being got into nine words before."
Bill poised his fishbone, and, next second, Augusta gave a start and a little shriek, for the operation had begun.
"Never mind, Miss," said Bill, consolingly; "you"ll soon get used to it."
After that Augusta set her teeth and endured in silence, though it really hurt her very much, for Bill was more careful of the artistic effect and the permanence of the work than of the feelings of the subject. _Fiat experimentum in corpore vili_, he would have said had he been conversant with the Cla.s.sics, without much consideration for the _corpus vile_. So he p.r.i.c.ked and dug away with his fishbone, which he dipped continually in the cuttle-ink, and with the sharp piece of wood, till Augusta began to feel perfectly faint.
For three hours the work continued, and at the end of that time the body of the will was finished--for Bill was a rapid worker--being written in medium-sized letters right across her shoulders. But the signatures yet remained to be affixed.
Bill asked her if she would like to let them stand over till the morrow?--but this, although she felt ill with the pain she declined to do. She was marked now, marked with the ineffaceable mark of Bill, so she might as well be marked to some purpose. If she put off the signing of the doc.u.ment till the morrow, it might be too late, Mr. Meeson might be dead, Johnnie might have changed his mind, or a hundred things. So she told them to go on and finish it as quickly as possible, for there was only about two hours more daylight.
Fortunately Mr. Meeson was more or less acquainted with the formalities that are necessary in the execution of a will, namely: that the testator and the two witnesses should all sign in the presence of each other. He also knew that it was sufficient, if, in cases of illness, some third person held the pen between the testator"s fingers and a.s.sisted him to write his name, or even if someone signed for the testator in his presence and by his direction; and, arguing from this knowledge, he came to the conclusion--afterwards justified in the great case of Meeson v.
Addison and Another--that it would be sufficient if he inflicted the first p.r.i.c.k of his signature, and then kept his hand upon Bill"s while the rest was done. This accordingly, he did, clumsily running the point of the sharp bone so deep into the unfortunate Augusta that she fairly shrieked aloud, and then keeping his hand upon the sailor"s arm while he worked in the rest of the signature, "_J. Meeson_." When it was done, the turn of Johnnie came. Johnnie had at length aroused himself to some interest in what was going on, and had stood by watching all the time, since Mr. Meeson having laid his finger upon Augusta"s shoulder, had solemnly declared the writing thereon to be his last will and testament.
As he (Johnnie) could not tattoo, the same process was gone through with reference to his signature, as in the case of Mr. Meeson. Then Bill Jones signed his own name, as the second witness to the will; and just as the light went out of the sky the doc.u.ment was finally executed--the date of the execution being alone omitted. Augusta got up off the flat stone where she had been seated during this torture for something like five hours, and staggering into the hut, threw herself down upon the sail, and went off into a dead faint. It was indeed only by a very strong exercise of the will that she had kept herself from fainting long before.
The next thing she was conscious of was a dreadful smarting in her back, and on opening her eyes found that it was quite dark in the hut. So weary was she, however, that after stretching out her hand to a.s.sure herself that d.i.c.k was safe by her side, she shut her eyes again and went fast asleep. When she woke, the daylight was creeping into the damp and squalid hut, revealing the heavy form of Mr. Meeson tossing to and fro in a troubled slumber on the further side. She got up, feeling dreadfully sore about the back; and, awaking the child, took him out to the stream of water and washed him and herself as well as she could. It was very cold outside; so cold that the child cried, and the rain clouds were coming up fast, so she hurried back to the hut, and, together with d.i.c.k, made her breakfast off some biscuit and some roast penguin"s eggs, which were not at all bad eating. She was indeed, quite weak with hunger, having swallowed no food for many hours, and felt proportionately better after it.
Then she turned to examine the condition of Mr. Meeson. The will had been executed none too soon, for it was evident to her that he was in a very bad way indeed. His face was sunken and hectic with fever, his teeth were chattering, and his talk, though he was now awake, was quite incoherent.
She tried to get him to take some food; but he would swallow nothing but water. Having done all that she could for him, she went out to see the sailors, and met them coming down from the flagstaff. They had evidently been, though not to any great extent, at the rum cask again, for Bill looked sheepish and shaky, while the ill-favored Johnnie was more sulky than ever. She gazed at them reproachfully, and then asked them to collect some more penguin"s eggs, which Johnnie refused point-blank to do, saying that he wasn"t going to collect eggs for landlubbers to eat; she might collect eggs for herself. Bill, however, started on the errand, and in about an hour"s time returned, just as the rain set in in good earnest, bearing six or seven dozen fresh eggs tied up in his coat.
Augusta, with the child by her, sat in the miserable hut attending to Mr.
Meeson; while outside the pitiless rain poured down in a steady unceasing sheet of water that came through the wretched roof in streams. She did her best to keep the dying man dry, but it proved to be almost an impossibility; for even when she succeeded in preventing the wet from falling on him from above, it got underneath him from the reeking floor, while the heavy damp of the air gathered on his garments till they were quite sodden.
As the hours went on his consciousness came back to him, and with it his terror for the end and his remorse for his past life, for alas! the millions he had ama.s.sed could not avail him now.