Lingard put a restraining hand for a moment on his chief officer"s shoulder, and moved forward smartly. Shaw followed, puzzled. The rapid exchange of incomprehensible words thrown backward and forward through the shadows of the brig"s main deck from his captain to the lookout man and back again, made him feel sadly out of it, somehow.
Lingard had called out sharply--"What do you see?" The answer direct and quick was--"I hear, Tuan. I hear oars."
"Whereabouts?"
"The night is all around us. I hear them near."
"Port or starboard?"
There was a short delay in answer this time. On the quarter-deck, under the p.o.o.p, bare feet shuffled. Somebody coughed. At last the voice forward said doubtfully:
"Kanan."
"Call the serang, Mr. Shaw," said Lingard, calmly, "and have the hands turned up. They are all lying about the decks. Look sharp now. There"s something near us. It"s annoying to be caught like this," he added in a vexed tone.
He crossed over to the starboard side, and stood listening, one hand grasping the royal back-stay, his ear turned to the sea, but he could hear nothing from there. The quarter-deck was filled with subdued sounds. Suddenly, a long, shrill whistle soared, reverberated loudly amongst the flat surfaces of motionless sails, and gradually grew faint as if the sound had escaped and gone away, running upon the water. Haji Wasub was on deck and ready to carry out the white man"s commands. Then silence fell again on the brig, until Shaw spoke quietly.
"I am going forward now, sir, with the tindal. We"re all at stations."
"Aye, Mr. Shaw. Very good. Mind they don"t board you--but I can hear nothing. Not a sound. It can"t be much."
"The fellow has been dreaming, no doubt. I have good ears, too, and--"
He went forward and the end of his sentence was lost in an indistinct growl. Lingard stood attentive. One by one the three seacannies off duty appeared on the p.o.o.p and busied themselves around a big chest that stood by the side of the cabin companion. A rattle and clink of steel weapons turned out on the deck was heard, but the men did not even whisper.
Lingard peered steadily into the night, then shook his head.
"Serang!" he called, half aloud.
The spare old man ran up the ladder so smartly that his bony feet did not seem to touch the steps. He stood by his commander, his hands behind his back; a figure indistinct but straight as an arrow.
"Who was looking out?" asked Lingard.
"Badroon, the Bugis," said Wasub, in his crisp, jerky manner.
"I can hear nothing. Badroon heard the noise in his mind."
"The night hides the boat."
"Have you seen it?"
"Yes, Tuan. Small boat. Before sunset. By the land. Now coming here--near. Badroon heard him."
"Why didn"t you report it, then?" asked Lingard, sharply.
"Malim spoke. He said: "Nothing there," while I could see. How could I know what was in his mind or yours, Tuan?"
"Do you hear anything now?"
"No. They stopped now. Perhaps lost the ship--who knows? Perhaps afraid--"
"Well!" muttered Lingard, moving his feet uneasily. "I believe you lie.
What kind of boat?"
"White men"s boat. A four-men boat, I think. Small. Tuan, I hear him now! There!"
He stretched his arm straight out, pointing abeam for a time, then his arm fell slowly.
"Coming this way," he added with decision.
From forward Shaw called out in a startled tone:
"Something on the water, sir! Broad on this bow!"
"All right!" called back Lingard.
A lump of blacker darkness floated into his view. From it came over the water English words--deliberate, reaching him one by one; as if each had made its own difficult way through the profound stillness of the night.
"What--ship--is--that--pray?"
"English brig," answered Lingard, after a short moment of hesitation.
"A brig! I thought you were something bigger," went on the voice from the sea with a tinge of disappointment in its deliberate tone. "I am coming alongside--if--you--please."
"No! you don"t!" called Lingard back, sharply. The leisurely drawl of the invisible speaker seemed to him offensive, and woke up a hostile feeling. "No! you don"t if you care for your boat. Where do you spring from? Who are you--anyhow? How many of you are there in that boat?"
After these emphatic questions there was an interval of silence. During that time the shape of the boat became a little more distinct. She must have carried some way on her yet, for she loomed up bigger and nearly abreast of where Lingard stood, before the self-possessed voice was heard again:
"I will show you."
Then, after another short pause, the voice said, less loud but very plain:
"Strike on the gunwale. Strike hard, John!" and suddenly a blue light blazed out, illuminating with a livid flame a round patch in the night. In the smoke and splutter of that ghastly halo appeared a white, four-oared gig with five men sitting in her in a row. Their heads were turned toward the brig with a strong expression of curiosity on their faces, which, in this glare, brilliant and sinister, took on a deathlike aspect and resembled the faces of interested corpses. Then the bowman dropped into the water the light he held above his head and the darkness, rushing back at the boat, swallowed it with a loud and angry hiss.
"Five of us," said the composed voice out of the night that seemed now darker than before. "Four hands and myself. We belong to a yacht--a British yacht--"
"Come on board!" shouted Lingard. "Why didn"t you speak at once? I thought you might have been some masquerading Dutchmen from a dodging gunboat."
"Do I speak like a blamed Dutchman? Pull a stroke, boys--oars! Tend bow, John."
The boat came alongside with a gentle knock, and a man"s shape began to climb at once up the brig"s side with a kind of ponderous agility. It poised itself for a moment on the rail to say down into the boat--"Sheer off a little, boys," then jumped on deck with a thud, and said to Shaw who was coming aft: "Good evening . . . Captain, sir?"
"No. On the p.o.o.p!" growled Shaw.
"Come up here. Come up," called Lingard, impatiently.
The Malays had left their stations and stood cl.u.s.tered by the mainmast in a silent group. Not a word was spoken on the brig"s decks, while the stranger made his way to the waiting captain. Lingard saw approaching him a short, dapper man, who touched his cap and repeated his greeting in a cool drawl:
"Good evening. . . Captain, sir?"