And the incident might have ended there had it not been brought into sharp prominence that evening. Mr. Tagg took the first watch, from eight o"clock to midnight. Under ordinary conditions, Royson, who was free until four in the morning, would have gone to his cabin and slept soundly. But, like many another who pa.s.ses through the great ca.n.a.l for the first time, he could not resist the fascination of the ship"s noiseless, almost stealthy, pa.s.sage through the desert.
After supper, while enjoying a pipe before turning in, he went forward and stood behind the powerful electric lamp fitted in the bows to illumine the narrow water-lane which joins East and West. The broad shaft of light lent a solemn beauty to the bleak wastes on either hand.
In front, the ca.n.a.l"s silvery riband shimmered in magic life. Its nearer ripples formed a glittering corsage for the ship"s tapered stem, and merged into a witches" way of blackness beyond. The red signal of a distant _gare_, or station, or the white gleam of an approaching vessel"s masthead light, shone from the void like low-pitched stars.
Overhead the sky was of deepest blue, its stupendous arch studded with stars of extraordinary radiance, while low on the west could be seen the paler sheen of departing day. At times his wondering eyes fell on some Arab encampment on the neighboring bank, where shrouded figures sat round a fire, and ghostly camels in the background raised ungainly heads and gazed at the ever-mysterious sight of the moving ship.
The marvelous scene was at once intimate and remote. Its distinguishable features had the sense of nearness and actuality of some piece of splendid stagecraft, yet he seemed to be peering not at the rigid outlines of time but rather into the vague, almost terrifying, depths of eternity. And it was a bewildering fact that this glimpse into the portals of the desert was no new thing to him. Though never before had his mortal eyes rested on the far-flung vista, he absorbed its soothing glamour with all the zest of one who came back to a familiar horizon after long sojourn in pent streets and tree-shrouded valleys.
Time and again he strove to shake off this eerie feeling, but it was not to be repelled. He fought against its dominance, and denounced its folly, yet his heart whispered that he was not mistaken, that the majestic silence conveyed some thrilling message which he could not understand. How long he stood there, and how utterly he had yielded to the strange prepossession of his dream, he scarce realized until he heard a soft voice close behind him.
"Is that you, Mr. Royson?" it said, and he was called back from the unknown to find Miss Fenshawe standing near.
"I beg your pardon," he stammered. "I was--so taken up with this--to me--most entrancing experience--"
"That you did not hear my fairy footsteps," she broke in, with a quiet laugh. "Do not apologize for that. I am wearing list slippers, so my ghostlike approach is easily accounted for. And I am really very greatly relieved at having found you at all. I was afraid you had left the ship without my knowledge."
"But how could that be possible, Miss Fenshawe?" he asked, startled out of his reverie by her peculiar phrase.
"Please don"t speak so loudly," she said, dropping her voice almost to a whisper. "I have been looking for you during the past half hour. I came here twice, but you were so wrapped up in shadow that I failed to see you, and I was becoming quite anxious, because one of the men a.s.sured me you were not in your cabin."
d.i.c.k caught a flurried note in her utterance, a strained desire to avoid the semblance of that anxiety which she had just admitted. It puzzled him quite as much as the curious sense of familiarity with his surroundings, a sense which the girl"s unexpected appearance had by no means dispelled. And he was oddly conscious of a breaking away of the social barrier of whose existence she, at least, must have been convinced. The mere whispering together in this lonely part of the ship might account for it, to some extent, so he braced himself for the effort to restore her self-control.
"I came here to have a good look at the desert by night," he said. "You may be sure, Miss Fenshawe, that I had little notion you were searching for me. It was by the merest accident that I was able to stow myself out of sight in this particular locality."
She laughed softly again, and her manner became perceptibly less constrained.
"A big man and a small ship--is that it?" she asked. "Tell me, Mr.
Royson, why did that officer of the Guards call you "King d.i.c.k" on the morning of the carriage accident?"
Had the girl racked her brain for a day to frame a question intended to perplex Royson she could not have hit on one of more penetrating effect. He was astounded not because she had heard Paton"s exclamation, but by reason of the flood of light which her recollection of it at that moment poured on his own wandering thoughts.
"It is a most amazing thing that you should ask me that, Miss Fenshawe," he cried.
"Sh-s-s-h. I have always imagined you to be a man who would smile in the midst of earthquakes, yet here you are quite dazzled by a harmless bit of feminine curiosity. Don"t you wish me to know how you came by that nickname? I suppose it is one?"
"There is no other in whom I would confide so willingly," he said.
"Promise you will not laugh at me if I tell you more than you bargain for."
"What? Is there humor in the story?"
"Let us see. I am hardly a fair judge. At present I am more than mystified. It is easy enough to explain why I was called "King d.i.c.k" at school. That is a mere preface to my romance. One of the cherished traditions of my family is that we are lineal descendants of King Richard the First of England."
"Good gracious!"
"The statement lends itself to disbelief, I admit--"
"Why do you think me disbelieving?"
"Pray forgive me, Miss Fenshawe. I am in doubting mood myself to-night.
At any rate, the lineage of the Roysons has not been disputed during many centuries. Our name is part of our proof, and there has been a Richard Royson a.s.sociated with Westmoreland ever since Coeur-de-Lion returned from Palestine. That is the kind of family a.s.set a boy will brag of. Joined to a certain proficiency in games, it supplies a ready- made nickname. But the wonderful and wholly inexplicable thing is that while I have been standing here, watching our head-light dancing over the desert, the fantastic conceit has invaded my very soul that I share with my kingly ancestor his love of this land, his ambition to accomplish great deeds in its secret places, his contempt and scorn of all opposing influences. Do you remember how he defied a rain of blood which scared his courtiers? One of his friends has placed on record the opinion that if an angel from heaven bade Richard abandon his work he would have answered with a curse. Well, I am poor, and of slight consequence in the world to-day, but at least it has been vouchsafed me to understand what a strong man and a king can feel when there are those who would thwart his will. At present, I am powerless, as little able to give effect to my energies as Richard himself when pent in an Austrian prison, but I do ask that some Blondel shall free me, no matter what the ransom, and that Fate shall set me a task worthy of the man who fought and dreamed and planned empires out there eight centuries ago."
Royson threw back his head, and stretched his right hand toward the desert where lay Jaffa and Jerusalem. He was quite carried away by the magic of the hour. He had brushed aside the cobwebs of society, and spoke to Irene as a gallant and fearless youth might address the maid at whose feet he hoped to lay the trophies gained in winning his knighthood. And she, as might be expected, responded to the pa.s.sionate chord which sounded this challenge to fortune. She, too, forgot convention, for which Heaven be praised!
"You have my prayers for your success," she whispered. "What is more, I believe in you, and that is why I am here now, for I have come to ask you, for my sake and the sake of one whom I love, not to leave this ship until I bid you."
At any other moment such a request must have had a sinister sound.
Coming then, it seemed to be a direct answer to d.i.c.k"s excited appeal to the unseen power that governs men"s lives. He turned and looked into her eyes. She was so near to him that he could see the wondrous light shining in their limpid depths. He felt the fragrance of her presence, the glow of her tender beauty, and she did not shrink from him when he placed a protecting hand on her shoulder.
"You need no promise from me, Miss Fenshawe," he said, with a labored utterance that was wholly unaccountable to him. "Twice already have I refused to leave you, though I have been summoned to England to resume an inheritance wrongfully withheld. We are stubborn, we Richards, and we are loyal, too. It was you, I now believe, who s.n.a.t.c.hed me from misery, almost from despair. Have no fear, therefore, that I shall desert you."
"You have taken a load from my heart," she answered softly. "You are the only man on board In whom I have any real confidence. I fear that my grandfather has been misled, wilfully and shamefully misled, but I am unable to prevent it for lack of proof. But to-night, after dinner, I chanced to overhear a conversation with reference to you which redoubled the doubts I have felt ever since this expedition was decided on. I feel that I must tell you. Baron von Kerber distrusts you because you are a gentleman. He fears you will act as one if you have to choose between his interests and your own honor. And today, since your letter arrived--"
"Yes, ma"am," they heard Captain Stump shout from the bridge, "Miss Fenshawe is forrard, with Mr. Royson. You"ll find it a very pretty sight goin" through the ca.n.a.l on a night like this."
And Mrs. Haxton, hunting the ship for Irene--not to speak of Royson and the girl herself when in calmer mood--may have wondered why Stump should trumpet forth his information as though he wished all on board to hear it. Perhaps it was, as d.i.c.k already well knew, that the stout skipper had good eyesight as well as a kind heart.
CHAPTER VI
AT THE PORTAL
"Why in the world did you hide yourself in this part of the ship, Irene?" cried Mrs. Haxton, advancing with a rapidity that was in marked contrast to her usual languid movements. "I have been searching for you everywhere."
"I have not hidden myself, and you must have missed a rather large section out of your everywhere," said the girl, with a coolness that Royson found admirable.
"But Mr. Fenshawe wants you. He has been vainly awaiting his partner at the bridge table during the past twenty minutes."
"I would never have believed grandfather could be so callous. Play cards here! Where every prospect pleases and only bridge is vile! Let me bring him forth at once. Good night, Mr. Royson! Thank you so much for a nice talk. I think I shall be able now to pa.s.s an examination in the history and geography of the Suez Ca.n.a.l."
d.i.c.k lifted his cap, silently thanking Providence that women were more adroit than men. Mrs. Haxton seemed to take no notice of him. Indeed, she had scarcely spoken to him since they met at Ma.r.s.eilles, and, were he a vain man, such studied neglect on the part of a pretty woman might have supplied food for thought. Yet it is possible that Mrs. Haxton herself would confess to a certain chagrin if she realized how small a place she occupied in his mind as he followed her along the deck. Irene flitted in front, light-limbed and agile, humming gaily a verse of some song, but breaking off in the midst to ask Captain Stump not to be very angry if she brought a party of invaders to his tiny domain. She was young enough, not to feel fluttered by the knowledge that Mrs. Haxton had broken in on a somewhat dangerous interchange of confidences. She knew that she wanted a friend--some one less opinionative than Mr.
Fenshawe--to whom she could appeal for help and guidance when difficulties arose. Royson was already a hero in her eyes, and what more natural than that she should turn to him, especially under the circ.u.mstances which had come to her knowledge that evening? As for d.i.c.k, he fancied that the Suez Ca.n.a.l was one of the roads to Heaven.
Before he climbed into his bunk, however, he re-read Mr. Forbes"s letter, and noticed then that it bore signs of interference, while von Kerber, if he had not opened it, must have jumped to the conclusion that it came from London solely because the stamp was an English one.
Added to Irene"s veiled warning that all was not well on board, this apparent tampering with his correspondence bore an ugly look. It almost suggested that the Baron feared he was what the London inquiry agent had asked him to become--the paid spy of Alfieri. He wondered what hold the Italian had on the man. Now that he was able to examine recent events in perspective, he saw that von Kerber had traveled alone from London with the hope of throwing off his track any one who was watching him--and had failed. It was evident, too, that neither Mr. Fenshawe nor his granddaughter, nor Mrs. Haxton for that matter, took pains to keep their whereabouts unknown, because d.i.c.k had seen an announcement of the _Aphrodite"s_ cruise in a London newspaper brought on board by the pilot. Von Kerber"s name was not mentioned, but the others were described briefly, the reference to Mrs. Haxton being that she was "a _persona grata_ in Anglo-Egyptian society." Why, then, did the Austrian demand such secrecy from the yacht"s crew, and be so perturbed by the advent of a letter addressed to one of them? But Royson"s disposition was far too happy-go-lucky to permit of serious ponderings on other people"s business. He laughed and reddened a little when his mind swung round to the more pleasing memory of the girl"s frank sympathy, and he told himself, with deep and convincing earnestness, that next time they met he must guard his unruly tongue, else it might run away with him again, and find her in less receptive mood.
Then he fell asleep, and slept soundly, too, in blissful ignorance of a conversation then taking place in the chart-house, though it had the most direct bearing on his own future.
For von Kerber had seized the opportunity, when Mr. Fenshawe and the two ladies went below, to draw Stump into private conclave.
"We reach Suez to-morrow, captain," he said, "and that will be our last chance of getting rid of any of the crew whom you think unsuitable."
"That"s so," agreed Stump, "but I can"t say I"ve blacklisted any of "em. The on"y fault I find with "em is that there"s too many hands for the work."
"Ah, you regard them as dependable, yes?"
"Good for any game you like to put before "em," was the brisk summary.