359
 
 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD
 
 "Feel my pulse now, before you go," the pseudo-doctor's 
 patient commanded.
 
 THE 
 WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 BY 
 
 HUDSON DOUGLAS 
 
 AUTHOR OF " A MILLION A MINUTE," 
 "THE LANTERN OF LUCK," ETC. 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 
 1912
 
 Copyright, 1912, 
 BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. 
 
 All rights reserved, including those of translation into 
 foreign languages, including the Scandinavian 
 
 Published, September, 1912 
 
 THE COLONIAL PRESS 
 C. H. 8IMOND8 A CO., BOSTON, U. 8. A.
 
 FOR 
 ISOBEL MY WIFE 
 
 AND 
 OUR DAUGHTER ISOBEL 
 
 2135217
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. A TROPICAL DISCUSSION i 
 
 II. " DUTCH COURAGE " n 
 
 III. EL PARISH 18 
 
 IV. THE MASQUE OF DEATH 28 
 
 V. AFLOAT AND ASHORE 38 
 
 VI. HOBSON'S CHOICE 51 
 
 VII. THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 64 
 
 VIII. UNMASKED . 80 
 
 DC. AN OVERDRAFT ON THE FUTURE ... 91 
 
 X. THE GODDESS OF CHANCE 107 
 
 XI. A FOOL AND HIS FORTUNE 119 
 
 XII. THE PRICE OF FREEDOM 130 
 
 XIII. A MASTERSTROKE 143 
 
 XIV. " SALLIE HARRIS " 156 
 
 XV. THE LAW AND THE PROFITS .... 169 
 
 XVI. " PLEASURES AND PALACES " 184 
 
 XVII. THE MAN IN POSSESSION 195 
 
 XVIII. THE LOSER 205 
 
 XIX. THE WINNER 217 
 
 XX. BEGGAR - MY - NEIGHBOUR . . . . .232 
 
 XXI. THE JURA SUCCESSION 243 
 
 XXII. THE PARTY OF THE FIRST PART . . . 259
 
 vm 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 XXIII. A NEW IDEA . 271 
 
 XXIV. BY RIGHT OF PURCHASE . 280 
 
 XXV. THE WHITE LADY 
 
 XXVI. A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH 
 
 XXVII. DEBIT AND CREDIT . 
 
 XXVIII. ISHMAEL'S HERITAGE 
 XXIX. 
 XXX. 
 
 . . 295 
 
 . 306 
 
 . 3 20 
 
 - 332 
 
 PRIDE'S PRICE .....-,. 342 
 
 THE TENTH EARL 350 
 
 XXXI. " AT THE END OF THE PASSAGE " 
 
 353
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 " FEEL MY PULSE NOW, BEFORE YOU GO," THE PSEUDO- 
 DOCTOR'S PATIENT COMMANDED. (See page 32) Frontispiece 
 
 PAGE 
 
 " You WON'T FORGET," HE URGED, GRAVE AGAIN . . 89 
 SOMETHING VERY LIKE FEAR LOOKED OUT OF HIS EYES . 258 
 
 SHE TOUCHED WITH HER LIPS THE BACK OF THE TOIL- 
 STAINED HAND 322
 
 The White Blackbird 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 A TROPICAL DISCUSSION 
 
 " *W 'D far rather beg in the gutter than marry you, 
 
 Jasper! " flashed the girl, at last goaded past all 
 
 patience. Her clouded, indignant eyes expressed 
 
 both contempt and aversion for the young man leaning over 
 
 the deck-rail beside her. 
 
 He was still a young man as years go and in spite of the 
 grey streaks in his dark hair, the crow's-feet above his cheek- 
 bones; more than passably good-looking, too, with his 
 regular profile and straight, spare, athletic figure, though 
 his sleepy eyes were a trifle close-set and more than a trifle 
 untrustworthy, though the black moustache he was twirl- 
 ing with a long, thin, almost womanish hand hid a cruel, 
 selfish mouth. 
 
 In his smart white yachting-suit and panama, lounging 
 over the sun-dried teak taffrail with his knees crossed, he 
 seemed to be neither oppressed by the tropical heat nor 
 impressed at all by anything that his companion could say. 
 
 " I'd far rather beg in the gutter," she repeated, as if to 
 settle the matter. And the emphasis with which she spoke 
 showed that she meant what she said. 
 
 " But that doesn't make any difference, my dear
 
 2 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 Sallie," he once more answered, displaying his white, even 
 teeth in a slight, amused smile. " You're going to marry me 
 just the same. And you may as well make up your mind 
 right away that it will pay you best to be pleasant 
 about it 
 
 " Captain Dove has come to the point at last," he went 
 on to explain condescendingly, in the same cool, careless, 
 conversational tone, a tone which, however, could not 
 quite hide the ugly determination behind it. " You've 
 upset him for good and all this time. He's aching to get 
 rid of you now. In fact, he's cursing himself that he didn't 
 - when he might have made more out of the deal. And, 
 anyhow, he's promised you to me." 
 
 The girl's slim, shapely body had suddenly stiffened. 
 She started up and away from him with a gesture of blind 
 repulsion. Her pure, proud, sensitive face showed the 
 struggle that was going on in her mind between fear and 
 hope; quick fear that what he had just said might be true, 
 slow hope that he had been lying to her again. 
 
 He had turned on one elbow with a lazy air of inex- 
 haustible tolerance, that he might the more conveniently 
 follow her with his greedy glance. He was apparently quite 
 sure of himself and her. At any rate, he was openly 
 gloating over her beauty hi her distress while she stood 
 gazing in dire dismay about the shabby, unkempt little 
 steamer which was all the home she had in the world, all 
 the home she had ever had except for a few forgotten years 
 of her childhood. 
 
 Its name, on a life-buoy triced to the rusty netting be- 
 tween the rails, was the Olive Branch, but its port of regis- 
 try had been painted out. It rode deep although it was 
 decked after the old-fashioned switchback design and had
 
 A TROPICAL DISCUSSION 3 
 
 no cargo on board. Its squat, inconspicuous smokestack 
 helped to give it a somewhat nefarious air. 
 
 About its ill-kept, untidy decks there were very few signs 
 of life and none at all of luxury. Under a tattered canvas 
 sun-screen on the fo'c'sle-head a ragged deck hand was on 
 the look-out, his scorched face expressive of anything but 
 contentment with his circumstances. He shifted frequently 
 from one bare, blistered foot to the other; it was impossible 
 to stand still for long, with the deck-plates as hot as any 
 frying-pan on a brisk fire. 
 
 On the bridge, the officer of the watch was pacing to and 
 fro. Every time he turned on his beat beneath the dirty, 
 weather-worn awning he paused to dart a suspicious, ex- 
 pectant glance at the double hatchway which led to the 
 crew's quarters, forward. The open wheel-house behind 
 him was occupied only by the quartermaster on duty. 
 The remainder of the watch on deck were nowhere 
 visible. 
 
 Through the heat-haze to starboard the blurred outline 
 of the low-lying African coast was dimly discernible. Sea- 
 ward, ahead, and astern, the long, oily swell that the North- 
 east Trades never reach blazed like molten metal under 
 the almost vertical afternoon sun. Except for the lonely 
 little grey steamer wallowing sluggishly northward through 
 it, the world of water was empty to the horizon. 
 
 A poignant sense of her own no less forlorn plight there 
 stirred the girl to glance round at her companion, as if in 
 helpless appeal. 
 
 " You don't really mean what you said, do you, 
 Jasper? " she asked, with a very pitiful inflection in her 
 low, musical voice. 
 
 " Every word," he answered her promptly. " If
 
 4 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 you don't believe me, go down and ask Captain 
 Dove." 
 
 She turned away from him again, to hide the effect of his 
 curt reply. But her drooping shoulders no doubt betrayed 
 that to him. He pulled out a cigar-case and, having lighted 
 a rank cheroot with languid deliberation, puffed that con- 
 templatively. 
 
 V. " I will go down and ask Captain Dove," she said to her- 
 self at length, with tremulous courage, and was moving 
 toward the companion-hatch when she heard from the other 
 end of the ship a sudden ominous discord, a sound such as 
 might have come from a nest ofj hornets about to swarm. 
 There seemed to be something wrong forward; and she 
 faced about again, instantly. 
 
 Peering through the hurtful sunshftie with anxious eyes, 
 her scarlet lips compressed and resolute, she saw that the 
 look-out had turned on his half-baked feet to stare from the 
 fo'c'sle into the well-deck behind him. The officer of the 
 watch had ceased his regular march and countermarch, 
 and was also gazing downward in that direction. Even her 
 self-confident companion had started up from his idle pos- 
 ture, in obvious alarm. 
 
 A figure darted up one of the two ladders which led to the 
 bridge. The officer of the watch had left his post by the 
 other at the same moment, as if to avoid the newcomer, 
 and was making his way aft, unhurriedly, yet at speed. 
 He did not look back, but she was aware of other figures 
 which also had appeared in a moment from nowhere, and 
 were following him on tiptoe, under cover where it could 
 be had. Once, a flash, as of flame, amidships, almost forced 
 from her lips a wild cry of warning, but that was only a 
 glint of sun on a gun-barrel where the browning had worn
 
 A TROPICAL DISCUSSION 5 
 
 away and left the steel bright. And he, seemingly unaware 
 of the danger behind him, reached the poop unharmed, a 
 big, fair, bluff-looking, broad-shouldered man in shabby 
 blue sea-uniform. 
 
 At the foot of the narrow stairway by which alone access 
 could be had to the poop, he called softly up to the girl at the 
 rail above, " They'll be at our throats in a minute, Sallie. 
 Get you away below, quick and warn the Old Man." 
 
 At the top of the steps he stopped, and turned, and 
 stayed there, blocking the stairway with his great body. 
 And the armed ruffians swarming aft in his wake slackened 
 their pace, then hung back about the hatch on the deck 
 below. But each had a finger crooked on the trigger of a 
 ready rifle. The simplest word or motion misplaced at that 
 first moment of crisis must have precipitated the murder 
 that was to be. 
 
 The girl had obeyed him promptly, if without appear- 
 ance of haste and, once out of sight of the mutineers, there 
 was no need to study her steps. She darted across the 
 dim, daintily appointed saloon below and, having knocked 
 imperatively at one of the two doors on that side of the 
 ship entered, without waiting for any permission, the 
 stateroom it opened into. 
 
 " The men have broken out, Captain Dove," she cried, 
 breathless a little, her bosom heaving. " They're coming 
 aft there isn't a moment to spare. What are we to do? " 
 
 In the berth behind the curtains some one was moving. 
 The room was practically in darkness, since the open port 
 was also screened, to shut out the searching sun. But, in 
 spite of all such precautions, the heat was almost unbear- 
 able. 
 
 The curtains parted slightly and from their opening a
 
 6 
 
 face peered out at her, the blandly benevolent face of a mild- 
 looking, white-haired old man who, at a casual glance, 
 might perhaps have passed for a clergyman or a missionary. 
 
 But in an instant a most disconcerting change came over 
 his features. Some dormant devil seemed to have wakened 
 within him and was glaring out at the girl from behind evil, 
 red-rimmed eyes. His appearance then might have fright- 
 ened a man away. But she stood her gr ound undismayed. 
 
 No less suddenly he broke into a torrent of fierce abuse, 
 freely interspersed with blood-curdling, old-fashioned oaths. 
 And that was only stemmed by a frantic paroxysm of 
 coughing which left a crimson froth about the white 
 stubble upon his chin. He fell back into the gloom behind 
 the curtains, as if he would choke. 
 
 The girl hurriedly filled a glass with water from a carafe 
 on a rack at one side of the room, pulled the curtains apart, 
 and held it to the sick man's lips. He sipped at it and then 
 struck it away so that most of its contents spilled on her 
 skirts. 
 
 "Would you poison me now, you witch! " he gasped, 
 and then, regaining his voice a little, " Ambrizette," he 
 called weakly, with a quavering imprecation, " brandy. 
 Bring me the bottle. Your mistress has poisoned me." 
 
 A coloured woman, stunted, misshapen, almost incon- 
 ceivably ugly, came shambling in with a bottle, which he 
 snatched eagerly from her and set to his lips, while she 
 made off again, in very evident dread of him. The colour 
 came back to his face, and at last he laid it aside, with a 
 sigh of relief. 
 
 " The men have broken out, have they? " he muttered, 
 half to himself. " And you come to me to ask what's to 
 be done! " He glowered down at one of his arms which
 
 A TROPICAL DISCUSSION 7 
 
 lay across his chest in a sling and tightly bandaged. His 
 voice once more became venomous. " It's your fault that 
 I'm lying here," he snarled. " You and your bully Yoxall 
 have taken charge of my ship between you. Why don't 
 the two of you tackle them? What the Seven Stars d'ye 
 think I care now whether you sink or swim! " 
 
 She turned away from him with a little, tired, hopeless 
 gesture. 
 
 " I don't care very much, either, now," she answered, 
 dully, " what happens to me. But it's you they're 
 after, Captain Dove, and there isn't a moment to spare. 
 They've got the guns up already." 
 
 The old man was plucking with feverish fingers at the 
 fine lace counterpane which covered him. He made an 
 effort to rise, but lay back again with a groan. 
 
 " They've got the guns up, have they! " he growled, deep 
 down in his throat, with a most horrid effect. " Then one 
 of the mates at least must be standing in with them 
 the mutinous dogs! And since it's come to settling old 
 scores, I'm ready; I'll settle all with them before we go 
 any farther." His eyes were sunken with sickness and he 
 was so weak that he could scarcely move, but his spirit 
 seemed to be altogether unquenchable. 
 
 " I'm going to settle with them now," he declared, " and 
 don't you interfere again, Sallie. I've stood all I'm 
 going to stand from you, too. You've got to fancy your- 
 self far too much, my girl ! Listen here! Next time I have 
 to talk to you, it'll be with that," - he pointed to a heavy 
 kourbash of hippopotamus-hide hanging from a hook on 
 the panelling, " and, by all that's holy! if I've to begin, 
 I'll lace you from head to heel with it as I should have 
 done long ago."
 
 8 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 The girl shrank as if he had actually struck her with it. 
 She knew he was even capable of carrying out that threat. 
 
 " Where's Jasper Slyne? " he demanded, in a low whis- 
 per, almost exhausted. 
 
 " On deck, above, with Reuben Yoxall," she told him. 
 
 " Send him down here to me. I must get up out o' this. 
 To-day's Sunday, isn't it? What was our position at 
 noon? " 
 
 She told him exactly, at once, and he seemed content to 
 rely on her nautical knowledge. He nodded, as if satisfied. 
 
 " That's all right. Off you go now. And don't forget 
 what I've said to you. Tell Slyne to look sharp and 
 stand the men off somehow till I get on deck," he snapped, 
 as she hurried away. 
 
 She did not know what might have happened overhead 
 while she had been below, and heaved a heartfelt sigh of 
 relief as, gaining the open air again, she saw that the two 
 men she had left there were still at the rail, unharmed. 
 Only one of them looked round as she approached, and it 
 was to him she spoke. 
 
 " Captain Dove wants you in a hurry, Jasper," she said, 
 and he went below in his turn, not altogether unwill- 
 ingly. 
 
 As he disappeared behind her, she glanced down at the 
 main-deck alive with armed men, as evil-looking a crowd 
 as could be recruited from the purlieus of Hell's Kitchen 
 or crimped from the Hole-m-the-Wall. The flush on her 
 face died away. 
 
 " What are they waiting for, Rube? " she whispered to 
 the big man at the top of the steps, whose steady glance 
 seemed to have such a repressive effect on them. 
 
 " Sunset, I suppose," he answered in a low tone. " If
 
 A TROPICAL DISCUSSION 9 
 
 no one crosses them, they'll maybe wait till it's dark before 
 they begin. Better go below again, Sallie." 
 
 She shook her head and said " No," aloud, since he was 
 not looking at her. And he did not urge that precaution. 
 The sun was already nearing the steamy horizon. 
 
 The sullen, lowering looks of the ill-favoured assemblage 
 about the hatch foretold the fate which threatened her and 
 him. 
 
 " But they won't shoot you, Sallie," he said, giving voice 
 to his only fear in a shaky whisper, his soul in his honest 
 eyes as he glanced wretchedly round at her. 
 
 She laid a clenched hand on the rail and opened it slightly. 
 " Don't worry about me, Rube," she whispered back, very 
 matter of fact, while he gazed as if fascinated at 'the thin 
 blue phial, with its red danger-label, resting in her rosy 
 palm. " I always carry a key that will unlock the last gate 
 of all. So there's no need to worry about me. I just 
 wish you'd say you forgive me all the trouble I've brought 
 on you." 
 
 " There's nothing to forgive, lass," he asserted stolidly, 
 and, looking away again as though her appealing regard 
 had hurt him, was taken with a gulping in the throat. 
 
 Two or three of the mutineers had begun to knock loose 
 the wedges securing the tarpaulin cover of the after-hatch, 
 through which alone access to the ship's magazine was to 
 be had. 
 
 " There's no use in trying to stop them at that," he said, 
 as if to himself. " It's only a matter of minutes now, I sup- 
 pose. And " 
 
 " Dutch courage is cheap enough," said a contemptu- 
 ous, sneering voice in the background, and the sound of 
 shuffling footsteps succeeded it. The men on the main-deck
 
 10 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 were gazing past him, handling their rifles, muttering 
 hoarsely, moving to get more elbow-room. The girl beside 
 him had turned at the words, but he kept his eyes stead- 
 fastly on the foremost of the fermenting, murderous rabble 
 below.
 
 * DUTCH COURAGE 
 
 CAPTAIN DOVE had come up on deck, and was 
 standing by the companion-hatch, drawing diffi- 
 cult breaths, swaying to the rise and sink of the 
 ship on the long, slow, ceaseless swell. 
 
 He had only a greatcoat secured by a single button about 
 his shoulders over his night-dress, and on his feet an old 
 pair of carpet slippers. Sallie darted a blazing glance of 
 indignation at Jasper Slyne who, instead of helping the 
 sick old man, seemed only bent on aggravating him with 
 his evil tongue. 
 
 "You coward!" she cried at that immaculate gentle- 
 man, and would have gone to the old man's aid but that he 
 angrily waved her also aside as he tottered forward, chang- 
 ing his scowl by the way to that sleek, benevolent smile 
 which he could always assume at his pleasure. 
 
 A slow silence followed on the low, suspicious rumble of 
 voices with which the mutineers had greeted his most un- 
 expected appearance. They had, of course, supposed him 
 physically incapable of further interference with them and 
 their plans. But, as it was, he did not look very danger- 
 ous in his grotesque dishabille. 
 
 As he reached the rail, Reuben Yoxall stepped to one 
 side, touching his cap in his customary salute. Slyne had 
 halted a couple of paces behind, and Sallie, too, had drawn 
 back. Captain Dove stood alone at the top of the stairway,
 
 12 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 in the forefront of the little group there, and looked contem- 
 platively down at the men who, he knew very well, would 
 listen to no appeal of his for his life. From his placid, be- 
 nign demeanour then he might have been inspecting a 
 Sunday-school. 
 
 His features were in themselves of an unctuous cast, 
 smooth, flat, snub-nosed, clean-shaven as a rule, except for 
 a straggling fringe of whisker. His white hair and weak, 
 winking eyes added to his smugly sanctimonious expres- 
 sion. He was squat of build, unduly short in the legs and 
 long of arm. And, altogether, he cut no very dashing figure 
 in his ridiculous garments, one sleeve of his coat hanging 
 limp and empty, the arm that should have filled it lying 
 across his chest in a sling, his chin disfigured by a week's 
 growth of stubble, his whiskers all unkempt. 
 
 But it had never been by his gallant presence that he had 
 held to heel the cutthroats who composed his crew, and, 
 even then, when they had him before them helpless, a cer- 
 tain target for their loaded rifles, not one of them seized the 
 immediate opportunity. 
 
 He steadied himself with his free hand on the rail of the 
 narrow stairway, and so stepped downward among them. 
 Still no one else moved. It may have been that his almost 
 inhuman daring daunted them in spite of themselves. But 
 Sallie, in the background, was holding her breath. She 
 knew he was courting a bloody death, and feared he would 
 meet it there, before her shrinking eyes. That tragedy and 
 all its unspeakable consequences were literally hanging on 
 a hair-trigger. 
 
 He reached the level below, still smiling blandly, and, 
 letting go the rail, shuffled forward, slowly but steadily 
 enough, his slippers flapping at his heels with ludicrous
 
 " DUTCH COURAGE " 13 
 
 effect. Two or three of the men confronting him stepped 
 to one side, gave him free passage into the throng, and 
 closed in again behind him. He took no notice of anyone, 
 but held on his way till he reached the ladder which led 
 from the break of the poop to the quarter-deck. 
 
 He climbed that at his leisure, panting a little, his back 
 toward them. They had faced about and were following 
 his every movement with malevolent eyes. A single shot 
 would have made a quick end of him, but no shot was fired. 
 And, at the top of the ladder, he turned to speak. 
 
 " I'll send Mr. Hobson aft to issue your ammunition," 
 he said, in a voice without any tremor of weakness. " Get 
 two full bandoliers, each of you, and then file forward again 
 while the others come aft for theirs." 
 
 And with that, leaving them to their own reflections, 
 agape, absolutely dumfounded by his audacity, he made 
 his way up on to the bridge, the skirts of his night-dress 
 fluttering from under the shorter length of his heavy coat. 
 
 They fell to whispering among themselves, excited and 
 distrustful. They had only a few loose rounds for their 
 rifles, and Captain Dove alone knew how the ship's maga- 
 zine might safely be entered. It would undoubtedly have 
 cost some of them their lives to force that secret. No one 
 of them would be willing to sacrifice himself for the common 
 cause, and Captain Dove's unlooked-for concession of their 
 chief need had no doubt mystified them altogether. 
 
 Hobson, the second mate, came aft a few minutes later, 
 a beetle-browed, foxy-looking fellow, with a furtive smile 
 of encouragement for his accomplices. At a sign from him 
 they unshipped the hatches. He disappeared into the hold, 
 a bunch of keys dangling from one wrist, and presently 
 shouted up some order, in terms much more polite than he
 
 14 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 had lately been in the habit of using, to them at least. A 
 chain of living links was promptly formed from the maga- 
 zine, and packed bandoliers, passed rapidly from hand to 
 hand, soon reached its farther end. The men grinned mean- 
 ingly at each other as they slung the web belts crosswise 
 over their shoulders. For with these they were still more 
 absolutely masters of the situation. 
 
 Reuben Yoxall, back at his dangerous post by the stair- 
 way, was watching them no less narrowly than before. It 
 seemed the sheerest madness on Captain Dove's part to 
 have disclosed to their ringleader the secret of the maga- 
 zine, and no one could tell at what moment they might now 
 assume the offensive. The sun was already dipping behind 
 the sea-rim. 
 
 " We've changed our course," Sallie said to him in a 
 puzzled whisper, and he nodded silently. The Olive Branch 
 was heading inshore. The outline of the coast had grown 
 clearer under the last of the evening light. Here and there 
 against its smudgy-brown background showed dark green 
 blots that were mangroves or clumps of palm. A thin, 
 white ribbon of surf was distinctly visible on the distant 
 beach. 
 
 Captain Dove was at the starboard extremity of the 
 bridge, his binoculars at his eyes. He laid them down, 
 and pointed out to the third mate, at his elbow, some land- 
 mark directly ahead. Then he climbed carefully down to 
 the quarter-deck and began to make his way aft again. 
 Behind him, rifles in hand, came creeping another strong 
 contingent of his strangely numerous crew. Half a dozen 
 of those nearest him had drawn and fixed the long sword- 
 bayonet each wore at his hip. 
 
 The old man in greatcoat and slippers paused at the
 
 15 
 
 after-rail of the quarter-deck. The bayonets were almost 
 at his shoulder blades. But the three anxious onlookers 
 aft could not even warn him of that additional danger, to 
 which he seemed quite oblivious. 
 
 The crowd at tha open hatch looked round at him, as of 
 one accord, and the bulk turned on their heels towards him, 
 but a few remained facing the three still, silent figures on 
 the poop. Sunset and ths final instant of crisis had come 
 together. 
 
 From among the men grouped about the hatch one 
 stepped forward, as if to speak. Captain Dove held up his 
 hand and the fellow hesitated, with bent brows. A quick, 
 angry growl arose from among his neighbours. But Captain 
 Dove was not to be hurried. He cleared his throat and spat 
 indifferently into the scuppers. 
 
 " I've a little job ashore for you lads to-night," he said 
 then, in a tone audible to all, " a job that'll fill our empty 
 pockets properly if it's properly carried out. We haven't 
 been so lucky of late that we can afford to lay off just yet. 
 What money there is on board means no more than a few 
 dollars apiece, share and share alike. I know where I can 
 lay my hands on a thousand at least for each of us. If you 
 think that's worth your while, get away forward now to your 
 supper; the others are coming aft for their ammunition." 
 
 He ceased abruptly, and for a moment no one answered 
 him or made any move. He had succeeded in raising their 
 curiosity, and so gained some trifling respite at least for 
 himself. They were turning over in their dense minds, how- 
 ever suspiciously, this new and plausible suggestion of his. 
 
 It was no news that there was very little money on board, 
 .and they were of a class which always can be led to grasp 
 at the shadow if that looks larger to them than the sub-
 
 16 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 stance itself. They hesitated and they were lost. Cap- 
 tain Dove had descended among them, and as if the subject 
 were closed, was pushing his way through the gathering 
 with a good-humoured, masterful, " Get forward. Get 
 away forward, now." 
 
 And they gave way again before him, apparently forget- 
 ful of their purpose there, quite willing, since they held 
 the power securely in their own hands, to await the out- 
 come of one more night. In the morning, and rich, as he 
 promised, or no worse off if his promise failed, they could 
 just as conveniently close their account with him. As the 
 others came crowding aft, those already possessed of ban- 
 doliers began to file forward, exchanging rough jokes with 
 their fellows. 
 
 Captain Dove addressed a parting remark to them from 
 the poop. " We won't be going ashore till midnight," said 
 he, " and I must get some sleep or I won't be fit for the work 
 we've to do there. I'm sick enough as it is. Get that hatch- 
 cover on again as soon as you can, and keep to your own end 
 of the ship till the time comes. I'll send you forward a 
 hogshead of rum to help it along." 
 
 " A y, ay, sir," a voice answered him cheerily from out of 
 the gathering darkness, and Sallie saw that he almost smiled 
 to himself as he staggered toward the companion-hatch. 
 
 There he would have fallen, spent, but that she, at his 
 shoulder, caught hold of him and held him up till Slyne 
 came to her assistance. And they together got him safely 
 below. 
 
 " Gimme brandy," he gasped, as he lay limply back in 
 the chair on which they had set him. His lips were white. 
 His overworked heart had almost failed him under the 
 strain he had put on it.
 
 " DUTCH COURAGE " 17 
 
 The stimulant still served its purpose, however. He sat 
 up again, revived. 
 
 " But that was an uncommon close call! " he commented, 
 half to himself. " I felt blind-sure I'd have a bayonet 
 through my back before I could play my last card. And I 
 didn't believe I'd win out even with that. But here I am, 
 and " He turned to the girl at his side, 
 
 " Don't stand there idling, Sallie," he ordered queru- 
 lously, " when there's so much to be done. Tell Ambrizette 
 to bring me a bull's-eye lantern. Go up and see if the decks 
 are clear yet. Send Reuben Yoxall down to me as soon as 
 they are. And then get ready for going ashore. You'll 
 have to wear something that won't be seen but take a 
 couple of Arab cloaks in a bundle with you as well." 
 
 At that Jasper Slyne spoke, divided between doubt and 
 anger. 
 
 " What devilment have you in your mind now, Dove? " 
 he demanded. " You surely don't mean to You told 
 me yourself that there's nothing but dangerous desert 
 ashore here." 
 
 " Never you mind what I mean to do, Mister Slyne," 
 Captain Dove answered him with a gratified grin, picking 
 up the brandy bottle again. " When I want any advice 
 from you, I'll let you know. And, if I ever ask you again 
 to help me into my clothes, you'll maybe be more obliging 
 next time. 
 
 " Dutch courage is cheap enough, Mister Slyne," said 
 the old man tauntingly. " So I'm going ashore, into the 
 dangerous desert, in a few minutes, with Sallie. But 
 there's nothing you need be afraid of, for you're going to 
 stay safe on board,"
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 EL PARISH 
 
 ON the stealthy-looking little grey steamship at anchor 
 under the obscure stars not even a riding-light was 
 visible. But she was close to the desolate coast, 
 well out of the way of all respectable traffic. And a solitary 
 figure, squatted in the bows, pipe in mouth, pannikin of rum 
 within easy reach, was keeping a perfunctory anchor- watch, 
 staring idly seaward so that he saw nothing of a tiny light 
 which flashed three times from the shore in belated response 
 to a similar signal from a screened port in the poop-cabin. 
 
 But for him, the decks were deserted. From the crew's 
 quarters came frequent outbursts of ribald talk and uproari- 
 ous laughter, the odour of food, the clank and clatter of 
 tin-ware empty or full. The crew were at supper and satis- 
 fied for the present. 
 
 From the companion-hatch on the poop four soundless 
 shadows emerged. Two of them were carrying cautiously 
 a long, flat fabric which they in a moment or two converted 
 into a fourteen-foot canvas boat. These two lowered that 
 overside. One of the others, a bundle in hand, slipped easily 
 down into it by means of a rope made fast to a stanchion. 
 The last, cursing under his breath, was helped over the rail, 
 with one foot in a loop of the same line, by the two remain- 
 ing on deck. 
 
 Sallie, safely seated in the cockleshell below, laid a pair
 
 EL PARISH 19 
 
 of muffled oars in the rowlocks and pushed quietly off from 
 under the dripping overhang of the ship. Captain Dove, 
 crouching in its stern, whispered curt directions to her. 
 She could just see Reuben Yoxall and Jasper Slyne standing 
 side by side at the steamer's taffrail, and then the black 
 bulk of the Olive Branch became merged in the blacker 
 water. 
 
 Once out of earshot of the ship, she set to rowing in ear- 
 nest, a strong, steady stroke, like one well accustomed to 
 that exercise; and Captain Dove, with an eye cocked at a 
 helpful star twinkling dimly through the heat-haze, kept her 
 heading straight for the shore. The boom of the breakers 
 soon began to grow louder, but, even when it had become 
 almost deafening, she did not look round. They had got 
 into broken water and it was taking her all her time to 
 handle the oars. 
 
 She was breathless and all but exhausted before they 
 at length shot dizzily out of the wild turmoil of the surf 
 into a tranquil, land-locked lagoon, concealed from seaward 
 by a long sand-spit, which served it as a breakwater in such 
 smooth weather. 
 
 " Way enough," said the old man gruffly, and, as Sallie 
 shipped her oars, the light craft lost speed. Presently, its 
 prow took the sand, and at last they were free of the omi- 
 nous, phosphorescent black fins which had followed them 
 from where they had left the ship. 
 
 " Strike a match," ordered Captain Dove, and held out a 
 stump of candle. " Light this and stick it on the gunwale. 
 Now, on with your cloak and hood and lend me a hand 
 with mine." 
 
 The tiny flame at her elbow burned steadily enough in 
 the still night, while Sallie was slipping on over her dark
 
 20 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 dress the white robe he had bidden her bring with her. As 
 soon as she had hooded her head and drawn the veil well 
 over her features, she turned to help him. She was smooth- 
 ing the crumpled burnous about his shoulders while he 
 tugged irritably at it with his only available hand, grum- 
 bling at her in a low monotone, when she heard a sudden 
 splashing behind her and, glancing round, saw a number of 
 other white-robed figures wading out through the shallows 
 towards the boat and its flickering light. Captain Dove 
 took their coming as a matter of course, and she sat down 
 again silently, though that cost her a great effort. It was 
 unspeakably eerie there, in the very heart of a darkness that 
 seemed to be whispering hints of such horrors as only exist 
 in the dark. 
 
 The old man exchanged a few low words in doggerel 
 Arabic with the strangers. Two of them, tall, brown, fierce- 
 faced fellows, slung over their shoulders the long guns with 
 which they were armed, stooped and lifted Sallie lightly up, 
 carried her to the shore dry-shod. She was still shivering 
 nervously when two more deposited Captain Dove at her 
 side, and then the canvas boat was brought high and dry. 
 At a curt remark from him a makeshift litter was formed of 
 four rifles and, seated on that, he was carried away as if he 
 had been a mere featherweight, Sallie following close be- 
 hind on foot, uncomfortably conscious of the shadows at 
 her own shoulders. 
 
 It was hard work for her in the darkness and ankle-deep 
 in the soft, loose sand at every step, although his bearers 
 made little enough of their burden. But farther on the 
 footing grew firmer, and then they came to a rough, trodden 
 path. 
 
 That led them to the still darker mouth of a narrow de-
 
 EL PARISH 21 
 
 file between two low, rocky bluffs, and from the summit 
 of one of these there suddenly rang a harsh challenge. It 
 was answered at once by their escort, and they went 
 on without pause through that pitch-black, crooked passage 
 with its invisible, whispering guard, until, emerging at an 
 unexpected turn from its landward outlet, a most astonish- 
 ing panorama presented itself to the girl's startled 
 eyes. 
 
 Within a titanic natural amphitheatre formed by the rock- 
 ridge which, except for the cleft they had entered by, en- 
 closed it completely, there had been pitched an encamp- 
 ment that occupied its entire arena. Everywhere there 
 were dry desert fires, burning redly, with little flame, and 
 the vault of heaven overhead was like some vast crimson 
 dome reflecting a light whose effect was weird and unreal 
 to the last degree. Sallie, gazing about her with lips a little 
 apart behind her veil, could scarcely convince herself that 
 she was not dreaming. 
 
 In the foreground, on one side of the wide way which 
 led straight to the heart of the camp, there were picketed 
 rows upon rows of whinnying horses, and on the other al- 
 most as many restless mehari camels, among which a num- 
 ber of negroes, presumably slaves, were briskly at work. 
 Past these was a wide, open space, at whose other edge 
 stood a flagpole from which a great green flag with a 
 golden harp on it fluttered and flapped in the red^firelight 
 on the first of the evening breeze. Under that was a group 
 of men, all in flowing garments, one seated in state, the 
 others standing about him. A dozen paces behind them a 
 white pavilion that seemed rose-pink, with a heavily cur- 
 tained porch, occupied a roomy, level expanse by itself. 
 Surrounding and encircling it on three sides, but at a re-
 
 22 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 spectful distance, stretching as far back as the foot of the 
 steep rock-rampart which hemmed them in, was ranged an 
 orderly assemblage of horsehair tents, whose inhabitants, 
 loose-robed men, swart women, and half -naked children, 
 were all very busy about them in the open air. Everywhere 
 there was life and bustle. . . . 
 
 Beneath the searching rays of the sun it would all, no 
 doubt, have appeared travel-stained and sordid and tawdry 
 to a degree. But the desert night and the dim stars brood- 
 ing above it had imbued it with all their own magic and 
 mystery. 
 
 Captain Dove's carriers strode forward with him and set 
 him carefully on his feet before the green flag, under which, 
 on a great gilt chair, sat one who was evidently their chief, 
 a man in the very prime of life and still younger yet than 
 his years. Sallie eyed him over her veil with anxious inter- 
 est. The group behind his chair was regarding her with no 
 less curiosity. The attention of the multitude among the 
 tents had been attracted to the new arrivals, and many in- 
 quisitive onlookers, more women than men, were beginning 
 to gather about the boundaries of the area sacred to their 
 Emir and his officers. 
 
 That dignitary got hastily up and came forward. He 
 was tall and stalwart on foot, a fine figure of a man even in 
 his loose, shapeless garments, with a bronzed, hook-nosed, 
 handsome face of his own, a heavy moustache, the brooding, 
 patient, predatory eyes of a desert vulture. And, as he 
 confronted Captain Dove, over whom he seemed to tower 
 threateningly, the hood of the selham slipped on to his 
 shoulders, disclosing a flaming shock of red hair. 
 
 " At last! " he said, after a long time, in the difficult voice 
 of one amazed almost beyond words. The muscles of his
 
 EL PARISH 23 
 
 lean, brown face were working visibly. His eyes had be- 
 come inflamed, his fingers were twitching. 
 
 " At last! " he said again, as if finally convinced in spite 
 of himself, and licked his lips. 
 
 But Captain Dove met his wickedest glance unwink- 
 ingly, and made him no answer at all. 
 
 For a moment longer they two stood gazing thus at each 
 other, the onlookers silent and still. And then the big man's 
 blazing eyes shifted to the face of the girl at Captain Dove's 
 elbow. Sallie's veil had slipped to her chin, but she had 
 been unconscious of that till then. She pulled it up across 
 the bridge of her nose again hastily. The red-haired Emir's 
 scowl had relaxed ; he was scanning her with a very differ- 
 ent expression to that he had shown Captain Dove, but one 
 which alarmed her no less. 
 
 He turned to the group behind him and, at a word, it 
 melted away. The onlookers in the distance also went about 
 their own business again. A black slave-boy came stagger- 
 ing forward with a heavy chair, and set that down side by 
 side with the other there. Captain Dove seated himself at 
 once, without ceremony. 
 
 The Emir, biting his lip, followed suit, and sat for a time 
 sunk in his own reflections. He seemed to have mastered 
 for the moment his first almost overwhelming impulse at 
 sight of that venerable-looking adventurer, and had evi- 
 dently some other and much more pleasant idea in his mind. 
 
 " That's a high-stepping filly you've brought with you," 
 said he at length in a puzzled tone, and glanced round at 
 Sallie again. She was standing at Captain Dove's other 
 shoulder, her head bent, her hands clasped before her, in 
 helpless, patient suspense. Captain Dove had gruffly in- 
 formed her, before they had left the ship, that she would be
 
 24 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 perfectly safe in his company, but even his own safety 
 seemed to be hanging on a very slender thread. 
 
 " I wonder, now," the Emir went on, " if it's to seek trade 
 that you've come ashore here again after all these 
 years." His face once more darkened, as if over some recol- 
 lection that rankled sorely, but which he was doing his best 
 to dismiss from his thoughts in the meantime. 
 
 " I've some trifles in hand that might interest you if it is 
 trade you're after," said he, speaking amicably with an 
 effort, " such truck as gold-dust, and jewels, and silk - 
 and ivory, too, galore." 
 
 The black boy had come back with an unwieldy tray of 
 a dull yellow metal on which were set two cool, moist, 
 earthenware chatties and a couple of uncouth drinking-cups. 
 Captain Dove, with unerring instinct, laid his hand on the 
 flagon which held strong drink, poured out for himself a 
 liberal helping of the sticky magia it contained, and swal- 
 lowed that off without a word. After the Emir had also 
 helped himself the boy would have carried the tray away, 
 but Captain Dove bade him set it down and dealt him an 
 indignant cuff, so that he fled empty-handed, with an an- 
 guished yelp. 
 
 " It wasn't exactly to pay you a polite call that I came 
 ashore to this God-forsaken hole, Parish," the old man at 
 last remarked, with uncompromising frankness. " The 
 fact of the matter is I'm in a bit of a bog just now. And 
 I've come to get you to give me a hand out of ft if your 
 price isn't too high for me to pay." 
 
 The Emir stared at him, open-mouthed. 
 
 " You were always the bold one, Captain Brown," said 
 he, reminiscently, after a lengthy interval, " but this beats 
 all! And it's to the man you set ashore here, alone, long
 
 EL PARISH 25 
 
 years ago, to die in the desert like a mad dog, that you come 
 demanding a hand to get you out of a bit of a bog! You've 
 surely forgotten " 
 
 /' I'm not one who forgets," Captain Dove interrupted 
 sourly. " And you'll maybe remember, since you think it's 
 worth while to hark back to such old stories, that I didn't 
 shoot you down at once, as I might have done for dis- 
 obedience of orders. I gave you a chance for your life, 
 anyhow. And you've made a very good thing out of it. 
 You've risen in the world, Parish, since you were the second 
 mate of the old Per de Lance and I was Captain John 
 Bunyan Brown. I'm Captain Dove now, by the way." 
 
 " And how did you know who it was would be here to- 
 night? " the soi-disant Emir demanded, turning it all over 
 in his own mind. 
 
 " The Spaniards at the Rio de Oro told me, when I called 
 in there the other day, that they were expecting the Emir 
 El Parish shortly, from this direction, and, of course, I 
 pricked up my ears at the name. I asked a few simple ques- 
 tions about him, and it didn't lake a great deal of brain- 
 power to figure out that the famous Emir was just my old 
 second mate turned land pirate on his own account. They 
 wanted me to wait on the chance of a cargo from your 
 caravan, but I had other fish to fry at the time. 
 
 "Then, coming up the coast, I caught sight of your 
 smoke from the steamer's bridge at least I judged it would 
 be yours. I reckoned you'd be camping here, you see, and, 
 when you answered my signal, I was quite sure. So 
 I'm in a bit of a bog, as I told you. And it'll pay you to 
 give me a hand out of it if your price isn't too high." 
 
 ' The price that you'll have to pay for my help you can 
 guess now without my telling you," returned the Emir in a
 
 26 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 muffled whisper, and nodded meaningly over his shoulder. 
 " And you'll find me a fair man to deal with, so long as you 
 deal fairly by me." 
 
 Captain Dove signified his comprehension by means of a 
 non-committal grunt. He stooped down and helped himself 
 awkwardly to another drink before making any other an- 
 swer. 
 
 " But you've got a wife already," he whispered back, 
 at a shrewd guess, as he sat up again, smiling blandly. 
 
 " I won't have her long, poor thing! " said the other, 
 some tinge of real regret in his tone. " And I'll miss her, 
 too, when she's gone, let me tell you." He sat silent for a 
 moment, musing, and then, " 'Twas a notable revenge that 
 I took on them-alll " he muttered darkly. " But I'll miss 
 her for herself as well after all these years. 
 
 " It's the desert has killed her," he said, pulling at his 
 moustache. " I've had a doctor-fellow with her for a while 
 past I saved him out of an exploring party we cut up 
 near Jebado. 'Twas nearly three weeks ago he told me she 
 hadn't a month to live. The sand's got into her lungs, he 
 says and I've promised to shovel him into a sand-pit 
 alive the day she dies, to see how he likes the sand in his 
 own lungs, the useless scum! " 
 
 He sighed stormily, and then seemed to bethink himself 
 again of the girl listening behind. In answer to a call of 
 his, in a caressing voice, there came from the big tent in the 
 background a woman, veiled as Sallie was but clad in silk 
 instead of cotton, who bowed submissively to what he had 
 to say to her and then held out a slender, bloodless, burning 
 hand to Sallie. 
 
 " Go with her," ordered Captain Dove. " You'll be all 
 right. I'll shout for you when I want you again."
 
 EL PARISH 27 
 
 And Sallie, glad so to escape from the Emir's glance, 
 went willingly enough. It would not have helped her in 
 any way then to disobey Captain Dove. But her hand, 
 within the other woman's, was as cold as ice.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE MASQUE OF DEATH 
 
 THEY passed together through the curtained porch of 
 the pavilion, and Sallie looked about her with blink- 
 ing eyes as the Emir's wife led her toward a long, 
 low, cushioned divan, with a tall screen of black carved 
 ebony behind it, which stood in one of the corners formed by 
 the partitions within. 
 
 The entire interior of the tent was brilliantly lighted by 
 many lamps of a dull yellow metal, swung from under the 
 billowy silken ceiling. Underfoot were carpets and rugs 
 of the most costly, chosen with taste. The inner divisions 
 seemed almost solid behind their heavy hangings of em- 
 broidery and filigree work. About the couch in the corner 
 were grouped a number of languorous women slaves, all 
 very richly dressed. The whole effect was one of barbaric 
 splendour and luxury. 
 
 Her women crossed their arms on their breasts and bowed 
 before the Emir's wife, their golden bangles jingling. She 
 drew Sallie down on the couch beside her and waved them 
 away. They backed into another corner with heads still 
 bent, but stealing furtive glances at the fair stranger. 
 Sallie had let her veil fall; the heat was stifling. 
 
 The Emir's wife laid a hand on her heart and panted, as 
 if she had been running. A hectic flush had coloured 
 her sunken cheeks. Sallie saw that she must once have 
 been a very good-looking girl.
 
 THE MASQUE OF DEATH 29 
 
 " How did you come to our camp? " she asked, suppress- 
 ing with a great effort the cough her labouring chest could 
 scarcely contain. " Is there another caravan near, or 
 a ship? " 
 
 " A ship," Sallie answered gently, forgetting all her own 
 urgent troubles in quick compassion for that poor soul. 
 And the dying girl's feverish eyes grew suddenly eager. 
 
 " A ship! " she repeated breathlessly, and for a moment 
 or two seemed to be searching Sallie's expressively pitiful 
 features for some further information, which she found 
 there. The anxiety in her eyes changed to appeal, and then 
 certainty. 
 
 " You'll help me," she whispered. " I know you will." 
 And she began to cough. 
 
 Two or three of her women came running forward to offer 
 her such first aid as lay in their power. Another had hur- 
 ried off through a curtained doorway which led inward, and 
 promptly returned, followed by two enormous negroes, 
 vile-looking rascals, each wearing a scanty tunic of leopard- 
 skins which hung from one shoulder and did not reach to 
 his -knees, with a broad waist-belt which also served to 
 contain a short, heavy scimitar, in a metal scabbard. Be- 
 tween them walked a man, a white man to judge by his 
 hands, since his head was completely masked in a hood of 
 coarse scarlet cotton, with only a couple of careless eyelet- 
 holes and a rough round mouth cut in it. He was dressed 
 in a worn drill tunic and riding-breeches and pigskin put- 
 tees, and carried himself, a thin, limber, muscular figure, 
 with careless ease. 
 
 Sallie took him to be that doctor of whom the Emir had 
 spoken, and shuddered at thought of the dreadful death 
 with which the Emir had threatened him. His guards'
 
 30 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 cruel faces grew still more watchful and grim as he hastened, 
 limping a little, toward the couch, while they were still 
 saluting its occupant. 
 
 Sallie had risen from it and was standing with one arm 
 about the other girl's heaving shoulders, adjusting her veil. 
 The cough had ceased again, but its victim had not yet 
 recovered her voice. The man in the mask glanced most 
 unhappily at her and then at Sallie. But it was not concern 
 on his own account that his steady grey eyes expressed. 
 
 He was about to speak, when the Emir's wife held up a 
 thin, transparent hand. " Wait," she begged weakly. 
 " There is so little time and my strength - 
 
 He pulled a glass tube from one of his pockets and gave 
 her a tabloid. She swallowed it down, with a mouthful of 
 water, indifferently, but it soon did her good. She signed 
 her women aside, and looked imploringly up at Sallie. 
 
 " I can't live through another night," she said, " and 
 neither will this man, unless you help me to help him. You 
 will do that, won't you? He's an Englishman a doctor 
 he has done all he possibly could for me and I cannot 
 die while I know that his life hangs on mine. It's too hor- 
 rible " 
 
 Sallie sat down again and clasped the wasted, writhing 
 body closely to her in her strong, young arms. 
 
 "I'll do all I possibly can to help him," she promised in a 
 quick whisper. The grey eyes behind the horrible scarlet 
 hood had seemed to say that they would not hold her re- 
 sponsible for any promise given to lighten that poor crea- 
 ture's last hours. And the Emir's wife lay back against 
 her shoulder with an exhausted sob of relief. 
 
 " I'm really an American," said a pleasant and very 
 grateful voice from behind the mask which was gazing down
 
 THE MASQUE OF DEATH 31 
 
 at them so inscrutably now, " and no doctor at all." He 
 was speaking to Sallie ; the Emir's wife was still gasping 
 for breath. " But you can see for yourself how 
 very harmful this nervous excitement must be to 
 her." 
 
 " We must humour her whatever may happen," his 
 glance seemed to add, and Sallie nodded in quick under- 
 standing and sympathy. 
 
 She had been wondering what she, so helpless and uncer- 
 tain herself, could possibly do to reassure the dying girl and 
 help the man who was doomed. 
 
 " If I could get back on board the ship," she said some- 
 what uncertainly, in answer to the appealing look with 
 which the Emir's wife was once more regarding her, " I 
 would bring or send a boat ashore " 
 
 The other girl's wan face displayed renewed life and ani- 
 mation. 
 
 " Soon after midnight," she whispered eagerly. " You 
 must give me till then to do my part. But soon after mid- 
 night he will be waiting beyond the outermost of the guards 
 at the shore-end of the ravine which leads from our camp. 
 He'll be wearing that woman's cloak and veil, and carrying 
 a bucket I sometimes send her to the beach for sea-water 
 to bathe my feet." She pointed to one of her slaves, but 
 at that the man in the mask intervened. 
 
 " I couldn't do that. Your husband would : 
 
 She held up a hand again, and he said no more, only 
 shaking his head. He seemed to have forgotten that she 
 was not to be contradicted. 
 
 " The woman is mine," said the Emir's wife, " and my 
 husband will not hurt a hair of her head while she obeys me. 
 He has sworn that on the Cross. He will keep his oath
 
 32 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 and you have my word as well that she shall come to no 
 harm. You need have no scruples, then! " 
 
 She looked impatiently up at the scarlet mask bending 
 over her, not to be satisfied until it bowed in submission 
 to her authority there. But Sallie could read in the stead- 
 fast grey eyes behind it a dumb determination that the 
 slave girl should run no such risk, and she did not think it 
 needful at that moment to say anything about the other 
 difficulties to be overcome. She had promised that she 
 would do all she possibly could to help the man in the mask, 
 and believed she could help him best in the meantime by 
 keeping her own troubles to herself. 
 
 She did not even know as yet what Captain Dove's im- 
 mediate intentions toward her were, or whether she herself 
 would ever see the Olive Branch again. But she would 
 know before very long, and it would be time enough then to 
 explain her own plight. 
 
 " Feel my pulse now, before you go," the pseudo-doctor's 
 patient commanded, and he did so, drawing out his watch, 
 while she continued to plan for his flight. 
 
 " I'll send for you again before midnight," she said rap- 
 idly, for his guards had begun to show signs of unrest as 
 his visit grew more prolonged, " and you must bring your - 
 your " She tapped her chest, very tenderly, with her 
 free hand. 
 
 " Stethoscope? " he suggested, and she nodded quickly. 
 
 " You'll come in your cloak it will be cold then. My 
 women will draw a screen about us. As soon as you are 
 safely behind it, slip off your shoes and gaiters while they 
 are changing your cloak and hood. There will not be a mo- 
 ment to spare. And now you must go." 
 
 He released her wrist and stood upright again.
 
 THE MASQUE OF DEATH 33 
 
 " I shall come whenever you send for me, of course," he 
 assured her soothingly, although his eyes, meeting Sallie's 
 for an instant, betrayed the stubborn will behind them. 
 " And I'm far more grateful than I can express for your 
 good-will toward me. So now you'll rest quietly, won't 
 you? And try not to worry needlessly about anything at 
 all. You're not afraid, I know. And neither am I." 
 
 He bowed to them both in his hideous hood, and went 
 back to his scowling guards. 
 
 The Emir's dying wife lay very quietly in Sallie's arms 
 for some time after he had gone. She was quite exhausted 
 again. Her women, in a group at a little distance, were 
 watching with jealous eyes the fair stranger who had sup- 
 planted them with such ease. The only sounds that broke 
 the silence were the sick girl's laboured breathing, the occa- 
 sional hoarse, angry rumble of Captain Dove's voice out- 
 side. Sallie was listening anxiously for that. She could 
 hear no word of what he said, but she wanted to be quite 
 sure that he was still there. It was not her own fate alone 
 that now depended on what these strangely dragging 
 minutes should bring to pass. 
 
 " Lay me back on the cushions now," begged the girl in 
 her arms. " I feel better in every way. And tell me 
 how you came here, in the nick of time. I'm so thankful 
 but you know that, and I mustn't talk too much, I have 
 so little strength left, and 
 
 " Who is that shouting? " 
 
 " It's Captain Dove," Sallie answered in haste. " He 
 brought me here. I must go to him now, but I'll come back 
 before " She had no time to say more, for Captain Dove 
 had called her again, in a very angry voice. 
 
 He was shaking his only available fist impotently at the
 
 34 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 high heavens when she stepped timidly out from under 
 the curtained porch of the tent. 
 
 She hesitated, but for no more than a moment, and then, 
 drawing her veil closer, went on across the sand, with beat- 
 ing heart. 
 
 " You called me, Captain Dove? " she said, as she 
 stopped at the old man's shoulder. And he ceased blas- 
 pheming to glare round at her as though she had been some 
 intrusive stranger, his face very puffed and repulsive in the 
 red firelight. 
 
 He did not answer at once, but reached again for the 
 earthenware flagon. It was lying on its side empty, for 
 she had tipped it over with a stealthy foot. 
 
 His angry glance grew darker with suspicion, but her eyes 
 were downcast. 
 
 " Come round in front," he ordered harshly, and she had 
 once more to submit herself to the Emir's appraising glance. 
 
 He and Captain Dove had still much to say to each other, 
 too, while she stood patiently there, like a slave for sale. 
 They fell to arguing with much heat some point in dispute 
 between them, an argument she could not follow since they 
 were speaking some jargon of Arabic strange to her. But 
 she knew very well that it was about her they were wran- 
 gling, and a cold fear clutched cruelly at her heart. 
 
 At last, however, the Emir appeared to give in to his 
 visitor, and Captain Dove, after a final ineffectual snatch 
 at the flagon, got on to his feet, since even that hint seemed 
 to be thrown away on his host. 
 
 " We'll get off to the ship again," he said in English, and 
 Sallie could almost have cried aloud in relief from such sore 
 suspense. 
 
 " May I go back to the tent just for a minute to say
 
 THE MASQUE OF DEATH 35 
 
 good-bye? " she begged in a breathless whisper, and turned 
 and ran. 
 
 The Emir's wife glanced eagerly up at her as she reap- 
 peared. 
 
 " I'm going back on board now," Sallie told her with 
 shining eyes, which suddenly grew dim as she thought of 
 the other girl's loneliness there. She sank on her knees 
 beside the couch, and the Emir's wife, leaning forward, 
 slipped a frail arm about her neck; and so they two, sisters 
 in trouble, kissed each other good-bye for all time. 
 
 " You'll be sure to send the boat soon after mid- 
 night? " the other asked, but with no shadow of doubt in 
 her low, weak tones. 
 
 " I'll come myself, if I possibly can," Sallie promised, 
 " and, if not, I'll send a safe friend soon after midnight." 
 
 As she was rising, she saw on her bosom a little locket 
 which hung from a thin gold chain. She lifted a hand to 
 it, and hesitated uncertainly. 
 
 " It's all I have in the world that's my own," said the 
 Emir's wife in a pleading whisper, " all I can offer you but 
 my empty thanks. I'd like to think to-night that you will 
 sometimes remember me. Will you not keep it, for my 
 sake? " 
 
 " I'll wear it always I'll never forget you and oh! 
 I'm so sorry that I must go," cried Sallie, sorely distressed, 
 and had to hurry away without more words. Captain Dove 
 had twice called her. There were tears in her eyes as she 
 ran back across the sand to where, under the green flag, 
 he was wrathful ly waiting for her, and she scarcely heard 
 his harsh order to hurry up. 
 
 Some of the Emir's men had come forward with a couple 
 of litters. She seated herself in one, although she would
 
 36 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 much rather have walked, and, as soon as Captain Dove 
 was ready, they were carried off, the Emir shouting a vale- 
 dictory message to the old man. 
 
 " You keep your bargain and I'll keep mine," Captain 
 Dove called back, and snorted contemptuously. 
 
 " That damned fellow talks to me as if I had been his 
 second mate! " he commented, and snorted again. 
 
 From the mouth of the dark defile which led toward the 
 shore, Sallie looked back over one shoulder, almost as an 
 escaped prisoner might, at the bizarre, fantastic scene the 
 still camp made in that strange crimson light. And the 
 big, red-haired Emir standing motionless under his great 
 green flag, whose fluttering folds seen from that distance 
 seemed of the colour of blood, waved a hand to her ere she 
 disappeared. 
 
 She shivered, instinctively. She had been dumbly afraid 
 of the man, and that although she was possessed of a cour- 
 age such as could look grim death itself in the empty eye- 
 holes and smile. She was correspondingly thankful when, 
 the gorge and its sentinels safely behind her, she found her- 
 self once more facing the open sea. 
 
 Captain Dove's carriers set him down alongside the boat, 
 lying high and dry on the sands where they had left it. 
 Having set it afloat, they lifted him carefully into it, and her 
 also. A few shallow yards from the shore, she slipped off 
 her white cloak and head- covering at an order from the old 
 man, and so set to rowing again. 
 
 Once, one of her oars touched some invisible body swim- 
 ming parallel with the boat, and a lightning-like flash of 
 phosphorus showed a curved black fin that darted to a 
 little distance and then turned back toward them. It was 
 risky work crossing the bar, but both she and Captain Dove
 
 THE MASQUE OF DEATH 37 
 
 knew just what they were about, and presently they shot 
 free of the surf into comparative safety. 
 
 " Starboard a little," he told her then, and ten or twelve 
 minutes' pulling took them back to the Olive Branch, which 
 he must have found by sheer instinct, since the ship was 
 showing no lights. 
 
 They approached it almost soundlessly from astern, so 
 that the sleepy look-out on the fo'c'sle-head neither heard 
 nor saw them. For even the stars were invisible then 
 through the curtain of vapour overhanging the coast. 
 
 Reuben Yoxall, the mate, was awaiting them at the poop- 
 rail. He threw Sallie a line, and running to the companion- 
 hatch, called Jasper Slyne up from the little saloon below. 
 The two of them hoisted Captain Dove up the side, and 
 after him Sallie, as light and agile as any- boy. The canvas 
 boat was easily got to the rail, folded flat and returned to 
 its hiding-place. 
 
 Sallie stayed on deck, and Yoxall was not long in rejoin- 
 ing her there. Slyne and Captain Dove had sat down to 
 a leisurely supper below. The plup! of a cork popping in 
 the saloon broke the silence just before seven bells struck. 
 They had half an hour yet till midnight.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 AFLOAT AND ASHORE 
 
 WHO'S that, Rube? there, by the hatch," whis- 
 pered Sallie, and pointed to where a pair of 
 white eyeballs had been uncannily visible for a 
 moment and then disappeared. She was nervous and over- 
 wrought in the midst of so many uncertainties. 
 
 Yoxall had stepped quickly in front of her. He caught 
 sight of a shadow crawling away in the dark on the deck 
 below. 
 
 " One of the niggers," he told her, and turned. " He's 
 come scouting aft more than once while you were ashore. 
 Most of the men are asleep, I suppose, but there are sure to 
 be some standing guard they won't run any risk of being 
 caught napping by Captain Dove." 
 
 She fell into step with him again, and presently, pacing 
 the poop at his side, slipped an arm into one of his. He 
 shivered a little. 
 
 " Aren't you feeling all right? " she asked anxiously. 
 " You're not going to have fever, are you? " 
 
 " No, lass," he answered at once. " Not much! I'm all 
 right, of course. It would never do for me to fall sick now, 
 would it? " 
 
 " It would be the last straw! " she agreed, and shivered 
 also. For she was counting on him in case the worst should 
 come to the worst.
 
 AFLOAT AND ASHORE 39 
 
 " I don't know what I'd do without you, Rube," she said. 
 And the big Englishman blushed like any boy as she peered 
 up into his face. " You're the only real friend I have in the 
 world. If it weren't for you I'd be quite desperate; I'm 
 so unhappy here now." 
 
 Reuben Yoxall pressed the arm that lay within his, and 
 gulped. " Then why won't you come away out of it, 
 Sallie? " he asked in a husky voice he could scarcely con- 
 trol. " It wouldn't be so very difficult if Captain Dove 
 just manages to keep the men in hand till we make some 
 port. And we must call somewhere soon, for we're short of 
 coal. 
 
 " I have some money laid by I'll work harder than ever 
 for you. There's a snug little farm in Cumberland that one 
 of these days will be mine, and till then the old folk would 
 make you and me more than welcome there." He was 
 speaking very quickly, bent on making the most of that 
 unusual opportunity. 
 
 " I'm not much of a man, I know," he went on, " but 
 such as I am, I'm yours. And I'll always be yours, to do 
 whatever you like with. You might come to care more for 
 me, Sallie, if you knew me better. Will you not try? Just 
 give me the chance/and I'll soon have you safely out of the 
 Old Man's clutches. But so long as you insist on 
 sticking to him, I can't do any more for you than I'm 
 doing." 
 
 Her eyes grew dim as she thought of the dog-like devo- 
 tion which he had shown her, although she had so often told 
 him that she could never repay it as he would have 
 liked. 
 
 " I wish I could, Rube," she assured him again, " but 
 I can't. I'm not ungrateful, and I hate to hurt you, but
 
 40 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 I just can't. And you wouldn't want me to sell myself - 
 even for a home and a husband, would you, Rube? I'll 
 never marry anyone. Jasper Slyne says that Captain 
 Dove's going to give me to him but he doesn't know. . . . 
 And I'm not afraid." 
 
 Reuben Yoxall sighed, very softly. But she heard, and 
 her own heart grew heavier. Life had become so difficult, 
 and there was still so much to be done, so many troubles to 
 think about, while she did not even know yet what Captain 
 Dove was going to do next. 
 
 She had just finished telling Yoxall about the man in the 
 scarlet mask and what she had promised to do for him, 
 when sounds of stealthy bustle from forward told her that 
 the mutineers were once more mustering on deck. She 
 called down to Captain Dove, and he shortly came up from 
 the saloon, followed by Jasper Slyne in a neutral-tinted, 
 workmanlike semi-uniform, at whose belt hung a heavy- 
 calibre Colt revolver. 
 
 Under the sharp spur of necessity, Captain Dove appeared 
 to have quite overcome the physical weakness by which 
 he had been oppressed. He stepped briskly to the stair- 
 head rail and thence looked down on the shadowy, moving 
 mass of armed men who had by that time gathered at the 
 after-hatch again. Aware of his presence, they ceased to 
 shuffle about. A tense silence ensued, and Captain Dove 
 cleared his throat. 
 
 " Are all hands aft? " he asked sharply, and " Ay, ay, 
 sir," a voice answered. " All hands but the engine-room 
 crew. D'ye want them too? " 
 
 " I do not," he declared, and Sallie felt dumbly thankful 
 that the engineers and their underlings were still, appar- 
 ently, loyal to him.
 
 AFLOAT AND ASHORE 41 
 
 " Where's Mr. Hobson and the third mate? " he de- 
 manded, and, " Here," answered simultaneously two other 
 very sullen, suspicious voices. 
 
 " Listen, then, all of you," ordered Captain Dove, bris- 
 tling in the dark at that traitorous pair, and, raising his 
 voice again, " I've got a fine plum ripe for your picking to- 
 night, lads! " cried he at his heartiest. " There's a caravan 
 camped ashore here, on its way to the Rio de Oro, with close 
 on a hundred camel-loads of such things as silk and ivory 
 and jewels and gold and girls. I got a word of it 
 from a friend of mine at the Rio when we were in there, 
 and now's our chance ! You can see the flare of the 
 camp-fires on the sky beyond the beach. I've been in 
 here before and I know the place. If you follow me 
 now as you've followed me in the past, I'll guarantee 
 that you'll open your eyes at what's waiting for you 
 ashore." 
 
 Slyne, safe in the background, listening, laughed fur- 
 tively to himself. 
 
 " But if you're going back on me now, I give it up. 
 Strike a light and put a bullet through me right away, if 
 you feel like that. I've only one hand I won't lift even 
 that against you. And my share of what little money there 
 is on board you can divide among you." 
 
 A general murmur of approval greeted this blatant 
 speech. And not even the two malcontent mates could pick 
 any hole in that proposal. A faint crimson glow amid the 
 darkness beyond the surf on the shore served to corroborate 
 his statement in part. That he meant to accompany them 
 was his strongest guarantee of good faith. They were evi- 
 dently ready and willing, for such a prospect as he had held 
 out to them, to follow him wherever he liked to lead them.
 
 42 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 The two mates began to tell the men off to the boats and 
 get these swung outboard. A temporary atmosphere of 
 peace and good-will prevailed. 
 
 Captain Dove turned to Reuben Yoxall. " You'll stay 
 on board," he whispered very brusquely, " in charge of the 
 ship. I'll tell the chief engineer to lend you two or three 
 men, and you'll see to it that they don't lay their hands on 
 any more guns. 
 
 " You'll stick by me," he told Slyne, in the background, 
 and Slyne merely shrugged his shoulders impatiently as the 
 old man passed on to where Sallie was waiting to hear what 
 her part was to be. She did not know in the least what to 
 make j)f his newly-declared intentions. 
 
 " Am I to go with you? " she asked on the spur of the 
 moment. And Captain Dove stared at her. 
 
 " No, you are not," he declared emphatically. " D'you 
 want to be shot or kidnapped or what ! Get away 
 down below, girl, and stay there till I come aboard again. 
 You must be mad! " 
 
 She turned obediently toward the companion-hatch, and 
 Stopped there. He went forward then, the men making way 
 for him readily, and disappeared into the engine-room. 
 When he climbed carefully back on deck through the 
 fiddley-hatch in the skylight, he found all the boats afloat 
 and only one boat's crew remaining on board, under charge 
 of the second mate, Hobson, with the evident aim of ma- 
 king sure that he did not somehow give them the slip or 
 otherwise take any advantage of them. In response to a 
 shout from him, Jasper Slyne went jauntily forward, and, 
 with commendable promptitude, let himself down the falls 
 overside. One of these, unhooked, served Captain Dove 
 for a sling, and he was soon seated at the boat's tiller. The
 
 AFLOAT AND ASHORE 43 
 
 men followed swiftly, and the second mate went last, no 
 doubt satisfied by then that all would be well. 
 
 " Give way, lads! " cried Captain Dove to those at the 
 sweeps, " and we'll show the others the short road ashore. 
 I'm in no end of a hurry to get what's coming to me from 
 that caravan." 
 
 Midnight lay very black on the bight where the Olive 
 Branch was riding easily to a single anchor; as the dark 
 hours sped they seemed to grow always darker. The boats 
 which had just put off from her were almost instantly hidden 
 from Sallie's sight. She stepped quietly out on deck beside 
 Reuben Yoxall. 
 
 " Rube," she said in a low, determined voice. " I must be 
 going too, now. Will you help me to get out the canvas 
 boat? " 
 
 He stared at her, as Captain Dove had done, and swal- 
 lowed down a lump in his throat. 
 
 " It's madness now! " he declared. " But I'll go my- 
 self. You must stay where you are. It would be worse than 
 madness for you " 
 
 She was smiling very gratefully up into his unhappy, 
 stubborn face. 
 
 " We'll go together, Rube," she said, " or not at all. 
 And, even although it does seem hopeless, I know you 
 wouldn't want me to break my promise. So you get the 
 boat launched while I go and tell Mr. Brasse." 
 
 She turned and ran lightly down the steps and along the 
 main-deck, leaving the mate, sorely perturbed and uncer- 
 tain, to carry out her instructions or not, as he chose. As 
 she reached the engine-room skylight on the quarter-deck 
 an unobtrusive shadow emerged from it and would have 
 passed her with a nod on its way toward the bridge.
 
 44 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 " Mr. Brasse," she said appealingly, and it halted to peer 
 at her through a single eye-glass, after touching its cap in a 
 very precise salute. 
 
 " Miss Sallie? " it answered in a surprised but courteous 
 tone which told that the speaker was, or had once been, a 
 gentleman. 
 
 " I'm going ashore," she went on in a hurry, " and Mr. 
 Yoxall is going with me. Will you look after things for him 
 until we get back? Every one else has gone already." 
 
 " I have Captain Dove's orders to be on the bridge for 
 another purpose," the chief engineer of the Olive Branch in- 
 formed her, " and I'll do my best, of course, to make sure 
 that nothing goes wrong in the chief mate's absence. But 
 is it safe for you " 
 
 " Quite safe," she assured him. " And Mr. Brasse, 
 if I bring I'm going ashore to try to save a man a 
 white man the Arabs mean to murder to-night. If I manage 
 to bring him on board, will you help me to hide him? so 
 that Captain Dove won't know? " 
 
 The chief engineer of the Olive Branch was obviously 
 much perplexed. But he was also obviously much better 
 disposed toward Sallie than to Captain Dove. 
 
 " If he's willing to work in the stokehold," he stipulated, 
 " I don't think Captain Dove would ever know he's on 
 board the ship. And then he can slip ashore at the first safe 
 port we manage to make." 
 
 Sallie's lower lip trembled a little. She did not quite 
 know how to thank the punctilious engineer who had 
 proved himself such a friend in need. And time was pass- 
 ing. 
 
 " You're always very good to me, Mr. Brasse," she said 
 timidly.
 
 AFLOAT AND ASHORE 45 
 
 " Not at all," he returned with formal politeness, and, 
 having saluted again, went on his own way toward the 
 bridge. 
 
 When Sallie got back to the poop she found Reuben 
 Yoxall awaiting her there and the canvas boat already 
 afloat. The mate, however slow-witted, was smart enough 
 in all his movements once he had made up his mind. He 
 helped her over the side without any more words, and was 
 soon driving the light boat along a straight, swift line for 
 the landing-place. 
 
 Sallie's sense of direction enabled her to show him that, 
 and also brought them safely across the bar into the lagoon 
 where the other boats from the Olive Branch were lying 
 empty, afloat. The third mate and some of the men had 
 seemingly been left there in charge of them. Sallie caught 
 sight of the former's sullen, furtive features in the sudden, 
 foolhardy light of a match he was holding over the pipe 
 whose bowl his hands hid. And there were shapes moving 
 about him. She laid a shaky hand on one of YoxalPs, and 
 the oar in his, dipping, shifted their course. 
 
 The boom of the breakers, behind them, killed all other 
 sound. But she lifted a finger to her lips, and he proved 
 sufficiently quick-witted then. Between them, they beached 
 their own boat in the dark a couple of hundred yards nearer 
 the camp, and waded ashore with it, and left it there, up- 
 side down on the sand. 
 
 The same magnetic instinct which had brought them 
 safely across the bar to the beach led her almost straight to 
 the mouth of the narrow ravine through which Captain 
 Dove and she had reached the red-haired Emir's camp. 
 And Reuben Yoxall followed her, blind, through the night. 
 
 " It was here that he was to meet us," she whispered
 
 46 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 breathlessly, her heart in her mouth. They had met no one 
 at all by the way, and there seemed to be no one there. 
 
 Yoxall scowled about him, unseeingly, and bit his lip, 
 in helpless dissatisfaction with everybody and everything. 
 Then he sniffed inquiringly, and in an instant all his relaxed 
 muscles were taut again. A faint whiff of tobacco-smoke 
 had reached his nostrils on the hot, humid night-air. 
 
 Sallie was aware of it too, and had snatched at his hand, 
 to draw him on tiptoe toward the base of the great rock- 
 wall that cropped up out of the sand there. They reached 
 its shelter unseen and unheard as a harsh, suppressed voice 
 spoke from round the corner, within the velvet-black mouth 
 of the gorge. It was Hobson's, the second mate's. 
 
 " Put out that pipe," it ordered furiously, and was an- 
 swered by a low, mocking laugh. There followed the sound 
 of a smashing blow, and a short, sharp struggle that was 
 interrupted by a muffled shout from high overhead. " Hob- 
 son ahoy! " 
 
 It was Captain Dove who had called cautiously down 
 from the summit of the ridge at one side of the ravine, and 
 the second mate panted a quick response. 
 
 " You can get a move on now," cried the old man above 
 the roar of the surf. " The others will all be in position by 
 the time you've pushed through. Open fire as soon as ever 
 you sight the camp. D'ye hear? " 
 
 " Ay, ay, sir," answered the second mate, the habit of 
 years still strong upon him, and went on to issue his own 
 commands in the curt growl of custom. The fellow who had 
 lighted a pipe in defiance of him was apparently quelled. 
 
 It seemed that he meant to leave some of his men to guard 
 that end of the gorge. " And you'll keep a sharp look-out," 
 he instructed them very threateningly. " If we're trapped
 
 AFLOAT AND ASHORE 47 
 
 in this damned tunnel there will be all hell to pay and 
 you'll pay it! 
 
 " Move on now, in front. Feel your way with your bay- 
 onets. And don't fire so long as cold steel will serve." 
 
 The two listeners could hear the dull clink and shufHe of 
 the advance. That soon died away. The men who had 
 been left behind began a low, intermittent grumbling over 
 their own hard lot; they did not believe for a moment that 
 their comrades would share the loot fairly with them. Hob- 
 son was a coward at heart, said one, or why, otherwise, 
 would they be wasting their time there? They were all 
 smoking by then. 
 
 " The whole thing's a cinch," declared the same speaker 
 more loudly. " I'll swear there isn't an Arab outside the 
 ring-fence we've drawn round 'em, and I'm going on 
 along inside, to get what I want for myself. I'm not afraid 
 of Mr. Blasted Hobson! " 
 
 He came out into the open and stood for a moment or two 
 listening intently, within a few feet of where Sallie and 
 Reuben Yoxall were crouching, their backs toward him. 
 But the ceaseless crash and rumble of the breakers was all 
 there was to be heard. 
 
 He turned back, and tramped off into the gorge, with two 
 of the others for company. But three remained. 
 
 Sallie felt Reuben Yoxall tug at her sleeve and began to 
 move softly away after him. From somewhere in the dis- 
 tance a shot suddenly rang out. More followed, in quick 
 succession. The irregular crackle of independent rifle-fire 
 soon made it clear that the concentric attack on the camp 
 had begun. The three men in the mouth of the gorge were 
 shouting excitedly to each other. 
 
 " We must get away back on board at once," Yoxall
 
 48 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 whispered peremptorily. " We can't search the whole 
 Sahara, blind, for a man you wouldn't even know if you 
 saw him. You've done all you can, Sallie. You've kept 
 your promise. Come away, now." 
 
 She suppressed a hopeless sob with an effort. It seemed 
 so inexpressibly hard that they should have gained nothing 
 at all by the grave risk they were still running. But hope 
 had failed her, too. 
 
 " We'll wait by the boat just for a little, Rube," she 
 begged none the less. " It may be that " 
 
 " Come on, then," he urged again. " Let's get to the 
 boat, and, if you'll stay by it, I'll scout round a bit before 
 we put off again." 
 
 " More this way," she directed him, as he moved on, 
 impatient to get her back into at least comparative safety. 
 And, under her guidance, they soon reached the rough, 
 trodden path that led toward the lagoon where the boats 
 were lying. 
 
 A hundred yards further on, he stopped her abruptly, 
 and dropped to the ground, to set an anxious ear to it. He 
 was up again in a second or two. 
 
 " There's a whole army coming this way," he declared 
 in a tone of stricken dismay, " and horses with them too! 
 
 " We must make for the soft sand and lie down and bur- 
 row as deep as we can." 
 
 He turned toward the sea, one arm about her, and almost 
 carried her across the deep, undulating drifts that clutched 
 at her ankles like a dry quicksand. His own strength 
 soon failed against them. He stumbled and fell on his face 
 at the brink of a slope, and slipped on into its hollow and 
 lay there, quite still. But he had let go his hold of her, so 
 that she had not lost her feet: and she was soon cowering
 
 AFLOAT AND ASHORE 49 
 
 beside him, face downward also. They had both heard the 
 nearness of those other feet very many of them which 
 had seemingly crossed from the pathway to intercept them. 
 
 A hoarse murmur was audible behind them. Some one 
 had ordered a halt. They could hear the heavy breathing 
 of men and the restless movements of horses hock-deep in 
 the drift. They could almost see the ghostly shapes of the 
 white-cloaked riders, but only the leader's horse was even 
 very dimly discernible because it also was white. Its 
 bridle was jingling a little, too, as none of the others' 
 were. 
 
 He uttered a short, sharp order, and Sallie set her teeth 
 to choke back the cry of despair which had almost escaped 
 her. For it was the Emir himself into whose hands they 
 seemed fated to fall, and his tone told the temper 
 he was in. 
 
 From among his horsemen a number of men on foot 
 seemed to have emerged, and he was speaking to one of 
 them, in English. 
 
 " Are you there, my fine doctor? " he asked evilly, and 
 leaned from his saddle as though he could see through the 
 dark. 
 
 " I'm here," a level voice replied, and Sallie covered her 
 face with her hands in helpless horror. 
 
 " You're here, you say! And here you'll stay, say I 
 as was promised you," hissed the Emir. " 'Tis not right 
 that the likes of you should be still drawing breath and 
 her-you-know-of already cold. You're quick yet, and she's 
 dead, my fine doctor but yours is the funeral that 
 comes first. And you're standing over your own grave 
 now hell's waiting for you beneath your feet. Stand to 
 one side, and let my men dig down to it."
 
 50 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 There was more movement about him, and then a quick 
 shovelling of sand. 
 
 " If it's all the same to you, I'll tell them to help you in 
 head first," said the Emir venomously. But the man in the 
 scarlet mask answered nothing at all to that.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 HOBSON'S CHOICE 
 
 SALLIE had made an effort to rise, but her knees had 
 utterly failed her, and Reuben Yoxall had laid a 
 heavy arm across her shoulders. The ceaseless up- 
 roar from within the camp had suddenly increased. 
 
 The Emir was standing up in his stirrups to listen. He 
 sank into his saddle again, and issued some further orders, 
 in Arabic. Most of his force on foot in the rear made off 
 at a staggering run. The horses of his body-guard began to 
 paw and curvet to free their feet as the loose reins tightened 
 on their necks. 
 
 " I must be going now, my fine doctor," said the Emir 
 most reluctantly, " but I'll leave you company enough for 
 the few minutes you've left, although you're but a dumb 
 dog! 
 
 " And you'll maybe think of me when you're swallow- 
 ing your first mouthful. Till then you can mourn her-you- 
 know-of." 
 
 The white horse leaped and plunged as though he had 
 rowelled it cruelly, and then he was gone at a breakneck 
 gallop, the white shadows that were his body-guard hard 
 at his heels, with lances free. 
 
 The grave-diggers paused in their digging as he disap- 
 peared. A dozen or more tongues broke into eager talking, 
 and a fiendish, squealing laugh out-shrilled them all. Sallie,
 
 52 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 with her face between her elbows, had thrust a finger into 
 each ear, and her eyes were tightly closed. 
 
 She opened them a little, involuntarily, as the heavy arm 
 that had been holding her down was taken away. Reuben 
 Yoxall nudged her, and she looked round, with infinite 
 caution. 
 
 A blue-light, like a corpse-candle in the distance, had 
 suddenly flared up on the near ridge above the ravine that 
 led to the camp. And in its ghastly glow an unforgettable 
 picture was vaguely visible for a moment or two. 
 
 The last of the Emir's mounted men were streaming after 
 him into the gorge, between whose open jaws lay three 
 prone, trampled bodies, two very still, the other writhing 
 round and round on the axis of a long lance. 
 
 The breakers on the beach beyond the intervening sand- 
 waves reared up, and combed, and fell in blue-green foam. 
 Outside them a black sea heaved ceaselessly. 
 
 Inland, a segment of the circular rock-rampart which 
 enclosed the camp loomed up above the endless, empty 
 desert, and on its summit showed a number of white- 
 clad, crouching figures with rifles, all firing inward and 
 downward on the pandemonium raging below. 
 
 Only a few yards away from where the two helpless 
 onlookers lay the man in the scarlet mask was standing, 
 his hands behind him, between the two big negroes Sallie 
 had seen in the Emir's tent. And, grouped about them, 
 staring at the blue-light with wide eyes, were a dozen or 
 more armed Arabs. Two other negroes, knee-deep in a 
 hole, were leaning on their spades. 
 
 Farther off, beside the lagoon where the boats were 
 lying, the third mate^and his men were making the best 
 fight they might for their lives against overwhelming odds.
 
 HOBSON'S CHOICE 53 
 
 More than one of them had already fallen before the blue- 
 light guttered away and that inferno was blotted out. 
 
 But the renewed darkness lasted only for a few seconds 
 before the search-light on the bridge of the Olive Branch in 
 the bight answered the signal from the ridge, cutting 
 through the inky night a long, white, fan-like swathe which 
 swept the coast in sections until it finally found its objective 
 and settled there. 
 
 The group about the half-dug grave were at first almost 
 paralysed with fear of that phenomenon. The two black 
 eunuchs seized their prisoner and pulled him to the ground, 
 the men of the guard took cover, with rifles ready, the 
 grave-diggers dropped incontinently into the grave and 
 cowered there. 
 
 But when, after its first gyrations, it steadied on to the 
 ridge round the camp, leaving them quite unharmed and 
 outside its focus, they fell to talking again, in awed whis- 
 pers, while they gazed blinkingly at its effect, all but the 
 two who were busy digging again. 
 
 Yoxall plucked at Sallie's sleeve. She crept after him, 
 and by very slow degrees they got safely round in rear 
 of the burial-party. 
 
 " Wait here," he breathed in her ear, and left her behind 
 a low swell of the sand. 
 
 She crawled to its brink. He was wriggling back toward 
 the shapes silhouetted against the dusky light. She 
 clenched both her hands tightly over her lips as he reached 
 the one that was lying motionless, a knee upraised, quite 
 close to the others' heels. 
 
 The upraised knee slowly straightened. One of the two 
 negro guards looked round and kicked at their prisoner. 
 The other spoke, and a squealing laugh reached her ears.
 
 54 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 Each instant seemed an eternity until she thought she 
 could see Reuben Yoxall turn and begin to worm his way 
 back toward her, with another stealthy shadow following 
 him. 
 
 He reached her side. 
 
 " Up and run for it now, lass," he panted, and stooped 
 and lifted her to her feet. " They can't hear us from there. 
 For God's sake, don't give way now." 
 
 But she was quite limp and strengthless. The strain 
 had been too much for her. He picked her up in his arms 
 and made for their boat at an elephantine trot, the stranger 
 struggling along after him through the sand. She was 
 sobbing brokenly when he set her down beside it. 
 
 A piercing scream rang out across the sand from the 
 near distance, above all the other turmoil. But he had 
 already got the boat turned right side up and the man in 
 the mask helped him to set it afloat. He splashed ashore 
 again and carried Sallie out to it, settling her very ten- 
 derly in its stern. 
 
 " We're all right now," he told her, and she whispered 
 back, " Oh! I'm so ashamed of myself, Rube, -I nearly 
 fainted! " 
 
 The other man sat down in the bow and the mate stepped 
 carefully in. A few minutes later they were beyond the 
 bar, safe enough from pursuit. 
 
 " I'll take an oar now," the stranger suggested, speaking 
 for the first time, and in a tone which showed how he had 
 suffered. Yoxall passed him one willingly. He had over- 
 taxed his own strength at last. He was almost exhausted 
 before they at length ran alongside the Olive Branch, skirt- 
 ing the arc of the search-light. He could scarcely scramble 
 up the rope he had left hanging from the poop.
 
 HOBSON'S CHOICE 55 
 
 But with the other man's help he managed to get the 
 boat aboard and stowed away again. And they returned 
 on deck together. 
 
 " What do you think has happened ashore, Rube? " 
 asked Sallie very anxiously as he reappeared from 
 below. 
 
 " I wish I knew, lass," he answered, no less concerned. 
 " I'll go and find out what Brasse 
 
 " I must see Mr. Brasse too," she told him. " He's 
 promised She turned to the stranger. 
 
 " The stokehold's the only place on board where you 
 will be safe," she said, somewhat uncertainly. " Will you 
 mind very much " 
 
 " I'll shovel coal most contentedly," he assured her at 
 once, in a tone that was still very tremulous. " And how 
 to show my gratitude to both of you, for the chance, I I 
 can't " 
 
 His voice broke. He could say no more. His silent 
 self-control had been too sorely tried. 
 
 " Come on, then," said Reuben Yoxall uncomfortably. 
 And Sallie clutched at the big, stolid Englishman's arm 
 again and clung to it as they went forward, along the dark 
 empty decks. 
 
 On the bridge, in the dim, vaporous light at one side of 
 the white hood within which the carbon was burning, they 
 caught sight of the chief engineer, a raggedly disreputable- 
 looking individual, with features haggard, refined to the 
 pitch of foolishness, rendered still more fatuous by the single 
 eye-glass he always affected and which he had worn even 
 while, when he had first joined the ship, he himself had 
 worked in the stokehold as one of the black gang who feed 
 the furnaces. Brasse was one of a number of human enig-
 
 56 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 mas who had followed Captain Dove's flag and fortunes for 
 uncounted years, and Sallie had long ago heard the common 
 report that there was a hangman's rope waiting for him 
 somewhere ashore. 
 
 He looked round as she approached, and his perspiring 
 face expressed heartfelt relief. 
 
 " Just a moment," he begged, and once more applied 
 an eye to the telescope trained parallel with the light. 
 
 " I thought so," he exclaimed, and turned a tap on a 
 tube leading into the hood. In the instant darkness which 
 ensued, the flare of another blue-light on the ridge above 
 the ravine ashore produced a very weird and startling 
 effect. 
 
 The engineer turned to Sallie. 
 
 " Gad! " said he, hurriedly, " but I'm glad to see you 
 safe back on board. I was afraid that Did you get your 
 man? " 
 
 " Yes, we brought him off. He's here, behind," Sallie 
 answered briefly, since there was so little time to explain 
 anything. " But what has gone wrong ashore, Mr. 
 Brasse? " 
 
 " That second signal should mean that Captain Dove 
 has been quite successful," said Brasse, a bitter note in 
 his voice. " I expect he'll be back on board presently, 
 too. So I'll get away below now and send some of my men 
 on deck to help. I'll have to see your friend fixed up before 
 the boats arrive. Have you explained to him 
 
 " Yes, he understands," she assured him, and, as the 
 stranger followed the engineer silently from the bridge, 
 she spoke to Yoxall again. He was leaning over the rail 
 behind her, gazing over the side. 
 
 " What do you think has really happened, Rube? "
 
 HOBSON'S CHOICE 57 
 
 she once more asked him. " It didn't look as if our men 
 were winning." 
 
 " I wish I knew, lass/' he repeated dully. "But 
 we'll know before very long, and we can do nothing to 
 help. So you'd better be off aft again, now, and seek some 
 rest. I must see everything shipshape about the decks." 
 
 Sallie went slowly back to the poop, but she could not 
 rest amid so many anxieties. It was not very long, however, 
 before the regular plash of oars reached her ears where she 
 was standing within the companion-hatch, under cover 
 from the dew that the awning dripped. And in another 
 minute Captain Dove's harsh voice hailed the ship. 
 
 " Show a light at the gangway, quick! " the old man 
 shouted. " Muster all hands at the rails and don't 
 let a single son-of-a-gun on board you till I give the word." 
 
 These peremptory orders were promptly obeyed. Reu- 
 ben Yoxall himself came running to the break of the poop 
 with a deck-lamp and let the Jacob 's-ladder down. But 
 Captain Dove's boat was well ahead of the others, although 
 for all company in it he had only Jasper Slyne and three 
 white-robed Arabs, who, as they ran alongside, shipped 
 their oars smartly to clutch at the ladder, up which Cap- 
 tain Dove scrambled swaying, with only one hand at his 
 service. Slyne followed him, hot, dusty, dishevelled, still 
 bleeding from a deep cut in one cheek, and then the Arabs, 
 the Emir El Farish first, and the last with a turn of the 
 boat's painter about his wrist in seaman-like fashion. 
 
 " Shift her forward now," Captain Dove commanded, 
 " and up with the ladder again." 
 
 Which also was done, in a hurry, so that when the other 
 boats arrived they had to bring-to under the bare wet side of 
 the steamer wallowing in the swell. Sallie, herself unseen,
 
 58 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 saw that there were only three or four men in each, and a 
 sudden, sick understanding of Captain Dove's successful 
 expedient for ridding the ship of the rest of the mutineers 
 flashed through her mind. But she would not allow herself 
 to surmise what the Emir's visit might mean. 
 
 Captain Dove, safe on board, surveyed for a space, in 
 silence and very much at his leisure, the men in the boats. 
 But not one of them was able or willing to meet his malev- 
 olent glance. A more cowed, unhappy, hang-dog lot he 
 had never seen, and he told them so, at some length. 
 
 " Get on to your feet, you, Hobson," he snapped, and 
 the second mate stood up in his place, as if with a galvanic 
 effort of will. Captain Dove regarded him fixedly for some 
 moments. 
 
 " You're the worst that's left," he said then, in a steely 
 voice, " and I don't quite know what to do with you. 
 I've asked Far the Emir here if he'll have you as a gift, 
 along with the others I left ashore, but he won't. And 
 I don't* want you on the Olive Branch; there's no room on 
 board for a man like you you might stir up another 
 mutiny! Seems to me the very best thing you can do 
 for yourself now is to jump right overboard before I have 
 that boat swung and lay hands on you. For, if you set 
 foot on my ship again, I'll have you hove head-first into 
 one of the furnaces. D'ye hear? 
 
 " But take your choice one way or the other, it's 
 all the same to me. 
 
 " The rest of you mutinous swine can come aboard now. 
 You've had your lesson, I think, eh? Then stand by to 
 pick Mr. Hobson up if he follows you, and carry him down 
 to the stokehold. 
 
 " Let the ladder over again, there."
 
 HOBSON'S CHOICE 59 
 
 The doomed wretch, staring wide-eyed at Captain Dove 
 in the lamplight, seemed to know that no appeal from 
 that most monstrous penalty of his scarcely less monstrous 
 crime would serve any purpose at all, and looked hopelessly 
 about him while the others in the boat clambered, cringing, 
 up the ship's side. He shuddered convulsively as he caught 
 sight of a stealthy black fin in the water, within a few feet 
 of him. His slack, twisted lips were moving like those of 
 a man with paralysis. 
 
 " Put put a bullet through me first," he begged 
 piteously, and turning about, scrambled, groping, into the 
 stern-sheets. 
 
 He stood there throughout an eternity of a few seconds, 
 head bent, shoulders heaving, hands hanging limp, and 
 then, " For God's own sake " he cried, in a dreadful, 
 whimpering voice, that was suddenly stilled by a whip-like 
 explosive crack as he pitched forward, headlong, out of 
 the boat. 
 
 Sallie had darted, unnoticed, down the steps from the 
 poop to where Jasper Slyne was standing in the background, 
 nonchalantly looking on. 
 
 " Save him, Jasper for my sake! " she beseeched of 
 him, who alone had any influence with the old man. 
 
 " I will if you'll promise to marry me," he whispered 
 in answer, as if inspired to snatch at even such a precarious 
 chance of placing her under that obligation to him, and, 
 without waiting for any reply, he fired at the black fin 
 beyond the boat, ran to the rail and plunged over the 
 ship's side. Captain Dove swung around, snarling viciously, 
 and struck at him as he passed. 
 
 The splash he made frightened the swarming sharks 
 away for a moment or two. He came up close beside Hob-
 
 60 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 son, seized him by the scruff of the neck, and, after a 
 desperate struggle, succeeded in clambering into the boat. 
 A white streak seemed to leap from the water and snapped 
 and missed the second mate's helpless heels by an inch 
 or two as Slyne, with a final, frantic effort, jerked him in- 
 board and fell backward over a thwart. 
 
 Captain Dove stood glaring about him, speechless. 
 Sallie had drawn back, unseen, in breathless suspense. 
 But the old man said nothing at all, not even when Slyne 
 stepped, spent and dripping, over the rail, with Hobson 
 close behind crying like a child. 
 
 " I've no more time to waste on such tomfoolery," said 
 the Emir then, angrily, " and no great taste for it, either, 
 Captain Dove. So give me the girl now, and I'll be gone." 
 
 " Come below, for a minute," returned Captain Dove, 
 in a strangled voice, mastering his pent rage with a very 
 visible effort. " Come below for a minute till I send for 
 her. 
 
 " Mr. Yoxall, you'll let Mr. Brasse know that we'll be 
 starting in half an hour. Tell those men off in two watches, 
 and send one lot below. Leave Da Costa in charge of 
 the deck you'll be rated as second mate, now, Da 
 Costa, d'ye hear? and turn in, yourself, Mr. Yoxall, 
 till the morning watch." 
 
 " Ay, ay, sir," Yoxall responded mechanically, and 
 Captain Dove, as he led the way to his own quarters 
 amidships he had only been berthed aft, in the poop, 
 while he had been ill and the crew conspiring against him 
 at length looked round at Slyne. 
 
 " Better get into some dry clothes, quick," he said, 
 civilly enough, but in a tone which betrayed his real temper. 
 " I want you to go aft and bring Sallie along."
 
 HOBSON'S CHOICE 61 
 
 When Slyne came aft again, a few minutes later, he was 
 once more cool and clean and spruce in white drill, with 
 a plaster over the cut on his face. He was also apparently 
 well pleased with himself. 
 
 He found Sallie crouching within the companion-hatch, 
 and she shrank still farther into its shelter as he approached. 
 
 " What's the matter? " he asked in surprise, his greedy 
 eyes searching her white face in the misty darkness while 
 she looked up at him in speechless dismay. 
 
 " Did you hear what Captain Dove said? " he asked, 
 and laughed exultantly. " You needn't worry about any- 
 thing of that sort now, my dear. You've got some one to 
 look after you now, and it's all part of his plan, don't 
 you understand? You must come along with me, but 
 there's nothing to be afraid of. You're perfectly safe 
 now with me." 
 
 She did not know what to believe, but, since there was 
 no help for it, she followed him, without a word, to the 
 doorway of the mid-ship saloon, within which the Emir 
 and Captain Dove were amicably engaged over a black 
 bottle. 
 
 " The real potheen! " El Parish was saying exultantly, 
 a tumbler to his hook-nose. " It's long since I've had the 
 chance of such." He looked round as Slyne stepped in. 
 
 " Here, have a sip, Mr. Slyne," he said. " No, out of 
 this glass of mine, if you please, just to show that it isn't 
 hocussed. I've known Captain Brown Captain Dove, 
 I mean long enough to be extra careful in his company." 
 
 He laughed as Slyne took the tumbler from him and, 
 with a covert nod to Captain Dove, half emptied it at a 
 draught. And, as Slyne smacked his lips, " If it does you 
 so much good, it can't do me any harm," said the Emir
 
 62 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 jovially. " So here's to the pair of bright eyes that 
 Ah! there she is. Come in, acushla, and let's have another 
 look at you." 
 
 But Sallie had stopped on the threshold, and stayed 
 there, silent, unable to move. The Emir, staring avidly 
 at her, rose and lifted his glass. 
 
 " Here's happy days and no regrets to the two of 
 us! " he cried, and was draining it off when Captain Dove, 
 at his back, felled him to the floor with a well-aimed blow 
 of the full water-bottle, which was the most convenient 
 weapon at hand. 
 
 " Are his two cut-throats out there safe? " the old man 
 hissed from between set teeth, and Sallie, looking round, 
 saw two limp figures huddled with hanging heads in the 
 dark alleyway just beyond the door. 
 
 " Safe as houses," Slyne answered evenly, since she stood 
 silent, aghast. " I made sure of them before I went aft. 
 A single drink settled their hash. You must have made the 
 dose in the other bottle pretty strong." 
 
 " It's just as well, after all, you see, that we didn't 
 depend on fixing him the same way," said Captain Dove, 
 recovering his self-command and indicating the prone 
 Emir with a contemptuous foot. He seemed to have for- 
 gotten for the moment his grudge against Slyne. " I was 
 afraid he'd smell a rat if we tried that old trick on him. 
 
 " And now the sooner he's over the side the better. 
 Don't stand there staring, Sallie! Go and call some of 
 the men in." 
 
 The girl turned and went, dazedly, drawing her skirts 
 close as she passed the two huddled figures in the alleyway. 
 Half a dozen of the watch on deck carried the Emir and 
 his ineffectual retinue up the gangway, flung them, ,like
 
 * 
 
 HOBSON'S CHOICE 63 
 
 so much rubbish, into the boat out of which the hapless 
 Hobson had fallen, and at once cast it loose. 
 
 " They'll probably all wake up before they drift into 
 the surf," said Captain Dove, looking on, with a laugh which 
 made even Slyne glance askance at him. " And, if not 
 it isn't my fault. 
 
 " That fellow thought he could get the better of me, 
 Slyne and there's the result ! 
 
 " Is that you, Mr. Da Costa? Where's Hobson? " 
 
 " He's locked himself into his room, sir, and barricaded 
 the door," the new second mate answered swiftly, with a 
 servile smile. 
 
 " Humph! " exclaimed Captain Dove. " All right. 
 Weigh anchor at once. Head west for an hour and then 
 due north. You'll be relieved before long. And just bear 
 in mind that we've got to be very careful of coal now; we've 
 no more on board than will take us to Genoa." 
 
 Da Costa saluted briskly, and had disappeared before 
 Captain Dove turned and caught sight of Sallie again. 
 
 " Get away aft and turn in at once," he called irritably 
 to her. " You'll have to take the bridge by and by, and 
 for a good long spell, too we've all had a hard time of 
 it ashore while you've been idling on board."
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 COULD do with a sleep myself! " said Slyne, as 
 he followed the old man toward the mid-ship saloon 
 after Sallie had gone. 
 
 " There's no hurry," Captain Dove disagreed. " And 
 we've Hobson to get rid of first. What the everlasting 
 blazes made you bring him aboard again! " 
 
 Slyne darted a grimace of disgust at him. 
 
 " An idea of my own," he answered slowly. 
 
 " But you're surely not going to murder him in his 
 bed now! " he added. Case-hardened and unscrupulous 
 though he might be, he had not yet got so far as to contem- 
 plate without a seasick qualm the idea of killing any man 
 in cold blood. 
 
 He threw himself down on the settee in the malodorous 
 little saloon. 
 
 " I'm tired to death of you and your butcher's methods! " 
 said he, regardless of consequences. " Have you no con- 
 science at all? " 
 
 Captain Dove, blinking balefully at him from out of 
 weak, red-rimmed eyes, showed all his tobacco-stained 
 fangs: but in an unexpected smile instead of a snarl. 
 The old man was evidently in a much better temper now 
 that he had turned the tables so neatly on nearly all of 
 those who had thought him utterly in their power. It
 
 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 65 
 
 seemed to amuse him to hear Jasper Slyne in the role 
 of mentor. 
 
 " None at all," he answered amiably. " And how 
 about you? " 
 
 " You can leave me out of your reckoning after this," 
 Slyne declared, the more morose since he knew very well 
 what good grounds the other had for that taunt. " I'm 
 going ashore just as soon as we get to Genoa, and you'll 
 never set eyes on me again. I know when I've had enough 
 and I've had enough now." 
 
 " Not you," Captain Dove contradicted him blandly. 
 " Say when." He had whisked a bottle of champagne 
 out from a locker under the settee, knocked its wired head 
 neatly off on the table-edge, and was pouring the creamy 
 wine out into a glass, with hospitable but steady hand. 
 When the glass was full he stopped, but not tfl-1 then, since 
 Slyne had said nothing. 
 
 He filled another for himself, and drank its contents 
 off in a couple of gulps, produced a box of cigars, and lighted 
 one clumsily. Slyne followed his example in both respects, 
 but more deliberately, and the heady liquor was not with- 
 out its prompt effect on him. 
 
 " What I mean, Dove," said he presently in that gran- 
 diose, patronising manner which always rubbed Captain 
 Dove the wrong way, " what I mean is that I've had far 
 more than enough of this rough-and-tumble work. It 
 isn't the sort of sport at all that appeals to a gentleman. 
 And, what's more, I haven't made a penny out of it all." 
 
 Captain Dove's eyes began to kindle. Slyne had suc- 
 ceeded, as usual, in touching him on the raw. 
 
 " No more have I," he asserted with a fierce oath. " I've 
 barely enough left to pay the port-dues in Genoa and
 
 66 
 
 take my ship through the canal; you know very well, 
 too, that I won't be safe till I see Suez astern. For a few 
 tons of coal and some temporary repairs I'll have to trust 
 to my wits. I'm worse off now than I was when I picked 
 you up in New York, with your precious scheme for making 
 our fortunes in Central America." 
 
 The flagrant injustice of that reproach was so obvious 
 that Slyne kept his self-control. " Whose fault was it 
 that you were so soft with Sallie as to let her spoil all our 
 plans? " he asked equably, and did not wait for an answer. 
 " And you're far better off at the finish than I am," said 
 he. " Your foolishness has cost us both our chance of a 
 big haul but you've still got her." 
 
 " I've still got her," the old man admitted, if grudgingly. 
 " That's true. I've still got her. And she'll have to pay 
 pretty high, perhaps, for all she's cost me of late. You 
 wouldn't believe, Slyne, how well I've always treated that 
 girl. I couldn't have done better by her if she had been 
 my own daughter. And I wouldn't have believed she'd 
 ever go back on me as she's done of late." 
 
 " You don't know how to handle her at all," Slyne as- 
 serted bluntly. " You're getting into your dotage. She's 
 outgrown you. And what'll happen in the end will be 
 that you'll lose her too. You're far too grasping." 
 
 Captain Dove shook his hoary head with a cunning 
 grin. " If I don't know how to handle her, there's nothing 
 you can teach me," he commented. " And yet you'd give 
 your very eye-teeth for her! " 
 
 " It would be the best bit of business you've done for 
 long," Slyne affirmed. " She's cost you far more already 
 than you'll ever make again, and me, too, for that matter. 
 Look what a hoodoo she's been to us all this trip. We might
 
 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 67 
 
 both have been millionaires at this minute but for her inter- 
 fering with ' 
 
 "Avast there, now!" the old man growled savagely. 
 " Don't keep harping on that string, curse you! I know 
 when I've had enough, too. So just keep your head shut 
 about it. And bear in mind, Slyne, that what I say goes, 
 on the Olive Branch, or it'll maybe be ' Hobson's choice ' 
 for you too before we make Genoa." 
 
 Slyne gave him back glance for virulent glance, but kept 
 silence, and showed his wisdom thereby. For Captain 
 Dove, in that frame of mind, might very easily have been 
 moved to some insane act of violence. The old man had 
 never before gone so far as actually to threaten his casual 
 accomplice. And even Slyne, who did not fear death it- 
 self, did not desire to die in a more unpleasant manner than 
 need be. He sat quiet, searching his nimble brain for 
 some more soothing speech. 
 
 " What makes me so hot," he explained, relaxing his 
 scowl as he held out his empty glass, " is that I haven't 
 the money you want for her. You've no idea, Dove, how 
 well I could do with a wife like that. And now 
 
 " Sallie wouldn't whistle to your teachings now any more 
 than she will to mine not so well, in fact," Captain Dove 
 declared, accepting the friendly hint, and reached for the 
 bottle. " I wish to blazes that this lame flipper of mine 
 was fit for duty again. See if you can find a fresh bottle 
 below you, Slyne. And, for heaven's sake! talk sense. 
 You haven't the money and that's the end of the 
 matter." 
 
 Slyne, searching under the settee, scowled to himself. 
 He was not for a moment prepared to admit that the matter 
 was at an end, but neither was he inclined to contradict
 
 68 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 his companion again. It irked him to have to hold his 
 tongue. He approached the subject afresh, from another 
 direction. 
 
 " You may not find it so easy now as you think to dispose 
 of her," he adventured. " The world's not so wide as it 
 was, for one thing, and she's developed a very strong 
 will of her own these past few months." 
 
 " Tell me something I don't know," begged Captain 
 Dove. " The world's become far too small to suit me 
 or you either, Slyne but I know one or two quiet corners 
 yet where the black flag's better known than the British, 
 if that's what you're hinting at. 
 
 " Did you ever hear of the Pirate Isles, for instance? 
 They're not what they used to be, of course, but there's 
 still trade to be done in those waters, in spite of the French. 
 I once met a Chinese mandarin there who offered me a 
 hundred thousand taels for the girl close on eighty-five 
 thousand dollars. I'm going East again now, and I know 
 where to lay my hands on him when I want to. 
 
 " A year ago I could have got rid of her to a son-of-a- 
 gun from Shiraz who tried to do me down over a deal in 
 rifles for Afghanistan, but I wouldn't let her go, to a 
 scoundrel like that. 
 
 " The Rajah of But, pshaw! I've had a round dozen 
 of such offers for her, first and last, all good as government 
 bonds and a lot more than that like yours, Slyne." 
 
 Slyne almost choked over his champagne, but Captain 
 Dove did not seem to notice that. 
 
 " And now I'll take the next of the right sort that 
 comes along," the old man went on, growing gloomy again. 
 " I've been too particular, I'll admit. I've picked and 
 chosen for her, at my own expense, and always meaning to
 
 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 69 
 
 see her as happily settled as might be. I couldn't have 
 considered her more if she had been my own daughter." 
 
 Slyne pricked up his ears. " That's just where the 
 trouble will come in for you," said he. " She's somebody's 
 daughter, and some day she'll find out whose; she isn't 
 by any means so simple as you suppose. Then there will 
 be the devil to pay out of empty pockets." 
 
 He hesitated over an impulse to argue the moral aspect of 
 Captain Dove's expressed intention regarding the helpless 
 girl, but concluded to let that go, since the pecuniary side 
 of it was so much more to the point. " I wonder you don't 
 see," he went on patiently, " how much better it would 
 pay you in the long run to marry her to me, and so be done 
 with all your worries. I'm bound to make money. With 
 her to help me I'd soon be breaking the bank. 
 
 " I'm not close-fisted, either; I'm willing to share the 
 profits with you as long as you've any use for them." He 
 held up a protesting hand as Captain Dove would have cut 
 in, no doubt with some caustic sarcasm. " What I'm offer- 
 ing you isn't eighty-five thousand dollars, remember," he 
 finished, " but a free income for life, that'll run into six 
 figures a year or I'll be vastly surprised at your simple 
 tastes! " 
 
 " You'd be more surprised if I said ' done ' to any such 
 idiot's bargain," opined Captain Dove, and laughed like 
 an old hyena. " And the sooner you set all such nonsen- 
 sical projects aside, the better we'll get on together. My 
 pretty white blackbird will never have to fret her heart 
 out in any imitation-gilt cage. And more than that, I 
 heard her tell you not so long ago I suppose you forgot 
 that the open port below you was just at my ear that 
 she'd far rather beg in the gutter than marry you ! "
 
 70 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 Slyne flushed darkly under his tan and darted an ugly 
 glance at his grinning tormentor. He had always plumed 
 himself on his way with women, and Captain Dove's chance 
 shaft had sorely wounded his very sensitive self-esteem. 
 But he still controlled his own barbed tongue and said 
 nothing of the new card he had up his sleeve. 
 
 " So be it, then," he agreed, with a somewhat difficult 
 smile. " I can't force you " (" you old fool! " he added 
 mentally) " to take the chance of a lifetime when it's of- 
 fered you. And, of course, what you've told me now makes 
 all the difference. You've often given me to understand 
 that Sallie's a somebody by rights. Now you say she's only 
 a slave! " 
 
 Captain Dove cogitated deeply, and then drank again. 
 The Olive Branch was moving smoothly along her course, 
 leaving a heavy load of trouble always a little further 
 astern. A pleasant sense of security and comfort had re- 
 placed the agonizing mental strain of the past few days. 
 The wine he had been imbibing was buoying him up, and 
 he was inclined to be garrulous. 
 
 "I've often told you she ought to be at least a lady of 
 title in her own right," he remarked at length, " she's so 
 damned high and mighty with me at times. But who 
 she really is I've never told you that, have I, Slyne? " 
 
 Slyne shook his head, with assumed unconcern. 
 
 " I've never told you that because I don't know," the 
 old man chuckled explosively. 
 
 " I don't suppose it's ever struck you that it might pay 
 you to find out? " Slyne inquired with sardonic gravity, 
 and Captain Dove began to show signs of becoming rest- 
 less again. 
 
 " How the Seven Stars can I find out! " he demanded
 
 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 71 
 
 indignantly. " The trader I bought her from, along with a 
 shipload of niggers for the Sultan of El Merayeh, when she 
 was very little more than knee-high to me and a pretty 
 stiff price I paid for her, too, let me tell you! had brought 
 her from the other side of the Back o' Beyond that lies three 
 months away behind the mountains of God-knows-Where. 
 So much I found out from him one way and another, al- 
 though he could speak no language that I'd ever heard be- 
 fore. And no one will ever be able to find out more. She's 
 my property, by right of purchase. It wouldn't pay even 
 her own father, whoever he is, to try to take her away from 
 me." 
 
 " But where was it you ran across her? " asked Slyne, 
 with somewhat too much eagerness. " Oh, all right. You 
 needn't tell me any more than you want to. I'm not in the 
 least inquisitive." 
 
 He lighted another cigar, and lay back in his seat as if 
 he took no further interest in that strange story. But in 
 his fertile brain he was seeking some way to turn it to his 
 own advantage. And the obstacles before him merely made 
 him the more determined. For the needy adventurer's 
 restless mind was inflamed by dreams of the future he might 
 achieve with a wife such as Sallie to help him, by the delu- 
 sion that, once she was legally his, he would succeed in 
 bending or breaking her will to his every wish. 
 
 In the smoke that hung about the skylight of the squalid, 
 grubby little saloon, with its two evil-smelling, untended 
 kerosene lamps overwhelming even the odour of two rank 
 cigars, he saw golden, diamond-set visions of such a career 
 as could only end at the very crest of that dazzling society 
 amid which crowns nod in friendly fashion to coronets, 
 which will, on occasion, open its doors as if hospitably to a
 
 72 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 man with money and brains and a tempting wife. Slyne 
 had more than once in his palmier days strayed boldly over 
 all boundaries into the outskirts of quite august circles, and 
 felt assured that he was fitted to shine among even the most 
 select. 
 
 While as for Sallie he could imagine her at his side, 
 tall and slender, in the very latest mode, but scarcely more 
 than young girl yet, as lissom and shapely as any sculptor's 
 divinest dream of Aphrodite, with her pure, proud, sensi- 
 tive features faintly flushed under the scrutiny of the mul- 
 titude to the complexion of a wild-rose at its prime; with 
 her curved, crimson lips, drooped a little as though in ap- 
 peal against the envious stare of the other women, question- 
 ing eyebrows, eyes with the wild wine of youth abrim be- 
 hind their long, shadowy lashes, alive with strange, 
 lambent lights, like twin rainbows born between sunshine 
 and shower; and, over all, a glory of red-gold hair luridly 
 aglow in the gleam of innumerable electroliers. 
 
 His own eyes hardened and narrowed again. A cock- 
 roach crawling along a beam had brought him back to 
 crude matters of fact. 
 
 " Does she know what you've told me? " he tried 
 afresh, with unconquerable persistence. 
 
 Captain Dove shook his head abstractedly, and then sat 
 up with a scowl, realising too late that he had admitted 
 more than was maybe wise. 
 
 " It doesn't make any difference, of course," said Slyne, 
 to appease him, " since there's so little to know: and she 
 doesn't seem much interested, does she? The upshot is that 
 she's your property; there isn't a court in the world that 
 could say otherwise. And no other claimant could prove 
 his case.
 
 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 73 
 
 " If you'll take a tip from me, though, you'll see that she 
 and Yoxall don't give you the slip together some fine '' He 
 halted, tongue-tied under the old man's murderous glance. 
 
 " You can count him out," Captain Dove asserted, with 
 a cold assurance which very much discomposed his more 
 imaginative companion. " Is that .bottle empty too? 
 Then I'll just see to him now, before I turn in. I'm much 
 obliged to you for reminding me." 
 
 He rose, still scowling, and set his lips to one of several 
 speaking-tubes let into the bulkhead behind him. " Is 
 that Mr. Brasse? " he demanded. " I want one of those 
 boxes of cigars you have in the engine-room." He set one 
 ear to the tube, nodded, and sat down again. 
 
 " You're not going to do anything rash? " Slyne asked, 
 uncomfortably. 
 
 " I'm not going to do anything that would upset an in- 
 fant in arms for more than a minute," returned Captain 
 Dove in his mildest tone, and Slyne sprang to his feet with 
 a startled oath as a hatch in the floor beyond the table at 
 which they were sitting suddenly lifted, and in the opening 
 appeared the bald head and stoop shoulders of the sullen 
 chief engineer. 
 
 " It's all right. You needn't be nervous," said Captain 
 Dove with a nasty grin. " There are lots of other funny 
 little contrivances you know nothing about on this ship." 
 And Slyne, looking angrily sheepish, returned to its pocket 
 in his white coat something he had pulled out in a hurry, 
 while his tormentor stooped and took gingerly from the 
 engineer the innocent looking cigar box which that indi- 
 vidual was holding out to him. 
 
 The hatch descended again, noiselessly, and they were 
 once more alone.
 
 74 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 " I don't like that infernal fellow," Slyne declared 
 in a sulky voice, " and he doesn't like me or you 
 either, for that matter. If I were you I wouldn't turn 
 my back on him when there's a hammer within his 
 reach." 
 
 " Don't you worry about me," Captain Dove advised in 
 return, and, holding the box to his ear, shook it slightly. 
 " My head's quite as thick as your own if it comes to 
 hammer-work," he added, in a provoking tone. But that 
 shot missed its mark. Slyne was very much more inter- 
 ested in the cigar box. 
 
 The old man set that down on the table, and, stooping, 
 pulled off his shoes. " I don't want Da Costa to notice us," 
 he explained, and Slyne, inspired by a fearful curiosity, 
 followed his example. 
 
 Box in hand, but at arm's length, Captain Dove left the 
 saloon, tiptoed laboriously up the steep stair which led, by 
 way of the quarter-deck, to the chart-house behind the 
 bridge, and, stepping out on to the deck with extreme pre- 
 caution, passed aft into the darkness. 
 
 The night was no less obscure now that dawn was near, 
 but he could have found his way about the ship blind, and 
 Slyne crept closely after him, not knowing what to expect, 
 since Reuben Yoxall lay safely locked in one of the rooms 
 below. 
 
 Captain Dove stopped behind the canvas shaft of one of 
 the wind-sails which had been spread to catch the scant 
 breeze and relieve a little the atmosphere of the mid-ship 
 cabins. Its base was made fast about the hood of an or- 
 dinary deck ventilator. 
 
 " Cast it loose for a minute and listen," he whispered to 
 his companion, and Slyne obeyed.
 
 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 75 
 
 He listened there for a time, and then turned to whisper 
 excitedly to Captain Dove. 
 
 " There's something wrong with him," he said. " He's 
 raving. He's down with fever, as sure's I live." 
 
 " Let me hear," the old man commanded, and was very 
 soon satisfied. 
 
 "Hell!" he ejaculated. "Now, isn't that the limit! 
 There's surely some hoodoo on board this ship. 
 
 " Tie it up again, Slyne. We needn't waste powder and 
 shot on him. He's booked out, express, on a free pass 
 and a damned good riddance, too! " 
 
 Slyne was not slow in re-fastening the canvas to the 
 ventilator again. But even then Captain Dove was not 
 done with him. 
 
 " Hobson's in the next cabin," the old man remarked, 
 " and we may as well give him his ticket now as later on. 
 We can't afford to let him bolt ashore whenever we make 
 port and blow the gaff on us both, Slyne! " 
 
 Slyne hung back, his gorge up again. 
 
 " What are you going to do? " he demanded. 
 
 " You do your part and I'll do mine," snapped Captain 
 Dove. And Slyne cast loose the second wind-chute. 
 
 Into the wide, rusted mouth of the ventilator Captain 
 Dove cautiously thrust one end of the flat cigar box and 
 pushed that well down its open throat. A muffled click was 
 no more than audible but, none the less, caused Slyne to 
 start apprehensively. And then the old man withdrew the 
 box, tossed it over the ship's side, and, with a hurried whis- 
 per to Slyne to make the canvas fast again, scuttled off 
 back to the saloon. 
 
 Slyne was not slow in following him, but stubbed his toes 
 hurtfully on his way to the stair and could scarcely repress
 
 76 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 the curse that rose to his lips. Just then, however, he caught 
 sight of a shadow at the near end of the bridge above, 
 which, he knew, was Da Costa, on watch, and he did not 
 care to be detected in any such dangerous and undignified 
 predicament. "When he limped into the saloon below he 
 found Captain Dove seated there, once more sucking 
 at a cigar, head cocked on one side as if listening for 
 something. 
 
 " Was it an explosive? " demanded Slyne, almost boiling 
 over at the idea that he had unwittingly been risking his 
 life as a cat's-paw. 
 
 11 What the blazes are you talking about? " Captain Dove 
 counter-questioned acidly. " And where have you been, 
 eh? I thought you said you were going to bed." 
 
 He stared unwinkingly into the other's angry, suspicious 
 eyes. " What's it like on deck? " he inquired. " Any sign 
 of wind yet? " 
 
 " You ought to know, you've just been on deck," snapped 
 Slyne. 
 
 " On deck! " exclaimed Captain Dove in surprise. " Not 
 me. I've been sitting smoking here since you left the 
 saloon." 
 
 Slyne, busy replacing his shoes, thought that over, and 
 sat up again with a sneering laugh. 
 
 " Don't forget, Dove," said he, " that, if you ever go 
 back on me at a pinch, that will be the worst day's work 
 you've ever done for yourself. I'm the one who's been 
 sitting here while you've been on deck and I don't know 
 yet what you went for." 
 
 " You'll hear presently," the other informed him, quite 
 unmoved by his threat. " And don't you forget, Slyne, 
 that, if you ever go back on me at a pinch, I've another
 
 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 77 
 
 box of cigars that I'm keeping for your benefit; I don't 
 think Brasse will fail to look very carefully after it, 
 either." 
 
 Slyne blanched a little, in spite of himself, and at that 
 moment a stifled shout came from behind some closed door 
 at the end of the alleyway outside the airless saloon. He 
 moved, as if to rise, but sat still, rigid, his eyes dilated, as 
 a blood-curdling, long-drawn cry reached his ears dully 
 from the distance, and finally died to silence in a quavering 
 agony. 
 
 Even Captain Dove was uncomfortably affected by it. 
 
 A shrill whistle made them both jump as the sight of a 
 policeman just then might have done. It was the old man 
 who first recovered his nerve. 
 
 " That's Da Costa, curse him! " he muttered, and darted 
 a glance of contempt at Slyne as he crossed to the bridge 
 speaking-tube. 
 
 " How the devil do I know! " he roared into that, after 
 listening to what his new second mate had to say. " Yes, 
 I heard it. You'd better send down and find out what it 
 was." 
 
 He set the whistle into the tube again and turned to 
 Slyne. 
 
 "Pull yourself together, you fool!" he said savagely. 
 " This isn't the time to show the white feather. I wouldn't 
 trust ' He stopped abruptly, hearing the sound of heavy 
 feet in the passage as some of the watch on deck came 
 tramping in, and Slyne, who had also heard that, pulled 
 out his handkerchief to hide his tell-tale face. 
 
 The footsteps did not stop at the saloon door, however, 
 but went on to the end of the alleyway. And, when Cap- 
 tain Dove at length looked out, one of the men there was
 
 78 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 still knocking violently at the door of Hobson's room. But 
 he could obtain no answer. 
 
 " Better get a hatchet and handspikes, Cassidy," said 
 Captain Dove, " and break the door in. Something must 
 have gone wrong inside." 
 
 The panelling soon began to splinter under these drastic 
 measures. A crash told that it had succumbed, and then 
 the two listeners heard the key being turned in the lock. 
 
 They strained their ears to catch what the men were 
 muttering to each other. One jumped clumsily back into 
 the passage with a hoarse bark of alarm, and, over the 
 shuffling of feet which ensued, could be heard the soft thud 
 of quick, desperate blows on some substance which muffled 
 them, until one fell on woodwork again and a murmur of 
 eager congratulations succeeded it. 
 
 The man Cassidy came along to the saloon door, out of 
 breath but exultant. " Mr. Hobson's stone-dead, sir," said 
 he, extending his hatchet, on whose flat blade lay, black 
 and limp, a long thin snake that looked like a slimy shoe- 
 string. " Mr. Hobson's stone-dead and that's what 
 killed him. It all but got me too, while I was turning over 
 the blankets." 
 
 '" Bring it nearer the light," Captain Dove directed, and 
 then bent over it, frowning, while Slyne, at his shoulder, 
 stared at it as if fascinated. 
 
 " Huh! " Captain Dove at length commented. " Your 
 luck was certainly in, Cassidy, when you managed to dodge 
 that. It must have got on board while we were alongside 
 the wharf at the Rio. But my luck's out, since I've lost 
 another man and the ship so short-handed too ! 
 
 " You might see if you can find a bottle of grog for those 
 lads, Mr. Slyne. And Cassidy. Just rouse the car-
 
 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 79 
 
 penter out and tell him to tie a fire-bar or two to the body 
 and slip it over the side. We can't keep a dead man on 
 board till morning in weather like this." 
 
 Cassidy touched his forelock and went off, apparently 
 quite content with the luck which had left him alive to 
 enjoy his share of the bottle Slyne had handed him. Cap- 
 tain Dove shut the door behind him, and looked contem- 
 platively round at Slyne. His own face was grey. The ar- 
 tificial animation derived from the alcohol he had imbibed 
 was dying away. He looked very old and tired. 
 
 He slouched across to the speaking-tube and whistled up 
 the engine-room, while Slyne sat watching him with sombre 
 eyes. 
 
 " We've got black-water fever on board now, Brasse," 
 he said in a weary voice. " Hobson's dead already, and 
 the mate's down with it, too. I want you to send one of 
 your men up to see after him. I can't spare a single deck- 
 hand. And I must have some one or Sallie will be want- 
 ing to nurse him herself." 
 
 He set his ear to the mouthpiece and, after he had 
 waited a while, spoke into it again. 
 
 " That's good," he remarked. " Send him up to the 
 mate's room right away. He'll have to stay there, in quar- 
 antine. And whatever he does know about doctoring will 
 maybe help him to save his own life! "
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 UNMASKED 
 
 SALLIE sat up in her disordered cot with a start of 
 alarm when Ambrizette came in to wake her, as she 
 had directed before she lay down. She had scarcely 
 slept at all amid dreadful dreams, and was still very weary, 
 both body and mind. She had not yet had time to forget 
 the horrors of over-night. 
 
 But she had no desire to dwell on them, and there 
 was the day's work awaiting her. Twenty minutes later 
 she was on her way to the bridge, to relieve Da Costa. 
 
 That was not the first occasion, by many, on which she 
 had had to fill a man's place. For Captain Dove had trained 
 her to all the responsibilities of the sea. Da Costa touched 
 his cap obsequiously to her and gave her the course, which 
 she repeated after him, with mechanical precision. 
 
 As he turned to go, yawning wearily, " If you'll send 
 and have me woke out again whenever you feel like it, Miss 
 Sallie," he said with an ingratiating flourish, " I'll - 
 
 " But Mr. Yoxall will be taking the next watch, won't 
 he? " she asked, renewed doubt and distrust in her tired 
 eyes. 
 
 The promoted Portuguese quartermaster shrugged his 
 shoulders and spread out his hands. 
 
 " You and I must stand watch and watch for a little, Miss 
 Sallie," he told her with a self-satisfied smirk. " The chief
 
 UNMASKED 81 
 
 mate is sick of a fever. That Hobson he is already dead 
 and over the side. And Captain Dove has sent order that 
 he is not to be disturbed unless necessary. He is broke 
 down, he says, with illness and worry." 
 
 " Wait a minute, then, Mr. Da Costa," she said, so im- 
 peratively that he halted and let her pass. " I won't be 
 long, and then I'll stay on duty till evening." 
 
 She hurried below by the stairway behind the chart- 
 house, and went straight along the alleyway to Reuben 
 Yoxall's room. She was very much alarmed; she knew how 
 sudden and deadly the dreaded West African fever could 
 be. She did not doubt that the wretched Hobson had fallen 
 a victim to it. 
 
 All was quiet within the chief mate's room. She knocked 
 gently, and the door was opened almost at once. A young 
 man in an ill-fitting, coal-blackened suit of blue dungaree 
 looked inquiringly out at her and then frowned. 
 
 " Keep to the other side of the passage, please," he re- 
 quested crisply. " This room's in strict quarantine, and 
 the risk of infection 
 
 " Oh, never mind about that," she broke in. " It's no 
 worse for me than for you. And I must speak to Rube 
 Mr. Yoxall. Is he very bad? How did you 
 
 She had recognised him by his voice. Without his hor- 
 rible mask he looked so much younger than she had sup- 
 posed him that she had at first wondered who he could be, 
 although his keen, resolute face was haggard and lined, his 
 pale lips dreadfully drawn at the corners, and hideous re- 
 membrances still seemed to lurk behind his steady grey 
 eyes. 
 
 " He's asleep at present and pretty bad," said the 
 stranger sorrowfully. " I had to give lym an opiate. I
 
 82 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 volunteered to look after him which was the very least 
 I could do. There was no one else who knew anything, 
 and, although I'm not a doctor, I know some of the tricks 
 of the trade. 
 
 " And I know enough," he added, " to warn you that 
 you must please stay away from here in the meantime." 
 
 " I won't," said Sallie simply. " He's my best friend, 
 Mr. " 
 
 " Carthew's my name," the young man in the doorway 
 informed her. 
 
 " He's my best friend, Mr. Carthew. And you must 
 let me help." 
 
 Mr. Carthew considered the matter, and nodded. 
 
 " All right," he agreed. " If you like to see to his food 
 - what the ship's cook has left at the door will do him 
 no good." And she listened attentively while he went on 
 to tell her what would be best for the sick man. 
 
 " Ambrizette will prepare it and bring it along," she 
 promised. " And you'll let me see him next time I come 
 down? " 
 
 " As soon as he's fit to see anyone," her new acquaintance 
 assured her. And with that Sallie was quite content. She 
 felt intuitively that she could trust him. 
 
 " Are you all right, yourself? " she asked. 
 
 " Perfectly all right," he assured her. " And very glad 
 of the chance to repay some small part of what I owe - 
 our friend." 
 
 " No one else will come near you here," she said reflect- 
 ively. " It may all be for the best in the end." 
 
 He nodded again, and, as she turned away, shut the door 
 very quietly. 
 
 She hurried aft, to instruct Ambrizette as to the food
 
 UNMASKED 83 
 
 to be prepared and carried to the sick man's door, and no 
 less hastily returned to the bridge. Da Costa left it by the 
 other ladder; he evidently did not care to come too near 
 her then. And there she remained all day, with only the 
 sullen, silent man at the wheel for company. 
 
 Once during the afternoon she slipped down to ask how 
 the mate was, and found him delirious. Slyne came on 
 deck as she returned to her post, and frowned angrily as 
 she told him, in answer to his quick question, where she 
 had been. He had obviously intended to join her up there, 
 but thought better of that. 
 
 " You mustn't go near him again, Sallie," he called to 
 her peremptorily. " Captain Dove will be very ill- 
 pleased." 
 
 " I can't help that," she answered, thankful so to escape 
 Jasper Slyne's company. And he turned away with a still 
 blacker frown. It was tiresome talking against the stiff 
 head-wind. 
 
 The day dragged out its dreary length, until, late in the 
 evening, Da Costa came on deck again. 
 
 "I'm good for all night now," he told Sallie from a safe 
 distance. " Captain Dove's still sound asleep, although 
 the mate's been making no end of a row." 
 
 "I'll be up again some time in the morning watch, then," 
 she told him, and was soon knocking at the door of Yoxall's 
 room. 
 
 Carthew's face was very grave when he looked out. 
 
 "Is he worse? " she asked breathlessly. 
 
 " Better in one way," the young American answered. 
 " He's conscious now. He's had some of the soup you sent 
 along." 
 
 " Can I see him? " she begged.
 
 84 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 " He's just been speaking of you. He told me to ask you 
 not to come near him again." 
 
 She choked back a dry sob, and had pushed past him into 
 the room before he could interfere. 
 
 " I'll sit with him for an hour or two now, while you 
 get a sleep," she said, and 'stifled another sob as she 
 saw how the sick man's sunken eyes grew glad at sight of 
 her. 
 
 Nor did anything that the acting doctor could urge make 
 any difference in her determination; and she hushed the 
 mate's whispered protests with a brave smile. 
 
 " We're going to pull you through, Rube, between us," 
 she whispered back, bending over him. " And you're going 
 to obey orders for the present, instead of giving them. So 
 don't say any more about it now." 
 
 She had seated herself on a camp-stool beside him. Car- 
 thew, convinced that it would be futile to argue any further 
 with her, was evidently only too glad to stretch himself on 
 the sofa and draw the curtains. And almost at once he 
 fell fast asleep. 
 
 It was very nearly midnight before he moved and woke 
 and sprang to his feet. And Sallie was still sitting there 
 with one of the mate's huge hands between both of 
 hers. 
 
 " He looks a little better, don't you think? " she asked 
 wistfully before she tiptoed out of the room. And Carthew, 
 after a prolonged glance at his patient, nodded approval 
 and hope. 
 
 That night and the next day and the next again passed 
 without any change of conditions on board. Captain Dove 
 was still confined to his room, and would not even see Slyne, 
 who had, therefore, to live alone, bored to the last limit,
 
 UNMASKED 85 
 
 not so much afraid of the fever as shirking any needless 
 risk of infection, his intercourse with Sallie confined to an 
 occasional shouted caution or inquiry. 
 
 Da Costa took the bridge by night and she by day. And 
 every night she relieved Carthew for a few hours from his 
 unremitting attendance on the sick man. She was with 
 Reuben Yoxall when he died. 
 
 What passed between the two of them during that last 
 vigil is not to be told. But the dead man's face was very 
 calm and content when Sallie at length roused Carthew 
 from his scanty rest to tell him that the appointed end had 
 come. 
 
 " But you promised to call me up," he said, most un- 
 happy for her. 
 
 " If there was any need," she corrected him gently. 
 " But there was none. He knew before I came in." 
 
 Her downcast eyes were dry, but grief almost beyond 
 bearing showed in them as she looked up at him on her 
 way to the door. 
 
 " You must get away to your own room now," he urged, 
 " and have a long, quiet rest. Don't forget that you've 
 done all you could and far more than most folk would 
 ever have dreamed of doing." 
 
 Her lips trembled a little. She held out a hand to 
 him gratefully. She could not trust herself to speak. 
 And, by and by, in her own quarters, she slowly cried 
 herself to sleep. 
 
 Captain Dove was on the bridge next morning when she 
 appeared, pale and worn. And he flew into a passion at 
 sight of her, rating her very bitterly for her foolhardy 
 behaviour. 
 
 " Go away back to bed," he finally ordered, " and keep
 
 86 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 to the poop till I give you leave to come forward again, 
 d'ye hear? " 
 
 Slyne, too, stepped hastily aside as she passed him on 
 her way aft again, and called after her some anxious advice 
 as to taking better care of herself. She was glad to think 
 that she would be free of him for the next few days, for 
 always in the back of her mind was the fear of what he had 
 told her before still more urgent cares had come to over- 
 shadow that for a time that he had got Captain Dove 
 to agree to give her to him as his wife. And, now that 
 Reuben Yoxall was gone, she felt utterly forlorn and friend- 
 less. 
 
 The Olive Branch bored through the Strait of Gibraltar 
 during the night, and after that Captain Dove effected 
 sundry surprising changes in his ship's appearance. No 
 one would have recognised the rakish Olive Branch in the 
 clumsy looking craft with three bare pole-masts and a 
 smokestack as high as a factory chimney which went lurch- 
 ing, with propellers awash, across the Gulf of Lyons. Even 
 its name had been changed again, and the new paint care- 
 fully aged. And a tattered Norwegian flag lay ready at 
 hand in the box beside the stubby pole at its taffrail. 
 
 No further case of fever had occurred in the interval, 
 but he left Sallie isolated in her own end of the ship until 
 the lights of Genoa showed white and clear in the distance. 
 She was on deck, late though it was, watching them as they 
 grew always clearer, when Slyne came aft for a moment 
 to tell her that she was once more free of the ship. 
 
 " And isn't it glorious to get back to civilisation again? " 
 he exclaimed, real gladness in his voice and his smiling 
 eyes. " Think of the good times we're going to have now, 
 Sallie! I can't stop to tell you all I've planned, but-
 
 UNMASKED 87 
 
 I'll see you again very soon, eh? And meantime you can 
 be getting ready to slip ashore with me early to-morrow. 
 I thought these last few days would never end! I do be- 
 lieve I'd have jumped overboard but for you and the prom- 
 ise you made me." 
 
 He went off again, in a great hurry, before she could 
 even deny having promised him anything. " Captain 
 Dove wants me to fake up an old Bill of Health for him," 
 he called back, and did not seem to hear her when she 
 cried to him to wait. 
 
 Before she reached the quarter-deck, in her long oilskin 
 coat, with a broad sou'wester to keep the dew from her 
 hair, he had disappeared. And she did not care to follow 
 him to the saloon below. 
 
 The steamer had stopped in the offing to pick up a 
 pilot, and was already slinking in between the harbour 
 headlights to the quarantine anchorage. As soon as its 
 rusty cable roared through the hawse-pipe, Captain Dove 
 came down from the bridge, .and Sallie stepped out from 
 among the shadows to confront him, on a quick impulse. 
 
 " Is it true that you told Jasper Slyne I would marry 
 him? " she asked directly, without any preface. 
 
 The old man shrugged his shoulders crossly. " Don't 
 worry me just now, girl! " he growled, but paused for a 
 moment before passing on. 
 
 " Has he been pestering you too? " he demanded, as 
 if aggrieved himself, " the bankrupt crook! Never mind 
 him, Sallie. I'm going to kick him off the ship first thing 
 to-morrow morning. He hasn't a cent to bless himself 
 with, and no man will ever marry you without money 
 to burn, believe me." 
 
 Sallie drew a deep breath of belated relief. That load
 
 88 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 at least had been lifted from her mind. She was at last 
 free of the fear which had been growing day by day as the 
 Olive Branch neared port. 
 
 A head and shoulders emerged from the engine-room 
 skylight and she went that way. It was Brasse, the chief 
 engineer, come up for a mouthful or two of fresh air. He 
 nodded to Sallie. 
 
 " Your friend's all right," he told her in a low tone. 
 " The old man left him alone in the mate's room till an 
 hour ago and then told me to take him back to the stoke- 
 hold. He's going to swim for it now. I must get a line 
 let down - 
 
 " I'll do that," she said swiftly, " there between the 
 two boats. Tell him where to look for it. And oh! Mr. 
 Brasse " 
 
 He would not wait to be thanked. " I'll send him up 
 right away, then. The sooner he's over the side the better," 
 said he, and so disappeared. 
 
 Sallie climbed the rail, and, having found a coil of rope 
 within one of the two life-boats there, was letting that 
 gently overside when another shadow joined her. 
 
 " How are you going to manage after you get ashore? " 
 she asked hurriedly as she was making the rope fast. 
 
 " I have my own kit in this water-tight bundle," he 
 told her. " I'll make for the steps below those bathing- 
 houses on the breakwater. It's only a short swim." 
 
 " But afterwards ? You'll need money." 
 
 " I have a little enough to get along with, I assure 
 you. I've nothing to worry about if I could only think 
 of some way to show you my gratitude. Is there any- 
 thing at all I can do for you ? " 
 
 She shook her head.
 
 
 "You won't forget," he urged, grave again.
 
 UNMASKED 89 
 
 " Are you sure? " he insisted. " I don't want to presume, 
 of course, but - Are you all right here, and quite happy? 
 What sort of ship is this, anyhow? And how " 
 
 " Listen, Mr. Carthew," she broke in. " The only 
 thing you can do for me is to forget all about me and the 
 Olive Branch. And I'd be very grateful to you if you would 
 promise - 
 
 " Not to forget you," he said. " I couldn't. But all 
 the rest I promise." 
 
 " Thank you," she returned simply. " And now - 
 
 " There's no hurry," he declared. " We're quite safe 
 in here. And I'm not going to leave you until you agree 
 that, if I can ever be of any service to you, you will let 
 me know at once." 
 
 " Very well," she agreed, to save time. " I'll do 
 that." 
 
 " You know my name," he reminded her, and paused, 
 frowning. 
 
 " But that won't suit either," he said to himself 
 reflectively, " for more than a few weeks. And I'll be at 
 your orders all my life. 
 
 " You see," he said, as if in apology, " I'm Justin Carthew 
 just now, but I'll be the Earl of Jura very soon after 
 I get to England. And if you've ever any use for me then, 
 all you need do will be to send word to the Earl of Jura, 
 in London; it will soon find me, wherever I happen to 
 be." 
 
 He laughed a little, and Sallie almost smiled too. But 
 he had spoken quite seriously. 
 
 " You won't forget," he urged, grave again. " The 
 Earl of Jura. I'm not joking, I assure you. And, some 
 day I may be able
 
 90 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 " I won't forget," she promised, no less gravely, and 
 held out a hand, in her haste to get him safe away. 
 
 He lifted it to his lips before letting it go, and stifled a 
 sigh, and, turning, let himself over the ship's side. 
 
 Sallie sighed too, as she reclimbed the rail after he was 
 safely gone. She was wondering. . . . 
 
 But she was not left to her own reflections for long. 
 Slyne came on deck, and had espied her before she could 
 escape. 
 
 " I was just going aft to look for you," he told her in 
 a confidential tone which she did not like at all. " How 
 about to-morrow morning, Sallie? " 
 
 " I asked Captain Dove, Jasper," she answered in a low 
 voice. " And he says 
 
 " But surely you're going to keep your promise to me! " 
 Slyne exclaimed, in a tragic voice. 
 
 " How can I? " she asked, not thinking it worth while 
 even now to deny that she had made him any promise at 
 all. And at that moment Captain Dove emerged from the 
 chart-house behind. 
 
 " A bargain's a bargain, Slyne," said he mockingly, 
 having overheard. " And Sallie can't keep her promise 
 to you because you can't come away with the ready cash. 
 So you'd better say good-bye to her now, you won't have 
 another chance."
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 AN OVERDRAFT ON THE FUTURE 
 
 SLYNE had drawn back a step. One of his hands fell 
 on the haft of a flogging-hammer that some one had 
 left lying loose on the casemate there. Had it not 
 been for the proximity of the pilot, drowsing away the 
 time till morning in the chart-house behind, he would most 
 assuredly have attempted to knock the old man on the 
 head with it. He felt sure that, but for Captain Dove, he 
 could have managed Sallie now that Yoxall was out of 
 the way. He stood gnawing savagely at his lower lip as 
 she vanished along the deck in the darkness. He had 
 taken no notice at all of her timid good-bye. 
 
 Captain Dove grinned spitefully at him through the 
 gloom of the small hours. " You'd better be off below and 
 pack up," the old man suggested. " You'll be going ashore 
 as soon as we get pratique." 
 
 " But I'll be back. Give me time to turn! " Slyne 
 snarled at him. " A bargain's a bargain, and I'll be 
 back." 
 
 " You'd better not," Captain Dove advised in a very 
 ominous voice, and went on his way below, leaving Slyne 
 to his own aggrieved, embittered reflections. 
 
 To Jasper Slyne the past few days had been like a fore- 
 taste of purgatory. Captain Dove had interdicted all 
 communication with Sallie, and had proved a most un-
 
 92 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 pleasant companion himself throughout the unspeakably 
 wearisome passage from the North-west African coast, 
 a passage made at the poorest speed of the ship because 
 coal was scarce and he was afraid to call anywhere by the 
 way to fill up his bunkers. Amid the dire squalor and dis- 
 comfort, the enforced inaction and loneliness of life under 
 such conditions, Slyne's only solace had been the hope of 
 finally winning Sallie, by fair means or foul. He who, in 
 his time, had met and made love to so many charming 
 adventuresses, who would not have thought any more about 
 her had she been one of their sort, had become absolutely 
 obsessed by ambitions to be fulfilled with her for his 
 wife. 
 
 And now he knew that neither force nor finesse 
 would avail him against Captain Dove's ultimatum. He 
 had not the cash to meet the old man's demands, and that 
 was apparently the end of the matter. 
 
 Most men, in Slyne's place, would have owned themselves 
 beaten then. But not so he. Thinking it all over again, 
 he would admit to himself no more than that he was for the 
 moment baffled by contrary circumstances; circumstances 
 such as had been his lot for so long that he could contem- 
 plate them almost unmoved. It was his happy creed that 
 in the very face of failure itself one may, as often as not, dis- 
 cern the inspiriting features of final success. The dark hour 
 that heralds dawn he spent pacing the cluttered quarter- 
 deck of the Olive Branch in the cold, his far-away eyes 
 always fixed on the twinkling dock-lights, his almost 
 bloodless lips straight and compressed under his black 
 moustache, cudgelling his brains for some safe means of 
 immediately obtaining the money he wanted. 
 
 He had not the cash to meet Captain Dove's demands.
 
 AN OVERDRAFT ON THE FUTURE 93 
 
 But neither was he so entirely penniless as Captain Dove 
 supposed him. He had only a hundred dollars in hand, 
 but he had twenty thousand francs at his credit in a French 
 bank. Many a millionaire had risen to affluence from in- 
 finitely smaller beginnings. 
 
 But it would have been idle to offer Captain Dove any 
 such trifling sum on account of the price he had set on 
 Sallie. And, rack his own overworked wits as he would, 
 Slyne could think of no safe plan for turning his modest 
 capital over at a sufficient profit within the time at his 
 disposal. 
 
 " The only possible way," he told himself finally, his 
 teeth set, " the only possible way is to chance my luck at 
 those cursed tables again. Although, God knows that's a 
 risk I'd give up anything else to avoid. But it's the only 
 possible way now," he repeated vexedly, recalling the very 
 excellent reasons he had for never showing his face in Monte 
 Carlo again. 
 
 For, only a season or two before, he had figured 
 throughout the Cote d'Azur as accessory in an affaire 
 with which the whole civilised world had afterwards rung, 
 in spite of every effort to hush it up, an affaire whose tragic 
 consequences had caused such a flutter of scandalised 
 chagrin among the private police of three great European 
 powers that he could never again cross their frontiers 
 without fear. Since he knew very well that, if he were 
 ever identified, he would deservedly disappear, without 
 any further fuss, to spend the rest of his life as a nameless 
 cypher, forgotten, among the living dead, entombed in 
 some secure fortress. In that cosmopolitan underworld 
 to which such as Slyne belong, occur many curious in- 
 cidents not reported in the newspapers, and the citizens of
 
 94 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 Cosmopolis have nowhere consul or minister to protect 
 them against unfortunate consequences. 
 
 Slyne had no illusions as to what his fate would be if 
 he were recognised on the Riviera. 
 
 " But she's worth the stake," he told himself with dogged 
 determination, " even though it is life and liberty as well 
 as my last few francs. And I'd just as soon be done 
 with things if I can't capture Sallie from that old scoundrel." 
 
 He knew very well, of course, that his prospect of making 
 a financial success at the tables was no less of a forlorn 
 hope. But he had all a professional gambler's blind faith 
 in the goddess of chance. And since he would not with- 
 draw from the contest, he had no option but to play that 
 losing hazard also. 
 
 Day had broken before he had completed his plans. 
 And then Captain Dove reappeared, sleepy-eyed and un- 
 shaven, to interview the port-doctor. 
 
 As soon as that functionary had glanced at the forged Bill 
 of Health put before him and seen the crew mustered to 
 the tally it told, the yellow flag at the fore was hauled down 
 and Captain Dove hailed a shore-boat, to which he had 
 Slyne's baggage transferred, and curtly told Slyne to be 
 off ashore. 
 
 Nor did Slyne delay to bid him farewell. Each was 
 heartily sick of the sight of the other, and each had plans 
 of his own to promote in a hurry. They separated with- 
 out so much as a nod. Sallie was invisible. And Slyne, 
 in the boat on his way to the Custom-house, only looked 
 back once at the ports of the poop-cabin, to see, within 
 the dingy brass frame of one, a face that seemed to be 
 watching him very thankfully as he went, a horrible face, 
 with blubber lips, almost inhumanly ugly, the face of
 
 AN OVERDRAFT ON THE FUTURE 95 
 
 Sallie's devoted attendant, the dumb black dwarf, Ambri- 
 zette. 
 
 A yawning Customs' searcher glanced at his baggage 
 and passed it unopened. In return for which courtesy 
 Slyne bestowed upon him a doubtful rix-dollar and a few 
 words in fluent Italian concerning the Olive Branch 
 words which would not improve Captain Dove's prospects 
 of an early departure from Genoa, but might, conversely, 
 increase by a little his own scanty time-allowance in that 
 desperate bout with fortune to which he had committed 
 himself. He knew that Captain Dove was intent on coal- 
 ing and sailing again without the loss of a minute that might 
 be saved. 
 
 He had all his own movements mapped out in anticipa- 
 tion. He drove to an hotel at which he had stayed once 
 before, and, after a Turkish bath and breakfast, went on 
 to the Credit Lyonnais office to cash his draft. Then he 
 made a number of purchases in inconspicuous shops, 
 where he had to spend a good deal of time in bargaining, 
 looked in at the Motor-Car Mart & Exchange, where he 
 saw a big touring-car over which he argued for some min- 
 utes with the salesman; and, after a belated but liberal 
 lunch in a first-class restaurant, he turned back toward the 
 sale-room. 
 
 A man in an elaborate chauffeur's uniform, and evidently 
 English, stopped him in the street outside, to ask whether 
 he would care to buy a gold cigarette-case, a bargain. 
 Slyne looked him over, and sized him up at a glance. 
 
 " Stranded? " he asked, and the man nodded sulkily. 
 
 " Want a few days' work? " 
 
 The chauffeur's dissipated face brightened. 
 
 " Yes, sir," said he, " I do."
 
 96 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 " Wait here, then," said Slyne, and went inside. 
 
 " Well," he asked the salesman, " have you thought it 
 over? What's the last word? " 
 
 " Fifteen thousand lire, milor not a soldo less," de- 
 clared the dapper, frock-coated salesman, in a tone of 
 final decision which Slyne's sharp ears judged unfeigned. 
 " The car is worth twice as much. Indeed, I could not 
 let it go at such a ruinous loss were it not But, ecco! 
 The owner himself. He would probably be very ill pleased 
 to* hear it was actually sold at that ridiculous price." 
 
 Slyne looked round at the grey-haired, portly, prosperous- 
 looking individual threading his way through the agglomer- 
 ation of cars in the background, and his half-parted lips 
 snapped together again. 
 
 He wanted that particular car and had made up his mind 
 to buy it, rash though such an investment might prove, 
 but he had surmised from a lynx-like glance at the seller 
 that he might be able to get it for even less than the sales- 
 man was authorised to accept. And, since his own pockets 
 were so poorly lined for the expensive part he was playing. 
 he, who despised chaffering, was yet bent on making the 
 very best bargain he could. 
 
 " It's more than I've got about me," he told the sales- 
 man in a very audible voice, as the fat man in the fur coat 
 halted indeterminately a few paces away. And at the 
 words the new-comer's puffy face lighted up, as if with 
 relief, behind the pince-nez he was wearing. He came for- 
 ward and spoke. 
 
 " An Englishman, by Jove! " he remarked with a great 
 semblance of geniality. " So am I. Very happy to meet 
 you, sir. You're interested in my car? " 
 
 " Not at the price," Slyne returned, with an indifferent
 
 AN OVERDRAFT ON THE FUTURE 97 
 
 hauteur which he judged likely to be effective with one in 
 the stranger's presumable plight. And the fat man's lips 
 drooped visibly, the pouches under his uneasy eyes became 
 more marked. He was obviously disappointed, and felt 
 himself snubbed. He did not seem quite sure what to say 
 or do next. 
 
 Slyne, congratulating himself on his talent for character 
 reading, turned away, to look at a cheap runabout, as 
 carelessly as though he had all time at his disposal, in- 
 stead of being, as he was, in a fever of ill-restrained im- 
 patience. The salesman figuratively washed his hands of 
 them both; he could already foresee a forced sale at a 
 calamitous sacrifice. And so it fell out. 
 
 Slyne, cavalier to the verge of rudeness, finally bought 
 the big scarlet car, which the other almost forced upon 
 him, for about half its market value, and paid for it there 
 and then, in the new French notes which had almost been 
 burning a hole in his pocket since he had left the Credit 
 Lyonnais office so eager was he to be off on his last for- 
 lorn hope of winning Sallie. 
 
 " If you had allowed me only a few hours longer, I 
 could have got you twice that amount," said the disap- 
 pointed salesman in a stage aside to the seller as he counted 
 over his own diminished commission. But the fat man 
 merely bestowed on him a look of contemptuous annoyance, 
 and, having signed the receipt Slyne required, tucked away 
 in an empty pocket-book the balance of the crisply-rustling 
 bills he had just received. 
 
 Even then he did not appear to know what next to do 
 with himself. For, having glanced at his watch, he gave 
 vent to a grunt of disgust, and hung on his heel undecidedly, 
 after making a move to go.
 
 98 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 " It's only about a hundred miles to Monaco, isn't it? " 
 Slyne asked the salesman; and was answered in the affirm- 
 ative. 
 
 The fat man gasped and choked for a moment, and then 
 spoke again, with more confidence: a change due, perhaps, 
 to the improvement in his finances. 
 
 " Pardon me, sir," said he, " but if you're going that 
 way, I wonder It would be a most tremendous favour 
 to me, and I haven't haggled over giving you the best of 
 our bargain. The train's just gone, and " 
 
 Slyne, chin in air, once more looked him over apprais- 
 ingly, as he stammered and hesitated; and was very much 
 disposed to cut him adrift without more ado. But some 
 indefinable impulse, some feeling that here was a bird of a 
 feather very sadly astray, caused him to alter his mind. 
 " I'll be glad to give you a lift," he said, more graciously, 
 " if you're ready to start now. But I can't wait." 
 
 The fat man's face lighted up again. " My luck's on 
 the mend at last! " he declared. " I'm in as great a hurry 
 as you can be, sir. I'm more than obliged to you for your 
 courtesy. May I offer you my card? " 
 
 Slyne glanced at the slip of pasteboard conferred upon 
 him while the car was being shifted out of the showroom 
 into the street, where his elaborate chauffeur was in waiting. 
 And, " Jump in, Mr. Jobling," he requested with uncon- 
 cealed coldness as he himself took the wheel, relegating 
 the chauffeur to a back seat. It ruffled his self-satisfied 
 mood of the moment more than a little to learn that the 
 fat man in the fur coat was in fact a London solicitor. 
 With the law in any shape or form Jasper Slyne wanted 
 nothing whatever to do, and especially at such a juncture. 
 He was already repenting his ill-timed politeness.
 
 AN OVERDRAFT ON THE FUTURE 99 
 
 However, he could not very well rid himself of his pas- 
 senger then. All he could do was to dash through the busy 
 streets of Genoa in the dusk at a pace calculated to make 
 the hair of any respectable and self-respecting solicitor 
 stand on end. But, out of the corner of one eye, he observed 
 that Mr. Jobling was wearing a blandly contented smile. 
 
 That gentleman did not seem so well pleased, however, 
 as they turned uphill into the Via Roma, and Slyne, under- 
 standing, relented a little again. " I have some baggage 
 at the Isotta," he volunteered, and the cloud at once lifted 
 from Mr. Jobling's brow. 
 
 Several assiduous porters stowed hastily in the tonneau, 
 beside the ornamental chauffeur, the travel-worn trunks 
 and suit-cases which Slyne had left there that morning, 
 and stood at the salute till he drove away, when they no 
 doubt returned to their lairs to count the profits of such 
 politeness. He had, as usual, been very lavish with his 
 small change. And his passenger was also impressed by 
 his liberality. 
 
 Meanwhile the car was negotiating more carefully the 
 lumpy patchwork with which the old Via Carlo Alberto 
 is paved, and Mr. Jobling's puffy features spoke his dis- 
 content over its slow progress. But, once beyond Sampier- 
 darena, clear of close traffic, on the open road to Savona, 
 Slyne made more speed; and it was self-evident that he 
 knew how to get the most out of his horse-power. 
 
 He looked, indeed, if looks go for anything nowadays, 
 quite at home, very much in his element, lying lazily 
 back in the driver's seat of the richly-appointed car which 
 had been his companion's an hour before. It was late on 
 a winter afternoon, and what wind there was had a chill 
 in it, caught, no doubt, in crossing the Apennines. But
 
 100 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 Slyne also was wearing a heavy fur coat and had pulled 
 on a pair of gauntlets at the hotel. 
 
 As the car rocked and swayed on its rapid way through 
 the last outskirts of Savona, he was humming light-heart- 
 edly to himself the antique aria of The Man who Broke the 
 Bank at Monte Carlo. 
 
 " Been gambling a bit? " he presently asked his silent 
 companion. And Mr. Jobling admitted the soft impeach- 
 ment. 
 
 " And no luck," Slyne inferred amusedly. He could view 
 with an equable eye the misfortunes of others as well as 
 his own; especially since the stout solicitor's losses had 
 brought his own way such a substantial profit as could be 
 readily realised by the re-sale of his car. 
 
 " No luck at all," Mr. Jobling affirmed explosively, 
 and the troubles fermenting in his mind at length found 
 outlet in speech. " I wouldn't have believed anyone could 
 have been so unlucky! " he declared with great bitterness; 
 " and at such a critical moment. I want so little, too; 
 I've no ambition to break the bank. It wasn't with any 
 such foolish idea that / came to Monte Carlo. I wouldn't 
 have had this happen for all the bank holds." 
 
 " Which isn't a great deal," commented Slyne. " I've 
 broken the bank more than once myself, and lost twice 
 as much the next evening." 
 
 ' You play some system, perhaps? " his companion 
 inquired, but Slyne shook his head reminiscently. " I've 
 tried several myself, but none seemed to be of the slightest 
 use. And now- It doesn't matter, of course. I didn't 
 come to Monaco to make money; I'm not such a fool! 
 But it,'s most infernally inconvenient . . . may cost me 
 my chance of a fortune . . . practically within my grasp."
 
 AN OVERDRAFT ON THE FUTURE 101 
 
 His voice had died away to a mere mutter. Slyne was 
 smiling in disdain. 
 
 " But I can't go on losing at the tables for ever," he 
 exploded again. " My turn must come. I feel in better 
 fettle this evening as if my luck had changed. It's 
 no doubt since I met you; I must thank you again for this 
 lift. If I'd had to wait in Genoa for the slow train, I might 
 have got back too late to take the tide at the flood. I'm 
 a great believer, you know, in striking while the iron's 
 hot." 
 
 " So am I," said Slyne dryly, and much amused by his 
 monologue. 
 
 " I'm sure my luck's on the mend," Mr. Jobling went 
 on, growing still more communicative under encourage- 
 ment, " and the mere matter of winning a few thousand 
 francs is nothing to what will follow what must follow. 
 I've made up my mind to win all along the line; and there's 
 a great deal in the theory that, if you apply sufficient will- 
 power to any project, its success is assured. I'm ab-so- 
 lutely determined to win fifty thousand francs to-night, 
 and then ... I fancy it was a mistake to come here at 
 all. . . . But, of course, a man who never makes a mistake 
 will never make anything. . . . I'll go straight back to 
 London, and surely, among the five or six million people 
 there. . . . 
 
 " Look out! Good God! " 
 
 Between his two excited ejaculations Slyne had outwitted 
 calamity. Taking a rash curve at top speed, he had come 
 to an unexpected rectangle in the roadway running almost 
 parallel there with the shore below, and, rounding that 
 corner safely with a quick wrench of the wheel, had almost 
 crashed .into a heavy, high-built ox- wagon which was
 
 102 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 backing blindly out from some steep, hidden side-lane. 
 The hubs of the car's wheels had all but grazed the parapet 
 of the roadway at Mr. Jobling's side, and Slyne, on the 
 other, had barely escaped being brained by the timbers 
 protruding from the rear of the wagon. The ornamental 
 chauffeur was fast asleep in the tonneau behind. 
 
 Mr. Jobling lay back and gasped while Slyne held on as 
 if nothing had happened, at the same breakneck pace. 
 But neither spoke again for some time. 
 
 Through village after village they dashed, always at 
 grave risk and yet without accident. The moon rose just 
 before they reached Alassio. Slyne even managed to im- 
 prove the pace a little then, and his passenger made no 
 protest, but sat with eyes downcast, his lips always moving 
 mutely. 
 
 " A slight overdraft on the future it's no more than 
 that," remarked Mr. Jobling a little later, as if he had been 
 alone, and Slyne looked round at him for an instant, with 
 nostrils curled in a faint, superior smile. 
 
 Slyne thought he could guess some part at least of the 
 troubles afflicting his chance acquaintance, and was very 
 little inclined to hear more about them. He was too busy 
 considering his own plan of campaign, the blood in his 
 own veins was running too briskly under the stimulus 
 of that wild flight through the keen night air, to waste 
 any time or thought on another man's worries. But a 
 fellow-feeling makes us wondrous kind. " Cheer up! " 
 said he suddenly. " Every one overdraws more or less 
 on his luck, at one time or another. If that's all you've 
 done, it's nothing to mope about." 
 
 Mr. Jobling sat up with a start, and stared at him. 
 " That's all," he asserted, a little too hurried in his as-
 
 AN OVERDRAFT ON THE FUTURE 103 
 
 surance. " I give you my word, sir. . . ." And then he 
 recollected himself and laughed uncomfortably, confused. 
 
 " I've been thinking aloud," said he. " But you mustn't 
 take any notice of that. It's a bad habit of mine. And, as 
 you say, we all overdraw on the future, from time to time. 
 As a man of the world, sir, you'll understand what I mean 
 to convey to you. And of course these little overdrafts 
 are always met when they're due. 
 
 " What a fine night this is for a fast spin! " 
 
 " What's the nature of your present overdraft? " Slyne 
 inquired perversely, safe in the certainty that the other 
 could not resent that rudeness, and was again amused by 
 Mr. Jobling's cough of discomfiture. 
 
 But, " Purely metaphorical," that gentleman countered 
 cleverly. " We'll soon be in San Remo at this rate. I 
 wouldn't wonder if we've established a record. It isn't 
 every day there's such a car in the market." 
 
 " No, it isn't," Slyne agreed. " Nor a buyer for it." 
 And conversation languished again. 
 
 But Slyne's spirits, none the less, were steadily rising 
 as he drew nearer, mile by mile, to the chief temple of 
 that goddess of chance to whom he looked to befriend 
 him now since it was not on his own behalf alone that 
 he was seeking her shrine, since mischance must entail con- 
 sequences so dire to Sallie as well as to him. The personal 
 risk he was running lent added zest to the piquancy of his 
 most unusual position as a champion of maidenhood in 
 distress. And what Sallie's fate would be if his own luck 
 failed him, he could picture in vivid detail from his own 
 experience of a world most men know nothing about. 
 
 Within a few days the Olive Branch, with a supply of 
 cheap coal and some makeshift repairs, would be gone from
 
 104 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 Genoa, leaving behind no trace but such bills as Captain 
 Dove could escape without paying. She would enter Port 
 Said and leave Suez in some effective disguise and under 
 another assumed name which would last her through the 
 Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb; beyond which she would dis- 
 appear, perhaps for good, into whatever strange world she 
 might raise over the mysterious sea-rim which lies beyond 
 " the Gate of the Place of Tears." 
 
 Captain Dove was an old man already. And even he 
 could not for ever go on living such a life as he led. He had 
 spoken of this trip East as his last, and it was his avowed 
 object in it to turn Sallie to some account. Slyne, who, as 
 you will perhaps suppose, was no squeamish moralist, 
 sickened at thought of what time might still have in store 
 for the girl. 
 
 " Just imagine her,' 1 said he to himself, " cooped up in 
 some slat-eyed Chinaman's filthy yamen till she grows grey, 
 or eating her heart out in some coffee-coloured sultan's 
 clay palace, with nothing to comfort her but a crooked 
 brass crown and not even that by and by. It's 
 damnable to think But what's the use of thinking about 
 it! I'm going to save her from all that in spite of her- 
 self." And his selfishly sentimental mood of the moment 
 once more gave place to a philosophic contentment with 
 things as they were, and that in turn to an exhilarating 
 anticipation of pleasures to come. 
 
 The lights of San Remo looked very alluring to him, 
 who had for so long spent his nights at_sea with no more 
 companionable illuminant than a reeking kerosene lamp 
 or the cold, aloof stars. He became jocular, in a lofty way, 
 with the always impatient Jobling, and at the frontier 
 was so patronisingly polite to the officials there that they
 
 AN OVERDRAFT ON THE FUTURE 105 
 
 let him pass almost at once, under the apparent impression 
 that he was some personage of importance a circumstance 
 which lent him a little additional self-confidence. 
 
 From Men ton Garavan in to Monte Carlo is only some 
 seven miles. And for that short distance he sat silent, 
 once more mentally reviewing the manifold chances of 
 mischance ahead of him. While Mr. Jobling, beside him, 
 continued to mumble and mutter at intervals of misfortune 
 no fault of his own and fortune, that marvellous 
 fortune which was to be his so soon, since he had made up 
 his mind that it must. 
 
 " I'm absolutely determined" said Mr. Jobling, uncon- 
 sciously raising his voice again. " Eh? What? Oh, yes. 
 I beg your pardon. I have a room at the Metropole. 
 Where are you going to put up? " 
 
 " I always stay at the Paris," Slyne lied easily. He had 
 no inclination for any more of his companion's society, 
 especially while he had no idea how he himself might be 
 received at any hotel in the Principality. 
 
 " I'll walk on from here, then, if you'll allow me," 
 suggested that gentleman. " And er by the way, 
 you won't be mentioning to anyone the circumstances - 
 er about the car." 
 
 " We'll let it be understood that I bought it in London 
 last month," said Slyne, ready to be obliging since it 
 would be for his own benefit; and, cutting short with a 
 curt " Good night " some further profuse expressions of 
 gratitude on the part of his passenger, glad, indeed, to 
 be so well quit of him, drove on in more state, his sleepy 
 chauffeur in the seat vacated by Mr. Jobling, to make his 
 next move in that desperate game in which he was going 
 to stake life and liberty also on the infinitesimal chance of
 
 106 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 returning triumphant to Genoa to claim Sallie from Captain 
 Dove. 
 
 For, " If they spot me, I'll blow out my brains before 
 tney can lay hands on me," said he to himself as he drew 
 up with an imperative honk-honk-honk! before the Hotel 
 de Paris.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 THE GODDESS OF CHANCE 
 
 IF you have ever had to walk unconcernedly into the 
 crowded vestibule of a fashionable hotel, not knowing 
 at what moment you might be identified and arrested 
 as a notorious criminal, you will no doubt understand, and, 
 perhaps, sympathise with Slyne's state of mind as he en- 
 tered the Hotel de Paris. If not, you can at least imagine 
 how he felt as he made his way through the throng toward 
 the bureau, grimly conscious of every inquisitive glance. 
 
 There was little enough to shield him from immediate 
 detection, beyond the flight of time and the facts that he 
 had been wearing a beard and living under a French alias 
 or, as he would have preferred to put it, incognito 
 when, only a season or two before, he had earned such un- 
 desired and undesirable distinction throughout the Cote 
 d'Azur. And he knew very well what his fate would be if 
 he were recognised. 
 
 He was very devoutly thankful, therefore, when, having 
 safely run the gauntlet of all those argus eyes which had 
 seemed to be searching his by the way, he found himself 
 installed hi an ornate apartment vacated only that morn- 
 ing by a grand duke. 
 
 " I can't afford to do things by halves now! " he had re- 
 flected, shrugging his shoulders, as he had agreed with the 
 manager, who happened to be on the spot, that the suite
 
 108 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 in question would probably serve his turn. And even the 
 manager had been impressed by his manner and his 
 fine car. 
 
 " So far, so good, then," said Slyne to himself with a 
 somewhat nervous grimace, as he crossed to the window 
 of his sitting-room and looked out over the moonlit bay, 
 after tossing his keys to a valet with a curt order to lose 
 no time. " And now I must go on as I've begun. But 
 - 1 can't help wishing I were well through with it all. I 
 didn't half like the way that clerk watched me with his 
 mouth wide open and / knew him all right! " 
 
 No one could have appeared more care-free, however, 
 than he when, an hour later, he left his dressing-room, 
 ready to face and outface the detective talent he still 
 must meet, and sauntered very much at his leisure, a ciga- 
 rette between his tight lips, in the direction of the table 
 d'hote. 
 
 " Seems pretty dull here," he commented, after an in- 
 different inspection of the elaborate company there. " I've 
 a good mind to go on to Giro's and find out if they have 
 forgotten my face by now too. I won't have any peace of 
 mind till I've been all round the old place." In pursuit of 
 which bold policy he sent a page for his coat and hat, and 
 stood displaying himself to the general public till they 
 arrived. 
 
 He found Giro's well filled, as usual, when he strolled in, 
 taking with perfect outward calm the risk that he might 
 be remembered there. But no hostile glance met his roving 
 eye as he entered the restaurant. He was obsequiously 
 received by an observant head-waiter, and shown to a table 
 which suited his immediate needs to a nicety. 
 
 Among the more ebullient gathering in that gay resort
 
 THE GODDESS OF CHANCE 109 
 
 he could discover no cause for alarm. And no one took any 
 special notice of him until, among some still later comers, 
 he noticed a haggardly handsome woman, in a gown so 
 scant that she might well have been glad of the great bunch 
 of camellias she wore at her breast, who was pointing him 
 out to one of the two men in her company. 
 
 Slyne's heart almost stopped beating at that, and one of 
 his hands involuntarily slipped round to where, in a padded 
 pocket within the arm-hole of his thin evening-coat, he had 
 a little double-barrelled pistol concealed. 
 
 He caught the woman's eye again while she was whisper- 
 ing volubly to the attentive listener at her elbow, a fashion- 
 ably foolish-looking young man of a stamp whose appear- 
 ance is sometimes deceitful, and wondered sickly what was 
 coming as that individual, having looked him over quite 
 openly and with the aid of an eye-glass, rose and approached 
 him across the room. 
 
 He glanced up in admirably assumed surprise, however, 
 for all answer to the other's gruffly casual, " Good evenin', 
 sir. 
 
 " Will you excuse my askin' whether you'd care to sell 
 the car I saw you drivin' past in, an hour ago? " inquired 
 the stranger, quite unabashed. " Because I want it, 
 don't y'know." 
 
 Slyne's face remained an immobile mask, although in his 
 heart he was dully conscious of an almost overwhelming 
 sense of relief. 
 
 " It isn't for sale at the moment," he answered, suavely 
 enough, but as if a little offended. 
 
 " But I want it," reiterated the stranger, who did not 
 seem to lack a sufficient sense of his own importance. 
 " And I'll give you practically your own price for it. It's
 
 110 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 for a lady, don't y'know and as a favour to me, 
 eh?" 
 
 " I'd be very glad to oblige you," said Slyne, elated be- 
 yond expression to find not only that his fears had been 
 groundless, that his visitor was really a fool and not a knave 
 in disguise, but also that, if he played his own cards prop- 
 erly, he might pocket a still fatter profit upon his car than 
 he had anticipated, " but I can't at the moment. Are 
 you going to be here for a few days? " 
 
 " I'm at the Cap Martin for a week. As soon as you 
 change your mind you can come over an' see me there. 
 Ask for Lord Ingoldsby. Good evenin' to you," answered 
 his visitor with all the sulky insolence of a spoiled child; 
 and slouched back to his own table, where, Slyne had the 
 satisfaction of seeing, he had to endure a rating from his 
 enchantress for his ill-success on her errand. And Slyne 
 almost smiled. 
 
 For he knew the Marquis of Ingoldsby quite well, by 
 repute at least, as an English pigeon with feathers well 
 worth the plucking, and set the other two down for what 
 they were, a pair of those hawks to be found hovering 
 wherever the simple pigeon would try its wings. He be- 
 came contemplatively interested in the trio, although he 
 knew the ways of that wicked world far too well to suppose 
 for an instant that he would be allowed to make a quar- 
 tette of it. 
 
 " But you shall have your car, madame," he soliloquised, 
 " presently, when I'm finished with it. And, in exchange, 
 I'll take " 
 
 " If only I had Sallie here now " he said to himself with 
 sudden self-pity, and then was seized with a hot contempt 
 for all such as the noble marquis. " But no one under a
 
 royalty need hope for an introduction to her then/' he 
 finished, and so stifled an inconvenient twinge of 
 conscience. 
 
 " In the meantime it looks to me as if my little overdraft 
 on the future is going to pay me most handsomely," he re- 
 flected. And that happy thought added zest to his appetite 
 for the excellent dinner his waiter had ordered for him, the 
 first good dinner to which he had sat down hi endless 
 months. 
 
 He had given the man carte blanche in the matter of 
 viands, only reserving the choice of what he should drink. 
 So that when he ordered Vichy the waiter was not unduly 
 depressed. Slyne also would have preferred to see a silver 
 bucket beside the table, a pursy gold neck protruding from 
 it, but he wanted all his wits about him that evening, while 
 he was once more pitting himself, alone, against all comers 
 in Monte Carlo and, incidentally, against the odds in 
 favour of the bank, on which he hoped to draw to the tune 
 of at least a hundred thousand dollars during the next few 
 days. He knew, of expensive experience, that the Widow 
 Clicquot and her charming companions are safer society 
 after a dangerous campaign is over than just before it 
 begins. 
 
 He would not even venture upon an after-dinner cigar, 
 contenting himself with a cigarette from the plain gold case 
 with a crest on it which he purchased from the chauffeur 
 he had so providentially picked up in Genoa that after- 
 noon. But he tipped the waiter with such profusion that 
 the man preceded him to the door bent almost double with 
 gratitude, and even the Marquis of Ingoldsby was star- 
 ingly impressed by the magnificence of his exit as Slyne 
 had intended he should be.
 
 112 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 \ 
 
 His masterly impersonation of an unostentatious mil- 
 lionaire was not without its effect on the flunkeys of the 
 Casino also. These made as much of his entrance as he in 
 his assumed modesty would allow on his way into the salles 
 de jeu, where he attracted not a few appraising, inquisitive 
 glances while he once more dared discovery as he roamed 
 from table to table, gazing about him as though that had 
 really been his first visit there. The world and the half- 
 world alike seemed to be wondering who he might be; a 
 circumstance which, otherwise, would have caused him 
 ecstatic pleasure. 
 
 It has been stated already that he was more than passably 
 good-looking, with regular profile and straight, spare, ele- 
 gant figure. In evening clothes which fitted him to per- 
 fection, neither over-groomed nor untidy in any detail, 
 without a flaw for the most fastidious to pick in either 
 appearance or manner, he seemed to bear some stamp of 
 distinction which might very well have passed current in 
 circles much more exclusive. 
 
 The rooms were well filled, although the really fashion- 
 able world had just begun to flock south for the winter. The 
 usual motley went to make up the highly-coloured mosaic 
 of worshippers at the chief shrine of the goddess of chance. 
 It would be a waste of your time and mine, too, to describe 
 again the types to be observed there, and Slyne had seen 
 them all very often before. He sauntered about for a little 
 and then slipped quietly into the only seat which had been 
 vacated since he had arrived, much to the annoyance of a 
 short, fat Frenchman who seemed disposed to insist on his 
 own prior claim to it, till Slyne glanced over one shoulder 
 into his eyes. 
 
 " Good luck to you! " cried a jovial voice from the other
 
 THE GODDESS OF CHANCE 113 
 
 side of the table as he sat down, and Slyne nodded coldly 
 to his companion of the afternoon. 
 
 He did not desire Mr. Jobling's further acquaintance, 
 and would have ignored his greeting entirely but that he 
 had noticed in front of the stout solicitor quite a noteworthy 
 stack of winnings; and he did not know whether he might 
 not yet have occasion to draw on the other's expressed 
 ambition to repay him a favour done. In any case, he dis- 
 missed all such ideas from his mind for the moment, and 
 started to play, very cautiously. 
 
 A cautious player, who can keep his head, need seldom 
 lose a great deal at any game. Slyne had drunk nothing 
 stronger than Vichy since the night before. He was tensely 
 on the alert. His luck came and went until he had lost a 
 couple of thousand francs, and then he began to win. 
 
 He had been winning, slowly but surely, with only an 
 occasional set-back, for over an hour before he became 
 aware that a growing group of interested onlookers had 
 gathered behind him, and that he had accumulated within 
 the space between his protective elbows a pile of notes and 
 gold which reached to his chin. And, thus convinced that 
 he was in the vein, spurred on by some sudden remembrance 
 of Sallie caged in her cabin on the Olive Branch, an ever- 
 present temptation to play to the gallery, to stake no less 
 Vthan the maximum on every turn of the wheel, had almost 
 vanquished all his discretion when he encountered the quiet 
 glance of a man who was contemplating him from behind 
 the players seated at the other side of the table, a man whom 
 he knew only too well as one of the cleverest of those mou- 
 chards whose frequent comings and goings attract so little 
 attention there, and who knew him. 
 
 The brilliant lights about him grew strangely blurred.
 
 114 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 He felt faint and ill. But, by a desperate effort of will, he 
 managed to maintain an outward composure. He yawned 
 openly, and then let his eyes fall to look at his watch. The 
 detective was carelessly moving round the table in his di- 
 rection. He shifted his rake to his left hand and, slipping 
 his right across his chest to within the lapel of his evening- 
 coat, laid out some small further stake, entirely at random. 
 
 He lost that, and two or three more, before he yawned 
 again, as if fatigued by such trifling, and pushed a much 
 larger amount into place, as a blind man might, for a final 
 venture. No hand had as yet fallen on his shoulder, but the 
 suspense of not knowing at what moment that would hap- 
 pen was hard to bear. He felt like one in the grip of a hide- 
 ous nightmare as the croupier presently shovelled over 
 toward him a large and miscellaneous assortment of notes 
 and gold and counters, which, none the less, he collected 
 indifferently and dully conscious of an envious sigh from 
 behind him. 
 
 He hesitated a little before letting go his hold of the 
 pistol about whose butt the fingers of his right hand were 
 still closely clasped, in order to pocket his profits of the 
 evening. He had laid down his rake. It was at once seized 
 by a woman who had been standing close at his shoulder, 
 and, as she pushed eagerly past him into his seat, the bunch 
 of camellias in her corsage brushed his face. It was the 
 woman with whom Lord Ingoldsby had been dining. Slyne 
 noticed her husband among the crowd in the rear as he 
 himself made his way out into the open. He noticed also, 
 approaching him entirely as if by accident, the inconspicu- 
 ous spy whose appearance there had so alarmed him. 
 
 Slyne had not even time to h^itate. Without the slight- 
 est change of expression he stopped and confronted his
 
 THE GODDESS OF CHANCE 115 
 
 enemy, addressing him by name, in the execrable French of 
 the average Englishman. 
 
 " Bon soir, M. Dubois. Comment $a va? Bien, eh? " 
 
 " Monsieur has the advantage of me," the detective re- 
 turned in effortless English, and over his features flitted 
 the faintest shadow of disappointment. 
 
 " Oh, I scarcely supposed you would know me," said 
 Slyne with a deprecatory shrug. " This is my first trip so 
 far afield, though I've seen you several times in Paris, and 
 we all know you quite well in London, of course." 
 
 The faintest shadow of what might have developed into 
 a smile hovered for an instant about the famous man- 
 hunter's lips and eyes, and Slyne made a mental note of 
 the fact that he was not above being flattered. 
 
 " I'm over here after a fat fellow called Jobling," con- 
 tinued Slyne, ingratiatingly communicative. " I don't 
 suppose you know anything about him? " 
 
 The other sniffed, disdainfully. 
 
 " An embryo embezzler," said he, in a tone of such con- 
 scious superiority that Slyne would surely have laughed in 
 his face if he himself had felt safe. " Give him rope enough 
 and he'll do the rest. Don't disclose yourself for a day or 
 two, but watch him carefully. 
 
 " Are you working for New Scotland Yard? " 
 
 Slyne had expected some such question, and did not 
 stammer over his answer. 
 
 " I've started a private agency on my own account. This 
 is my first case. A thousand thanks for your hint. If all 
 my official friends were as courteous, life would be much 
 pleasanter for me." He spoke with a most respectful inflec- 
 tion, but always in barbarous Anglo-French. " Mille remer- 
 ciments encore, mon confrere. Et maintenant a demain."
 
 116 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 His new acquaintance nodded with most gracious conde- 
 scension and moved on in the direction of an obese German 
 diplomatist who had just met amid the throng and greeted 
 with over-acted surprise a pretty Viennese countess. And 
 Slyne did not fail to observe, amid all his own agitation, 
 how promptly the two of them parted again at sight of M. 
 Dubois. 
 
 He was conscious that his own nostrils were nervously 
 twitching, and that there were tiny beads of cold perspira- 
 tion about his forehead. 
 
 " He thought he knew me," said he to himself, very 
 tremulously. " And, though I've put him off the scent to 
 some extent, he'll root about till - For all his nerve of 
 steel, he shivered and changed countenance. 
 
 " I can't trust myself to play any more to-night and 
 just when I was getting my hand in! But I suppose I may 
 thank my stars that I'm no worse off since I caught his eye 
 he'd have been down on me in an instant, if. I had so 
 much as blinked. And now I must bluff him out I'm 
 not going to be scared off. 
 
 " There's this about it, anyhow if I've really got him 
 hoodwinked, none of the others need worry me! " With 
 which conditional self-encouragement, and having made 
 sure that his enemy was no longer watching him, he turned 
 back on an impulse, to see how Mr. Jobling was getting on. 
 But Mr. Jobling had already gone off with his winnings. 
 
 " I wonder if he'd take a hand at ecarte now? " thought 
 Slyne. " His name came in very useful just now and 
 I might as well have my own money back out of him while 
 he's got it. He'll probably be fancying himself at the mo- 
 ment, too." 
 
 And with that business-like ambition before him, he
 
 THE GODDESS OF CHANCE 117 
 
 roamed the rooms till he could be sure that his proposed 
 victim was nowhere within the Casino. Among the mul- 
 titude there he could run across no one else who seemed 
 likely to prove easy prey. So he gave up the quest with a 
 philosophical shrug, got his coat and hat, and sauntered 
 out on to the terrace, a fragrant cigar between his thin lips. 
 
 " And I'll stand myself a bottle of something at supper, 
 to buck me up," he promised himself. " I'll look into Giro's 
 again presently, and get the good of the gold piece I had 
 to waste on that scoundrelly waiter. If I chance across 
 Jobling there, I'll get a free meal as well; or, if I should see 
 that ass Ingoldsby, I'll tackle him while his precious keep- 
 ers are out of the way. They're evidently making his 
 feathers fly! " 
 
 The night was still, and even unusually mild for that 
 season of the year. The moon had disappeared. Slyne 
 looked down at the sea, all dark and mysterious, with a 
 strong feeling of distaste; he had lately seen more than 
 enough of it to last him a lifetime. He turned his steps 
 toward the deserted gardens, to escape a party of chatter- 
 ing tourists who had trespassed on his privacy. 
 
 He was in no hurry at all for supper, and wanted a few 
 minutes of peace and quietness in which to compose his still 
 troubled mind, and to consider the situation as touching 
 his lordship of Ingoldsby who would undoubtedly prove 
 a far more profitable companion than Mr. Jobling, even 
 although the latter should have won the fifty thousand 
 francs that had been his ambition. 
 
 " B What a fool that fellow is, for a lawyer! " mused Slyne, 
 having more or less successfully combated an inclination to 
 let his thoughts stray back to the Olive Branch and 
 Sallie. And, Click! something answered him from behind
 
 118 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 a bush not very far from the verge of the path he was medi- 
 tatively pacing. 
 
 He jumped aside at the sound, as any man would who 
 has known what it is to be ambushed, and then, recollect- 
 ing himself, stood still, with a mirthless, annoyed half- 
 smile. He did not believe that Dubois would adopt any 
 such noisy means to get rid of him, but none the less, he 
 felt impelled to find out who was in hiding behind that 
 bush.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 A FOOL AND HIS FORTUNE 
 
 SLYNE skirted a flower-bed cautiously and, approach- 
 ing the shadowy background by a flank movement, 
 found a stout individual in a voluminous coat kneel- 
 ing on the grass there, with some white, metallic object in 
 one trembling hand lifted in the direction of his own left 
 eyelid. A second Click! startled Slyne disproportionately, 
 and he spoke at that, in a very querulous voice. " Hey! 
 you fool," he said, " you're wasting your time. Wait till 
 I show you how. 
 
 " Good Lord! is that you, Jobling? " 
 
 Mr. Jobling suddenly cast a revolver from him, with a 
 wailing execration, and, attempting to rise, sank down be- 
 side it, blubbering, entirely unstrung after the agonising 
 strain of the past few seconds. Slyne, eyeing him with 
 exasperated contempt, picked the weapon up and fingered 
 it for an instant. 
 
 "A damned rotten make!" he commented morosely. 
 " But it'll do the job for you all right now. You can't 
 shoot it off, you know, with the safety catch set." 
 
 The miserable man on the grass held out his hand for it, 
 humbly. But Slyne was not at all prepared to take any 
 risks on his account for suicide and murder are often 
 very difficult to distinguish, in their results and made 
 up his mind to keep it, in the meantime at any rate.
 
 120 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 " Get up," he ordered in his sharpest tone, " and come 
 away out of this. If you could only see yourself, you 
 wouldn't want to sit there and whimper." 
 
 Under the spur of that insult Mr. Jobling seemed to recall 
 some stray shred of his forfeited self-respect. He got on to 
 his knees, with an effort, and thence by degrees to his feet. 
 
 " I think you might show a little more decent feeling," 
 he sobbed brokenly, " when - 
 
 " And I think you might show a vast deal more sense," 
 snapped Slyne. " Button up your coat, and come away 
 out of this. You can kill yourself just as easily a good 
 deal more so, in fact, since I've shown you how in half 
 an hour, after I'm in a safer position to prove an alibi if 
 any inconvenient questions are asked about it afterwards. 
 Come on, now." 
 
 His whilom acquaintance followed him meekly, muttering, 
 to a secluded corner where there was a seat. 
 
 " What's the trouble? " demanded Slyne magisterially, 
 sitting down at one end of the bench and motioning him 
 to the other. " But I suppose I need scarcely ask. Trust 
 funds mysteriously melted away the usual childish at- 
 tempt to recover them by sheer chance, and with all the odds 
 against you! the dread of exposure and disgrace which 
 never worry a dead man. You've been a bit of a wolf in 
 sheep's clothing, eh, my respectable friend? And you'd 
 rather die in the dark than face the world in broad daylight 
 without your immaculate fleece." 
 
 Mr. Jobling groaned. 
 
 " But why, after all, finish playing the knave by playing 
 the fool? If you were the man of the world you fancy your- 
 self, you'd know that sheep are very seldom successful in real 
 life. It's all very well to pose in a sheep-skin, but it isn't
 
 A FOOL AND HIS FORTUNE 121 
 
 everything. A wolf undisguised can do very well for him- 
 self, so long as his teeth are sufficiently sharp. And, when 
 he becomes a big millionaire, he can buy himself, among 
 other things, a nice new merino coat." 
 
 His parable amused himself, but his auditor did not seem 
 possessed of a sufficient sense of humour to appreciate its 
 personal application. 
 
 <f You're labouring under a misapprehension," said that 
 gentleman, who had meantime regained some grip on him- 
 self, in accents anything but properly grateful. " I may, 
 perhaps, have been unfortunate with er a few small 
 investments for clients, but your inference that I have 
 er er You're positively insulting, sir! " 
 
 Slyne laughed, in better humour. " Bah! " said he. 
 " What's the use of bluffing? You weren't going to blow 
 out your brains if any because you had been too hon- 
 est, were you? " 
 
 " I'm a desperate man," declared Mr. Jobling, thus rudely 
 reminded of the matter in hand. " Life isn't worth living, 
 now that I've lost He gulped and gasped, once more 
 on the verge of tears, but a furtive glance at Slyne's im- 
 passive features, dimly visible in the glow of a half-smoked 
 cigar, showed him he need not expect any excess of sym- 
 pathy from that quarter. It also seemed to suggest to him, 
 in the midst of his anguish of mind, an idea. He looked 
 round at Slyne again. 
 
 " You're a man of wealth," he said in a husky voice whose 
 suddenly inspired eagerness he could not conceal, and 
 some spark of hope perhaps sprang up in his fainting heart 
 again since Slyne did not deny that erroneous suggestion. 
 Slyne was waiting to hear what more he might have to say, 
 though not with any intention of helping him.
 
 122 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 " I wonder " the stout solicitor muttered. " It might 
 interest you to Two heads are better than one, and - 
 Some sort of partnership - 
 
 " I can only spare you five minutes more," said Slyne 
 crisply. " As soon as I've finished my cigar, I'm going across 
 to Giro's for supper. The Marquis of Ingoldsby is expect- 
 ing me." 
 
 " Do you know his lordship? " breathed Mr. Jobling, his 
 new-born hope no doubt gaining strength and his respect 
 for his chance companion obviously increased. " Then 
 you'll understand me when I tell you that I've ruined my- 
 self ab-so-lutely ruined myself over the Jura succession." 
 
 " I haven't the least idea what the devil you're talking 
 about," said Slyne. 
 
 Mr. Jobling groaned again. He was most grievously dis- 
 appointed. 
 
 " I thought every one had heard of the case," he went on. 
 " A couple of millions in cash " 
 
 " Millions of what? " demanded Slyne with a little more 
 lively interest. 
 
 " Pounds sterling," the London lawyer explained, rather 
 testily. " A couple of millions in cash and forty or fifty 
 thousand a year going a-begging may not seem a very im- 
 portant matter to a moneyed man like you, but I've 
 thought of nothing else, night and day, for the past five 
 years, and - 
 
 "I've been all over the world for the past five years," 
 mentioned Slyne loftily, but impatient now, " and the latest 
 news of the parish pump has probably failed to reach me. 
 Get on with your story, anyhow. If there's anything in it 
 - 1 don't know but that I may be disposed to lend you a 
 hand if there's anything in it." And, having lighted a
 
 A FOOL AND HIS FORTUNE 123 
 
 fresh cigar, he composed himself to listen. His time was his 
 own. The chance of catching Lord Ingoldsby alone at 
 Giro's was too remote to be worth more than the passing 
 thought. A story with so much money in it might prove at 
 least as entertaining as a solitary supper. 
 
 Mr. Jobling gazed with glistening eyes at his providential 
 acquaintance. " I've told you what there is in it," said he 
 in a tremulous tone. " A couple of millions in cash and forty 
 or fifty thousand a year that will all ultimately fall to the 
 Crown unless I can find that girl, or " 
 
 " What girl? " Slyne demanded irritably. 
 
 " The late Earl of Jura's daughter. You'll no doubt re- 
 member But if you've been abroad for so long, I'd bet- 
 ter repeat " And, having got over his nervous prolixity, 
 he became much more explicit. 
 
 " The late earl's first wife, as you must recall, sir, was 
 Lady Eulalie Orlebarre. But she did not survive the birth 
 of their only child, a son, in 1876. 
 
 " The earl married again, in '94. His second wife was 
 Josceline Beljambes, the famous dancer. A daughter was 
 born to them. But they separated, by mutual agreement, 
 only a year or two later, and the countess retained custody 
 of her daughter. The earl was a good deal older than she. 
 
 " She was a very restless, erratic woman, and fond of 
 travel. In '99 she disappeared most mysteriously, some- 
 where abroad, and has never been heard of since. 
 
 " The following year, Lord St. Just, the earl's son by his 
 first wife and, of course, his heir, was found dead one day 
 at the foot of the cliffs near Loquhariot, the family seat in 
 Scotland. He had grown up a very headstrong, trouble- 
 some lad, I have heard. There was some suspicion of foul 
 play on the part of one of the gamekeepers on the estate
 
 124 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 - some scandalous story about a girl in the village but 
 the coroner's jury returned an open verdict. 
 
 " The earl himself died in 1906, a little more than five 
 years ago. The estates fell into Chancery. And ever since 
 I've been trying to trace his second wife or their child; 
 for, failing an heir-male, the female line of succession main- 
 tains in the family. 
 
 " The Court of Chancery is quite prepared to presume 
 the mother dead, and I have evidence sufficient to prove 
 that assumption a certainty. So that now, you see, if I 
 could only find - 
 
 He hesitated, to scrutinise his companion's inscrutable 
 face. 
 
 " I was a consummate fool, of course, ever to have come 
 to Monte Carlo," he went off at a tangent. " Though I 
 had a good enough reason for coming," he went on, defend- 
 ing himself to himself. " I didn't dare trust anyone in 
 London. And I I thought that I might find here " 
 He balked again. 
 
 " It was merely to pass the time that I first tried my luck 
 at the tables and look at me now! I haven't even money 
 to pay my hotel bill. For want of a few thousand francs 
 I must lose my chance of the fortune on which I've staked 
 every penny I could scrape together and and five years 
 of my good time, and - He started to one side as Slyne 
 cut him short. 
 
 " I'm not going to waste five seconds of my good time," 
 said Slyne with concentrated bitterness, " in telling you 
 how many different sorts of a damned fool you are." His 
 expensive cigar had gone out, unheeded. But his keen, 
 close-set eyes were aglow. He was finding it extremely diffi- 
 cult to contain himself.
 
 A FOOL AND HIS FORTUNE 125 
 
 " Are you sure of your facts? " he demanded, in the same 
 acid, embittered voice. 
 
 " From first to last," affirmed Mr. Jobling, so peevishly 
 that Slyne was satisfied. " Haven't I told you that I've 
 spent five years of my life and every penny I could er * 
 every penny I possessed, in sifting them out, and that I'm 
 a Chancery practitioner? I have most of the papers with 
 me at the Metropole. There's only the one link lacking to 
 complete the long chain I've forged. And " He low- 
 ered his voice to a whisper after looking about him fur- 
 tively, and, at last, under the decent screen of the darkness, 
 completely demoralised by the events of the day, confided 
 in the Heaven-sent stranger beside him his chief ambition 
 in coming to Monte Carlo. " And even a good enough imi- 
 tation might serve " 
 
 " No imitation would stand the strain," Slyne inter- 
 rupted him hoarsely. " And you'll very soon find yourself 
 inside the four walls of a cell, my friend, if you try any 
 forgery of that sort. You can take my word for that, be- 
 cause I'm the real rivet, and without me all the rest of 
 your precious chain isn't worth a snap of my fingers." 
 
 Mr. Jobling subsided into a heap, and was staring at him, 
 open-mouthed. But Slyne said no more for a moment or 
 two. Outwardly quite calm and matter-of-fact, his mind 
 was in a seething turmoil. If all the inept rogue beside him 
 had said were true He could scarcely restrain an im- 
 pulse to get to his feet and shout for joy. 
 
 The lawyer seemed to have nothing more to say, either. 
 And Slyne, having somewhat recovered command of him- 
 self, at length rose, tossing his cold cigar away with an 
 angry oath. " It makes my blood boil," said he, " to 
 think - But for the sheerest accident you'd be a dead
 
 126 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 man by now and where would / have been then ! You 
 don't deserve such stupendous luck, and, by the Lord Harry! 
 if I find you playing the fool again - You're going to put 
 yourself into my hands from now on, d'ye hear? And, in the 
 first place, I must see those papers you spoke of; if they're 
 in order, I'll see the thing through. We can't work without 
 each other, unfortunately for me, or " 
 
 " You're going too fast," intervened Mr. Jobling, still 
 seated, and with some faint show of spirit. " You're 
 taking too much for granted, sir. I don't even know 
 who you are, and we must come to terms of some sort 
 before " 
 
 He shrank aside as Slyne stepped forward with twitching 
 fingers and eyes aflame. 
 
 " You'll take whatever terms you get and be precious 
 thankful," hissed Slyne, stooping over him. " You'll do 
 exactly what you're told, no more, and no less. And 
 you won't forget again, will you, that you've met your 
 master in me? " 
 
 Mr. Jobling, gazing, aghast, into the muzzle of the cheap 
 revolver which had proved so ineffective in his own hands, 
 at last regained voice enough to subscribe solemnly to these 
 stipulations, and from that moment went uncomfortably, 
 in fear for the life he himself had been trying to take not 
 an hour before. That was probably the first time he had 
 ever been threatened with personal violence, and a life spent 
 chiefly in Chancery Lane does not always foster an excess 
 of that calculating courage needed to deal with one of 
 Slyne's dangerous sort. 
 
 " Come on, then," said Slyne, and Mr. Jobling got sha- 
 kily up from the bench. " You needn't be afraid that I 
 won't deal fair generously with you, but this is no time
 
 A FOOL AND HIS FORTUNE 127 
 
 to be haggling here. We haven't a moment to spare. I 
 must see those papers at once. Step out! " 
 
 The hall-porter at the Metropole raised his eyebrows 
 over Mr. Jobling's somewhat dishevelled appearance, but 
 promptly lowered them again in response to a look from 
 Slyne. 
 
 " Tell them to send up your bill," said Slyne to the law- 
 yer. " If everything's all right, I'll settle it and put you up 
 at the Paris." 
 
 And Mr. Jobling very meekly did as he was bidden. He 
 could not well help himself, just then. But his expression 
 was not at all properly grateful as he ushered Slyne into the 
 room he himself had never expected to see again, and there 
 proceeded to display to that masterful adventurer the mass 
 of papers on which their further partnership was to depend. 
 
 Slyne picked out the more important of these with an 
 acumen which would have done Mr. Jobling himself every 
 credit; and for a busy hour they two sat poring over one 
 dog's-eared document after another, Slyne's mask of in- 
 difference deserting him by degrees as he grasped point 
 after point of the case, till he threw the last down with a 
 smile of triumph, and, rising from the table, paced to and 
 fro for a moment, rubbing his hands in an ecstasy of ex- 
 ultation. 
 
 " Everything's all right," he announced confidently. 
 " My our fortune's as good as made; and I'll tell you 
 what, Jobling, you shall have ten per cent, of the im- 
 mediate cash for your share. How does that strike you, 
 eh? I don't say that you deserve any such consideration 
 from me, but I'm ready to let bygones be bygones, 
 and I want you to work for me with a will." 
 
 His self-assurance was contagious. Mr. Jobling, after
 
 128 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 the merest moment of hesitation, rose in his turn, holding 
 out a hand, which Slyne grasped affectionately. And thus 
 they came to an amicable understanding, without more 
 words. 
 
 " Pack up now," commanded Slyne, pleasantly peremp- 
 tory, " and we'll run across to the Paris. I've any amount 
 to do yet, before I can snatch a sleep." 
 
 " I'll be very thankful to get into my bed," said Mr. 
 Jobling, already busy among his belongings, and more than 
 a little dazed by the march of events. " I've had a most 
 trying day." 
 
 It did not take long to have his baggage transferred to 
 the other hotel, and there Slyne put him under confidential 
 charge of the manager, with very strict orders that he 
 was not, on any pretext whatever, to be allowed to decamp 
 pending Slyne's return. Whereafter that active man of 
 affairs sent to the garage for his car, with word that his 
 chauffeur need not be disturbed and, having deposited 
 his still uncounted winnings with the cashier, started east- 
 ward again in such haste that he would not even wait to 
 change his thin evening clothes. 
 
 Slyne was, in fact, fiercely excited. His particular 
 Providence seemed to be holding out to him such a chance 
 in life as he could scarcely have conceived himself in his 
 wildest dreams. And he was in such frantic haste to grasp 
 that chance which involved so much more than the mere 
 money that he had quite forgotten his recent fear of 
 M. Dubois. 
 
 " I think I've got you this time, my girl! " said he to 
 himself gleefully, as he once more slowed down to stop at 
 the Italian frontier. And that was the burden of all his 
 thoughts as he raced madly along the Corniche Road in
 
 A FOOL AND HIS FORTUNE 129 
 
 his high-powered car. In the darkness before the dawn, 
 his eyes intent on the long white ribbon of highway end- 
 lessly slipping toward his head-lights, he saw only roseate 
 visions of what the future now held for him. As the sun 
 rose to burnish the bare, brown mountains before him, he 
 nodded happily to himself, and his lips moved again to the 
 glad refrain, " I think I've got you quite safe this time, 
 my girl! "
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE PRICE OF FREEDOM 
 
 SLYNE'S nostrils curled as he observed the dirty and 
 dishevelled aspect of the Olive Branch, lying idle in 
 Genoa harbour alongside the coal-chutes where the 
 day's work had not yet begun. He had grown extremely 
 fastidious again within the very short space of time which 
 had passed since he had last seen her. 
 
 There was no one visible about her littered decks except 
 the watchman on duty, whose sole salute to him as he 
 stepped carefully up the insecure gangplank was a sullen 
 scowl. 
 
 But that might have been deemed quite a hearty welcome 
 in contrast with his reception by Captain Dove. 
 
 Captain Dove was, in point of fact, furious when he 
 opened his little, red-rimmed eyes and became aware of 
 his former friend's intrusion upon his privacy. Sitting up 
 in his frowsy bunk, with the blankets huddled about him, 
 looking ludicrously like an incensed gorilla, he raged and 
 swore at his gratuitous visitor until his voice gave out. 
 
 Slyne, forgetful, in his new enthusiasm, of the terms on 
 which they had parted, was at first somewhat taken aback 
 by that outburst; but only at first. And his sanguine 
 anticipations enabled him to endure it unmoved. It also 
 gave him time to collect his ideas. He could see that his 
 errand was not going to prove quite so easy as he had ex-
 
 THE PRICE OF FREEDOM 131 
 
 pected, and that he must play his new cards with discrim- 
 ination. As soon as the evil old man in the bunk had ex- 
 hausted himself in invective, Slyne spoke, smooth and cut- 
 tingly. 
 
 " I came back to do you a good turn. But if that's 
 how you're going to take it, you foul-mouthed old rapparee ! 
 I'll save my breath and be off again. What th' deuce d'ye 
 mean by shouting at me as if I were a drunken deck-hand! 
 Speak to me above a whisper now and you'll see what'll 
 happen to y9u. That's the police-boat pulling past." 
 
 The opportune plash of oars had suggested to him that 
 plausible threat. Captain Dove, listening intently, crouched 
 back against the bulkhead, his blinking, hot, suspicious 
 eyes on Slyne's. The boat passed on. But he had found 
 time to observe that Slyne was in evening dress, with an 
 expensive fur coat to keep the cold out. And Slyne's 
 cool contempt for his ill-temper would seem to have im- 
 pressed him no less than Slyne's air of solid prosperity. 
 
 He himself, it appeared, had had care and adversity for 
 his companions ever since parting with his former friend. 
 His chief aim in calling at Genoa had been cheap coal and 
 cheaper repairs, and he thought that he was less likely 
 to be recognised there than elsewhere in the Mediterranean. 
 But coal, he had found, had risen to a ruinous price in 
 consequence of a recent strike among the miners in England ; 
 and for even the most trifling repairs he would have to wait 
 at least a week, because the dock-yard people were already 
 working over-time to make way for a man-of-war. Credit 
 of any sort was not to be had. His portage-bill bade fair 
 to swamp his insufficient cash resources even although 
 three of his now scanty crew had already deserted. And 
 who could foretell what might happen to him if they should
 
 132 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 get wagging their tongues too freely in some wine-shop 
 ashore! While, as if for climax, the Customs' authorities 
 had been displaying a most suspicious interest in him and 
 his ship. Under such circumstances, even a saint might 
 have been pardoned, as he pointed out, for showing a temper 
 something short of seraphic. 
 
 " And you've been doing me good turns by your way 
 of it for some time past," he continued, in a stifled, 
 vehement whisper lest his voice should still reach the re- 
 ceding boat. " Though " He waved a clawlike hand 
 about him, words again failing him to describe adequately 
 his sufferings in consequence, as who should say, " See 
 the result for yourself." 
 
 Slyne sat down on the sofa opposite him, not even con- 
 descending to glance, in response to that invitation, round 
 the squalid, poverty-stricken little cabin. " Never mind 
 about some time past," he advised, more pacifically. 
 " You'll never get rich quick yesterday. To-day's when 
 I'm going to make my pile. And I meant to let you in " 
 
 " To another hole," Captain Dove concluded sceptically. 
 " I only wish you'd show me some sure way out of the one 
 I'm in." 
 
 Slyne looked his annoyance at that further interruption, 
 and made as if to rise, but did no more than draw his 
 gold cigarette-case from its pocket. He knew that Cap- 
 tain Dove was merely trying to aggravate him, and it 
 would not have been politic to stray from the matter in 
 hand. He lighted a cigarette at his leisure and waited for 
 what should come next. He had changed his mind as 
 to taking the old man fully into his confidence. He thought 
 he could see his way to get all he wanted for a very great 
 deal less than that might have cost him.
 
 THE PRICE OF FREEDOM 133 
 
 " Want a drink? " Captain Dove demanded, no doubt 
 with the idea that a dose of spirit might serve to stir up 
 his visitor's temper, and looked surprised at Slyne's 
 curt head-shake, still more surprised over his response. 
 
 " I can't afford to drink at all hours of the day and night 
 now," said Slyne austerely. " That sort of thing was 
 all very well at sea, but The business I have in hand 
 isn't of the sort that can be carried out on raw brandy. 
 And you'll have to taper off too, if you want to come in." 
 
 "Strike me sky-blue!" exclaimed the old man, 
 and Slyne held up a reproving hand. 
 
 " I can do with a good deal less of your bad language 
 into the bargain," he mentioned coldly, " if you don't 
 mind. In short, I want you to understand from the start 
 that you've got to behave as if you were a reasonable human 
 being and not a dangerous lunatic, or I'll leave you 
 to rot, in the hole you've got yourself into." 
 
 Captain Dove, scarcely able to credit the evidence of 
 his own ears but, none the less, apparently, thinking hard, 
 darted a very ugly glance at him, and noticed the diamonds 
 in his shirt-front. Under the strongest temptation to 
 call in a couple of deck-hands and have him thrown off the 
 ship, Captain Dove obviously paused to consider whether 
 those could be of any intrinsic value. He was, of course, 
 satisfied that he knew exactly how much or, rather, how 
 little money Slyne had had in his pockets when he went 
 ashore. And, if Slyne had already, within four and twenty 
 Lours, been able to turn that over at a profit sufficient to 
 provide himself with a fur coat and diamonds, it might 
 perhaps pay Captain Dove to hear what he had to propose. 
 Slyne, reading all the old man's thoughts, could see that 
 he had decided to temporise.
 
 134 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 "But, I can do with a damn sight less of your back- 
 chat! " rumbled Captain Dove, not to be put down without 
 protest. " If you've come back on board to offer me a 
 founder's share in any new gold-brick factory, fire straight 
 ahead and be short about it. It'll save time, too, if 
 you'll take it from me again that I'd rather have your room 
 than your company." 
 
 And at that, Slyne made his next considered move. 
 
 " All right," he said in a tone of the most utter contempt. 
 " That's enough. I'm off. 
 
 " I came back to do you a good turn although few 
 men, in my position, would ever have looked near you 
 again," he paused in the doorway to remark acridly. " But 
 I can see now what's the matter with you and I only 
 wish I had noticed it in time to save myself all it has cost 
 me. It's senile decay you're suffering from. You're far 
 too old to be of any more use even to yourself. You're 
 in your dotage, and you'll soon be in an asylum for 
 pauper lunatics! " 
 
 He had evidently lost his own temper at last. And Cap- 
 tain Dove was visibly pleased with that result of his tactics; 
 as a rule he was better able to cope with Slyne on a basis 
 of mutual abuse, heated on both sides; Slyne cool and col- 
 lected had him at a disadvantage. 
 
 " Now you're talking! " he retorted approvingly. " Say 
 what's in your mind, straightforwardly, and we'll soon 
 come to an understanding. Sit down again, you strutting 
 peacock! and tell me what it is you want." 
 
 Slyne did not sit down again, however; to do so would 
 scarcely have been dignified. He stayed in the doorway, 
 silent, a thin stream of cigarette-smoke slowly filtering 
 from his nostrils. His cold, calculating eyes were once more
 
 THE PRICE OF FREEDOM 135 
 
 on Captain Dove's. And it was Captain Dove's would-be 
 mocking glance that at length gave way. 
 
 " You offered to give me Sallie. if I paid you a hundred 
 thousand dollars," said Slyne, judicially. 
 , " To see you safely married to her," Captain Dove 
 corrected him. 
 
 Slyne nodded, in grave assent. 
 
 " Well, I'm going to hold you to your offer," said he. 
 " The money's ready and waiting for you just as soon 
 as we can settle a few trifling formalities. I have Sallie's 
 promise to marry me 
 
 " The devil you have! " said Captain Dove, not slow to 
 seize opportunity either. " I thought I heard her say 
 
 Slyne's face darkened again. " And, if you'll come 
 ashore with me now," he went on, controlling his temper, 
 " I'll prove to you that your money is perfectly safe." 
 
 Captain Dove lay back in his bunk and laughed, most 
 discordantly. He laughed till his red-rimmed eyes were 
 adrip, while Slyne sat looking at him. He was still laughing 
 when Slyne rose and, flicking the cigarette-end from between 
 two nicotine-stained fingers, began to button his coat. 
 He stopped laughing then, by calculated degrees. 
 
 "Sit down sit down!" said he wheezily. "What's 
 your hurry? You haven't told me yet what those few 
 ' trifling formalities ' are. And how am I to know 
 whether 
 
 But Slyne was already beyond the doorway, fumbling 
 with a last button. 
 
 " If you believe I've come here to talk simply for the 
 sake of talking," said he with sombre magnificence, " I 
 needn't waste any more breath on you. Good-bye." 
 
 Captain Dove jumped out of his bunk. He was clearly
 
 136 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 impressed, in spite of himself, by the other's indomitable 
 assurance. 
 
 " Come back, you fool ! " he called angrily. " Come back. 
 I want to know - 
 
 " I'll go ashore with you," he shouted, raising his voice, 
 since Slyne was already on his way to the gangway. But 
 Slyne did not seem to hear. 
 
 " I'll take your offer for Sallie," cried Captain Dove, 
 in a slightly lower tone. 
 
 Slyne hesitated in his stride, stopped, and turned back 
 into the alleyway which led to the saloon. 
 
 " What was that you said? " he demanded of Captain 
 Dove. 
 
 " Come on inside," requested Captain Dove, more 
 curtly. 
 
 " I don't believe I will," Slyne declared, inwardly elated 
 over the winning of that somewhat risky move. " You don't 
 deserve another chance. And, if I do give you another, 
 you needn't suppose - 
 
 " Come on inside," begged Captain Dove, shivering, in 
 no case to listen to any lecture. " Come on, and we'll 
 talk sense. Don't waste any more good time." 
 
 Slyne followed him in again, congratulating himself on 
 his firmness. He felt that he had gained the whip-hand of 
 the old man, and he meant to keep it. He curtly refused 
 again Captain Dove's more hospitable offer of some re- 
 freshment, and, while his aggrieved host was clumsily 
 getting into some warmer clothing, talked to him from the 
 saloon through the open doorway of his cramped sleeping- 
 quarters. It was easier to arrange matters so than under 
 Captain Dove's direct observation. 
 
 " You'll pay me cash, of course," Captain Dove stip-
 
 THE PRICE OF FREEDOM 137 
 
 ulated, as though he had been bargaining about a charter- 
 party. 
 
 " I'll pay you cash," Slyne agreed, " the day Sallie 
 marries me. And meantime I'll give you my note of hand 
 at thirty days for the money." He listened intently, but 
 Captain Dove, struggling fretfully with refractory buttons, 
 maintained an ominous silence. 
 
 " I'll have it backed by a London lawyer, to keep you 
 safe," said Slyne. "And listen! I'm not asking you to 
 risk anything, or even to take my note at its face value. 
 I want you to come ashore with me and find out for yourself 
 from my lawyer that you can depend on the money. If 
 you don't feel satisfied about that after you've seen him, 
 you needn't go any farther, we'll call the bargain off; 
 you can get back on board your ship at once and no harm 
 done. 
 
 " And, even as regards Sallie, I'm going out of my way 
 to keep you right. I'd give a great deal to get married at 
 once, but I'm willing to wait till the day I can hand you 
 your hundred thousand in cash. Everything's fair, square, 
 and above-board now. I'm not asking you to risk anything. 
 
 " And where in the wide world can you expect to do 
 better for yourself! " he argued. " If you go East you'll 
 get no more for the girl and look at the expense ! You'll 
 be sorry all the rest of your life, too, for I know you'd far 
 sooner see her decently settled than sell her to any dog- 
 faced son-of-a-gun of a mandarin! 
 
 " You can say what you like," he concluded, although 
 Captain Dove had said never a word. " Clean money's 
 pleasanter to spend than dirty, any day. If I had been 
 born wealthy, I'd never have needed to touch a marked 
 card. And now's your chance, too, to pull out of a rotten
 
 138 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 rut that'll sooner or later land you among the chain- 
 gang." 
 
 Captain Dove came forth from his cabin, indifferently 
 clad, and eyed Slyne with a sarcastic interest which some- 
 what disconcerted that homilist. 
 
 " You don't look just like a Band o' Hope! " said the 
 old man, " but " 
 
 Slyne rose again, and bit his lip, in simulated impatience. 
 " Oh, all right," said he. " If you're not interested " 
 
 Captain Dove scowled at him. " I'm interested," he 
 said grudgingly. " I'll see this lawyer-fellow of yours 
 whenever you like to bring him aboard, and if the 
 money's there, you can count me in." 
 
 " He isn't the sort of lawyer you've been accustomed 
 to, Dove," said Slyne. " You've got to go to him." 
 
 Captain Dove did his best to out-stare him, but failed. 
 
 " And what's more," said Slyne, playing a trump card 
 with great outward indifference, " you can make him pay 
 you for your time instead of you paying him. I told you 
 I came back here to do you a good turn. There's more 
 than a hundred thousand dollars of easy money for you 
 in this deal if you go the right way about it. 
 
 " But don't take my word for anything." 
 
 Captain Dove had palpable difficulty in suppressing the 
 obvious repartee to that last bit of advice. But cupidity 
 and cunning kept him quiet for a space. 
 
 " All right. I'll go with you," he agreed very gruffly 
 at last. And Slyne heaved a silent sigh of relief; he had 
 feared more than once that the contest of wills would after 
 all go against him. 
 
 " You're wise," he commented carelessly. " It will 
 pay you.
 
 THE PRICE OF FREEDOM 139 
 
 " You'd better see Sallie now, don't you think, and tell 
 her " 
 
 " I'm not going to interfere between you and her till 
 I get my money from you," declared the old man with a 
 crafty grin. " You must tackle her yourself. She'll be 
 up by now, but breakfast won't be ready for half an hour. 
 If I were you I'd take that coat off and let her have a sight 
 of those diamonds of yours." 
 
 Slyne did not wait to hear any more. He was already 
 on his way aft, a somewhat incongruous figure on the decks 
 of the Olive Branch. When he reached the companion- 
 hatch on the poop he was smiling sardonically. 
 
 " I do believe it was my ' diamonds ' that finally fetched 
 that old ruffian," said he to himself. " If they have the 
 same effect on Sallie, I won't grudge the few francs I paid 
 for them! " 
 
 He tiptoed down the short stairway, and, having tapped 
 very quietly at the door of the after-saloon, entered without 
 more ado. He judged that he might have difficulty in 
 gaining admission if he delayed to ask leave. 
 
 The saloon was empty. But from an adjoining cabin 
 came the sound of splashing, and from its neighbour the 
 shuffle of heavy feet, a faint suggestion of deft hands busy 
 among crisp muslin and sibilant silk. 
 
 Slyne hesitated; he wanted to be very tactful and yet 
 was unwilling to give up the advantage he had thus gained. 
 He closed the door carefully behind him. It creaked a 
 little. 
 
 From the room whence had come the rustle of feminine 
 garments an uncanny-looking figure appeared, and darted 
 an angry, apprehensive glance about the saloon. The sound 
 of splashing had ceased.
 
 140 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 " ' Morning, Ambrizette," said Slyne briskly and standing 
 his ground. " Is your mistress up yet? Tell her I have 
 Captain Dove's leave to pay her a call." 
 
 The dumb black dwarf's scowl grew darker, but her hand 
 fell away from her breast and she halted as Sallie's voice 
 sounded from within. 
 
 " Is that you, Jasper! " it ejaculated. " What do you 
 want? I thought " 
 
 " I've come back with good news for you, Sallie 
 wonderful news! " said Slyne. " And I'm in no end of a 
 hurry to be off again. Call Ambrizette in and get dressed, 
 as quick as you can. Captain Dove's waiting breakfast 
 for me and I mustn't delay him. How long will you be? " 
 
 " What sort of news is it? " asked Sallie, no less dubious 
 than her maid had been; and called her maid in, notwith- 
 standing her well-founded doubts as to the nature of any 
 news he could bring. For Slyne had held out to her the 
 same lure that the serpent offered to Eve, and her womanly 
 curiosity would not allow her to order him at once from 
 her domain. 
 
 Slyne smiled slightly as he sat down in a basket-chair, 
 to look about him while she was still busy within. The 
 little after-saloon which had been her home for so long was 
 finely furnished; more so, perhaps, than was apparent to 
 Slyne, whose taste in that respect inclined to the florid. 
 But he could not help noticing how dainty and neat and 
 feminine was its entire effect, with its cushioned cosy cor- 
 ners, snow-white curtains and draperies. Its purely fra- 
 grant atmosphere stirred even Slyne's conscience a little. 
 
 He lay back in his seat, and, gazing about him, recalled 
 to mind all he had been able to learn as to Sallie's strange 
 past. It all fitted in so perfectly with the fabric of his
 
 THE PRICE OF FREEDOM 141 
 
 wonderful new plans that he could find no possible flaw in 
 them. And when Sallie herself at length came out to him 
 from her cabin, he was optimistically disposed to be very 
 generous in his dealings with her. 
 
 Fresh from her bath and doubly bewitching in her cling- 
 ing, intimate draperies, she met Slyne's glad, eager glance 
 with grave, doubtful eyes, and ignored entirely the hand 
 he held out to her as he sprang from his chair. But he 
 affected not to notice her attitude of distrust, and, greeting 
 her gaily, saved his face by laying his outstretched hand 
 on another chair, which he set a little nearer his own. 
 
 " Won't you sit down? " he suggested with debonair 
 courtesy. 
 
 But she shook her head; she was evidently afraid to re- 
 ceive him on any such friendly footing. She did not even 
 care to ask him what he was doing in evening dress at break- 
 fast-time and on board the Olive Branch. But in her troubled 
 eyes he could read that unspoken inquiry. 
 
 " I've been travelling all night to get back to you, 
 Sallie," he told her, in a low, eager tone, " and I hadn't 
 time to change I was in such a hurry to tell you the 
 news. I've come to take you away from the Olive Branch, 
 and Captain Dove. I've come to set you free." 
 
 She stared at him as though she had not heard aright, 
 her lips parted, her eyebrows arched, a faint, puzzled, 
 questioning frown on her forehead. 
 
 " I've come to set you free," he said again. 
 
 " At what price? " she asked suddenly, with disconcert- 
 ing directness, and his would-be straightforward glance 
 wavered. 
 
 " Don't put it that way! " he urged. " I ask no more 
 than the fulfilment of the promise you made me. And
 
 142 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 listen, Sallie. I've found out who you really are and where 
 your home is. I'll take you there if only you - 
 
 " I'm not asking you to marry me right away, either, 
 remember. All you must do in the meantime is to sign 
 without question some papers that will be required. Then 
 I'll make everything quite safe for you and take you to 
 your own home." 
 
 The quick doubt in her eyes had given place to an ex- 
 pression of helpless amazement and growing dismay. 
 But he did not wait to hear anything she might have to 
 say. 
 
 " It's like this, you see," he went on hurriedly. " Cap- 
 tain Dove's absolutely at the end of his wits for money, 
 and now I can pay him his price for you if you'll keep 
 your promise to me by and by. Otherwise I can't; no 
 matter how willing I might be, I can't, I swear to you. 
 
 " He feels, too, that you owe it to him to make up in 
 one way or another for some part at least of what he and 
 I have lost through your your interfering so much lately 
 in his affairs. And, if you don't back me up now, he'll 
 have to take the Olive Branch East as best he can. He'll 
 take you too, and you'll never come back. 
 
 " You don't understand. I'm not really trying to force 
 you to marry me, but to save you from a fate far worse 
 than the worst you could imagine. You don't understand 
 that it's really freedom I'm offering you, and that your 
 only option is slavery. 
 
 "You'd rather have a white man even me! for 
 your husband, wouldn't you? than a yellow one or 
 brown or maybe black! "
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 A MASTERSTROKE 
 
 SALLIE sat down quickly in a cushioned chair, and 
 lay back, trembling like a captured bird. 
 
 Slyne was not beyond feeling somewhat ashamed of 
 himself, but found easy solace in the reflection that all he 
 had said was for her good as well as his own. He could 
 see that his last brutal argument had struck home. For 
 Sallie could no longer doubt, now, in the lurid light of her 
 recent experiences, that Captain Dove looked upon her as 
 a mere chattel, to be turned into cash as soon as occasion 
 should offer. 
 
 In a little she looked up at him again out of pleading, 
 desperate eyes. Some most unusual impulse of pity stirred 
 him. She was only a young girl yet, and her helplessness 
 spoke its own appeal, even to him. He made up his mind 
 again, quite apart from any question of policy, to deal 
 with her as generously as might be practicable. 
 
 " Will Captain Dove let me go now if I promise to marry 
 you, Jasper? " she asked. And he nodded solemnly. 
 
 " And not unless I do? " she insisted. " You know I 
 didn't before, although you say I did." 
 
 " I swear to God, Sallie," he declared, " that I can't 
 raise the money the Old Man wants any other way. And 
 - 1 won't say another word about what's past and done 
 with.
 
 144 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 " If you'll really promise to marry me," he said eagerly, 
 " I'll prove to you that all I have told you is true before 
 you need even leave Captain Dove; I won't ask you to 
 go a step farther with me until you're perfectly satisfied; 
 I'll take you safely to your own home as soon as you are 
 satisfied that you can trust me. And I won't ask you to 
 keep your promise till " 
 
 An irrepressible light of longing had leaped up behind 
 the despair in her eyes. 
 
 " You say that all I must do in the meantime is to sign 
 some papers," she interrupted. " You say you won't 
 ask me to marry you right away. Will you wait a 
 year? " 
 
 " A year! I couldn't, Sallie! " he cried, and her pale 
 lips drooped piteously again. 
 
 " How long, then? " she asked in a whisper. " Six 
 months? " 
 
 He had made up his mind to be generous, and he felt that 
 he had not failed in his intention as he answered, " Three 
 months, and not a day longer, Sallie." 
 
 She sat still and silent for a while, considering that, 
 and then, " All right, Jasper," she agreed. " Take me 
 safe home, and I'll marry you three months from the 
 day we get there if we're both alive when the time 
 comes." 
 
 He turned away from her for a moment. He had won 
 all he wanted in the meantime, and he could scarcely con- 
 tain himself. When he presently held out a hand to her, 
 she took it, to bind that bargain. 
 
 " And you won't have any cause to regret it. Sallie," 
 he assured her, his voice somewhat hoarse in spite of his 
 effort to speak quite naturally.
 
 A MASTERSTROKE 145 
 
 " So now, as soon as you're ready, we'll all go ashore 
 together, and " 
 
 " I'll be ready in twenty minutes," she told him, clasping 
 her hands at her heart, her eyes very eager. " And, Jasper 
 you must let me take Ambrizette with me." 
 
 " You're free now to do as you like," he answered, and 
 left her. He felt as if he were treading on air on his way 
 back to the mid-ship saloon. 
 
 Captain Dove, in the same neglige costume, was busy 
 at breakfast when Slyne walked in upon him again, but 
 looked up from his plate for long enough to mumble a 
 malicious question. 
 
 " Yes, I've fixed it all up with her," Slyne answered 
 with assumed nonchalance. " You can always trust me 
 to know how to handle a woman, Dove." 
 
 Captain Dove shot a derisive glance in his direction. 
 " Is she willing to marry you after all, then? " he demanded, 
 feigning a surprise by no means complimentary. 
 
 " Not just at once, of course," returned his companion, 
 and left the old man to infer whatever he pleased. 
 
 In response to a shouted order of Captain Dove's a 
 slatternly cook-steward brought Slyne a steaming platter 
 of beans with a bit of bacon-rind on top, and an enamelled 
 mug containing a brew which might, by courtesy, have been 
 called coffee. There was a tray of broken ship's biscuits, 
 a tin containing some peculiarly rank substitute for butter, 
 upon the table, with the other equally uninviting concomi- 
 tants of a meagre meal. 
 
 " Tchk-tchk! " commented Slyne, and sat down to satisfy 
 his hunger as best he might; while Captain Dove, having 
 overheard that criticism, eyed him inimically, and proceeded 
 to puff a peculiarly rank cigar in his face.
 
 146 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 " You might as well be getting dressed now," said Slyne 
 indifferently. " By the time I'm through here, Sallie will 
 be ready to go ashore." 
 
 Captain Dove looked very fiercely at him, but without 
 effect. 
 
 " Sallie won't stir a step from the ship," the old man 
 affirmed, " till you've handed over the cash." 
 
 Slyne looked up, in mild surprise. 
 
 "But, dear me! Dove," he remarked, "you don't 
 expect that the London lawyer's going to take my word for a 
 girl he's never even seen? Until he's satisfied on that point, 
 he won't endorse my note to you. So we've got to take 
 her along with us. I'm doing my best to give you a square 
 deal; and all I ask in return is a square deal from you." 
 
 " You'd better not try any crooked games with me," 
 growled Captain Dove, and sat for a time sunk in obviously 
 aggravating reflections. 
 
 "If we get on his soft side," suggested Slyne insid- 
 iously, " there's no saying how much more we might both 
 make." 
 
 Captain Dove rose and retired into his sleeping-cabin 
 without further words; while Slyne, picking out with a 
 two-pronged fork the cleanest of the beans on his plate, 
 smiled sneeringly to himself. 
 
 " What's the latest long-shore fashion, Slyne? " the old 
 man asked after an interval. Slyne knew by his tone that 
 he had dismissed dull care from his mind and was prepared 
 to be quarrelsome again. 
 
 " It wouldn't suit a figure like yours," he answered 
 coolly, and was gratified to hear another hoarse growl. 
 For, strange though it may seem, Captain Dove was not 
 without vanity. " All you really need to worry about is
 
 A MASTERSTROKE 147 
 
 how to keep sober. And I want it to be understood from 
 the start " 
 
 " Not so much of it now! " snarled Captain Dove from 
 his cabin. " You attend to your own business and I'll 
 attend to mine. I know how to behave myself among 
 gentlemen. And, don't you forget, either, that I'm going 
 ashore to play my own hand. I've a card or two up my 
 sleeve, Mister Slyne, that will maybe euchre your game 
 for you if you try to bluff too high." 
 
 Slyne swore hotly, under his breath. He would have 
 given a great deal to know exactly what the old man meant 
 by that mysterious threat, and cnly knew that it would 
 be useless to ask him. There was nothing for it but to put 
 up with his capricious humours, as patiently as might 
 be although Slyne shivered in anticipation of the strain 
 that might entail till he could be dispensed with or 
 got rid of altogether. 
 
 Nor, as it presently appeared, were his fears at all ill- 
 founded. For Captain Dove emerged from his cabin got 
 up for shore-going in a guise at sight of which Slyne could 
 by no means suppress an involuntary groan. 
 
 " I'm all ready now," Captain Dove announced. " Will 
 you pay for a cab if I call one? " 
 
 " My car's waiting," Slyne returned, and, as the old 
 man whistled amazedly over that further and unexpected 
 proof that his former accomplice's fortunes had changed 
 for the better, " You look like a fool in that outfit," said 
 Slyne. " The right rig-out for motoring is a tweed suit 
 and a soft cap." 
 
 Captain Dove was very visibly annoyed. He had been 
 at particular pains to array himself properly. " You want 
 to be the only swell in the party, of course! " he grunted.
 
 148 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 " You're jealous, that's what's the matter with you." 
 And he fell to polishing his furry, old-fashioned top-hat 
 with a tail of the scanty, ill-fitting frock-coat he had 
 donned along with a noisome waistcoat in honour of the 
 occasion. 
 
 Slyne shrugged his shoulders, despairingly, and, having 
 made an end of his unappetising meal, prepared for the 
 road. Then he lighted a cigar very much at his leisure, 
 while Captain Dove regarded him grimly, and led the way 
 on deck without further words. 
 
 Sallie was ready and waiting at the companion-hatch 
 on the poop, as pretty as a picture in the sables Captain 
 Dove had given her a year before after a very lucrative 
 season of poaching on the Siberian coast. As soon as she 
 caught sight of them she came forward, followed by Am- 
 brizette, whose appearance, in cloak and turban, was even 
 a worse offence to Slyne's fastidious taste than Captain 
 Dove's had been. 
 
 " What a calamitous circus! " he muttered between set 
 teeth. " I must get rid of those two somehow and soon. 
 But till then - 
 
 " My car's at the back of those coal- wagons there," 
 he told Captain Dove with great dignity, and Captain Dove 
 turned to the engine-room hatch. 
 
 " Below there! " he called down. " Is that Mr. Brasse? 
 I'm off now, Brasse. You'll carry out all my instructions, 
 eh? And don't quarrel with Da Costa, d'ye hear? " 
 
 " Ay, ay, sir," answered a dreary voice from the depths 
 below, and Captain Dove faced about again to find Sallie, 
 flushed and anxious, waiting with Ambrizette at the gang- 
 way. 
 
 " Come on," he ordered irascibly, and Sallie followed him
 
 A MASTERSTROKE 149 
 
 down the plank. Ambrizette shuffled fearfully after her, 
 and Slyne came last, his chin in the air, triumphant. 
 
 He led the way to his car, and was gratified to observe 
 its salutary effect on Captain Dove's somewhat contemptu- 
 ous demeanour. The little policeman in charge of it pend- 
 ing its opulent owner's return, came forward, touching 
 his kepi, which further impressed Captain Dove, uncom- 
 fortably. Slyne handed Sallie into the tonneau, and Am- 
 brizette after her, tossed the policeman a further tip which 
 secured his everlasting esteem, took his own seat at the 
 wheel, and was hastily followed by Captain Dove. 
 
 " Where are we bound for? " asked Captain Dove, 
 holding his top-hat on with both hands, as Slyne took the 
 road toward Sampierdarena at a round pace. 
 
 " Don't talk to the man at the wheel," answered Slyne, 
 and laughed. " We've a hundred miles or so ahead of us. 
 Better chuck that old tile of yours away and tie a 
 handkerchief round your head; you'll find that less 
 uncomfortable." 
 
 The old man, at a loss for any more effective retort, 
 pulled his antiquated beaver down almost to his ears, 
 folded his long arms across the chest of his flapping frock- 
 coat, and sat silent, scowling at the baggy umbrella between 
 his knees. Nor did he open his mouth again during the 
 swift journey. 
 
 But when they at length reached their destination and 
 Slyne stopped the car quietly before the imposing pile that 
 forms the Hotel de Paris, Captain Dove's jaw dropped and 
 his mouth opened mechanically. 
 
 A resplendent porter came hurrying forward and bowed 
 most humbly to the magnificent Slyne. 
 
 " Take this lady and her maid straight up to the suite
 
 150 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 next mine," ordered Slyne as Sallie alighted, while Captain 
 Dove listened, all ears. " And ask Mr. Jobling to join me 
 in my sitting-room. He's still here, I suppose? " 
 
 He gave vent to a heartfelt sigh of relief as the man, 
 already preceding his charges indoors, paused to answer 
 in the affirmative. 
 
 " I needn't book a room for you," he told Captain Dove, 
 with calculated indifference. " But Sallie must have some- 
 where to leave Ambrizette. 
 
 " Hey! you. Call my chauffeur to take the car round 
 to the garage." 
 
 Captain Dove followed him toward the bureau, attract- 
 ing not a few glances of mingled surprise and amusement 
 from the elaborate idlers in its neighbourhood. Slyne was 
 furious. 
 
 " I can't have him tagging about after me in that ghastly 
 get-up! " he told himself on the way to the elevator; and 
 cuffed the elevator-boy's ears at the sound of a mirthful 
 sneeze with which that unfortunate youth had become 
 afflicted. " Though how the deuce I'm to help myself 
 I don't know." 
 
 In the corridor at which they got out he caught sight 
 of Mr. Jobling approaching, and hurried Captain Dove 
 into the sitting-room of his suite. 
 
 " Give me five minutes to change my clothes," he re- 
 quested of the old man. " And don't get straying about, 
 or you'll lose yourself." 
 
 Mr. Jobling met him on the threshold as he shut the door. 
 That gentleman had marvellously recovered from his 
 over-night's nervous break-down. A sound sleep, a visit 
 from the barber, a bath and a liberal breakfast had all 
 helped to alter him outwardly and inwardly for the better.
 
 A MASTERSTROKE 151 
 
 He was once more the respectably prosperous, self-confident 
 solicitor. 
 
 " I believe you've been out all night," he observed in 
 a jocular tone of reproof, a waggish forefinger uplifted. 
 
 "I've covered a couple of hundred miles in the car while 
 you've been asleep," answered Slyne, turning into his 
 dressing-room. " I've brought the girl back with me 
 and the old man, her guardian. We're going to have trouble 
 with him unless we're very careful. So listen, and I'll 
 tell you how things stand." 
 
 Mr. Jobling composed his features into their most pro- 
 fessional aspect, but that gave place by degrees to a variety 
 of other expressions, while Slyne, busy changing his clothes, 
 related all he himself knew as to Sallie's past history. 
 
 " And now the old man thinks he is entitled to put a 
 price on her," Slyne concluded. " She's promised to marry 
 me, but he won't let her go till I hand him a hundred thou- 
 sand dollars." 
 
 Mr. Jobling lay back limply in his chair. In all his 
 career he had never, he asserted, heard a more scandalous 
 suggestion. 
 
 " Never mind about that," Slyne cut him short. "The 
 money's no object to me. But you can understand what 
 a difficult fellow he is to deal with. And what I'm going to 
 do, merely as a precaution against his playing us false 
 in the end, is to give him my note of hand for the amount 
 he demands, endorsed by you, and payable the day I 
 marry his adopted daughter." 
 
 Mr. Jobling sank still lower in his seat. 
 
 " In return for that," Slyne went on, " he must sign a 
 clear deliverance from any further claim on any of us, 
 subject, of course, to due payment' of the note.
 
 152 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 " Then, I want a document drawn up to confirm my en- 
 gagement to the girl and granting me the fullest possible 
 power of attorney on her behalf both before and after our 
 marriage. She's so simple and inexperienced that I must 
 do everything for her. 
 
 " And, lastly, you'd better make out a brief private 
 agreement between yourself and me just as a matter 
 of form, you know to the effect that you are willing to 
 act in my interests throughout, in return for a commission 
 of ten per cent, on the accumulated revenues of the Jura 
 estates at the date of my marriage." 
 
 Mr. Jobling looked at him for a time as a man suddenly 
 bereft of his spine might. 
 
 " There's no time to spare," Slyne mentioned. " I 
 want all that sort of thing settled right off the reel 
 before lunch. 
 
 " If the old man makes any kick about anything, you 
 must back me up in all I say. Although if he tries to raise 
 his price by a few thousand dollars, we needn't stick at 
 that. The great thing is to get him to sign the deliverance 
 in return for our note. The girl has already agreed 
 
 " And what if I refuse? " croaked his companion with 
 the courage of desperation. It was evident that Mr. 
 Jobling saw through his daring scheme. " What if I in- 
 sist on my fair share? What if I - 
 
 Slyne silenced him with a contemptuous gesture. 
 
 " Whatever you do will make no difference to anyone 
 in the wide world but yourself," said Slyne. " If you do 
 what you're told you'll get a great deal more than you de- 
 serve out of it. If you don't D'ye think I'd have taken 
 you into the team if I didn't know how to drive you! " 
 he asked, his eyes beginning to blaze. " Why, my good
 
 A MASTERSTROKE 153 
 
 fellow, if you refuse, if you don't travel up to your collar, 
 if you so much as shy at anything you see or hear I 
 won't even hurt you; I'll just hand you over to the police. 
 
 " So make up your mind now, quick! " 
 
 " You've nothing against me," quavered the lawyer. 
 
 " No, I've nothing not very much, at least, yet," 
 Slyne agreed, knotting his tie neatly before the glass. 
 " But that may be because you haven't embezzled any 
 of my money yet." He had most opportunely recalled 
 what the detective Dubois had told him about his new 
 friend. 
 
 Mr. Jobling's face was almost green. He got up with an 
 evident effort. 
 
 " I was only joking," he declared with a most ghastly 
 grin. " I'll be quite satisfied with ten per cent, of the ac- 
 cumulated income in fact, we'll call it a couple of hun- 
 dred thousand pounds, if you like." 
 
 " All right," Slyne agreed imperturbably. " Make it 
 that amount if you'd rather. How long will it take you 
 to get the papers drawn out? It's nearly one o'clock. 
 And you won't be safe till they're signed." 
 
 " An hour," said Mr. Jobling. " I'm a quick writer." 
 
 " All right," Slyne repeated. " We'll lunch at two - 
 after they're all signed. So off you go, and get busy." 
 
 The stout solicitor hurried away, cowed and obedient 
 again, and Slyne, very smart in an almost new flannel 
 suit, rejoined Captain Dove. 
 
 " I'm too fashionable, that's what's the matter with 
 me! " declared Captain Dove with sudden conviction at 
 sight of him, and gazed very bitterly at his own image in 
 an inconvenient mirror. 
 
 " Never mind about that," Slyne advised soothingly.
 
 154 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 " It's not as if you were staying here, you know. You'll 
 be back on board your ship by supper-time. And now, I 
 must tell you how we've got to handle this lawyer-fellow 
 when he fetches in the raft of papers he'll want us all to 
 sign." 
 
 Captain Dove listened gloomily while he went on to 
 explain, at considerable length, and in his most convincing 
 manner, that they must match their combined wits against 
 the lawyer's for their own profit. 
 
 " It's not that I don't trust him," said Slyne, " but - 
 I'll feel more secure after everything's settled in writing 
 and signed. He can't go back on us then." 
 
 " He'd better not! " Captain Dove commented. " I'll 
 wring his neck for him if he tries ' 
 
 " And, as for Sallie," Slyne cut him short, " I've made 
 things quite - 
 
 " Sallie will do whatever I tell her," growled Captain 
 Dove. " And don't you attempt to interfere between me 
 and her till you've paid me my money, Slyne. Where 
 is she? Fetch her in here." 
 
 Slyne had no farther to go to do that than to the next 
 room, where he found Sallie at the window, gazing pen- 
 sively out at the sea. But he delayed there for some time 
 to make it still more clear to her that her only hope of 
 helping herself lay in abetting him blindly. 
 
 When he at length returned to his own sitting-room 
 with her, he found Captain Dove staring fixedly at another 
 arrival there, an overwhelmingly up-to-date if rather im- 
 becile-looking young man, whose general gorgeousness, 
 combined with a very vacant, fish-like eye much magnified 
 by a monocle, had evidently reduced the would-be fash- 
 ionable seaman to a stricken silence.
 
 A MASTERSTROKE 155 
 
 Slyne, who had at first shot a most malevolent glance 
 at the intruder, was stepping forward to greet him just 
 as Mr. Jobling put in an appearance with a sheaf of papers 
 in one hand. 
 
 " How d'ye do, Lord Ingoldsby? " said Slyne quite 
 suavely to the young man with the eye-glass. He had 
 caught sight of Mr. Jobling in the doorway, and turned to 
 Sallie, his quick mind bent on a masterstroke. 
 
 " May I introduce to you the Marquis of Ingoldsby," 
 he remarked to her in the monotone of convention; and, 
 as she bowed slightly in response to that very modern 
 young gentleman's ingratiating wriggle and grin, Slyne, 
 one eye on Captain Dove's astonished countenance, com- 
 pleted the formality. 
 
 " This is Lady Josceline Justice," said he to his smirking 
 lordship, and breathed delicately into a somewhat ex- 
 tensive ear the further information, " the late Earl of 
 Jura's daughter, you know and my fiancee"
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 " SALLIE HARRIS " 
 
 SALLIE'S j&rst startled impulse was to deny the new 
 identity Slyne had so glibly bestowed on her. It 
 seemed too preposterous to be believable; and she was 
 very suspicious of him. A little flushed, more than a little 
 afraid, and yet in some sense convinced in spite of herself 
 by the outward and visible signs about her that all these 
 strange happenings must have at least some foundation of 
 fact, she sought to read the others' thoughts in their faces. 
 
 The Marquis of Ingoldsby was gaping at her, in open 
 wonder and admiration. Slyne's features wore a subdued 
 expression of triumph, and Captain Dove's a dazed, in- 
 credulous frown. Mr. Jobling was beaming about him, so 
 apparently satisfied with her, so respectably prosperous- 
 looking himself that her doubts as to Slyne's good faith 
 began to give way. When the lawyer was hi turn presented 
 to her and also addressed her by that new name, she could 
 scarcely disclaim it. 
 
 " You'll stay and have luncheon with us, Lord In- 
 goldsby? " Slyne remarked, touching the bell; and his 
 lordship left off gaping at Sallie to look him over with all 
 the solemn sagacity of a young owl in broad daylight. 
 
 " Er all right," his lordship at length agreed. " Don't 
 mind if I do. 
 
 " Though I have some er friends waitin' for me,"
 
 " SALLIE HARRIS " 157 
 
 he added as an afterthought, " that I promised to take 
 for a run in your car, if ' 
 
 " You'll have time enough after lunch," Slyne suggested, 
 and drew the noble marquis toward the window. 
 
 " The Marquis of Ingoldsby! " muttered Captain Dove. 
 " A run in Slyne's car! And Lady Josceline Justice! " 
 He dug his knuckles forcibly into his blinking eyes, and, 
 " I seem to be wide enough awake," said he in a stage aside 
 as several waiters arrived on the scene. 
 
 While they were setting the table Sallie tried to collect 
 her thoughts. Slyne had told her nothing till then, but 
 that he had found out who her folk were. And she had come 
 away from the Olive Branch blindly, only a little less dis- 
 trustful of him than of Captain Dove's cruel intentions 
 toward her if she had remained on board. Even now, she 
 scarcely dared to believe 
 
 In response to a sign from Slyne she took her place at 
 the flower-decked table. The Marquis of Ingoldsby im- 
 mediately settled himself at her side; he also was obviously 
 a young man who knew what he wanted, and meant to 
 have v that at all hazards and, while the others were seat- 
 ing themselves, he ogled her killingly. 
 
 Slyne had sat down at her other hand, leaving Mr. Job- 
 ling and Captain Dove to keep one another company be- 
 hind the great silver centre-piece which adorned the cir- 
 cular table. The marquis, leaning on one elbow, had turned 
 his back on Mr. Jobling, and Slyne turned his on Captain 
 Dove. 
 
 " This is a little bit of all right! " his lordship remarked 
 to Sallie, with a confidential grin. " Only I wish 
 How is it that we haven't met before, Lady Josephine? 
 But never mind that. Let's be pals now. Shall we, eh? "
 
 158 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 " I don't know," Sallie answered at random and since 
 he seemed to expect some reply to that fatuity. She had met 
 a good many men in her time, but never one quite like 
 this Lord Ingoldsby who actually seemed anxious to 
 look and act like a cunning fool. 
 
 A waiter intervened between them. But his lordship 
 waved that functionary away. 
 
 " Do let's," he implored with child-like insistence. " It 
 would be so deevy to be pals with you. And I'm beastly 
 dull here, all by myself, don't y'know. So 
 
 " Eh? " He glared at Slyne, who had bluntly inter- 
 rupted his tete-a-tete. " No, I don't want any oysters 
 I told that waiter-chap so. And I don 't know any ' lady 
 of the camellias.' I can't imagine what you're talkin' 
 about at all, I'm sure." 
 
 " I saw her again last night, at the Casino," said Slyne, 
 imperturbably, and went on to entertain Sallie with a 
 long if not over-truthful account of his own over-night's 
 doings there. So that, for all his lordship's lack of manners, 
 it was some time before that spoiled youth again succeeded 
 in monopolising her attention. At every turn Slyne was 
 ready to balk him, and, but for his native self-conceit 
 coupled with a certain blind obstinacy, he must very soon 
 have understood what was perfectly plain to Sallie, that 
 he was there merely on sufferance, to serve some purpose 
 of Slyne's. 
 
 " Coin' to be here long, Lady Josephine? " he managed 
 to break in at last. Slyne had turned to give a departing 
 waiter some order. 
 
 " I don't know," Sallie answered again, since she could 
 say nothing else. 
 
 " Hope to goodness you are," declared his lordship.
 
 " SALLIE HARRIS " 159 
 
 "Stay for a week or two, anyhow: and," he lowered 
 his voice to a husky whisper, leaning toward her "let 
 me trot you about a bit, eh? You'll maybe see more than 
 enough of him by and by! " He indicated Slyne with an 
 eloquent elbow, and further expressed his sentiments by 
 means of an ardent sigh. 
 
 Beyond the blossom-laden epergne, Mr. Jobling and 
 Captain Dove, almost cut off from other intercourse by 
 that barrier, were exchanging coldly critical glances. 
 Neither seemed to be quite at his ease with the other, and 
 both had, of course, a great many urgent questions to 
 put to Slyne as soon as the Marquis of Ingoldsby should be 
 gone. So that the luncheon-party must have proved a 
 very dull affair to them, and they were no doubt glad when 
 it was over. 
 
 Slyne signalled to Sallie as soon as coffee was served, 
 and she rose to leave the room. She was quite accustomed 
 to being promptly dispensed with whenever her company 
 might have been inconvenient. 
 
 " Oh, I say! " protested Lord Ingoldsby. '' You're 
 not goin' yet, Lady J. Half a mo'. Won't you come for 
 a spin with me now that the car's mine? Just say the word 
 and I'll drop my other engagement. And then we could 
 dine at " 
 
 " Lady Josceline will be engaged with her lawyer all 
 afternoon," Slyne cut him short with the utmost coolness, 
 " and she's leaving Monte Carlo again to-night." 
 
 The Marquis of Ingoldsby glowered at him. 
 
 " I'll see you in Paris, then, Lady J.," he went on, point- 
 edly ignoring Slyne, " or in London, at least, later on. 
 Well, good-bye if you must be goin'." 
 
 He bowed her out of the room, and then, snatching up
 
 160 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 his hat and cane with very visible annoyance, included 
 the others in a curt nod of farewell and made off 
 himself. 
 
 He passed her before she had closed her own door 
 and would gladly have paused there. 
 
 " You won't forget me, will you? " she heard him ask 
 eagerly from behind her. But she did not delay to answer 
 that question. 
 
 A few minutes later, Slyne knocked at her door and 
 entered, followed by the other two men. He had brought 
 with him the papers which Mr. Jobling had prepared. Mr. 
 Jobling carried an inkstand, and Captain Dove a decanter 
 of brandy. Slyne seated himself at the table and waved 
 Sallie back to her chair by the window. 
 
 " We're going to talk business for a few minutes," he 
 told her, " and then get every thing settled in writing - 
 to keep you safe. 
 
 " Fire ahead now, Dove. You want to know " 
 
 " Is Sallie really " 
 
 " 7 don't know anyone of that name now. D'you mean 
 Lady Josceline? " 
 
 Captain Dove glared at him, and then at the lawyer, and 
 then at Sallie herself. 
 
 " Is that really who I am now, Jasper? " she asked, a 
 most wistful inflection in her low voice. 
 
 " You needn't believe me" he answered her. " Ask 
 Mr. Jobling. He'll tell you." 
 
 Mr. Jobling coughed importantly. " I'll tell you all I 
 know myself, Lady Josceline," he promised her, and pro- 
 ceeded to repeat in part what he had told Slyne on the 
 terrace the night before concerning the Jura family, but 
 without a single word of the fortune awaiting the
 
 " SALLIE HARRIS " 161 
 
 next of kin. Captain Dove's face expressed the extreme 
 of astonishment as he too sat listening with the closest 
 attention. 
 
 " That's as far as my present knowledge goes," the lawyer 
 finished blandly. " And now I understand that Captain 
 Dove is prepared to supply the proof required in conclu- 
 sion. 
 
 " How long have you known Lady Josceline, Captain 
 Dove? " 
 
 Captain Dove frowned as if in deep thought, and Slyne 
 looked very crossly at him. 
 
 " About three quarters of an hour," the old man an- 
 swered, and, glancing at Slyne, chuckled hoarsely. " She's 
 only been Lady Josceline for so long." 
 
 Mr. Jobling nodded understanding and the creases on his 
 fleshy forehead disappeared again. 
 
 " And before that ? " he suggested, politely patient. 
 
 " Before that she was what she still is so far's I'm 
 concerned Saleh Harez, my adopted daughter." 
 
 " Sallie Harris! " Mr. Jobling ejaculated. " Dear 
 me! Did you say Sallie er Harris? " 
 
 " I said Saleh Harez," affirmed Captain Dove, and filled 
 the glass at his elbow again. " But all that concerns you, so 
 far's I can see, is that I've known her ever since she was 
 knee-high to me. I've been a father to her all those years, 
 and she's my adopted daughter. So now, you can take it 
 from me, Mr. Jobson, that I'm the joker, and both bowers 
 too, in this merry little game." 
 
 " Which makes it all the more unfortunate for you that 
 you haven't a single penny to stake on your hand," Slyne 
 put in, while the lawyer looked somewhat blankly from one 
 to the other of them. " So don't waste any more time
 
 162 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 bluffing, but tell Jobling how you found Sal Lady 
 Josceline." 
 
 Captain Dove darted a very evil look at his friendly 
 adviser. " And what if I refuse? " he asked. 
 
 Slyne almost smiled. " Why cut off your own nose to 
 spite your face? " he returned. " You won't refuse, be- 
 cause it would cost you a hundred thousand dollars to 
 do so." 
 
 Captain Dove stroked his chin contemplatively, and 
 his face slowly cleared. 
 
 " A hundred and fifty thousand, you mean," he said in 
 a most malevolent tone. 
 
 Slyne got up from the table as if in anger, and for some 
 time they two wrangled over that point, the stout solicitor 
 gazing at them with evident dismay, while Sallie awaited 
 the upshot of it all with bated breath. She knew it was 
 over the price to be paid for her that they were disputing, 
 but that knowledge had ceased to be any novelty. The 
 wrathful voices of the two disputants seemed to come from 
 a great distance. She felt as if the whole affair were a 
 dream from which she might at any moment awake on 
 board the Olive Branch again. 
 
 " There isn't money enough in it to pay you so much 
 for a mere affidavit," she heard Slyne say, and Mr. Job- 
 ling, under his glance, confirmed that statement emphat- 
 ically. 
 
 " A hundred and twenty-one thousand is the last limit 
 a thousand down, to bind the bargain, and the balance 
 the day of my wedding with Sallie," Slyne declared. " If 
 that doesn't satisfy you there's nothing more to be 
 said. And I'll maybe find other means - 
 
 " Show me even the first thousand," requested Captain
 
 " SALLIE HARRIS " 163 
 
 Dove, and Slyne counted out on to the table, at a safe 
 distance from the old man's twitching fingers, five thousand 
 francs of the amount Lord Ingoldsby had paid him for his 
 car. 
 
 " All right," said Captain Dove gruffly, and snatched 
 at the notes. But Slyne picked them up again. 
 
 " As soon as you've given Jobling your statement/' he 
 said, " and signed whatever other documents he may think 
 necessary, I'll hand you these and my note of hand, en- 
 dorsed by him, for the balance remaining due you." 
 
 Mr. Jobling picked up a pen and Slyne pushed a sheet 
 of foolscap toward him. Captain Dove, with a grunt of 
 disgust, sat back in his chair and, while the lawyer wrote 
 rapidly, related how he had found Sallie. 
 
 When he had finished, Mr. Jobling read his statement 
 over aloud, and chuckled ecstatically. His own eyes were 
 shining. 
 
 " That settles it, Lady Josceline," said he triumphantly, 
 turning to Sallie. " I'll stake my professional reputation 
 on your identity now. You need have no further doubt 
 
 " And just to clinch the matter," growled Captain Dove, 
 " you'd better add this to your affidavy : The clothes 
 the kid was wearing when I fetched her off that dhow 
 were all marked with the moniker ' J. J.' and some sort 
 of crest. But they were all lost when the ship I com- 
 manded then was went down at sea." 
 
 Mr. Jobling groaned. "How very unfortunate!" he 
 remarked before he resumed his writing. And Slyne stared 
 fixedly at the old man until the lawyer had finished. 
 
 " Now," said Mr. Jobling, adjusting his pince-nez and 
 beaming about him again, " we can call in a couple of 
 witnesses and "
 
 164 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 " We'll witness each other's signatures." Slyne disagreed. 
 "^Better not bring in any outsiders." 
 
 The stout solicitor frowned over that, but finally nodded 
 concurrence. And Captain Dove took the pen from him, 
 only to hand it to Slyne. 
 
 " Gimme my thousand dollars and your joint note for 
 the balance first," he requested unamiably. 
 
 Slyne signed the new note Mr. Jobling pushed across 
 the table, and Mr. Jobling endorsed it. Captain Dove 
 read it over carefully before he pocketed it, and also counted 
 with^great caution the bills Slyne tossed to him. Then 
 he in his turn signed, without reading it, the statement 
 the lawyer had drawn up from his dictation, and the more 
 lengthy agreement between Sallie and Jasper Slyne. 
 
 Slyne and Jobling added their names to that, and Slyne 
 attached his careful signature to a promise to pay the 
 solicitor the percentage agreed upon. Captain Dove wit- 
 nessed it and then called Sallie from her seat in the window- 
 alcove, and she came forward with anxious eyes, to fulfil 
 the undertaking she had finally had to give Jasper Slyne 
 as the price of his help in her most unhappy predicament. 
 
 She did not know nor did she greatly care then 
 what was contained in the contract he laid before her with- 
 out a word. She took from him without demur the pen 
 he held out to her. She had promised to do all he told her 
 and give him whatever he asked except, for the present, 
 herself. 
 
 " Sign ' Josceline Justice ' at the foot of each page," he 
 said gently, and she did so without a word. For she would 
 not for all the world contained have broken any promise 
 she had given. Then Mr. Jobling desired her to witness 
 the two other men's signatures.
 
 " SALLIE HARRIS " 165 
 
 As she handed him back the pen she had a final question 
 to ask him. 
 
 " You said my father and mother are both dead, and 
 my step-brother too. Is there no one else - 
 
 " No one you need worry about in the least," he assured 
 her, misunderstanding. " There was a beggarly American 
 who lodged a claim to the title and to the title; his name 
 was Carthew, I think yes, Justin Carthew. But even if 
 I if he hadn't gone and got lost while looking for you, his 
 claim would be quite ineffectual no,v. You're your father's 
 daughter, Lady Josceline. Justin Carthew was a dozen or 
 more degrees removed fro.n the trunk of your family tree. 
 He had only the faintest tinge of blue blood in his veins. 
 He was an absolute outsider. We'll hear no more about 
 him now." 
 
 " You mean that it's an absolutely sure thing for her," 
 Captain Dove suggested, and Mr. Jobling looked pained. 
 
 " I can't afford to risk anything on uncertainties, sir," 
 he answered stiffly. " And I'll stake my professional repu- 
 tation on " 
 
 " Oh, never mind about all that," Slyne broke in, folding 
 his share of the papers together and pocketing them. " The 
 syndicate's safely floated. And now as to our next move. 
 
 " You'd better get away back to Genoa by the five o'clock 
 train, Dove. And you must take Ambrizette with you; 
 I'll get Sal Lady Josceline another maid in Paris one 
 who won't attract quite so much attention to us as that 
 damned dwarf would. 
 
 " Jobling and I will go on there by the night-mail, on our 
 way to London with Lady Josceline. You can take the 
 Olive Branch round to some safe English port and lay her 
 up there in the meantime. As soon as you land, you can
 
 166 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 rejoin us at Jobling's address. By that time we'll prob- 
 ably be ready to redeem our note to you." 
 
 " By that time," Captain Dove returned with concen- 
 trated bitterness, " you'll have found some way to give me 
 the slip altogether. D'ye take me for a blind idiot, Slyne? 
 D'ye think I'm going to let Sallie out of my sight, with 
 you? " 
 
 Slyne was visibly disconcerted. " But aren't you go- 
 ing to take your ship round to England? " he asked, in 
 genuine surprise. " You can't very well leave her lying in 
 Genoa! " 
 
 " I'll attend to my own end of the business," said Cap- 
 tain Dove with angry decision. " If you're going to Lon- 
 don by train to-night, so am I. If you like to come back on 
 board with me, I'll sail you round. But I'm not the only 
 man on the Olive Branch who can sail a ship. Why, I've 
 half a dozen broken captains and most of 'em with extra 
 masters' certificates, too among my crew. 
 
 "I've left Brasse and 'Da Costa in charge, and they'll 
 work her across the Bay if I tell them to. I've only to send 
 them a wire. And all you have to do now is to say which 
 way you want to travel with me; for I'm going to stick 
 to you like a leech till the day you pay me off." 
 
 Slyne walked to the window, humming a tune. But it 
 was obviously costing him all of his refreshed fortitude to 
 refrain from expressing his real sentiments toward Captain 
 Dove. His face, as he stood glaring blindly out at the 
 beautiful scene before him, was like that of a wild beast 
 balked of its fair prey. But from between his bared, set 
 teeth the careless hum came unbroken. 
 
 " I think you're foolish," was all he said when he turned 
 again, convinced that it would be a waste of time to argue
 
 " SALLIE HARRIS " 167 
 
 the matter with the old man, " but suit yourself. Job- 
 ling and I must get to London with Sal Lady Josceline 
 at the earliest possible moment. If you insist on travelling 
 with us to-night so be it. All I want you to understand 
 is that there's to be no more drinking, and that you must 
 be advised by me in every other particular. This isn't 
 really the sort of game you're liable to shine in. It would be 
 far better for all of us if you'd stay on board your ship." 
 
 Captain Dove's weather-beaten countenance was turn- 
 ing slowly purple. He was striving after speech. Slyne, 
 outwardly cool and contemptuous of his visible fury, stood 
 gazing down at him, hands in pockets. Mr. Jobling was 
 wriggling restlessly in his chair, glancing from one to the 
 other, prepared to flee from the coming storm. 
 
 Still without a word, Captain Dove reached again for 
 the brandy-decanter, directly defying Slyne. Slyne stepped 
 forward and snatched it out of his hand. 
 
 Simultaneously, the old man and Mr. Jobling sprang 
 from their seats, the former making for Slyne and the latter 
 for the door, which opened just as he reached it, so that he 
 all but fell over a boy in buttons who had knocked and 
 entered carrying a telegram on a tray. 
 
 Slyne had not moved. Captain Dove, almost at his 
 throat, spun round on one heel. 
 
 " For me? " Mr. Jobling exclaimed anxiously as he ripped 
 the envelope open. And a slow pallor overspread his puffy 
 pink features while he was perusing its contents. 
 
 " From Mullins, my managing clerk," he mumbled as 
 he passed the message to Slyne, who looked it over indif- 
 ferently, and then re-read it aloud in a low but very omi- 
 nous voice: " ' American claimant landed at Genoa yester- 
 day. Now on way to London. Court granted decree in his
 
 168 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 favour.' Handed in at Chancery Lane, in London," he 
 pulled out his watch " fifty minutes ago." 
 
 The page-boy had disappeared. Slyne pushed suddenly 
 past Mr. Jobling and set his back against the door. Captain 
 Dove was approaching the terrified solicitor softly, on tip- 
 toe, his fists clenched, all his tobacco-stained fangs dis- 
 played in a grin of fury. One of his long arms shot out just 
 as the door opened behind Slyne's back and a voice an- 
 nounced : 
 
 " M. Dubois."
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE LAW AND THE PROFITS 
 
 SALLIE saw how Jasper Slyne's face blanched at sight 
 of that very untimely intruder, whose keen eyes 
 seemed to take in the situation there at a glance. 
 
 Mr. Jobling had fallen backward into a convenient arm- 
 chair and, with both hands clapped to his nose, was moan- 
 ing most piteously. Captain Dove was standing over him, 
 with features inflamed, in a very bellicose posture and 
 glaring at the new-comer, toward whom Slyne had turned 
 inquiringly. 
 
 " You're looking for some one, M. Dubois? " Slyne 
 asked, in a tone of polite surprise, which, Sallie knew, was 
 assumed. 
 
 " A thousand pardons," returned that individual. " I 
 am indeed looking for some one whom I thought to find 
 here. I had no intention, however, of intruding upon a 
 lady - He bowed profusely to Sallie. " It may be," 
 he suggested, " that I have mistaken the number. Is not 
 this the suite 161? " 
 
 " One hundred and sixty," Slyne told him, and evi- 
 dently did not think it worth while to add that the next 
 suite was his own. 
 
 " A thousand pardons," repeated M. Dubois, very peni- 
 tently. " I am too stupid! But mademoiselle will perhaps 
 be so gracious as to forgive me this time."
 
 170 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 He bowed to Sallie again and to Slyne, and disappeared, 
 sharply scanning the latter's face to the last. 
 
 " Who's that son of a sea-cook? " snapped Captain Dove, 
 and Mr. Jobling looked wanly up out of one eye. 
 
 " A French detective," Slyne answered reflectively. But 
 Sallie felt sure that he was afraid of M. Dubois, and won- 
 dered why. 
 
 " Well, he has nothing against me that I'm aware of," 
 
 the old man declared. " And now what about this wire? 
 
 Does it mean that some other fellow has scooped the pool 
 
 and that I've had all my trouble for nothing, eh? " He 
 
 clenched his fist again and shook it in the lawyer's face. 
 
 " No, no," gasped Mr. Jobling. " Don't be so hasty. 
 It makes no difference at all, now that we have Lady Jos- 
 celine with us. I told you that the American, Carthew, is 
 of no account against her and how he has ever cropped 
 up again I can't conceive. In any case " 
 
 " In any case, you'd better be off to your room and ring 
 for a bit of beefsteak to doctor that eye with," Slyne inter- 
 posed in a tone of intense annoyance. 
 - "And I wish to goodness, Dove! " he added savagely, 
 " that you would behave a little more like a reasonable 
 human being and less 
 
 " Less of your lip, now! " snarled the old man. " And 
 don't keep on saying that. Just take it from me again, both 
 of you, that you'd better not be so slow again in telling 
 me " 
 
 " You didn't give me time," Mr. Jobling protested. 
 
 Slyne opened the door. " Come on," he urged. " You've 
 got to get your kit packed, Jobling. We'll be leaving before 
 very long now. 
 
 " Have you made up your mind to come with us, Dove? "
 
 THE LAW AND THE PROFITS 171 
 
 Captain Dove nodded, most emphatically. " I'll send 
 word to Brasse and Da Costa at once," he remarked, " and 
 then I'll be ready to start whenever you are." 
 
 He left the room after Mr. Jobling, and Slyne, in the 
 doorway, looked back at Sallie, the reassuring smile on his 
 lips belied by his cold, calculating eyes. 
 
 " And how about you, Sallie? " he asked. " Have you 
 made up your mind? Are you satisfied so far? Or 
 would you rather go back to the Olive Branch? 
 
 " If you would I'll let you off your promise, even now! 
 And don't forget that this will be your last chance to 
 recall it." 
 
 " You know I can't go back to the Olive Branch, Jasper," 
 she answered slowly. " But " 
 
 He did not give her time to say more. " That's settled 
 for good, then," he asserted. " Your promise stands, and 
 I know you'll keep it when the time comes after I've 
 done my part. 
 
 " I'm only sorry I haven't been able to get rid of Captain 
 Dove right away, but it won't be long now till You 
 needn't worry any more about him. I'll see that he be- 
 haves better. 
 
 " If there's anything else I can do for your comfort, you 
 must let me know. And now, I'll leave you to your own 
 devices until it's time to start on our travels. Better get 
 a rest while you can, eh? We've a very busy week ahead 
 of us." 
 
 She saw that he did not intend to tell her any more in the 
 meantime, and was glad to see him go. Then she called 
 Ambrizette in for company, and sat down by the window 
 again, to try to sort out for herself the bewildering tangle 
 that life had once more become within a few hours.
 
 172 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 Gazing out across the familiar sea with wistful, far-away 
 eyes, she mused for a time over what Captain Dove had told 
 Mr. Jobling of her history, and strove to piece together 
 with that all she herself could recall of that dim and always 
 more mysterious past out of which she had come to be 
 Captain Dove's property, bought and paid for, at a high 
 price, as he had repeated several times. 
 
 Her own earliest vague, disconnected, ineffectual memo- 
 ries were all of some dark, savage mountain-country; of 
 endless days of travel; of camp-fires in the cold, and hungry 
 camels squealing for fodder; of the fragrant cinnamon- 
 smell of the steam that came from the cooking-pots. 
 
 Before, or, it might have been, after that, she had surely 
 lived on some seashore, in a shimmering white village with 
 narrow, crooked lanes for streets and little flat-roofed houses 
 huddled together among hot sandhills where the suddra 
 grew and lean goats bleated always for their kids. 
 
 Then, as if in a very vexing dream, she could almost but 
 never quite see, through the thickening mist of the years, 
 once-familiar faces white men, with swords, in ragged 
 uniforms, and big brown ones with wicked eyes and long, 
 thin guns, glaring down at her over a high wall, through 
 smoke and fire, and fighting, and the acrid reek of pow- 
 der. . . . 
 
 And there remembrance grew blank altogether, until it 
 connected with Captain Dove, on the deck of a slaving- 
 dhow far out of sight of any land. She had been only a little 
 child when he had carried her up the side of his own ship in 
 his arms, while she laughed gleefully in his face and pulled 
 at his shaggy moustache, but she could still remember 
 some of the incidents of that day. 
 
 She had lived on board his successive ships ever since.
 
 THE LAW AND THE PROFITS 173 
 
 And ever since, until recently, he had always been very 
 good to her, in his own queer, gruff way. He had always 
 treated her as though she were a child of his own, shielding 
 her, in so far as he could, from even the knowledge of all 
 the evil which he had done up and down the world. She 
 had grown up in the belief that his despotic guardianship 
 was altogether for her good and not to be disputed. 
 
 But now she was no longer a child. And all her old, 
 unquestioning faith in his inherent good intentions, toward 
 her at least, was finally shattered. She knew now that he 
 really looked upon her as a mere chattel, with a cash value 
 - just as if she had been one of the hapless cargo of human 
 cattle confined in the pestiferous hold of the dhow on whose 
 deck he had found her at play. She knew now that he had 
 bought and paid for them as well as her, and sold them 
 again at a fat profit, far across the seas all but the dumb, 
 deformed black woman whom he had picked from among 
 them to act as her nurse. 
 
 And if it did not occur to her to question either his power 
 or his perfect right to dispose of her future also as he might 
 see fit, had not all her experience gone to prove that might 
 is right everywhere, that law and justice are merely addi- 
 tional pretexts devised by the strong for oppressing the 
 weak? She had had to choose between remaining on board 
 the Olive Branch, or paying Jasper Slyne his price for the 
 chance of escape he had offered her in pursuance of his own 
 aims. 
 
 She disliked and distrusted Slyne scarcely less than be- 
 fore. But she did not see how she could have chosen other- 
 wise. And, in any case, it was too late now to revoke 
 the promise she had made him. 
 
 She was still afraid to place any faith in the promises
 
 174 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 he had made her. She had no idea how he had come at his 
 alleged discovery of her real identity. But Mr. Jobling's 
 obvious belief in that recurred to her mind, and she fell to 
 wondering timidly what life would be like as Lady Jos- 
 celine Justice. 
 
 Her impressions on that point were very hazy, however, 
 and she had still to puzzle out the problem added by Justin 
 Carthew. But she finally gave up the attempt to solve that 
 at the moment, contenting herself with the tremulous hope 
 that she might soon be on her way toward that dear, un- 
 known, dream-home for which her hungry heart had so 
 often ached. 
 
 Of the exorbitant price so soon to be paid for the brief 
 glimpse of happiness Slyne had agreed to allow her, she took 
 no further thought at all. She had already made up her 
 mind to meet that without complaint. 
 
 An hour or more later, when Slyne looked in to tell her 
 that it was time to start, she was still seated at the window, 
 gazing out over the steel-grey sea with wistful, far-away 
 eyes. 
 
 At his instigation she veiled herself very closely. And 
 he had brought with him a hooded cloak for Ambrizette. 
 No one took any particular notice of the inconspicuous 
 party which presently left the H6tel de Paris in a hired 
 car, as if for an excursion along the coast. 
 
 At a station fifty miles away they left the car and caught 
 the night-mail for Paris. Slyne's baggage was on board it, 
 in the care of a sullen chauffeur, and there were also berths 
 reserved for them all. 
 
 " Did you see any more of Dubois? " Sallie heard Slyne 
 ask the man, who shook his head indifferently in reply. 
 
 The long night-journey passed without other incident
 
 THE LAW AND THE PROFITS 175 
 
 than a dispute between Captain Dove and the sleeping- 
 car attendant, which raged until Slyne threatened to have 
 the train stopped at the next station and send for the police. 
 And the sun was shining brightly when they reached Paris. 
 
 Mr. Jobling went straight on to London, but Slyne took 
 Sallie and Captain Dove to a quiet but expensive hotel, 
 where they remained for a few days, which passed in a 
 perfect whirl of novelty and excitement for her. And when 
 they in their turn crossed the Channel, she had for baggage 
 at least a dozen new trunks containing the choicest spoils 
 of the Rue de la Paix. Slyne had pooh-poohed all her timid 
 protests against his lavish expenditure on her account, and 
 had also provided for Captain Dove and Ambrizette in their 
 degree. He had evidently a fortune at his disposal, and 
 was bent on showing her how generous he could be. 
 
 He was also unostentatiously displaying other good quali- 
 ties which had all gone to make those days pass very pleas- 
 antly for her. She could not fail to appreciate the courtesy 
 and consideration which he consistently showed her now. 
 His patience with Captain Dove, a trying companion at 
 the best of times and doubly troublesome idle, more than 
 once made her wonder whether he could be the same Jasper 
 Slyne she had known on the Olive . Branch. Prosperity 
 seemed to have improved him almost beyond recognition. 
 
 He had a cabin at her disposal on the Calais-Dover 
 steamer but she stayed on deck throughout the brief pas- 
 sage, glad to breathe the salt sea-air again, while he enter- 
 tained her with descriptions of London and she watched 
 the twinkling lights that were guiding her home. 
 
 And then came London itself, at last, somewhat grey, and 
 cold, and disconsolate-looking on a wet winter morning. 
 
 But after breakfast in a cosy suite at the Savoy, a blink
 
 176 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 of sunshine along the Embankment helped to better that 
 first hasty impression. And then Slyne took Captain Dove 
 and her in a taxicab along the thronged and bustling Strand 
 to Mr. Jobling's office in Chancery Lane. 
 
 They got out in front of a dingy building not very far 
 from Cursitor Street. It was raining again, and Sallie, 
 looking up and down the narrow, turbid thoroughfare, felt 
 glad that she did not need to live there. 
 
 Indoors, the atmosphere was scarcely less depressing. 
 A dismal passage led toward a dark stairway, up which they 
 had to climb flight after flight to reach at last a dusty, ill- 
 smelling, gas-lighted room, inhabited only by a shabby, 
 shock-headed hobbledehoy of uncertain age and unpre- 
 possessing appearance, perched on a preposterously high 
 stool at a still higher desk, behind a cage-like partition. 
 
 " I want to see Mr. Jobling, at once," Slyne announced 
 to him. And Mr. Jobling's " managing clerk " looked 
 slowly round, with a snake-like and disconcerting effect due 
 to a very long neck and a very low collar. 
 
 " Show Mr. Slyne in immediately, Mullins," ordered a 
 pompous voice from within; and Mr. Jobling himself, a 
 blackcoated, portly, important personage there, came 
 bustling out from his private office to welcome his 
 visitors. 
 
 " How d'ye do, how d'ye do, Lady Josceline! " he ex- 
 claimed, and cocked an arch eyebrow at Sallie's most be- 
 coming costume; although the effect he intended was some- 
 what impaired by the fact that he was still suffering from a 
 black eye, painted over in haste and by an incompetent 
 artist. 
 
 " I can see now what's been keeping you in Paris! " he 
 added facetiously, and, having shaken hands with Slyne,
 
 THE LAW AND THE PROFITS 177 
 
 who seemed to think that superfluous, turned to receive 
 Captain Dove with the same politeness. 
 
 " Phew! " whistled Mr. Jobling and drew back and stared 
 at the old man. " I'd never have recognised you in that rig- 
 out." 
 
 Captain Dove pulled off a pair of smoked glasses he had 
 been wearing, the better to look him, with offensive intent, 
 in his injured eye. For Captain Dove was still enduring 
 much mental as well as physical discomfort in a disguise 
 which he had only been induced to adopt a couple of days 
 before, and after an embittered quarrel with Slyne. The 
 stiff white collar round his corded neck was still threaten- 
 ing to choke him and then cut his throat. He had been 
 infinitely more at his ease in his scanty, short-tailed frock- 
 coat and furry top-hat than he was in the somewhat 
 baggy if more becoming black garb he had donned in 
 its place, with a soft wide-awake always flapping about 
 his ears. 
 
 " Come inside," Mr. Jobling begged hurriedly, and, look- 
 ing round as he followed them into his sanctum, " Mullins! " 
 he snapped, " don't stand there staring. Get on with your 
 work, at once. 
 
 " You're later than I expected," he remarked to Slyne as 
 he closed the door, " but just in time. The Court's closed, 
 of course, for the Christmas vacation, but I've filed an ap- 
 plication for a hearing in Chambers, and 
 
 He paused as a telephone-bell rang shrilly outside, and 
 a moment later the shock head of his " managing clerk " 
 protruded into the room, almost as if it did not belong to 
 a body at all. 
 
 " Mr. Spettigrew says that our application in Chambers 
 will be heard by Mr. Justice Gaunt, in 576, at eleven-thirty
 
 178 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 sharp this forenoon," announced that youth and, with a 
 final wriggle of his long neck, withdrew. 
 
 " Devil take him! " exclaimed Captain Dove, somewhat 
 startled and much incensed. " I wouldn't keep a crested 
 cobra like that about me for 
 
 " Let's see those accounts of yours, now," said Slyne, 
 disregarding that interruption, and Mr. Jobling, having 
 first looked at his watch, produced from another drawer a 
 great sheaf of papers, all carefully docketed. He slipped off 
 the top one and somewhat reluctantly handed that to his 
 friend. 
 
 Slyne took it from him eagerly, and sat for a time gloat- 
 ing over it with eyes which presently began to glow. 
 
 But when Captain Dove, growing restless, would have 
 glanced over his shoulder to see what was tickling his fancy 
 so, he frowned and folded that document up and returned 
 it to Mr. Jobling. 
 
 " Give it here, now! " growled Captain Dove, menacing 
 Mr. Jobling with a clenched fist; and the lawyer, after an 
 appealing, impotent glance at Slyne, had no recourse but 
 to comply with that peremptory order. 
 
 " Are you quite sure of your figures? " Slyne asked, with 
 a scowl. He seemed conscious that he, in his haste, had 
 made a false step. And Mr. Jobling nodded with nervous 
 assurance. 
 
 " I have inside sources of information as to the revenue 
 of the estates," he replied, " and a note of all the invest- 
 ments. I've allowed a wide margin for all sorts of inciden- 
 tals. I think you'll find, in fact, that Lady Josceline's in- 
 heritance will amount to even more than I've estimated." 
 
 Slyne smiled again, more contentedly. Nor was his 
 complaisance overcome even when Mr. Jobling put to him
 
 THE LAW AND THE PROFITS 179 
 
 a half-whispered petition for a further small cash advance 
 to account of expenses. 
 
 " I wasn't even able to pay Mullins' wages with what 
 you gave me in Paris," said the stout solicitor vexedly. 
 " Fees and so on swallowed it all up, and I'm actually 
 short of cab-fares! " 
 
 " Why don't you fire Mullins, then? " demanded Slyne 
 with a shade of impatience. " I've just got rid of my 
 chauffeur because he was costing me more than he was 
 worth." 
 
 " But I can't afford to get rid of Mullins. Just at the 
 moment he's very useful to me. It would create a bad im- 
 pression if I had to run my own errands. And the fact 
 is, he knows far too much. I'll pay him off and shut his 
 mouth by and by, when I have more time to attend to 
 such matters." 
 
 " How much do you want? " Slyne inquired with a frown 
 evidently meant to warn his friend to be modest. 
 
 " Can you spare twenty pounds to go on with? " 
 
 Slyne hesitated, but only for a few seconds. Then he 
 pulled out a pocket-book and surreptitiously passed that 
 sum to the penniless man of law, who accepted it with no 
 more than a nod of thanks. 
 
 " I'll pay Mullins now," he remarked, and immediately 
 hurried out of the room. Captain Dove was gasping for 
 breath and showed every other symptom of a forthcoming 
 explosion. 
 
 As soon as the door shut behind him, the old man gave 
 open vent to his wrath. And a most furious quarrel fol- 
 lowed between Slyne and him. Sallie, too, learned then, for 
 the first time, of the vast inheritance which would be hers, 
 of Slyne's cunning plan to buy Captain Dove out for a mere
 
 180 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 pittance, and how he himself expected to profit through 
 marrying her. 
 
 But she was not overwhelmed with surprise by that be- 
 lated discovery. She had almost anticipated the final dis- 
 closure of some such latent motive behind all Slyne's pro- 
 fessions to her. The only difference it might make would be 
 to Captain Dove. Slyne and he were still snarling at each 
 other when Mr. Jobling walked jauntily in again. But at 
 sight of him Captain Dove began to subside. 
 
 " We mustn't be late. Mr. Spettigrew will be expecting 
 us now. I've sent Mullins on ahead with my papers," ob- 
 served Mr. Jobling breezily, and went on to explain that 
 Mr. Justice Gaunt, by nature a somewhat cross-grained old 
 limb of the law, had been very ill-pleased over being both- 
 ered again, and at a moment when most of his colleagues 
 were enjoying a holiday, about any such apparently end- 
 less case as that of the Jura succession, which had been 
 cropping up before him, at more or less lengthy intervals, 
 for quite a number of years, and concerning which he had, 
 only a few days before, made an order of court in favour of 
 Justin Carthew. 
 
 Captain Dove clapped his soft felt hat on his head with 
 a very devil-may-care expression. 
 
 " Come on, then," said he grimly, and Mr. Jobling was 
 not slow to lead the way. So that they reached Mr. Justice 
 Gaunt's chambers punctually at the hour appointed, and 
 were ushered into his lordship's presence by Mr. Spetti- 
 grew, the learned counsel retained by Mr. Jobling on Sal- 
 lie's behalf, a long, lifeless-looking gentleman in a wig and 
 gown and spectacles. And his lordship smiled very pleas- 
 antly as Sallie raised her heavy veil at counsel's crafty re- 
 quest.
 
 THE LAW AND THE PROFITS 181 
 
 " Pray be seated, my dear young lady," his lordship 
 begged with fatherly, old-fashioned kindness, and indicated 
 a chair meant for counsel, much nearer his own than the 
 rest. Nor did he often take his eyes from her face through- 
 out the course of a long and convincing dissertation by Mr. 
 Spettigrew, on her past history, present position in life, 
 and claims on the future, with some reference to the rival 
 claims of Mr. Justin Carthew. 
 
 " And I have full proof to place before you, at once, if 
 you wish it, m'lud," concluded Mr. Spettigrew in his most 
 professional drone, " in support of the fact that the lady 
 before you is the lawful daughter of the late earl and the 
 countess, his second wife, who died in the desert. Mr. 
 Justin Carthew, on the other hand, is related to the family 
 in a very different and distant degree, and there are, as y'r 
 ludship has been good enough to agree, no other survivors. 
 
 " I beg leave now to request that y'r ludship will rescind 
 the authority granted to Mr. Justin Carthew, and admit 
 my client's petition ad referendum." 
 
 " Produce your proofs," ordered his lordship, and Mr. 
 Spettigrew extracted from a capacious black bag a pile of 
 papers at which Mr. Justice Gaunt looked with no little 
 disgust. 
 
 " What are they, in chief? " asked Mr. Justice Gaunt, 
 turning over page after page of closely written law-script, 
 as gingerly as if he believed that one might perhaps explode 
 and blow him to pieces. And Mr. Spettigrew launched 
 forth again into a long list of certificates, records, researches, 
 findings, orders of court, sworn statements and affidavits, 
 by Captain Dove " Then trading in his own ship, m'lud, 
 now retired and devoting his time to mission-work among 
 deep-sea sailors; " by Mr. Jasper Slyne, gentleman; by
 
 182 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 Mr. Jobling, whom he did not pause to describe; by a couple 
 of dozen other people, living or dead, at home or abroad; all 
 in due legal form and not to be controverted. 
 
 " I think you'll find them in perfect order, and abso- 
 lutely conclusive, m'lud," counsel came to a finish tri- 
 umphantly, and sat down, greatly to the relief of all present. 
 
 " H'm! " said his lordship, still gravely regarding Sallie: 
 whose eyes had nothing to conceal from him. " And so 
 this is the long-lost Lady Josceline! " 
 
 His searching glance travelled slowly to Captain Dove's 
 face, and then to Slyne's; both of whom met it without 
 winking, although Captain Dove was no doubt glad of the 
 protection of his smoked glasses. 
 
 " I'll have to go through the proofs, of course," said his 
 lordship reflectively and let his gaze rest on Sallie again. 
 " But if everything's as you say, I don't think it will be 
 long before Lady Josceline finds herself in full enjoyment 
 of all her rights and privileges. If everything's as you say, 
 I'll do whatever lies in my power to expedite matters; I 
 think I can promise you that the case will be called imme- 
 diately the vacation is over. Meanwhile, however, and 
 till I have looked through the proofs, I can make no further 
 order." 
 
 He rose, and they also got up from their chairs as he came 
 round from behind his desk and confronted Sallie, a tall, 
 stooping old man with a wrinkled face and tired but kindly 
 eyes. 
 
 She looked up into them frankly, and he laid a hand on 
 her shoulder. 
 
 " Yours has been a very sad history so far, my dear 
 young lady," he said, his head on one side, still studying 
 her. " I hope it will be all the brighter henceforth. I knew
 
 THE LAW AND THE PROFITS 183 
 
 - the last Earl of Jura when we were both young men 
 
 - before he married. You remind me of him, as he was 
 then, in many respects. Good day to you now; my time 
 here is not my own, you know. But some day, perhaps 
 you will allow me to pay my respects to you at Justice- 
 hall, since we're to be neighbours; my own home isn't very 
 far from yours." 
 
 Outside in the corridor, Mr. Jobling shook hands rap- 
 turously with every one, even with Captain Dove. 
 
 " We've turned the trick already," he declared. " You 
 heard what his lordship said. With him on our side, the 
 whole thing's as good as settled. All we have to do now is 
 to wait until the Courts take up again and confirm " 
 
 " How long will that be? " Slyne inquired. He, too, was 
 smiling ecstatically. 
 
 " Not much more than a fortnight," the lawyer informed 
 him. " It will soon pass. We must just be patient." 
 
 " We must keep very quiet, too," said Slyne, " unless we 
 want to give the whole show away to the enemy in advance. 
 We must clear off out of London till then. I'll tell you 
 what, Jobling! Why shouldn't we all go down to Scotland 
 to-night? " 
 
 Mr. Jobling nodded agreement. " An excellent idea," 
 he declared. " There's nothing to keep us here." 
 
 " That's settled, then," Slyne asserted. " And we'll all 
 dine together at the Savoy before we start. I think we 
 can afford to celebrate the occasion, eh! And I want to 
 show Lady Josceline a few of her future friends."
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 " PLEASURES AND PALACES " 
 
 THE Duchess of Dawn was dining a number of nota- 
 bilities at the Savoy, on her way to a command per- 
 formance at the Gaiety; a fact of which the fashion- 
 able world was well aware, because the young duchess is 
 a great lady in London as well as elsewhere, and all her do- 
 ings are chronicled in advance. The fashionable world had 
 promptly decided to dine there too, and telephoned in 
 breathless haste for tables. It filled the restaurant at an 
 unusually early hour, and a disappointed overflow displayed 
 itself in the foyer. 
 
 The Duchess of Dawn is one of the most beautiful women 
 in England. The eyes of the fashionable world were fo- 
 cussed on her and her guests, among whom were a minor 
 European prince and a famous field-marshal who had not 
 been on show in London for long, until there appeared from 
 the crowded foyer, upon the arm of an old-young man of 
 distinguished appearance and faultless lenue, a tall, slender 
 girl, at whom, as she passed, every one turned to gaze, with 
 undisguised admiration or envy, according to sex and 
 temperament. 
 
 She was gowned to distraction, and by an artist in 
 women's wear. Her beautiful bare arms and shoulders and 
 bosom were free of superfluous ornament. Her pure, proud, 
 sensitive features were faintly flushed, as though, if
 
 " PLEASURES AND PALACES " 185 
 
 that were conceivable, she was wearing evening dress for 
 the first time, and found it trying, but her curved crimson 
 lips were slightly parted in a most bewitching smile, and, 
 from under their drooping lashes, her radiant eyes looked 
 a demure, amused, impersonal defiance at the frankly 
 curious faces upturned toward her. The shaded lights 
 made most enchanting lights and shadows among her hair, 
 red-gold and heaped about her head in heavy coils, as she 
 moved modestly through the thronged room toward a 
 corner where, about a beautifully decorated table, four 
 motionless waiters were standing guard over four empty 
 chairs. 
 
 She sat down there, her back to the bulk of the company, 
 and her escort took the seat opposite. A portly, prosper- 
 ous-looking, elderly man, with something a little suspicious 
 about one of his eyes, and a squat, queerly-shaped old fel- 
 low in semi-clerical garb and wearing smoked glasses, com- 
 pleted the party. Their waiters began to hover about them, 
 and the fashionable world went on with its dinner. 
 
 " Who was that lovely girl? " the Duchess of Dawn de- 
 manded of her vis-a-vis, the veteran soldier, and he, reputed 
 among women to have no heart at all, recalled himself with 
 an evident start from the reverie into which he had fallen. 
 He almost blushed, indeed, under the duchess's blandly 
 discerning smile. 
 
 " I don't know, I'm sure, duchess," he returned, smiling 
 also, in spite of himself, and beckoned to a servant behind 
 him, whom he despatched on some errand. 
 
 " She's registered as Miss Harris, your lordship," the 
 man announced in an undertone when he returned. 
 
 " Miss Harris! " echoed the prince, who was also a sol- 
 dier. He had overheard. And, as he in turn caught the
 
 186 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 duchess's eyes, he lay back laughing, a little ruefully. But 
 the man opposite him, the master of armies, was not amused. 
 " I'd like to know who and what those three fellows with 
 Miss Harris may be," said he. 
 
 At their table in the corner, they seemed to be thoroughly 
 enjoying themselves. The three men were toasting Sallie 
 and each other with equal good-will. And even Sallie had 
 dismissed from her mind the last of her lingering doubts 
 as to the reality and endurance of her part in that most 
 amazing new life, had put the past with all its horrors 
 resolutely behind her, was too much interested in the en- 
 tertaining present to trouble about the future at the mo- 
 ment. 
 
 Captain Dove had seemingly forgotten, for the time being 
 at any rate, his grievance against Slyne, and was in his most 
 lamb-like mood. While Slyne did not even demur against 
 the quantities of expensive wine the old man consumed 
 during dinner. Mr. Jobling, too, was displaying symptoms 
 of convivial hilarity when they at length left the restaurant. 
 But most of the other tables were empty by then. 
 
 Mr. Jobling and Captain Dove, arm in arm, affectionately 
 maintained each other as far as their sitting-room, while 
 Slyne accompanied Sallie to her own door. He had been 
 making himself most agreeable to her, and had pointed out 
 a number of the notorieties and one or two of the celebri- 
 ties present; although it had somewhat startled her to be 
 told that she would very soon be on familiar terms with 
 them all. 
 
 " Aren't you glad now that you agreed to the bargain 
 we made on the Olive Branch and in Monte Carlo? " he 
 asked by the way. He was smiling gaily.
 
 " PLEASURES AND PALACES " 187 
 
 She smiled back at him, and, " I'm not sorry so far, 
 Jasper," she answered, looking deep into his eyes. 
 
 He nodded, as if quite satisfied, and turned away to 
 escape that embarrassing scrutiny. 
 
 " We'll be starting in half an hour or so," he informed 
 her from a safe distance, and, " I'll be all ready," she called 
 cheerfully after him. 
 
 A little before eleven he came in again and they all set 
 out for the station to catch their train. 
 
 It was a cold, clear, frosty night, and the Strand was at 
 its busiest as Sallie looked out at it from the taxi into which 
 Slyne and Ambrizette had followed her at the hotel portico. 
 Another, containing Captain Dove and their legal adviser, 
 still on the most amicable terms, although Captain Dove 
 as a rule could not stand anyone afflicted with hiccough, 
 crawled close behind them through the turmoil until, at 
 the Gaiety corner, a policeman delayed it to let the cross- 
 traffic through. 
 
 A crowd had gathered there to gaze at the royalties who 
 would presently be coming out of the theatre. Slyne drew 
 Sallie back from the open window at sight of two men, one 
 of whom seemed all shirt-front, looking down at the con- 
 gested street from the empty steps of the principal entrance. 
 
 " That ass Ingoldsby! " he explained to Sallie, and was 
 evidently a good deal disturbed. " And Dubois, as 
 well," he added. " I thought I had shaken him off in 
 Paris. I'm sure he saw me, too." 
 
 A little farther on he stopped the taxi and beckoned to 
 one of those street-arabs who make a living about the kerb. 
 
 " Go to the gentleman with the beard, on the steps of the 
 Gaiety," he instructed that very alert messenger, " and say 
 to him that a friend wants a word with him here."
 
 188 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 Sallie observed the suppressed grimace of surprise on the 
 face of the individual who almost at once arrived in the 
 wake of his ragged Mercury: and Slyne, having tossed the 
 latter a shilling, held out his hand to M. Dubois. 
 
 " Charmed to see you in London, man confrere," said he. 
 " Have you yet discovered your man? " 
 
 " I am hard at his heels," the detective answered, his 
 eyes searching Slyne's as if, Sallie thought, for some sign 
 that that shaft had hit home. 
 
 But Slyne's expression was one of ingenuous simplicity. 
 He bowed, as if with deep respect. 
 
 " I caught a glimpse of some one most amazingly like 
 myself, one day on the Faubourg St. Honore, as I was pass- 
 ing through Paris," he mentioned reflectively. 
 
 " Thanks," returned Dubois. " It was he, no doubt. 
 And he's in London now." 
 
 Slyne did not wince, even at that. 
 
 " He was dining at the Savoy to-night," said Dubois in- 
 differently. " How does your own affair progress? " 
 
 " Assez bien" Slyne answered in an even voice. " I 
 have followed my quarry home and am awaiting develop- 
 ments." 
 
 " You will be in London for a little, then? " 
 
 " For the next week or ten days, I expect," Slyne lied 
 with perfect aplomb. 
 
 " We shall meet again, in that cats," declared the de- 
 tective, glancing at Sallie; and, " Au plaisir de wus revoir, 
 monsieur" Slyne returned deferentially. 
 
 " To Grosvenor Square now and hurry along," he 
 directed the driver in a voice his enemy could not fail to 
 hear. And the taxicab swung into Drury Lane, on its 
 way west.
 
 189 
 
 For a few minutes he sat silent, with bent head, biting 
 at his moustache. Then he looked round at Sallie. 
 
 " That fellow takes me for another man," he told her 
 querulously. " He's been dogging me ever since he first 
 saw me at Monte Carlo. You've no idea, Sallie, what a 
 dangerous risk I had to run there for your sake." 
 
 " You haven't told me much about anything, Jas- 
 per," she reminded him. And he proceeded to describe in 
 lurid detail the fate which would undoubtedly have be- 
 fallen him had M. Dubois been able then to fasten on him 
 responsibility for the misdeeds of that criminal whom he 
 so unfortunately resembled. 
 
 Sallie listened in silence. She had been wondering 
 whether M. Dubois could be in any way concerned with her 
 affairs. She gathered that he was interested only in Slyne. 
 The latter's story of grave risk run for her sake fell some- 
 what flat, since it seemed to rest on the mere possibility 
 of his having been mistaken for somebody else. She could 
 scarcely believe that his fear of M. Dubois had no other 
 foundation. She even ventured to suggest that he could 
 easily have proved the detective in the wrong. 
 
 " He wouldn't have paid the slightest attention to any- 
 thing I could say," Slyne assured her tartly. " He wouldn't 
 have asked any questions or listened to any statement of 
 mine. You don't know anything about the outrages that 
 are committed every day by fellows like that on men like 
 myself who have no fixed residence, Sallie; and no power- 
 ful friends to whom to appeal against such infernal injus- 
 tice. I can't tell you how thankful I'll be, on your account 
 as well as my own, when we're married and safely settled 
 down, with a home of our own to feel safe in! 
 
 " Look, there's where we'll live when we're in London."
 
 190 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 Sallie looked out. They were whirling past one of the 
 most imposing houses in Grosvenor Square. "Is it an 
 hotel? " she asked, and observed that all but one or two of 
 its topmost windows were dark. 
 
 " It's the Earl of Jura's town house," said Slyne, ap- 
 parently somewhat piqued by her seeming indifference. 
 " It's yours now or will be as soon as the Chancery Court 
 wakes up again." 
 
 Sallie glanced back and caught another glimpse of it as 
 the taxicab slowed again to take the corner of the square. 
 Slyne had picked up the speaking-tube. 
 
 " Get us to the station now, as fast as you can," he told 
 the driver: and then, having glanced at his watch, lighted 
 a cigarette. He seemed to have no more to say at the mo- 
 ment, and Sallie was busy with thoughts of her own. She 
 was wondering whether Justin Carthew could be living in 
 that great house. She could not understand. ... But she 
 did not dare to ask Jasper Slyne for any information, since 
 he had shown her more than once already that he did not 
 intend to tell her any more than he thought fit. 
 
 When they finally reached the station they found Mr. 
 Jobling awaiting them there and very anxious over their 
 late arrival. 
 
 " We drove round by Grosvenor Square," Slyne told the 
 lawyer nonchalantly. " And we're in lots of time." 
 
 Mr. Jobling looked cross. " Five minutes more would 
 have lost you the train," he remarked somewhat sourly. 
 " And where would Captain Dove and I have been then! " 
 
 As it was, however, they found Captain Dove in his berth, 
 sound asleep, although still fully dressed. And, as Slyne 
 ushered Sallie into the double compartment reserved for 
 her and Ambrizette, " Don't go to bed just yet," he begged.
 
 " PLEASURES AND PALACES " 191 
 
 " I want to show you something by and by. You'll have 
 lots of time for a long sleep before we arrive." 
 
 " All right, Jasper," she agreed. " I'll wait up till you 
 come for me." 
 
 When he at length knocked at her door again, Mr. Job- 
 ling was still with her. She came out between them into 
 the narrow corridor. Slyne rubbed clear one steamy win- 
 dow to let her see the wintry landscape through which they 
 were travelling at express speed. And Sallie looked out 
 delighted, at the sleeping English countryside as its broad 
 grass-lands and bare brown acres, coverts and coppices, 
 hedgerows and lanes, with here and there a grange or a 
 group of cottages, all still and silent, flashed into sight and 
 so disappeared; until, overlooking them all from a knoll 
 on the near bank of a broad, winding river, there loomed up 
 a most magnificent mansion, embedded, in lordly seclusion, 
 among many gnarled and age-old oaks, with gardens ter- 
 race on terrace about it, tall fountains among their empty 
 flower-beds, a moss-grown sun-dial at the edge of a quiet, 
 silver lake. 
 
 The moon was shining full on its innumerable windows, 
 so that it seemed to be lighted up from within, although, 
 in reality, all were shuttered and dark. Aloof and very 
 stately it stood on that windless night, an empty palace 
 which came and went in a few moments, wing after wing, 
 with its stabling and courtyards, and still more gardens, 
 all within an endless, ivy-clad encircling wall. 
 
 " What place is that? " asked Sallie in an awed tone as 
 soon as the train had rumbled across the bridge. 
 
 " That's Justicehall, Lady Josceline, your English 
 country seat, and one of the finest properties in the Shires," 
 Mr. Jobling informed her before Slyne could speak.
 
 192 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 " You'll be living there within a few weeks and forget- 
 ting all your old friends! " 
 
 Sallie did not sleep much that night. Her brain was far 
 too busy. She could scarcely believe that less than a week 
 had elapsed since she had stepped ashore from the Olive 
 Branch. 
 
 Nor could she yet reconcile herself to the fact that her 
 new life must lie amid such scenes as those to which Jasper 
 Slyne had so far introduced her. She had liked Monte 
 Carlo, and Paris, and London as any girl might. The great 
 house in Grosvenor Square she had mistaken for an hotel. 
 But the calmly arrogant grandeur of Justicehall had merely 
 oppressed her. And the idea that she might have to live 
 there did not please her at all. For how could she, a crea- 
 ture of the free air, of sunshine and wind and sea and the 
 world's waste places, be happy immured within that im- 
 mense edifice, encircled by servants, hemmed in on every 
 side by unaccustomed conventionalities, all as distasteful as 
 new to her. She made up her mind, there and then, that, 
 if she might have any say on that subject, Justicehall 
 should stay empty. 
 
 But would she have any say on that subject, or any 
 other? She did not know. Jasper Slyne had so far told 
 her only so much as he thought fit of what was before her. 
 She lay quite still in her narrow berth, gazing out at the 
 window whose blind she had bidden Ambrizette loose from 
 the catch, a hundred puzzled, helpless questions thronging 
 through her head, till the moon failed her and all was dark- 
 ness but for the flashes of red or green or yellow light that 
 swept past as the train sped through some wayside station 
 or sleeping town. 
 
 Then she too fell asleep at last, and so forgot her difikul-
 
 " PLEASURES AND PALACES " 193 
 
 ties till she awoke again in a new and most wonderful 
 world; a world of gaunt, grey mountains and wide dark 
 moors, white tumbling torrents on hillsides, in deep ravines, 
 forests of stately fir and pine that looked like the masts of 
 ships; a world, moreover, which seemed in some sense 
 familiar and friendly to her. 
 
 Day was breaking and Ambrizette was already astir. 
 She had come quietly in and closed the curtains during the 
 night, and was now once more looping them back to let in 
 the first of the sun. Sallie lay for a little longer watching 
 the sunrise warm those enchanted solitudes into a golden 
 semblance of fairy-land. 
 
 There was snow on the near mountain-tops that turned 
 from the tint of pigeon-blood rubies to pink, from pink to 
 amber, and so to the purest white. The train was travelling 
 through an extensive plantation of silver birches, amid 
 which a lordly stag, paralysed by its swift approach, stood 
 starkly at bay with a timid hind at its heels. A myriad 
 rabbits were diving madly into the bracken on every side. 
 Above in the blue a belated wild-goose was winging its 
 hasty way to some warmer clime; for there was something 
 more than a hint of hard, black frost in the morning air. 
 
 Another station swept past, a trim little place with some 
 picturesque cottages perched on the high ground about it. 
 A marvellous vista of water, a long, winding lake in the 
 midst of the mountains, was visible for a few moments, 
 and then Ambrizette brought in tea. 
 
 Twenty minutes later, Sallie was up and dressed for the 
 day, in a short-skirted shooting-suit of Harris tweed, 
 heather-proof stockings and smart ankle-boots. When 
 Slyne knocked and she went out to speak to him, he stood 
 for a moment gazing at her with unbounded gratification,
 
 194 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 and then, " Gad! Sallie," said he, holding out his hand. 
 " You're her ladyship to the life now. You'll certainly look 
 your part at Loquhariot." 
 
 She smiled back at him. He was scarcely less trig than 
 herself in his knickerbockers and Norfolk jacket. 
 
 " I hope It isn't a place like Justicehall, is it, Jasper? " 
 she asked anxiously. 
 
 He raised his eyebrows, and laughed, a little surprised. 
 
 " Why, scarcely," said he, " from what Jobling tells me. 
 But didn't you like the look of Justicehall? Well, I hope 
 you won't actually despise Loquhariot, Sallie. ' Be it never 
 so humble,' you know "
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE MAN IN POSSESSION 
 
 " TS that Loquhariot! " asked Sallie. 
 
 The weatherly little steamer on which she had been 
 travelling along that wonderful coast since leaving 
 the train had just rounded a high, bluff headland and all at 
 once opened out the wide waters of Loch Jura, mirror- 
 like in the still afternoon among the frowning mountains 
 about them. Mr. Jobling and Slyne were with her on the 
 bridge. Captain Dove strolled up at that moment, his 
 hands in his pockets, his soft felt hat on the back of his 
 head, a cigar cocked between his teeth at an equally rakish 
 angle. Sallie was staring straight ahead, with wide, ap- 
 prehensive eyes. 
 
 " Is that Loquhariot! " she asked again, almost in a whis- 
 per, as she gazed helplessly at the high battlements of the 
 ancient stronghold which looks from its lofty promontory 
 down the whole length of the loch, unchanged in its seaward 
 face since the date of its building. Even Captain Dove was 
 impressed by the picture it made. 
 
 " That's your Castle of Loquhariot, Lady Josceline," Mr. 
 Jobling at length replied, and went on to tell her its his- 
 tory, learned from the guide-book and locally when he had 
 been there before. 
 
 The Castle of Loquhariot dates back to the sixteenth 
 century. But for long ere that, a squat, four-square fort-
 
 196 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 alice had occupied its site. Legend has it that the grim, 
 grey keep which to-day covers the whole surface of what was 
 then a high rocky island but is now a mere peninsula of the 
 mainland, was first conceived in the mind of the then Lord 
 Jura, a plain Scots baron of piratical tendencies, who had 
 brought back from the Spanish Main whither he had 
 sailed in the company of another of the same kidney as 
 himself, one Francis Drake a veritable shipload of doub- 
 loons and pieces-of -eight; and that its ramparts had first 
 been armed and manned, in haste, when the remains of the 
 Great Armada came drifting southward from Cape Wrath 
 on its hapless way home to Spain, after that same Francis 
 Drake had done with it. 
 
 To-day, at any rate, may be seen in more than one of the 
 embrasures on those ramparts, some culverin or falconet 
 salved from the wreck of a great galleon which went to 
 pieces on the Small Isles, at the mouth of the loch. And 
 in a little graveyard on the smallest of the Small Isles stands 
 a weather-beaten stone which says that round about it lie 
 buried the bones of a great mort of Spaniards there interred 
 by their sworn enemies in August, A. D. 1588. 
 
 It must undoubtedly have cost at least a shipload of 
 doubloons to build the castle. But the then baron did not 
 build it all, for there are towers and wings and bastions 
 added, on the landward side, during the next two centuries; 
 whose cost would seem to show that his piratical lordship 
 did not leave his descendants quite penniless. The circular 
 North Keep alone where the billiard-room is nowa- 
 days must undoubtedly have cost its imaginative pro- 
 genitor a small fortune. 
 
 The whole edifice, as it now stands, is a monument, ap- 
 parently imperishable, to the greatness and grandeur, past,
 
 THE MAN IN POSSESSION 197 
 
 present, and to come, of the Jura family. And Sallie, star- 
 ing at it with wide, apprehensive eyes, from the bridge of 
 the busy little coaster, listening to Mr. Jobling's descrip- 
 tive quotations, with Captain Dove of the Olive Branch, 
 and Jasper Slyne for company, felt infinitely dispirited by 
 the knowledge that she and none other was the present 
 representative of that proud race. 
 
 The steamer drew in toward the anchorage and a ferry- 
 boat put off from the shore to meet it. The kilted High- 
 landmen therein looked askance at Ambrizette and crossed 
 themselves quite openly as she was handed down into it 
 from the gangway. Slyne followed and held out his arms 
 to Sallie, but she needed no such assistance. And the men 
 in the boat seemed better content after a glance or two 
 at her as she sat down and slipped a warm arm around 
 Ambrizette, who was shivering in the winter afternoon. 
 
 The two remaining travellers jumped in, the baggage was 
 transhipped, and the steamer swung about on her way to 
 the farther north. The captain sounded his steam-whistle 
 and waved his cap in parting salute as the ferry made its 
 slow way ashore to the further accompaniment of a dirge- 
 like chorus from the crew at its heavy sweeps; at which 
 music Captain Dove snorted his disgust very audibly. He 
 had awoke with a headache and had been in a bad temper 
 all day. 
 
 By the way Slyne held a low-toned conversation with 
 Mr. Jobling. And when the big boat was at length beached 
 beside a rude pier, he paid the ferryman liberally, distrib- 
 uted some small change among the oarsmen, and bade them 
 bring the baggage along to the little inn on the roadside 
 at a short distance. 
 
 " Better send Ambrizette with me," he said to Sallie, and
 
 198 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 the black dwarf trotted off after him in obedience to a few 
 words from her mistress, while Mr. Jobling turned the other 
 way, toward the Castle. 
 
 " We'll just have time to see over the old place before 
 it's dark, Lady Josceline," the lawyer explained, and Sallie 
 followed him with Captain Dove. 
 
 Slyne rejoined thein before they were half-way up the long 
 hill on the road which leads from the shore-level to the 
 plateau. Sallie was still staring with troubled eyes at the 
 huge, picturesque, rambling pile which seemed to grow 
 always more immense as they drew nearer to it. It dwarfed 
 into proportions almost infinitesimal the cluster of white 
 cottages nestling cosily at the base of the great rock which 
 formed its foundation. It seemed to dominate the whole 
 visible world, to challenge even the mighty mountains 
 which shut it in with the sea. 
 
 " That's the water-gate," Mr. Jobling mentioned and 
 pointed out a black, oblong opening in the cliff-face at some 
 height above even high-water mark and protected against 
 possible intrusion by a heavy iron grating whose bars must 
 have been as thick as a grown man's wrist. " I suppose 
 the sea would be right up to its sill when the place was 
 built. 
 
 " There's an underground passage connecting it with the 
 interior of the castle, and they'd no doubt use that a good 
 deal in the old days. 
 
 " And this is the North Keep, as it's called; newer, you'll 
 maybe notice, than the west frontage, although it looks just 
 as ancient. We'll soon have the Jura house-flag afloat again 
 from the Warder's Tower, Lady Josceline, and the beacon- 
 fire alight after dark. It always burns at night, you know, 
 when the head of the family's in residence a custom dat-
 
 THE MAN IN POSSESSION 199 
 
 ing back to the days when there were no other lights on 
 the coast. 
 
 " You'll see the moat now. Long ago it was always full, 
 even at low tide. But now it's as dry as " 
 
 " As I am! " grumbled Captain Dove, spitting down into 
 the deep fosse which had formerly cut the castle off from 
 the mainland but is now no more than an empty ravine 
 spanned by an ornate drawbridge of modern date. 
 
 They crossed that, their footsteps producing an eerie, 
 clank on the planking, and came to a halt before the main 
 entrance, over whose heavy, iron-studded oak doors still 
 hung, a mute reminder of more stormy times, a massive 
 portcullis armed with chevaux-de-frise of long, pointed 
 spikes. 
 
 Slyne rang the electric door-bell. 
 
 It was some time before that summons was answered, 
 but no one of the waiting group seemed to have anything 
 to say to the others during the interval. The mystery of 
 time itself was in the atmosphere. Some brooding spirit 
 of the past might have been peering out at them from the 
 watchman's wicket in the bartizan above. They stood still 
 and silent until, at last, the postern in the big double-door- 
 way was unlatched from within and a grey-haired, elderly 
 woman with a hard-featured face, much lined and seamed, 
 in the stiffly rustling garb of a superior servant, appeared 
 in the narrow opening and dropped them an old-fashioned 
 curtsy after a quick, shrewd glance at them. 
 
 " If it isn't too late, we'd like to be allowed to look over 
 the castle," Slyne said politely raising his cap. 
 
 The woman was gazing intently at Sallie. She started 
 as Mr. Jobling coughed, with intention, after they had 
 waited a second or two for an answer.
 
 200 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 " You will be very welcome, sirs," she said hastily. " I 
 have authority to admit visitors. Will you be pleased to 
 step in." 
 
 She looked long and very closely at Sallie again as the 
 girl crossed the threshold; and then at the others in turn 
 as they entered, one at a time, by the narrow postern. She 
 closed it behind them, and led the way through a low, arched 
 passage into a dimly lighted but spacious hall. 
 
 " We've just passed through the walls," Mr. Jobling in- 
 formed them patronisingly, of his superior knowledge. 
 " They're twelve feet thick on this front. Loquhariot 
 would still be a hard nut to crack, eh? " 
 
 " I'd sooner crack a bottle than a nut," commented Cap- 
 tain Dove aside to Slyne, who frowned reprovingly at him. 
 
 The great hall they entered next could almost have 
 housed a regiment. But it, like the guard-room through 
 which they had come, was peopled only in dusky corners 
 by fearsomely lifelike suits of armour. Its empty fire- 
 places made it seem still more desolate and deserted. 
 War-worn flags hung from the gallery overhead, to which 
 a wide stairway with many shallow steps gave access. 
 Dead and gone Justices and St. Justs and Juras looked 
 coldly down, from out of dark, tarnished frames, at the 
 whispering intruders. 
 
 " You're Mrs. M'Kissock, aren't you? " Mr. Jobling 
 remarked with affable condescension as they followed that 
 hard-featured personage into a seemingly endless passage 
 lined and hung with heads and horns and other trophies 
 of the chase from all parts of the world. 
 
 She glanced sharply round at him again and bowed in 
 silent assent. 
 
 " I've been here before, you know," he mentioned as she
 
 THE MAN IN POSSESSION 201 
 
 ushered the little party into the first of an extensive suite 
 of rooms at the far end of the corridor they had traversed. 
 Sallie could scarcely repress the exclamation of pleasure that 
 rose to her lips; for the rooms, all opening into each other 
 and with the doors wide, stretched across the entire breadth 
 of the building, so that their furthest windows looked 
 straight out to sea. There was nothing between them and 
 the wide Atlantic but a cluster of miniature islets, emerald- 
 green, at the distant mouth of the loch. 
 
 " This was her late ladyship's favourite suite," said Mrs. 
 M'Kissock precisely. " The outermost room was her bou- 
 doir once. But his lordship had that altered afterwards." 
 
 Sallie listened like one in a dream. She could scarcely 
 believe that these had once been her own mother's rooms, 
 that this gaunt, austere serving-woman was stating matters 
 of fact in that dry, lifeless voice of hers. She longed to get 
 Mrs. M'Kissock alone and question her about every- 
 thing. But she had been warned by both Mr. Jobling and 
 Jasper Slyne that she must contain every symptom of cu- 
 riosity till they could grant her permission to speak for 
 herself. 
 
 She passed, with a little, impatient sigh, from one range 
 of rooms to another, each with its own tag of story or his- 
 tory duly related by Mrs. M'Kissock, until they reached 
 the great hall again from a further passage, and very glad 
 of her expert guidance through such a maze. 
 
 From there the housekeeper took them, bv way of the 
 central staircase and gallery up a steep corkscrew stair in a 
 turret to the top of what had been the main tower before 
 the North Keep had been built, and out on to the battle- 
 ments, where the Spanish guns still stand guard, among a 
 multitude of other obsolete pieces, including a carronade or
 
 202 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 two from the ancient foundry at Falkirk, over the equally 
 futile suits of mail in the halls below. 
 
 She offered to show them the dungeons and torture- 
 chamber and oubliette, on the way to the water-gate, but 
 Mr. Jobling declared that it was too late by then to go 
 underground that day, and she led them instead along the 
 north corridor, through the late earl's private study and 
 library and smoking-room, through a dozen other equally 
 superfluous apartments, till they regained the corridor at 
 the end where an open doorway led through into the spa- 
 cious circular hall at the base of the North Keep. 
 
 " This part of the castle is private, sir," Mrs. M'Kissock 
 informed Mr. Jobling, who had already stepped in. 
 
 " I'd like my friends to see the sunset from the Warder's 
 ^ower," he returned, " if you don't mind. We won't dis- 
 turb anyone on our way upstairs." 
 
 Mrs. M'Kissock still looked uncertain, but Slyne had al- 
 ready followed the lawyer's lead and Captain Dove was 
 calmly pushing past her. She glanced at Sallie again, and 
 then bowed her also in. And they all proceeded quietly up 
 the carpeted winding staircase, past several landings, the 
 doors of which were closed. 
 
 But the door at the turret- top was wide, and Mrs. M'Kis- 
 sock was obviously a good deal disturbed in her mind as 
 Mr. Jobling stepped to one side and politely gave Sallie 
 precedence out into the open air. 
 
 Sallie smiled careless thanks for the courtesy and was 
 still smiling when she emerged from the low doorway and 
 stopped just beyond its threshold, so that Mr. Jobling and 
 the others behind her had to wait patiently where they were 
 while she gazed, enraptured and forgetful of all else, at the 
 scene before her.
 
 THE MAN IN POSSESSION 203 
 
 The sun was setting, blood-red, over the far sea-rim, and 
 there was no least cloud in the radiant sky. The clear-cut 
 mountains on either hand, the still loch and the broad At- 
 lantic beyond it were all aglow with a marvellous, mystic 
 light; the little cottages on the shore, three hundred sheer 
 feet below her, were crimson instead of white; the very 
 smoke which came from their chimneys seemed somehow 
 ethereal and unreal. 
 
 She stood alone for a moment or two in a world trans- 
 formed, till the quick, keen, exquisite pleasure of it brought 
 a mist to her eyes that blurred it all, and, as she raised a 
 hand to brush that away, she suddenly realized that she was 
 not alone. There was a young man leaning over an em- 
 brasure at one corner of the battlements, who had been 
 gazing, like her, at the sunset till she had come forth. 
 
 He was gazing at her now, and with even more admira- 
 tion, however unconscious, than he had been bestowing on 
 the beauties of nature inanimate; for the waning light had 
 transfigured her sweet, sensitive features also, and into a 
 semblance such as one might imagine an angel would 
 wear. 
 
 Her eyes met his, and they two stood regarding each 
 other so for the space of five fateful seconds. She had recog- 
 nised him at once, but it was apparent that he did not yet 
 know who she was. 
 
 He came forward then, limping a little, and bowed, bare- 
 headed, to her; a sufficiently self-confident youth, straight 
 and limber, good-looking enough, with smiling grey eyes 
 and a mobile mouth, somewhat wistful at that moment in 
 spite of his eyes. 
 
 " I'm sorry if I'm in the way," he said pleasantly. 
 " Won't you come out and look round? The view all about
 
 204 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 is beyond any words of mine and you're only seeing part 
 of it there." 
 
 He hesitated slightly, regarding her with a very puzzled 
 expression, before plunging further, and then, " I'm Justin 
 Carthew," he continued, since she made no move at all, 
 " although my lawyers would have me believe that I'm the 
 ninth Earl of Jura now! " He laughed aloud, as if that idea 
 were amusing. " In any case," he concluded naively, " the 
 sunset doesn't belong to me." 
 
 She stepped out into the afterglow, still without a word, 
 her mind full of vague misgivings. And, as Mr. Jobling 
 followed her from the doorway, with Slyne and Captain 
 Dove at his heels, and Mrs. M'Kissock, nervously fumbling 
 with her chatelaine, last of all, Justin Carthew drew back a 
 couple of paces. 
 
 " Your lawyers have misinformed you, Mr. Carthew," 
 said Mr. Jobling in his most dogmatic manner. " You are 
 no more the ninth Earl of Jura than I am, because Let 
 me introduce you more formally! to Lady Josceline 
 Justice, the late earl's daughter, on whose property you 
 are trespassing here."
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 THE LOSER 
 
 JUSTIN CARTHEW was standing as if thunderstruck 
 by these extraordinary statements. His incredulous 
 glance shifted from the stout stranger of the tinted eye 
 and the inimical stare to the others of the little group re- 
 garding him, until it met Sallie's again, and they two looked 
 blankly into each other's eyes while Mr. Jobling proceeded 
 to introduce himself as her ladyship's legal adviser, and 
 stated briefly the grounds on which his dogmatic assertion 
 was based. 
 
 To Carthew, the lawyer's voice seemed to come from 
 very far away, but none the less intelligibly, as he himself 
 stood gazing at the girl to whom he owed his life, whom he 
 had last seen late at night among the shadows on the deck 
 of the Olive Branch in Genoa harbour. At first sight it had 
 seemed so utterly impossible that it could be she who had 
 stepped out on to the Warder's Tower of Loquhariot that 
 he had supposed the sun in his eyes and a striking resem- 
 blance must have combined to delude him. 
 
 But he knew now that it was really she. And as Mr. 
 Jobling, concluding his homily, mentioned again who she 
 claimed to be, he was dazedly thankful that he had not at 
 once contradicted her lawyer; as he might have done 
 since he knew as a matter of fact that the real Lady Jos- 
 celine Justice was dead.
 
 206 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 Mr. Jobling had also repeated that Mr. Carthew was 
 trespassing there. But at that Sallie turned on her legal 
 adviser in generous indignation, and he shrank into the 
 background again as she spoke. 
 
 " If this is my property, as you say it is," she flashed, 
 " what right have you to tell any visitor that he is 
 trespassing here! And if Mr. Carthew has been mis- 
 informed 
 
 " He isn't a visitor, Sallie. He's the man in possession 
 at present," whispered the smartly-dressed young-old man 
 who had been studying Carthew with a most supercilious 
 expression, " and you'd better leave Mr. Jobling to deal 
 with him." He was obviously not at all pleased with her, 
 and his whisper was perfectly audible. 
 
 The girl had stopped to listen to him. " We're evidently 
 the trespassers, then," she finished. " We have no business 
 here at all while he remains in possession." 
 
 The other man of the party, a white-haired old fellow 
 in clerical garb and wearing a pair of smoked glasses, also 
 turned angrily toward her. But at that moment Mrs. 
 M'Kissock came stumbling forward between them, with a 
 little broken cry, all her habitual self-restraint vanished, her 
 harsh features working, very near tears; and, lifting a hand 
 of the girl's in both of her own to her lips, fondled it fool- 
 ishly, muttering disconnected phrases. 
 
 " I knew / knew it from the first," she mumbled, " and 
 yet I did not dare believe my own eyes. But now - 
 God bless your bonny ladyship! And God be thanked for 
 that you have at last come back to your own! Loquhariot 
 has waited very long for this late day, and 
 
 " Say ye now there's a man in possession! " she spoke up, 
 glancing defiance at the individual in the Norfolk suit and
 
 THE LOSER 207 
 
 * 
 
 then, though with less of disfavour, at Justin Carthew. 
 " Say ye so? and to me, who have kept the keys of the 
 empty Castle of Loquhariot for her ladyship here, ever 
 since the Red Earl her father laid that trust on me from 
 his death-bed! 
 
 " You have been ill-informed. There is no man in pos- 
 session here." 
 
 Carthew was staring at her as if he were altogether at his 
 wits' end. He almost doubted the evidence of his own ears. 
 Had he not known as a matter of fact that Lady Josceline 
 Justice was dead, old Janet M'Kissock's spontaneous cham- 
 pionship of this pretender would almost have convinced 
 him to the contrary. He could feel sure of only one further 
 fact, which was that Sallie herself had been tricked into her 
 impostor's part. 
 
 However, he had no time just then to come to any further 
 conclusion. He had to decide at once what he should do 
 to safeguard her, and did so, recalling only the debt he 
 owed her. 
 
 " There has evidently been some mistake," said he, look- 
 ing levelly into her troubled eyes. " I hope you won't hold 
 me to blame for that. And, believe me, I'm very glad that 
 you have come to Loquhariot." 
 
 He could say no more than that at the moment. He 
 bowed to her, and, turning into the turret doorway, limped 
 off downstairs. He wanted to be alone for a little. He 
 wanted time to think. He felt absolutely stunned. 
 
 Mrs. M'Kissock, no less perturbed, her cap all awry, 
 followed him down the winding stairway as far as the door 
 of the rooms he had only occupied for a day or two. 
 
 " I'm going to remove to the inn," he said, in answer to 
 her agitated excuses and explanations. " It will be better
 
 208 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 so in the meantime. Will you tell one of the men to take 
 my baggage there for me, please? " 
 
 He did not deem it advisable just then to ask her any 
 question or make any comment at all. And within another 
 minute or two he had passed out of the postern, surrendering 
 the Castle of Loquhariot, for the time being, to one who 
 had no claim or title to it. 
 
 But, as he stopped beyond the drawbridge to light the 
 pipe he had mechanically pulled out, he pursed up his lips 
 as though to whistle. And, " What proof can 7 produce! " 
 he exclaimed, moving on again with the cold pipe between 
 his teeth, his head bent, perplexed to the last degree. 
 
 The walk through the darkling woods to the village and 
 the cold, clean air cleared his wits a little. He found Am- 
 brizette huddled over the fire in the best room at the Jura 
 Arms, and, having bespoken supper and a bed for himself, 
 went on along the shore road to think things out, if he could. 
 
 Only half an hour before, he had been congratulating him- 
 self on the fact that his troubles were nearing an end. And 
 now 
 
 " It's been nothing but trouble ever since I first saw that 
 damned advertisement," he remarked to himself, recalling 
 step after painful step of the way he had travelled to where 
 he was. 
 
 A few months before he had seen and answered an anxious 
 advertisement in an American paper for any surviving rela- 
 tive, no matter how distant, of the Jura family, he had in- 
 vested all of his scarce capital in a cattle-run in Texas which 
 seemed to promise to pay quick profits. And, in spite of 
 all that the English lawyers who had replied to his letter 
 could say to tempt him, he had remained quite firm in his 
 wise resolution to stay there and reap those profits before
 
 THE LOSER 209 
 
 crossing the Atlantic in pursuit of his further fortune; until 
 a smart junior partner of theirs had paid him a flying visit 
 at the ranch, and proved to him how foolishly he was acting 
 against his own interests. 
 
 For it seemed, after due investigation and proof positive 
 of his distant kinship with the family, that there could be 
 only one life between him and the title of Earl of Jura, with 
 all that pertained thereto a life which even the very 
 conservative English Court of Chancery was by then dis- 
 posed to presume extinct. 
 
 The astute young lawyer had told Carthew all the facts 
 which his firm had managed to ferret out concerning the 
 late countess's disappearance and death. It seemed, hu- 
 manly speaking, impossible that her child could have sur- 
 vived her. Justin Carthew had thought it all over and an 
 accident had settled the question for him. His pony came 
 down with him one day and he was badly trampled by the 
 steers he had been heading. His doctor sentenced him to six 
 months' rest out of the saddle. As soon as he was able 
 to move he raised a mortgage on the ranch and made for 
 London. That mortgage was almost due by now, and his 
 expected profit on the run had faded into a stiff loss during 
 his absence. 
 
 Messrs. Bolder & Bolder, the lawyers aforesaid, had made 
 it clear to him from the first that, while they had the ut- 
 most faith in the outcome of their exertions on his behalf, 
 they could not see their way to place their services and 
 special knowledge at his disposal except on a spot-cash 
 basis; that, in short, he must provide in advance the money 
 to foot their bill. He had done so, and they, in return, had 
 not failed to implement all their promises. Even now he 
 could not feel that they had dealt unfairly by him.
 
 210 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 And the balance of his bank account had been eaten up 
 by his expedition to Africa in search of more authentic 
 record of the ex-dancer countess's death and as to the fate 
 of her child. He had taken that somewhat rash step, too, 
 of his own free will and for his own personal satisfaction. 
 He was personally aware now that both the countess and 
 her daughter were dead; but he could bring forward no 
 proof at all of that fact, and, as Bolder & Bolder had politely 
 pointed out to him, his personal testimony alone was that 
 of an interested party and worthless to them or anyone else. 
 
 He had suffered sorely, both body and mind, since he 
 and his party had been betrayed into El Parish's hands by 
 an Arab guide. And now 
 
 He was a penniless peer of the United Kingdom, with 
 every prospect of being unable to maintain those rights 
 which he knew were his, an impecunious citizen of the 
 United States, with a foreclosure threatening him there. 
 The result of all his own efforts so far was failure. 
 
 And yet, he felt that he ought to be thankful that he had 
 come through alive. " A living dog is better than a dead 
 lion," he told himself. " And I owe that girl my life. 
 But for her, I'd be " He shrugged his shoulders. It was 
 not pleasant, there in the dark, to recall that hole in the 
 sand on the African coast which he had only escaped by a 
 hairbreadth, thanks to her. 
 
 " I wouldn't be here at all," he reflected. " And that fat 
 lawyer of hers would see her settled into my place without 
 any fuss. He said, in fact, that the Chancery Court had 
 practically admitted her claim to it already. 
 
 " And now how am I to get up and swear she's a fraud! 
 How am I to repay all I owe her by fighting her for an- 
 other man's leavings! "
 
 THE LOSER 211 
 
 He halted, to fill his pipe, and found it full. He lighted 
 it, and turned back toward the inn. It had just recurred 
 to him that, even if he were disposed to fight her for his 
 inheritance, there were very strong financial reasons as 
 well as merely sentimental ones against that course. He 
 was already in Bolder & Bolder's debt. He had had to 
 apply to them by wire for his fare to London from Genoa. 
 They had further defrayed the Court costs of that order of 
 access to the archives of Loquhariot which Mr. Justice 
 Gaunt had recently made in his favour, and had furnished 
 him with a few pounds for subsequent expenses. 
 
 But they had taken the opportunity to mention, always 
 politely, that they could go no farther than that beyond 
 the terms of their original bargain: and that the next ad- 
 vance of cash must come from him to them. 
 
 In a word, he could not afford to fight either her or any- 
 one else just then. And he had a very strong impression 
 that the fat lawyer who had interposed between him and 
 the girl would put up a protracted, expensive battle on her 
 behalf. 
 
 "But some day I'll have a couple of rounds with him," 
 Carthew promised himself. " Just at the moment my 
 hands are tied. And, what's more, the Courts are closed." 
 
 He sighed. 
 
 " I can't hurt her, in any case," he declared conclusively 
 to the night. " I'm not much of a judge of girls, but 
 she's 
 
 " I must just wait and see," he said to himself. " I'm 
 helpless. And I'm hers, anyhow, as I told her in Genoa. 
 A promise is a promise, no matter what its keeping costs." 
 
 He looked up at the black bulk of the castle in the dis- 
 tance. Its numberless narrow windows were all aglow,
 
 212 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 and in a cresset on one tower a fire was burning 
 brightly. 
 
 " She's taken possession all right," he cogitated. " But 
 probably she doesn't even know that the beacon's been 
 kindled." 
 
 As he limped through the village again, he could not but 
 notice the unusual stir in its long single street. At every 
 cottage door there was a whispering group staring up at 
 the Warder's Tower. The sound of oars in haste reached 
 his ears from across the loch. And he was aware of many 
 inquisitive glances directed at him as he passed. 
 
 His simple supper was awaiting him in the best room of 
 the little inn. The black dwarf had been sent for from the 
 castle, the outwardly stolid and incurious maid-of-all-work 
 informed him. He sat down by the fire, content for the 
 moment as he recalled the glamour of the afterglow from 
 the west and Sallie's grave glance. 
 
 He thought of nothing else throughout his meal, and 
 afterwards, puffing at a cigar in the lamp-lit porch with a 
 plaid about him to keep the cold out, could scarcely bring 
 himself to consider his own precarious situation again. 
 When he at last applied his mind to that he was somewhat 
 dispirited. 
 
 He had only a few shillings left in his purse, and could 
 not afford to stay where he was for more than a day or two. 
 He was a stranger in a strange land, a land in which, as he 
 had learned already, men in their prime had to compete 
 keenly for work which might bring them in no more than 
 four or five dollars a week: a very unpromising land in 
 which to be left with empty pockets. 
 
 " Perhaps old Herries will give me a week or two's work 
 at something or other about the estate," he communed with
 
 THE LOSER 213 
 
 himself. " But, then, that bloated lawyer would prob- 
 ably interfere; and, while I lie low, Herries will be under 
 his thumb to a great extent. He's under the weather too, 
 poor old chap! " 
 
 He was still shaking his head disconsolately when his 
 cogitations were cut short by the sound of clattering hoofs 
 and the hurried arrival of one on horseback, who galloped 
 up to the Jura Arms and slipped like a sack from his saddle, 
 and swayed and staggered while his blown steed looked 
 inquiringly round at him, till Justin Carthew slipped an 
 arm about him and would have led him indoors. 
 
 " What are you doing here, Mr. Herries? " Carthew de- 
 manded, amazed. " You should be at home in bed, 
 and " 
 
 " The beacon? " gasped the new-comer, a haggard, sick- 
 looking old man with a long white beard, almost spent, but 
 none the less resolute not to enter the inn. 
 
 " It seems that Lady Josceline Justice has just arrived 
 at the castle," Carthew informed him concisely, after a 
 moment of hesitation. 
 
 "Lady Josceline Justice!" the other repeated 
 dazedly, but with evident disbelief. " Did you say Lady 
 Josceline Justice! You're surely joking, Mr. Carthew 
 although it would be no joke for you if her ladyship had 
 come back to life." 
 
 " I'm not joking," Carthew assured him. 
 
 " But how can it be! " the other demanded. " I can't 
 conceive Have you seen her yourself? " 
 
 " Yes, I've seen her," declared Carthew. He could not 
 have answered otherwise without betraying Sallie. 
 
 "But come away in. You must get between the blankets 
 again at once," he insisted firmly. " A five-mile gallop on
 
 214 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 a night like this is quite enough to finish you. And there 
 will be time enough in the morning to pay her ladyship a 
 call." 
 
 " I've been factor of Loquhariot these five and thirty 
 years and it would ill become me to be abed at such a 
 moment. I'm going up now," the sick man asserted stub- 
 bornly. " I'm responsible for all that goes on here, as you 
 know very well, Mr. Carthew and I've had no news at 
 all of this. I can't understand And yet it must in- 
 deed be her ladyship, as you say, since Janet M'Kis- 
 sock " 
 
 He caught at his horse's bridle again and tried to clamber 
 into the saddle. 
 
 A group of whispering villagers had gathered about the 
 inn door, and they joined Carthew in his well-meant re- 
 monstrances. But the anxious steward of the estate was 
 not to be gainsaid by anyone. 
 
 " If the Lady Josceline Justice has come back to her own 
 at last," he declared, shivering, " it is my undoubted duty 
 to be on hand. And what matters else ? Get the pipes out, 
 lads, and gather together. Shall it be said of us that her 
 ladyship lacked a true Highland welcome home? " 
 
 Carthew, seeing him so set in his purpose and not know- 
 ing how to prevent him except, perhaps, at Sallie's expense, 
 saw nothing for it but to let events shape themselves. He 
 brought the old man a little brandy, which served to steady 
 him somewhat, so that he sat in his saddle none so limp at 
 the head of the muster formed at his bidding. And Carthew 
 walked up the hill by his side, partly to help him, and 
 partly in hope of another glimpse of the girl who had surely 
 bewitched himself. 
 
 At his heels tramped three stalwart pipers, and the still,
 
 THE LOSER 215 
 
 star-lit night rang again to the shrill strains of the march 
 they struck up; while close behind, keeping step to its lilt, 
 came a couple of hundred or so of the villagers and their 
 visitors from mountain and glen and shore. Blazing pine- 
 knots served for torches and lighted the way well, until 
 they at length reached the landward front of the castle, 
 where the sick man marshalled them in a wide, crimson half- 
 moon about the drawbridge, while Carthew held his horse 
 for him at one side. 
 
 The postern-door opened noiselessly and Janet M'Kissock 
 looked out from within. Herries crossed the drawbridge 
 toward her, and, " Eh, Janet, woman! " said he, " what's 
 all this I hear so late? They tell me that the Lady Josceline 
 Justice has come to Loquhariot, and " 
 
 " It was because you were so ill that I didn't send word 
 at once, Mr. Herries," the housekeeper put in defensively 
 as he paused. " The beacon was fired without her ladyship's 
 knowledge by one of her friends. I don't " 
 
 " It is her ladyship, then? " the factor demanded, search- 
 ing her face with his keen, anxious, fevered eyes. " Whence 
 came she so suddenly, Janet? " 
 
 " It is indeed her ladyship," the old woman answered 
 solemnly. " But more than that I do not know. I have 
 had all to see to since the sun set, and ' 
 
 The other checked her plaint with an uplifted hand. 
 
 "I'll hear about everything else by and by. And 
 meantime I've brought some of her own folk up to oiler 
 her welcome since it is she," he said, all his doubts evi- 
 dently dispelled by Janet M'Kissock's emphatic assurance. 
 " Will she come out to us for a few minutes, think ye? " 
 
 " That will she, I'm sure," answered Mrs. M'Kissock. 
 " Her ladyship has a heart of gold, as it were, and a very
 
 216 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 kindly way with her. I'll send in word that her folk are 
 here she'll have finished dinner by now." 
 
 She turned and left him, closing the postern behind her 
 so that only the red torch-light illumined the high port- 
 cullis and level drawbridge until, presently, the massive 
 main-doors of the castle swung slowly back on their well- 
 oiled hinges and in the heart of the glow from within ap- 
 peared Sallie, with that young-old man whom Justin Car- 
 thew so disliked at her side in very correct evening clothes. 
 But he stayed a little behind as she stepped forward and 
 stopped under the portcullis, the flare of the torches full 
 on her face, a very dazzling vision indeed. For she also was 
 dressed for the evening, and in a creation from Paris. 
 
 Carthew's heart was thumping as he drew farther aside 
 into the shadows. She had not noticed him in his plaid, 
 holding the old man's horse.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE WINNER 
 
 EVEN during the bewildering whirl of those days which 
 had passed so swiftly since she had escaped from the 
 Olive Branch, Sallie had thought very often of Justin 
 Carthew and the strange situation in which circumstances 
 had all conspired to place them toward each other. 
 
 Since she had found out what her rehabilitation, as Lady 
 Josceline Justice, was going to cost him, she had been very 
 anxious to see him again and make everything clear between 
 him and her. But she could scarcely disclose to the others 
 that she had met him before. Neither Captain Dove nor 
 Jasper Slyne knew anything about him beyond what they 
 had heard from Mr. Jobling. And Mr. Jobling could or 
 would tell her nothing, in reply to a timid question or two 
 she had put to him, beyond the bare fact that she had noth- 
 ing to fear from the young American's ill-founded claim to 
 her rightful place in the world. 
 
 She had been very anxious to see him again. But it had 
 startled and confused her at first to find him, so evidently 
 at home, on the Warder's Tower of Loquhariot. For she 
 could not then, before the others, say anything at all of 
 what was in her mind; and she was afraid that he might 
 unguardedly, on the spur of the moment, reveal their un- 
 avoidable joint secret. 
 
 She could see that he had recognised her at last and that
 
 218 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 he was no less at a loss than herself. Mr. Jobling's gratui- 
 tous rudeness to him vexed her very much. The old house- 
 keeper's half-hysterical outbreak surprised her beyond ex- 
 pression. And then he was gone, before she could make up 
 her mind that it was her own proper part to have bidden 
 him stay till something could have been settled. 
 
 But when she suggested that to Slyne he pooh-poohed 
 the idea as absurd, and told her she ought to be very glad to 
 have got rid of her rival so easily. 
 
 He himself was in high glee over that unexpected out- 
 come of Mr. Jobling's brusquely peremptory method with 
 the interloper, and Captain Dove's face wore a tri- 
 umphant grin. Mr. Jobling himself seemed inclined to be 
 sulky with her, but the other two only laughed at his 
 petulance. 
 
 " We've got possession! " said Slyne exultantly, " and 
 that's nine points of the law, as you ought to know. If 
 she hadn't taken the fellow's part he might have been more 
 inclined to stand his ground. But now up drawbridge 
 and down portcullis! We'll hold the fort here, till that old 
 Chancery Court of yours comes away with its final deci- 
 sion." 
 
 Captain Dove poked the portly lawyer in the short ribs. 
 " Buck up, old rarebit! " he begged. " Don't look so glum. 
 This is home, sweet home now. Come on down below and 
 I'll get you some sort of a bracer from that sour-faced old 
 Scotch hag with the keys. My mouth feels just as if it were 
 made of blotting-paper, too." 
 
 " But you must go very slow yet, Dove," Slyne cautioned 
 the elated seaman as he turned toward the stairway. 
 " Don't go too fast. We aren't safely enough settled yet 
 to "
 
 THE WINNER 219 
 
 Captain Dove paused to look him between the eyes with 
 a mirthless, meaning laugh. 
 
 " This is my adopted daughter's castle now, Mister 
 Slyne," said he. " When we want any advice from you 
 about how we're to behave in it or anything else we'll 
 let you know. D'ye see? " 
 
 Slyne's lips parted and closed again. He had evidently 
 thought better of giving voice to any retort, however ef- 
 fective. 
 
 " After you," he remarked politely, since Captain Dove 
 still stood blocking the stairway and grinning fixedly back 
 at him. " I must send down to the inn for Ambrizette and 
 our baggage at once. It will soon be quite dark." 
 
 Sallie followed them slowly, like one in a dream, and Mr. 
 Jobling came last. As they reached the circular hall be- 
 low, Mrs. M'Kissock, still much perturbed, came hurrying 
 in from the corridor. 
 
 " Mr. Carthew has gone, my lady," she said, dropping 
 Sallie another deep curtsey, " and if your ladyship will be 
 pleased to rest here for a little, it will not be long till the 
 West Wing is all in order. I have only two maids to help 
 me, with the castle empty so long, but I have sent down 
 to the village for more, and maybe your ladyship will ex- 
 cuse - 
 
 Sallie went up to her and took hold of the two trembling 
 hands clasped tightly together against a jingling silver chate- 
 laine. 
 
 " Janet," she said softly, and the agitated old woman 
 looked gratefully up into her grave, wistful eyes, " I think 
 you and I are going to be good friends, Janet," she said, 
 " because we have both been so lonely. And I want you 
 not to worry yourself about anything. There's no hurry,
 
 220 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 and we'll be quite content here till you have everything 
 arranged as you wish." 
 
 " I thank you kindly, my lady," answered Mrs. M'Kis- 
 sock, and curtsied again, and was going off about her busi- 
 ness, when Slyne signed to her to wait a moment and drew 
 Sallie toward the door. 
 
 " I'll have to go into a number of matters with you," 
 said he condescendingly to the old housekeeper. " To save 
 Lady Josceline trouble, you'll get all your instructions from 
 me." 
 
 Mrs. M'Kissock looked mutely to her new mistress for 
 refutation or confirmation of his right to claim her services 
 so; and Sallie could not but nod as she recalled with a 
 strange, new pang the promise she had made in Genoa, and 
 the lengthy document she had signed in the Hotel de Paris. 
 
 " This is Mr. Jasper Slyne, Janet," said she, " and 
 
 " Her ladyship's future Slyne was about to explain 
 the importance of his position there when Captain Dove 
 interposed. 
 
 " Slyne! " he called across the hall. " If there's nothing 
 to drink in the house, whoever goes down to the inn for 
 our baggage had better bring up " 
 
 But Slyne had already got Mrs. M'Kissock out into the 
 corridor. 
 
 " I'll send something in at once. Try to keep him quiet 
 for a little," he said to Sallie, and she, having carefully 
 closed the door, went back toward the fireplace to pacify 
 the old man. 
 
 A few minutes later a pink-complexioned, flaxen-haired 
 maid came tripping demurely in, with a great silver salver 
 on which was set such an array of decanters that Captain 
 Dove at once became most amiable again.
 
 THE WINNER 221 
 
 " And I will bring tea for your ladyship now," said the 
 maid in her quaint Highland accent. " It was the other 
 gentleman that told me to bring this first." 
 
 " That was quite right," Sallie reassured her, and asked 
 her name. 
 
 " It is Mairi, my lady," the girl answered with a shy, 
 gratified smile, and was very soon back with a beautiful 
 service of Sevres and a steaming urn. 
 
 Mr. Jobling virtuously declined Captain Dove's cordial 
 invitation to help himself to a decanter, and asked Sallie 
 for a cup of weak tea. At which the old man was still 
 cackling discordantly when Slyne came in again a few 
 minutes later. 
 
 " That's an obstinate old baggage! " said he, obviously 
 incensed. " You must tell her, Sal Lady Josceline, that 
 she's to attend to my orders without any more back- 
 talk." 
 
 Captain Dove turned in his armchair before the fire. 
 
 " That woman's my adopted daughter's housekeeper 
 now, Mister Slyne," said he, frowning darkly. " And I'll 
 trouble you not to interfere in what's no concern of yours. 
 You're only a visitor here, you know." 
 
 Slyne darted a black glance at him, but did not answer 
 him otherwise. " I told her to get your mother's rooms 
 ready for you," he mentioned to Sallie. " And Ambrizette 
 will be there by the time you'll want her. 
 
 " That fellow Carthew has gone off to the inn," he re- 
 marked to Mr. Jobling. " I expect he'll be busy by now 
 wiring Bolder & Bolder the news." 
 
 " That won't do him any good," Mr. Jobling returned. 
 " And, even if he had any case to go on with, there's noth- 
 ing more they could do for him until the Hilary Sittings
 
 222 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 come on very nearly a fortnight yet. As it is, he hasn't 
 a leg left to stand on. You heard what old Gaunt said to 
 her ladyship." 
 
 "There's no fear of anything getting into the newspapers 
 prematurely, is there? " asked Slyne. 
 
 " I told Spettigrew to keep everything quiet," the lawyer 
 answered complacently. " And, besides, they're all full to 
 overflowing about the election that's coming on." 
 
 " I wonder if anyone ever wades through all the lurid 
 twaddle they print at such times? " said Slyne, apparently 
 pleased. And they two maintained a desultory conversa- 
 tion, to which Sallie only listened when it now and then 
 veered back to matters which might affect Carthew or 
 herself, until a sonorous gong began to sound in the corri- 
 dor. 
 
 As its increasing thunder suddenly disturbed the clois- 
 tral quiet, Captain Dove, comfortably settled in his arm- 
 chair beside the fire with a black clay pipe, started up in 
 alarm and spilled the contents of the glass in his hand. 
 
 " What the devil are they about out there! " he ejacu- 
 lated irascibly. " I'll blow a hole through that infernal 
 tom-tom if they don't drop it." 
 
 " Time to dress for dinner," Slyne explained with a tol- 
 erant smile, and, rising, rang the bell. " Our rooms will 
 be ready by now, I expect. But there's no hurry. All you 
 need to change is your waistcoat." 
 
 " Damn nonsense! " snorted Captain Dove, and reaching 
 for a decanter, was liberally refilling his glass when the girl 
 Mairi answered the bell. 
 
 " Show her ladyship to her own rooms," Slyne directed. 
 And Sallie followed the demure, flaxen-haired maid very 
 eagerly.
 
 THE WINNER 223 
 
 On her way to the West Wing she could not but notice 
 the change which had come over the place. A pleasant 
 atmosphere of ordered activity seemed to pervade the vast 
 building. There were men as well as women-servants busy 
 everywhere. Light and warmth and life had put to flight 
 the darkness and desolation which had come down with the 
 dusk on its emptiness. She gave herself up for the moment 
 to a delicious, childish sensation of snugness and safety 
 there. And when she at length reached the open door of 
 the splendid suite which, Mrs. M'Kissock had told her, had 
 once been her mother's, she felt that she could not, after 
 all, grudge the price she must pay by and by for her 
 glimpse of home. 
 
 Ambrizette, with rolling eyes and open mouth, had every- 
 thing in readiness for her in her dressing-room, for the 
 hideous dwarf was indeed a very efficient femme de chambre. 
 Within half an hour Sallie had had her bath and was dressed 
 again, in the same frock that she had worn at the Savoy. 
 She patted the dumb black creature on the head before 
 turning away from the glass, and paused on the threshold 
 to glance back into the cosy, fire-lit room with eyes which 
 had grown unaccountably dim. 
 
 She found Mairi in the main hall, demurely flirting with 
 one of the footmen whom Mrs. M'Kissock had conjured up, 
 and Mairi showed her into a luxurious drawing-room where 
 Slyne was standing, hands in pockets, before a cavernous, 
 marble-faced fireplace in which a veritable bonfire of logs 
 was cheerily crackling. 
 
 His eyes lighted up as she entered. The mirrors about 
 the walls seemed to frame innumerable pictures of her as 
 she crossed the slippery, age-blackened floor toward the big 
 bearskin rug which made an oasis before the fire. He held
 
 224 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 out his hands to her, dumbly. And just at that moment 
 Mr. Jobling appeared in the doorway, trumpeting into his 
 handkerchief. 
 
 Captain Dove arrived shortly after him, under convoy 
 of a scared housemaid who, it seemed, had found him astray 
 in some far corner of the castle and whom he had impressed 
 into his service as guide. The gongs resounded again, just 
 in time to drown his added denunciation of the oak floor, 
 on which he had all but come to grief as soon as he set foot 
 on it. The folding-doors at one end of the long room were 
 pulled apart and a resonant voice announced ceremoniously 
 that dinner was served. Slyne offered Sallie an arm a second 
 or two in advance of the slower Jobling, and, as she laid a 
 light hand on his sleeve, led her into the banquet-hall. 
 
 " I told them we'd dine here to-night, although there 
 are lots of more modern rooms," he mentioned to her, and 
 frowned in helpless annoyance as Captain Dove, following, 
 gave vent to a very audible whistle. 
 
 A butler and four tall footmen, all in tartan kilts and full- 
 dress doublets, were at their places about a table resplen- 
 dent with silver displayed with old-fashioned profusion. 
 Rare crystal and fine foreign glassware flashed and sparkled 
 under the shaded lights standing on damask like snow, to 
 which hot-house fruit and flowers added an exquisite note 
 of colour. In the dim background, barely visible in the 
 faint firelight, hung faded tapestries with, here and there, 
 some portrait or pair of horns. There seemed to be a small 
 gallery at the farther end of the hall. The unceiled rafters 
 overhead were also almost in darkness. 
 
 Sallie, glancing about her with eager, delighted eyes, 
 paused on the way to the table to peer through a pane of 
 plate-glass let into the panelling over one mantel.
 
 THE WINNER 225 
 
 " That's the famous Fairy Horn, Lady Josceline," said 
 Mr. Jobling officiously. " But you haven't heard the 
 old Jura legend yet, I suppose? " He coughed in his most 
 important manner. 
 
 " Well, the Fairy Horn is said to have been presented 
 to one of your ancestors a very long time ago by the White 
 Lady the family ghost; every real old Scots family, you 
 know, has a private ghost of its own. And the horn carried 
 with it the privilege, to him or any succeeding chief of the 
 clan, of summoning the White Lady, on three occasions, to 
 fulfil any wish so urgent as to be worth the price of her help. 
 For, every time she does show up, the head of the family 
 dies. So that the Fairy Horn has only been sounded 
 twice, I've been told, during the centuries which have passed 
 since then; and on each occasion the wish expressed has 
 been duly fulfilled, at the price of the chieftain's life." 
 
 Captain Dove turned restlessly in the chair on which he 
 had scarcely sat down. Sallie knew that he was intensely 
 superstitious, as so many seamen are, and that that shad- 
 owed hall would be the last place in which he would be 
 willing to hear ghost-stories. 
 
 " Huh! " said he, irritably. " I don't believe a word of 
 it, anyhow. What are we waiting for now? Gimme some 
 soup, or something, you! " 
 
 He was still scowling over his shoulder at a surprised 
 servant when, in an instant, there rose from behind the 
 tapestry in a dark corner a low, moaning wail which swelled 
 and sank and swelled again to a bitter, blood-curdling 
 shriek. Captain Dove's face blanched as he pushed his 
 chair from under him and sprang to his feet, armed with the 
 nearest available weapon, a table-knife. The servant be- 
 hind him had stepped back, in obvious alarm.
 
 226 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 A man came striding out of the dusk in the distant corner, 
 and, as he marched proudly up the room, the blare of the 
 bagpipes over his shoulder seemed to make the very rafters 
 ring. Twice he encircled the table, and then passed out of 
 sight by the farther door. 
 
 Captain Dove had sat down again, grinding his teeth 
 audibly. To cover his confusion, Sallie turned to the butler 
 behind her chair, and, " What tune was that? " she asked, 
 pleasantly. 
 
 Her face flushed as the Highlandman answered, in care- 
 ful English, " It will be none other than the Welcome to 
 Jura that your ladyship's head-piper would play this night." 
 
 She would have been even happier in her wonderful new 
 home if she had not thought of Justin Carthew again at 
 that moment, and of the difference her coming had made 
 to him. She wished that she had been able to tell him at 
 once, on the Warder's Tower, what was once more in her 
 mind as she looked lovingly round the banquet-hall of 
 Loquhariot from which she had ousted him. She could 
 not forget how gallantly he had faced fate at every turn, 
 always making little of his own share in the tragic happen- 
 ings which had involved them both. 
 
 She felt that she could not rest until she had set herself 
 right with him, and made up her mind that as soon as 
 dinner was over, she would ask Mairi or Mrs. M'Kissock 
 to send a message down to the inn for her. 
 
 But dinner, under such conditions, was a long business. 
 And, although both Mr. Jobling and Jasper Slyne did their 
 best to make the time pass pleasantly for her, she was very 
 glad when a message the butler brought her gave her an 
 excuse for leaving the table a little before she would other- 
 wise have got away.
 
 THE WINNER 227 
 
 She had hoped to escape alone, but Slyne had overheard 
 what the man had said and accompanied her to the hall, 
 where the old housekeeper was awaiting her. 
 
 " What's all this, Mrs. M'Kissock? " he asked, somewhat 
 sharply. " And who's Mr. Herries? " 
 
 " Mr. Herries is the factor in charge of the estates, sir," 
 she answered, " and some of her ladyship's tenantry have 
 come up from the village with him to offer her welcome. It 
 was not my place to turn them away from the door without 
 word from her ladyship's self." 
 
 " Oh, no," said Sallie, her eyes aglow and a sudden lump 
 in her throat to think that her own folk were making her 
 welcome. " I must see them, Janet. I must thank 
 them " 
 
 Slyne frowned, but made no further demur as Mrs. 
 M'Kissock gave orders to open the doors. 
 
 The glare of the torches half-blinded Sallie as she stepped 
 out; and she halted beneath the portcullis. But she saw 
 an old man alone on the drawbridge and went on alone 
 toward him. He doffed his Highland bonnet to her and 
 bowed with old-fashioned deference. Then he looked her 
 in the face for a moment or two, very keenly, while she re- 
 turned his searching glance with happily smiling eyes which 
 had nothing to hide from him. And all the time the 
 pipers in the background were blowing their best. 
 
 He held up a trembling hand to them, and the shrill music 
 ceased. The sputter of the torches was the only sound that 
 broke the stillness until he spoke. 
 
 " Lady Josceline Justice? " he asked, and, as Sallie 
 nodded, still smiling, " I am Ian Herries," he told her, 
 " factor of Loquhariot and your ladyship's humble servant. 
 I had no news of your ladyship's coming or I would have
 
 228 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 been here in time to say welcome home on behalf of your 
 ladyship's tenantry and myself." 
 
 " Oh, thank you, Mr. Herries," said Sallie, in a shy and 
 very tremulous voice whose tone changed suddenly to one 
 of urgent alarm. " But you're ill. You must come in 
 and rest. 
 
 " Oh, Jasper " 
 
 The old man had almost collapsed, but Slyne hurried 
 forward in time to save him from falling. 
 
 " I'll see to Mr. Herries," said he, with a great air of 
 sympathy, and helped the sick man indoors. 
 
 Sallie looked a little uncertainly after him, and then 
 faced the flickering torches alone again. The silent scrutiny 
 of all the eyes regarding her was something of an ordeal, 
 but she went bravely on across the drawbridge. 
 
 She did not notice the nip in the air, but some one among 
 the assemblage had wrapped her about in a heavy plaid 
 and drawn back before she could see who it was. 
 
 " Your ladyship will find the Jura tartan as warm as the 
 welcome we all wish your ladyship," said a stalwart, 
 bearded mountaineer, who had stepped to the front to 
 speak for his fellows; and, as she smiled shy but very con- 
 tentedly up into his scarlet face, he bent his head above 
 the hand she had held out to him. 
 
 One after another the hill-men and fisherfolk of the vil- 
 lage filed past her then, each with some stammered saluta- 
 tion, in difficult English or guttural Gaelic. And for 
 each she had a shy, grateful smile and a word of thanks, 
 until at the last came Justin Carthew and had also 
 stooped and kissed her hand before she could prevent 
 him. 
 
 He would have passed on like the others but that she,
 
 THE WINNER 229 
 
 blushing hotly, begged him to wait. For Janet M'Kissock 
 had come to her shoulder to say that at the Jura Arms in 
 the village would be provided a loving-cup in which all 
 might drink her ladyship's health, as was proper on such 
 an occasion, and had brought out the big, silver-mounted 
 hunting-quaich in which every new Earl of Jura had 
 pledged his people on his accession. 
 
 The butts of the torches had been flung in a heap on the 
 ground before the girl, and formed a fiery pyramid between 
 her and the waiting throng. 
 
 She lifted up the drinking-horn, her eyes very bright, 
 and cried at the pitch of her clear, sweet voice a single, 
 strangely-sounding word in the Gaelic, that Janet M'Kis- 
 sock had whispered to her once or twice. And the sudden, 
 thunderous roar of response that rang out in answer, as if 
 from a single throat, awoke wild echoes among the sur- 
 rounding hills. 
 
 " Your ladyship will come inbye now," begged Mrs. 
 M'Kissock, as the pipes struck up again at the head of the 
 gathering on its way back to the village. 
 
 But, " Just in a minute, Janet," said Sallie, " I'm quite 
 warm. And you needn't wait." 
 
 The bonfire before her was burning low in spite of the 
 wind which had just begun to blow and promised to freshen. 
 She stayed beside it, watching, until all but Carthew were 
 gone. And then she turned to him, the tears very near her 
 eyes and her starved heart almost satisfied. 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Carthew," she said timidly, " I wanted to tell 
 you at once how sorry I am about everything. I had 
 no idea at all, when you told me on the Olive Branch " 
 
 " Of course not," said Justin Carthew concisely. 
 
 "And Mr. Jobling was so abrupt; and I didn't
 
 230 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 know what to do. Won't you please forgive me; I had no 
 idea " 
 
 " I was pretty much taken aback myself," said Justin 
 Carthew, and laughed a little, though not very merrily. 
 " But I'm all right again now. And you mustn't worry 
 about me, please. I'm all right, again, and " 
 
 " You'll wait for a little? " she interrupted, she was so 
 eager to reassure him. " I can't help being who I am, but 
 if you will only wait for a little, everything will turn out 
 all right for you, too." 
 
 She could see that he was puzzled. 
 
 " I can't explain," she went on hurriedly, afraid that he 
 would demand explanation. " But I want you to give 
 me a little time, if you will. I want you not to go 
 away. If you will just wait for only three months 
 everything will turn out all right for you in the end." 
 
 " But how " he was beginning, when she cut him 
 short again. 
 
 " I can't explain," she repeated. " Only you once 
 promised that I might ask you to do anything I wanted. 
 Will you not just wait here, and trust me for only three 
 months? And then you'll understand." 
 
 He looked helplessly about him. 
 
 " I'll wait here and trust you all the rest of my 
 life," he said, " if you say so. And then I'll still be in your 
 debt." 
 
 "All I ask is my three months," she told him gravely. 
 " And then " 
 
 He looked his utter perplexity. 
 
 " You don't mean that you're Lady Josceline Justice 
 only for the time being? " he asked, his forehead wrinkled. 
 
 " Oh, no," she answered assuredly. " I'll be Lady Jos-
 
 THE WINNER 231 
 
 celine Justice all my life. And you'll keep your prom- 
 ise? " 
 
 " I'll keep my promise," he affirmed. " I'll wait here 
 and trust you for three months and for the rest of my 
 life, if you say so." 
 
 She smiled at him, very contentedly. " I'm going to 
 be very happy here now," she said, and looked round. She 
 had heard Slyne's voice, calling her. She could see him 
 beyond the drawbridge gazing blindly out into the darkness. 
 
 " Good night," she said to Carthew. But she did not 
 go in until he had swung himself into the saddle and ridden 
 away, always looking back.
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 BEGGAR - MY - NEIGHBOUR 
 
 THE wind that rose during the night brought with it 
 a change in the weather. When the day broke and 
 a round red sun rose from among the mountains, it 
 showed the whole world white the land deep under snow 
 and the sea all foam. 
 
 Slyne's first sensation when he woke and saw the storm, 
 from behind the double windows of his comfortable rooms 
 in the Warder's Tower, was one of relief, since it would 
 surely serve to stave off inconvenient visitors. He had 
 been afraid that the news the beacon had blazoned the 
 night before would travel altogether too fast and too far 
 to suit his plans; it would have been awkward in the ex- 
 treme to be inundated with curious callers in a position 
 practically carried by assault, only tenable by stealth and 
 while no one in active authority should challenge it. 
 
 The coming of Herries, the factor, had opened his eyes 
 to that. For the old fellow, ill as he was, had shown a most 
 annoying inclination to cross-question Slyne about various 
 dry legal details; and Slyne had only been able to put him 
 off temporarily by promising that her ladyship's own man 
 of law would go into all such matters with him in the 
 morning. 
 
 Now, fortunately for Slyne and his friends, the factor 
 need not be further considered for some little time to come,
 
 BEGGAR - MY - NEIGHBOUR 233 
 
 if indeed at all. The fever in him had refused to yield to 
 any of Mrs M'Kissock's simple medicaments, and he was 
 delirious. He seemed very likely, indeed, to die unless he 
 were very lucky. Slyne did not fail to congratulate him- 
 self on that score also, as he sat up in bed to reach for a 
 cigarette after his late breakfast and contemplate the cuffs 
 of his expensive pink silk pajamas. 
 
 The rest of the company in the castle he thought he could 
 find means to control, for the present, at any rate, although 
 he did not under-estimate the chances of trouble with his 
 two disaffected associates, who had already displayed 
 such a lamentable tendency toward open mutiny. But, 
 on the whole, he felt satisfied that, if he could only keep 
 matters running smoothly during the days that must still 
 elapse before the Court of Chancery should resume its 
 usual routine and finally settle the Jura succession on 
 Sallie, he would by then have managed to make his own 
 footing there absolutely secure. 
 
 He snuggled back between the blankets again, with an 
 inexpressible sensation of comfort, and, watching the blue 
 spirals of smoke curl upwards from under his moustache, 
 forgot all the anxious uncertainties and the ever more 
 painful pinch of the present in contemplative anticipations 
 of that fair future which he had so carefully planned for 
 himself. Not even the fact that he had almost exhausted 
 his cash resources could worry him when he thought of the 
 wealth that was to be his as soon as he should be safely 
 married to Sallie; and until then he could command un- 
 limited local credit, on her behalf. 
 
 She was Lady Josceline Justice already. She would be 
 Countess of Jura in her own right as soon as the Court of 
 Chancery should admit her identity. She would have ten
 
 234 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 * 
 
 millions of dollars in ready money for him to spend and a 
 quarter of a million for annual income. He had been a 
 poor man all his life, but now he looked luxuriously out 
 at the snow and the storm. 
 
 " Mr. Jasper Slyne and the Countess of Jura," he said 
 aloud, and smiled and curled his moustache. 
 
 He rose by and by and betook himself to his dressing- 
 room, whistling a cheery tune. " And although I don't 
 want to rush things," said he to himself as he stepped 
 briskly into his bath, " if either Dove or that fat suicide 
 makes any more fuss, I'll have to show 'em my teeth. They 
 must both keep to the bargains we struck. And I think I've 
 made things pretty safe for myself by now." 
 
 When he at length strolled downstairs, infinitely refreshed 
 after his long rest, he found Mr. Jobling and Captain Dove 
 in close conclave in the library. And he did not like their 
 looks in the least or their sudden silence at sight of him. He 
 felt certain that they had been conspiring against him, and 
 did not delay in commencing a counter-attack. 
 
 " ' Morning, Dove. ' Morning, Jobling," said he casually, 
 as he stopped to select a cigar from the box on the table. 
 " Change of weather, eh! You'll have a cold journey back 
 to London, Jobling." 
 
 Mr. Jobling looked very coldly across at him. " I do 
 not propose to return to London at present, Mr. Slyne," 
 he replied. " Mr. Spettigrew will look after everything 
 there." 
 
 " You're no more use to me here," said Slyne bluntly, 
 " and you may be of some service in London." 
 
 " You are no longer a client of mine, Mr. Slyne," the 
 lawyer retorted, no doubt emboldened by the promise of 
 Captain Dove's unswerving support. " I can no longer act
 
 BEGGAR - MY - NEIGHBOUR 235 
 
 for you with any feeling of confidence since I have found 
 out how unfairly you have attempted to treat Captain 
 Dove." 
 
 Slyne understood that open war was declared. " I won't 
 be a client of yours for long, if you're going to be trouble- 
 some," he affirmed. " I think you've got a little out of 
 your depth again, my friend. I don't think you'll find it 
 will pay you to take that tone." 
 
 Mr. Jobling began to splutter, and Captain Dove evi- 
 dently felt impelled to come to his aid. 
 
 " You take too much on yourself, Slyne," said he, eyeing 
 that gentleman with extreme disfavour. " You seem to 
 think you're the whole show here, though you're nothing 
 but a hanger-on, as I've told you before. Let's have a 
 good deal less of it, or We can get on just as well, or 
 even better without you, you know." 
 
 Slyne turned a contemptuous stare on him. " So that's 
 the idea now, is it! " he remarked, without any sign of 
 heat. " You two think it's a case of dog eat dog now, do 
 you! And after you've got rid of me, who picked you 
 both up out of the gutter, you'll be at each other's throats. 
 You're a great pair! " 
 
 His nonchalance incensed the old man, as he had intended 
 it should. 
 
 " I want none of your damned lip," declared Captain 
 Dove, glaring at him, " you precious upstart! You're 
 nothing but a beggar on horseback yourself, for all your 
 grand airs. Me and this other gentleman are both sick- 
 tired of them. You're one too many - 
 
 " I'm one too many for you two, at any rate; and you 
 may both stake your last cent on that," Slyne told him with 
 a composure admirable under the circumstances. " You
 
 236 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 surely don't imagine, do you, that I'm here on any such 
 unsafe footing as you are! I thought you knew me well 
 enough, Dove, to be sure that I'd leave you no opportunity 
 to go back*on your bargain with me." 
 
 "To hell with you and your bargains! " cried Captain 
 Dove: and then, restraining his rage, lowered his voice 
 again. " The mistake you've always made with me, Slyne, 
 has been to take me for an old fool as you've very often 
 called me to my face. You think I'm in my dotage. But 
 I'm not too old to show you a trick or two yet, if you and 
 I come to grips. And, as for being such a fool as you seem 
 to think me you wait and see ! I've a card or two up my 
 sleeve, Mr. Slyne, that'll maybe euchre your game for you, 
 if you try to bluff too high! " 
 
 Slyne sat back and studied the old man's face. Captain 
 Dove had made that same mysterious threat on board the 
 Olive Branch in Genoa, before they had started out on their 
 present adventure. It had disconcerted Slyne then. It 
 disconcerted him still more now. 
 
 '," Don't you think that you're a little inclined to overrate 
 your importance and er capacity, Mr. Slyne? " put in 
 Mr. Jobling acidly during the pause, involuntary on Slyne's 
 part. " All your ideas are no doubt based on the documents 
 we mutually signed in Monte Carlo ; and you are probably 
 not aware, as I am now that I have a clearer insight into 
 your motives that they amount to neither more nor less 
 than a conspiracy to defraud. You would be well advised, 
 believe me, to put them all in the fire." 
 
 Slyne turned on him in an instant. " Now, see here, my 
 friend! I want you to understand, once and for all, that 
 I've got you safe where I want you, and that, if I hear 
 much more from you, you'll find yourself in a very unpleas-
 
 BEGGAR - MY - NEIGHBOUR 237 
 
 ant fix. You wouldn't look well at all in a striped suit 
 or I believe it's the broad-arrow pattern they supply in the 
 prisons here. And that's what you'll come to, believe me, 
 unless you walk the line I've laid down for you. You can't 
 embezzle trust funds, you know, and pay the interest with 
 promises to be met as soon as you lay your hands on some 
 of the plunder here, without running a very dangerous risk 
 indeed. Why, even the car you sold me in Genoa was an- 
 other man's property and I hold your receipt for the 
 price I paid you for it. 
 
 " So shut up," he concluded sharply, and proceeded to 
 deal with Captain Dove as if the lawyer had not been there. 
 
 M.r. Jobling's flaccid face had become of the colour of 
 mottled clay. He was respiring stertorously, through his 
 mouth. His eyes had grown blood-shot. His back-bone 
 seemed to have given way. He sat huddled up, silent, 
 staring at Slyne with eyes full of impotent fear. 
 
 " You talk to me about blumng! " Slyne was saying to 
 Captain Dove, who also seemed to have grown suddenly 
 apprehensive of some unforeseen mischance. " You talk 
 to me about blumng, although I've played a straight game 
 with you from the start and stuck to our bargain even 
 against my own interests. Wait a minute. Listen to me 
 and then you can talk till you're tired. 
 
 " Do you want to keep your clever new friend there 
 company in his cell? How long do you think you'd be left 
 at liberty if I mentioned to the authorities that you're the 
 same man who " 
 
 " Stop, now, curse you! " roared Captain Dove and so 
 drowned the disclosures which Slyne seemed minded to 
 make. " And don't go too far with me, or " 
 
 Slyne looked without winking into the muzzle of the re-
 
 238 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 volver which the old man had produced in an instant and 
 levelled at him. " You talk to me about bluffing! " he 
 said again, and laughed, without mirth. " You'd be better 
 occupied, Dove, in making sure that your own bluff isn't 
 called. You've done your best for a week past to give 
 yourself away to the police, and if you manage that in 
 the end, you won't have me to blame, remember. Pm not 
 the sort of yellow dog you seem to want to make yourself 
 out." 
 
 He paused, to let that vitriolic criticism sink in, and to 
 consider just how far he might safely go. Captain Dove 
 had laid his revolver down but kept a hand on its butt. 
 He was watching Slyne intently. 
 
 " I wish you could get it into your head," the latter re- 
 sumed a little more peaceably, " that beggar-my-neighbour 
 isn't the easiest game to play with me. And that I've got 
 brains enough to take care of myself. 
 
 " If you and your cute new friend there were to be put 
 away to-morrow, I'd stay here safe and sound. I've noth- 
 ing to fear. 
 
 " I've kept my bargain with you both so far, and I'm quite 
 willing to complete it. I'm going to see, at the same time, 
 that you keep yours with me. You'll each get your prom- 
 ised share of the profits here, no more and no less; and 
 then I'll be done with you. Till then don't go too 
 far with me," he finished warningly. 
 
 " To hear you talk, any one would think you owned 
 Loquhariot already! " remarked Captain Dove. " I'd like 
 to hear what Sallie has to say about it all now." 
 
 " I'll get her to tell you at once, if you like," Slyne an- 
 swered evenly and, rising, rang the bell. 
 
 " Ask her ladyship to favour us with her company for a
 
 BEGGAR - MY - NEIGHBOUR 239 
 
 few minutes," he instructed the footman who answered 
 that summons, " or if she'd prefer to receive us in her own 
 room." Then he lay back in his chair again, his wits busily 
 at work. He could not feel quite sure himself what Sallie 
 would have to say about it all now; but he meant to 
 master her also. 
 
 The servant, however, came back with word that her 
 ladyship had gone out. And at that Slyne scowled. It was 
 at a most inopportune moment for him that Sallie had taken 
 a liberty of which she would not have dreamed a few days 
 before; and, furthermore, it did not fit in with his plans 
 at all to have her making such use of her new-found freedom; 
 there was no telling whom she might meet there was that 
 fellow Carthew, for instance! 
 
 " Which way did her ladyship go, do you know? " he 
 called after the footman, as casually as he could. 
 
 " To the village, I think, sir," the man replied, and he 
 rose, yawning, to look discontentedly out at the wintry 
 landscape. It was very beautiful in the brisk morning 
 sunshine, but also very wet underfoot. 
 
 " I'll stroll down the road after her," he announced, 
 " and fetch her back. You can be packing up in the mean- 
 time, Jobling. The steamer south sails early in the after- 
 noon." 
 
 He did not hesitate to leave the two conspirators alone 
 together again; he judged that he had succeeded in cowing 
 them both. He even smiled to himself on his way out- 
 doors. 
 
 " I thought I was done for when I met Dubois," he re- 
 flected, perfectly self-satisfied, " but I was really in luck. 
 And that was a most opportune chat I had with Mullins 
 in London, too. I've got Jobling fairly fixed. If I can't
 
 240 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 manage the old man I'm a bigger fool than I take myself 
 for. And I've made things all right for myself with Sallie, 
 or I'm mistaken." 
 
 He paused in the main hall to look appreciatively about 
 him while a servant was fetching his coat and cap from the 
 cloak-room. The sun was streaming in through the stained 
 glass of a lofty, mullioned window, the heart of each of 
 whose panels showed in vivid scarlet against the light a 
 clenched hand holding a dagger, the Jura crest. 
 
 " They won it all that way," said Slyne to himself, and 
 drew a deep breath of contentment as he looked round the 
 noble hall again. He felt very proud of the place already, 
 and only wished that some of his former friends could have 
 seen him there. 
 
 Outside, beyond the drawbridge, he halted to look ad- 
 miringly up at the massive, ivy-clad frontage of the Main 
 Keep, with its crenellated ramparts and narrow fighting- 
 windows and bartizan. Then he turned with a high heart 
 toward the road that runs between hazel thickets and 
 clumps of alder or silver birch down the long hill to the 
 village and the seashore. He was humming a contented 
 tune to himself as he tramped through the melting snow. 
 
 He had not far to seek Sallie. Within the open doorway 
 of the first cottage he came to, he caught sight of her beside 
 the peat-fire with a laughing child on her lap and its proud 
 mother smiling beside her. 
 
 He walked in on them, and she looked up at him very 
 happily as he entered. The mother curtsied , which pleased 
 him. So that he made himself most agreeable to them both, 
 and did not take Sallie away at once as he had intended. 
 He was quite gratified to see how graciously she filled the 
 part of Lady Bountiful. He wanted her to be popular
 
 BEGGAR - MY - NEIGHBOUR 241 
 
 among the villagers, and meant to make himself popular as 
 well. He was only afraid that her ignorance of the conven- 
 tions might lead her into making herself too cheap. 
 
 She was only a young girl yet, and he knew that her in- 
 nate purity of mind had never been sullied nor her sweet, 
 loyal, lovable nature in any way warped amid the strange 
 surroundings and circumstances in which she had lived till 
 then. She was as happy playing with the cottager's child 
 as she would have been in a palace. But the daughter 
 of Torquil Fitz-J. Justice, Earl of Jura and Baron St. Just 
 of Justicehall and Loquhariot, must not make herself too 
 cheap, thought Slyne. And presently he suggested to her 
 that it was time to be going. 
 
 She rose, a little reluctantly, and followed him; while 
 he bowed patronisingly to the fisherman's wife just as 
 he imagined a grand gentleman would do. 
 
 He did not demur when Sallie turned down the village 
 street instead of up-hill again. He was quite pleased to 
 show himself there at her side and touch his cap con- 
 descendingly in response to the salutations of all who passed. 
 He only omitted that very casual courtesy to Justin Car- 
 thew, standing at the door of the Inn. 
 
 " I suppose there's no doubt that Mr. Carthew was 
 wrongly informed by his lawyers, Jasper? " Sallie asked 
 him a few minutes later. 
 
 " No doubt in the world," Slyne answered her. " He's 
 of no account at all now. The best thing he can do now 
 for himself is to clear off back to America, where he 
 belongs. 
 
 " And there's another thing, my dear. Captain Dove 
 and that fat ass Jobling have got to go too. We'll never 
 have any peace while they're hanging about. But they're
 
 242 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 both inclined to be troublesome, and I want you to back 
 me up against them. 
 
 " It was Captain Dove who ordered the beacon to be 
 lighted last night. And Lord only knows how much 
 annoyance that may cause us yet! In fact, they're a pretty 
 difficult pair to handle. So, when we get back to the castle, 
 I want you to tell them that you intend to keep your 
 promise to me; I'll be better able to manage them then, 
 you see. 
 
 " You haven't forgotten just what you promised me, 
 have you? " 
 
 " No, Jasper," answered the girl, and gazed across the 
 wind-swept loch with fond, despairing eyes, " I haven't 
 forgotten. And I'll keep my promise, if when the 
 time comes."
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 THE JURA SUCCESSION 
 
 CAPTAIN DOVE, sucking at his black cutty-pipe 
 in the library of Loquhariot, looked very con- 
 temptuously at Mr. Jobling. It was self-evident 
 that Mr. Jobling was afraid of Slyne and feeling very sorry 
 for himself. 
 
 But Captain Dove was in no such disconsolate mood. 
 Glancing at the despondent lawyer out of his little red- 
 rimmed eyes, he even grinned, still more contemptuously. 
 He was not afraid of Slyne, he told himself, and it made no 
 material difference to him that his recent attempt to brow- 
 beat that grasping scoundrel had failed, even with the 
 London lawyer for ally. For Captain Dove did not intend 
 that either of the other two should eventually get the better 
 of him. He was playing a waiting game, in which he meant 
 to come out winner at any cost. 
 
 So far as Captain Dove was concerned there were only 
 two persons really concerned in the question of the Jura 
 succession. One was Sallie, the other himself her 
 adopted father! 
 
 He looked upon Mr. Jobling as a mere mechanical in- 
 strument, such as could be replaced at a moment's notice 
 if that were needful, now that the legal details of the case 
 had been carried so far toward final success. Slyne was 
 absolutely superfluous there and had outlived his usefulness,
 
 244 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 in so far, at least, as Captain Dove was concerned. More 
 than that, he was in Captain Dove's way. So, to some 
 extent, was Justin Carthew, since it seemed that Sallie felt 
 called upon to make a fool of herself for his benefit; but 
 Captain Dove did not anticipate any great difficulty in 
 dealing with him. And so was Herries, the factor, who had 
 so many inconvenient questions to ask although he 
 need scarcely be taken into account at present while he 
 was abed and likely to be there for some time to come. 
 
 With all of these, in any case, he felt quite capable of 
 coping except with Jasper Slyne, who had threatened, 
 a few moments before and in the hearing of an attentive 
 witness . . . Slyne was undoubtedly dangerous now; and 
 it must be his first care to free himself for all time from the 
 risk of Slyne's telling . . . 
 
 " I have it," said Captain Dove, his furrowed forehead 
 suddenly cleared and his face contorted into a smile at 
 sight of which Mr. Jobling was seized with a sickly, sinking 
 sensation. " I have it. We must keep quiet of course, 
 until the Olive Branch turns up, but she shouldn't be very 
 long now, and then 
 
 " I'll send for Brasse. I warned that fool Slyne to play 
 fair with me but he won't. And so since it's beggar- 
 my-neighbour we're at, he won't be my neighbour for long." 
 
 Mr. Jobling rose, coughing irritably. The reek from 
 Captain Dove's foul pipe was too much for him. 
 
 " I'll go and pack now," he announced. " I'd never have 
 come here at all if I had thought ' 
 
 " You leave things here to me, old cock," Captain Dove 
 encouraged him. " And go and jag your friend Spettigrew 
 along till he gets judgment for us. That's the most im- 
 portant part of the game at present. Leave things here to
 
 THE JURA SUCCESSION 245 
 
 me, and you'll find, when the time comes, that Slyne will 
 have to take a back seat." 
 
 But the stout solicitor did not seem grateful at all for 
 that crumb of comfort. He merely looked at Captain Dove 
 with equal dislike and disbelief as he left the room. 
 
 He left the castle immediately after lunch, to catch the 
 steamer south, a little less depressed, perhaps, after a few 
 further words with Captain Dove, who thought it only 
 politic to inspirit him in his efforts on Sallie's behalf. And 
 he had not been gone very long before Captain Dove began 
 to miss him as a boon-companion, a part which Slyne 
 refused to play any longer. So that the old man soon began 
 to find the time hang very heavy on his hands, and his 
 grudge against Slyne always grew. 
 
 Under any circumstances, he could not have been happy 
 for long on land. Nor could he feel altogether safe there, 
 even in the distasteful disguise he had adopted at Slyne's 
 advice; and for discrediting which he had been so repeatedly 
 called to account by Slyne. He could scarcely but repent 
 having sacrificed his undisputed autocracy on the Olive 
 Branch in order to figure as a mere puppet in Slyne's com- 
 pany, as he had undoubtedly become since he had left his 
 ship. He grew very angry indeed with Slyne when he 
 thought of that, as he often did during those endless days 
 of waiting. 
 
 It was all Slyne's fault, he assured himself, that he 
 was thus stranded there; that he had not fifty cents left 
 to bless himself with, since one expensive evening in Paris; 
 and that, even if he had had such a sum in his pockets, it 
 might have worn a hole in them before he could spend it, 
 in such a forsaken spot! 
 
 Of what use to him, he inquired of himself, going off at
 
 246 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 another tangent, could a huge, ghost-haunted pile like the 
 Castle of Loquhariot be? Or a great empty barrack like 
 Justicehall? which reminded him unpleasantly of the 
 Law Courts in London. How could he ever hope to spend 
 such an excess of wealth as was soon to be Sallie's, and, 
 therefore, at his disposal? A perfect nausea of money pos- 
 sessed Captain Dove at such moments. He would almost 
 have preferred the prospect of poverty again, if only for the 
 sake of the interest in life the struggle to live might restore 
 to him. 
 
 " Enough is as good as a feast! " said he to himself every 
 now and then while he gazed, with gloom in his soul, at the 
 cut-crystal decanters on a salver of solid silver which was 
 never far from his elbow; and, with that wise saw on his 
 lips, he would continue to drown his contradictory sorrows 
 as deeply as possible. 
 
 But there was luckily room and to spare in the castle 
 for all its inmates. Slyne and he kept as much as possible 
 out of each other's way, although they had resumed a 
 spasmodic outward semblance of amity, a steadfast inward 
 determination to get the better of one another, whether by 
 fair means or foul. He could scarcely seek Sallie's company 
 now that she knew his treacherous intentions toward her. 
 The sick man, Herries, was still in bed, in a sufficiently pre- 
 carious state. So that he lived very much alone with his 
 various grievances, since his walks abroad, as far as the 
 Jura Arms, where he soon became almost popular among 
 the occasional profligates of the village, were not so 
 frequent as they would probably have been in better 
 weather. 
 
 A bitter east wind, bringing always more snow, had blown 
 almost ceaselessly for the best part of a fortnight before
 
 THE JURA SUCCESSION 247 
 
 any change came in the wildest weather that had befallen 
 Loquhariot in long years. 
 
 The mountain roads for miles in all directions were quite 
 impassable. The mail-cart, with its driver and horses, and 
 also the hastily improvised snow-plough which had at- 
 tempted their rescue, lay buried deep below the ever deep- 
 ening drift into which it had plunged on its last outward 
 journey. The single telegraph-line that served the locality 
 had broken down at a dozen points which were quite un- 
 approachable. Stress of weather had prevented the weekly 
 steamer from making its usual call. Loquhariot was abso- 
 lutely cut off from the outer world. 
 
 And then, with a wet westerly wind which soon grew into 
 a gale, the snow on the mountains began to melt and floods 
 made matters still worse, swelling every unconsidered 
 stream into a destructive torrent, cutting wide chasms 
 across the precipitous main-road over the Pass, under- 
 mining its bridges and even washing some of them away 
 bodily. In several of the more outlying districts sheer 
 famine began to grow imminent. The flocks and herds of 
 the countryside were in still worse case than the wild deer 
 which had escaped from their forest sanctuaries before the 
 first of the snow and had been huddling about the village 
 while it endured. 
 
 No word had come through from Mr. Jobling in all that 
 time. And Captain Dove was almost beyond the end of his 
 outworn patience before, scowling blackly out of the library 
 window one day when the westerly gale had all but blown 
 itself out, he caught sight of a shabby, sea-going, cargo- 
 tramp, flying the Norwegian flag, which seemed to be seek- 
 ing an anchorage behind the Small Isles at the mouth of the 
 loch.
 
 248 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 It was the Olive Branch. He would have known her in the 
 dark, disguise or no disguise. 
 
 " Uh-hum! " he exclaimed, in an ecstasy of relief. " Now 
 I can make things move a little at last. Now we'll soon see 
 who's who here." 
 
 He dashed off a peremptory note to his chief engineer, 
 put that in his pocket, clapped his smoked spectacles on 
 his nose and his soft felt hat on his head, and made for the 
 village, where he hoped to find, in the Jura Arms, a local 
 poacher who would undertake an errand out to the steamer. 
 
 He found his man at the inn, and his credit there enabled 
 him to drive a speedy bargain. It also helped him to pass 
 the time contentedly enough till the fishing-boat returned 
 from its wet trip with word for the public that the strange 
 steamer had put into the loch on account of an accident in 
 her engine-room which would delay her there for a little, 
 although she would need no help from the village; and with 
 a hasty private note from the chief engineer for Captain 
 Dove to the effect that Mr. Brasse refused to come 
 ashore. 
 
 " Curse him! " snarled Captain Dove as his messenger 
 retired to the bar again. " I suppose he's afraid of the po- 
 lice though there isn't a policeman within thirty miles, 
 and, even if there were, it wouldn't matter very much." 
 And he sat down to compose another and still more per- 
 emptory note, bidding Brasse obey his lawful commands or 
 take the consequences of disobedience. 
 
 He would have put off to the steamer himself but for 
 the obvious reasons against that course. And, to induce 
 his messenger to make the trip again after dark, he had to 
 promise the man twice as much as for the first run, still 
 outstanding.
 
 THE JURA SUCCESSION 249 
 
 When he finally emerged from the inn, in no very pleas- 
 ant temper, he caught sight, first, of the weekly steamer 
 already half way up the loch, inward bound, and then of 
 Sallie at a bend of the road in the distance, on her way back 
 to the castle from the village. There was some one with 
 her. It was Carthew. 
 
 Captain Dove became still more incensed, and, his mind 
 a good deal inflamed by his recent potations, set off up the 
 hill in pursuit of them, breathing noisily, not even pausing to 
 scowl at the children who scurried indoors as he passed with 
 the skirts of his long black coat streaming out behind him. 
 
 He had heard from Slyne that Herries, the factor, had 
 formally appointed the young American his deputy until 
 he should be able to undertake his own duties again. And, 
 in spite of all Slyne and he could say to Sallie, she had ob- 
 stinately refused to assist in getting rid of Carthew. He 
 had heard from Slyne that Carthew was making far too 
 many occasions for seeing her, and when he had cautioned 
 Sallie on that score she had shown no disposition at all to 
 take his advice. 
 
 " I've warned her often enough," he muttered with 
 steadily rising wrath, " to quit monkeying with that fel- 
 low. And she'll get right out of hand now, unless I let her 
 see, once and for all, who's going to be master here. Where 
 would I come in if he managed to get married to her! He's 
 got to go. That's all there is to it. I can't afford to have 
 him hanging about here any longer." 
 
 The couple in front seemed to be in no hurry, however. 
 He had almost overtaken them before he paused at a hazel- 
 clump to cut himself a stout cudgel. By the time he had 
 got that trimmed to his taste, they had almost reached the 
 castle.
 
 250 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 " I'll wait till she's gone in," said Captain Dove to him- 
 self. He had noticed that Carthew was carrying what looked 
 like a woodman's axe. But that did not daunt him at all 
 in his purpose. He lingered along the edge of an alder- 
 thicket until at length Sallie shook hands in very friendly 
 fashion with the young American and went her own way, 
 while Carthew took to a trail through the woods and made off 
 at a round pace, notwithstanding his limp, axe on shoulder, 
 whistling blithely. 
 
 The path he was following wound in and out among 
 plantations of pine and great groves of grey, leafless birches, 
 until, at a distance of half a mile, it found the clear edge 
 of the cliffs overlooking the circular inlet which forms the 
 head of the loch, and finally faded away at the marge of a 
 smooth plateau of bare rock enclosed on three sides by a 
 thick tangle of woodland and rank undergrowth. 
 
 Captain Dove stalked him with all precaution, stepping 
 from stone to stone among the wet snow which was rapidly 
 melting, so that he might leave no traceable footprints on 
 the soft, spongy soil or damp, dead leaves. And once, when 
 Carthew halted to light a pipe, the old man, with murder 
 in his mind, dropped into cover behind a moss-grown 
 boulder at one side of the path because that would have 
 been a most unadvisable spot at which to attack a man 
 armed with an axe. Then, as Carthew moved on, he once 
 more took up the pursuit, through the clu-nps of bramble 
 and bracken between the dark trunks of the firs about 
 him. 
 
 Carthew stepped unconcernedly out of the dusk of the 
 woods into the open space at the end of the path, and 
 stopped there, axe on shoulder, to look about him. But 
 Captain Dove did not immediately spring upon him as he
 
 THE JURA SUCCESSION 251 
 
 had been minded to do, for he had just observed, at a cor- 
 ner of the convenient plateau, a round hut, stone-built and 
 roofed with heather, which might or might not be inhabited. 
 Captain Dove wormed his way round toward it, within the 
 thicket. 
 
 The windows of the hut were shuttered and its door pad- 
 locked on the outside. Captain Dove was delighted. He 
 turned to squint across at Carthew from behind a bush and 
 judge his distance, but still delayed his attack. 
 
 Carthew seemed to have seen something of interest in 
 the dark wood behind Captain Dove, and Captain Dove 
 looked round in instant alarm. It would have been most 
 unpleasant to find that he himself was being spied upon. 
 There was some one or some thing, a tall white shadow, very 
 dimly discernible, moving among the gloom. 
 
 A sudden and most unusual sensation of panic seized 
 Captain Dove. The inexplicable shape was flitting sound- 
 lessly toward him. He felt thankful that Carthew was there 
 behind him, alive and well, for company. But when he rose 
 upright and glanced swiftly over one shoulder the plateau 
 was empty. Carthew had gone. 
 
 The evening was drawing in, and even the pathway by 
 which they had come there was growing dim as the light 
 slowly failed. Captain Dove made a blind dash for it across 
 the open space, and so fled headlong, in fear. 
 
 He only once looked back, and then he saw the shadow 
 again. It was following him. And he did not stop running 
 till he reached the drawbridge of the castle. But there he 
 halted, panting, to swear at himself for a superstitious old 
 fool, and stare back into the woods with eyes in which terror 
 was mingled with rage. 
 
 "Some stray cow or maybe a stag! " he declared to
 
 252 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 himself. " If I had had a shot-gun handy or even my 
 revolver " 
 
 But, stare as he would, he could see nothing more of the 
 creature. And he went in through the postern, still swear- 
 ing under his breath. 
 
 He had never felt quite at his ease in the great main hall 
 of the castle, which, with its empty suits of mail in all sorts 
 of unexpected corners, the flags overhead flapping sound- 
 lessly in every draught, the pale faces peering down from 
 their dark frames in the gallery, possessed an uncanny at- 
 mosphere of its own, especially in the dusk. 
 
 However, the two big fires blazing on their cavernous 
 hearths at either side of its wide expanse made it a good 
 deal more homelike, less eerie than it had seemed when he 
 had first seen it. And he crossed it almost without concern 
 on his way toward his own quarters in the North Keep. 
 
 But by the way some obscure movement among the 
 shadows beyond the nearer fire brought his heart to his 
 mouth again in an instant, and a hand slipped mechanically 
 toward the empty hip-pocket beneath the skirt of his coat. 
 He had halted. He moved on, into the dim recess whence 
 some one was watching him, and presently emerged again, 
 dragging after him into the firelight a shock-headed, pasty- 
 faced lad, whose long neck was writhing in anguish as Cap- 
 tain Dove gave the long ear between his finger and thumb 
 another fierce tweak. 
 
 " What the devil are you doing here! " the old man de- 
 manded, peering into the features of Mr. Jobling's mana- 
 ging clerk. 
 
 " Nothing," answered Mullins with legal exactitude. 
 But he quickly became more discursive under Captain 
 Dove's threatening glance. " Mr. Jobling brought me here
 
 THE JURA SUCCESSION 253 
 
 with him," he explained. " We arrived by the steamer an 
 hour ago, after a most terrible passage. I never saw 
 such " 
 
 Captain Dove silenced him with a scowl. " Where's 
 your master? " he demanded. 
 
 " In there," replied Mullins promptly, pointing to the 
 door of the gun-room, which opened off the main hall; and 
 Captain Dove, casting him loose without more words, 
 marched in upon Mr. Jobling and Slyne in excited confer- 
 ence. 
 
 They looked round as the door opened, and the lawyer, 
 seeing who the unceremonious intruder was, waved a fat 
 hand in gleeful welcome. " We're safe now," he vociferated. 
 " The Jura succession is settled at last. Where's Lady 
 Josceline? She'll be Countess of Jura in her own right as 
 soon as " 
 
 " Not so much of your noise," Captain Dove com- 
 manded, and, suddenly, reopening the door, all but overset 
 himself in accomplishing a hasty kick, which elicited a loud 
 yelp from without. 
 
 " Was that Mullins! " Mr. Jobling exclaimed. " I don't 
 know what I'm to do with him. He's really becoming a 
 dangerous nuisance. I had to bring him away from London 
 with me to prevent him " 
 
 " He'll keep clear of keyholes for a while," Captain Dove 
 put in confidently. " Now let's hear your news." 
 
 Mr. Jobling's clouded face cleared again. " You've heard 
 it already," he said. " I've won our case. The Chancery 
 Court has admitted my proofs. We are to attend again, 
 all of us, the day after to-morrow if possible, when Mr. 
 Justice Gaunt will give us decree. And Lady Josceline will 
 be the Countess of Jura as soon as "
 
 254 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 " When will she get any money? " asked Captain Dove 
 bluntly, and Mr. Jobling looked pained. 
 
 " By Friday, I should think," he stated, " I'll have every- 
 thing in such shape that she can draw a cheque for a 
 mill " 
 
 " She'll draw no cheques," Slyne interrupted decisively. 
 " You know very well that I have her formal authority to 
 attend to all such matters for her. Whatever small sums 
 she may require /'// procure for her, and any payments to 
 be made on her behalf /'// make." 
 
 He met with perfect tranquillity the glances of his asso- 
 ciates. " I'll go and tell her the news now," he remarked, 
 and left the room. 
 
 As soon as the door had closed behind him, the lawyer 
 turned toward Captain Dove, and, " Well? " he asked 
 eagerly. " Was that your ship I saw at the mouth of the 
 loch? How are you going to get rid of that domineering 
 upstart? There isn't much time left to " 
 
 Captain Dove held up a protesting hand, but Mr. Job- 
 ling would not be put down in that manner. He was evi- 
 dently determined now to stand up for himself and those 
 hard-earned rights out of which Slyne had undoubtedly 
 jockeyed him in the most bare-faced, contemptuous man- 
 ner. 
 
 " I really must insist on knowing what you mean to do," 
 he declared irascibly. " I have far too much at stake to 
 leave anything to chance at this late moment. Once Mr. 
 Slyne reaches London, it will be too late to " 
 
 "Hold your row!" ordered Captain Dove, so fiercely 
 that Mr. Jobling jumped. " And don't interfere in what 
 doesn't concern you. All you need to know is that Slyne 
 will never see London again. Does that satisfy you? "
 
 THE JURA SUCCESSION 255 
 
 " It would if I could believe it," observed Mr. Jobling, 
 valiantly. " But " - 
 
 " And neither will you, if you worry me," added Captain 
 Dove in a voice which seemed to affect his neighbour's nerve 
 very adversely. " So help yourself to another peg and pass 
 the bottle. I can scarcely hear myself think for your chat- 
 ter, and I've got a good deal to think about." 
 
 Mr. Jobling did his very best to meet the old man's 
 irate glance resolutely, but his own irresolute, blinking eyes 
 soon fell before the cold menace in Captain Dove's. He 
 replenished his glass, and having sulkily shoved the decan- 
 ter across the table, lay back in his chair. 
 
 " You said that she could draw her money on Friday, 
 didn't you? " asked Captain Dove, and he nodded, with 
 very ill grace. 
 
 " And Slyne has her power of attorney to sign any cheques 
 he likes to write," the old man went on musingly. " But 
 that doesn't matter. Brasse will be ashore to-night. 
 And we'll be off to London to-morrow, me an' you, Jobling, 
 d'ye hear? " 
 
 Mr. Jobling could not deny that he heard, and did not 
 seem inclined to ask any more questions. But Captain 
 Dove had a great many more to ask him, and when Slyne 
 looked into the room, some time later, he found the two of 
 them chatting quite amicably. They both fell silent, how- 
 ever, at sight of him. i 
 
 " Lady Josceline is entertaining visitors," he announced: 
 " the Duchess of Dawn and that unlicked cub In- 
 goldsby." 
 
 " Lord Ingoldsby's her grace's nephew, of course," Mr. 
 Jobling mentioned reverentially. " And one of the wealthi- 
 est peers in England or anywhere else. But how did
 
 256 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 they get here? Dawn's on the other side of the mountains, 
 and " 
 
 " They rode across," said Slyne, " to find out who was 
 here. If Dove hadn't ordered the beacon to be lighted the 
 night we arrived, they'd never have heard But maybe, 
 after all, it will help - 
 
 " They're going to dine and stay the night, anyhow. 
 It's come on to snow again. 
 
 " There's a great hullabaloo below-stairs," he said in a 
 somewhat querulous tone as he crossed toward the fireplace 
 and helped himself to a cigarette from the silver box on the 
 mantel. " One of the gamekeepers sent in word that he 
 had seen the ' white lady ' about in the woods this after- 
 noon. And now an hysterical housemaid is having fits in 
 the servants' hall, on the insufficient ground that she had 
 met the same mysterious personage in one of the passages 
 a little ago. The whole outfit, in fact, are in the very devil 
 of a fluster." 
 
 " How unfortunate! " exclaimed Mr. Jobling, while Cap- 
 tain Dove was still regarding Slyne with an expression of 
 mingled doubt and dismay. " Nothing could have been 
 more ill-timed, too since her grace is going to honour us 
 with her company. Every one about the place believes 
 implicitly in that old superstition and they say, you 
 know, that the head of the family has died whenever the 
 so-called ' white lady ' has made her appearance." 
 
 Slyne laughed, and blew a cloud of smoke from his nos- 
 trils. 
 
 " Lady Josceline will outlast most of us," he declared with 
 the utmost nonchalance. " And, in any case, I've dared 
 anyone to breathe a word about it to her. We don't want 
 our dinner spoiled with any nonsense of that sort."
 
 THE JURA SUCCESSION 257 
 
 Mr. Jobling got up to go, alleging that he was tired after 
 his long journey and wanted a rest before dinner. 
 
 " Of course, it's all nonsense," he agreed, if with no great 
 conviction. " But it won't be before to-morrow that you'll 
 get the Highlanders here to believe that." 
 
 Slyne laughed again, contemptuously, as the lawyer left 
 the room, and then turned toward Captain Dove. 
 
 " You don't believe in ghosts, do you, Dove? " he de- 
 manded, quite well aware of the old man's weakness in that 
 respect. 
 
 " I've seen one or two in my time," answered that super- 
 stitious seaman in a low growl. 
 
 " You're luckier than I've ever been, then," said Slyne 
 mockingly. " And I only believe in what I can see for my- 
 self. But, all the same, I'm not going to take any losing 
 chances. And, you must admit, it would be most damnably 
 awkward for us if Sallie should, by any chance, fall under 
 the fatal spell of the family spectre." 
 
 Captain Dove gave voice to another growl, unintelligible, 
 and moved restlessly in his chair. It had not, as a matter 
 of fact, occurred to him that any immediate mischance to 
 Sallie must mean ruin to himself. And Slyne's sneering 
 insensibility was difficult to endure when he recalled what 
 he himself had also seen in the woods. 
 
 " I think it would be as well in any case to make sure 
 that we won't be left lamenting her and absolutely penni- 
 less," Slyne went on, his features suddenly set and serious. 
 " And I'm going to make things safe for us all to-night," he 
 affirmed. " Are you listening, Dove? 
 
 " It might be dangerous now to delay even until to- 
 morrow. You and I have too much at stake to run any 
 avoidable risk. And remember that, if you fail me again,
 
 258 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 it isn't only a matter of the money you'll lose by your folly. 
 I know very well that Jobling and you have been plotting 
 together against me, but I don't believe you've forgotten 
 what I told you both the day before he left for London. It 
 would scarcely be worth your while to go back on me now 
 and spend the rest of your life in prison, or, much more 
 probably, hang." 
 
 Captain Dove nodded perfectly civil assent to that self- 
 evident proposition. He was inwardly wondering at what 
 hour Brasse would be ashore. 
 
 " Very well," Slyne concluded. " You've got to stand by 
 me, for your own sake. I'm going to clinch matters with 
 Sallie now. I'll announce our engagement at dinner. And 
 immediately after dinner, she and I will go through the 
 simple formality of a Scotch marriage the worthy Mrs. 
 M'Kissock has told me exactly how that can be done. The 
 duchess will serve as one witness and I'll find another trust- 
 worthy one. So that, all going well, the future Countess 
 of Jura will be my lawful wife before any harm can come to 
 her even from the ' white lady.' How does that strike you, 
 eh?" 
 
 Captain Dove once more nodded polite agreement, and 
 then looked very slowly round over one shoulder behind 
 him. Slyne darted an involuntary glance in the same direc- 
 tion, and the fag-end of his cigarette fell from between 
 nerveless fingers. A sudden pallor had overspread his 
 tanned features, and something very like fear looked out of 
 his eyes at the dim white form standing motionless just 
 beyond the range of the lamplight.
 
 Something very like fear looked out of his eyes.
 
 THE PARTY OF THE FIRST PART 
 
 THE shadow which had followed Captain Dove 
 throughout his headlong flight from the hut on the 
 cliffs had halted behind a bush at the edge of the 
 wood while he lingered on the drawbridge to look back. 
 As soon as he disappeared through the postern it flitted in 
 the dusk across the gravel sweep in front of the castle, down 
 into the dry moat and up again on the other side to a dark 
 window: through which it gained easy ingress. And from 
 that point, moving stealthily and with extreme precaution 
 along the servants' passageways, it finally reached the 
 housekeeper's quarters: where it stood listening intently 
 for a few seconds before stepping in on Mrs. M'Kissock. 
 
 She was seated at her early supper, alone, and looked 
 round in surprise, which quickly deepened into dire be- 
 wilderment and dread. 
 
 " Parish! " she whispered with pale lips, as he cast off 
 the soiled and travel-worn white Arab cloak which had 
 covered him, showing himself a big, bent, white-bearded, 
 fierce-looking, haggard-faced fellow, barefooted, almost in 
 rags. He was glancing about him with the expression of a 
 wild beast in a cage while the old housekeeper gazed at 
 him, breathing over-quickly, her hands at her heart. 
 
 " Ay, it's Farish, Janet," said he at length, in a very 
 bitter voice, and threw himself wearily into a chair. " None
 
 260 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 other than your ne'er-do-well brother, Parish, come home 
 to die on your hands. I've been hiding in the woods all day, 
 waiting a chance to creep in. I'm starving, too." 
 
 She turned, trembling sickly, to a full cupboard and set 
 more food on the table in haste. He fell upon it like a 
 famished wolf, and while he was devouring it they talked, 
 in broken sentences. 
 
 " Where have you come from in such a state? " the 
 old woman asked, watching him with woe in her face. 
 
 " From hell," he mumbled hoarsely, his mouth full, " to 
 square accounts with another devil who seems to have made 
 the Castle of Loquhariot his home too. What's Dove, as 
 he calls himself, doing here, Janet? " 
 
 " He came with the Lady Josceline Justice," Mrs. 
 M'Kissock made difficult answer. 
 
 " He came with the Lady Josceline Justice! " repeated 
 her brother mechanically, and ceased eating for an instant 
 to stare at her out of blank, disbelieving eyes. Then he 
 went on with his ravenous feast and his questioning. " Who 
 else is here? " 
 
 " Mr. Slyne," his sister told him meekly, " and Mr. Job- 
 ling, her ladyship's London lawyer. The Duchess of Dawn 
 and Lord Ingoldsby came across the Pass to call on her 
 ladyship this afternoon. And there's Mr. Herries, too, ill 
 in bed, as he's been since the night of her ladyship's com- 
 ing." 
 
 " I know the man Slyne," muttered Parish M'Kissock. 
 " But what's Lady Josceline Justice like? " 
 
 He listened attentively to his sister's brief, fond descrip- 
 tion, and then pushed the plates from before him. 
 
 " Can you give me something to drink now? " he asked, 
 in a strained, unsteady voice. She brought him a bottle
 
 THE PARTY OF THE FIRST PART 261 
 
 of wine from the cupboard and he swallowed some, very 
 sparingly. It brought a little colour back into his ashen 
 face. 
 
 " I'll eat some more in a minute or two," he muttered, 
 and sank back into his chair, and sighed. And there he sat, 
 still and silent, while the big grandfather's clock in its cor- 
 ner ticked away an eternity of suspense. 
 
 " And so it's her! " he whispered to himself, and 
 looked up at his sister again as if he had been unaware of 
 her company. 
 
 " Listen, Janet," said he then, in a stronger voice, " and 
 I'll tell you something of what I owe Dove. 
 
 " When I had to flee this country, at the time of Lord 
 St. Just's death, I took to the sea for a while, and, knock- 
 ing about the world, I chanced across Dove and his ship 
 the old Per de Lance it was then. And I signed on with him 
 
 it was in San Thome for reasons that don't matter 
 now. But he and I soon fell foul of each other for reasons 
 that don't matter either and what d'ye think he did to 
 get rid of me! He set me ashore, on the African coast, alone 
 
 to die in the desert there." 
 
 A dangerous light was beginning to burn in his sunken 
 eyes. He had set his two twitching hands on the table, 
 was leaning forward. 
 
 " But I didn't die, after all, you see," he said. " I 
 didn't die then, Janet. I'm not dead yet. 
 
 " It would only weary you to hear all that happened to 
 me before I came into my kingdom. For I was as good as 
 a king there, Janet, and 
 
 " No, I'm not mad, though I might well be after all I've 
 suffered through him. It was a kingdom I'd made for 
 myself before he came my way again. From Tripoli to the
 
 262 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 Sus, my word was all but law, and there was scarcely a 
 tribe but paid me tribute. The Sultan of Morocco himself 
 would send me presents when I passed by. I've fought and 
 beaten the French, time and again, in country they claim 
 for their own. They knew the Emir El Parish, Janet, al- 
 though you think that it's raving I am. 
 
 " But never mind that. What you'll understand better 
 is that I had come to be a very rich man there. I had horses 
 and camels by hundreds, and gold and jewels almost more 
 than I had time to count, and an army of fine fighting men 
 to keep them all safe. I had wealth as well as power, all 
 but as much as I wanted of both, when Dove came slinking 
 into my camp on the coast one dark night, like some dirty 
 jackal. 
 
 " His ship was lying in the bight, and I had business 
 on board with him. I went off in a boat, with no more than 
 two of my men, blind fool that I was! 
 
 " I might have known better," he mused very bitterly, 
 " but - 
 
 " He struck me down from behind. He turned me and 
 my men adrift, insensible, in an open boat. 
 
 " It blew out to sea. I lived, without food or water, 
 for nearly a week before I was picked up by a passing 
 steamer that took me to Spain, but the other two 
 died. 
 
 " I was as good as a king in Africa, and Look at me 
 now! I've lost all all but these rags, and I'm spent, as 
 the Spaniards say. I can't go back to reclaim what was 
 mine. And what will have happened among my people 
 without me, I can scarcely bear to think. For I was fond of 
 them, Janet, in my own way. , 
 
 "But, after all, it's enough for me now that I've found
 
 THE PARTY OF THE FIRST PART 263 
 
 him again and in time. I could scarcely believe that it 
 was really him I saw by the hut." 
 
 He was speaking in a strange, far-away voice, almost 
 contemplatively; and, while he spoke, he was fingering the 
 hilt of the long sheath-knife at his frayed black belt. 
 
 " Would you do murder here again, Farishl " whispered 
 his sister, her clasped hands still tight at her heart. She had 
 heard him out in tense silence, without a word. " Was 
 not once enough! Must I be the one to betray you now 
 lest you do murder here again! " 
 
 Her brother's gaunt features twisted slowly into a hor- 
 rible grin, and relaxed again into an expression of some con- 
 cern as he observed her evident stress of mind. 
 
 " It was no murder, but justice, that I did on Torquil 
 St. Just," said he. " He would have killed me if he could. 
 But I suppose they will always blame me for his death, 
 Janet; and it would no doubt go hard with me, even after 
 all these years, if any but you knew my whereabouts. 
 
 " But I'm safe with you, Janet. And I'll do no mur- 
 der, I give you my word. I have other means 
 
 " I'm safe with you, Janet," he repeated, glancing about 
 the quiet, lamp-lit room. 
 
 " None will enter without my leave," she hastened to 
 reassure him. " You can stay safe here, Farish, till we can 
 come at some plan to help each other, for I cannot bide 
 in the castle for long either, now you've come back. 
 
 "But you must work no more harm in the house 
 whose bread I have eaten so long. Whatever hurt Torquil 
 St. Just did you, he has long gone to his account, and you 
 have surely no ill will to her ladyship. She has suffered 
 sorely too, poor thing! in her time, or I'm much mis- 
 taken."
 
 264 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 " When did she come to Loquhariot? " Parish demanded. 
 
 " Not much more than a fortnight ago and just in 
 time. For before her had come, from America, a far cousin, 
 one Mr. Justin Carthew, to claim the rights that are hers, 
 thinking, as I did indeed, that she must be dead." 
 
 " You can 7 mean yon whistling, limber fellow that walks 
 with a limp? I saw him too at the hut," said the wreck in 
 the chair at the table with a sudden, fierce, eager light in 
 his lack-lustre eyes. " But I took him for a ghost. How 
 came he here? My men told me 
 
 His sister had nodded silently. She sat staring at him 
 in abject suspense, hope and despair alternately flitting 
 across her wrinkled face. 
 
 But he said nothing more for some time. That last un- 
 accountable twist of fate had almost stupefied him. 
 
 A telephone bell rang behind his sister, and startled him 
 out of his reverie. 
 
 " Mr. Slyne says her ladyship wishes rooms prepared for 
 the duchess and Lord Ingoldsby," she told him as she turned 
 back from the instrument. " And dinner's to be served in 
 the banquet-hall. I must be off about my business now, 
 Farish. Will you wait here till I come again and promise 
 to work no more harm? " 
 
 " I'll find a quieter corner to hide in," he answered in- 
 differently. And, in response to her harassed glance, ' ' You 
 must just trust me to take care of myself and not trouble 
 you more than need be," he told her. " I know this old 
 vulture's-nest well enough not to be discovered in it. And 
 - I'll do Dove no violence, Janet; you have my pledged 
 word for that." 
 
 She lingered still, almost distracted, not knowing what 
 to do for the best. But she did know, of old and sad expe-
 
 THE PARTY OF THE FIRST PART 265 
 
 rience, how little heed he was likely to pay to any advice 
 or direction of hers, and at last had to hurry away to her 
 duties leaving him, safe enough there, to his own devices 
 till she could return. 
 
 As soon as she had gone, he swallowed a little more of the 
 food and wine on the table, put on his dirty white robe 
 again, pulling its baggy hood well over his features, and, 
 having assured himself that the long passage down which she 
 had disappeared was empty, set out with soundless but 
 steadier steps to secrete himself in some more remote recess 
 of the spacious castle. 
 
 He knew his way about every turn of the back-corridors 
 intimately. He was passing the gun-room pantry when he 
 heard from within a voice that he recognised at once, shout- 
 ing, " Hold your row! " He paused. Distant footfalls in 
 the passage prompted him to a swift decision. The pantry 
 door was ajar. He pushed it a little further open, stepped 
 inside, and closed it behind him. 
 
 The place was practically in darkness, but he soon found 
 the service-wicket, and, having first made sure that he 
 would not be intruded upon, slipped the blade of his knife 
 under its wooden shutter, raised it, without sound, suffi- 
 ciently to hear and see all that was going on in the gun-room. 
 
 His eyes began to gleam balefully as he looked through 
 at its unsuspecting inmates. The old man Dove and the 
 London lawyer were evidently at loggerheads, but pres- 
 ently calmed down again, and grew almost confidential to- 
 gether. And afterwards Slyne came in to them with his 
 contemptuous story of the White Lady at which the 
 lurking listener frowned anxiously, since it went to show 
 that he must have been seen notwithstanding all his pre- 
 cautions. And then the lawyer got up to go.
 
 266 
 
 To Slyne's subsequent conversation with Captain Dove 
 the ex-Emir listened no less greedily, licking his lips. And 
 after that he pushed noiselessly past the swing-door of the 
 pantry, into their company. He thought he could see his 
 way quite clearly by then. 
 
 Slyne drew back in speechless alarm at sight of the gaunt, 
 hooded figure coming forward on soundless feet. Captain 
 Dove had made an attempt to rise, but apparently could 
 not; he sat still, staring over one shoulder, aghast, at that 
 grey ghost of a man he had never expected to see again. 
 
 Parish M'Kissock threw back his hood and mutely held 
 out his two empty hands. Slyne let one of his own fall from 
 a hip-pocket. Captain Dove was evidently striving to 
 speak. The silent intruder stood waiting to hear whatever 
 he might have to say. 
 
 " How can it be! " Captain Dove said at length, in the 
 difficult voice of one amazed almost beyond words, and got 
 to his feet with an effort, to scan the intruder still more 
 searchingly, to stare transfixed at the tangled grey locks 
 which had formerly been of a flaming red. 
 
 " It is Parish! " he whispered fearfully, as if at last 
 convinced in spite of himself. And the man before him 
 nodded slowly, three times. 
 
 " None but me, Captain Brown or Captain Dove - 
 or whatever you care to call yourself," said Parish M'Kis- 
 sock, and tried to moisten his dry lips with a dry tongue. 
 " None but the man you have twice betrayed and turned 
 adrift to die like a dog; once in the desert and yet again 
 in a boat on the open sea." 
 
 " Didn't you get ashore? " Slyne asked softly, as if he 
 thought that the mysterious new-comer must be mad, and 
 did not desire to anger him.
 
 THE PARTY OF THE FIRST PART 267 
 
 " Sit down, both of you," said Parish M'Kjssock, " and 
 we'll talk together. 'Tis no more than meet that you should 
 both know the why and the wherefore of what's to come. 
 I will not seek to harm you," he said, and so sat down him- 
 self. 
 
 Slyne seated himself on the table and Captain Dove was 
 content with an arm of the chair in which he had been en- 
 sconced; both were obviously prepared to spring up again 
 instantly. And Parish M'Kissock looked at his leisure 
 from one to the other of them before he said anything 
 more. Captain Dove's unusual attire seemed to hold his 
 attention. 
 
 " You've changed your coat since you saw me last," he 
 at length remarked in an even, almost indifferent voice. 
 " And you've come to a very snug anchorage. You're both 
 going to settle down here and be gentlemen now, I suppose." 
 
 Captain Dove glared at him, but could not overmaster his 
 steady glance and at last was compelled to seek shelter 
 behind his smoked glasses, at which added disguise his 
 enemy gazed with no less offensive interest. 
 
 " You have both done very well for yourselves," said 
 Parish M'Kissock, and turned toward Slyne. 
 
 " You're going to marry the Lady Josceline Justice," said 
 he. " And so you'll be master here of her and her 
 millions. You'll be a rich man then but not so rich, 
 surely, as I'd have been if you two had kept your bargain 
 with me; for I was not bankrupt when Captain Dove 
 promised her to me though I'm bankrupt now." 
 
 His slow speech stung, but they both heard him out in 
 hang-dog silence. 
 
 " I'm bankrupt now," he repeated, looking over at Cap- 
 tain Dove. " All I won for myself in this world I've lost,
 
 268 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 thanks to you. And so I've made my way home, to 
 die. They told me in the hospital that I hadn't long to live 
 then, and I reckon my tramp across the mountains will help 
 to finish me. But first, there's our account to be squared ; 
 all I have lost." 
 
 " I'll make that up to you, Parish," said Captain Dove, 
 finding his tongue again, and evidently anxious to be very 
 diplomatic since he could by no means outface his former 
 accomplice. " I'll do the right thing by you now. I hadn't 
 any idea, you know, but that you'd get safely ashore and 
 back to your camp - 
 
 " It was a long chance you took, with the wind offshore," 
 the other broke in, without raising his voice, in the same 
 implacable monotone. " It was almost too long. But the 
 boat you set me adrift in was picked up far out at sea, with 
 two dead men in it, and one who was minded to live long 
 enough to repay what he owes you. 
 
 " What has happened among my folks there, God alone 
 knows. But they would fare ill without me, I fear, and 
 I had some liking for them." 
 
 " You've always been far too soft-hearted, Parish. 
 That's your only fault," said Captain Dove encouragingly. 
 " Forget them and I'll make all the rest up to you." 
 
 "But how did you come here? " Slyne demanded with 
 more spirit than he had at first shown. 
 
 He had to wait some time for an answer, but Captain 
 Dove did not interrupt again, and presently the other pro- 
 ceeded to make that also more clear. 
 
 " You don't know yet who I am now," he muttered. " I 
 had forgotten - 
 
 " I'm Parish M'Kissock, own brother to old Janet, the 
 housekeeper here. And I was born at Loquhariot, after my
 
 THE PARTY OF THE FIRST PART 269 
 
 father came from Kilmarnock to be head-keeper to the old 
 earl. That's why I call it home, though it's no home of 
 mine. 
 
 " I left the last half of my name behind me when I fled 
 the country, long years ago, at the time of Lord St. Just's 
 death. I had a hand in that, although I did not murder 
 him as some said. He had done me a foul wrong, the foulest 
 one man may do another. It cost him his life, but I 
 did not murder him. That would have been but a poor 
 revenge in my eyes. I would fain he had lived till this 
 day." 
 
 " And what do you propose to do now? " Slyne asked, 
 somewhat impatiently. He had evidently got over his 
 first confusion. 
 
 The ex-Emir regarded him meditatively for a moment or 
 two, and then broke into a low, mirthless laugh. 
 
 " You're going to marry the Lady Josceline Justice," said 
 he, " and you're in a hurry. You've no time to waste on 
 me or on my memories of old wrongs. Well, I don't 
 blame you. I once had a fancy for her myself, and I was 
 in just such a hurry; when my wife died in my arms as we 
 carried her out from my camp, to suit your convenience, 
 Captain Dove, and I hadn't even the time to bury my own 
 dead wife decently before I put off to your ship in search of 
 the other. If I had been in less haste about it, I'd maybe 
 have made better speed. 
 
 " But you've managed very well for yourself, so far, Mr. 
 Slyne. Though you've robbed me of one who should have 
 been mine, just as did Torquil St. Just. 
 
 " And now if you'll wait for a minute more I'll even 
 matters among us; and you'll understand the drift of my 
 story better. You've managed very well for yourself, so
 
 270 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 far, and you've very nearly won all you wanted. But 
 here I am, just in time. 
 
 " Did it ever come out how the Countess of Jura, the 
 dancer that was, met her death? " 
 
 Slyne, listening with strained attention now, nodded swift 
 assent. Captain Dove, crouched low on his perch, was 
 gazing at Parish M'Kissock as if fascinated. 
 
 " She shot herself," said the ex-Emir, with the calm cer- 
 tainty of one who can vouch for his facts, " rather than fall 
 into the hands of my men. We had raided a camp of fool 
 tourists who had come too far afield, to find out what the 
 real desert was like, and she was among them. She saw 
 me before she pulled trigger, and knew me, and cried on me 
 to save her child. 
 
 " All the rest were wiped out. But I spared the 
 child, because it had the Jura blood in its veins. It was 
 the Lady Josceline Justice, and she grew up among our 
 tents until she died in my arms the same night I made my 
 unlucky bargain with you, Captain Dove; and I hadn't 
 even the time to bury her ladyship, my dead wife, decently 
 before I put off to your ship! " 
 
 He drew a skeleton-like hand across his sunken eyes and 
 blinked at the blazing logs on the hearth before him. 
 
 " And now you know where the real Lady Josceline Jus- 
 tice is," said he.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 A NEW IDEA 
 
 " A ND now you know where the real Lady Josceline 
 
 f-\ Justice is," said Parish M'Kissock drearily, al- 
 most as if the savour of his overwhelming revenge 
 on all who had wronged him had cloyed already. " The 
 girl you have here 
 
 " Never mind about her," Captain Dove interrupted 
 hoarsely, and darted a quick, furtive glance at Slyne, who 
 looked very much as if he had just been struck on the back 
 of the head with a hammer. " What are you going to do 
 about it? That's all we want to hear from you." 
 
 He had been scarcely less overcome by that most calami- 
 tous disclosure than was his unhappy accomplice. And he 
 did not doubt for a moment that Parish M'Kissock was 
 speaking the truth; although until then he himself had been 
 almost convinced that Sallie must indeed be the dead Earl 
 of Jura's daughter. That possibility had been proven so 
 perfectly probable that even the Court of Chancery had 
 accepted it for a fact. But now 
 
 The sudden and cataclysmic collapse of all his own pros- 
 pects along with hers had spurred Captain Dove's momen- 
 tarily stunned faculties into a perfect frenzy. 
 
 " What are you going to do about it? " he demanded 
 again, imperatively, since the other was slow to answer. 
 
 " I need do nothing more to thwart your fine schemes,"
 
 272 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 said Parish M'Kissock quietly: "for they will fail. Al- 
 though it matters little to me now who may rule here, since 
 the last of the old brood lies dead and unburied in Africa; 
 and she was fond of me, too, as I was of her. 'Twas a 
 notable revenge that I took on them-alll And I think ye '11 
 allow that I've settled old scores handsomely with the both 
 of you two as well. 
 
 " You might maybe murder me yet, to still my tongue, 
 as you're thinking, but that would end as ill for yourselves, 
 and I'm not here for long anyhow. There's nothing in this 
 world or the next that will avail you against me now, 
 and " 
 
 His voice died away, wearily. He was gazing into the flick- 
 ering flames, brooding over his own desperate memories. 
 
 " I might murder you, as you say, and in self-defence 
 at that, Parish," replied Captain Dove, in a tone that he 
 was striving to make more friendly. " But how would 
 it be if we went partners instead? What's the use of cutting 
 your nose off to spite your face? There's surely enough here 
 for all of us. And your share would more than make up to 
 you for " 
 
 The gaunt wreck in the arm-chair beside the fire broke 
 into a low, mocking laugh. 
 
 " It's to close my account with you that I'm here, Cap- 
 tain Dove," said he implacably, " and not to open a new 
 one." 
 
 Captain Dove, his face distorted with impotent fury, 
 darted another devilish look at Slyne, but Slyne was still 
 sitting motionless, staring at the ex-Emir, like one in a 
 trance. Captain Dove glanced again at the stooping figure 
 on the other side of the fireplace, set one foot firm on the 
 floor, and leaped at his enemy like a wild beast.
 
 A NEW IDEA 273 
 
 Parish M'Kissock fought fiercely, with a strength sur- 
 prising in one of his enfeebled appearance, had almost suc- 
 ceeded, indeed, in freeing himself from the old man's vice- 
 like grip before Slyne at last awoke from his lethargy and, 
 of mechanical instinct, came to Captain Dove's assistance. 
 The two of them soon got him down, and then Captain 
 Dove lashed his wrists and ankles securely with a strong 
 fishing-line snatched from a rack on the wall. 
 
 " This way with him now," he panted, and, drawing 
 aside a blind panel in the wainscot of the near wall, dis- 
 closed a low, wide opening, toward which he pulled their 
 prostrate prisoner by the heels. And together they bundled 
 the groaning body down a steep flight of dry stone steps, 
 into an unlighted cell at one side of the dark tunnel below. 
 
 " He'll be safe enough in there," said Captain Dove vin- 
 dictively, as he held up the match he had struck while 
 Slyne, with fumbling fingers, drew its rusty iron outside 
 bolt across the door of the cell. " And it will be easy to get 
 him down the tunnel to the water-gate, too." 
 
 " Can anyone get in by the water-gate? " asked Slyne in 
 a breathless whisper. 
 
 " I have the key in my pocket," Captain Dove answered 
 shortly, and drew the blind panel back into place as they 
 regained the gun-room together. 
 
 There, he made at once for the half-empty decanter upon 
 the table. But Slyne sat down before the fire again, with 
 bent head, as if utterly crushed. 
 
 It was self-evident that he had come to believe implicitly 
 in Sallie's right to the new identity he had bestowed upon 
 her, had never doubted that the proofs on which that belief 
 had been based were anything but genuine/ He could 
 scarcely doubt now that Captain Dove had hoodwinked
 
 274 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 him from first to last, that Parish M'Kissock's story was 
 the real truth of the matter. And, thus in a moment con- 
 fronted with the ruinous outcome of his credulity, he could 
 not yet bring his mind to bear on anything but the utter 
 eclipse of all his own golden dreams, 
 
 " And so that fellow Carthew will be Earl of Jura," lie 
 said suddenly, and looked up at Captain Dove with a hell 
 of hate aflame behind his dull eyes. " And you've been 
 lying to me all along," he said, in a still, dispassionate voice. 
 
 Captain Dove, back in his own chair, better pleased with 
 himself, paused to consider before replying. He had been 
 investigating the pantry and found out how Parish M'Kis- 
 sock had come there. 
 
 " You're wrong, both times," he at length remarked. 
 " I've told you nothing that wasn't the truth. All I've said 
 about Sallie, I can prove up to the hilt. And, anyhow, 
 you've been managing the whole business. You've told me 
 often enough not to butt in! You can't blame me for any 
 mistake that's been made. 
 
 " And, what's more," he went on, marshalling his ideas, 
 " it remains to be proved that there has been any mistake. 
 You're surely not going to take the mere word of a fellow 
 like Parish for that a mutinous second mate I had to 
 maroon to get rid of him. Anyhow, if you're going to lie 
 down and die at his orders, I'm not. D'ye see? " 
 
 Slyne drew a shaky hand across a damp forehead. He 
 was obviously all unstrung. 
 
 " You didn't cast any doubt on his story," he muttered. 
 
 " There was no need," declared Captain Dove. " Let 
 him disprove yours first. It was you who discovered who 
 Sallie should be. I had no idea whose daughter she was 
 and neither had she. You and Jobling it was who put two
 
 A NEW IDEA 275 
 
 and two together and made out four. I don't believe Far- 
 ish M'Kissock, as he calls himself liow could better 
 that." 
 
 "Don't you believe what he said? " asked Slyne. 
 
 " Not me," lied Captain Dove. " The man's mad, that's 
 what's the matter with him. He's probably made the whole 
 thing up, just to get even with us, and knowing that we 
 could do little more than contradict it. But he didn't 
 know that we have the Chancery Court behind us now. 
 And that makes all the difference. We've won and he's 
 lost. D'ye see? 
 
 " I was scared at first, I'll admit when he walked in. 
 It was that infernal ' white lady ' tale of yours that upset 
 me. But you don't believe in ghosts! What's wrong 
 with you is sheer funk." 
 
 But even that insult seemed to have no immediate effect 
 on Slyne, and Captain Dove got up, growling. 
 
 " Here," said he. " Drink this down and try if you 
 can't muster even a little Dutch courage." 
 
 Slyne swallowed, still without a word in retort, the dose 
 of spirit which the old man had poured out for him; and 
 that seemed to restore a little his crippled self-confidence. 
 Some faint spark of hope that all might not yet be lost 
 seemed to have sprung up in his heavy heart. His be- 
 numbed brain was apparently beginning to work again. 
 He sat up, with an effort. 
 
 " But how are we to carry on here? " he asked, in a 
 tone which told how very feeble his faith was. " If any 
 such story gets to the ears of - 
 
 " It will get no farther than it has gone," declared Cap- 
 tain Dove with assured emphasis. " If Parish hasn't told 
 that old hag of a sister of his yet, it stays between you and
 
 276 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 me. We'll make sure of her silence and his. That will 
 be easy enough." 
 
 Slyne sank back into his chair again, and scowled. He 
 did not affect to misunderstand his companion's sinister 
 promptings. 
 
 " Will you undertake to look after them, then? " he stipu- 
 lated, with dire distaste, after further consideration. 
 
 Captain Dove in his turn took time to cogitate over that 
 selfish suggestion. He had no intention whatever of help- 
 ing Slyne at his own hazard. On the contrary, he had al- 
 ready made up his mind to get rid of Slyne at the same time 
 as the other two. But, of course, it was only politic to pre- 
 tend a little reluctance. 
 
 " All right," he agreed at length. " I'll look after them. 
 But you must lend me a hand, if it's necessary. There's 
 no one else I can trust, and we're both in the same boat 
 now. You must lend me a hand, if it's necessary." 
 
 " And what about Carthew? " Slyne demanded, recover- 
 ing himself by degrees under the old man's most matter of 
 fact example. " If he should get any inkling 
 
 "Oh, don't make difficulties! " growled Captain Dove. 
 " What's to hinder our settling his hash the same way as the 
 others? There are only the three of them in our way. We'll 
 make a clean sweep. We'll get him up here we'll send 
 him word that Sallie would like to see him, and the rest 
 will be easy." 
 
 " But, good God! " cried Slyne, " how are you going to 
 account for their disappearance? It's madness " 
 
 " Parish is mad, all right," said Captain Dove reflect- 
 ively. " Which will account for whatever happens to him 
 and his precious sister. If they were both found with 
 broken necks at the foot of this infernal rock, who's going
 
 A NEW IDEA 277 
 
 to make us responsible ? And, as for that fellow Carthew, 
 if we can't explain away his disappearance we'll deserve 
 to lose everything, Slyne. 
 
 " Damn it, man! What are you afraid of! Are you 
 going to throw up the sponge just before the fight's won! " 
 
 " If we were once clear of the three of them, that would 
 leave us perfectly safe," said Slyne, in a voice that was not 
 very steady. " But what if Mrs. M'Kissock knows al- 
 ready " 
 
 " We'll ring for her now and find out," answered Captain 
 Dove with savage decision. " If she seems to know more 
 than she should she can keep her infernal brother com- 
 pany until Brasse comes ashore." 
 
 He rose, and had almost reached the bell-push beside 
 the mantel when the door opened and the Marquis of In- 
 goldsby walked into the room, looking much less imbecile 
 and more of a man in his splashed breeches and boots and 
 spurs. 
 
 Captain Dove glared at him. 
 
 " Howdy do, Captain Dubb," said his lordship, politely, 
 after peering through his eye-glass at Slyne. " Glad to see 
 you again. Lady Josceline told me I would probably find 
 you here, and I want to talk to you about her." 
 
 He let his eyeglass drop and helped himself to a brandy 
 and soda. Slyne was staring at him. Captain Dove was 
 dumb. 
 
 " I've just been askin' her to marry me," his lordship re- 
 marked, after slaking his thirst. And, as he paused to light 
 a cigarette, "The devil you have!" exclaimed Captain 
 Dove, considering that idea. 
 
 " She said she couldn't," Lord Ingoldsby mentioned, 
 straddling across the hearth-rug, his hands on his hips, dis-
 
 278 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 regarding Slyne's presence entirely now. "But she 
 wouldn't tell me why. And I thought I'd ask you, don't 
 y'know. So far as I can understand, you're her nearest 
 livin' relative her stepfather, or godfather, or some- 
 thin' of that sort, what? And I thought that maybe you 
 wouldn't mind talkin' over the matter with me." 
 
 Captain Dove scratched his head. He could see that 
 Slyne was watching him very closely. It had no doubt 
 flashed through Slyne's mind as through his own that here 
 was a providential by-path of escape, for him at least, from 
 his present predicament; that, if all else went askew, Sallie 
 might prove profitable enough, to him at least, as the Mar- 
 chioness of Ingoldsby. For had not Mr. Jobling stated that 
 the young man before the fire was one of the wealthiest 
 peers in England or elsewhere. 
 
 " I don't want to over-hurry her, y'know," said the noble 
 marquis, " and, maybe, I've been a bit sudden. But I've 
 been huntin' high and low for her ever since I last saw 
 her, and here I am, don't y'know. So I thought I'd ask 
 her." 
 
 " Didn't you hear me tell you in Monte Carlo that Lady 
 Josceline is engaged to marry me? " Slyne broke in, with a 
 sudden access of anger, since Captain Dove still seemed to 
 have nothing to say. 
 
 " That's so," said Captain Dove slowly. " She's engaged 
 to this gentleman on conditions." 
 
 Lord Ingoldsby screwed his eyeglass into his face and 
 gravely regarded Slyne again. 
 
 " But she's not married to him yet," said he. " And - 
 it's a woman's privilege to change her mind. Besides, if her 
 engagement is only conditional " 
 
 " We needn't discuss it just now," Captain Dove put in
 
 A NEW IDEA 279 
 
 with unusual diplomacy. He could see that Slyne was liable 
 to explode dangerously at any moment. 
 
 " All right, then/' said Lord Ingoldsby in a tone of great 
 determination. " I'll just have to do the best I can for 
 myself." And, having finished his light refreshment, he 
 strolled off again, taking not the slightest notice of Slyne's 
 very obvious indignation. 
 
 As soon as he was safely out of earshot, Slyne fell foul of 
 Captain Dove, who listened patiently enough to all he had 
 to say. 
 
 " But I'm not interfering," said the old man. " All that 
 sort of thing lies between you and her, Slyne. If you can 
 get her to marry you right away " 
 
 " Of course I can if you back me up," Slyne declared 
 wrathfully. " And you've got to do that now, Dove for 
 your own sake. We're both in the same boat, remember, 
 and if it upsets, we'll both drown. I'll make quite sure of 
 that. 
 
 "So we'll get hold of Sallie now before the thing goes 
 any further and settle that question for good."
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 BY RIGHT OF PURCHASE 
 
 SALLIE had been far too happily occupied since she 
 had come to Loquhariot to have been conscious of the 
 wheels within wheels revolving about her there. 
 
 She could scarcely at once accustom herself to look upon 
 the great, grey, age-old castle as her home; but there was 
 Janet M'Kissock always eager to help her in that respect, 
 with endless stories of bygone days which made the place 
 seem always more familiar and friendly to her. She grew, 
 by degrees, to know and love it almost as if she had lived 
 there all her life. 
 
 It was much more difficult to grasp the idea that the whole 
 of the beautiful white world beyond its windows was also 
 hers, and hers alone; from the rugged, snow-clad moun- 
 tains towering behind and on either hand, even to the Small 
 Isles, like bergs in the sun amid the smoking seas in that 
 turbulent weather. But Slyne missed no opportunity to 
 impress that important fact upon her. And she was finding 
 it always easier to forget her unhappy past, to enjoy the 
 marvellous present and the most inspiriting part in it, to 
 leave the over-difficult future to evolve itself. 
 
 The men and women about the place were all devoted to 
 her. She had very soon won the staunch good-will of the 
 cottagers at the cliff-foot. And her soft sway was every- 
 where undisputed, although Slyne had at first been inclined
 
 BY RIGHT OF PURCHASE 281 
 
 to contest it himself. But he soon seemed to realise that 
 it would be best, in the meantime, to order events from the 
 background and in her voice. 
 
 He had shown some disposition, too, to question the ex- 
 tent of the liberty she might now assume to herself. But he 
 had not pressed that point unduly either, and they con- 
 tinued on that footing of pleasant comradeship which he 
 had been at such ceaseless pains to promote. His deb- 
 onair courtesy to her, his easy deference to most of her 
 wishes, were very different indeed from his off-hand manner 
 of former days. And she could not but be grateful to him, 
 in the meantime, for the almost over-ample fulfilment of 
 his original promise. 
 
 Regarding her pledge to him, he had said nothing more, 
 although she spent long afternoons and evenings in his 
 company when the weather was at its worst, while Mr. 
 Jobling was away. Captain Dove left the two of them very 
 much to themselves, and Slyne had offered to teach her 
 to play billiards, to pass the time. 
 
 She would have been entirely content, indeed, but for 
 the hardship her coming had entailed on Justin Carthew. 
 She had met him more than once out of doors, and he had 
 always seemed pleased to see her, but it was of common 
 report that he was a poor man, and she could not help 
 feeling that he had shown himself very much more generous 
 to her than she to him. She found comfort, however, in the 
 conclusion that circumstances were quite beyond her con- 
 trol, and that he would understand better by and by the 
 complications through which she had had to find her way 
 as best she could. 
 
 She had gone down to the village on the afternoon when 
 the Olive Branch arrived in the loch, and she walked back
 
 282 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 as far as the castle with Carthew. The reappearance of that 
 ill-omened craft had alarmed her more than a little, and 
 she could see that Carthew was becoming always more 
 sorely puzzled. But he had promised her to await events 
 without question for three short months; and he was keep- 
 ing his promise loyally. She could have told him nothing, 
 in any case. 
 
 She met Slyne in the hall, on her way indoors, and he 
 reassured her as to her perfect safety from any further risk 
 of evil-doing by Captain Dove. He pointed out, too, that 
 the steamer's crew was too scanty now to cope with the 
 force he could call to her aid from the village in case the old 
 man should attempt to make any mischief, which was most 
 unlikely. And she went on to her own cosy quarters, quite 
 content again. 
 
 She was changing her outdoor dress for one of her pretty 
 Parisian tea-gowns, when word was brought her that the 
 Duchess of Dawn and Lord Ingoldsby had come across the 
 mountains to pay her a call. 
 
 She remembered Lord Ingoldsby, and wondered what 
 could have brought him to Loquhariot. The idea of en- 
 tertaining a duchess dismayed her a little; she had no 
 notion at all what the conventions called for under cir- 
 cumstances so unusual in her own experience although 
 Slyne had been at some pains to explain a number of 
 other conventions to her. But she went along to the blue 
 drawing-room at once, and was relieved to find Slyne 
 there before her, unconcernedly chatting with a very 
 beautiful young woman in a sadly splashed habit, her 
 back to the fire, booted feet a little apart, hunting-crop 
 in clasped hands, laughter in her clear eyes; while 
 Lord Ingoldsby, looking much less imbecile and more
 
 BY RIGHT OF PURCHASE 283 
 
 of a man in his travel-soiled riding-kit, stood listening 
 gloomily. 
 
 His face cleared at sight of Sallie, however. " Here's 
 Lady Josceline, Aunt Jane," he cried, and the duchess, after 
 a single swift, appraising glance at her, came forward with 
 outstretched hands and kissed her without any more ado. 
 
 "Oh! my dear," said the duchess impulsively, " you 
 can't imagine what a relief you are. Ingoldsby has been 
 simply raving about you, and I was so anxious, don't 
 you know. But I don't blame him now. 
 
 "I've seen you before, too one night at the Savoy. If 
 I had only known then who you were But some one 
 said you were a Miss Harris ! You've kept it all such a close 
 secret! We wouldn't have known even now if we hadn't 
 heard, quite by chance, that the beacon had been lighted 
 one night. And we've been wondering ever since So 
 you must tell me all about everything now, if you will." 
 And she drew Sallie down beside her on a low couch at one 
 side of the white marble fireplace, leaving the two men to 
 their own devices while she went on to explain herself no 
 less volubly. 
 
 " It was madness, of course, to cross the Pass in weather 
 like this, but Ingoldsby would give me no peace; and 
 I've been so curious myself to find out who could be here. 
 I'm your nearest neighbour, you know, although Castle 
 Dawn is ten miles away; those are worse than twenty any- 
 where else. So, when the rain stopped this forenoon we 
 set out and here we are, covered with mud! The road's 
 in a dreadful state, but you must come over and stay with 
 me as soon as the bridges are mended. We're going to be 
 great friends. I knew your father although I'm not 
 quite so old as you might imagine from that, for I wasn't
 
 284 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 out of short petticoats the last time he spoke to me. And, 
 as for being the aunt of that scapegrace there, he's five 
 years older than I am in years and fifty in " 
 
 " Don't be too rough on a fellah, Aunt Jane! " interrupted 
 her noble nephew, who had been regarding Sallie with fixed 
 vacuity through his eyeglass. " An' don't you believe all 
 you hear about me, Lady Josceline: I'm not so black as 
 I'm painted, at any rate." 
 
 " He's been simply raving about you," the duchess de- 
 clared again, in a laughing whisper. " I couldn't imagine 
 what had brought him down to Dawn in midwinter, until 
 he confided in me that he had been searching the wide world 
 for you ever since he met you first: and he imagined that 
 you might, after all, be here, at home." 
 
 She had a great many questions to ask Sallie then, ques- 
 tions which Sallie, in such a situation, might have found it 
 very difficult to answer but for Jasper Slyne's sharp ears 
 and tactful tongue. And the duchess was not slow to under- 
 stand. 
 
 " Of course you fan't confide in me yet," she declared 
 laughingly. " But some day you must tell me all your ad- 
 ventures. Your home-coming after all these years will make 
 a nine days' wonder once the papers get to hear of it." 
 
 A servant came in to light the lamps, and Slyne sauntered 
 to a window before the curtains were drawn. 
 
 " It's snowing again, Ingoldsby," said he. " You won't 
 get back to Dawn to-night." 
 
 The duchess looked a little alarmed, but was soon laugh- 
 ing again. 
 
 " All right," she agreed, in response to Sallie's prompt 
 proffer of hospitality. " I'll be most happy to stay over- 
 night and so will Ingoldsby, I'm sure."
 
 BY RIGHT OF PURCHASE 285 
 
 " I'll go and let Mrs. M'Kissock know," Slyne volun- 
 teered. " Will you look into the gun-room when you pass, 
 Lady Josceline? " 
 
 " Is old Janet still here? " the duchess asked as he left 
 the room. " I must have a chat with her. She and I used 
 to be great friends before when Torquil St. Just was still 
 alive and my mother would bring me over to Loquhariot 
 when she came to call on yours. I was Jane Gairloch in 
 those days." 
 
 Lord Ingoldsby sat listening very patiently for a time 
 while they talked to each other, and then he became pos- 
 sessed by a strangled cough to which the duchess paid 
 no attention. 
 
 " You might give a fellah a chance, Aunt Jane," he at 
 length suggested desperately, and she rose from the couch 
 with a most penitent expression. 
 
 " Bless my heart, child! " she said. " I had almost for- 
 gotten But I'll go and talk to old Janet now." And 
 she disappeared without other apology. 
 
 Sallie looked surprised. But Lord Ingoldsby, having 
 cleared his throat again, claimed her attention. 
 
 " You've no idea, Lady Josceline," he said hurriedly, 
 " what a deuce of a bat I've been in for nearly a fortnight. 
 I was afraid I'd never find you again. And, now that 
 I've found you, don't y'know, what I want to say to you 
 is- It's very difficult to express But I mean - 
 What I'm trying to tell you is that I thought we might 
 maybe make a match of it. Will you marry me, Lady 
 Josceline? " 
 
 Sallie looked still more surprised. But she was not slow 
 in answering such a preposterous question. 
 
 " I can't," she said, concisely.
 
 286 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 " But why not? " he cried. " For heaven's sake! don't 
 go so fast. Give me time to 
 
 " Time couldn't make any difference," she said, seeing 
 that he was very much in earnest. " I can't " 
 
 " But why not? " he insisted. " Is is there some 
 one else already? It's not that fellah I met in Monte Carlo 
 with you, I'm sure; he's such a rank outsider you 
 couldn't care for him, I'm sure. And why not give me just 
 a chance to show you - 
 
 " There's nothing I wouldn't do for you, Lady Josceline. 
 Give me just a chance." 
 
 " I can't," she repeated for the third time, and he stared 
 at her as if in abject despair. 
 
 " Why can't you? " he demanded in a difficult, husky 
 voice. 
 
 She could scarcely answer that question, a question which 
 he had no right to ask. But she felt sorry for him in his 
 very obvious disappointment. 
 
 " If you care to ask Captain Dove, perhaps he will tell 
 you," she said, unable to think of any other safe way out 
 of that difficulty, and not caring very much what Captain 
 Dove might say. 
 
 But Lord Ingoldsby was not so easily to be got rid of. 
 He stayed where he was, arguing and imploring by turns 
 until his youthful aunt appeared again, looking somewhat 
 serious; she seemed to take in the situation between 
 them at a shrewd glance. 
 
 He left the room then for a little, and when he returned 
 Sallie and the duchess were on the point of retiring. 
 
 " I'm going to have a hot bath and a rest before dinner, 
 Ingoldsby," his aunt informed him. 
 
 " Your rooms will be ready now, too," Sallie added,
 
 BY RIGHT OF PURCHASE 217 
 
 unwilling to be left alone there with him again. And he 
 went off, very glumly, under convoy of a servant, toward 
 the bachelor apartments in the Warder's Tower. 
 
 Sallie saw the duchess settled in the suite which had 
 been prepared for her, and having provided her with a 
 plentiful choice of evening frocks, went on to the gun-room, 
 to see what Slyne wanted with her. 
 
 Captain Dove and he were seated on either side of the 
 fireplace, and looked round rather uncertainly as she came 
 into the room. 
 
 "I've made the duchess quite comfortable, Jasper," she 
 said with a smile, " and she's been exceedingly nice to me. 
 I hope you'll look as well after Lord Ingoldsby." 
 
 " I've told them to give him the run of my wardrobe," 
 Slyne answered indifferently. " So he'll be all right. 
 
 " And what I wanted to say to you, Sallie, is that 
 I've just heard All my hard work for you has been suc- 
 cessful at last," he stammered, in a changed voice. " The 
 claim I made for you has been allowed by the law. We're 
 all going up to London to-morrow to get matters finally 
 settled, and then you'll be Countess of Jura in your own 
 right." 
 
 He paused, effectively. Captain Dove was glancing 
 from one to the other of them with judicial gravity. 
 
 " So that you can keep your promise to me now, without 
 any further delay," said Slyne. " I want you to tell the 
 others at dinner to-night that you've chosen me for your 
 husband." 
 
 The happy light in her eyes died out instantly. A faint 
 frown furrowed her smooth white forehead. Her curved 
 lips trembled a little. The old unhappiness and dread were 
 plucking at her heart again. But she did not shirk the issue.
 
 288 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 " But you agreed to wait for three months, Jasper," 
 she said in a low, pleading voice. 
 
 " That was only in case it took so long to fix things up 
 for you," he lied easily. " Our signed agreement makes that 
 quite clear, and it's absolutely binding, you know. Mr. 
 Jobling will tell you that and he's a lawyer." 
 
 She was gazing at him with something very like horror 
 in her wide eyes. 
 
 " Was that in the paper I signed? " she asked breath- 
 lessly. But her lips had grown set and resolute. " I 
 thought " 
 
 " You must have misunderstood me, then," Slyne inter- 
 rupted with assumed impatience. " But you signed it 
 of your own free will, before responsible witnesses. I've 
 kept my part of our bargain; and now you must keep 
 yours, or the law will make you." 
 
 Her heart was beating almost painfully. To her, in her 
 ignorance, the law was merely an instrument of injustice. 
 She believed herself to be bound without hope of release by 
 the document she had signed, and that the same inexorable 
 law which had, only the other day, ruined Justin Carthew 
 to raise her up in his place, would now force her to abide 
 by whatever was written above her disastrous signature. 
 The whole fair fabric of that wonderful new world to which 
 she had so recently gained admittance had in these minutes 
 come tumbling about her ears. And the crash of its falling 
 palaces left her helpless and stupefied. She looked dizzily 
 round at Captain Dove. But his features were quite un- 
 readable. 
 
 " There's another point, Sallie," said Slyne, all his quick 
 wits at work again as he saw the impression his words had 
 made, determined to hammer home every argument that
 
 BY RIGHT OF PURCHASE 289 
 
 might weigh with her in her ignorance, " another point 
 that I'd never have mentioned if you had been prepared to 
 deal fairly with me after all I've done for you." 
 
 She shivered at that further thrust; she, who had never 
 dealt unfairly with either friend or enemy. 
 
 " Even without your promise, you're mine by right 
 of purchase. You were Captain Dove's property before, 
 as you know very well. He bought you and paid for you. 
 And he sold you to me, to save you from a worse master. 
 
 " You can't say now that you didn't know what was 
 ahead of you, for I told you, in Genoa. And I gave you a 
 last chance, too, before we left Monte Carlo, to draw back 
 and go your own way with him. Now you're doubly mine. 
 Ask him, if you don't believe me." 
 
 The girl glanced in agonised appeal at the old man sitting 
 motionless in his chair, his eyes on the ground. But Captain 
 Dove merely nodded, like some mechanical figure. 
 
 Slyne scowled, as if at an end of his patience, and, strid- 
 ing across to the door, locked it, pocketing the key. 
 
 " However," said he, " I'm not going to argue with you. 
 I've evidently wasted my time in treating you reasonably. 
 Now, there are only two courses open to you. You can 
 come my way, with me, or " 
 
 He crossed the room again and pulled back the loose 
 panel in the wainscot, pointed to the dark cavity it had 
 concealed. 
 
 " There's a boat from the Olive Branch at the water-gate 
 at the end of this passage. You're perfectly free to go back 
 on board with Captain Dove, and if you do, I wish you 
 joy of your choice. I'm maybe not much of a catch as a 
 husband, but " He left the inference unspoken, sig- 
 nificantly, daring her to go back to that dreadful fate by
 
 290 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 hinting at which he had once before forced her to change 
 her mind. 
 
 Captain Dove got on to his feet with a puzzled scowl. 
 Slyne had turned aside, to light a couple of candles, as if in 
 preparation for a descent underground. 
 
 Captain Dove slowly drew the back of one hand across 
 his mouth and from behind it whispered a few words to 
 Sallie. " Humour him just now," he advised with sup- 
 pressed vehemence. "I'll see you safe." 
 
 " Well? " Slyne demanded and came toward her. 
 " Which is it to be? Time's up." 
 
 His hands hung open but tense at his sides. His teeth 
 were set between parted lips, his knees bent a little as he 
 braced himself to spring at her wrists before she could make 
 any movement in self-defence. Captain Dove had stepped 
 up behind her and she did not doubt that, unless she fell in 
 with their wishes, they meant now to overpower her and 
 carry her off. 
 
 She did not move for a moment, but her clouded eyes 
 slowly cleared, and Slyne, studying her features intently, 
 relaxed his own strained attitude a little as if in fore- 
 knowledge of final success. 
 
 Sallie's expression of utter despair had given place to 
 one of resignation, almost of peace. She had made up her 
 mind to have done with the seemingly endless, unequal 
 struggle. 
 
 " Very well, Jasper," she said slowly at last, in a very 
 hurtful voice. " You may tell the others whatever you 
 like at dinner to-night, if you'll wait till then." 
 
 Captain Dove drew back and returned to his chair, as 
 if satisfied for the moment. Slyne's dogged glance had 
 dropped before the tragedy in her eyes.
 
 BY RIGHT OF PURCHASE 291 
 
 " You can surely trust me, Sallie," he said, " after all 
 I've done for you. And, listen ! I'm not trying to rush you, 
 either. If you'll tell the others at dinner to-night just that 
 you take me for your husband I'll wait till the end of 
 the three months for our real wedding in church." 
 
 She could not quite understand what he really wanted, 
 and looked her perplexity. But her mind was made up. 
 She meant to keep any promise she might have made him, 
 whether in writing or otherwise, and even mistakenly. 
 
 " Will you let me go now ? " she begged brokenly, and 
 he went to open the door for her. 
 
 " You'll say nothing about it to anyone till the time 
 comes," he stipulated before he would turn the key, and 
 to that also she agreed with a nod, not trusting herself to 
 speak. 
 
 She was very thankful that she met no one on her way 
 to her own rooms, for her eyes were wet. She had never 
 felt so utterly forlorn and friendless as now. There was no 
 one in whom she might safely confide, no one who could 
 help her safely past the promise into which she had been 
 tricked, that promise to which, she did not doubt, the law 
 would hold her firmly. And, in any case, she could not have 
 gone back on board the Olive Branch to a fate even worse. 
 
 Ambrizette was awaiting her, to dress her for dinner, but, 
 on a sudden impulse, she sat down at the escritoire in her 
 boudoir to write a few hurried lines to Carthew. She 
 thought she would like to see him again, before 
 
 Her letter ready, she bade Ambrizette ring the bell. It 
 was the maid Mairi who answered it, and, when Sallie 
 looked up again, she saw that the girl was silently crying. 
 
 " What's the matter, Mairi? " she asked in her gentle 
 voice, forgetting her own cruel cares for the moment, and
 
 292 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 at that the half-hysterical maid broke into a storm of unin- 
 telligible explanations in Gaelic, with here and there a 
 broken sentence that Sallie could understand. 
 
 Her heavy-hearted mistress rose and put a protecting 
 arm about her. 
 
 " You must tell me what the trouble is," said Sallie 
 softly, " and I'll try to help you. What is it that has gone 
 wrong? " 
 
 " Ochon ochon ochanorie! " the girl sobbed. " It is 
 for your ladyship not for me and I was not to tell you, 
 whatever. But it is not right at all that I must not 
 speak. Your ladyship should be told in time it is that 
 the White Lady has come to the castle again and 
 there will be doom to follow before daylight. Ochon, 
 ochon! " 
 
 Sallie shivered in spite of herself, as she recalled the un- 
 canny legend which Mr. Jobling had related on the evening 
 of their arrival. She had scarcely thought of it since, but 
 now 
 
 " Who has seen the White Lady, Mairi? " she asked pa- 
 tiently, and the girl grew a little calmer. 
 
 " I, with my own eyes, your ladyship," she declared. 
 " It was at a turn of the passage not far from Mistress 
 M'Kissock's room. And I did not run from it, moreover. 
 I stood and watched till it disappeared, for I was afraid to 
 move. And Mistress M'Kissock will say that it is all 
 havers and nonsense, but I am sure. For it was seen in 
 the woods as well, on the way to the hut that was Lord 
 St. Just's, and Donuil Mohr, the forester, it was who saw 
 it there." 
 
 Sallie sighed. She did not know what to think of it all, 
 she who had so much else to think about. But she com-
 
 BY RIGHT OF PURCHASE 293 
 
 forted the distressed Main, and presently sent her off on 
 her errand, dry-eyed at last, and with word for the other 
 servants that her ladyship was not in the least afraid of 
 any such shadow seen in the dusk. 
 
 Sallie had almost forgotten the matter, indeed, before 
 Ambrizette much exercised in her mind by her beloved 
 mistress's very evident and unusual preoccupation had 
 finished brushing out her beautiful hair and heaped it about 
 her bent head in a heavy red-gold crown. When her toilette 
 was quite complete, she looked wistfully round the luxurious 
 rooms in which she had dreamed such happy dreams, and 
 then went quietly through, a tall, slender, white-robed 
 figure herself in the firelight, to one of the windows that 
 look down Loch Jura and out to sea. She stopped there, 
 and stayed for a time gazing out at the silver sheen of the 
 ripple among which the Small Isles were set. The snow 
 had ceased for the moment, but it looked as if there were 
 more to come. 
 
 She looked directly downward, at the quiet village be- 
 low. There was only a single light visible, and that at the 
 inn. It was suddenly extinguished and Sallie turned away 
 from the window. 
 
 " I wonder I think he will come," she told herself, if 
 a little doubtfully, as she passed through her boudoir again 
 on her way to rejoin her guests; she paused for an instant 
 to throw two warm, white arms about Ambrizette watch- 
 ing her as she went, out of dog-like eyes with a world of 
 dumb devotion in them. 
 
 " I think he will come," she encouraged herself as she 
 entered the distant drawing-room. " He promised 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Herries! " 
 
 She had stopped, a little startled, at sight of the solitary
 
 294 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 figure before the fire. But it was none other than the old 
 factor, a very cadaverous spectacle in evening clothes much 
 too ample for one so emaciated, who came forward with a 
 hasty apology for his intrusion. 
 
 " I'm quite well again now," he assured her, in reply to 
 her anxious questions, " and I thought I would risk 
 taking the liberty if you will grant me permission to sit 
 at table with you to-night. I always had that privilege 
 with the earl." 
 
 Sallie thought she knew his real reason for being there, 
 and it touched her sore heart to think that he was so eager 
 to be at her side, sick or well, while the strange portent of 
 which Main had told her was still impending. 
 
 " Do you really believe in the White Lady, Mr. Herries? " 
 she asked with a little laugh that was half a sigh, as she put 
 her hands into his and so set him down on a chair. 
 
 " I couldn't exactly say either yes or no," the old man 
 answered with native caution. " But, at any rate, I've 
 never seen any such nonsense myself." 
 
 " I don't," declared Sallie, with simple conviction, and, 
 turning as some one else entered the room, " He w ill 
 come," said she to herself.
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 THE WHITE LADY 
 
 AS Carthew, at the brink of the smooth plateau before 
 the hut on the cliffs looked round instinctively, he 
 caught sight of a tall white shadow that seemed to 
 be moving toward him through the gloom among the tree- 
 trunks. The evening was drawing in. He had thought he 
 was quite alone there. He went round outside the hut to 
 see what that stealthy shape might be. 
 
 He heard a sudden rustling not far away, and saw Captain 
 Dove spring up from behind a bush to gaze about appre- 
 hensively. It flashed across his mind that Captain Dove 
 must have been dogging him. He stayed where he was, 
 watching the old man's precipitate flight followed by the 
 figure in cloak and hood, which had darted a horrified, dis- 
 believing glance of recognition at himself as it passed but 
 was evidently too intent on its pursuit to pause. 
 
 Carthew had recognised it too, although it passed his 
 understanding altogether to conceive how his own old 
 enemy could have come to Loquhariot. He was, indeed, 
 so taken aback at sight of the Emir El Parish there, and in 
 such a state, that it was some minutes later before he had 
 recovered his wits sufficiently to follow the trail of the 
 strange chase he had witnessed. 
 
 He was too late then, and it was already dark. But L* 
 ranged the woods for some time before he would give up
 
 296 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 his anxious quest. He felt very much inclined to call at 
 the castle and come to some understanding with Captain 
 Dove. But his promise to Sallie prevented him. He 
 must keep that at all costs. Until the three months' grace 
 she had begged should be up, he must continue to possess 
 his soul in patience or otherwise. 
 
 But now that would be even more difficult than it 
 had lately become. For, until now, he had quietly acqui- 
 esced in all that had happened because he could not help 
 either her or himself. But now the proof he had lacked 
 could be obtained from El Parish ; proof that Sallie was 
 usurping a dead woman's name and place. 
 
 He walked down the hill to the inn with his chin on his 
 chest, wondering what the upshot would be if he should take 
 Sallie herself into his confidence. But he was afraid to do 
 that. He felt almost sure that, if she found out from him 
 how she herself had been imposed upon, he might forthwith 
 give up his dearest hope. 
 
 On the little green board in the hallway of the Jura Arms, 
 he found two letters awaiting him. The steamer which had 
 arrived that afternoon had evidently brought a belated 
 mail. He noticed incuriously that his two correspondents 
 were Messrs. Bolder & Bolder, of Lincoln's Inn Fields, 
 London, W. C., and the Western lawyer who had arranged 
 the mortgage of his ranch. Then he laid the letters aside 
 and sat down on the edge of his truckle-bed with a 
 pipe. ^ 
 
 A little later the maid-of-all-work knocked at his door 
 with a note from the castle. He opened it and read it at 
 once. Then he called after her to order a conveyance for 
 him, and began to hunt out his evening clothes in a hurry. 
 He had only half an hour in which to change and get to the
 
 THE WHITE LADY 297 
 
 castle again. He was going to dine there, with Sallie 
 who signed her name as Josceline Justice. 
 
 All the previous timid invitations which she had extended 
 to him when he had chanced to meet her out of doors he had 
 refused. But to-night he felt that it might be unwise to 
 absent himself some premonition of trouble impending 
 caused him to frown at himself in his glass as he hastily 
 patted a white tie into its place. 
 
 He paused to open his mail before leaving his room. The 
 first letter briefly begged to inform him that the mortgage 
 on his ranch had not been met on the due date and, failing 
 an immediate remittance, must be called in with all costs. 
 The second told him no less concisely that Sallie's claim to 
 his title and inheritance had, to all intents and purposes, 
 been recognised and admitted as valid by the Court of 
 Chancery, expressed Messrs. Bolder & Bolder's polite re- 
 grets over the disappointment which that could not but 
 occasion him, and served to enclose a small account of theirs 
 against him, still outstanding. He put them both in the 
 fire and hurried downstairs. 
 
 He was a little late in reaching the castle, but found the 
 company still in the drawing-room; and, as Sallie came 
 forward to greet him, a little look of belated contentment 
 crept into her tired eyes. 
 
 "I'm glad you were able to come," was all she said in 
 answer to his apologies, and turned to present him to the 
 Duchess of Dawn, with whom Slyne was chatting, two very 
 aristocratic figures, the young duchess a ravishing picture 
 in one of Sallie's Parisian gowns, Slyne elegant as always 
 in evening clothes. 
 
 Lord Ingoldsby, less perfectly fitted and with more than 
 one crease in his white waistcoat, nodded indifferently to
 
 298 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 Carthew and intercepted Sallie as she introduced the young 
 American to him. So Carthew turned to congratulate Mr. 
 Herries on his recovery. Captain Dove and Mr. Jobling 
 had carefully avoided his eyes. That had been a somewhat 
 awkward moment for all of them, and Carthew, although his 
 own conscience was clear as regarded the other men, was 
 glad that dinner was promptly announced. 
 
 That was the first time he had seen the banquet-hall 
 under such conditions, and he blinked at the vista dis- 
 played as the big double doors were drawn apart. 
 
 The dinner-table in the distance was ablaze under its 
 branching candelabra, in each of which were burning num- 
 berless wicks under v silken shades. The silver girandoles 
 above the butler's buffet beyond it were no less dazzling, 
 while everywhere else a warm dusk deepened into almost 
 absolute darkness wherever the glow from the still log-fires 
 could not penetrate. 
 
 The table appointments seemed to be the most splendid 
 the castle could boast. Carthew could catch the dull glint 
 of gold plate on the buffet. Eight heavy, high-backed chairs 
 of black carved oak were set about the white oasis that the 
 table made on the dark floor. Behind each stood a silent 
 footman, tartan-kilted, tanned of face above a spacious 
 white shirt-front which showed off an old-fashioned doublet 
 handsomely. 
 
 Slyne was leading the Duchess of Dawn to her seat. Lord 
 Ingoldsby had Sallie upon his arm: and Mr. Jobling hov- 
 ered close at her other shoulder. She sat down between 
 them, with his sullen lordship on her right facing the effu- 
 sive lawyer. And Carthew, following, noticed that she 
 looked round once or twice in his own direction. Captain 
 Dove, a queer-looking figure, had seated himself at Slyne's
 
 THE WHITE LADY 299* 
 
 side, opposite the duchess, and Herries took the chair be- 
 tween him and Lord Ingoldsby, leaving Carthew next the 
 duchess. 
 
 The piper made his appearance according to the time- 
 honoured tradition, and marched twice round the table 
 while the oaken rafters overhead rang to the dirl of the dance 
 he drew from his chanter. It was undoubtedly a picturesque 
 if somewhat deafening preliminary to dinner, thought 
 Carthew, looking on much interested at the ceremonial 
 which should have been his prerogative instead of Sallie's. 
 And, as the man withdrew to the inner corridor, Carthew 
 encountered Captain Dove's furtive glance. 
 
 But it fell instantly, and the old man went on contem- 
 platively crumbling the roll before him. He seemed to be 
 in a somewhat somnolent mood. It occurred to Carthew 
 that he must have been drinking a good deal before dinner. 
 
 A brisk conversation had been begun at Sallie's end of the 
 table, where Mr. Jobling and Lord Ingoldsby were both 
 talking to her at once. Slyne was entertaining the duchess. 
 Carthew exchanged a casual remark or two across the table 
 with Herries and then was drawn into a laughing discussion 
 with the duchess, in which Slyne also took part, suave but 
 by no means friendly toward Carthew. And so course of 
 the stately dinner succeeded course. 
 
 More than once, Carthew wished that it were well over. 
 There seemed to be something in the air that affected his 
 nerves unpleasantly. His eyes were always meeting Sallie's 
 and it seemed to him that it was costing her also no little 
 effort to maintain any interest in the trivialities of the 
 table. 
 
 He felt sure that both Captain Dove and Slyne had some 
 secret on their minds. But whether that affected her and
 
 300 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 him he had no means of finding out. The coming of El 
 Parish had further complicated a situation already compli- 
 cated almost beyond his mental powers. He felt quite 
 impotent to cope with it, under the added handicap of his 
 promise to Sallie. He felt as though his promise in some 
 sense made him a party to the unspeakably cruel deception 
 which must have been practised on her, and that she might 
 perhaps be justified in blaming him when she should find 
 out as she surely must that her presence there was 
 no more than part of a fraudulent masquerade. He was 
 afraid to think how she might deal with him on that score 
 when he should offer her, as he intended to do whenever 
 he should find himself free to speak, himself and his earl- 
 dom, for what that was worth. 
 
 It suddenly occurred to him that he might find out some- 
 thing concerning El Parish from Captain Dove. All the 
 others but Herries and he were busy. Carthew spoke to 
 Herries across the table. 
 
 " I had a queer adventure this afternoon," he said, " at 
 the hut on the cliffs near the head of the loch." 
 
 The old factor nodded. " That was Lord St. Just's work- 
 shop, Mr. Carthew," he mentioned. 
 
 " Well, I went up there to see how the timber had stood 
 the storm, as you told me. And, just before turning into 
 the woods, I took a notion to see what was over the edge 
 it seemed to me that a good stout railing was badly wanted 
 there." 
 
 Herries nodded again. " That's so," he assented, lower- 
 ing his voice. " It's a very dangerous spot. That was 
 where Lord St. Just lost his life. But now no one ever 
 goes near the hut." 
 
 Carthew glanced at Cfeptain Dove. But the old man's
 
 THE WHITE LADY 301 
 
 eyes were quite unreadable behind his smoked glasses. He 
 was listening indifferently. 
 
 " I can't imagine," Carthew went on, " what it was that 
 suddenly made me look round, but I did. And I caught a 
 glimpse of a most uncanny figure watching me from among 
 the undergrowth about the trees behind. It was all in 
 white, with a hood pulled over its head." 
 
 A lull in the conversation elsewhere left only his voice 
 audible. The attention of the others had been attracted, 
 and even the soft-footed servants seemed to be hanging 
 upon his words. Sallie looked surprised, puzzled, even a 
 little afraid. Captain Dove's features spoke a gnawing 
 anxiety now. Slyne's close-set, unfriendly eyes were fixed 
 intently upon him. 
 
 " That gave me a cold scare," Carthew continued, almost 
 inclined to wish that he had not mentioned the matter at 
 all. " I'm not quite acclimatised yet to such apparitions. 
 So I dodged behind the hut for shelter and to get a better 
 look at it. But it made off again, almost immediately, in 
 the direction of the castle. 
 
 " I chased after it in a minute or two but I was too late. 
 It had disappeared. And I've been wondering ever since, 
 who and what it could have been," he finished, his 
 eyes, meeting Captain Dove's, expressing only innocent 
 inquiry. 
 
 The footman behind him dropped a plate, and the crash 
 that produced startled every one more than it need have. 
 An atmosphere of strained expectancy and unrest seemed 
 to pervade the shadowy banquet-hall. Even Lord In- 
 goldsby, who had been regarding Carthew with sulky ill- 
 will, could not but notice it. 
 
 " Isn't there a tame ghost of some sort about Loqu-
 
 302 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 hariot? " he asked Sallie, and, catching the duchess's eye, 
 shrank into himself again under the glance she darted at 
 him. 
 
 " Not another word about wraiths and spectres! " his 
 youthful aunt ordered briskly. " We don't want our dinner 
 spoiled with any such nonsense. The White Lady isn't a 
 subject for table-talk, Ingoldsby. We've a skeleton in the 
 cupboard at Dawn, too, you know, as every respectable 
 Highland family has. But I fancy that what Mr. Carthew 
 really saw to-day was simply some snow-laden bush." 
 
 " Dawn must be a very beautiful old place," Slyne re- 
 marked to the duchess, and Lord Ingoldsby turned toward 
 Sallie again; as did Mr. Jobling after a glance of extreme 
 disfavour at Carthew, on his other hand. And Carthew 
 could not at all understand the general gravity, until Her- 
 ries whispered over to him, under cover of the renewed con- 
 versation, " You haven't heard of our White Lady here, 
 yet, Mr. Carthew. But she brings dule to the house, and 
 they say it was her that was seen in the woods this after- 
 noon." 
 
 Carthew nodded. He had heard nothing of any such 
 superstition, but knew enough already of the natives of 
 those wilds to understand how they would cling to it. He 
 thought for a moment of telling Herries that it was a man 
 and no woman whom he had seen, but that would perhaps 
 have disclosed too much to Captain Dove, and he decided 
 to keep his own counsel until he could obtain some safer 
 clue to all those mysteries. 
 
 Some movement in the little gallery above the buffet 
 caught his attention, and he thought he could see the old 
 housekeeper, Mrs. M'Kissock, at the balustrade with Am- 
 brizette, Sallie's black maid, all eyes, looking down at the
 
 THE WHITE LADY 303 
 
 gathering. And the smile Sallie flashed at him as he looked 
 at her told him she also knew that they were there. 
 
 Slyne grew somewhat distrait and restless as the long 
 dinner ran its course, and Carthew had to devote more 
 attention to the duchess. Among the rest of the company 
 all seemed to be going well. Mr. Jobling and Lord In- 
 goldsby were both growing always more garrulous, and even 
 Captain Dove had brightened up under the sunny influ- 
 ence of the rare vintages dispensed by the butler; he had 
 got to the length of discussing the lights on that coast with 
 Herries, the factor, before the pop of a cork at the buffet 
 served to announce that the champagne was coming next. 
 
 Slyne was obviously about to claim the attention of the 
 table. Carthew supposed he must be going to propose 
 some toast, and wondered whether he did not know any 
 better than that. But he waited till every glass was filled 
 before he made any move, and when Sallie would have re- 
 fused the wine he sent the butler back to her with a whis- 
 pered message. At which, Carthew observed, a sudden 
 pallor overspread her face; he was watching her very 
 closely. 
 
 The rest of the company and the servants also looked 
 round at Slyne in surprise as he rose, but Carthew did not. 
 He had seen Sallie lift a filmy, lace-edged handkerchief from 
 her lap and caught sight of something that it was meant 
 to conceal. She raised a clenched hand above the wine- 
 glass before her, and Carthew could have sworn that he 
 saw some colourless drops splash down on the bubbling 
 champagne. Then she slipped her handkerchief out of 
 sight again, and sat with bent head, idly twirling the stem 
 of the wine-glass between her fingers, watching the white 
 froth break at its brim.
 
 304 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 And still Slyne said nothing. Carthew scarcely dared 
 to glance up at him till he saw that Sallie was gazing that 
 way with wonder and fear in her eyes. 
 
 Slyne was standing rigid. The glass he had lifted was 
 tilting over, its contents dripping out on the table-cloth. 
 His mouth was open, as if to speak, and his lips were mov- 
 ing but emitted no sound. He was staring fixedly into an 
 obscure corner under the musicians' gallery, where was the 
 service-doorway from which the piper always appeared. 
 
 The others had turned their eyes in the same direction. 
 The very servants seemed to have lost all self-control, stood 
 stricken, gasping, helpless. And no one even breathed as a 
 shadowy figure came slowly shambling out of the dusk into 
 the crimson light of the fire. 
 
 It halted, irresolute, a lean, stooping, bald-headed figure, 
 with a haggard, foolish face contorted to hold a single eye- 
 glass in place. On its forehead was a red smudge, as of iron- 
 rust. It was wearing a disreputable, greasy blue uniform 
 with not a few ragged rents in it. Its boots were equally 
 shapeless and one was burst. There was snow on them. 
 
 Captain Dove was the first among the company to recover 
 the power of speech. 
 
 " What the devil do you want here, Brasse! " he cried, 
 in a choking voice, which yet was charged with relief as if 
 from some paralysing fear. 
 
 But before the engineer could answer a word, Herries, 
 the old factor, had risen shakily from his seat and shuffled 
 across the floor toward him, was peering stupidly into his 
 face, looking him up and down with eyes that were almost 
 blind. The duchess had got up too. Slyne had sunk into his 
 chair again, scowling blackly, pulling at his moustache. 
 Lord Ingoldsby and Carthew and Mr. Jobling were still
 
 THE WHITE LADY 305 
 
 gazing blankly at the intruder. Sallie sat motionless, with 
 one hand always at the stem of her wine-glass. 
 
 The duchess lifted the shade off one of the lights on the 
 candelabra and looked still more searchingly at the en- 
 gineer. 
 
 " Torquil St. Just! " she whispered at length, and " Lord 
 St. Just! " cried Herries at the same moment. 
 
 The scarecrow with the eyeglass held out a slack hand to 
 the old factor. " Hullo, Herries," he remarked, in a husky 
 voice, " I didn't recognise you at first. You've aged a lot." 
 And, glancing across at the duchess, " Isn't that Lady Jane 
 Gairloch, Herries? " he asked in an audible aside. " She 
 was only a slip of a girl, you know, old chap, when I left 
 home." 
 
 "She's the Duchess of Dawn, now, my lord," 
 answered Herries, the factor, helplessly. " And you're 
 Earl of Jura now."
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH 
 
 WHEN the chief engineer of the Olive Branch at last 
 put off from the ship for the shore in response to 
 Captain Dove's second and still more peremptory 
 message, he took the tiller of the boat himself, and steered 
 straight for the water-gate of the castle. In one of his 
 pockets he had a rusty key which presently served to turn 
 its creaking lock. 
 
 He had left his coat in the boat and ordered the boat's 
 crew to await his return. And he made his way with accus- 
 tomed steps, almost noiselessly in his rubber-soled shoes, 
 up the sloping underground passage which leads from the 
 long-disused water-gate toward the gun-room which long 
 ago was the armoury of the castle. 
 
 Once he halted to strike amatch. Its feeble light showed 
 him the rough rock walls and roof of the tunnel, the uneven 
 slope underfoot worn almost smooth by nefarious traffic 
 long since at an end. 
 
 He advanced again, cautiously, till he came to the brink 
 of a broad, gaping chasm, which, but for a couple of care- 
 lessly carpentered fir-trunks stretching across it, would 
 have closed that pathway effectually against him or any- 
 one attempting to enter the castle by stealth, as he was 
 doing. 
 
 He tested that makeshift bridge as well as he might be-
 
 A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH 307 
 
 fore crossing it. Half-way over, a cold, damp breath from 
 the depths beneath blew out another match he had struck 
 as he started. A muted gurgle and squatter that came 
 uncannily to his ears told of the subterranean tide crawling 
 in to cleanse again the far floor of the pit below which had 
 so often in the past served for a charnel-house. Creeping 
 over the tree-trunks, he shrugged his shoulders as that 
 thought passed through his mind, and drew a breath of 
 relief as he stepped on to the solid rock on the other side. 
 
 From there, the way to the steps at the gun-room en- 
 trance was clear and the old iron gates above and below 
 were both wide, as he discovered by sense of touch. He 
 set an ear to the panel beyond, to find out whether the 
 gun-room was occupied, and heard only a long-drawn groan. 
 That seemed to come from somewhere behind him. He 
 descended the steps again, listening intently. 
 
 Another safety-match sputtered and broke into a blue 
 light in his tremulous fingers. He saw that the tolt on the 
 outside of the cell door at the foot of the steps was shot and 
 judged that there must be some one within. For a moment, 
 he hesitated; and then he pulled the bolt free. 
 
 " Who's there? " he asked of the darkness that gave him 
 back only another low groan for answer. 
 
 The heavy hinges of the door creaked as he thrust it open 
 and entered. His last match showed him a huddled white 
 heap in one corner, two hands tied behind it, a grey-haired 
 and bleeding head. He turned back and pushed up into 
 the gun-room without more ado. It was empty. 
 
 He looked dazedly about him in the bright lamplight, 
 and his eyes fell on a couple of candlesticks. He picked 
 one up and found a full box of matches beside it. From 
 the decanter on the table before the fire he partly filled a
 
 308 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 glass, and disappeared down the steps again with his candle 
 to show him the way, drawing the panel back into place 
 behind him. 
 
 Within the cell door he set down the glass he was carry- 
 ing and, pulling out a pocket-knife, cut through the cord 
 which secured the wrists of the prone figure in the corner. 
 Its hands fell limply apart and lay palms upward. He did 
 not at once release its ankles, but, stooping over it, pulled 
 it round on to its back and sprang away from it in such 
 frantic haste that the candle jumped from its holder and 
 left him in darkness again. 
 
 He all but brained himself as he rushed for the door, but 
 he got outside and, stunned as he was, set his shoulder to 
 it. It closed with a clang and, as he shot the bolt home, he 
 sank to his knees, breathing brokenly, his forehead on its 
 rusty iron. He righted himself with an effort, but stayed 
 where he was, sitting huddled together against the rock 
 wall, his face damp with cold perspiration. He was blind 
 in the blackness about him and could hear nothing but the 
 trip-hammer beat of his own strained heart. 
 
 Its turbulence began to die down by degrees and in time 
 he regained some command of his stupefied faculties. 
 
 " It couldn't possibly be," he kept on assuring himself. 
 " I must have been mistaken. It couldn't possibly - 
 
 He pulled his slack limbs up under him, and rose, slowly, 
 forcing them to obey him. 
 
 " But I must make sure," he muttered, and still let him- 
 self linger outside the cell door, to listen for any sound from 
 within. 
 
 A groan, fainter than the first he had heard, encouraged 
 him 
 
 " Pretty far through, whoever he is," said he to himself,
 
 A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH 309 
 
 and with another effort of will-power once more pulled back 
 the bolt. 
 
 The fresh match he struck, before going further, showed 
 him that the man inside had not moved, and he found his 
 candle where it had fallen, in tune to light it before his 
 match burned out. With it in one hand he went forward 
 on tiptoe, to study the other's features intently, his own 
 expressing fear, absolute disbelief, doubt, a growing con- 
 viction in turn. 
 
 " It is M'Kissock! " he cried finally, and at the words 
 unconsciously uttered, the other's eyelids began to flicker 
 in the candle-light until at length they opened and remained 
 open at their widest. And for a long time they two stayed 
 thus, regarding each other as if bereft of power of move- 
 ment or speech. 
 
 Then Parish M'Kissock's slack jaws took to twitching 
 convulsively. A low moaning broke from his mouth. A 
 film came over his dreadfully staring eyes. He would have 
 fallen unconscious again had not the engineer snatched up 
 the glass at one side and poured down his throat a few drops 
 of the spirit it held. His teeth closed with a snap and he 
 groaned again, heartrendingly; but, in a little, he had so 
 far benefited by that hurtful remedy as to recover the use 
 of his voice. His lips moved and his rescuer leaned forward 
 to catch the hoarse, agonised whisper that came from them. 
 
 " You were always a cruel devil, Lord St. Just," 
 gasped Farish M'Kissock, " even when you were alive. 
 It should be my right to torment you now, and not 
 you me! " 
 
 The engineer drew back a little. He knew then that he 
 had not been mistaken. 
 
 " You're not dead yet, M'Kissock," said he soothingly,
 
 310 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 in his voice of a gentleman, " although I'll be damned if 
 I can understand how that is! " And then, suddenly real- 
 ising a little of all it must mean to him that his old enemy 
 was still living, " If I had only known "he murmured 
 with exceeding bitterness. " Oh, my God! Think of all 
 those awful years! " 
 
 Parish M'Kissock attempted to laugh, with a very hor- 
 rid effect. He raised a trembling hand to his head, and 
 looked at its fingers, all smeared with red. His rolling eyes 
 tried to pierce the obscurity of the vault in which he was 
 lying. Remembrance of the more immediate past began 
 to stir in his mind. He drew a long, deep, painful breath. 
 
 " I thought I thought - "he mumbled brokenly, and 
 his eyes closed. He was once more insensible. 
 
 The engineer of the Olive Branch looked round for the 
 candlestick he had dropped, and, finding that, made his 
 light safe. Then he kneeled down beside the other and 
 raised his head and lifted him so that his shoulders should 
 rest on the rock behind. Another teaspoonful of the stimu- 
 lant in the glass flogged his patient's flagging heart into 
 further effort, and Parish M'Kissock opened his eyes again. 
 
 " Loose my feet," he begged brokenly, and the engineer 
 did so: but he lay still where he was, too weak to move. 
 For a time, the only sound to be heard was his hurtful, ir- 
 regular breathing. Then he glanced curiously, for the first 
 time, at his rescuer's threadbare blue uniform. 
 
 " You're just in time, Lord St. Just," said he, his voice 
 clearer and his ideas beginning to gain some coherent shape. 
 " Though that's not the name I should be calling you now, 
 since you're still living in spite of me, and Earl of Jura by 
 all the laws of the land. 
 
 " But where have you come from so late-along?
 
 A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH 311 
 
 Where have you been since They hold it against me 
 here to this day that I murdered your lordship; and 
 there was your body found later on at the foot of the cliffs 
 in front of your hut." 
 
 The other sat down by the doorway, with a limp shrug 
 of the shoulders that spoke a weariness beyond words. 
 
 " I didn't fall very far, M'Kissock," he answered pres- 
 ently. " And I thought you must have slipped over too 
 as we fought there for I saw a body sunk among the 
 rocks in the water below; it was a still day, you remember. 
 But where were you? " 
 
 " I took to my heels through the woods, thinking it would 
 go ill with me when what I believed had happened to you 
 came out; for it was known that I had gone to your hut 
 to seek you, and why." His voice grew very hard, and he 
 shot a glance of unquenchable hatred at his companion. 
 " So I lay hid in the hills till nightfall, and then fled the 
 countryside. I heard afterwards that they had found your 
 body, although it was scarcely more than a rickle of bare 
 bones by then, and of course they put the blame of it all 
 on me without more ado." 
 
 The engineer of the Olive Branch who was also the Earl 
 of Jura sighed drearily. The best years of his life had gone 
 to pay the penalty fate had exacted, through that mistake, 
 for a fault he had almost forgotten. And now, desire had 
 failed him; his spirit was utterly broken. 
 
 " I was just such another fool as yourself, M'Kissock! " 
 said he in a hopeless tone. " I was afraid they would lay 
 your death at my door, and I bolted too; without a word 
 to a living soul. I've been afraid ever since, because 
 I've been told that the police were always looking for 
 me."
 
 312 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 M'Kissock's jaw dropped. He looked again at the other's 
 torn uniform. 
 
 " Who was it told you that? " he asked, almost in a whis- 
 per. 
 
 " The Old Man on the Olive Branch. I've been chief 
 engineer on his ship for five or six years, and before that 
 I shipped as a stoker at first, M'Kissock, at Yedo, in Japan. 
 I was starving there. And I've worked for him all that 
 time like a slave on the strength of a groundless 
 lie!" 
 
 " Had he any idea who you were? " the other demanded. 
 
 " I thought he must know ; but I can see now that he was 
 simply making a fool of me for his own ends. If he had 
 known, he surely wouldn't have sent for me to come ashore 
 here." 
 
 " He certainly would not," agreed his companion with 
 grim assurance, and they both fell silent again, each en- 
 grossed in his own overwhelming, embittered reflections. 
 
 " Dove knows nothing at all about you," said Parish 
 M'Kissock presently, and Lord Jura looked up as if aston- 
 ished at the sound of his voice. 
 
 " But how do you know that, M'Kissock? " the latter 
 inquired in a querulous tone, pulling nervously at his under- 
 lip. " What are you doing here, in that queer rig-out? I 
 don't understand. Where have you 
 
 " I've been just such another fool as yourself, my lord," 
 said Parish M'Kissock, his voice vibrant with impotent, 
 irrepressible anger. " It's worse than damnable to think - 
 You'll scarcely believe that I've served under Dove in my 
 time, but it's true enough. I was second mate on the Per 
 de Lance, long ago, when he called himself Captain Brown. 
 And I owe him a score as heavy as yours, ay, and heavier;
 
 A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH 313 
 
 a score I came here to pay. But I was too hasty, and 
 he got the better of me at the start; I was no match for the 
 two of them he had the man Slyne on his side." His 
 breath almost failed him and he fell to coughing convul- 
 sively. 
 
 " And what has brought them to Loquhariot? " the 
 other asked in utter amazement as soon as he could make 
 himself heard. But Farish M'Kissock sat wheezing and 
 gasping for some little time before answering that. 
 
 " They have come with one whom they call the Lady 
 Josceline Justice," said he at length, glancing askance at 
 his companion. " Slyne's minded to marry her now 
 and so lay hands on all that is yours." 
 
 The Earl of Jura gazed blankly at his burst boots. His 
 mind was all in a muddle. The stokehold of the Olive 
 Branch, and then its engine-room, seemed to have sapped 
 whatever intelligence he might once have possessed. His 
 belated release from slavery had left him with his wits 
 benumbed and torpid. 
 
 " But, of course, they don't know that I "he began, 
 his face brightening, and then broke off. " Where did they 
 get hold of her, M'Kissock? " 
 
 " Dove's had her on board his ship for years," said Farish 
 M'Kissock brusquely. 
 
 " Is it Sallie you're talking about! " he exclaimed. 
 " Good God! Can it be possible that But never mind 
 now. I must " He made as if to rise. 
 
 " Wait a minute, my lord," requested Farish M'Kissock 
 in a tone which compelled his attention. " You've got two 
 desperate men to deal, with above-stairs. You've seen how 
 they've handled me, and they would think nothing of throw- 
 ing the two of us, neck and crop, into the drowning-hole in
 
 314 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 the tunnel behind you. You will be very ill-advised to 
 beard them alone. I can help you " 
 
 " How? " 
 
 " You'll see when the time comes." 
 
 " But I can't stay squatting here like a rat in a drain 
 while they I'm a free man now that I know you're 
 alive after all," declared the ragged scarecrow with the 
 eyeglass, as if to encourage himself. " And I'm Earl of 
 Jura ; there's no getting out of that. I must put a stop to 
 Slyne's villainous scheme at once, M'Kissock. He's a rotten 
 bad egg; 7 know him. It would never do to let him get 
 her into his infernal clutches." 
 
 Parish M'Kissock eyed him with no good will. 
 
 " Ay," he agreed reluctantly. " Your lordship's a belted 
 earl now, by all the laws of the land. And Parish M'Kis- 
 sock that was a king is fated to die a beggar. 
 
 " But ; first, and it's hard, dooms hard ! I must help 
 you so far at least. It's the two of us against those other 
 two, for the moment. Afterwards, we will talk of yon 
 old matter between us; for, mind you! Lord Jura, I neither 
 forget nor forgive." 
 
 The Earl of Jura shrugged his shoulders again. He had 
 almost forgotten the cause of his old quarrel on the cliffs 
 with the gamekeeper's son. He had more than enough to 
 think about in its seemingly endless outcome. And his 
 apparent indifference seemed to inflame the hatred the other 
 still bore him. 
 
 " I will help you but only because I must, 1 ' said Parish 
 M'Kissock harshly. " And you must help me to help you 
 - to your own hurt." 
 
 He leaned forward, panting, as if enraged over his own 
 weakness of body. The engineer rose, regarding him as if
 
 A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH 315 
 
 not very sure of his sanity, and, having picked up the 
 candle, assisted him to his feet. He stood for a moment sup- 
 porting himself by the wall, his knees giving and recovering 
 under him, and then the giddiness passed. He took a ten- 
 tative step or two and presently was able to follow his res- 
 cuer from the cell. 
 
 " Is there anyone in the gun-room? " he asked in an 
 anxious whisper at the foot of the steps. Lord Jura listened 
 closely for a moment or two at the panel above, drew it 
 open a little, and looking down again, shook his head. 
 He pulled the panel wide and then held out a hand to his 
 follower; who took it very reluctantly and, with its aid, 
 reached the room above, step by slow, uncertain step. 
 
 " Sit down and rest for a minute or two," suggested the 
 engineer. 
 
 " Not here," he demurred. " It wouldn't be safe too 
 near the tunnel. We must have help at hand when we 
 meet them. What time is it? They'll be at dinner now. 
 Take me along the servants' passage and by the terrace to 
 the Pipers' Port: we should meet no one that way." 
 
 But the other, a hand at his tremulous lips, was looking 
 with mazed eyes about the remembered room that he had 
 so often seen in his dreams during the age-long time of tor- 
 ment he had endured. His rods lay ready for use in the 
 long rack where he had left them. A pair of guns his father 
 had given him stood in their usual place at one end of the 
 full stand adorning one wall. The head of his first stag 
 still hung above the mantel, and the big wild-cat he had 
 killed in the wood behind his hut on the cliffs glared at him 
 out of its glass eyes from over the door leading to the pantry. 
 That corner at least of the castle was quite unchanged. 
 
 He caught sight of his own reflection in the plate-glass
 
 316 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 casing which covered another full stand of guns, and turned 
 away from it with a grimace of distaste. He had certainly 
 changed, and very much for the worse, himself, since he 
 had last seen Loquhariot He glanced at Parish M'Kissock, 
 the gamekeeper's son with whom he had fought, as he al- 
 most blushed to remember, about a girl, and was still more 
 shocked to see the skeleton-like, decrepit-looking old man 
 regarding him with hot, inimical eyes from under shaggy 
 down-drawn white eyebrows above which hung long matted 
 locks of grey hair darkly discoloured with drying blood; 
 for they two had been headstrong lads together, friends in 
 some sort, companions at least in many a scapegrace prank. 
 
 "Ay," said Parish M'Kissock unpleasantly, as though 
 reading the thought that ran through his mind. " I'm far 
 worse-looking than you are, my lord. And something of 
 that I am owing your lordship. But never mind now; we 
 have other matters before us first, and it will be well to 
 attend to them before it may be too late." 
 
 The engineer started at that. His head was not very 
 clear and he had for the moment almost forgotten 
 
 " Come on, then, M'Kissock," said he, and blew out the 
 candle he was still unconsciously carrying and led the way 
 through the little pantry behind. 
 
 The two of them emerged from that into a dimly lighted 
 passage along which they proceeded without a sound as far 
 as another door which opened outward on to the lower 
 battlements at the seaward front of the castle. 
 
 "Let me through first," requested Parish M'Kissock, 
 after his companion had made sure that there was no one 
 beyond it, " and mind that the wind doesn't drive it shut 
 with a clash." He was firmer upon his feet now and seemed 
 to have gained some measure of strength from the stimulus
 
 A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH 317 
 
 of his stubborn purpose. Bare-foot as he was, he took no 
 notice of the driving snow on the terrace outside, although 
 his companion shivered as they turned along the wall in 
 the teeth of the blast that was blowing. 
 
 " Get inside, for God's sake! " Lord Jura begged of the 
 ghostly figure in front of him as it stooped to set an ear to 
 the keyhole in the portico at the other end of the terrace, 
 and his teeth were chattering when he entered the dark, 
 empty closet behind it. 
 
 He had to set his shoulder to it to shut it against the 
 storm. As soon as he had accomplished that, he shook the 
 snow from his ragged coat and struck a match and glanced 
 stupidly about him. 
 
 " Put that out," ordered Parish M'Kissock in a sup- 
 pressed, angry whisper. " They'll maybe see some glimmer 
 - they're all inside." 
 
 The other obeyed him meekly, and for a space the two 
 of them stood there in the darkness, on the alert, drawing 
 quick, restricted breaths. They could hear the echo of 
 voices from the banquet-hall. These gradually died away, 
 all but one which seemed to be telling some story. A dis- 
 tant crash, as of a dish dropped on the floor, alarmed the 
 two listeners, but after that the conversation and laughter 
 within went on again. The engineer crossed the closet 
 noiselessly on his rubber soles, and, " What next, M'Kis- 
 sock? " he whispered, as if content to resign himself to the 
 guidance of the more masterful will. 
 
 " You will go in to them," the other instructed him. 
 " Hear what you can before you declare yourself, and 
 you must judge for yourself what to say and do. I'll wait 
 behind for a bit Dove and Slyne believe that I'm safely 
 out of the way but, as soon as it's needful, I'll face them
 
 318 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 too. Till then, never mention my name nor any word of 
 what I have told you. 
 
 " Pluck up some heart! " he hissed savagely. " This is 
 the Castle of Loquhariot and you're the Earl of Jura. 
 But they'll out-match you yet unless you stand your 
 ground against them." 
 
 The engineer humbly attempted to square his shoulders, 
 and, fumbling, found the latch of the door. He opened it 
 very quietly, enough and no more to see through into the 
 banquet-hall: and stood there for a time studying the scene 
 at the table. Parish M'Kissock, at his elbow, was staring 
 out at it too, with fierce, eager eyes. He pulled the door 
 slowly back, and Lord Jura passed through, unnoticed 
 among the shadows in that obscure corner. 
 
 A cork popped explosively, and the butler came forward 
 from the buffet with a big, golden-necked bottle. The 
 engineer paused. He had recognised Captain Dove in the 
 distance and notwithstanding the old man's unusual garb 
 and black glasses. 
 
 He caught sight of Sallie, bewilderingly beautiful in a 
 costume such as he had not set eyes upon since he had 
 last dined there himself. He squared his stooping shoulders 
 again, and saw Slyne rise from his seat, the wine-glass the 
 butler had just filled for him in one hand. 
 
 The talk and laughter gradually subsided and silence 
 ensued. Lord Jura took a tentative step toward the table, 
 and stopped again as Slyne's careless, smiling glance sud- 
 denly met his and changed to a rigid scowl. Then Captain 
 Dove looked round, and, after a breathless interval, " What 
 the devil do you want here, Brasse! " he cried explosively. 
 
 At the sound of that harsh, hated voice, all the uncertain 
 presence of mind the intruder could boast deserted him,
 
 A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH 319 
 
 He stood as if rooted there, a shrinking, irresolute figure, 
 until the old factor came shuffling across the floor toward 
 him and some one else lifted the shade off one of the lights 
 on the candelabra so that it shone full on his drawn, hag- 
 gard face.
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 DEBIT AND CREDIT 
 
 " 4 ND you're Earl of Jura now," stammered 
 f-\ Herries, helplessly, as though that undeniable 
 fact altogether staggered belief. 
 
 The ragged scarecrow with the eyeglass nodded, some- 
 what shamefacedly, and once more made a pitiful effort 
 to straighten his stooping shoulders. Herries looked away, 
 wretchedly, and then, as if understanding something 
 of what must be in his mind, took it upon himself to 
 dismiss the servants, but bidding them remain within call 
 and also to see to it that no word went elsewhere of what 
 they had seen and heard in the banquet-hall. 
 
 The rest of the company were regarding the ex-engineer 
 of the Olive Branch with very varied expressions. A sickly 
 pallor had overspread Slyne's rigid features as he heard 
 the title by which Herries had addressed that untimeous 
 intruder. Captain Dove, his hands still on the table before 
 him, and crouching as if to spring, was breathing jerkily 
 from between set teeth, like one with a seizure. The Mar- 
 quis of Ingoldsby's narrow forehead was corrugated by a 
 fixed and splenetic frown which kept his eyes and mouth at 
 their very widest. Behind Sallie's questioning, compassion- 
 ate, clouded glance lurked hope, and fear, and a steadfast de- 
 termination ; she was still holding fast the stem of her wine- 
 glass. Justin Carthew looked as if he did not know in the
 
 DEBIT AND CREDIT 321 
 
 least who or where he was. Mr. Jobling's purple visage and 
 pendulous jowl spoke plainly the apoplectic and painful 
 nature of his emotions. Of them all, only the Duchess of 
 Dawn seemed to have preserved any measure of self-posses- 
 sion. 
 
 While Herries was giving the butler his orders, she crossed 
 toward the fireplace with a little characteristic, impulsive 
 gesture. 
 
 " I hope you haven't forgotten me, Torquil? " said she, 
 almost timidly. It could not but hurt her to see what the 
 years had made of the man who, when she had met him last, 
 had been little more than a teasing, mischievous school-boy. 
 
 ' I knew you at once," he replied, and blinked back at her 
 and cleared his throat uncomfortably. The pinch of his 
 present decayed estate before her once more quickened his 
 numb sense of the grievous injury done him by Captain 
 Dove. He glanced again in Captain Dove's direction, but 
 the old man's gaze met his absolutely mystified; and his 
 heavy heart began to grow hot again as he recalled how often 
 his cunning taskmaster had cowed him by dint of threats 
 to disclose his unknown identity to the police. 
 
 " We all believed you were dead," said the duchess, and 
 he answered her stupidly, at random. His sullen eyes had 
 encountered Slyne's, in which he read aright dismay un- 
 speakable and a stunned seeking after some elusive scheme 
 to turn the tables upon him yet. She saw how distrait he 
 was. " But you'll tell me by and by something of your 
 adventures," said she. " I just wanted to say how glad I 
 am that you're safe and sound after all. And now I'll 
 be off to the drawing-room with Ingoldsby. We're only in 
 the way here. I know you must have a great deal to say 
 to your sister."
 
 322 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 He started at hearing Sallie so styled. His restless regard 
 had reached her, at the end of the table next him, and he 
 wondered what it could be that had brought such an un- 
 controllable gleam of relief into her still bewildered eyes. 
 
 " I wish you would wait for a little, if you don't mind," 
 he answered the duchess. " I'd like you to stay beside her 
 until I get rid of some of those others, if you don't 
 mind." 
 
 She nodded, if rather reluctantly, and turned aside toward 
 Herries as Sallie approached, holding out to the shabby 
 prodigal whose belated return had brought about such a 
 stupefying change in the situation there a tremulous, eager 
 hand. 
 
 " You're just in tune," Sallie said to him in such a glad, 
 warm, grateful voice that even he, who knew very well 
 her generous nature, was almost surprised by her evident 
 pleasure in thus admitting his prior right to the high rank 
 and vast heritage which he believed should have been hers 
 but for him. He was infinitely embarrassed when, before 
 them all, she stooped and touched with her lips the back of 
 the claw-like, toil-stained hand, he had tried hard to with- 
 hold from her. 
 
 And she, having sealed her abdication in such wise, looked 
 up into his flushed face with a swift, shy smile, the flutter of 
 the fledgling hope in her heart stirring softly the priceless 
 lace that outlined her bosom, and the little golden locket 
 that lay therein. 
 
 " You're my brother my step-brother, now, aren't 
 you, Mr. Brasse? " she asked, almost in a whisper. 
 
 " It seems so, Sallie," he answered mechanically, his 
 wandering wits almost beyond his control. Her uncon- 
 scious use of the name by which she had, always known him
 
 She touched with her lips the back of the toil-stained hand.
 
 DEBIT AND CREDIT 323 
 
 had brought to his mental vision a blurred picture of her 
 on the bridge of the Olive Branch in a stiff breeze, himself 
 at the fiddley-hatch. 
 
 " And everything that might have been mine is yours 
 now? " 
 
 " Ours," he corrected, without any interest, as if that was 
 of no consequence. " There should be enough for us both; 
 and, in any case, I need very little now." 
 
 " But it's all yours by law, isn't it? " she urged. " I must 
 make sure, because " She looked back, over her shoul- 
 der. Mr. Jobling had joined Slyne and Captain Dove; 
 the three of them were engaged, with bated breaths, in a 
 sibilant argument, their heads very close together. Lord 
 Ingoldsby had just risen and was slouching over to the other 
 ingle-nook, where the duchess had made Herries sit down. 
 Only Justin Carthew remained motionless, half turned in 
 his high-backed chair, leaning heavily on one of its arms 
 while he still stared, almost unseeingly, at Sallie and her 
 companion. 
 
 " How does that fellow come to be here? " asked the ex- 
 engineer, indicating Carthew with a puzzled nod, and, as 
 Sallie told him what had occurred since she herself had ar- 
 rived at Loquhariot, his expression grew always more blank 
 again. But when she went on to explain how Slyne had 
 tried to entrap her for his own profit, his dull eyes bright- 
 ened and began to burn. 
 
 " And now," she said at last, " perhaps he won't want to 
 marry me when there's nothing to be gained by it. I 
 can't tell you how thankful I am that you've come home 
 in time." 
 
 Carthew got up from the table then and came limping 
 forward to greet the man whose belated home-coming had
 
 324 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 made such a difference to him. And Mr. Jobling, evidently 
 fired by his example, followed, to beg an introduction from 
 her ladyship to his lordship. 
 
 " I've been acting for Lady Josceline, my lord," he ex- 
 plained very volubly, having thus secured his lordship's 
 by no means favourable attention, " just as I would have 
 been most happy to act for your lordship if I had known " 
 He came to a sudden stop, except for a stifled, explosive hic- 
 cough, as Captain Dove shouldered him aside and con- 
 fronted the ex-engineer of the Olive Branch with his most 
 sleek, benevolent expression. 
 
 Slyne was close behind Captain Dove. The pallor had 
 passed from his face. Mr. Jobling apparently did not deem 
 it politic to push in again just then. He choked down his 
 not unnatural indignation and stayed hovering about, very 
 ill at ease, in the background. The others, all but Sallie, 
 had also moved a little away. 
 
 But it did not seem to be Captain's Dove's idea to ex- 
 change any quiet confidences with his late chief-engineer. 
 What he had to say was for all ears. Without witnesses he 
 would, no doubt, have conducted himself very differently. 
 Handicapped as he was by their company, he had no re- 
 course but to enlist their sympathies on his side. 
 
 " Well, if this doesn't beat all for luck! " said he in a tone 
 of the extremest gratification, his visible features wreathed 
 in an unctuous smile. " I don't suppose you're sorry now 
 that you came ashore when I sent for you, eh! You must 
 admit that I've managed a very pleasant little surprise for 
 you " 
 
 :c You've managed nothing except to put your own 
 neck into a noose at last," retorted Lord Jura. He was 
 standing very erect although he could not control the nerv-
 
 DEBIT AND CREDIT 325 
 
 ous tremor at the back of his neck. He saw no need now to 
 mince matters with the old man, whose callous effrontery 
 was stirring his sluggish pulses to such a pitch that he could 
 scarcely resist the dire temptation to spring at his throat 
 and choke the evil life out of him there and then. But a 
 light hand laid on his arm diverted him for a moment from 
 any such insane idea, and his unreasoning rage died 
 down a little as he looked round into Sallie's appealing 
 eyes. 
 
 " How long will it take to get the police here, Herries? " 
 he asked abruptly over one shoulder. And, at that, the 
 arras in the dark corner beside the Pipers' Port swayed 
 slightly, as though there were some one behind it about to 
 come forth. 
 
 " The telegraph-wire is down, my lord," the old factor 
 answered doubtfully, " and it would maybe be wasting a 
 life to send anyone to attempt the Pass with a message in 
 weather like this. But till we can safely get word to the 
 police, there are lots of stout lads in Loquhariot that will 
 do your lordship's bidding." 
 
 " And more on board the Olive Branch that will do mine," 
 Captain Dove interrupted, with a smooth assurance which 
 could not but add to the listeners' perturbation. " Da 
 Costa has his orders, too. It will be a bad look out for 
 Loquhariot if ever he and his lambs have to come ashore 
 here to look for me. You've seen them crack far harder 
 nuts than this ramshackle old castle of yours! You know 
 very well 
 
 " But what's the use of arguing about it? You owe me 
 far too much to talk in that style. If you could fetch the 
 police here at this moment, you couldn't afford to face 
 them. You've surely forgotten "
 
 326 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 " I have forgotten nothing," Lord Jura assured him, 
 in a steady, ominous voice. 
 
 " That's just as well," declared Captain Dove, who 
 seemed determined to stand his ground, " because it will 
 save me reminding you, before your fashionable friends, 
 how much I've done for you, first and last, since I picked 
 you up derelict on the beach at Yedo. You'd have been 
 very badly off without me then, eh! And, but for me, 
 you'd maybe have come to a worse end than starving, since. 
 I've brought you back to your own, when all's said and 
 done. It doesn't say much for you, Lord Jura, that you'd 
 turn round on me now! " 
 
 He spoke pathetically, as one disappointed in the return 
 made him for favours lavished with a free hand. And such 
 of the others as did not know the real facts of the matter 
 looked somewhat doubtfully at Lord Jura. Captain Dove 
 was obviously pleased with the impression he had pro- 
 duced. 
 
 " Everything you have done has been done entirely to 
 serve your own ends," the ex-engineer answered him 
 in few words. " I owe you no favour not the very 
 slightest. You owe me God knows how many years of 
 my life that you've tricked me out of. And, what's 
 more ' 
 
 " And what's more," Captain Dove interrupted, " you 
 think you owe me only a grudge. You've no more use for 
 me now that I've served your turn. I've asked nothing of 
 you, you'll notice. It's only because you've thought fit 
 to threaten me that I've reminded you " 
 
 " There was no need," Lord Jura asserted. " I have 
 forgotten nothing. You can tell your side of the story to 
 the judge at the next assizes and I'll tell mine."
 
 DEBIT AND CREDIT 327 
 
 Mr. Jobling's puffy face blanched at that, but Captain 
 Dove did not even change countenance. 
 
 " So much for yourself," said he patiently. " You think 
 you can best whiten your own record by trying to blacken 
 mine. I'll say no more about that except that it isn't 
 always true that dead men tell no tales. And you'll have 
 to tell the judge at the next assizes the real reason why you 
 ran away from home." 
 
 He was watching the other's face narrowly, to see what 
 effect that stray shot might have, and was clearly encour- 
 aged at seeing Lord Jura wince. 
 
 " But there's another point to be settled," he went on 
 with slow insistence, " before we go any further. I've 
 brought you back to your own, as I said, and, more than 
 that, I've brought you back your sister. I wouldn't 
 have made any song-an'-dance about such a small matter 
 either, but since it's to be debit and credit between us, 
 I'd like to know how you think that affects the account. 
 
 " You say you've forgotten nothing. Have you remem- 
 bered that I've brought her up, so to speak, since she was 
 knee-high to me? Have you ever thought where she'd be 
 to-day if I hadn't But, of course, you don't know where 
 I came across her. And I'm not going to tell you just now. 
 All I will say is that it rests absolutely in my hands whether 
 whether she stays safe here with you or - You may 
 believe me or not, as you like, but Better talk it over 
 with her before you go any further, my lord! " 
 
 He frowned, as if warningly, at Sallie, and turned on his 
 heel and, swaggering back to the table, grotesquely aggres- 
 sive, sat down again with his back to them all, leaving them 
 to make whatever they liked of his veiled threat and half- 
 spoken hints as to his mysterious power over her. Slyne
 
 328 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 followed him. But Mr. Jobling pushed forward again, eager 
 to establish himself on a safer footing of service to the other 
 side. 
 
 " If your lordship will allow me," said he, his head on 
 one side, shoulders bent and hands clasped, " I think I can 
 undertake to arrange matters for you with Captain Dove. 
 Some small money payment, perhaps, would save further 
 unpleasantness for her ladyship as well. We can scarcely 
 contest his claim for at least the amount of " 
 
 " I don't know what you're talking about or what 
 business it is of yours! " said Lord Jura sharply and turned 
 to give Herries some order. But, before he could speak, 
 Sallie claimed his attention again. 
 
 " Let them go," she implored of him vehemently. " Oh, 
 please let them go. Don't send for the police. I couldn't 
 bear to think that they had come to any harm through help- 
 ing me even for their own purposes. And some of what 
 Captain Dove says is true enough: he's looked after me 
 for longer than I can remember, almost and but for him 
 I wouldn't be here now. The past has sometimes been 
 very hard for us both. It would spoil the future entirely 
 for me if I felt that I had been the means of betraying him 
 to the police. If they'll only promise to leave us alone 
 now, won't you let them go? for my sake." 
 
 Lord Jura pulled at his under-lip in helpless indecision. 
 He knew that he could not for long deny the girl anything 
 she asked of him thus. 
 
 " You don't understand, Sallie," he said at length, very 
 vexedly. " You'd better go off to your own room now, 
 and take Lady Jane the duchess with you. Leave 
 me to deal with the Old Man and Slyne; it isn't only on my 
 own account "
 
 DEBIT AND CREDIT 329 
 
 " Will you set them on board the Olive Branch safe, if 
 they promise to leave us alone now? " she urged, not to be 
 denied in her purpose. 
 
 " But, what are they to you? " he demanded. " Surely 
 it can't be - You don't care for Jasper Slyne, do 
 you, Sallie? I'll let him go, if you like though he doesn't 
 deserve it." 
 
 She shuddered. " If you hadn't come to-night," she told 
 him tremulously, " you wouldn't have found me here 
 alive. I had made up my mind " Her voice died away, 
 but he understood. 
 
 " But I can't treat them as they would me," she re- 
 minded him, her anxious eyes holding his till he looked 
 away, with an effort of will. " I could never be happy here, 
 or anywhere else, if I left any of my old shipmates in the 
 power of the law. Chance has brought us both here and 
 in time. Will you not wipe the past out of your mind en- 
 tirely, as I have done, and You won't refuse me the 
 first favour I have asked of you, here in your home? And 
 I won't ever forget how good you have always been to me." 
 
 He looked into her eyes again, and was lost. " Have 
 it your own way, then," he said, as if with a grudge. 
 " But " His face fell. He looked furtively behind him. 
 He had just remembered his pact with Parish M'Kissock. 
 " You must get rid of them both at once, and very quietly," 
 he whispered. " I won't answer for what may happen yet 
 unless " 
 
 Sallie did not even wait to thank him for his weak-willed 
 complaisance. She crossed swiftly to the table where 
 Jasper Slyne and Mr. Jobling were once more in low-voiced 
 conclave with Captain Dove. 
 
 The three conspirators, sitting with heads together, in
 
 330 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 angry, undertoned argument, glanced up as she approached 
 them. Their lowering faces lightened a little at sight of 
 her, but fell again into black, rebellious masks while they 
 listened sullenly to what she had to say. As she finished, 
 Captain Dove brought a heavy fist down upon the table 
 like a sledge-hammer, and, while the glasses still rang to 
 its impact on the solid oak, " I'll be damned if I budge from 
 here by one step," he cried at the top of his voice, and 
 sprang from his chair, " till it suits me." He pulled his 
 smoked glasses from off his nose, flung them on the floor, 
 and trod viciously upon them as he advanced on Lord Jura 
 again, ignoring all his companions' attempts to restrain 
 him. 
 
 " Now, see here, my friend! " said he with another fierce 
 imprecation, and thrust his face up close to the ex-engineer's 
 while Carthew stepped hastily forward beside Lord Jura. 
 " Now, see here, my friend! I've had about enough of you 
 and your nonsense. Say whatever you've got to say to me 
 now yourself and be done with it. Then I'll tell you what 
 you're going to do for me and my adopted daughter. 
 There's no need for any more humming and hawing about 
 it. Speak up! " 
 
 But his former slave did not shrink from before his wither- 
 ing glance. The banquet-hall of Loquhariot was not the 
 bridge of the Olive Branch: and Lord Jura was even glad 
 that his one-time tyrant did not seem disposed to avail 
 himself of that last chance of escape at which Sallie had 
 beguiled him into conniving. 
 
 " For my sister's sake," he said quietly, and not without 
 dignity, " I was willing to " 
 
 '' You'll do whatever I tell you for your own sake as 
 well as your sister's," broke in Captain Dove, and looked
 
 DEBIT AND CREDIT 331 
 
 him up and down with a virtuous frown. " Why, but for 
 me, you'd have no sister! " He lowered his voice to a 
 threatening whisper. " And you'd have hung long ago 
 yourself, for the murder that you did here! " he hissed. 
 
 Lord Jura regarded him gravely for a moment or two, 
 in silence; and then, turning toward the Pipers' Port, " Are 
 you there, M'Kissock? " he called, in the tone of one en- 
 titled to prompt attention.
 
 CHAPTER XXVHI 
 
 ISHMAEL'S HERITAGE 
 
 THERE was something very dreadful about Parish 
 M'Kissock's appearance as he came shuffling for- 
 ward from the corner under the gallery. His torn 
 and travel-stained white robe gave him a ghostly aspect 
 which was heightened by the cold and clammy pallor of 
 his face, his sunken eyes, the matted, blood-stained tangle 
 of grey hair that merged into a long, unkempt beard and 
 moustache. He moved like an automaton, with all his 
 limbs and joints loose. The stamp of death was on him. 
 
 The Duchess of Dawn shrank into the ingle behind her 
 as he approached, and her noble nephew backed after her, 
 one elbow uplifted, fists clenched, with the apparent idea 
 of protecting her from that spectre-like apparition; at whom 
 Herries also was gazing, aghast but motionless, while Mr. 
 Jobling, with bulging eyes and open mouth, felt about him 
 as if for some friendly hand to clutch at and, finding none, 
 laid hold of Slyne by the coat who struck his fingers 
 away with a muttered oath. Slyne and Captain Dove and 
 Justin Carthew were all regarding him with blank dismay. 
 Sallie uttered a little, low, pitiful cry as she recognised in 
 the worn-out wreck who had halted mutely a few paces 
 away the man she had seen only a month or two before in 
 the prime of life and the plenitude of his power, the Emir 
 El Parish.
 
 ISHMAEL'S HERITAGE 333 
 
 His burning eyes met and held Captain Dove's cowed, 
 murderous, questing glance for a moment; and then he 
 laughed, in a most grisly manner. 
 
 " I'm dying now, Captain Dove," said he, in a strong, 
 deep voice that contrasted strangely with his obvious bodily 
 exhaustion, " a day or two sooner than need have been 
 but for you. You're hale and strong yet. You'll fight hard 
 when the hangman and his mates come quietly into your 
 cell at daybreak to pinion you. And, when you're standing 
 on the trap, with your head in a bag and the knot in a new 
 rope rasping under one ear, you'll think of me that's waiting 
 for you in the pit below the scaffold. 
 
 " But that's for by and by; and there's to-day to be 
 done with first." He laughed again, in such a fashion that 
 the listeners shuddered. " I told you there was nothing at 
 all that would avail you against me,"^said he. " Maybe 
 you'll believe me now! " 
 
 Captain Dove looked furtively round at the others' 
 faces, and spoke, with obvious difficulty. " I've no idea 
 what you're talking about - 
 
 " I found M'Kissock where you left him," interrupted 
 Lord Jura, as if to say that it was needless now to deny 
 anything. 
 
 " You'd better send him back there, then," Captain Dove 
 retorted rancorously. " The man's mad and dangerous. 
 That's why I had him shut up. He thinks he has some 
 grudge against you, too. Take care he doesn't 
 
 " I'm not mad. I'm not even dangerous enough to save 
 the hangman his job with you," said Parish M'Kissock 
 quietly, and turned to Lord Jura again. " But you'll see 
 to it, my lord, that the cruel wrongs this old Judas has 
 wrought you and me ay, and even the innocent girl be-
 
 334 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 side you there are avenged to the uttermost. I can 
 trust you for that at least." 
 
 Lord Jura looked forlornly at Sallie. He could not now 
 recall his promise to her if Captain Dove still chose to take 
 advantage of that. 
 
 " Sal My sister has begged me to let him go free, 
 M'Kissock," he said at length, almost apologetically, 
 " and I've agreed." 
 
 Parish M'Kissock's head had begun to shake as if with 
 palsy. He tried to speak, but could not articulate. The 
 veins about his clammy, yellow temples were swelling 
 darkly out, like cords. Carthew limped across to the table 
 and brought him over a glass of water. He swallowed some 
 with difficulty, and, finding his voice again, " You fool! " 
 he cried, with inexpressible bitterness. " Oh, you blind 
 fool! Will you let him serve you as he served me with her 
 to help him! " 
 
 Lord Jura's face flushed. 
 
 " I want to hear no more from you in that strain," he 
 said haughtily, as if the old spirit of place and power were 
 stirring within him again. " It is sufficient that my sister's 
 wishes 
 
 " If Sallie were your sister, it would make no difference," 
 the dying man declared with fierce impatience. " This is 
 no time to humour whim of hers. In any case she is no 
 kin of yours, Lord Jura, as Captain Dove well knows. He 
 could have told you Keep him off! He'll make an end 
 of me before my time if he can, to silence me. And you 
 must hear, before I go, " He staggered backward, 
 coughing, and almost choked for want of breath. Captain 
 Dove had made a wild lunge at him, but Justin Carthew 
 had sprung forward in time to save him from the old man's
 
 ISHMAEL'S HERITAGE 335 
 
 frenzied attempt: and Herries and Lord Ingoldsby also 
 stepped in between him and his would-be murderer. 
 
 " All right, then," panted Captain Dove. " Leave me 
 alone, and I'll do him no harm. I quite forgot that he was 
 off his head, his lies provoke me so." 
 
 Lord Jura had put Sallie behind him to shield her in the 
 struggle that promised. He looked round at her then with 
 dazed, doubtful eyes and read in hers pain and horror and 
 disbelief equally dreadful. He drew a deep, sobbing breath 
 and confronted Parish M'Kissock again. 
 
 " What in God's name are you driving at! " he demanded, 
 in a tone which told the stress of mind he was suffering. 
 And Parish M'Kissock regarded him very evilly for a little 
 before replying. Slyne and Captain Dove and Carthew 
 were waiting, as if on barbed tenter-hooks. The others, 
 and Sallie also, seemed to be stricken speechless and still. 
 
 " I am here to seek my revenge, my lord, as you know," 
 said Parish M'Kissock slowly at length, and licked his 
 bloodless lips. " There is still a small matter betwixt 
 your lordship and me that remains to be settled an old 
 wrong done, which your lordship has almost forgotten, it 
 seems. / neither forget nor forgive. 
 
 " I may not have time left to tell all I owe Captain Dove 
 there for that goes back through long years to what I 
 owe you. But, before I am done with, I think I can settle 
 with you as well as with him. 
 
 " Sallie is no sister of yours, as Captain Dove knows 
 though she herself has been beguiled as easily as your lord- 
 ship. Your lordship's sister, the Lady Josceline Justice, 
 died in my arms eight or nine weeks ago : and she was my 
 wife. Sallie there, knowing nothing, saw her a few hours 
 before "
 
 336 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 He blinked and hung his head for a moment, as if recall- 
 ing all that had come to pass since he had laid the light, 
 wasted body aside on the sand, and set a guard over it 
 until until he could spare time to see to a decent grave. 
 
 " She was my wife," he said again, looking up at the last 
 of the haughty Juras with hate unquenchable in his glance. 
 " And that's the revenge I have taken on you and yours, 
 my lord, for the ill your lordship lightly wrought the 
 other, that should have been." 
 
 A woman's voice came wailingly from the musicians' gal- 
 lery and Mr. Jobling uttered a low moan of abject fear. 
 His nerves had evidently failed him altogether. Hasty 
 steps were descending the short stone stairway which led to 
 the gallery, and then Janet M'Kissock came tottering forth 
 across the floor from the foot of it. 
 
 " Oh, Parish! " the old woman cried to her brother. 
 " Have you no heart at all! Are there not enough lives 
 ruined already that you would wreck her ladyship's here 
 as well ? " And she turned toward Sallie with a poor, pitiful 
 gesture as of protection. " It cannot be as you say," she 
 whimpered. " For how could 7 be mistaken, that knew her 
 father far better than you ay, and the countess her 
 mother too; whose locket she was wearing at her neck the 
 day she first came to Loquhariot. I'll swear to it, at any 
 rate! I had it for a time in my own keeping, before the 
 countess went away. 
 
 " Ask her ladyship where she got the locket, your grace. 
 And then my poor, distracted brother will maybe admit 
 that he's been deceived about her." 
 
 The duchess's anxious, encouraging look seemed to beg an 
 answer of Sallie. But the girl was gazing, with dumb 
 dismay in her wide, wounded eyes, at Parish M'Kissock,
 
 ISHMAEL'S HERITAGE 337 
 
 recalling as well as she could amid such a maze the incidents 
 of the hours she had spent in his camp on the African coast. 
 
 Under the spell of his piercing glance the shadowy ban- 
 quet-hall of Loquhariot seemed to fade away from her, 
 and in its place she saw again the spacious rose-pink pavil- 
 ion behind the carved chair on which he was seated in state 
 among his staring councillors, under a great green flag with 
 a golden harp on its heavy folds. Behind her, from about 
 the picket-lines where she had noticed the negro slaves at 
 their work, she seemed to hear the whinnying of the horses, 
 the vicious squeals of the restless camels. In the dim crim- 
 son glow of the dying fires she was gazing again at the horse- 
 hair tents in the background, and the multitude of men and 
 women and children all busy about them in the open air. 
 
 She saw, as if in a vision, the Emir spring from his seat 
 and come hastily forward to where she stood shrinkingly 
 at Captain Dove's shoulder. He was tall and stalwart on 
 foot, a fine figure of a man even in his loose, shapeless gar- 
 ments, with a bronzed, hook-nosed, handsome face of his 
 own, a heavy moustache, the brooding, patient, predatory 
 eyes of a desert vulture. And, as he confronted Captain 
 Dove, over whom he seemed to tower threateningly, the 
 hood of his selham slipped back, disclosing a flaming shock 
 of red hair. 
 
 Her own veil had slipped to her chin, but she had been 
 unconscious of that until his blazing eyes had shifted from 
 Captain Dove's unconcerned face to hers. She pulled it 
 hurriedly back into place, and he, turning to the curious 
 onlookers, rid himself of their company before he called, 
 in a caressing voice, on some one within the big, white tent 
 that was the heart of his stronghold. And there came forth 
 a woman, veiled as she herself had been, but dad in silk
 
 338 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 instead of cotton, who bowed submissively to what he had 
 to say, and then held out a slender, bloodless, burning hand 
 to her. . . . 
 
 It all came back to her memory, as if in a lightning-flash 
 that left her stunned and helpless to face the appalling 
 present again. She knew now who the Emir's wife had 
 been a girl of her own age, but grown old before her time 
 and weary of the little life that had been left in her then. 
 She knew that Parish M'Kissock was speaking the truth 
 now, and that she must bear witness to it at whatever cost 
 to herself. It made no difference that Captain Dove's ex- 
 pression was a mute and none the less dreadful threat of 
 what she might look for at his hands if she dared to do so. 
 The helpless horror of the position in which his cunning 
 intrigue had left her broke on her mind like a thunderbolt. 
 She covered her shamed, white face with both hands, and 
 turned, swaying on her feet, and would have fallen had not 
 the duchess thrown both arms about her and held her there 
 in a close, warm clasp, while Justin Carthew and Lord 
 Ingoldsby, who had both darted forward to help her, glared 
 at each other vindictively. 
 
 " It can't be true! " said the duchess, half to herself, but 
 Sallie heard, and stood upright again, dizzily, letting her 
 hands fall, prepared to do public penance for her innocent 
 and unwitting part in the shameless fraud that had been 
 perpetrated. She did not give a thought to the fact that 
 all her own fair dreams of the future were finally shattered 
 and past repair. But she wondered what the poor folk she 
 had befriended about the village would have to say when 
 they heard that she was no better than a common impostor, 
 and the duchess, who had befriended her, and Justin Car- 
 thew, whom Mr. Jobling had treated as a trespasser there !
 
 ISHMAEL'S HERITAGE 339 
 
 " It is true," she asserted, desperately, in a tone which 
 might have touched even Captain Dove, " though I didn't 
 know till now " She almost broke down under the dire 
 humiliation she was enduring, but the duchess would not 
 let her go when she would have drawn away from the arm 
 at her waist, and she forced herself to go on with her un- 
 speakably hurtful confession. 
 
 " The locket was given me by the girl who died in the 
 desert who was that man's wife," she said so that all 
 might hear, her face aflame now under the others' blankly 
 believing glances. " I didn't want to take it at all but 
 she believed she would not live long, and I felt that it would 
 be unkind to refuse." 
 
 Parish M'Kissock looked round, in baleful triumph, at 
 Captain Dove, whose hopes he had thus thwarted and 
 brought to nought. But Captain Dove's evil eyes were 
 fixed on Lord Jura. 
 
 " Did she tell you nothing at all of herself or her 
 history? " the duchess asked very gently. 
 
 " Not a word," Sallie answered with transparent honesty. 
 
 " But there's another here that knew who she was," said 
 Parish M'Kissock, and pointed to Justin Carthew, who 
 could only nod most unhappily, avoiding Sallie's sudden, 
 incredulous glance. 
 
 And, at that, Lord Jura seemed to start from the stupor 
 into which he had gradually lapsed. His haggard face grew 
 dark with insane and uncontrollable passion as he began 
 to realise the fiendish ingenuity of the revenge exacted by 
 the man whom he had, in the first place, wronged so cruelly. 
 No other torture, bodily or mental, could have caused him 
 such anguish as the thought of all his sister must have suf- 
 fered ere she died. He lifted two twitching hands and sud-
 
 340 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 denly leaped, as a tiger might, at Parish M'Kissock's 
 throat. 
 
 So swift and unforeseen was the movement that no one 
 could interfere. But he overshot his mark and slipped and 
 fell on the polished oaken floor as Parish M'Kissock stum- 
 bled aside, just in time to escape his clutch. He came down 
 with a crash, and his eye-glass dropped and splashed about 
 him in fragments as his forehead struck. But, stunned as 
 he was, he turned on one shoulder and thrust an arm out, 
 and was trying to rise when something seemed to snap in 
 the coat-pocket underneath him, and he uttered a scream 
 of agony as his arm collapsed at the elbow, so that he fell 
 face forward again, struggling like a swimmer with cramp. 
 
 "Keep back! " shouted Slyne. And Justin Carthew,in the 
 act of stooping to try to help the ex-engineer, sprang to one 
 side in time and no more to escape the touch of a wriggling 
 thing, black and slimy, like a live shoe-string, which had 
 come slithering out from under the hand with which the 
 fallen man was clawing at the floor. It was almost at Car- 
 thew's ankles. He leaped convulsively again, and came 
 down on it with both feet. Its little venomous head 
 writhed round and struck more than once at the patent 
 leather of his low shoes, and then fell limply back and lay 
 still. He set his heel on it, to make sure that it would work 
 no more harm, and turned hastily toward Lord Jura again. 
 
 Herries was before him, however, and had already lifted 
 the stricken man's head and shoulders a little. Carthew 
 would have helped to raise him to a sitting posture, but all 
 his limbs curled in a dreadful convulsion and straightened 
 rigidly and curled again in a last awful spasm, and so re- 
 laxed, lifeless, while his rolling eyeballs also grew fixed and 
 still. He had ceased to breathe.
 
 ISHMAEL'S HERITAGE 341 
 
 " He's dead," said Captain Dove, and started, as if 
 alarmed by the sound of his own voice. And for a space no 
 one else spoke, and no one moved at all. The only under- 
 tones that broke the silence were the subdued, helpless 
 weeping of the three women, the muted moaning of the 
 wind on the terrace without. Carthew and Herries were 
 still on their knees, one on either side of the dead man, from 
 one of whose pockets protruded a broken, empty cigar-box. 
 The others stood staring down at him as if they could 
 scarcely yet understand what it was that had made such 
 an instant difference in him. 
 
 Carthew got stiffly to his feet. " We must get the women 
 away out of this at once," he whispered to Herries, and held 
 out a hand to help the old factor up. 
 
 Herries gazed at him, out of lack-lustre eyes into which a 
 slow return of intelligence crept as he too rose. 
 
 " Yes, my lord," he answered in a low voice, that yet 
 was audible to all but the unhearing ears of him who had 
 been the ninth Earl of Jura, whose heritage was now no 
 more than a quiet niche in the lonely graveyard on the 
 most seaward of the Small Isles, and a young girl's ignorant 
 prayers that he might there find rest and peace.
 
 CHAPTER XXIX 
 PRIDE'S PRICE 
 
 CARTHEW whispered some further hasty instructions 
 to Herries, and, " Yes, my lord," the old factor an- 
 swered again so that all could hear, and all under- 
 stood that the tenth Earl of Jura and Baron St. Just had 
 thus succeeded the ninth who lay there dead on the 
 floor before them. 
 
 The duchess was gently leading Sallie away. Herries 
 followed them, on his own errands, while Captain Dove and 
 his accomplices remained looking on with sullen, suspicious 
 eyes, straining their ears in a vain attempt to hear what 
 was to be their fate. 
 
 Carthew turned to them. " I'll bid you good night 
 now," he said, in a tone not without a new tinge of authority 
 in it, and at which they looked anything but well pleased. 
 " You'll be more comfortable ii your own quarters than 
 anywhere else in the meantime." And, with that suffi- 
 ciently broad hint, he stood waiting for them to go. 
 
 Captain Dove had opened his mouth as if to speak, but 
 said nothing. Slyne, very pinched and white about the 
 nostrils, drew Mr. Jobling toward the door, as if he would 
 not trust the shifty lawyer with Carthew, and answered 
 for them all, with a most sarcastic inflection, " Good night, 
 - my lord! " Now that the worst had come to the worst 
 he was his old cool, careless, calculating self again.
 
 PRIDE'S PRICE 343 
 
 Captain Dove paused at the buffet in passing, and went 
 on with both hands full. Both he and Slyne, on their way 
 toward the North Keep with Mr. Jobling shambling along 
 between them, not unlike a condemned criminal, noticed 
 the unusual number of able-bodied men-servants who 
 seemed to have found aimless occupation of some sort about 
 the corridor, and drew their own discomforting conclusions 
 therefrom. 
 
 Slyne even hesitated for a moment on the threshold of 
 the cosy living-hall which occupies the base of the North 
 Keep, and then, with a grimace of disdain, followed the 
 other two, closing the heavy door behind him. Almost 
 immediately he heard the key turned quietly in the lock 
 outside and knew that his suspicions had been only too 
 well founded. Carthew intended to keep him and his asso- 
 ciates prisoners there. He bit his lip and pulled at his 
 moustache as he watched Captain Dove drawing the cork 
 of one of the two bottles of champagne that strategist had 
 brought from the banquet-hall. 
 
 " We're cornered at last," he said suddenly, as the old 
 man set the bottle down after having imbibed the best half 
 of its contents. " They've locked us in here." 
 
 Captain Dove turned to glare disbelievingly at him, and 
 then, darting across to the door, tugged furiously at its 
 wrought-iron handle. He set a foot against the wall and 
 tried again, with no better results. He bounced about, al- 
 most frantic, blaspheming as if bereft of all self-control. 
 Mr. Jobling stood wringing his hands helplessly, his flaccid 
 features expressive of abject despair. But Slyne continued 
 to eye the old man with a strained, disconcerting com- 
 posure, i 
 
 "We haven't so much time to spare, Dove," said he
 
 344 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 bitingly, " that we can afford to waste any more watching 
 you play the fool. I expect that fellow Carthew will have 
 your whole history out of Parish M'Kissock within " 
 
 " If you had only kept your damned mouth shut when 
 Brasse was kicking the bucket," cried Captain Dove, very 
 venomously, " Carthew would be keeping him company 
 now. The snake would have got him too. And we'd have 
 won out after all." 
 
 Slyne ground his teeth. But that was no moment for 
 futile recrimination, and self-interest served to stay the 
 acrid retort on the tip of his tongue. 
 
 " ' If this and if that ' doesn't make any difference 
 now," he declared evenly. " I'm not going to argue with 
 you. I want to get out of this before worse comes my 
 way." 
 
 " But how " moaned Mr. Jobling, across whose men- 
 tal vision also were no doubt flashing pictures of Wands- 
 worth Common and Wormwood Scrubbs. 
 
 Slyne silenced him with a glance. " I'd very gladly leave 
 you here to your fate, you fat bungler! " said he, with irre- 
 pressible bitterness, " if it weren't that you'd turn informer 
 on us. So come on, both of you. We've only one chance 
 left among us. And, but for me, neither of you would have 
 even that." Wherewith, and only pausing to take a long 
 pull at Captain Dove's open bottle, he turned up the stair- 
 case, leaving them to follow him or stay where they were, 
 as they chose. 
 
 Captain Dove did follow him, curiously, but not forget- 
 ting to pocket the other bottle. The shivering lawyer came 
 close at his heels, no less eager to snatch at any possibility of 
 escape. 
 
 " Get into a change of clothes/' ordered Slyne, as
 
 PRIDE'S PRICE 345 
 
 he opened the door of his own room. " And I wouldn't 
 be slow about it, if I were you for I'm going as soon as 
 I'm ready." 
 
 Captain Dove's change did not unduly detain him, since 
 he merely pulled on a pair of serge trousers and a pilot- 
 jacket on top of his other attire. And Mr. Jobling was back 
 in Slyne's room no less promptly. They found it in dark- 
 ness and Captain Dove uttered a stifled imprecation. But 
 almost immediately, they heard hasty footsteps on the 
 stair without and Slyne reappeared with a coil of thin 
 strong cord in one hand. 
 
 " The flagpole-halliards," he explained breathlessly as 
 he shut the door behind him again. " My window looks 
 out on the battlements. We must clamber down. Make the 
 rope secure at this end, Dove, but so that we can pull it 
 after us once we're all down it's long enough to go 
 double while I get some things together." 
 
 Captain Dove did as he was bidden, so deftly that Slyne 
 had not quite completed his own preparations when the 
 old man called on him to go first. 
 
 " Send Jobling down," said Slyne, pulling on an overcoat 
 to cover his evening clothes, and the stout solicitor gave 
 voice to a very heartrending groan as he glared blankly out 
 into the black gulf beyond the window. 
 
 " I won't go " he was beginning when Captain Dove 
 ran furiously at him, clutched him round the waist in a 
 gorilla-like grip, and thrust him, feet foremost, struggling 
 insanely, over the sill. 
 
 " Catch hold of the cord both strands or I'll drop 
 you! " snarled the old man. " Down you go, now. You'll 
 find a knot every foot or so. You needn't slip unless you 
 force me to start you with a slam on the head." And he
 
 346 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 stood watching, grimly amused, while his moaning victim 
 sank out of sight, very gradually. 
 
 In a few moments the weight on the rope relaxed. 
 
 " Are you there? " he demanded, and had to shout the 
 question again at the top of his voice, so strong was the 
 wind. 
 
 " Yes, all right," the answer came back, very faint but 
 palpably freighted with helpless wrath. 
 
 " Come on, then, Slyne," ordered Captain Dove, and 
 himself prepared to follow the injured lawyer. " What's 
 that for? " he called in through the window. Slyne was 
 busy securing a bundle about his own shoulders. 
 
 " Some spare wraps," Slyne shouted back from between 
 set teeth. " We're going to take Sallie away with us. On 
 you go I'll be right after you." 
 
 Nor had the other two long to wait till he came scram- 
 bling down in his turn. And, as soon as they had retrieved 
 their rope, they followed his lead through the darkness. 
 
 The three fugitives made their way in the teeth of the 
 wind along the battlements to a point overlooking the 
 terrace that lies at the back of the banquet-hall. And 
 there again their rope stood them in good stead. Slyne 
 thanked his stars that he had studied all the intricacies of 
 the castle so thoroughly, as he led the way, with infinite 
 precaution, from the terrace into the empty passage down 
 which they crept as far as the service-pantry behind the 
 gun-room. 
 
 The gun-room was empty also. As he entered it, he gave 
 vent to a long sigh of heartfelt relief . 
 
 " We're safe now," he told Captain Dove in a guarded 
 tone, and, pulling off his overcoat, smoothed down his 
 crumpled shirt-front. "But you'd better hurry down to
 
 PRIDE'S PRICE 347 
 
 the water-gate and make sure that the boat there doesn't 
 go off without us. As soon as Sallie comes along, 
 we'll " 
 
 " But what if she won't come? " asked Captain Dove, 
 becoming recalcitrant again. " And how do you know 
 there's a boat below? " 
 
 " You don't suppose Brasse swam ashore, do you! " Slyne 
 retorted impatiently. " The boat that brought him from 
 the Olive Branch was still there a few minutes ago while 
 I was at the top of the tower. I suppose he told them to 
 wait for him, in case he struck trouble here. But they may 
 not wait much longer, if you waste any more time. 
 
 " And, as to Sallie, leave me to manage. If you trip me 
 up again now with any of your damned nonsense," he fin- 
 ished with sudden fury, " I'll go to gaol quite contentedly 
 and make sure there that you hang." 
 
 " I might still make terms with that fellow Carthew," 
 Captain Dove suggested provokingly and with a great air 
 of cunning. 
 
 " All right," returned Slyne. " That's enough." And, 
 crossing toward the fireplace, he pressed the bell-push be- 
 side the mantel. 
 
 Captain Dove snatched up a candle and, with that, made 
 a dart for the panel in the wainscot. It would not move 
 despite his most desperate efforts. Slyne pulled a bunch 
 of keys from one pocket and promptly released the power- 
 ful spring-lock. At a sign from him, Mr. Jobling descended 
 the steps below in Captain Dove's wake. Slyne pulled the 
 panel back into place and was seated quietly writing at the 
 table in one corner when a sleepy-looking footman entered 
 the room. 
 
 " I want you to take this note along to her ladyship's
 
 348 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 rooms," said Slyne, and yawned. " Give it to her maid. 
 You needn't wait for an answer." 
 
 " Very well, sir," the man returned with all the respect 
 due to Slyne's recent standing there and evidently still 
 without suspicion of any change. Slyne yawned again, as 
 if ready for bed, re-reading what he had written. And then, 
 watching his messenger go off with the missive, breathed a 
 thanksgiving that was, at the same time, a prayer to the 
 goddess of chance who was his deity. For he was taking 
 risks now that were recklessly dangerous and might, at any 
 moment, prove deadly to him. 
 
 " It would be pretty fatal, for instance, if Carthew 
 chanced to be with the duchess and her when Ambrizette 
 takes my note in," he told himself. " But there are a 
 dozen other chances of accident, and what's the use of 
 worrying? The wind doesn't always blow from the same 
 quarter. I'd feel safe enough if I only knew where Carthew 
 is at this precise moment." 
 
 He crossed to the fireplace, picking up a cigarette by the 
 way, and, having lighted it with trembling fingers, stood 
 staring down into the dull glow of the dying logs on the 
 hearth. He was wondering whether all was really lost, and 
 listening most impatiently to every slightest sound. But 
 he had not long to wait before Sallie, pale of face and with a 
 world of woe in her wet eyes, came very quietly into the 
 room. 
 
 He held out both his hands to her, but she stopped at a 
 little distance. 
 
 " You mustn't blame me, Sallie," he said in a voice meant 
 to carry conviction with it. " I didn't know I had no 
 idea I believed honestly from the first that you were ' 
 
 " It makes no difference now," she interrupted, " and
 
 PRIDE'S PRICE 349 
 
 I I Oh! I'm so ashamed. What can Mr. Carthew 
 think of me! And he knew all the time that I had no right 
 to be here! " 
 
 " It wasn't your fault either," he assured her soothingly. 
 " You were misled no less than I was. How could we 
 ever have foreseen But there's no time to talk of that 
 just now. We must be off. Captain Dove has gone on 
 ahead. He left me to show you the way to the boat." 
 
 She lifted a hand dazedly to her forehead. 
 
 " I don't know what to do," she murmured. " But 
 of course, I can't stay here now." 
 
 Slyne was watching her tensely. " Most assuredly not," 
 he agreed in haste and trying hard to hide his elation. 
 " You can't possibly stay here after what has happened. 
 You've far too much proper pride." 
 
 " And my promise to you is no longer binding," she said, 
 " since I'm not It was Lady Josceline Justice with 
 whom you made that bargain and not with me." 
 
 He saw that it was no moment to argue that point. All 
 he wanted at once was to get her safely on board the Olive 
 Branch. And he did not contradict her. 
 
 " Ambrizette must come with me, Jasper," she said 
 brokenly. " I won't leave her behind." 
 
 He set his teeth to stifle an angry refusal of that difficult 
 condition. 
 
 " All right, Sallie," he answered smoothly. " I'll risk 
 that too, since you say so. Slip on this coat it will be 
 bitter cold in the boat. And I'll send for Ambrizette."
 
 CHAPTER XXX 
 
 THE TENTH EARL 
 
 CARTHEW was feeling anything but fit to cope with 
 all the cares and responsibilities which had devolved 
 upon him again, under circumstances so shocking, 
 no less suddenly than he had been relieved of them all - 
 along with that place in life to which they pertained - 
 by the man now lying dead on the floor before him. As he 
 watched the Duchess of Dawn leading Sallie gently out of 
 the banquet-hall, he would have given a very great deal to 
 have been free to follow them, for Sallie had looked back 
 at him out of tear-dimmed eyes as she went, with an ex- 
 pression he could not quite understand. And, now that she 
 too knew the very worst there was to be told, he was des- 
 perately anxious to find out how she was going to deal with 
 him, under such changed conditions. 
 
 But there were matters even more urgent to be disposed 
 of, for her sake too, before he could set himself right with 
 her. He pulled himself together, with a great effort. 
 
 It was clear that he must not permit Captain Dove and 
 his two confederates to decamp. He had heard enough 
 already to justify him in taking the law into his own hands 
 for the nonce and detaining them there. It was equally 
 clear that he must not delay for a moment in finding out as 
 much more as he might from Parish M'Kissock, who looked 
 as if he could scarcely live for another hour.
 
 THE TENTH EARL 351 
 
 He whispered to Henries to take such steps as would 
 ensure that no one whosoever should be allowed to leave 
 the castle, and to shut the three accomplices up together 
 in the North Keep if that could be done quietly, without 
 any scandal. Then, having got rid of Captain Dove and 
 the other two, he was left in the banquet-hall with only the 
 Marquis of Ingoldsby, in a state of apparent coma, old Janet 
 M'Kissock, grief-stricken to the very verge of endurance, 
 and her unfortunate brother, still standing motionless, with 
 bent head and hands clasped, staring down at the dead man 
 so near in semblance and yet so far beyond reach of his 
 animosity. 
 
 The grey-haired housekeeper was pleading with Parish 
 M'Kissock to come away, but he resisted all her attempts 
 to get him to leave that spot. 
 
 " Let me bide where I am," he answered her querulously. 
 " In a very little, Janet, I'll be away off after his foolish 
 lordship there, that thinks he has slipped through my feck- 
 less fingers again as he did once before. But I'll soon 
 be on his track again, for they'll have to streek me on the 
 same stretching-board that serves him. Let me bide beside 
 him till then." 
 
 Carthew looked anxiously across at the Marquis of In- 
 goldsby. There was nobody who might better serve as a 
 witness to whatever M'Kissock might still be induced to 
 tell concerning that nightmare past in which the poor corpse 
 on the floor and the girl who had gone away weeping and he 
 himself had all been involved. 
 
 " There's somethin' doosid fishy about all these 
 goin's-on," Lord Ingoldsby commented with a good deal 
 more candour than tact, when Carthew made that sugges- 
 tion to him. " And I'm for Lady Josceline, right through
 
 352 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 from start to finish. I don't believe a word of that goat- 
 bearded fellow's yarn. He's been and caught sunstroke 
 somewhere that's what's the matter with him, eh? He's 
 mad as a hatter. 
 
 " But, all the same, I'm willin' to listen to anything more 
 he has to say and take a mental note of it, so to speak. 
 I want to know who's who and what's what myself." 
 
 Carthew turned to Parish M'Kissock then, and the latter 
 looked him over with a frown as of dim remembrance which 
 gradually changed to a scowl of hate. 
 
 " And so," said the ex-Emir in a rancorous voice, " you 
 have come to your own at last amid it all. Is there no end 
 to your ill race? My men told me that you were safely 
 buried and dead they showed me the mound that they 
 said covered you. How " 
 
 " Come away from here," said Carthew steadily, "and I'll 
 tell you how I escaped." And Farish M'Kissock, leaning 
 heavily on his sister's shoulder, at last allowed her to lead 
 him to her own room. 
 
 Carthew told him then, in few words, while Lord In- 
 goldsby, listening gloomily, scowled over it, the story of 
 Sallie's daring and his own escape from death, on the African 
 coast. 
 
 The ex-Emir's heavy eyes lighted up a little. 
 
 " Ay," said Farish M'Kissock, musingly. " And so it 
 was her that helped you past your dug grave ! I knew 
 her for a mettlesome filly the first time I ever clapped eyes 
 on her. And now to think that but for you and me 
 she'd be cosily settled, knowing nothing, in this old nest 
 that should by rights have been my wife's and mine! It's 
 a damned upside-down world this, my fine doctor! But 
 you'll make it up to her, maybe, in another way? "
 
 THE TENTH EARL 353 
 
 He was gazing at Carthew with something of his old im- 
 perious, indomitable spirit. " You owe her your very 
 coronet, my new Lord Jura," said he. 
 
 " I'll pay all I owe," said Carthew, to humour him, " if 
 she'll take any payment from me." And at that the Mar- 
 quis of Ingoldsby scowled still more blackly. 
 
 The ex-Emir made a gruesome effort to laugh sardon- 
 ically. 
 
 " She'll take it," said he, " if you're man enough, if 
 you're man enough to master her," said he and sank back 
 on his couch. 
 
 "And now about Captain Dove," Carthew suggested 
 as he brought paper and ink to the table from the desk in 
 one corner. And the dying man sat up again as if spurred 
 to a final effort. 
 
 He looked round at his stricken sister. " Leave us for 
 a little, Janet, woman," said he in a more kindly tone. 
 " There is that to be told now which you would like ill to 
 hear, and his lordship will call you back when I'm through 
 with it." 
 
 Carthew nodded hastily to the old housekeeper. " We'll 
 be as quick as we can," he promised: " and you can stay 
 within call." 
 
 She went, however unwillingly, and then her brother 
 began the story of all his dealings with Captain Dove, 
 speaking slowly, in a low voice, husbanding his strength, 
 while Carthew wrote down every word of it. 
 
 In his eagerness to ensure the downfall of his surviving 
 enemy, he had no hesitation in incriminating himself. 
 Lord Ingoldsby listened as if stricken dumb and Carthew 
 had hard work to contain himself as he heard, among other 
 infamies, of the bargain the ex-Emir had driven with Cap-
 
 354 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 tain Dove over Sallie. He would have thrown down his 
 pen during M'Kissock's laboured, self-compassionate ac- 
 count of how Captain Dove had outwitted him, had not 
 the man on the couch at the other side of the table been 
 almost across death's threshold already. M'Kissock's rabid 
 thirst for revenge, his obvious impenitence for all his own 
 crimes and misdeeds, excited repugnance in place of the 
 pity his plight might otherwise have inspired. Carthew 
 was devoutly thankful when that most distasteful task was 
 at length completed, and Parish M'Kissock's feeble, strag- 
 gling signature attached to the document he had drawn 
 up. Lord Ingoldsby and he both added their names as 
 witnesses, and then he called the housekeeper in again. 
 Her brother, having thus accomplished his final object in 
 life, was evidently sinking fast. 
 
 In the corridor outside, Lord Ingoldsby called a halt as 
 Carthew would have turned to leave him with a few hurried 
 words of thanks for the jealous service he had just ren- 
 dered. 
 
 " Half a mo'," interposed his lordship, very morosely. 
 " We might just as well come to an understandin' now as 
 later on. I want to tell you that, whoever Lady Josceline 
 is or is not, I've asked her to marry me and, if you're 
 goin' to see her now I don't know what your ideas are, 
 but we might just as well start fair." 
 
 Carthew contemplated him for a moment in surprised 
 silence, and then nodded curtly. He was going to see Sallie 
 at once, if he could, as his rival had divined. 
 
 " All right," he assented. " Come on." 
 
 He looked into the banquet-hall in passing. Herries was 
 there, with the butler and all his assistants. The dinner- 
 table had been cleared and draped with a great black mort-
 
 THE TENTH EARL 355 
 
 cloth. And on it lay, recumbent, with clasped hands, in 
 the clear, mellow light of the tall, white tapers at its head 
 and feet, the unheeding shape of Carthew's predecessor in 
 the earldom of Jura, still dressed in its disreputable, greasy 
 blue uniform and burst boots, with a red smudge, as of iron- 
 rust, on its forehead. 
 
 The fires had both been raked out and their hearth-stones 
 strewn with the ashes, not to be rekindled before that night 
 on which the dead earl should be carried away by the water- 
 gate from his catafalque to the great black burial-barge, 
 with the pipes wailing a wild lament for the mountains to 
 echo, and the waves or the still sea-surface, as might befall, 
 crimson under the twinkling torches of those who would 
 follow, with muffled oars. 
 
 Herries came forward to speak to Carthew. " I'm seeing 
 to everything here now, my lord, and we'll soon have all 
 as it should be," said he. " Captain Dove and his friends 
 are fast, in the North Keep. And your other orders have 
 all been observed." 
 
 " I'll see you again in a little, then," Carthew returned, 
 and went on his way, by no means inspirited. 
 
 It was the Duchess of Dawn, her blue eyes still blurred 
 and showing traces of tears, who came to the door of the 
 boudoir in Sallie's suite in the distant West Wing, in re- 
 sponse to Carthew's knock. 
 
 " Have you not brought her back with you? " she asked, 
 and looked surprisedly past him at Lord Ingoldsby. 
 
 " Where is she? " Carthew asked, in sudden alarm. " I 
 haven't seen her." 
 
 " She went along to the gun-room a little ago a note 
 came to say she was wanted there. And I supposed it 
 would be from you."
 
 356 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 " I'll find her there, then," declared Carthew, and turned 
 and retraced his steps very hurriedly. An instant dread 
 of some unforeseen mischance among his over-rapid plans 
 for her welfare had filled his mind; and his face grew dark 
 as he hobbled back along that endless corridor and across 
 the deserted main hall again, with Lord Ingoldsby at his 
 elbow. 
 
 Of the sleepy servants they passed by the way he asked 
 no questions, for only the butler and his immediate under- 
 lings knew anything as yet of what had happened. It had 
 been Carthew's own idea to prevent any garbled report 
 being spread about till he should have devised some means 
 to save Sallie from pain and scandal. 
 
 He found the gun-room empty, and stared about it in 
 dire distress. Then he sniffed the air, frowning. And then 
 he noticed a half-smoked cigarette smouldering in the fire- 
 place. He picked it up hastily and saw Jasper Slyne's mono- 
 gram upon it. 
 
 " Must have been a long time burning," he thought, and 
 a concrete suspicion flashed through his mind. But that 
 seemed so far-fetched at first that he shook his head impa- 
 tiently over it. 
 
 " They could scarcely escape from the North Keep," 
 said he to himself. " But I may as well make sure that 
 everything's safe here while I'm about it," he muttered, 
 and limped across to the panel that covered the passage to 
 the water-gate. 
 
 It was unlocked. 
 
 He pulled it open and looked down into the darkness, 
 listening intently. Then he swung round and, snatching 
 up the lighted lamp on the table beside the fire, made off 
 down the steps, leaving Lord Ingoldsby in^the dark.
 
 THE TENTH EARL 367 
 
 But his gaping lordship was not to be left behind. He 
 followed hot-foot, uttering foolish oaths as he barked an 
 elbow on the rock wall. 
 
 Carthew stopped suddenly. He could hear voices not 
 very far ahead and the movement of some heavy weight. 
 The tunnel curved a little there, and he knew he must be 
 near the bridge that crosses the oubliette. He went on 
 again, very cautiously, keeping close to one wall and shading 
 the lamp as well as he could, till he came to a point where 
 further precaution was idle. For, fifty yards away, straight 
 ahead, he could see Slyne holding a candle beside Captain 
 Dove, who was stooping over the roughly carpentered tree- 
 trunk which still stretched from lip to lip of the intervening 
 chasm. Its former neighbour had disappeared. 
 
 Captain Dove looked up and caught sight of Carthew in 
 his turn. He had got his hands under the heavy trunk, and 
 staggered sideways, straddling it, till its butt-end was close 
 to the brink. Carthew had all but reached the opposite edge 
 of the pit between them when he let it go with a breathless 
 grunt and it fell almost soundlessly into the void below. 
 
 Slyne blew out his candle then, with a bitter, mocking 
 laugh, but not before Carthew had observed Mr. Jobling 
 and Ambrizette in the background, with a drooping figure 
 between them.
 
 CHAPTER XXXI 
 
 " AT THE END OF THE PASSAGE " 
 
 CAPTAIN DOVE looked across at Carthew with a 
 hoarse chuckle, no less malicious. He was evidently 
 in that mordant, capricious humour most common 
 with him at moments when his potations had merely begun 
 their evil work on his wits. 
 
 "Light that candle again, Slyne, confound you!" he 
 ordered sharply. " His noble lordship, our American friend, 
 can scarcely see us to say good-bye." 
 
 " Oh, come on," Slyne urged, obviously almost at the 
 end of his patience. " We've no more than time to get 
 safely away before we'll have the hue and cry after us in the 
 fishermen's boats and they're faster than you imagine." 
 
 " You can't teach me anything about boats! " Captain 
 Dove retorted with crapulous dignity. " So just light 
 Or, here gimme the candle, quick! And don't address 
 any more of of your in invidious conversation to me." 
 
 " I'll see Sallie safely afloat, then," suggested Slyne. 
 " We'll have to send her down in a whip, I expect. The 
 sea's always rising." 
 
 " She's a better seaman than you are, Slyne," the old 
 man returned with a sneer. " And she'll go down hand 
 under hand, same as I will when I'm quite ready. Till 
 then, she'll stay here with me, so that his loving lordship 
 there can have a last, long look at her." He chuckled again,
 
 "AT THE END OF THE PASSAGE" 359 
 
 most discordantly. " But you can see that fat stiff, 
 Jobling, safely afloat, if you like. It will probably take a 
 whip to tempt him to run the risk of a wetting on his way 
 aboard." 
 
 The wretched object of his derision gave vent to a very 
 audible groan, hearing which, Captain Dove laughed aloud, 
 with malevolent relish. And, having at length succeeded 
 in striking a match, he turned again toward Carthew, stand- 
 ing still and silent on the other side of the apparently bot- 
 tomless chasm which cut the pathway apart. 
 
 " Are there only the two of you there? " he asked, dart- 
 ing a contemptuous glance at Lord Ingoldsby. 
 
 " That's all," Carthew answered tersely. He was abso- 
 lutely at his wits' end, but thought he could not do better 
 than detain the old man there as long as he might. 
 
 " But you've raised the alarm up above? "Captain Dove 
 suggested, with all the fatuous cunning of one half-fuddled. 
 " And we'll have a pack of your cut- throats in petticoats 
 down on us in a minute or two? " 
 
 He looked savagely round at Slyne. " I thought I told 
 you to see that bloated Jonah into the boat! " he blurted 
 explosively. And Slyne, with an exasperated shrug of the 
 shoulders, sauntered away, with Mr. Jobling in very un- 
 certain attendance. 
 
 " I want to talk to you on my own account for five sec- 
 onds or so, young-fellow-my-lad," Captain Dove continued, 
 as if in confidence, to Carthew. " But is it safe, eh? You 
 haven't answered my questions yet. And you've turned 
 the key on us once already! " 
 
 " You're safe from pursuit in the meantime," Carthew 
 reassured him. 
 
 " I'll take your word for it, sir," Captain Dove declared,
 
 360 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 and, bowing very graciously, all but over-balanced himself. 
 " And now let me ask you whether you have been listening 
 to any more lies from Parish M'Kissock; because, if you 
 have, we must part brass-rags right away." 
 
 Carthew was most sorely tempted to spare the truth, and 
 made haste to answer honestly while he might. "I've 
 heard all he had to tell," said he, " and " 
 
 " And you believe it all! " Captain Dove interposed, with 
 maudlin pathos, his evident intention to see whether he 
 could not even yet make terms of some sort for himself 
 with the young American knocked on the head. " Well, 
 well! We must be jogging now, Sallie." 
 
 The girl stepped forward beside him at that, and Garthew 
 was thankful to see Ambrizette clinging to her skirts, for 
 she had told him more than once how often the dumb, black 
 dwarf had stood betwixt her and imminent harm. 
 
 Her sweet, sensitive features were very pale, but placid, 
 as if, after the sore stress she had suffered, she had found 
 some sort of peace. And all the pride seemed to have died 
 out of her downcast eyes as she faced him across the dark, 
 impassable gulf that stretched between them. 
 
 " I don't want you to think that I have gone away un- 
 willingly, Mr. Carthew," she said, and his heart almost 
 failed him as he heard that. It had never occurred to him 
 that she might have taken such a sheerly suicidal step of her 
 own free will. 
 
 " But why " he cried, and the hurt in his voice perhaps 
 helped to salve a little the sore wounds in her own heart. 
 
 " I couldn't possibly have stayed here, you see after 
 what has happened. And, I'm not afraid of the future 
 now. You don't understand, perhaps, but you will re- 
 member I wasn't afraid."
 
 "AT THE END OF THE PASSAGE " 361 
 
 " Come away now, Sallie," said Captain Dove. An iras- 
 cible voice in the distance was calling upon him insistently. 
 
 " Good-bye/' she said, submissively, to Carthew, and, 
 looking up, her eyes met his for an instant. 
 
 " Wait a minute only a minute more, for God's sake! " 
 Carthew implored the old man. " It won't do any of you 
 any harm to stand by till I've said my say. It won't help 
 you in the least, Captain Dove, to carry Sallie away and 
 you'll be far safer, believe me, if you leave her here. I've 
 only been waiting my chance to ask her to marry me, 
 and " 
 
 " I've asked her already," interrupted Lord Ingoldsby, 
 in a tone no doubt meant to be most impressive but strongly 
 resembling a squeal. No one, however, paid him any more 
 attention than if he had been the shadow he seemed. 
 
 " And if you carry her off just now," Carthew continued 
 hurriedly, encouraged by the benevolent smile with which 
 Captain Dove was regarding him, " you'll have good cause 
 to regret it. For I'll hunt you down till I find you, and 
 then " 
 
 " Now you're talking," the old man commented approv- 
 ingly, quite undismayed by that threat. " And then we'll 
 make terms, if you come in time and bring enough money 
 with you. 
 
 " I'd even have waited here and fixed it all up, but 
 He wagged his shameless white head sorrowfully. " It 
 wouldn't be wise," said he. " You've been prejudiced 
 against me by Farish M'Kissock. It's too late to think 
 of that now. So I must be off, for my own sake. 
 
 " But maybe we'll meet again," he concluded with cheer- 
 ful complacence, " in some safer spot for me. And, if Sallie's 
 still on my hands when you show up "
 
 362 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 " So be it, then," Carthew agreed, seeing clearly that 
 further appeal would be futile, all eagerness to get above- 
 ground again and begin the chase. He could have the whole 
 fishing-fleet of the village armed and afloat within half an 
 hour, and might even yet succeed in boarding the Olive 
 Branch at her anchorage. But, manlike, he had counted 
 without the woman in the case. 
 
 " I'm going away of my own free will, Mr. Carthew," 
 said Sallie suddenly, with the same strange expression of 
 face that he had observed when she had looked back at him 
 in the banquet-hall. " And I don't want you to follow 
 me. You have been far more than generous, but I 
 couldn't marry you in any case." 
 
 " Don't say that, Sallie," he beseeched, and, " Dove! " 
 cried a very wrathful voice in the distance. " We'll be off 
 without you if you don't come down at once." 
 
 The old man's smug, blinking smile instantaneously 
 changed to a furious scowl. He pulled a big, golden-necked 
 bottle from one of his pockets, removed the cork, and, hav- 
 ing poured its remaining contents hastily down his throat, 
 tiptoed off down the tunnel with it in one hand, making 
 motions as if to hurl it with accurate aim, leaving Sallie 
 alone there. 
 
 Carthew glared across the black gulf at his feet, his free 
 hand clenched, in helpless despair. He would gladly have 
 given his earldom then in exchange for a pair of wings. 
 
 " I'll bolt up and get a ladder brought down," groaned 
 Lord Ingoldsby. And he would have made off without more 
 ado but that Carthew had seized him by the sleeve. 
 
 " Here! Hold this," commanded Carthew, and thrust 
 the smoking lamp into his hands. Sallie had turned to 
 follow Captain Dove, with dragging steps. He could not
 
 " AT THE END OF THE PASSAGE " 363 
 
 believe that she meant what she had said. He would not 
 let her go without making sure. Farish M'Kissock's con- 
 temptuous words had recurred to his mind ''if you're 
 man enough to master her! " Instinct told him that she 
 would not turn back now, and a man's last stake was 
 all he had left to venture. 
 
 " Stop, stop! It's sheer suicide," the marquis cried 
 shrilly, as Carthew ran limping up the tunnel as far as the 
 straight extended, and faced about, throwing off his coat, 
 and balanced there for a breathless instant and then came 
 racing down past him to launch himself bodily into space. 
 
 No human being could have leaped the distance, and 
 Carthew had been further handicapped by his lameness. He 
 shot, as if from a catapult, nearly as high as the arched rock- 
 roof, his elbows close, chin on chest, head between his 
 shoulders, knees at his temples and heels tucked back, and, 
 on the downward curve, reached the lower lip of the chasm, 
 landing on one shoulder, to hang there for the space of a 
 couple of heart-beats, as if poised for the inevitable re- 
 bound. 
 
 Lord Ingoldsby heard the dull thud of his fall and 
 Sallie's stifled, heart-broken cry. He opened his eyes and 
 saw the girl desperately striving to pull a hunched-up, 
 relaxing body back from the brink over which, but for her, 
 it would already have toppled. He thought they must 
 both have slipped over before, at the finish, Sallie succeeded 
 in drawing Carthew into safety, and sat down beside him, 
 swaying from side to side, as if her own back were broken. 
 
 But, presently, Carthew looked up and then he scrambled 
 on to his knees with a suppressed grunt of agony. For a 
 time the whole world swam redly about him, but he clenched 
 his teeth, not to be overcome. And when Sallie in turn
 
 364 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 got on to her feet again, white and shaking, he had re- 
 covered the use of his voice. 
 
 " I won't let you go dear," he said dazedly, and 
 started, in renewed alarm for her, as they heard Captain 
 Dove calling her harshly from below. 
 
 " Coming," she called back, since she could not help 
 herself. 
 
 " You must stay here, or he'll kill you! " she whis- 
 pered in an agony of entreaty. " I'll go now; it will be 
 best so. And if, by and by, you still care to follow 
 
 " You go on," he said gently. " I'm going to follow you 
 now." 
 
 She had no option but to obey him, since to have re- 
 mained there would merely have meant that Captain Dove, 
 coming back for her, would have him at a greater disad- 
 vantage. And as she led the way in the dark, with slow 
 steps, he followed quietly; while Lord Ingoldsby, left to 
 his own devices as they disappeared, was brilliantly in- 
 spired to bolt back for help. 
 
 A little further on a thick twilight made progress more 
 easily possible, and they could feel the salt breath of the 
 sea on their fevered faces. Then, at last, they drew near 
 the oblong opening in the cliff-face at which Captain Dove 
 had for several minutes been busy abusing the men in 
 the boat below. But he was hi no better temper by then, 
 since the empty bottle he had hurled at Slyne had knocked 
 the steersman insensible. 
 
 " Is that you, Sallie? " he snapped, looking round. 
 
 "Below there, you lubbers! Stand in again. We're 
 coming down now. 
 
 " Hurry up, girl! " he barked, impatiently. " It's high 
 time we were away."
 
 " AT THE END OF THE PASSAGE " 365 
 
 He was leaning out over the ledge, clinging with one 
 hand to a bar of the great water-gate, so thick, that his 
 stubby ringers did not meet round it. Carthew, creep- 
 ing after Sallie set her suddenly aside, and ran at 
 him. 
 
 Captain Dove heard him coming, but too late to save 
 himself. He felt as if a bullock had kicked him in the small 
 of the back, and, as his hold broke, he fell headlong, 
 howling like an evil spirit, into the smothering, yeasty 
 surge through which his boat was already hastily back- 
 ing to pick him up. 
 
 Carthew set his back to the heavy gate, and it swung 
 slowly shut. But Slyne had not left behind the key he 
 had for its modern lock, and its old-fashioned draw-bolts 
 were rusted fast. He could only hope that Lord Ingoldsby 
 would bring back some means of bridging the drowning- 
 hole before Captain Dove and his helpers could storm 
 the position again. 
 
 He laughed, a little light-headed by then, as he 
 stumbled up the long, dark slope, with Sallie close at his 
 shoulder. 
 
 " I told you I wouldn't let you go, dear," he declared 
 triumphantly, and his laugh changed to a low, choked groan 
 as she would have taken his arm to help him; for he was 
 walking unsteadily. 
 
 " Don't touch that one," he begged. " It's a bit sore; 
 I came down on it when I jumped." 
 
 " Do you think it's broken? " she whispered, and her 
 eyes grew dim as she thought of all he had suffered through 
 her. She had stopped. There were lights coming down 
 the tunnel, and hurrying feet, on the further side of the 
 drowning-hole.
 
 366 THE WHITE BLACKBIRD 
 
 He slipped his sound arm about her. ' There's nothing 
 broken that can't be mended now," he murmured con- 
 tentedly. " Unless you're really determined to break my 
 heart." 
 
 THE END
 
 A Story of Charm and Cheeriness 
 
 ALL THE WORLD TO 
 NOTHING 
 
 tfyWYNDHAM MARTYN 
 Illustrated by H. H. Leonard. Cloth, $1.25 net 
 
 A few years ago Wyndham Marty n's first book, "The Man 
 Outside," was one of the " best sellers " of its season. His new 
 novel shows a distinct advance in the art of the story-teller, and 
 will make many new friends for its author. Richard Chester, 
 a young American of family, with a care-free disposition and a 
 dashing outlook on life, goes through all his money, and has the 
 choice of appealing to his older brother for assistance or work- 
 ing to avoid starvation. 
 
 Choosing the latter alternative, and the odds against him, he 
 pursues his unfaltering way through many trials and vicissi- 
 tudes, not afraid to try labor of the meanest sort ; and through- 
 out his struggle for existence his hopes are sustained through 
 love of a true-hearted woman. No man fights more gallantly 
 than he for what is dear to him ; neither hardship nor ill-success 
 has power to stay his impetuous course. 
 
 The reader must learn for himself the place that a curious 
 will and a chance meeting have in the unusual plot, and the 
 reader may be sure of finding in " All the World to Nothing " 
 a story of charm and cheeriness and unusual appeal 
 
 LITTLE, BROWN, & CO., PUBLISHER* 
 
 34 BEACOX STREET, BOSTON
 
 By the author of "The Haunted Pajamas" 
 
 THE GIFT 
 OF ABOU HASSAN 
 
 By FRANCIS PERRY ELLIOTT 
 
 Illustrated by Hanson Booth. Cloth, $1.25 net. 
 
 This is absolutely the cleverest, catchiest book of the sea- 
 son, the Arabian Nights up-to-date in modern New York, a 
 rapid, rollicking romance of love and laughter, fun and ab- 
 surdity, all told in the most delightfully whimsical manner 
 imaginable. A young club-man, whose distinguishing charac- 
 teristic is the possession of unblushing audacity and nerve, 
 sees a pretty girl outside the antique-shop of a Persian dealer, 
 to which the girl's aunt has come in quest of a wonderful rug 
 and then the fun begins and never stops. 
 
 For Abou Hassan's shop holds a rug more wonderful than 
 the world has known in many centuries : a magic rug put 
 foot upon it and one can't be seen or heard. And the hero's 
 love-making, his masquerade as another man, the complica- 
 tions for which the magic rug is responsible, these make a 
 steady stream of comedy that brings laughter to your lips and 
 tears to your eyes while you are held entranced by the mirth- 
 ful medley of mysterious events that follow. 
 
 LITTLE, BROWN, & CO., PUBLISHER* 
 34 BEACON STREET, BOSTON-
 
 V" ll " 1 
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 A 000127135 2