Mary Roberts Rinehart

“ Turner, purple with anger, was haranguing the men, who stood amidships, huddled together, but grim and determined withal. Burns, a little apart from the rest, was standing, sullen, his arms folded. As Turner ceased, he took a step forward.
“You are right, Mr. Turner,” he said. “It’s your ship, and it’s up to you to say where she goes and how she goes, sir. But some one will hang for this, Mr. Turner,—some one that’s on this deck now; and the bodies are going back with us—likewise the axe. There ain’t going to be a mistake—the right man is going to swing.” ”

“ Burns, on watch at the companionway, ran forward with his revolver, and narrowly escaped being brained—Adams at that moment flinging down a marlinespike that he had carried aloft with him.
I heard the crash and joined Burns, and together we went over the deck and, both houses. Everything was quiet: the crew in various attitudes of exhausted sleep, their chests and dittybags around them; Oleson at the wheel; and Singleton in his jail-room, breathing heavily. ”

“ The weather was good, the food fair. I had no reason to repent my bargain. Of the sailing qualities of the Ella there could be no question. The crew, selected by Captain Richardson from the best men of the Turner line, knew their business, and, especially after the Williams incident, made me one of themselves. Barring the odor of formaldehyde in the forecastle, which drove me to sleeping on deck for a night or two, everything was going smoothly, at least on the surface. ”

“ Johns raised herself on her elbow and looked at me.
“Why should we?” she asked. “How do we know what you are giving him? You are not friendly to him or to us. We know what you are trying to do—you are trying to save yourself, at any cost. You put a guard at the companionway. You rail off the deck for our safety. You drop the storeroom key in Mr. Turner’s cabin, where Elsa will find it, and will be obliged to acknowledge she found it, and then take it from her by force, so you can show it later on and save yourself!” ”

“ Somewhere on the Ella the murderer was loose. He must be found.
I flung out of Turner’s cabin as the crew, gathered from the forecastle and from the decks, crowded down the forward companionway. I ran my eye over them. Every man was there, Singleton below by the captain’s body, the crew, silent and horror-struck, grouped on the steps: Clarke, McNamara, Burns, Oleson, and Adams. Behind the crew, Charlie Jones had left the wheel and stood peering down, until sharply ordered back. Williams, with a bandage on his head, and Tom, the mulatto cook, were in the group. ”

“ This is a picked crew—men the Turner line has employed for years.”
“You are very brave, Mrs. Johns,” I said. “If I were what you think I am, I would be a dangerous enemy.”
“I am not afraid of you.”
I thought fast. She was right. It had not occurred to me before, but it swept over me overwhelmingly.
“You are leaving me only one thing to do,” I said. “I shall surrender myself to the men at once.” I took out my revolver and held it out to her. “This rope is a dead-line. The crew know, and you will have no trouble; but you must stand guard here until some one else is sent.” ”

“ I did not believe that Turner had strength enough to fell so vigorous a man, even with the capstan bar which we found lying near by. Nor could he have jerked and broken the amberline. Mrs. Johns I eliminated for the same reason, of course. I could imagine her getting the key by subtlety, wheedling the impressionable young sailor into compliance. But force!
The second reason was the stronger.
Singleton, the mate, had become a tractable and almost amiable prisoner. Like Turner, he was ugly only when he was drinking, and there was not even enough liquor on the Ella to revive poor Burns. ”

“ It is true that the captain did not speak to the first mate except when compelled to, and that Turner and the captain ignored each other elaborately. The cruise went on without event. There was no attempt on Turner’s part to carry out his threat of the night before; nor did he, as the crew had prophesied, order the Ella into the nearest port. He kept much to himself, spending whole days below, with Williams carrying him highballs, always appearing at dinner, however, sodden of face but immaculately dressed, and eating little or nothing. ”

“ The cook, taking down the dinner on Friday evening, reported Mr. Turner up and about and partly dressed. The heat was frightful. All day we had had a following breeze, and it had been necessary to lengthen the towing-rope, dropping the jolly-boat well behind us. The men, saying little or nothing, dozed under their canvas; the helmsman drooped at the wheel. Under our feet the boards sent up simmering heat waves, and the brasses were too hot to touch.
At four o’clock Elsa Lee came on deck, and spoke to me for the first time in several days. She started when she saw me, and no wonder. ”

“ Vail and Miss Lee had left the others and come into the chart-room. As Charlie Jones and I looked, he bent over and kissed her hand.
The sun had gone down. My pipe was empty, and from the galley, forward, came the odor of the forecastle supper. Charlie was coughing, a racking paroxysm that shook his wiry body. He leaned over and caught my shoulder as I was moving away.
“New paint and new canvas don’t make a new ship,” he said, choking back the cough. “She’s still the old Ella, the she-devil of the Turner line. Pink lights below, and not a rat in the hold! ”

“ Singleton is again a member of the Turner forces, having signed a contract and a temperance pledge at the same sitting. Jones is in a hospital for the insane, where in the daytime he is a cheery old tar with twinkling eyes and a huge mustache, and where now and then, on Christmas and holidays, I send him a supply of tobacco. At night he sleeps in a room with opaque glass windows through which no heavenly signals can penetrate. ”

“ McWhirter came to the wharf with me, and looked the Ella over with eyes of proprietorship.
“Pretty snappy-looking boat,” he said. “If the nigger gets sick, give him some of my seasick remedy. And take care of yourself, boy.” He shook hands, his open face flushed with emotion. “Darned shame to see you going like this. Don’t eat too much, and don’t fall in love with any of the women. Good-bye.”
He started away, and I turned toward the ship; but a moment later I heard him calling me. He came back, rather breathless.
“Up in my neighborhood,” he panted, “they say Turner is a devil. ”

“ And when the frightened darky had taken himself, muttering threats, to the galley, Vail came over to me and ran his hand down my arm.
“Where did you get it?” he asked.
“Oh, I’ve always had some muscle,” I said. “I’m in bad shape now; just getting over fever.”
“Fever, eh? I thought it was jail. Look here.”
He threw out his biceps for me to feel. It was a ball of iron under my fingers. The man was as strong as an ox. He smiled at my surprise, and, after looking to see that no one was in sight, offered to mix me a highball from a decanter and siphon on a table. ”

“ But the real reason was Turner’s jealousy of him, the obsession of the dipsomaniac. I knew it, and Vail knew that I knew.
On the 8th we encountered bad weather, the first wind of the cruise. All hands were required for tacking, and I was stationed on the forecastle-head with one other man. Williams, the butler, succumbed to the weather, and at five o’clock Miss Lee made her way forward through the driving rain, and asked me if I could take his place.
“If the captain needs you, we can manage,” she said. “We have Henrietta and Karen, the two maids. But Mr. Turner prefers a man to serve.” ”

“ Now—won’t you try to remember that I am responsible for your being here, and be careful?”
“Then take me away from here and put me with the crew. I am stronger now. Ask the captain to give me a man’s work. This—this is a housemaid’s occupation.”
“We prefer to have you here,” she said coldly; and then, evidently repenting her manner: “We need a man here, Leslie. Better stay. Are you comfortable in the forecastle?”
“Yes, Miss Lee.”
“And the food is all right?”
“The cook says I am eating two men’s rations.” ”

“ She rises hastily, and stands looking down at me. I am quite sure at that moment that she detests me, and I rather like it. There are always times when we detest the people we love.
“If you are going to be arbitrary just because you can—”
“Yes?”
“Marsh and the rest are in the smoking room. Their sitting-room is empty.”
Quite calmly, as if we are going below for a clean handkerchief or a veil or a cigarette, we stroll down the great staircase of the liner to the Turners’ sitting-room, and close the door. ”

“ Her new sails marked my promotion to beefsteak, her brass rails and awnings my first independent excursion up and down the corridor outside my door, and, incidentally, my return to a collar and tie.
The river shipping appealed to me, to my imagination, clean washed by my illness and ready as a child’s for new impressions: liners gliding down to the bay and the open sea; shrewish, scolding tugs; dirty but picturesque tramps. ”

“ Williams had put the cabin to rights, as nearly as he could. The soaked mattress was gone, and a clean linen sheet was spread over the bunk. Poor Vail’s clothing, as he had taken it off the night before, hung on a mahogany stand beside the bed, and above, almost concealed by his coat, was the bell. Jones’s eyes were fixed on the darkish smear, over and around the bell, on the white paint. ”

“ I am a deck steward, and I am about to become a butler.”
“That was our agreement,” she flashed at me.
“Certainly. And to know that I intend to fulfill it to the letter, I have only to show this.”
It had been one of McWhirter’s inspirations, on learning how I had been engaged, the small book called “The Perfect Butler.” I took it from the pocket of my flannel shirt, under my oilskins, and held it out to her.
“I have not got very far,” I said humbly. “It’s not inspiring reading. I’ve got the wine glasses straightened out, but it seems a lot of fuss about nothing. Wine is wine, isn’t it? ”

“ I believe Captain Richardson made an attempt to secure me to take the place of Burns, now moved up into Schwartz’s position. But the attempt met with a surly refusal from Turner.
The crew was plainly nervous and irritable. Sailors are simple-minded men, as a rule; their mental processes are elemental. They began to mutter that the devil-ship of the Turner line was at her tricks again.
That afternoon, going into the forecastle for some of my clothing, I found a curious group. Gathered about the table were Tom, the mulatto cook, a Swede named Oleson, Adams, and Burns of the crew. ”

“ If I stay here I shall go crazy.”
“The murderer is still on the ship,” I protested. “And just now the deck is—hardly a place for women. Wait until this afternoon, Miss Lee. By that time I shall have arranged for a guard for you. Although God knows, with every man under suspicion, where we will find any to trust.”
“You will arrange a guard!”
“The men have asked me to take charge.”
“But—I don’t understand. The first mate—”
“—is a prisoner of the crew.”
“They accuse him!”
“They have to accuse some one. There’s a sort of hysteria among the men, and they’ve fixed on Singleton. ”

“ She was sitting in a deck-chair when I found her, on the lee side of the after house, a position carefully chosen, with only the storeroom windows behind. I gave her the wrap, and she flung it over her without rising.
“Sit down, Leslie,” she said, pointing to the chair beside her. And, as I hesitated, “Don’t be silly, boy. Elsa Lee and her sister may be as blind as they like. You are not a sailor, or a butler, either. I don’t care what you are: I’m not going to ask any questions. Sit down; I have to talk to some one.” ”

“ But I did not relish the idea of the spike Adams had thrown lying below on deck. No more formidable weapon short of an axe, could be devised. I said as much.
“I’m going down for it,” I said; “if you’re nervous, you’d better keep it by you. But don’t drop it on everything that moves below. You almost got Burns.”
I went down cautiously, and struck a match where Adams had indicated the spike. It was not there. Nor had Burns picked it up. A splintered board showed where it had struck, and a smaller indentation where it had rebounded; but the marlinespike was gone, and Burns had not seen it. ”

“ Singleton, the first mate, and Turner were sitting at a table littered with bottles and glasses, and standing over them, white with fury, was Captain Richardson. In the doorway to the main cabin, dressed in pajamas and a bathrobe, Vail was watching the scene.
“I told you last night, Mr. Turner,” the captain said, banging the table with his fist, “I won’t have you interfering with my officers, or with my ship. That man’s on duty, and he’s drunk.”
“Your ship!” Turner sneered thickly. “It’s my ship, and I—I discharge you.” ”

“ The mate had roused the crew, and they gathered in the chart-room. I told them what had happened, and that the murderer must be among us. I suggested that they stay together, and that they submit to being searched for weapons.
They went on deck in a body, and I roused the women and told them. Mrs. Turner asked me to tell the two maids, who slept in a cabin off the chartroom. I found their door unlocked, and, receiving no answer, opened it. Karen Hansen, the lady’s-maid, was on the floor, dead, with her skull crushed in. The stewardess, Henrietta Sloane, was fainting in her bunk. ”

“ Adams and McNamara stood off from the others, their faces not unfriendly, but clearly differing from the decision. Charlie Jones, who, by reason of long service and a sort of pious control he had in the forecastle, was generally spokesman for the crew, took a step or two toward me.
“We’ll not do it, boy,” he said. “We think we know a man when we see one, as well as having occasion to know that you’re white all through. And we’re not inclined to set the talk of women against what we think best to do. ”

“ She was awakened by Karen touching her on the shoulder and whispering close to her ear.
“That beast is out there,” she said. “I peered out, and I think he is sitting on the companion steps. You listen, and if he tries to stop me I’ll call you.”
The stewardess was wide awake by that time. She thought perhaps the bell, instead of coming from Mrs. Turner’s room, had come from the room adjoining Turner’s, where Vail slept, and which had been originally designed for Mrs. Turner. She suggested turning on the light again and looking at the bell register; but Karen objected. ”

“ The voices of the men aft died away gradually, as, one by one, they rolled themselves in blankets on the deck, not to sleep, but to rest and watch. The lookout, in his lonely perch high above the deck, called down guardedly to ask for company, and one of the crew went up. ”

“ At the last moment, fearful that the police might not know who I was, he had flung in a scrapbook in which he had pasted—with a glue that was to make his fortune—records of my exploits on the football field!
A dozen miles from Philadelphia the little machine had turned over on a curve, knocking all the law and most of the enthusiasm out of Walters, the legal gentleman, and smashing the brandy-bottle. McWhirter had picked himself up, kicked viciously at the car, and, gathering up his impedimenta, had made the rest of the journey by foot and street-car. ”

“ There’s a great deal of brass on the boat.”
“How do you know that?”
When I told him, he was much excited, and, although it was dark and the Ella consisted of three lights, he insisted on the opera-glasses, and was persuaded he saw her. Finally he put down the glasses and came over, to me.
“Perhaps you are right, Leslie,” he said soberly. “You don’t want charity, any more than they want a ship’s doctor. Wherever you go and whatever you do, whether you’re swabbing decks in your bare feet or polishing brass railings with an old sock, you’re a man.” ”

“ The stewardess saw my face harden, and put her hand on my arm.
“Now I am afraid of you!” she cried: “When you look like that!”
“Mrs. Sloane,” I said, “I do not know that you were asked to do this—I think not. But if you were, say for me what I am willing to say for myself: I shall tell what I know, and there is not money enough in the world to prevent my telling it straight. The right man is going to be punished, and the key to the storeroom will be given to the police, and to no one else.” ”

“ Turner?” Miss Lee demanded.
“Just now.”
“Has Mrs. Johns been told?”
“Not yet.”
She went herself to Mrs. Johns’s cabin, and knocked. She got an immediate answer, and Mrs. Johns, partly dressed, opened the door.
“What’s the matter?” she demanded. “The whole crew is tramping outside my windows. I hope we haven’t struck an iceberg.”
“Adele, don’t faint, please. Something awful has happened.”
“Turner! He has killed some one finally!”
“Hush, for Heaven’s sake! Wilmer has been murdered, Adele—and the captain.”
Mrs. Johns had less control than the other women. ”