Captain Dove

“ 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 conscience 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 seemed to amuse him to hear Jasper Slyne in the rôle of mentor. ”

“ As soon as she had hooded her head and drawn the veil well over her features, she turned to help him. She was smoothing the crumpled burnous about his shoulders while he tugged irritably at it with his only available hand, grumbling 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 landmark 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 after-rail of the quarter-deck. ”

“ Of what use to him, he inquired of himself, going off at 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 possessed 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. ”

“ He felt as if he were treading on air on his way back to the mid-ship saloon.
Captain Dove, in the same négligé 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?" ”

“ 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, in the forefront of the little group there, and looked contemplatively down at the men who, he knew very well, would listen to no appeal of his for his life. ”

“ For, strange though it may seem, Captain Dove was not without vanity. "All you really need to worry about is 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. ”

“ I'm maybe not much of a catch as a husband, but—" He left the inference unspoken, significantly, daring her to go back to that dreadful fate by 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 suppressed vehemence. "I'll see you safe." ”

“ 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! ”

“ 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. ”

“ I'm not ungrateful, and I hate to hurt you, but—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. ”

“ Captain Dove had interdicted all communication with Sallie, and had proved a most unpleasant 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 discomfort, 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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." ”

“ 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 offered you. ”

“ 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." ”

“ The girl had obeyed him promptly, if without appearance 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 surely don't imagine, do you, that I'm here on any such unsafe footing as you are! ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 armchair beside the fire broke into a low, mocking laugh.
"It's to close my account with you that I'm here, Captain 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 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. ”

“ 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 Captain Dove at length looked out, one of the men there was 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." ”

“ 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—"
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?" ”

“ 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 succeeded, 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 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. ”

“ 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 impressed, in spite of himself, by the other's indomitable assurance.
"Come back, you fool!" he called angrily. "Come back. ”