Raikes

“ As the Sepoy pocketed the gem he looked at Raikes with a glance at once searching and derisive as he asked:
“Was I not right in calling it a marvel?”
“Aye!” returned Raikes sourly, “marvel, indeed; but the miracle of it is that you have it back again. Your trust in human nature would be sublime were it not so unsupported; it needs the tonic of loss. ”

“ A moment later he was being half-carried, half-thrust up the ladder by Cockney George and Raulson. They wanted the gin; but what they really wanted was to see Raikes tormented.
The schooner, like a derelict, rode the seaway, with the wind slapping her sails every which way, while the rudder played back and forth at any chance surge of a wave. A mad night on a crazy ship, it was; and Hawkins, reaching down with one powerful arm, literally lifted Raikes by the neck and planted him on the deck, where his legs gave way and he crumpled abjectly. ”

“ Raikes had always considered a loss of this character the climax of malignant fate. He had never been able to contemplate it without the mortal shudder which usually communicates its chill to a loving parent confronted with the prospect of the departure of a dear one.
The recess in the wall contained all that Raikes held dear in the world; every spasm of fear, each contraction of the heart, always began and concluded with the button which moved its protecting bolts. ”

“ Raikes's voice was better than silence. Anything would have been better than being alone, even Shaylor's boastings. Someway, seamen are not ashamed of their crimes—if they are crimes.
At last Raikes asked what I had against him; asked it as a man does when he feels, or pretends to feel, regretful, as when it seems stupid for two people who might be friends to be at outs.
I mentioned that at Turkee he seemed to have guessed Douglas Moore was some one else. With scorn he denied all thought of having even thought to turn Williams up. ”

“ Whatever objections may have been forming in the mind of the miser were quickly dissipated by a look from the Sepoy, and without another word Raikes and his nephew departed.
“Well,” inquired Gratz, when the two were again alone, “what have you to say to me that you do not want Raikes to hear?”
“You will know shortly,” replied the Sepoy after a few moments of reflection, with his eyes directed upon the handcuffs. “I do not have to resort to your elaborate reasoning to discover the nature of your profession. These,” holding up his hands, “are unmistakable.” ”

“ Raikes leaned nervously from side to side, his one glittering eye turning about like the gaze of a restless, trapped animal. From time to time he said it was “a hell of a night,” indifferent as to whether he was answered or heard.
All of us were soaked, for all had rushed on deck at the first arousing blast; and a thin sheet of salt water swashed about our feet. Hawkins lay in it, head on arm, indifferently. Though the night was not cold, we were chilled; a nervousness leaves one chilled.
Davenant was dressed, even to shirt and coat, but not collar. ”

“ He tore loose from Raikes, and pulled the hammer of the rifle back. He took hasty aim at Brick, who gave himself up for dead. Then Raikes snatched the barrel of the weapon, and knocked it upward. The two men struggled for its possession, swaying backward and forward. Raikes was comparatively cool. Bogle was insane with passion. The latter slipped and came to his knees, dragging Raikes after him.
“Let go!” he cried, with a violent oath.
“No,” refused Raikes. “You shan’t murder the lad. You don’t know what you are doing, Joe.” ”

“ What is the conclusion?”
“That is some distance away yet,” replied the Sepoy. “If you care to continue, I will resume the thread at this time to-morrow evening.”
“Very well,” answered Raikes with some impatience, “I will be here. I must, at least, congratulate you upon your observance of the87 proprieties in tale-telling; you manage to pause at the proper places.”
“You are curious, then, to hear the rest?”
“Naturally,” replied Raikes, with the sour candor which distinguished him. ”

“ Raikes nodded with gloomy corroboration.
“A series of well-arranged events have introduced a startling episode—the substitution of pebbles for diamonds.”
Again Raikes nodded.284
“At this point in the narrative the first instalment concludes. Am I right?”
“Yes,” answered Raikes.
“Then,” continued Gratz, “you went directly to your room; you retired. In the morning you are prompted, with more than your usual eagerness, to open your private safe.”
“Right!” exclaimed Raikes in indorsement of this relentless résumé. ”

“ With his own rifle, he knocked the other’s weapon upward, and it was discharged harmlessly in the air.
With a savage oath, Raikes sprang at his antagonist. They exchanged a round of heavy blows. Sparwick’s weapon was dashed from his hand. Raikes had nothing left but the shattered stock. Both grappled, and rolled over in the snow.
Jerry and Hamp looked on with suppressed excitement and anxiety. They saw no opportunity of interfering; nor was their aid needed. Sparwick was far more powerful than his opponent. Raikes made a desperate fight, and quickly exhausted his wind and strength. ”

“ With a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach, where, with him, the only conscience he had was located, Raikes complied with these instructions, and, closing the door softly, established himself, in his customary expectant attitude, in the chair indicated by his host.
“I have been told,” began the latter abruptly, “that there is a flaw in the sapphire.”
“What!” exclaimed Raikes with genuine concern. Two things he could comprehend: a loss and the abuse of property. The announcement of the Sepoy awakened the same misgiving which commonly affected his mind at a suggestion of defective title. ”

“ An impossible door; the window equally out of the question; the substitution of the coals for the coin.
“It is very simple. The outside agency unfeasible, we must look within. There is but one conclusion——”
“And that?” interrupted Raikes.
“An accessory.”
“Ah!” cried Raikes, “unthinkable!”
“Not at all,” replied Gratz; “there was an accessory—yourself!”
At this announcement Raikes seemed about to collapse into his original helplessness. The facts of his losses were extraordinary enough, but this was too much. ”

“ Raikes continued, “we’ll catch him in a jiffy. He can’t be far off.”
“It would have taken him almost this long to put on his clothes,” said Jerry. “He has snowshoes, though.”
“So have we,” replied Raikes. “If you lads will come along with us, we’ll try to recover the money and watch.”
“Hamp ain’t fit to travel,” answered Jerry. “He’s got to sit over this fire for a couple of hours. And Brick and I can’t leave him alone. Besides, how are you going to cross the Mallowgash? That leap is too dangerous.” ”

“ The sickly grin of a long-delayed relaxation beguiled the extremities of his mouth, the grim lips had relaxed their ugly partnership, and his entire figure seemed upon the verge of collapse.
Raikes was listening as never before.
The clink of coin, the dry rattle and abrasion of brilliants, the rustle of bank notes could not38 have fascinated him more than the even, somnolent modulations of the speaker.
Every word found easy lodgment in his consciousness. ”

“ With a savage exclamation, Bogle sprang forward. But before he could reach the lad, Raikes slipped between the two.
“Hold on, Joe,” he pleaded. “You’re going about it the wrong way. Violence won’t do any good. Try persuasion.”
“Persuasion be hanged,” growled Bogle. “I’ll bring the obstinate young fool to terms mighty quick. Stand aside, Silas.”
But Raikes did not move. He held his ground, and kept his angry companion at arm’s length.
“Better take my advice, lad,” he said, turning to Brick. “I’m peaceably inclined, and I don’t want to see you hurt. ”

“ As Raikes proceeded in his narrative, his nephew was at first inclined to receive these weird confidences as features of the unhappy man’s condition, but as the latter progressed, with a constantly increasing degree of his customary179 emotionless lucidity, his sincerity became apparent. ”

“ Something has put you against him; and if it's Vincent, I'll wring his—"
"Mercy! mercy! Pray cease this language." Lady Raikes said.
"You don't know what a good fellow Joe is," said the dragoon. "The best twump in England, as I've weason to say, sister: and here he comes with the horses. God bless the old boy!"
With this, honest Sir Joseph Raikes took his seat in his carriage; and tried, by artless blandishments, by humility, and by simple conversation, to coax his wife into good humor ”

“ When he had concluded this meager résumé, Gratz continued:
“Now tell me about the nights.”
Raikes complied with a statement of his careful precautions; the watch of his sister upon the doorway during his absence, and his visits to the room of the Sepoy.
“The Sepoy?” inquired Gratz. “Why do you call him that?”
“On account of his swarthy complexion, his bright eyes, and his general alien aspect,” replied Robert.
“Describe him to me as carefully as you can,” said Gratz.192
When Robert had concluded his brief delineation, Raikes hastened to inquire: “Why do you ask about him so particularly? ”

“ I want to be candid with myself. I require your assistance. While I continue the narrative, kindly see if you can discover any sign of blemish.”
Raikes, only too willing to engage himself upon anything which would assist his attempt at outward poise, seized the glass offered him and began a close inspection of the gem, as the Sepoy, with an indescribably insinuating modulation, resumed:
“As the prince advanced, Lal Lu, advised of his approach by the hasty exit of the waiting-woman and the soft alarm of the gong in the passageway, stood ready to receive him. ”

“ And with this confusion of frank cupidity and rapacious regard, the miser, with a supreme effort, pushed the stone impatiently toward the Sepoy.
“Ah!” exclaimed the latter, “it is a pleasure to show the gem to one who is able to comprehend it.
“It is even finer than you have discerned. The lapidary was subtle; his work sustains closer analysis. Have you a stray glass?
“No? Well, I will send you mine and you can entertain yourself until I see you again.”
“What!” exclaimed Raikes, “you will leave this stone with me?”
“Why not?” returned the Sepoy evenly. “You have a due regard for property. ”

“ Raikes, unfortunately at a loss for a biting retort, was reduced to that plain confession of a lack of wit: he offered combat.
“I’ll tell you what,” said Laxley, “I never soil my hands with a blackguard, and a fellow who tries to make fun of Scripture, in my opinion is one. A blackguard—do you hear? But, if you’ll give me satisfactory proofs that you really are what I have some difficulty in believing—the son of a gentleman—I’ll meet you when and where you please, sir.” ”

“ I do not propose to rebuke myself for that.”
“As you please,” returned the other as he replaced the weed in his pocket. “It is my one indulgence; in other respects I challenge any man to be more abstemious.”
“I have had none,” returned Raikes with a rasping lack of emotion, “for the last ten years. It is too late to begin to cultivate a disability now.”
“You are wrong,” replied the Sepoy. “One’s attitude cannot be rigid at all points; that is bad management. ”

“ It is not late. This is an irritating trick of yours to leave off at the crucial juncture.”
“Ha, ha!” laughed the Sepoy mirthlessly. “You have attended me, then? Well, I can’t admit you with the prince until to-morrow evening. I have much to do ere I retire.”
“This is my dismissal, I presume,” responded Raikes sourly as he replaced the gem, from which he seemed unable to remove his thieving eyes.
“Here, take this damned thing; it has demoralized me,” and placing the shagreen case, with its priceless contents, in the hands of the evilly-smiling Sepoy, he disappeared through the doorway. ”

“ Raikes went on: When Hawkins slept and the ax was out of reach, Shaylor and three men had gone up and overpowered him. They got him down, and a fight set in that had very nearly jarred the timbers loose.
They tried to tie him up, but Hawkins had broken away, plunged into the forecastle, shut the door, ripped a planking from a bunk and was there daring anybody to come and get him. He had been threatening to set the ship on fire if food wasn't passed to him, but nobody dared take it. Raikes said that Shaylor had promised not to kill Hawkins if he, Raikes, would get the ax away from him. ”

“ Directly after, the spinster would filter through with the mien of an apologetic phantom,22 and Raikes at once established the basis of indulgence by tentative nibbles of this and that, which were almost Barmecidian in their meagerness, and the sister, under his sordid supervision, followed his miserable example.
With singular perversity, in the midst of reasonable abundance, he forbore to accept the full measure of his privileges. ”

“ As the Sepoy advanced, he could see that, with the exception of two sleeping-chambers, revealed by their open doors, the apartment in which he found himself was the only one where any kind of accommodation could be found, as the balance of the house offered unmistakable evidences of being unoccupied.
“Be seated, sir,” croaked Raikes, with a voice strangely suggestive of a raven attempting the modulations of some canary it had swallowed. “I do not smoke myself, and, therefore, cannot provide you with that sort of entertainment ”

“ And that instant all his keen animation returned.
Apparently Raikes was not aware of any blanks in his scrutiny and resumed his regard of the tantalizing facets with knowing sagacity and an envy that affected him like a hurt.
“In all my years,” he creaked, as his long, prehensile fingers riveted like a setting to the fascinating bauble, “I have never seen such a gem.
“The cutting is exquisite; it is a study in intelligent execution; every facet here cost a58 pang ”