My Danish Sweetheart Volume II Part 24

'Come on deck!' said I.

I took her hand, and we went up the little companion-steps.

Abraham was standing near the wheel, exchanging a word or two with the yellowskin who had replaced the fierce-faced creature of the earlier morning. There was warmth in the sun, and the sky was a fine clear blue dome, here and there freckled by remains of the interlacery of cloud which had settled away into the west and north. The breeze was a soft, caressing air, with a hint of tropic breath and of the equatorial sea-perfume in it, and the round-bowed barque was sliding along at some four or five miles an hour, with a simmering noise of broken waters at her side. There was nothing in sight. Two or three copper-coloured men squatted, with palms and needles in their hands, upon a sail stretched along the waist; Nakier, on the forecastle-head, was standing with a yellow paw at the side of his mouth, calling instructions, in some Asiatic tongue, to one of the crew in the foretopmast cross-trees. I caught sight of Jacob, who was off duty, leaning near the galley door, apparently conversing with some man within. He nodded often, with an occasional sort of pooh-poohing flourish of his hand, puffing leisurely, and enjoying the suns.h.i.+ne. On catching sight of us he saluted with a flourish of his fist. This was the little picture of the barque as I remember it on stepping on deck with Helga that morning.

I took her to leeward, near the quarter-boat, out of hearing of Abraham and the helmsman.

'Now, what is it, Hugh?' said she.

'Why should you suppose there is anything wrong, Helga?'

'I see worry in your face.'

'Well,' said I, 'here is exactly how matters stand;' and with that I gave her, as best my memory could, every sentence of the Captain's conversation. She blushed, and turned pale, and blushed again; the shadows of a dozen emotions pa.s.sed over her face in swift succession, and strongest among them was consternation.

'You were vexed with me for not being civil enough to him,' said she, 'and you would not understand that the civiller I was the worse it might be with us. Such a conceited, silly creature would easily mistake.'

'Could I imagine that he was in love with you?'

'Do not say that again!' she cried, with disgust in her manner, while she made as though to stop her ears.

'How could I guess?' I went on. 'His behaviour seemed to me full of benevolence, hospitality, gratification at having us to talk to, with courtesy marked to you as a girl delivered from s.h.i.+pwreck and the hards.h.i.+ps of the ocean.

'Will no s.h.i.+p come?' she cried, looking round the sea. 'The thought of remaining in this vessel, of having to disguise my feelings from that man for policy's sake, of being forced to sit in his company and listen to him, and watch his smile and receive his attentions and compliments, grows now intolerable to me!' and she brought her foot with a little stamp to the deck.

'Did you know you were so fascinating?' said I, looking at her. 'In less than a day you have brought this pale, stout Captain to your feet. In less than a day! Why, your charms have the potency of Prospero's magic.

In "The Tempest," Ferdinand and Miranda fall deeply in love, plight their troth, bill and coo and gamble at chess, all within three hours.

This little s.h.i.+p promises to be the theatre of another "Tempest," I fear.'

'Why did not you make him understand, resolutely _compel_ him to understand, that it is our intention to return to England in the first s.h.i.+p?' she exclaimed, with a glow in her blue eyes and a trace of colour in her cheeks and a tremor in her nostrils.

'Bluntness will not do. We must not convert this man into an enemy.'

'But he should be made to know that we mean to go home, and that his ideas----' she broke off, turning scarlet on a sudden, and looked down over the rail at the sea with a gleam of her white teeth showing upon the under-lip she bit.

'Helga,' said I, gently touching her hand, 'you are a better sailor than I. What is to be done?'

She confronted me afresh, her blue eyes darkened by the suppressed tears which lay close to them.

'Let us,' I continued, 'look this matter boldly in the face. He is in love with you.' For a second time she stamped her foot and bit her lip.

'I _must_ say it, for there lies the difficulty. He hopes, by keeping you on board, to get you to like, and then, perhaps, listen to him. He will keep me, too, for the present--not because he is at all desirous of my company, but because he supposes that in your present mood, or rather att.i.tude, of mind you would not stay without me, or at least alone with him.'

Her whole glowing countenance breathed a vehement 'No!'

'He need not speak pa.s.sing s.h.i.+ps unless he chooses to do so,' I went on; 'and I don't doubt he has no intention of speaking pa.s.sing s.h.i.+ps. What then? How are we to get home?'

The expression on her face softened to a pa.s.sage of earnest thought.

'We must induce him to steer his s.h.i.+p to Santa Cruz,' she exclaimed.

'You will have to act a part, then,' said I, after pausing to consider.

'He is no fool. Can you persuade him that you are in earnest in wis.h.i.+ng to go the Cape in this s.h.i.+p? If not, his long nose will sniff the stratagem, and Santa Cruz in a few days be remoter than it now is.'

She reflected, and exclaimed: 'I must act a part if we are to get away from this vessel. What better chance have we than Santa Cruz? We must go ash.o.r.e to make our purchases, and when ash.o.r.e we must stop there. Yet what a degrading, what a ridiculous, what a wretched position to be in!'

she cried. 'I would make myself hideous with my nails to end this!' and with a dramatic gesture I should have deemed the little gentle creature incapable of, she put her fingers to her cheeks.

Abraham was now patrolling the deck to windward, casting his eyes with a look of importance up at the sails, and then directing them at the sea-line. He would, to be sure, find nothing to excite his curiosity in this subdued chat betwixt Helga and me to leeward. I had a mind to call him and explain our new and astonis.h.i.+ng situation; then thought, 'No; let us mature some scheme first; he will help us better then, if he is able to help at all.' I leaned against the rail with folded arms, deeply considering. Helga kept her eyes upon me.

'We should not scheme as though Captain Bunting were a villain!' said I.

'He is a villain to his men!' she answered.

'He is no villain to us! What we do not like in him is his admiration of you. But this does not make a rascal of him!'

'He promised to transfer us to the first s.h.i.+p that pa.s.sed!' said she.

'Shall you be well advised in acting a part?' I exclaimed. 'You are too frank, of too sweetly genuine a nature; you could not act; you could not deceive him!' said I, shaking my head.

The gratification my words gave her rose to her face in a little smile, that stayed for a moment like a light there.

'How frank and sweet I am I do not know,' said she artlessly; 'but I love your praise!'

'Madeira is yonder,' said I, nodding into the westward, 'some hundred odd miles distant, according to our friend's reckoning. If that be so, the Canaries must be within easy reach of two or three days, even at this dull pace. In fact, by to-morrow afternoon we could be having the Peak of Teneriffe blue in the heavens over the bow. We could not make the Captain believe, in that time, that we, who have been consumed with anxiety to return to England, have suddenly changed our mind and are willing to sail in his s.h.i.+p to wherever he may be bound. He would say to himself, "They want me to steer for Santa Cruz, where they will go ash.o.r.e and leave me."'

'Yes, that is likely,' said the girl.

'We must not speculate and plan as though he were a villain,' I repeated. 'I believe the safe course will be to behave as though we did not doubt he will transfer us when the chance offers, and we must be ceaseless in our expression of anxiety to get home.'

'That will be genuine in us,' said Helga, 'and I would rather act so. He will soon discover,' added she, colouring, 'that he is merely increasing the expenses of the voyage by detaining us.'

'He is not a rascal,' said I; 'he means very honestly; he wishes to make you his wife.' She raised her hand. 'Admiration in him has nimble feet.

I have heard of love at first sight, but have scarcely credited it till now.' Her eyes besought me to be still, but I continued, urged, I believe, by some little temper of jealousy, owing to the thought of this Captain being in love with her, which was making me feel that I was growing very fond of her too. 'But his ideas are those of an honourable pious man,' said I. 'He is a widower--his daughter leads a lonely life at home--he knows as much about you as he could find out by plying us both with questions. He is certainly not a handsome man, but----' Here I stopped short.

She gazed at me with an expression of alarm.

'Oh, Hugh!' she cried, with touching plaintiveness of air and voice, 'you will remain my friend!'

'What have I said or done to make you doubt it, Helga?'

'What would you counsel?' she continued. 'Do you intend to side with him?'

'G.o.d forbid!' said I hastily.

She turned to the sea to conceal her face.

'Helga,' said I softly, for there was no chance for further tenderness than speech would convey, with Abraham stumping the deck to windward and a pair of dusky eyes at the wheel often turned upon us, 'I am sorry to have uttered a syllable to vex you. How much I am your friend you would know if you could see into my heart.'

She looked at me quickly, with her eyes full of tears, but with a grateful smile too. I was about to speak.