第 18 页

one of the party. He had been formerly the master of a trader, and

had come into the possession of the tavern by marriage with its

mistress, who was still the acting head of the establishment.

"We have got a piece of business we want to overhaul, Peter. I

suppose we can have that cabin in yonder for a bit?"

"Ay, ay. There is a good fire burning. You will find pipes on the

table. You will want a couple of glasses of grog, of course?"

John nodded, and then led the way into the little snuggery at the end

of the room. It had a glass door, so that, if desired, a view could

be obtained of the general room, but there was a curtain to draw

across this. There was a large oak settle on either side of the fire,

and there was a table, with pipes and a jar of tobacco standing

between them.

"This is a tidy little crib," John said, as he seated himself and

began to fill a pipe. "There is no fear of being disturbed here.

There has been many a voyage talked over and arranged in this 'ere

room. They say that Blake himself, when the Fleet was in the river,

would drop in here sometimes, with one of his captains, for a quiet

talk."

A minute later a boy entered and placed two steaming glasses of grog

on the table. The door closed after him, and John said,--

"Now you can get under way, Master Cyril. You have got a fair course

now, and nothing to bring you up."

"It is a serious matter, John. And before I begin, I must tell you

that I rely on your keeping absolute silence as to what I am going to

tell you."

"That in course," John said, as he lifted his glass to his lips. "You

showed yourself a first-rate pilot in that last job, and I am content

to sail under you this time without asking any questions as to the

ship's course, and to steer according to orders."

Cyril told the story, interrupted frequently by angry ejaculations on

the part of the old bo'swain.

"Dash my wig!" he exclaimed, when Cyril came to an end. "But this is

a bad business altogether, Master Cyril. One can engage a pirate and

beat him off if the crew is staunch, but when there is treason on

board ship, it makes it an awkward job for those in command."

"The question is this, John: ought we to tell the Captain, or shall

we try to take the affair into our own hands, and so to manage it

that he shall never know anything about it?"

The sailor was silent for a minute or two, puffing his pipe

meditatively.

"I see it is an awkward business to decide," he said. "On one side,

it would pretty nigh kill Captain Dave to know that Mistress Nellie

has been steering wild and has got out of hand. She is just the apple

of his eye. Then, on the other hand, if we undertook the job without

telling him, and one fine morning we was to find out she was gone, we

should be in a mighty bad fix, for the Captain would turn round and

say, 'Why didn't you tell me? If you had done so, I would have locked

her up under hatches, and there she would be, safe now.'"

"That is just what I see, and it is for that reason I come to you. I

could not be always on the watch, but I think that you and I together

would keep so sharp a look-out that we might feel pretty sure that

she could not get away without our knowledge."

"We could watch sharply enough at night, Master Cyril. There would be

no fear of her getting away then without our knowing it. But how

would it be during the day? There am I in the shop or store from

seven in the morning until we lock up before supper-time. You are out

most of your time, and when you are not away, you are in the office

at the books, and she is free to go in and out of the front door

without either of us being any the wiser."

"I don't think he would venture to carry her off by daylight," Cyril

said. "She never goes out alone now, and could scarcely steal away

unnoticed. Besides, she would know that she would be missed directly,

and a hue and cry set up. I should think she would certainly choose

the evening, when we are all supposed to be in bed. He would have a

chair waiting somewhere near; and there are so often chairs going

about late, after city entertainments, that they would get off

unnoticed. I should say the most dangerous time is between nine

o'clock and midnight. She generally goes off to bed at nine or soon

after, and she might very well put on her hood and cloak and steal

downstairs at once, knowing that she would not be missed till

morning. Another dangerous time would be when she goes out to a

neighbour's. The Captain always takes her, and goes to fetch her at

nine o'clock, but she might make some excuse to leave quite early,

and go off in that way."

"That would be awkward, Mr. Cyril, for neither you nor I could be

away at supper-time without questions being asked. It seems to me

that I had better take Matthew into the secret. As he don't live in

the house he could very well watch wherever she is, till I slip round

after supper to relieve him, and he could watch outside here in the

evening till either you or I could steal downstairs and take his

place. You can count on him keeping his mouth shut just as you can on

me. The only thing is, how is he to stop her if he finds her coming

out from a neighbour's before the Captain has come for her?"

"If he saw her coming straight home he could follow her to the door

without being noticed, John, but if he found her going some other way

he must follow her till he sees someone speak to her, and must then

go straight up and say, 'Mistress Dowsett, I am ready to escort you

home.' If she orders him off, or the man she meets threatens him, as

is like enough, he must say, 'Unless you come I shall shout for aid,

and call upon passers-by to assist me'; and, rather than risk the

exposure, she would most likely return with him. Of course, he would

carry with him a good heavy cudgel, and choose a thoroughfare where

there are people about to speak to her, and not an unfrequented

passage, for you may be sure the fellow would have no hesitation in

running him through if he could do so without being observed."

"Matthew is a stout fellow," John Wilkes said, "and was as smart a

sailor as any on board till he had his foot smashed by being jammed

by a spare spar that got adrift in a gale, so that the doctors had to

cut off the leg under the knee, and leave him to stump about on a

timber toe for the rest of his life. I tell you what, Master Cyril:

we might make the thing safer still if I spin the Captain a yarn as

how Matthew has strained his back and ain't fit to work for a bit;

then I can take on another hand to work in the yard, and we can put

him on watch all day. He might come on duty at nine o'clock in the

morning, and stop until I relieve him as soon as supper is over. Of

course, he would not keep opposite the house, but might post himself

a bit up or down the street, so that he could manage to keep an eye

on the door."

"That would be excellent," Cyril said. "Of course, at the supper-hour

he could go off duty, as she could not possibly leave the house

between that time and nine o'clock. You always come in about that

hour, and I hear you go up to bed. When you get there, you should at

once take off your boots, slip downstairs again with them, and go

quietly out. I often sit talking with Captain Dave till half-past

nine or ten, but directly I can get away I will come down and join

you. I think in that way we need feel no uneasiness as to harm coming

from our not telling Captain Dave, for it would be impossible for her

to get off unnoticed. Now that is all arranged I must be going, for I

shall be late at my appointment unless I hurry."

"Shall I go round and begin my watch at once, Master Cyril?".

"No, there is no occasion for that. We know that he missed her

to-day, and therefore can have made no appointment; and I am

convinced by what he said to the fellows he met, that matters are not

settled yet. However, we will begin to-morrow. You can take an

opportunity during the day to tell Matthew about it, and he can

pretend to strain his back in the afternoon, and you can send him

away. He can come round again next morning early, and when the

Captain comes down you can tell him that you find that Matthew will

not be able to work for the present, and ask him to let you take

another man on until he can come back again."

Cyril watched Nellie closely at meal-times and in the evening for the

next few days. He thought that he should be certain to detect some

slight change in her manner, however well she might play her part,

directly she decided on going off with this man. She would not dream

that she was suspected in any way, and would therefore be the less

cautious. Matthew kept watch during the day, and followed if she went

out with her father to a neighbour's, remaining on guard outside the

house until John Wilkes relieved him as soon as he had finished his

supper. If she remained at home in the evening John went out

silently, after his return at his usual hour, and was joined by Cyril

as soon as Captain Dave said good-night and went in to his bedroom.

At midnight they re-entered the house and stole up to their rooms,

leaving their doors open and listening attentively for another hour

before they tried to get to sleep.

On the sixth morning Cyril noticed that Nellie was silent and

abstracted at breakfast-time. She went out marketing with her mother

afterwards, and at dinner her mood had changed. She talked and

laughed more than usual. There was a flush of excitement on her

cheeks, and he drew the conclusion that in the morning she had not

come to an absolute decision, but had probably given an answer to the

man during the time she was out with her mother, and that she felt

the die was now cast.

"Pass the word to Matthew to keep an extra sharp watch this afternoon

and to-morrow, John. I think the time is close at hand," he said, as

they went downstairs together after dinner.

"Do you think so? Well, the sooner the better. It is trying work,

this here spying, and I don't care how soon it is over. I only hope

it will end by our running down this pirate and engaging him."

"I hope so too, John. I feel it very hard to be sitting at table with

her and Captain Dave and her mother, and to know that she is

deceiving them."

"I can't say a word for her," the old sailor said, shaking his head.

"She has as good parents as a girl could want to have. They would

give their lives for her, either of them, cheerful, and there she is

thinking of running away from them with a scamp she knows nothing of

and has probably never spoken with for an hour. I knew her head was a

bit turned with young fellows dangling after her, and by being

noticed by some of the Court gallants at the last City ball, and by

being made the toast by many a young fellow in City taverns--'Pretty

Mistress Nellie Dowsett'; but I did not think her head was so turned

that she would act as she is doing. Well, well, we must hope that

this will be a lesson, Master Cyril, that she will remember all her

life."

"I hope so, John, and I trust that we shall be able to manage it all

so that the matter will never come to her parents' ears."

"I hope so, and I don't see why it should. The fellow may bluster,

but he will say nothing about it because he would get into trouble

for trying to carry off a citizen's daughter."

"And besides that, John,--which would be quite as serious in the eyes

of a fellow of this sort,--he would have the laugh against him among

all his companions for having been outwitted in the City. So I think

when he finds the game is up he will be glad enough to make off

without causing trouble."

"Don't you think we might give him a sound thrashing? It would do him

a world of good."

"I don't think it would do a man of that sort much good, John, and he

would be sure to shout, and then there would be trouble, and the

watch might come up, and we should all get hauled off together. In

the morning the whole story would be known, and Mistress Nellie's

name in the mouth of every apprentice in the City. No, no; if he is

disposed to go off quietly, by all means let him go."

"I have no doubt that you are right, Master Cyril, but it goes

mightily against the grain to think that a fellow like that is to get

off with a whole skin. However, if one should fall foul of him some

other time, one might take it out of him."

Captain Dave found Cyril but a bad listener to his stories that

evening, and, soon after nine, said he should turn in.

"I don't know what ails you to-night, Cyril," he said. "Your wits are

wool-gathering, somewhere. I don't believe that you heard half that

last story I was telling you."

"I heard it all, sir; but I do feel a little out of sorts this

evening."

"You do too much writing, lad. My head would be like to go to pieces

if I were to sit half the hours that you do at a desk."

When Captain Dave went into his room, Cyril walked upstairs and

closed his bedroom door with a bang, himself remaining outside. Then

he took off his boots, and, holding them in his hand, went

noiselessly downstairs to the front door. The lock had been carefully

oiled, and, after putting on his boots again, he went out.

"You are right, Master Cyril, sure enough," John Wilkes said when he

joined him, fifty yards away from the house. "It is to-night she is

going to try to make off. I thought I had best keep Matthew at hand,

so I bid him stop till I came out, then sent him round to have a pint

of ale at the tavern, and when he came back told him he had best

cruise about, and look for signs of pirates. He came back ten minutes

ago, and told me that a sedan chair had just been brought to the