we visit africa.
the voyage of the “white wings.”
“and what, in truth’s name, brings ye to such a shore as this?”
i had been standing to spy out the low african coast, and had forgotten the very existence of timothy mcshanus until he spoke to me. just, indeed, his question appeared to be. why had i left europe, my home, my friends, to visit this desolate no-man’s-land, speaking to us as it did of the ultimate desolation and the far kingdoms of solitude? why had i chosen such a course—and, almost greater wonder, why was such a man as timothy mcshanus aboard with me?
we had left dieppe almost a month ago. the fastest yacht afloat, as i liked to call our white wings, had permitted us to call for a day or two at gib., to put in at porto grande in the cape de verde islands; thence to cruise almost at our leisure by the great flat african shore until the hills began to show themselves beyond the surf, and we knew that we were gazing upon english land once more. the question “why?” remained none the less an enigma to the ship. the men could but call their employer a crank, and justly marvel at his ideas. timothy mcshanus alone ventured to exclaim upon them.
“ye pick me up at dieppe,” said he, “and tell me ’tis a bit of a pleasure voyage. i don’t refuse ye, thinking that we will sail away to spain and twirl a while with the se?oritas; but divil a se?orita in all the journey. ye dose me with spanish wine at gibralthar, and say i shall keep christmas in pall mall—me that was never out of london a week but i fell to weeping for me children. and here we are in the old man’s counthry, and swim ye must would ye go ashore. ah, be honest with a man, ean, me bhoy. ye’re afther something deep, and none but the little jap has the secret of it. say ’tis so, and i, timothy, will trust ye to the world’s end.”
“timothy,” i rejoined, for the time had come when i must speak openly with him, “you know me well enough to say that i am neither a fool nor a child. i’ll tell you in a word why i came to africa. it was to learn who stole my bronze pearls which joan fordibras wore at kensington.”
it is never difficult to surprise timothy mcshanus, for he is a man of many exclamations. i think, however, that he approached the confines of astonishment that morning. turning about, he looked me full in the face—then placed his immense hand affectionately upon my shoulder. the measure of his brogue displayed his interest.
“’tis no jest, ean?”
“no jest at all, timothy.”
“ye believe that the truth is afloat upon the sea?”
“i believe it so much that i have spent a fifth of my fortune in fitting out this yacht, and will spend three-fifths more if expenditure will help me to the truth.”
“and there is no man alive but me knows the secret?”
“there is a man and there is a woman. i have told it to neither. the man is my japanese servant, from whom nothing under heaven is hidden. the woman—for in knowledge she is such—is joan fordibras.”
he shook his head as though in a measure disappointed.
“your jap is satan himself i’ll not deny him. the girl’s another matter. ’tis a maniac the ould gentleman would be to steal your jewels and to let his daughter wear ’em under your very nose. fabos, me bhoy, ye don’t believe that?”
“i will tell you when the time comes, timothy. it should not be far distant. on the other hand, a year may find me still afloat. don’t be alarmed, man. i promise you that the first steamer leaving cape town after our arrival shall carry you to your beloved pall mall. my own duty is plain. i cannot shirk it, let the consequences be what they may. at least, you have had a pleasant voyage, timothy?”
“a pleasant voyage and the best of company. your japanese pitched me across the cabin yesterday for to show me how they do it in his counthry. ye have a scotchman aboard who makes me cross the equather in a kilt, and two vagabonds from county cork who tell me the moon is a staymer on the starboard bow. i play piquet with ye all day, and ye win the savings of a lifetime—seven pounds, four shillings, and twopence as i’m a living man. oh, ’tis a pleasant voyage, sure enough. and for what, fabos? you’re a magician, could you tell me that?”
“no magician at all, timothy. put the same question to me at eight bells to-night, and i may be able to answer you. if i am not very much mistaken, the smoke of it is on yonder horizon now. i will tell you when it is safe to speak—not a minute sooner or later.”
this, perhaps, i said with some warmth of earnestness which he could not mistake. to be candid, it was ridiculous that so small a thing could excite me, and yet excited i was, as i had not been since the first conception of my beliefs came to me on the beach at palling long months ago. just a haze of smoke upon the horizon—just the knowledge that some other ship piloted us in our course down the southern shores of africa. that was all we saw, and yet no man aboard but did not see it with beating heart and nerves high strung.
“what do you make of it, captain larry?” i asked that ruddy-faced, unemotional officer, who had come to my side during the talk. “this is no course for tramps, is it? you would not expect to meet a liner so near the shore.”
“certainly not, sir. if she were a copper ship to port nolloth, she wouldn’t be doing ten knots. yonder boat’s doing fifteen.”
“and her course is due south.”
“is due south, sir.”
“would you be surprised to hear that she was putting in to st. helena bay?”
“after what you have told me, sir, nothing would surprise me. it’s wonder enough to find any ship here at all, sir.”
i admitted it to be so. there are no more pleasing moments in our lives than those confirming the truth of some great idea which we have deduced from a certain set of circumstances. there, upon the far sea, one of the links of the chain of my conjecture stood revealed. i had been less than human if my heart had not quickened at the spectacle.
“captain,” i said, “the men understand, i think, that our object is to find out why that ship visits st. helena bay, and where she is bound when she quits it? the rest i leave to you—and the engines. if our purpose is discovered, it will be immediately frustrated. i trust to your good sense that nothing of the kind shall happen.”
“nothing of the kind will happen, sir,” he said quietly; “we are going dead slow already. mr. benson has his instructions.”
i listened to the beat of our powerful engines, and, as he said, they were going dead slow. scarce a haze of smoke loomed above our ugly squat funnel. the men began to talk in low whispers, still watching the black cloud upon the horizon. that we were following a strange ship and did not wish to be discovered had been made known to them all. this in itself was sufficient to whet a seaman’s appetite for adventure; but when, on the top of it, captain larry called them immediately to gun drill, then, i say, they braced themselves up as true, handy men with honest work before them.
this drill we had studied together since we left ushant behind us. it had been in my mind since the day i bought the ship of yarrow, and stipulated for machine guns fore and aft and a fitted torpedo tube, that the aggressor might, in due time, become the aggrieved. for this i took with me no fewer than five able seamen who had served their time in the naval reserve and passed thence with credit. “he who treads upon a snake should wear thick boots.” the old saying had become my watchword, and not forgetting that we set out to spy upon some of the most dangerous and cunning of the world’s criminals, i made ready for that emergency.
the night would tell me the truth. who could wonder if i waited for the night as a man for the rewards which months of dreaming had promised him?
