when christian vellacott passed out of the drawing-room window in answer to what he naturally supposed to be a signal-whistle from hilda or sidney, he turned down the narrow, winding pathway that led to the moat. the extreme darkness, contrasting suddenly with the warm light of the room he had just left, caused him to walk slowly with outstretched hands. floating cobwebs broke across his face, and frequently he stopped to brush the clinging fibre away. the intense darkness was somewhat relieved when he reached the edge of the moat, and the clear sky was overhead instead of interlocked branches. he could just discern that hilda was not at her usual seat upon the rustic bench farther towards the end of the moat, and he stopped short, with a sudden misgiving, at the spot where the path met, at right angles, the broader stone walk extending the full length of the water.
he was on the point of whistling softly the familiar refrain, when there was a rustle in the bushes behind him. a rush, a sudden shock, and a pair of muscular hands were closed round his throat, dragging him backwards. but christian stood like a rock. quick as thought he seized the two wrists, which were small and flat, and wrenched them apart. then, stepping back with one foot in order to obtain surer leverage, he lifted his assailant from the ground, swung him round, and literally let him fly into the moat—with a devout hope that it might be signor bruno. the man hurtled through the darkness, without a cry or sound, and fell face foremost into the water, five yards from the edge, throwing into the air a shower of spray.
christian vellacott was one of those men whose litheness is greater than their actual muscular force; but a lithe man possesses greater powers of endurance than a powerful fellow whose muscles are more highly developed. the exertion of lifting his assailant and swinging him away into the darkness was great, although the man's weight was nothing very formidable, and christian staggered back a few paces without, however, actually losing his balance. at this moment two men sprang upon him from behind and dragged him to the ground. he felt at once that this was a very different matter. either of these two could have overpowered him singly. their thick arms encompassed him like the coils of a snake, and there was about their heavy woollen clothing a faint odour of salt water. he knew that they were sailors. recognising that it was of no avail, he still fought on, as englishmen do. one of the men had wound a large woollen scarf round his mouth, the other was slowly but very surely succeeding in pinioning his arms. then a third assailant came, and christian knew by the wet hand (for he used one arm only) that it was the smallest of the three, who had suffered for his temerity.
“quick, quick!” this man whispered in french. with his uninjured hand he twisted the scarf tighter and tighter until christian gasped for breath.
still the englishman struggled and writhed upon the ground, while the hard breathing of the two sailors testified that it was no mean resistance. suddenly the one-armed man loosened the scarf, but before christian could recover his breath a handkerchief was pressed over his lips, and a sweet, pungent odour filled his nostrils.
“three to one,” he gasped, and quite suddenly his head fell forward, while his clutch relaxed.
“he is a brave man,” said the dripping leader of the attack, as he stood upright and touched his damaged shoulder gently and tentatively. “now quick to the carriage with him. you have not managed this well, my friends, not at all well.”
the speaker raised his cold hand to his forehead, which was wet, less perhaps from past exertion than from the agony he was enduring.
“but, monsieur,” grumbled one of the sailors in humble self-defence, “he is made of steel!”
the pale light of a grey dawn was stealing slowly up into the riven sky, lighting up the clouds which were flying eastward on the shoulder of a boisterous wind. the heavy grey sea, heaving, surging, and hissing, threw itself upwards into broken spray, which flew to leeward at a sharp angle, blown from the summit of the wave like froth from an over-filled tankard. after a night of squally restlessness, accompanied by a driving rain that tasted brackish, things had settled down with the dawn into a steady, roaring gale of wind. in the growing light sea-gulls rose triumphantly with smooth breasts bravely facing the wind.
in the midst of this a dripping vessel laboured sorely. the green water rushed from side to side over her slippery, filthy deck as she rolled, and carried with it a tangled mass of ropes, a wooden bucket, a capstan bar, and—ominous sign—a soaking, limp fur cap. the huge boom, reaching nearly the whole length of the little vessel, swung wildly from side to side as the yawl dipped her bulwarks to the receding wave. it was certain death for a man to attempt to stand upright upon the sopping deck, for the huge spar swung shoulder high. the steersman, crouching low by his strong tiller, was doing his best to avoid a clean sweep, but only a small jib and the mizzen were standing with straining clews and gleaming seams. crouching beneath the weather bulwarks, with their feet wedged against the low combing of the hatch, three men were vainly endeavouring to secure the boom, and to disentangle the clogged ropes. two were huge fellows with tawny, washed-out beards innocent of brush or comb, their faces were half hidden by rough sou'-westers, and they were enveloped from head to foot in oilskins from which the water ran in little rills. the third was christian vellacott, who looked very wet indeed. the water was dripping from his cuffs and running down his face. his black dress-clothes were clinging to him with a soppy hindrance, while the feet firmly planted against the combing of the hatch were encased in immaculate patent-leather shoes, and the salt water ran off silk socks. it would have been very funny if it were not that fortune invariably mingles her strokes of humour most heedlessly with sadder things. christian vellacott was apparently unconscious of the humour of the situation. he was working patiently and steadily, as men must needs work when fighting nature, and his half-forgotten sea-craft was already coming back. beneath his steady hands something akin to order was slowly being achieved; he was coiling and disentangling the treacherous rope, of which the breaking had cast the boom adrift, laying low a good seaman.
farther forward upon the hatch lay the limp body of a very big man. his matted head was bare, and the dead, brown face, turned upward to its maker, jerked from side to side as the vessel heaved. the stalwart legs were encased in greasy sea-boots, deeply wrinkled, and the coils of a huge scarf of faded purple lay upon his broad breast, where they had been dragged down by a hasty hand in order to see more clearly the still features.
at the dead man's side knelt upon the deck a small, spare figure clad in black and wearing his left arm in a sling. with his right hand he held a crucifix to the blue lips that would never breathe a prayer to the virgin again. the small mouth and refined features of the praying man were strangely out of keeping with his tempestuous surroundings. unmindful, however, of wind and waves alike, he knelt and prayed audibly. each lurch of the vessel threw him forward, so that, in order to save himself from falling, he was obliged to press heavily upon the dead man's throat and breast; but this he heeded not. his girlish blue eyes were half closed in an ecstasy of religious fervour, and the pale, narrow face wore a light that was not reflected from sea or sky. this was the man who had unhesitatingly attacked vellacott, had dared to pit his small strength, more of nerve than of muscle, against the young englishman's hardened sinews. violence in itself was most abhorrent to him; it had no part in his nature; and consequently, by the strange tenets of ignatius loyola's disciples, he was condemned to a course of it. any objectionable duty, such as this removal of vellacott, was immediately assigned to him in the futile endeavour of subjecting the soul to the brain. a true jesuit must have no nature of his own and no individuality. he is simply a machine, with likes and dislikes, conscience and soul subject to the will of his superior, whose mind is also under the same arbitrary control; and so on to the top. if at the head there were god, it would be well; but man is there, and consequently the whole society is a gigantic mistake. to be a sincere member of it, a man must be a half-witted fool, a religious fanatic, or a rogue for whom no duplicity is too scurrilous, even though it amount to blasphemy.
rené drucquer, the man kneeling on the slimy deck, was as nearly a religious fanatic as his soft, sweet nature would allow. with greater bodily strength and attendant greater passions, he would have been a simple monomaniac. in him the passion for self-devotion was singularly strong, and contact with men had cooled it down into an unusually deep sense of duty.
personally courageous, his bravery was of a high order, if the spirit of self-devotion called it into existence. in this his courage was more akin to that of women than of men. if duty drove him he would go where the devil drags most people, and rené drucquer was not by any means the first man or woman whose life has been wrecked, wasted, and utterly misled by a blind devotion to duty.
when throwing himself upon christian vellacott, no thought of possible danger to his own person had restrained or caused him a moment's hesitation. his blind faith in the righteousness of his cause was, however, on the wane. this disciple of st. ignatius might have lived a true and manly life three hundred years earlier when his master trod the earth, but the march of intellect had trodden down the “constitutions” years before rené drucquer came to study them. an ignoramus and a zealot who lived nearly four centuries ago can be no guide or help to men of the present day, and this young priest was overshadowed by the saddest doubt that comes to men on earth—the doubt of his own creed.
while christian vellacott was assisting the sailors he glanced occasionally towards the kneeling priest, and on the narrow, intelligent face he read a truth that never was forgotten. he saw that rené drucquer was unconscious of his surroundings—unmindful of the fact that he was on board a disabled vessel at the mercy of the wild wind. his whole being was absorbed in prayer: this priest remembered only that the soul of the great, rough, disfigured man was winging its serene way to the land where no clouds are. christian was not an impressionable man—journalism had killed all that—nor, it is to be feared, did he devote much thought to religion; but he recognised goodness when he met it. the young journalist's interest was aroused, and in that trifling incident lay the salvation of the priest. from that small beginning came the gleam of light that was to illuminate gloriously the darkness of a mistaken life.
chance had capriciously ruled that the hand that had dislocated the abbé's arm should set it again, and the dead sailor lying on the sticky, tarred hatch-cover had helped. the “patron” of the boat, for he it was whose head had been smashed by the spar, had held the priest's trembling, swollen shoulder while christian's steady hands gave the painful jerk required to slip the joint back into its socket. the great, coarse lips which had trembled a little, with a true frenchman's sympathy for suffering, were now blue and drawn; the stout, tender hands were nerveless.
the priest prayed on, while the men worked near at hand seeking to restore order, and to repair the damages made by sea and wind. they had got over their sullen, native shyness on finding that christian could speak french like the abbé and was almost as good a sailor as themselves. one offered him a rough blue jersey, while another placed a gold-embroidered sunday waistcoat at his disposal, with a visible struggle between kindness of heart and economy. the first was accepted, but the waistcoat was given back with a kind laugh and an assurance that the jersey was sufficient.
the englishman knew too well with whom he was dealing to harbour any ill-feeling against the ignorant fishermen or even towards the abbé drucquer for the rough treatment he had received. the former were poor, and money never was beaten by a scruple in open combat yet. the latter, he rightly presumed, was only obeying a mandate he dared not dispute. the authority was to him divine, the command came from one whom he had sworn to look up to and obey as the earthly representative of his master.
at length the deck was cleared, and order reigned on board, though the mainsail could not be set until the weather moderated.
then hoel grall came up to the young englishman and said:
“monsieur, let us carry the 'patron' down below. it is not right for the dead to lie there in this wind and storm.”
“i am willing,” answered christian, looking towards the spot where the dead man lay.
“then, perhaps—monsieur,” began the breton with some hesitation.
“yes,” answered christian encouragingly, “what is it?”
“perhaps monsieur will speak to—to the abbé. it is that we do not like to disturb him in prayer.”
the young englishman bowed his head with characteristic decision.
“i will do so,” he said gravely. then he crawled across the deck and touched rené drucquer's shoulder. the priest did not look up until the touch had been repeated.
“yes,” he murmured; “yes. what do you want?”
christian, guessed at the words, for in the tumult of the gale he could not hear them.
“is it not better to take him below?” he shouted.
then for the first time did the priest appear to remember that this was not one of the sailors.
“i beg your pardon,” he said, rising from his knees. “you are right; it is better. but i am afraid the men will not assist me. they are afraid of touching the dead when they are afloat.”
“i will help you,” said christian simply, “and that man also, i think, because he proposed it.”
with a motion of the head he indicated hoel grall, upon whom the command of the little vessel had now devolved. the man was better educated than his companions, and spoke french fluently, but in the breton character superstition is so deeply rooted that generations of education will scarcely eradicate it.
the priest looked into the englishman's face with a gentle wonder in his eyes, which were shadowy with the fervour of his recent devotions. the two men were crouching low upon the deck, grasping the black rail with their left hands; the water washed backwards and forwards around their feet.
it was the first time they had seen each other face to face in open daylight, and their eyes met quietly and searchingly as they swayed from side to side with the heavy lurching of the ship. the englishman spoke first.
“you must leave it to us,” he said calmly. “you could do nothing in this heavy sea with your one arm!”
the gentle blue eyes were again filled with wonder, and presently the priest's intellectual face relaxed into a shadowy smile, which did not affect his thin red lips.
“you are very good,” he murmured simply.
christian did not hear this remark. he had turned away to call grall towards him, and was about to move towards the body lying on the hatch, when the priest called him back.
“monsieur,” he said.
“yes.”
“tell me,” continued rené drucquer quickly, as if in doubt, “are you christian vellacott?”
“of course!”
the priest looked relieved, and at the same time he appeared to be making an effort to restrain himself, as if he had been betrayed into a greater show of feeling than was desirable. when he at length spoke in reply to the englishman's obvious desire for some explanation of the strange question, his voice was singularly cold, and modulated in such a manner as to deprive it of any expression, while his eyes were fixed on the deck.
“you are not such as i expected,” he said.
christian looked down at him with straightforward keenness, and he saw the priest's eyelids move uneasily beneath his gaze. mixing with many men as he had done, he had acquired a certain mental sureness of touch, like that of an artist with his brush when he has handled many subjects and many effects. he divined that rené drucquer had been led to expect a violent, head strong man, and he could not restrain a smile as he turned away. before going, however, he said:
“at present it is a matter of saving the ship, and our lives. my own affairs can wait, but when this gale is over you may rest assured they shall have my attention.”
