Captain Caution (7 page)

protected head, shouting angrily, as he did so, "Tais toil" The lieutenant slipped from Marvin's sight; and amid an ecstatic screaming that seemed to him almost feminine, the British ensign came down on the run.

Marvin turned quickly to push his way through the howling prisoners toward the hatch from which they had emerged, when he was caught by the neck in an embrace so violent that he could think of nothing save that there was further fighting to be done.

"Ah, ah, my brave childl"Argandeau shouted in his ear. "Don't we make these Griffons wish they have not rubbed mud into the beard of Argandeau, eh?" The Frenchman whirled him about, took his face between two sweaty hands and kissed him on the lips. "I see you hit that gentleman like a horse kickl I take you to fight with me anywhere! Ha, hal We serve the Griffons mashed and en brochette, eh? You with the fist and me with the knife, no?" Holding Marvin by the shoulders still, he danced lightly before him; then kissed him again with fervor.

Marvin pushed him away. "Where's Corunna?" he demanded.

"He means the rabbitI" Argandeau cried. "Why have you not told me she is yours? Ah, but she is more pigeonl A true pigeonl You know where we are this minute now, if that sublime pigeon had not helped us? We are down there in that stinkpot with mud in the ear, and nothing to look forward to but mud in the other earl Oh, but Holy Christophe, Marvin, there is a pigeon whom I would be willing to acknowledge as the mother of my children!"

He drew up his shoulders, then, and smiled affectionately. "Why you look angry because I make a graceful compliment?" he asked. "I tell you there are women who have sickened and died for lack of one kind word from Argandeaul Not more than one hundred times in my life have I paid such a tribute as I have paid to your pigeon! In Hispaniola men go for miles to look with admiration at a rabbit of whom Argandeau has been known to say that he would be willing to acknowledge her as the mother of his children."

"We don't need to go into that," Marvin said.

As if to himself Argandeau murmured, "He means I may think about his pigeon, but must never say what I thinkl" He shook his head despairingly, then added, "You wish now to know the whereabouts of your pigeon? Well, look therel" And he pointed to the hatch where Slade, bending so low that his long black hair fell forward over his face, was at that instant helping Corunna to the deck.

"Why," Marvin said, with bewilderment in his voice, "why, he didn't fightl" He stepped toward the two at the hatch, only to be

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stopped by Argandeau once more. "Wait one little minute!" Argandeau ordered. "You do not please anyone by saying he did not fight, because he did. Oh, yeslHe is very agreeable man with a knife; not complete artist, like me, but I think very good very welll"

The tumult on the Beetle's quarter-deck grew louder and more shrill; and Argandeau, turning to cast a quick glance over his shoulder, stood staring at the man who picked his way almost daintily along the bowsprit of the victorious schooner.

He had an air of fragility to him, this man, that seemed to come less from his stature than from the snugness with which his creamcolored small clothes fitted around his slender waist and hips, and from the dark shadows beneath his black eyes. His face was palely brown; his head held high by the tall stiff collar of his fine blue coat.

"Look here at thisl" Argandeau murmured, with a quality in his soft voice that turned Marvin's eyes from Corunna's flushed face. "Here is something wonderful! Out of this American schooner arrives one of the great men of Francel"

Argandeau took Marvin by the arm and hurried him toward the quarter-deck. On the bowsprit, which hung like a suspended sword above the conquered British brig, stood the fragile, shadowy-eyed man, staring down at the howling, blood-stained throng who cheered him, and at the dead and wounded who lay among them and ringed them round. He spoke brusquely to those beneath, and at once dropped lightly to the deck to stand beside the body of Lieutenant Strope.

"This brave gentleman," he said in a penetrating, nasal voice, "is deadl Who commands here?" He looked sharply about him; then nodded slowly at the young officer who stepped forward. "I am Captain Diron," he said. "Private armed schooner Decatur, Charleston. I think I have been assisted in taking this vessel."

The young officer laughed abruptly, but there was no amusement in the sound. "If it hadn't been for that rabble," he said, moving his head contemptuously toward the vessel's bow, "we'd have cut you to pieces!"

Captain Diron studied him attentively. "Ah, yesl" he agreed. "No doubtl" The seamen behind him set up a growling, at which he abruptly wagged a finger in their faces. "LoyselI" he called. "Loysell Be quickl Attend these English wounded and our own. Take what men you needl Mr. Safifth! Take charge of this brig and place her in order for the prize crew. Mr. Wasbornl Cast loose the schooner and lay her alongside."

Argandeau sniffed suddenly, and Marvin saw that although he

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was smiling almost proudly at this brown-faced, fragile captain, there were tears in his eyes and wet smears on his mud-incrusted cheeks. At the sound of the sniff, the eye of the Decatur's captain fell on Argandeau.

"Sol" Diron exclaimed. "You are the onel"

Argandeau lifted an eyebrow and shook his head. "With the help of these lion-hearted men it was nothing, Dominiquel A lark huntl"

Diron came quickly to him and kissed him first on one cheek, then on the other. Someone among the silent spectators laughed loudly.

Diron stepped back from Argandeau and swept the crowded quarter-deck with a hard black eye. "Get forward, those without business herel" he ordered.

The seamen about them thinned like smoke before the wind, and as they swirled and scattered, Slade moved from behind them, followed closely by Corunna Dorman. At the sight of her, Diron whipped off his hat, held it tight against his breast and bowed abruptly, with a questioning side glance at Argandeau. "Madame," he said, "your servant! I am most unhappy I do not know sooner that - "

"Yes," Slade said hoarsely. "Captain Argandeau might have mentioned her before." He pushed back his long black hair with a sweep of his hand. "We'd be down there yet if she hadn't brought us knives."

Argandeau smiled pleasantly at Slade. "Piffl You touch mel It should have been my duty to tell this thing with my first breath!"

Diron bowed again to Corunna. "Then you are a brave lady, I think. I have been in debt many times, but never to one so young and beautiful."

She made him the shadow of a curtsy. "Why," she said, "you'll owe me nothing if you get back the Olive Branch for me. Did you retake her?"

"That barque?" Diron asked. "She was yours, that barque?"

Corunna nodded.

Diron looked at Argandeau, as if seeking denial of Corunna's statement. Finding none, he glanced uncertainly around the quarterdeck. Two of the Decatur's seamen raised the body of a British sailor from the scuppers, swung it over the taffrail and let it fall. The splash seemed to put a thought in Diron's head.

"But such sights!" he cried. "They must be painful to a ladyl"

"No, Captain," Corunna said quietly. "These people killed my father."

Diron held up a protesting hand. "It is necessary that I examine the papers in the cabin. You shall come there, where we can talk quietly." He turned to Argandeau. "Give me a few moments, my

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friend, and then we will speak fully together. I see now that it was your schooner we sank. Like a gourd, she was so thin and sailed by men who could contrive to foul her jib-boom in her own staysails! I am sad about thisl" He patted Argandeau on the shoulders, kissed him again on both cheeks; then beckoned to Corunna and walked quickly to the companionway.

"Corunnal" Marvin said. "Corunnal"

She turned to Slade, seeming not to hear Marvin. "You'll come with me, won't you, Captain?" Slade,following her down the companionway, glanced up at Marvin from under his drooping eyelid with what seemed to Marvin like malicious mockery.

"Listen, my friend," Argandeau said, holding Marvin by the arm, "my Formidable is gone! Nowhere was there a craft so beautiful or so swift, and now she is goner"

"It's too bad," Marvin said absently. "Too bad."

"I tell you, my friend," Argandeau said, "it is bad, yes; but not too bad. Nothing is too bad. If you lose a ship, you will find a better one. If you lose a woman, you have not lost the only woman there is. Look at me, eh? I am gay! That is why I am loved by my friends, by the rabbits, by everyone!" He pointed a foot delicately, flung up an arm and struck a pose. "We will visit now with my friend, Dominique Diron. For him, too, nothing is too bad. He is brave, like a lion; and why notl He has learned from observation! He served with me on the letter of marque Superbe. There was one time when we were surprised and attacked, Dominique and I, by two British cruisers. For three nights and two days we fight them off. We laugh and are gay. Hal Hal They cannot catch us those two Griffons. We run the Superbe ashore and escape, all of usl"

"Yes, but this time they caught you," Marvin reminded him.

"Caught me?" Argandeau said. "Caught me? Who has caught me? Look at me carefully! 'Ah-hah,' you say to yourself, 'I behold Argandeau, who did not wish to remain caught, and therefore is a free manl' But come; we wash the mud from ourselves and go to see Dominique."

VIII

1IIE CAPTAIN'S CABIN of the Beetle was hot as an oven, and almost as small. Diron, his coat stripped off, sat before the center table, whereon was a litter of papers. Beside him sat Corunna; and when Marvin saw how Slade hovered over her shoulder, as if fearful that she might topple from her locker unless guarded, it seemed to him suddenly that this cabin was not less dismal than the hold had been.

Diron smiled affectionately at Argandeau. "You have arrived at the precise moment," he said. "You have not been presented to this lady, she has told me."

Argandeau bent his woolly, close-cropped head in a quick bow. "But I have had a gift from her, only today, that will make her live forever in my heart. No, I have not been presented to her, but I know her well; she is so kind that I shall never find time to say to her how kind she is."

Diron opened his mouth in a soundless laugh. "As you see, Miss Dorman, a dangerous mans" To Argandeau he added: "Thanks to me, Lucien, you shall have the opportunity to try; and for you it should be a good affair. This lady has kindly consented to take you and your crew to France, together with my wounded and the English wounded."

"To France?" Marvin asked quickly. "She has consented to go to FranceP"

"She has been so kind," Diron said. "The whole plan has come into my head like that, Lucienl" He snapped his fingers, glancing from Marvin to Corunna and back again; then addressed himself to Argandeau once more. "I thought for a time of taking you back to Charleston with me, Lucien; but the Americans, they do not have enough vessels of their own for privateering. For every American vessel there are a thousand American captains. But in France there are many vessels; fast ones more vessels than captains. You assist this lady to go there, then, and maybe she assist you to get another vessel."

"Just a minute, Captain," Marvin said. "I don't understand this talk of France."

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Corunna looked up at him angrily. "It's not necessary that you should."

Marvin drew a deep breath. "Don't talk that way, Corunna. What's France to us? Home's where we want to be."

Sladethrew back his head to stare at Marvin from beneath his drooping lid. "You must have heard what the lady said."

"Just a minute, Corunna," Marvin persisted, ignoring Slade. "You can't afford to rush into anything like this. As I see it, the way to go home is to go home; and it's no good to say it isn't necessary for me to understand about it. It appears to me, Corunna, that I'm responsible for you. I've got as much right as anyone to know what you're planning to do."

"You're responsible?" she cried, rising to her feet, her hands clenched and her face colorless. "You've got the right? I'll have you understand that I allow no squeamish boy to be responsible for what I do or where I go. And of all men, you're the last I'd let question my decisions."

Captain Diron leaned forward in his chair. "It is all so simple," he said candidly, "that I think possibly you make a mistake not to tell the gentleman. It would be a pity if he smelled here a mystery where there was nonel" He smiled gently at all the persons in the stifling little cabin.

"You see," he said, stretching out his hand, palm up, toward Marvin, "I have sacrificed a great deal to take the Olive Branch; for if I had not wished the barque for myself, I would not have fought this war brig, and so lost several men and suffered grave damage. It is not the business of a privateer to entangle himself with enemy cruisers. The odds against him are too great. You see that, I hope, sir."

Marvin nodded.

"Of coursel" Diron continued, as frank and open a gentleman in his speech, Marvin thought, as he had ever heard. "Of courser Therefore, it seems to me only reasonable that I should ask a small favor from this lady in return for giving back her valuable property. After all," he reminded Marvin mildly, "title to the Olive Branch passed to the British when they took her, and to me and my crew when we retook her."

"The taking," Marvin persisted, "was not all on your side. Some of the taking was done by us, at some risk to ourselves. Meaning no offence, I must venture to remind you that our American courts might be more than sympathetic to this lady, if she should present her claim against yours."

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Diron waved his hand languidly. "I find your reference to courts distasteful. There is a flavorof commercialism about it. It is difficult to remember, at times, that such a thing as chivalry still exists." He coughed deprecatingly. "Now this favor I have asked; in reality I have asked for nothing. In reality I have done a favor to the lady by suggesting to her how to act. Look here; there are British cruisers on your American coast as thick as bones in a herring. Your barque is slow; and if you run for home, you are nearly certain to be taken by a British frigate. But the nearer you come to England, the fewer English war craft you will see, for that has always been the custom of the English to harry the enemy in his own waters. Captain Argandeau will tell you this is so."