The Lady and the Pirate by Emerson Hough (ebook reader library TXT) đ
- Author: Emerson Hough
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âBut itâs my Auntie Helen!â he protested, when I recovered it and placed it in my pocket.
âIt is your Auntie fiddlesticks, Jimmy,â said I hastily, hoping my color was not heightened. âIt is your grandmother! Finish your breakfast.â
âI guess I ought to knowââ he began.
âWhat!â I rejoined. âWouldst pit your wisdom against one who has the second sight; have a care, shipmate.â
âIt was!â he reiterated. âI know ainât anybody pretty as she is, so it was.â
âJimmy LâOlonnois,â said I, âlet us reason about this. Iâââ
âLemme see it, then. I can tell in a minute. Why donât you lemme see it, then?â He was eager.
âShipmate,â I replied to him, âthe hand is sometimes quicker than the eye, and the mind slower than the heart. For that reason I can not agree to your request.â
âBut whatâd he be doing with Miss Emoryâs picture, Jimmy?â argued Lafitte.
âThatâs what Iâd like to know,â I added. âIt may be that, in your haste, you have confused in your mind, Jimmy, some portrait with that of the Princess AmĂšlie Louise, of Furstenburg.â (I had indeed sometimes commented on the likeness of Helena Emory to that light-hearted old-world beauty.) Jimmy did not know that a photograph of the princess herself, also, stood upon the piano top, nor did he fully grasp the truth of that old saying that the hand is quicker than the eye. At least, he gazed somewhat confused at the portrait which I now produced before his eyes.
âWho was she?â he inquired.
âA very charming young lady of rank, who eloped with a young man not of rank. In short, although she did not marry a chauffeur, she did marry an automobile agent. And surely, Jimmy, your Auntie Helenâwhoever she may beâwould do no such thing as that and still claim to be a cousin of a LâOlonnois?â
âI donât know. You canât always tell what a girlâs going to do,â said Jimmy sagely. âBut I donât think Auntie Helenâs going to marry a auto man.â
âWhy, Jimmy?â (I found pleasure and dread alike in this conversation.)
âBecause everybody says sheâs going to get married to Mr. Davidson, and heâs a commission man.â
Now, I am sure, my face did not flush. It may have paled. I tried to be composed. I reached for the melon dish and remarked, âYes? And who is he? And really, who is your Auntie Helena, Jimmy, and what does she look like?â I spoke with a fine air of carelessness.
âShe looks like the princess, you said,â replied Jimmy. âAnd Mr. Davidsonâs rich. Heâs got a house on our lake, this summer, and he lives in New York and has offices in Chicago, and travels a good deal. He has some sort of factory, too, and heâs awful rich. I like him pretty well. He knows how all the ball clubs stand, both leagues, every day in the year. You ought to know him, because then you might get to know my Auntie Helena. If they got married, like as not, I could take you up to their house. I thought everybody knew Mr. Davidson, and my Auntie Helena, too.â
Everybody did. Why should I not know Cal Davidson, one of the decentest chaps in the world? Why not, since we belonged to half a dozen of the same clubs in New York and other cities? Why not, since this very summer I had put my private yacht (named oddly enough, the Belle HelĂšne) in commission for the first season in three years, and chartered her for the summer around Mackinaw, and a cruise down the Mississippi to the Gulf that fall? Why not, since I had still unbanked the handsome check Davidson had insisted on my taking as charter money for the last quarter?
Davidson! Of all men I had counted him my friend. And now here was he, reputed to be about to marry the girl who, as he knew, must have known, ought to have known, was all the world to me! Even if she would have none of me, and even though I had no shadow of claim on herâeven though we had parted not once but a dozen times, and at last in a final partingâDavidson ought to have known, must have known! And my own yacht! Why, no man may know what may go forward in a yachting party. And, if perchance that fall he could persuade to accompany him Helena and her chaperon (I made no doubt that would be her Aunt Lucinda; for Helenaâs mother died when she was a child, and she was somewhat alone, although in rather comfortable circumstances) what could not so clever a man as Davidson, I repeat, one with so much of a way with women, accomplish in a journey so long as that, with no other man as his rival? It would be just like Cal Davidson to go ashore at St. Louis long enough to find a chaplain, and then go on ahead for a honeymoon around the worldâon my boat, with my.... No, she was not mine ... but then....
All my life I have tried to be fair, even with my own interests at stake. I tried now to be fair; and I failed! I could see but one side to this case. Davidson must be found at once, must be halted in mid-career.
It was about this time that Hiroshimi came in with the morningâs mail and telegrams, all of which at my place come in from the railway, ten miles or so, by rural free delivery. I paid small attention to him, most of my mail, these days, having to do with gasoline pumps or patent hay rakes and lists from my gun and tackle dealers and such like.
Hiroshimi coughed. âSupposing Honorable like to see these yellow wire envelopings.â
I glanced down and idly opened the telegram. It was from Cal Davidson himself, and read:
âName best price outright sale bill Helen to me answer Chicago.â
So then, the scoundrel actually was on his way down the lakes, headed for the South, even thus early in the season! I knew, of course, that Bill Helen meant Belle HelĂšne. As though I would sell my boat to him, of all men! It might almost as well have been a sale of Helena herself outright, as this cursed telegram stated. I crumpled the sheet in my hand.
âIf Honorable contemplates some answering of mail this morning, it will be one ow-wore till the miserable pony mail carry all man comes,â ventured Hiroshimi.
âNothing this morning, Hiro,â I managed to choke out, âand, Hiro, make ready my bag, the small one, for a journey.â
âS-s-s-s!â hissed Hiroshimi, which was his way of saying, âYes, sir, very well, sir.â Surprise he neither showed now nor at any time; and since he never could tell at what hour I might conclude to start for his country or Europe or Africa or some other land for a stay of weeks or months, there was perhaps some warrant for his calm. He had less to do when I was away; although I always suspected him of poaching my trout with his infernal Japanese methods of angling.
At this moment LâOlonnois saw, through the open door, a red squirrel which scampered up a tree. At once he forgot all about his Auntie Helen and scampered off in pursuit, followed presently by Lafitte. This gave me time to decide upon a plan.... At last, I lifted my head again.... Why not, then?
When LâOlonnois returned from the chase of the squirrel, he was all LâOlonnois and none Jimmy Henderson. The spell of his drama was upon him once more.
âWhat ho, mate,â he began, scowling most vilely at me, âthe sun is high in the heavens, yet we linger here. Let us up anchor, hoist the top-gallant mast and set sail for the enemy.â
Jimmyâs nautical terms might have been open to criticism, but there was no denying the bold and manly import of his speech. My own heart jumped well enough with it now.
ââTis well, shipmate,â said I. âCome, get ready your togs and your weapons, and let us away. As you say, the good ship tugs at her anchor chains this morning.â
I managed to better the wardrobe of both boys by certain ducks and linens from my own store, albeit a world too large. Lafitte, none too happy at being thus uncongenially clean, was delight itself when set to selecting an armament from my collection. He chose three bright and clean Japanese swords, special blades of the Samurai armorers, forged long before Mutsuhitoâs grandfather was a boyâI had paid a rare price for them in Japan. To these he added three basket-handled cutlasses, which I had obtained in London, each almost old enough to have belonged to the crew of Drake himself. A short-barreled magazine pistol for each of us was his concession to the present unromantic age. As for Jimmy, he insisted on a small bore rifle as well as a shotgun. âWe might see something,â he remarked laconically.
Thus equipped, I persuaded my associates to lay aside most of their somewhat archaic artillery. Neither had taken any thought of other supplies. Hiroshimi, however, now appeared, bearing, in addition to my hand luggage, two hampers, a roll of blankets and a silk tent in its canvas wrapper.
âHonorable is embarked in those small-going boat that is made tied to the bank?â inquired Hiroshimi. He had said nothing to me about my guests, or asked how they came; but as I knew he would find out all about it, anyhow, after his own fashion, I had not mentioned anything to him, or told him what to do. I only nodded now, relying on his efficiency. He now approached my young pirates, and rather against their will, removed from them some of their burden of weapons, slinging about himself bundles, baskets, bags and cutlery, until he almost disappeared from view. He cast on me a reproachful gaze, however, as he took from Lafitteâs hand the bared blade of the old Samurai sword, and noted the ancient inscription on blade and scabbard as he sheathed it reverently.
âWhat does it say, Hiro?â I asked of him.
âVery old talk, Honorable,â answered Hiroshimi. âIt say, âOh, Honorable Gentleman who carry me, I invite you to make high and noble adventurings.ââ
âLet me carry it, Hiro,â said I; and I tucked it under my own arm.
âGood!â exclaimed LâOlonnois. âThen you are going with us? And did you write the letters that you promised us?â
âI always keep my word.â
âAnd itâll be all right back home about mother and the boat? Iâll give you my six dollars!â
âThere is no need. I told you, if you would make me one of the crew
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