The Pursuit Part 20

"We?" he repeated. "We being--?"

Van Arlen looked mildly astonished.

"My daughter and I."

Aylmer held out his hand with a pleading gesture.

"You can't afford to despise my help," he said. "You must take me, too."

Van Arlen looked at Aylmer and then, questioningly, towards his daughter. She met his glance. Here at last was the opportunity to make things plain with a vengeance. They had but politely to decline.

Aylmer's voice forestalled her.

"To be impartial, that was your promise," he said. "We had not got far, but at least as far as that."

In spite of herself she turned and faced him. He met her glance steadily, confidently, expectant.

She gave a queer, half-exasperated little laugh.

"I think Captain Aylmer is a man who is easily refused nothing," she said, and pa.s.sed quietly out of the room.

CHAPTER X

BY FAVOR OF THE FOG

"I do not like this!" piped a small and dejected voice. "I came to ride a black horse, not to be b.u.mped in this vessel forgotten of G.o.d!"

In English these words would have sounded strangely from the lips of a child of six, but little John Aylmer was fluent in the Arab jargon of his grandfather's native household.

He was sitting disconsolate in the c.o.c.kpit of the lateen _Esmeralda_.

His company was Senor Emilio Albaceda, mariner and practical exponent of the tenets of an uncompromising Free Trade. From the uncovered hatch came the sound of wind whistling in the cordage and the swish and thud of the combers breaking past. Upon one of the narrow bunks which flanked the tiny cabin lay Landon, fast asleep. A guttering and extremely odoriferous lamp of vegetable oil was the sole illuminant. The prospects of comfort and entertainment in such surroundings were not those likely to appeal to a child accustomed to luxury and constant attention.

"_Pazienza!_" grunted the skipper, good-humoredly. "Black horses are not found upon the sea, though a friend of mine who prefers the running of contraband to the priesthood for which his parents destined him, read me once verses from a journal--true poetry in praise of a boot polish the name of which does not stay by me--where the waves of the Atlantic were likened unto stallions white-maned. I confess I thought the notion original."

The child stared at him meditatively.

"If horses are not to be found upon the sea and we seek horses, why do not we forsake the sea for the land?" There was a note of antic.i.p.ation in the query which seemed to find this argument conclusive.

The smuggler grinned.

"Excellently argued, son of much intelligence," he answered. "Land is what we shall seek when this gale breathed from Jehannum permits us to do so in safety. For the moment we drive before it, there being no harbors on this coast within a thousand miles."

The child moved restlessly.

"Where then can we land?" he demanded.

"Where G.o.d and His Mother and the Holy Saints permit," said Senor Albaceda, suddenly reverting to _lingua franca_ to clothe a piety of sentiment which the Moslem religion ignores. The One Allah's plans, being laid from the foundation of the world, are not susceptible to the influences of human appeal.

Little John made a grimace of hearty discontent and looked doubtfully at the sleeping form of his father. But for the moment distraction came from another quarter.

Two brown legs appeared in the opening of the hatch. As their owner lowered himself into the cabin, he disclosed the features of the man of the brown _djelab_--he who on Tangier pier had been sponsor for those fiery but phantom steeds which Fate had not allowed to materialize. The child received him with a shrill little shout of welcome.

"Muhammed!" he cried gladly. "Muhammed!"

The Moor placed his lean finger upon the yellow curls in a light caress, but his look was towards the berth where Landon could be seen stirring, aroused by his son's acclamation.

He slipped into a sitting posture in front of the tiny table and leaned upon it, his chin supported by his elbows, a look of expectancy tinged by humor in his eye.

"Well, my friends," he queried amiably, "our news is, what?"

The Moor gave a pessimistic shrug of the shoulder.

"Bad, Sidi," he said tersely. "We continue to drive westwards as before."

Landon shrugged his shoulders.

"We shall not see Cadiz to-morrow nor the day after," he said. "Well, the future is s.p.a.cious. We have infinite leisure before us in which to beat back."

The captain grunted.

"Leisure we have in abundance, but not food nor yet water. We must put in somewhere before we attempt a feat which will take, at the best, three days and, if Chance so decides, perhaps a fortnight."

Landon's face was clouded with a sudden scowl.

"Food and water! Why have you not these in sufficiency? Your terms are extortionate enough as it is without the makeweight of starvation!"

"My terms," said Senor Albaceda, gruffly, "were all too cheap; what I learned in Tangier after I had come to an agreement with you was proof to me of that. But I am a man of honor; I keep bargains duly made. I contracted to set you ash.o.r.e in Cadiz harbor--with a favorable wind a one night's work. I did not contract to feed three extra mouths through a voyage of weeks. When the wind moderates, I make for the nearest market, and you will buy your own provisions for our return. That is well understood."

"You mean to land on the African coast, not the European?" cried Landon.

"Where else?" said the skipper, drily. "Do you expect me to carry you on to the Azores?"

Landon looked questioningly at Muhammed. The Moor made a gesture of resignation.

"_Mektub_, it is written!" he answered fatalistically. "Azemmour, perchance, or Mazagan."

"And opposite each we shall find a French cruiser anch.o.r.ed," growled Landon, "with launches fussing about, and every craft which enters under suspicion of smuggling guns for the Chawia. And ten to one warning about us from Tangier sent down the coast."

"That would be a matter of time," said the Moor. "We have driven faster than hors.e.m.e.n could ride!"

"Hors.e.m.e.n!" Landon smote the table in his irritation. "These s.h.i.+ps of war have apparatus by which they can communicate as if a cable linked them. If my father-in-law gets the right side of the commandant of the Tangier guards.h.i.+p--" He broke off with another shrug. "Well, to each day its appointed sorrow. The gale has not blown itself out yet."

"The event is with Allah!" said the Moor, gravely. He thrust his head up through the hatch and shouted to the steersman. A moment later he dropped back into the shelter of the cabin again.

"Your man Ibrahim is of opinion that the wind shows signs of abating. We pa.s.sed Larache two hours back. The scud hides the sh.o.r.e, but he judges that we are not far from Sallee. If the surf permits, we may get anchorage and make a landing at Azemmour. If not, we must dare Casablanca or continue to Mazagan."