A Bid for Fortune - Guy Boothby (ready player one ebook TXT) 📗

from behind a bush, and raising a rifle bade me come to a standstill. Having no time to lift my own weapon I was obliged to do as he ordered me, and he thereupon told me to lay down my weapon and right-about face. In this fashion I was marched back to the huts we had just left, and then, another man having joined my captor, was conducted across the island to this beach, where a boat was in waiting. In it I was pulled out to a small schooner lying at anchor in the bay and ordered to board her; five minutes later I was conducted to the saloon, where two or three persons were collected.

“ ‘Good evening, Mr. Wetherell. This is indeed a pleasure,’ said a man sitting at the further end of the table. He was playing with a big black cat, and directly I heard his voice I knew that I was in the presence of Dr. Nikola.

“ ‘And how do you think I am going to punish you, my friend, for giving me all this trouble?’ he said when I made no reply to his first remark.

“ ‘You dare not do anything to me,’ I answered. ‘I demand that you let me go this instant. I have a big score to settle with you.’

“ ‘If you will be warned by me you will cease to demand,’ he answered, his eyes the while burning like coals. ‘You are an obstinate man, but though you have put me to so much trouble and expense I will forgive you and come to terms with you. Now listen to me. If you will give me⁠—’

“At that moment the little vessel gave a heavy roll, and in trying to keep my footing on the sloping deck I fell over upon the table. As I did so the little Chinese stick slipped out of my pocket and went rolling along directly into Nikola’s hands. He sprang forward and seized it, and you may imagine his delight. With a cry of triumph that made the cat leap from his shoulder, he turned to a tall man by his side and said:

“ ‘I’ve got it at last! Now let a boat’s crew take this man ashore and tie him to the stake in the cave. Then devise some means of acquainting his friends of his whereabouts. Be quick, for we sail in an hour.’

“Having given these orders he turned to me again and said:

“ ‘Mr. Wetherell, this is the last transaction we shall probably ever have together. All things considered, you are lucky in escaping so easily. It would have saved you a good deal if you had complied with my request at first. However, all’s well that ends well, and I congratulate you upon your charming daughter. Now, goodbye; in an hour I am off to effect a coup with this stick, the magnitude of which you would never dream. One last word of advice: pause a second time, I entreat, before you think of baulking Dr. Nikola.’

“I was going to reply, when I was twisted round and led up on deck, where that scoundrel Baxter had the impudence to make me a low bow. In less than a quarter of an hour I was fastened to the post in that cave. The rest you know. Now let us get on board; I see the boat is approaching.”

As soon as the surfboat had drawn up on the beach we embarked and were pulled out to the yacht. In a few moments we were on deck, and Phyllis was in her father’s arms again. Over that meeting, with its rapturous embraces and general congratulations, I must draw a curtain. Suffice it that by midday the island had disappeared under the sea line, and by nightfall we were well on our way back to Sydney. That evening, after dinner, Phyllis and I patrolled the deck together, and finally came to a standstill aft. It was as beautiful an evening as any man or woman could desire. All round us was the glassy sea, rising and falling as if asleep, while overhead the tropic stars shone down with their wonderful brilliance.

“Phyllis,” I said, taking my darling’s hand in mine and looking into her face, “what a series of adventures we have both passed through since that afternoon I first saw you in the Domain! Do you know that your father has at last consented to our marriage?”

“I do. And as it is to you, Dick, I owe my rescue,” she said, coming a little closer to me, “he could do nothing else; you have a perfect right to me.”

“I have, and I mean to assert it!” I answered. “If I had not found you, I should never have been happy again.”

“But, Dick, there is one thing I don’t at all understand. At dinner this evening the captain addressed you as Sir Richard. What does that mean?”

“Why, of course you have not heard!” I cried. “Well, I think it means that though I cannot make you a marchioness, I can make you a baronet’s wife. It remains with you to say whether you will be Lady Hatteras or not.”

“But are you a baronet, Dick? How did that come about?”

“It’s a long story, but do you remember my describing to you the strange call I paid, when in England, on my only two relatives in the world?”

“The old man and his daughter in the New Forest? Yes, I remember.”

“Well, they are both dead, and, as the next-of-kin, I have inherited the title and estates. What do you think of that?”

Her only reply was to kiss me softly on the cheek.

She had scarcely done so before her father and Beckenham came along the deck.

“Now, Phyllis,” said the former, leading her to a seat, “supposing you give us the history of your adventures. Remember we have heard nothing yet.”

“Very well. Where shall I begin? At the moment I left the house for the ball? Very good. Well, you must know that when I arrived at Government House I met