Princess Alix rushed on her brother, and was taken to his arms. He kissed her affectionately.
"Yvonne?" he said.
"She is safe," said the Princess, withdrawing herself. "She it safe, dear, but frightened."
She spoke in German, and he nodded.
"Ah, she would be frightened. It is no woman's work this, Alix. We must be tender with her."
"We have done our best," she replied, I thought a little coldly; and at that a door down the corridor opened, and Mademoiselle herself appeared.
"Frederic!" she cried ecstatically, and hastened towards us with graceful movements. "Ah, Frederic, it is cruel to leave me so. I wish I were back in Paris. Oh, mon Dieu! what a voyage, what a ship!"
As they embraced I turned my head away, for this reunion of lovers was no sight for public eyes, and as I did so I swept the Princess in my vision. Her face had fallen dead and chill, and I thought that a little curl of her lips betrayed some impatience with these demonstrations. Meanwhile Barraclough was narrating in his deliberate way the adventures of the party; but I cut him short, only asking one question:
"Where is Legrand?"
"They took him up and carried him forward, but I couldn't say if he were dead."
"We have no time to lose," I said. "They may attack at any moment, and we have too much space to defend for comfort."
"Why, we can manage this well enough," said he easily.
"And be starved," said I. "No; we must keep the access to the saloon and the kitchens, and that means precautions. Look at the windows through which we may be approached."
"Dr. Phillimore is right," said the Prince in his deep voice. "We must guard the windows."
"We must close them," said I. "Grant, you can use tools. Ellison, you and Grant do what you can. There is plenty of woodwork to draw on—doors and trappings in the cabins. The portholes are useless to the mutineers, but they can enter by the skylights or the windows. They must be all barred. We are in a state of siege."
"You hear your orders," said the Prince in his imperious voice. "The doctor speaks sense. See that it is done."
Barraclough and Lane and the Prince himself were left on guard, and the rest of us sallied down to hunt for tools and timber to carry out this primitive fortification. In this we had the assistance of the steward, Jackson, and the cook, who had been discovered in one of his pantries. The work took us a full hour or more, but at last it was decently accomplished. The windows of the saloon and music-room that gave on the deck were shuttered, as also the windows of the cabins. Nothing but the skylights remained unprotected, and these we could trust ourselves to guard. I reckoned that we were in a position to stand a siege indefinitely, unless something untoward occurred. The fortifications completed, we stationed our guards, two in the corridor, two in the saloon, and sat down at last, wearied out with the fatigue of that abominable night.
CHAPTER IX
The Flag of Truce
We were not interrupted during all this time, and from the sound of the screw we could tell that the yacht was still ploughing her way, but clearly it was not now for Buenos Ayres. At six we took some food prepared by the cook, and considered the position with more equanimity. Counting the cook, who had not been reckoned in our previous numbering, we were now reduced to a party of ten men, if Pye could be accounted a man after his cowardly behaviour. There were six sailors in the hold at present useless, and the mutineers, even after their losses, were not far short of thirty. Of Legrand we knew nothing, but could only hope for the best. So long as we could hold the saloon we had plenty of food and water, and our stock of ammunition was ample. The outlook did not appear so bad. Only on the other side we had to remember that Holgate had the ship and could go whither he wished. Even if coal failed him he had the auxiliary power of the sails. Our main hope was to hold out until his provisions should be exhausted and he should be obliged to put into some port. Then would come the hour of reckoning, for we were probably better supplied with provisions than was the forecastle.
The ladies breakfasted in their cabins, but the Prince was present at our common table, showing a right democratic attitude.
"We are all in a common peril, gentlemen," he said with spirit. "We must not make differences. But there must be discipline," he added.
There was, therefore, a certain camaraderie reigning which had been foreign to the yacht before, and Lane gave way to his native garrulity, enlivening the table by some anecdotes, at which even Barraclough condescended to smile.
"My hat!" cried the purser suddenly, slapping his flank. "They've not got what they fought for, and we've none of us thought of it."
There was a pause. It was true, none of us had thought of it; we had been too busy thinking of other things.
"Are you sure?" said I.
Lane rose. "Let's go and see," said he. "But I've all the keys, and I'll swear no one came down in the neighbourhood of the strong-room while I was there."
We trooped down, Prince and all, and it was as the purser had said. The safes were untouched. Barraclough elevated his eyebrows.
"The fools!" he commented.
"Well, it doesn't seem to me quite that," said I slowly. "It only looks as if Holgate was certain."
"What do you mean?" he asked, and they all looked at me.
"Why, if he did not take the trouble to touch this, he cannot be in a hurry. I never came upon a man with a cooler head. He's not in a hurry, that's a fact. It's been deliberate all through, from the very moment we left the Thames."
We looked at each other now. "Jerusalem!" said Lane. "What a savage! He's made sure of us, then."
"He can wait his time," I said. "He has waited, and can wait longer. The ship's in his hands."
"You take a gloomy view, sir," observed the Prince with a frown.
"Well, Mr. Morland," I replied drily. "I don't think we're here to glaze matters over. We've got to face things, and one of these things is that Holgate hasn't worried us since he got possession. How are you going to account for that, save on my hypothesis?"
"They shall be hanged—every one," he exclaimed angrily, the German accent emerging roughly now.
"Well, we'll do our best, sir," I replied lightly.
I shut the strong-room door, and Lane locked it; and, as I turned, I saw the white face of Pye in the background. He had been missing from breakfast, and he looked very sickly, very pale, and very much abashed. The Prince noticed him, too, and addressed him sharply.
"Why are you here, sir? What do you mean by leaving your quarters? I will have discipline kept on this ship."
"I have no quarters," pleaded Pye humbly. "I was feeling sick, and lay down in my bunk."
"You shall get to your quarters now, sir," declared the Prince severely. "Sir John, order this man to his post."
The little man was so downcast, and was obviously so unwell, that I took pity on him, and cheered him as he went upstairs.
"Never mind, Pye," I said. "We'll pull through."
He shook his head. "Ah, it isn't that," he said. "But I disgraced myself, doctor. I'm not built that way. It was awful—awful." He shuddered.
"Yes, we'll get our little tum-tums full of it now, I guess," remarked Lane cheerfully. "You freeze on to your barker, boy. You'll need it before we fetch up at Albert Docks again. It's Execution Docks for some of us, I'll lay. Have a cigar, doctor?"
I accepted, but Pye refused, turning a sallow hue. His nerves had not yet recovered, and he had certainly drunk a good deal of brandy. Ellison and Jackson were on watch below, and when we reached the corridor Grant signalled us in a whisper from his peep-hole.
"Some one coming along this way, sir."
Barraclough sprang to his side. "By Heaven, it's Holgate, damn him," he said, "with a flag of truce."
"Open that door," said the Prince evenly.
Grant turned the key and drew the bolt, and the door fell ajar. Holgate's big form was stationed before it, and he waved a flag.