Beasts and Super-Beasts Read online

  THE TREASURE SHIP

  The great galleon lay in semi-retirement under the sand and weed andwater of the northern bay where the fortune of war and weather had longago ensconced it. Three and a quarter centuries had passed since the daywhen it had taken the high seas as an important unit of a fightingsquadron—precisely which squadron the learned were not agreed. Thegalleon had brought nothing into the world, but it had, according totradition and report, taken much out of it. But how much? There againthe learned were in disagreement. Some were as generous in theirestimate as an income-tax assessor, others applied a species of highercriticism to the submerged treasure chests, and debased their contents tothe currency of goblin gold. Of the former school was Lulu, Duchess ofDulverton.

  The Duchess was not only a believer in the existence of a sunken treasureof alluring proportions; she also believed that she knew of a method bywhich the said treasure might be precisely located and cheaplydisembedded. An aunt on her mother’s side of the family had been Maid ofHonour at the Court of Monaco, and had taken a respectful interest in thedeep-sea researches in which the Throne of that country, impatientperhaps of its terrestrial restrictions, was wont to immerse itself. Itwas through the instrumentality of this relative that the Duchess learnedof an invention, perfected and very nearly patented by a Monegaskansavant, by means of which the home-life of the Mediterranean sardinemight be studied at a depth of many fathoms in a cold white light of morethan ball-room brilliancy. Implicated in this invention (and, in theDuchess’s eyes, the most attractive part of it) was an electric suctiondredge, specially designed for dragging to the surface such objects ofinterest and value as might be found in the more accessible levels of theocean-bed. The rights of the invention were to be acquired for a matterof eighteen hundred francs, and the apparatus for a few thousand more.The Duchess of Dulverton was rich, as the world counted wealth; shenursed the hope, of being one day rich at her own computation. Companieshad been formed and efforts had been made again and again during thecourse of three centuries to probe for the alleged treasures of theinteresting galleon; with the aid of this invention she considered thatshe might go to work on the wreck privately and independently. Afterall, one of her ancestors on her mother’s side was descended from MedinaSidonia, so she was of opinion that she had as much right to the treasureas anyone. She acquired the invention and bought the apparatus.

  Among other family ties and encumbrances, Lulu possessed a nephew, VascoHoniton, a young gentleman who was blessed with a small income and alarge circle of relatives, and lived impartially and precariously onboth. The name Vasco had been given him possibly in the hope that hemight live up to its adventurous tradition, but he limited himselfstrictly to the home industry of adventurer, preferring to exploit theassured rather than to explore the unknown. Lulu’s intercourse with himhad been restricted of recent years to the negative processes of beingout of town when he called on her, and short of money when he wrote toher. Now, however, she bethought herself of his eminent suitability forthe direction of a treasure-seeking experiment; if anyone could extractgold from an unpromising situation it would certainly be Vasco—of course,under the necessary safeguards in the way of supervision. Where moneywas in question Vasco’s conscience was liable to fits of obstinatesilence.

  Somewhere on the west coast of Ireland the Dulverton property included afew acres of shingle, rock, and heather, too barren to support even anagrarian outrage, but embracing a small and fairly deep bay where thelobster yield was good in most seasons. There was a bleak little houseon the property, and for those who liked lobsters and solitude, and wereable to accept an Irish cook’s ideas as to what might be perpetrated inthe name of mayonnaise, Innisgluther was a tolerable exile during thesummer months. Lulu seldom went there herself, but she lent the houselavishly to friends and relations. She put it now at Vasco’s disposal.

  “It will be the very place to practise and experiment with the salvageapparatus,” she said; “the bay is quite deep in places, and you will beable to test everything thoroughly before starting on the treasure hunt.”

  In less than three weeks Vasco turned up in town to report progress.

  “The apparatus works beautifully,” he informed his aunt; “the deeper onegot the clearer everything grew. We found something in the way of asunken wreck to operate on, too!”

  “A wreck in Innisgluther Bay!” exclaimed Lulu.

  “A submerged motor-boat, the _Sub-Rosa_,” said Vasco.

  “No! really?” said Lulu; “poor Billy Yuttley’s boat. I remember it wentdown somewhere off that coast some three years ago. His body was washedashore at the Point. People said at the time that the boat was capsizedintentionally—a case of suicide, you know. People always say that sortof thing when anything tragic happens.”

  “In this case they were right,” said Vasco.

  “What do you mean?” asked the Duchess hurriedly. “What makes you thinkso?”

  “I know,” said Vasco simply.

  “Know? How can you know? How can anyone know? The thing happened threeyears ago.”

  “In a locker of the _Sub-Rosa_ I found a water-tight strong-box. Itcontained papers.” Vasco paused with dramatic effect and searched for amoment in the inner breast-pocket of his coat. He drew out a folded slipof paper. The Duchess snatched at it in almost indecent haste and movedappreciably nearer the fireplace.

  “Was this in the _Sub-Rosa’s_ strong-box?” she asked.

  “Oh no,” said Vasco carelessly, “that is a list of the well-known peoplewho would be involved in a very disagreeable scandal if the _Sub-Rosa’s_papers were made public. I’ve put you at the head of it, otherwise itfollows alphabetical order.”

  The Duchess gazed helplessly at the string of names, which seemed for themoment to include nearly every one she knew. As a matter of fact, herown name at the head of the list exercised an almost paralysing effect onher thinking faculties.

  “Of course you have destroyed the papers?” she asked, when she hadsomewhat recovered herself. She was conscious that she made the remarkwith an entire lack of conviction.

  Vasco shook his head.

  “But you should have,” said Lulu angrily; “if, as you say, they arehighly compromising—”

  “Oh, they are, I assure you of that,” interposed the young man.

  “Then you should put them out of harm’s way at once. Supposing anythingshould leak out, think of all these poor, unfortunate people who would beinvolved in the disclosures,” and Lulu tapped the list with an agitatedgesture.

  “Unfortunate, perhaps, but not poor,” corrected Vasco; “if you read thelist carefully you’ll notice that I haven’t troubled to include anyonewhose financial standing isn’t above question.”

  Lulu glared at her nephew for some moments in silence. Then she askedhoarsely: “What are you going to do?”

  “Nothing—for the remainder of my life,” he answered meaningly. “A littlehunting, perhaps,” he continued, “and I shall have a villa at Florence.The Villa Sub-Rosa would sound rather quaint and picturesque, don’t youthink, and quite a lot of people would be able to attach a meaning to thename. And I suppose I must have a hobby; I shall probably collectRaeburns.”

  Lulu’s relative, who lived at the Court of Monaco, got quite a snappishanswer when she wrote recommending some further invention in the realm ofmarine research.