Christobal, well knowing how the demons of doubt and despair were
afflicting Courtenay, followed him to the upper deck. Boyle was in the
chart-house and Tollemache. Each man noted the captain's troubled
face; from him they glanced towards the doctor; but the Spaniard had
undergone his purgatory some hours earlier; his thin features were now
quite expressionless.
Courtenay obtained a telescope. With the tact which never failed him,
even in such a desperate crisis as this, he handed the doctor his
binoculars. Then, both men looked at the summit of Guanaco Hill.
Though it was high noon, and the landscape was shimmering in the
heat-mist created by the unusual power and brilliance of the sun, they
distinctly saw a thin pillar of smoke rising above the trees.
Courtenay closed his telescope. He made to approach Boyle, evidently
for the purpose of giving some order, when Christobal said quietly: "Wait! I have something to say to you. You ought to remain on the
ship. Let me go!"
"You?"
"Yes, I. After all, it is only a matter of taking command. One man
cannot go alone. He could not even pull the life-boat so far. Hence,
what you can do I can do, and I have no objection to dying in that way."
"Why should either of us die?"
"You know better than I how little chance there is of saving those men.
You may deem me callous if I suggest that the reasonable thing would be
to forget the miserable statement you have just heard. Oh, please hear
me to the end. I am not talking for your sole benefit, believe me.
Greatly as I and all on board are beholden to you, I do not propose
giving my life in your stead because of my abounding admiration for
your many virtues. Well, then since you are so impatient as to be
almost rude, I come straight to the point. If you take command of a
boat's crew and endeavor to save the men imprisoned over there, you
will almost certainly throw away your life and the lives of those who
help you. In that event, a lady in whom we are both interested will
suffer grievously. On the other hand, if I were killed, she would weep
a little, because she has a large heart, but you would console her.
And the odd thing is that you and I are fully aware that either you or
I must go off on this fool's errand. There is none other to take the
vacant place. Now, have I made myself clear?"
"You are a good fellow, Christobal. You revive my faith in human
nature, and that is my best apology if I irritated you just now by my
attitude. But don't you see that I can neither accept your generous
offer nor sail away from our harbor of refuge without making an attempt
to save my men?"