Schomberg felt desperation, that lamentable substitute for courage, ooze out of him. It was not so much the threat of death as the weirdly circumstantial manner of its declaration which affected him. A mere "I'll murder you," however ferocious in tone, and earnest, in purpose, he could have faced; but before this novel mode of speech and procedure, his imagination being very sensitive to the unusual, he collapsed as if indeed his moral neck had been broken--snap!
"Go to the police? Of course not. Never dreamed of it. Too late now. I've let myself be mixed up in this. You got my consent while I wasn't myself. I explained it to you at the time."
Ricardo's eye glided gently off Schomberg to stare far away.
"Ay! Some trouble with a girl. But that's nothing to us."
"Naturally. What I say is, what's the good of all that savage talk to
me?" A bright argument occurred to him. "It's out of proportion; for
even if I were fool enough to go to the police now, there's nothing
serious to complain about. It would only mean deportation for you. They
would put you on board the first west-bound steamer to Singapore." He
had become animated. "Out of this to the devil," he added between his
teeth for his own private satisfaction.
Ricardo made no comment, and gave no sign of having heard a single word. This discouraged Schomberg, who had looked up hopefully.
"Why do you want to stick here?" he cried. "It can't pay you people
to fool around like this. Didn't you worry just now about moving your
governor? Well, the police would move him for you; and from Singapore
you can go on to the east coast of Africa."
"I'll be hanged if the fellow isn't up to that silly trick!" was
Ricardo's comment, spoken in an ominous tone which recalled Schomberg to
the realities of his position.
"No! No!" he protested. "It's a manner of speaking. Of course I
wouldn't."
"I think that trouble about the girl has really muddled your brains, Mr. Schomberg. Believe me, you had better part friends with us; for, deportation or no deportation, you'll be seeing one of us turning up before long to pay you off for any nasty dodge you may be hatching in that fat head of yours."
"Gott im Himmel!" groaned Schomberg. "Will nothing move him out? Will
he stop here immer--I mean always? Suppose I were to make it worth your
while, couldn't you--"
"No," Ricardo interrupted. "I couldn't, unless I had something to lever
him out with. I've told you that before."
"An inducement?" muttered Schomberg.
"Ay. The east coast of Africa isn't good enough. He told me the other
day that it will have to wait till he is ready for it; and he may not be
ready for a long time, because the east coast can't run away, and no one
is likely to run off with it."
These remarks, whether considered as truisms or as depicting Mr. Jones's mental state, were distinctly discouraging to the long-suffering Schomberg; but there is truth in the well-known saying that places the darkest hour before the dawn. The sound of words, apart from the context, has its power; and these two words, 'run off,' had a special affinity to the hotel-keeper's, haunting idea. It was always present in his brain, and now it came forward evoked by a purely fortuitous expression. No, nobody could run off with a continent; but Heyst had run off with the girl!
Ricardo could have had no conception of the cause of Schomberg's changed
expression. Yet it was noticeable enough to interest him so much that
he stopped the careless swinging of his leg and said, looking at the
hotel-keeper:
"There's not much use arguing against that sort of talk--is there?"
Schomberg was not listening.
"I could put you on another track," he said slowly, and stopped, as if
suddenly choked by an unholy emotion of intense eagerness combined with
fear of failure. Ricardo waited, attentive, yet not without a certain
contempt.
"On the track of a man!" Schomberg uttered convulsively, and paused
again, consulting his rage and his conscience.
"The man in the moon, eh?" suggested Ricardo, in a jeering murmur.
Schomberg shook his head.
"It would be nearly as safe to rook him as if he were the Man in the
moon. You go and try. It isn't so very far."