CHAPTER XXII

THE TRUTH

It was Pharaoh Lee--the very man in search of whom the police were scouring the country. So astonished was Tera at his unexpected appearance, that she could only stare at him in silence. His face, sullen and lowering, lighted up with a fierce joy when he recognized her.

"You come from the farm," he said, stepping up close to her. "Is that Gentile beast yet dead?"

"No," stammered the girl, finding her tongue; "he is not going to die."

"Duvel!" swore Lee, savagely; "why did I not strike harder? Job! for another chance! You will not betray me?"

"No; I shall not say a word," said Tera, earnestly. "I was glad when I saw you stab that man. He is a low dog. But how did you come here? The police look for you everywhere."

"Except in the right place," said Finland, with a grin. "No one thinks Lee is aboard with us. He came straight from Bethdagon to Grimleigh, After midnight, when all was quiet, he swam out here, and climbed on board to see the skipper. When Shackel heard his story, he promised to conceal him for my sake. He knew I hadn't any great love for Mayne, and that I'd be glad to give Lee a hand. Besides," added Jack, with a shrug, "Mayne is getting on right enough--there's no great harm been done."

"I'll kill him yet," said the gipsy under his breath.

"Ah! you do that at your own risk, matey. Tolai, help me to carry this box into my cabin."

While the man attended to this business, Tera conversed with Lee. "Are you coming with us to Koiau?" she asked curiously.

"No. Shackel is going to land me down the coast somewhere. Then I shall come back and settle my account with Herbert Mayne. I'll see that it's settled next time," said Pharaoh between his teeth; and he looked as though he meant it.

"You are a great warrior," said Tera, and patted his hand. "I know Mr. Mayne married Zara and took her from you. But I do not think he killed her."

"It's either him or Slade," growled Pharaoh.. "I'll make sure which of them strangled my poor pretty Zara, and if I swing for it, I'll give him my knife for all it's worth. Meanwhile, I'm safe enough here. Those beggarly police can hunt every rat-hole in the land."

As Lee said this, Jack, having locked up the money, returned to the cabin with Tolai at his heels. "Come, Tera, let us go ashore with the Kanaka. If you won't return to my uncle's, you won't mind staying at your old quarters again. Mrs. Johnson will put you up."

"I'm afraid," said Tera, drawing back, "if I go there, Misi Brand will get me; then he will not let me go with you."

"Oh, bosh!" said Jack, sharply; "if Brand interferes, I'll kick him into kingdom come. You're all right with the psalm-singer. He has promised to marry us, so he'll look after you in the mean time."

It was not always easy to make Tera see sense. She was as unreasonable as a child. At present she was filled with the idea that Brand might part her from Jack; and she thought herself safe only when on board the _Dayspring_. Indeed, now that the day of her return to Koiau was drawing near, she seemed to be losing the little control of herself she had acquired. This was particularly evidenced by her refusal to respond to her baptismal name of Bithiah. Jack was by no means far-seeing, but he had a shrewd suspicion that by the time Tera reached Koiau, her veneer of civilization would have worn off, and she would relapse into the wholly savage state natural to her. However, this idea troubled him very little. A semi-barbarian himself in many ways, he preferred the genuine savage to the half-baked article. But while he remained in England, and particularly in Grimleigh, where his rigid uncle lived, it was necessary to observe certain of the proprieties of life. He decided that Tera could not possibly return to the schooner until they were married. So, after much arguing and a show of anger, he induced her to come ashore, and again take up her quarters with Johnson. Tolai, as Tera's shadow, accompanied them. Pharaoh Lee, who had once more relapsed into his sullen humour, of course remained on board. He had no very high opinion of the police, but he deemed it wise, for the present at all events, not to leave his place of refuge.

As Tera and Jack, with Tolai in close attendance, walked arm-in-arm up the hill to the minister's house, they came face to face with Mr. and Mrs. Slade. The ex-policeman no longer wore a uniform. He was in plain clothes now, permanently, so far as the police force was concerned. Jack had heard of his dismissal, and stopped now to speak to him.

"Well, sonny," said he, cheerfully, "so you've left the force."

"I've bin kicked out for doing my duty," growled Slade, glowering at his wife, "and it's Jemima's doing, with her jealousy. She never would behave sensible-like."

"You needn't begin again, Jeremiah," whimpered Jemima, wiping her eyes with the corner of her shawl; "you've been at me all day."

"Ain't I got cause to? Ain't you got me turned out of the force? Ain't I got to leave Grimleigh?"

"Where are you going?" asked Tera.

"To London," replied the ex-policeman; "there ain't no chance for a man like me getting on here. I'm bent on being a detective--like those fellows in novels. Ah! there's some chance in London."

"What have you done with the pearl Mr. Mayne gave you?" demanded Jack,

"I've kept it; and I'm going to stick to it. Chard wanted me to give it up, but I wouldn't. It's mine, fair and square--worth thirty and more pounds. I'll sell it in London, for we ain't got over-much money, thanks to Jemima."

"Slade," said Finland, seriously, "before you clear out, tell me if Mayne killed the girl."

"How should I know, sir? I ain't got nothing to do with the case now. Let them as think themselves clever find out, I don't believe he did, all the same. 'Cos he'd left Zara when I met him."

"Where did you meet him?"

"Just above the town. He was coming down to Grimleigh, and Zara was running in the Poldew direction. They didn't meet again to my knowledge, and as I was on duty I was between them all the time up yonder. No, Mr. Finland; whoever killed that girl it wasn't Mr. Mayne."

"As you saw Zara in my clothes, you must have known that I was not dead," said Tera.

"I did, miss. And when the time came I'd have said so. I was working to find out who killed Zara, not you, till them fools spoiled my case. It was Zara who was dead I knew well enough; but as she wore your clothes, my theory was as some one as hated you killed her in mistake. From that cord I thought as it was Mr. Johnson, but it wasn't. Then it struck me as you might have had a hand in it, Mr. Finland, but you hadn't."

"I should think not," said Jack, sharply. "Why should I harm Zara? Did you ever suspect Mayne?"

"No, I didn't. If he'd killed Zara he'd a done so when he met her; and she was alive after he gave the pearl to me. It was in mistake for you, miss, as the girl was killed. As I'm going away, I don't mind saying as much. Good-bye, miss; good-bye, sir. Jemima, you come along; we ain't got no time to lose here."

The pair strolled off--the woman still in tears--and Jack continued his way, deep in thought. If Slade's theory that Zara had been killed in mistake for Tera were correct, Mayne could not be the guilty party. He could have absolutely no reason to murder the native girl. And if he were innocent, who was guilty? Finland was as much in the dark as ever. He felt he owed Rachel some reparation for Tera's trickery, and if before he left for Koiau he could clear Mayne's character, he would be doing her service more substantial than he was ever likely to accomplish in any other direction. He did not like Mayne--he thought him an out-and-out scoundrel. But Rachel had set her heart on marrying and reforming him, so there was nothing for it but to let her have her wish, and, if possible, to aid her towards the consummation of it.

"Tera," said Jack, as they drew near Mr. Johnson's house, "you must tell the parson chap how you tricked Rachel."

"Aué," wept Tera, "he will be cross with me. I don't want to."

"You must," insisted her lover; "we must put our heads together and find out the truth somehow. We must clear Mayne. After getting that money out of Rachel, it is the least you can do to make it up to her."

The girl clapped her hands. "You will keep the money, then, Jack?"

"H'm! that depends upon Rachel. I'll place you in the psalm-singer's charge first. Then I'll go and see Rachel."

The minister was absent for the moment, but he was expected to return shortly. Mrs. Johnson, however, received Tera, though with no very good grace. She knew that the girl had refused to marry her son, and had involved him in great trouble by her secret flight. As a mother, and more particularly as a woman, she would have refused admittance to the fugitive; but she was also a Christian, and it was her duty to forgive. So it was arranged that Tera should occupy her old room. Leaving her, then, in charge of Mrs. Johnson and the ubiquitous and ever-faithful Tolai, Jack, after promising to return in a couple of hours, set out for Bethdagon to see Rachel. His errand was not a pleasant one. But it was necessary and right that Rachel should be undeceived, that Tera's trickery should be made known to her, and the money, which through it had been forthcoming, restored.

Rachel had returned home in a state of mind easier to imagine than to describe. After the graphic story narrated by Tera, she fully believed that the girl, giving rein to the savage instincts of her nature, had murdered Zara to protect herself from pursuit. She could not decide what to do, for, anxious as she was to save Herbert, she could not bring herself to denounce the native girl. After all, she was a savage, and did not regard murder with any great abhorrence. From her point of view she was less guilty than a European would have been. Rachel said nothing to Herbert of the information she had received as value for her five hundred pounds. She did not even mention the fact to her father: she sat down alone to consider what course she should take. Before she could decide, her cousin arrived and informed her of the trick which Tera had played upon her. She was naturally sceptical.

"But Tera told me the details," she insisted; "how she got the cord from Mr. Johnson's study, how she met Zara for the second time, and how she hid the body in the field."

"I know, Rachel. Tera let herself go in fine style, I've no doubt, but only to get your money. She saw Zara only once, and that was when they changed dresses. The rest of the yarn is all her own!"

"Are you sure. Jack? Can you trust her?"

"Sure!" Jack swore a great oath. "I wish I were as sure of getting into heaven. Tera is a child--cunning in some things, simple in others. She might deceive you: she could not hoodwink me. No, no, my lass, Tera is square enough. I wouldn't marry her else. You don't suppose I'd take a long-haired mate with a murder on her hands!"

"Then if this is true, how am I to save Herbert?" cried Rachel, in despair. "He did not kill the girl."

"Perhaps not. Slade says he did not. But Mayne has done a good many dirty things. I wouldn't marry him, Rachel, if I were you. He is a skunk, if ever there was one."

"Don't you dare to call him names," flashed out Rachel; "the poor soul lies sick unto death. 'Judge not, lest you be judged,' Jack. I love Herbert, and I intend to marry him. If he is bad, I will reform him. I shall pluck him as a brand from the burning. This is not the time to give up the man I love, when he is in sore distress and in need of a helping hand."

"What will your father say, Rachel?"

"My father, unfortunately, is not consistent in his Christianity," replied the girl, in rather a Pharisaical manner. "He thinks over much of worldly vanities; of what people say of him and his. A woman shall leave father and mother to follow after the husband of her choice. Herbert is my choice, and in spite of my father's anger, I will marry him. We shall not stay here to be mocked and despised. Herbert will sell his farm, I have some money of my mother's, and together we will go to America. There we will lead a new and more devout life; and he shall atone for his sin."

Seeing it was futile, her cousin ceased to argue with her.

"I only hope you will not live to repent it, Rachel," said he. "If Mayne has a spark of manhood in him, he'll act square by you. But about this money you gave to Tera. I could not, of course, bring it with me to-day, but I have it safe on board, and you shall have it back to-morrow."

"No, Jack, you need not do that. I am willing to lend you the money, if it is to help you on in life. Repay it to me when you can."

"That's good hearing, Rachel," said Finland, grasping her hand. "I promise you shall have the money, and interest with it, in a year or two. I'm not the man to go back on my word."

"I know you are not, and I trust you. Jack. There is no need for you to give me any paper or bond. Take the money, and trade with it as you say. I hope it will bring you luck, and that you will prosper."

"It is very good of you to do this for me, Rachel. I wish I could do something for you in return."

"Find out who killed this poor girl. Jack, and I shall be amply repaid. In some way or another, I must save Herbert. Mr. Chard intends to arrest him as soon as he is well enough to be moved. Save him from that, if you can."

"I'll do my best, Rachel; for, bad as Herbert is--well, I won't say a word against him, since it vexes you--I don't believe he is guilty, and I'll do my best to help you and him. Now I'm off."

"Won't you stay to dinner. Jack?"

"No, thanks. I promised Tera to go back to Mr. Johnson's. If I learn anything to help you and Herbert, I'll come back and tell you." "Good-bye, Rachel, and thank you for the money."

"Good-bye, Jack. God grant you may be successful."

Jack echoed the prayer as he walked back to Grimleigh, but he had little hope that it would be answered. He had no experience in criminal cases, and could not see how he was to find out the truth in this especial one. The matter of Zara's death was surrounded by mysteries; and think as he could, this simple sailor could not conjecture how they were to be solved. Where Slade and Chard, both trained men, had failed, he could hardly hope to succeed. Much as he wished to repay Rachel for her kindness, he saw no chance of doing so in the particular way she desired--in the way, too, which would best serve her. And so he was a trifle dejected when he arrived at Mr. Johnson's house.

The minister had returned, and, when he saw Finland at the gate, stepped out of the window to beckon him into the study.

"Bithiah and Tolai are at the mid-day meal," he said, in answer to Jack's inquiries; "we will join them soon, meanwhile I wish to consult you."

"Has Tera told you how she accused herself of this murder?"

"Yes," Johnson sighed. "The poor child is yet a savage at heart, I fear; but in her own way she is heroic and honest. I don't defend the falsehoods she told, but her action shows one thing clearly--it shows how well she loves you."

"Oh! Tera's a good sort, Mr. Johnson. Of course you didn't believe her guilty."

"No, I did not. I have a very good reason to disbelieve it. John Finland"--Johnson laid his hand on the young man's arm--"it is on this very matter I wish to consult you. I know who killed Zara Lovell."

"You do? This will be good news for Rachel. Who?"

"Korah Brand!"