15 - Blake of the "Rattlesnake" - Woman's Love and Man's Duty

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter fifteen of Blake of the Rattlesnake. This is a
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This recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina.
Blake of the Rattlesnake by Frederick T. Jane, Chapter fifteen,

(00:26):
Woman's Love and Man's Duty. Blake hurried below as soon
as we got on board, busying himself with the charts,
setting our course with scrupulous care, only too glad to
be able to leave him to himself. I found work
on deck and was thus occupied when I heard the

(00:46):
dip of oars and a cry of boad'hoy from aft.
I hastened towards the stern to see Miss Monkton and
her father coming to us in a shore boat. They
came rapidly alongside in The General was on board almost
before the boat had lost the way on her. A
minute later, and before I could think or say anything,

(01:07):
he had helped his daughter on board. Then at a
sign from him, the boat quickly made off into the gloom.
Mister Beauverie, it was Miss Monckton who spoke, would you
be kind enough to tell Captain Blake that he is
wanted on deck? You need not say by whom. Her voice,

(01:28):
always a low and sweet one, had now in it
a ring of sad determination that told me for certain
what I had already guessed that, regardless of consequences, she
had decided to be with Blake at the last, whether
he would or no. I went below as desired, telling
the skipper that he was wanted on deck, and moodily

(01:51):
and listlessly he followed me there. I hurried forward so
as not to overhear the meeting, and hung about in
the conning tower till it was more than time to
start on our Errand I was roused from the reverie
into which I had fallen by seeing General Monckton making
his way towards me. Look here, mister Bovary, said he

(02:12):
bluffly enough as became an old soldier. I want a
few words with you, honestly, What are your chances to night?
I replied that we should probably succeed in sinking a
large number of French and Russian ironclads, but that we
ran grave risk of destruction, both in entering the solent

(02:33):
and in getting away, meaning that you will, in all
human probability, be sunk or captured. Sunk, possibly, I answered,
But Blake will never strike. No, from what I know
of him, I should say that it would be the
last thing he would do. However, that is not the

(02:54):
chief thing I wished to say. At present, Blake is
doing all he can to persuade my daughter to return
on shore. I did all I could to prevent her
coming on board. But here we both are now. I
know my daughter well, and you, from even the little
you are seen of her, can perceive well enough that

(03:15):
she is not one easily set aside from her purpose.
She is a woman, and to a woman the fate
of an empire is as nothing to the safety of
the man she loves. I wish to warn you accordingly.
If my daughter can disable your engines or bring about
your capture in any way, she will do so without

(03:37):
the slightest hesitation. But Captain Blakewood, I began, excitedly of
what he might say or do, She will wreck nothing
in this matter, he interrupted. I am an old man
with but a short time to live in any case,
but it is hard to have to choose between a

(03:58):
daughter's life and an empire's year existence. And what has
England done to deserve to survive as a nation? He
added bitterly. Blake has wonderful luck, I said, with a hopefulness.
I was far from feeling he may pull us through
all right. Small, though the chances seem the picture that

(04:20):
goes often to the well gets broken at last, retorted
the general. And though as a soldier, I can't presume
to give an expert opinion on a naval question, yet
it seems to me that your rattlesnake has little time
left to float. But in any case, duty is duty.

(04:41):
If Lucy will choose to court death, I cannot save
her at the expense of England. Watch her less some
misfortune befall your ship. Then he went sadly away, leaving
me to worry over how best to act. I knew
Blake well enough to be certain that he would never
let love stand before duty. But I was nonetheless anxious

(05:05):
to save him from such a terrible dilemma as he
might well find himself in should Miss Moncton get an
opportunity to put her supposed plans into execution. Yet what
to do I could not settle. Thorn was also hanging
about in the conning tower. So we consulted together and

(05:26):
finally decided to take turns at watching Miss Moncton, And
the lot having fallen upon me, I started upon my
mission of espionage as anticipated. Blake had been quite unable
to dissuade her from accompanying us, and when I came up,
he seemed to have given up the attempt. As they
were standing near the stern in quiet conversation. Blake had

(05:50):
introduced me to her on shore, so I went up
and uttered some commonplaces. Then, after a few minutes desultory conversation,
he persuaded her to go below while we got under way.
His cabin had been placed at her service by Jove,
said Blake to me, quite cheerily. I'd no idea. It

(06:11):
was so late, aren't you peckish? Yet? We must get
dinner as we can when we've got over the bar.
Signaling to our consorts, we began to get up anchor.
Before I went to my post on the forecastle. However,
I exchanged a word with the General all Right, said he.
I'll go on duty now and see that nothing happens

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while you're getting ready to start. But I can't trust
myself very long. It's a hard fight against the father's love.
Poor old man, he was nearly distracted at the turn
of events. Indeed, but for the fact that he had
been a soldier, I should have been unable to feel
any confidence in him. Whatever as it was, I didn't

(06:56):
feel over much. We crept out of Exmouth, leaving all
our colliers behind, saving the lily. Captain Higgs was so
anxious to accompany us right through, and so certain that
he could be useful, that Blake had agreed to allow
him to come. As events turned out, it was a
good thing for us that he did. Once beyond the bar,

(07:20):
we made a straight course for Portland, Bill and Thorn,
going on watch, Blake and I hurried below to dinner.
The meal, such as it was, was quite a merry
one we all seemed to put on gayety, which, whether
assumed or not, exercised a decidedly cheering influence. Miss Moncton,

(07:40):
who was fortunately for her a good sailor, made mary
over our crockery, which was in a sadly battered condition,
and no stranger seeing the meal would have guessed that
we expected it to be our last. By and by
she led the conversation round to the ship, expressing particular
curiosity about the engines. And I suppose, she said, after

(08:04):
Blake had explained them to her, I suppose a piece
of bursting shell, even a little bit, if it got
among the wheels and things, would stop the ship. He
replied that of course it would, but the engine hatches
being shut down, such an event was unlikely in the extreme.

(08:25):
Whatever suspicions I may have previously had were now strengthened,
and the unsuspecting Blake had given her the knowledge she required.
A few minutes later we went on deck, Blake to
the conning tower forward, and I nominally to inspect the
torpedo tubes, but in reality to lie in wait for
our fair enemy. Nothing happened. However, Miss Monkton came on

(08:49):
deck and joined Blake in the conning tower. We shall
have such a short time together now that every moment
is precious to me, I heard her say to our captain,
and doubtless he was of the same opinion. Stealthily, the
Rattlesnake and her consorts slipped through the water. Fortune was

(09:11):
with us again in the matter of weather, for the
night was thick and dark, with showers at intervals, while
the sea was fairly smooth. In the gloom, I could
just see Miss Monkton, wrapped in Blake's overcoat, standing close
to him forward, her tall figures silhouetted against the dimly
white foam that shot from the Rattlesnake's bow. In the

(09:34):
faint glow thrown up by the phosphorescence, I could see
her light brown hair blown across her face by the
wind of her onward rush, and ever and anon. I
could hear the soft murmur of her voice. A strange picture,
truly in the tragedy of love and war. Suddenly she disappeared.
While I was yet craning my neck to see whether

(09:56):
she had merely shifted her position, I heard a sound
behind me, the sound of a hatchway being forced open
by unaccustomed hands. Quick as thought, I turned and made
for the engine hatches. A gleam of light shot up
into the sky, lighting up Miss Monkton's face. With one hand,
she struggled to keep the hatch open. In the other,

(10:17):
she held a short iron bar. There was no time
to speak. Rushing forward, I seized her hands and pulled
her from the hatch, which fell down again with a
loud crash. The bar was in my hands now and
I threw it overboard, but not without a struggle. Twice,
the now desperate girl hit me in the face with

(10:38):
her ringed fingers, cutting down the side of my face.
Blake sang out angrily to know what the noise meant,
and as I turned to reply, Miss Mockton wrenched herself
free of me and darted behind the searchlight. Fortunately no
one had witnessed the encounter, and I explained to Blake
that I had fallen down getting a good telling off

(11:00):
or my clumsiness at a time when silence was all important.
When he had gone again, I apologized as well as
I could for my roughness, but she paid me little heed.
The failure of her scheme seemed to have stultified Miss
Monckton completely. Since I cannot save him, I will die
by his side, was all she said, and then went

(11:23):
forward again, leaving me to continue my watch in silence.
End of chapter