With a well-found steamer, hope in his heart, and joy irradiating his every sense, Carteret on board the _Morana_ is now nearing Honolulu—which, if the breeze holds fair, will be reached to-morrow night. Here he is to meet Captain Hayston, of the _Leonora_, with whom he has already arranged terms and conditions, and who has signified his willingness to land a crew at Molokai, prepared to carry off the arch-fiend himself, or the Governor of the Straits Settlements, always provided that the sum mentioned between them should be ‘planked down,’ and that the cost of any prosecution on behalf of the Crown be repaid within a specified time.
An unobtrusive entrance by the _Leonora_ had been made late at night, and in the morning it was announced that Captain Hayston had once more honoured their waters with his presence. The famous schooner had slipped in and taken up her anchorage without aid from pilot or other functionary, but she was no sooner discovered at dawnlight, placidly reposing like a strange waterfowl in a pond among the ducks and geese of a farmyard, amid the ships of all nations, than a distinct feeling of unrest, not unaccompanied by apprehension, began to manifest itself.
‘Some darned villainy afloat, I guess,’ said a grizzled American whaleman, ‘when William H. Hayston, master mariner, drops his anchor. Sometimes it’s contraband o’ war—blackbirdin’—or smuggled opium—but thar was always some game on hand afore he quit—which he did sudden-like.’
‘Why, I thought they couldn’t bring anything agen him now?’ said one of the _habitués_ of the bar and beach—‘anyhow he spends his money free and pleasant—nothin’ mean ’bout _that_!’
‘Maybe yes! maybe no!’ quoth the man from ‘Martha’s Vineyard.’ ‘Anyhow, folks had better keep their eyes skinned, I reckon, as hev’ anythin’ to lose, if it’s only an extry wife. He’s tarnation deep, and so all-fired lucky, that old Nick himself’ll hev’ to mind his eye when he passes in his checks.’
‘Pleased to meet you again, Captain Hayston,’ said Carteret. ‘I thought you were likely to be punctual when a business appointment like mine was on the cards. My name is Lytton Carteret.’
‘Sir, I duly received your letter with accompanying directions—trust we shall do business in terms of your offer’; and here the light glowed in his blue eyes like the sparkle in a fire opal.