Dialstone Lane, Part 5 by W.W. Jacobs

Much to the surprise of their friends, who had not expected them home / until November or December, telegrams were received from the adventurers, / one day towards the end of September, announcing that they had landed at / the Albert Docks and were on their way home by the earliest train. The / most agreeable explanation of so short a voyage was that, having found / the treasure, they had resolved to return home by steamer, leaving the / Fair Emily to return at her leisure. But Captain Bowers, to whom Mrs. / Chalk propounded this solution, suggested several others.

He walked down to the station in the evening to see the train come in, / his curiosity as to the bearing and general state of mind of the / travellers refusing to be denied. He had intended to witness the arrival / from a remote corner of the platform, but to his surprise it was so / thronged with sightseers that the precaution was unnecessary. The news / of the return had spread like wildfire, and half Binchester had / congregated to welcome their fellow-townsmen and congratulate them upon / their romantically acquired wealth.

Despite the crowd the captain involuntarily shrank back as the train / rattled into the station. The carriage containing the travellers stopped / almost in front of him, and their consternation and annoyance at the / extent of their reception were plainly visible. Bronzed and / healthy-looking, they stepped out on to the platform, and after a brief / greeting to Mrs. Chalk and Mrs. Stobell led the way in some haste to the / exit. The crowd pressed close behind, and inquiries as to the treasure / and its approximate value broke clamorously upon the ears of the maddened / Mr. Stobell. Friends of many years who sought for particulars were / shouldered aside, and it was left to Mr. Chalk, who struggled along in / the rear with his wife, to announce that they had been shipwrecked.

Captain Bowers, who had just caught the word, heard the full particulars / from him next day. For once the positions were reversed, and Mr. Chalk, / who had so often sat in that room listening to the captain's yarns, / swelled with pride as he noted the rapt fashion in which the captain / listened to his. The tale of the shipwreck he regarded as a disagreeable / necessity: a piece of paste flaunting itself among gems. In a few words / he told how the _Fair Emily_ crashed on to a reef in the middle of the / night, and how, owing to the darkness and confusion, the boat into which / he had got with Stobell and Tredgold was cast adrift; how a voice raised / to a shriek cried to them to pull away, and how a minute afterwards the / schooner disappeared with all hands.

"It almost unnerved me," he said, turning to Miss Drewitt, who was / listening intently.

"You are sure she went down, I suppose? " said the captain; "she didn't / just disappear in the darkness?"

"Sank like a stone," said Mr. Chalk, decidedly. "Our boat was nearly / swamped in the vortex. Fortunately, the sea was calm, and when day broke / we saw a small island about three miles away on our weather-beam."

"Where? " inquired Edward Tredgold, who had just looked in on the way to / the office. Mr. Chalk explained.

"You tell the story much better than my father does," said Edward, / nodding. "From the way he tells it one might think that you had the / island in the boat with you."

Mr. Chalk started nervously. "It was three miles away on our / weather-beam," he repeated, "the atmosphere clear and the sea calm. We / sat down to a steady pull, and made the land in a little under the hour."

"Who did the pulling? " inquired Edward, casually.

Mr. Chalk started again, and wondered who had done it in Mr. Tredgold's / version. He resolved to see him as soon as possible and arrange details.

"Most of us took a turn at it," he said, evasively, "and those who didn't / encouraged the others."

"Most of you! " exclaimed the bewildered captain; "and those who didn't -- / but how many?"

"The events of that night are somewhat misty," interrupted Mr. Chalk, / hastily. "The suddenness of the calamity and the shock of losing our / shipmates -- "

"It's wonderful to me that you can remember so much," said Edward, with a / severe glance at the captain.

Mr. Chalk paid no heed. Having reached the island, the rest was truth / and plain sailing. He described their life there until they were taken / off by a trading schooner from Auckland, and how for three months they / cruised with her among the islands. He spoke learnedly of atolls, copra, / and missionaries, and, referring for a space to the Fijian belles, / thought that their charms had been much overrated. Edward Tredgold, / waiting until the three had secured berths in the s.s. _Silver Star_, / trading between Auckland and London, took his departure.

Miss Vickers, who had been spending the day with a friend at Dutton / Priors, and had missed the arrival in consequence, heard of the disaster / in a mingled state of wrath and despair. The hopes of a year were / shattered in a second, and, rejecting with fierceness the sympathy of her / family, she went up to her room and sat brooding in the darkness.

She came down the next morning, pale from want of sleep. Mr. Vickers, / who was at breakfast, eyed her curiously until, meeting her gaze in / return, he blotted it out with a tea-cup.

"When you've done staring," said his daughter, "you can go upstairs and / make yourself tidy."