Mathias Sandorf

The next morning the doctor was waiting ready to receive Maria and Luigi Ferrato. Already Captain Kostrik had taken steps to have the engine repaired. Thanks to the efforts of Messrs. Samuel Grech & Co., shipping agents of the Strada Levante, to which the ship had been consigned, the work advanced rapidly. But they required five or six days, for they had to unship the air pump and the condenser, several tubes of which were working badly The delay was very serious to Dr. Antekirtt, who was most anxious to get to the Sicilian coast. And he even thought of sending for the “Savarena,” but it seemed better to wait a few days longer and start for Sicily in a fast and well-armed ship.

However, as a matter of precaution, and in view of eventualities that might arise, he sent a message by submarine cable to Antekirtta, and ordered “Electric No. 2” to cruise off the coast of Sicily near Cape Passaro.

About nine o’clock in the morning a boat came on board with Maria Ferrato and her brother. Both were received by the doctor with the liveliest affection. Luigi was introduced to the captain and crew as the mate, the officer he replaced being transferred to “Electric No. 2.”

With regard to Luigi there could be no mistake; he was a thorough sailor. His courage and boldness were known from the way in which thirty-six hours before he had acted in the Creek of Melleah. He was received with acclamation. Then his friend Pierre and Captain Kostrik did the honors of the ship, which he went round to examine in all her details; while the doctor conversed with Maria and spoke of her brother in a way that deeply affected her.

“Yes!” she said, “he is all his father!”

To the doctor’s proposal either for her to remain on board until the end of the projected expedition, or to return direct to Antekirtta, where he offered to take her, Maria asked to be allowed to go with him to Sicily; and it was agreed that she should profit by the stay of the “Ferrato” at Valetta to put her affairs in order, to sell certain things which were only valuable as remembrances, and realize the little she possessed, so as to take up her quarters the day before the yacht left.

The doctor had told her of his plans, and how he was going to persist until he had accomplished them. Part of his plan had been realized, for the children of Andrea Ferrato need now have no anxiety for the future. But to get hold of Toronthal and Sarcany on the one hand, and Carpena on the other, remained to be done, and it would be done. The two former he thought he should meet with in Sicily, the latter he had still to seek.

Thus he told Maria, and when he had finished she asked to speak with him in private.

“What I am going to tell you I have hitherto thought it my duty to keep hidden from my brother. He would not have been able to contain himself; and probably new misfortunes would have come upon us.”

“Luigi is at this moment among the crew forward,” answered the doctor. “Let us go into the saloon and there you can speak without fear of being overheard.”

When the door of the saloon was shut they sat down on one of the benches, and Maria said:

“Carpena is here, doctor.”

“In Malta?”

“Yes, and has been for some days.”

“At Valetta?”

“In the Manderaggio, where we live.”

The doctor was much surprised and pleased.

“You are not mistaken, Maria?”

“No, I am not mistaken. The man’s face remains on my memory, and a hundred years might go by, but I would recognize him! He is here!”

“Luigi does not know this?”

“No, doctor; and you understand why I did not tell him. He would have found Carpena—he would have provoked him perhaps—”

“You have done well, Maria! The man belongs to me alone! But you do think he has recognized you?”

“I do not know,” answered Maria. “Two or three times I have met him in the Manderaggio, and he has turned to look after me with a certain suspicious attention. If he has followed me, if he has asked my name, he ought to know who I am.”

“He has never spoken to you?”

“Never.”

“And do you know why he has come to Valetta, and what he has been doing since his arrival?”

“All I can say is that he lives with the most hateful men in the Manderaggio. He hangs about the most suspicious drinking-houses, and associates with the worst of the scoundrels. Money seems to be plentiful with him, and I fancy that he is busy enlisting bandits like himself to take part in some villainous scheme—”

“Here?”

“I do not know.”

“I will know.”

At this moment Pierre entered the saloon followed by the young fisherman, and the interview was at an end.

“Well, Luigi,” asked the doctor, “are you contented with what you have seen?”

“The ‘Ferrato’ is a splendid ship.”

“I am glad you like her,” answered the doctor, “for you will act as her mate until circumstances take place to make you her captain.”

“Oh, sir—!”

“My dear Luigi,” said Pierre, “with Doctor Antekirtt do not forget that all things will come.”

“Yes, all things come, Pierre, but say rather with the help of God.”

Maria and Luigi then took their leave to return to their small lodging. It was arranged that Luigi should commence his duties as soon as his sister had come on board, lt would not do for Maria to remain alone in the Manderaggio, for it was possible that Carpena had recognized the daughter of Andrea Ferrato.

When the brother and sister had gone, the doctor sent for Point Pescade, to whom he wished to speak in Pierre’s presence.

Pescade immediately came in, and stood in the attitude of a man ever ready to receive an order and ever ready to execute it.

“Point Pescade,” said the doctor, “I have need of you.”

“Of me and Cape Matifou?”

“Of you alone at present.”

“What am I to do?”

“Go ashore at once to the Manderaggio, and get a lodging in the dirtiest public-house you can find.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And then keep your eyes on a man that it is very important we should not lose sight of. But nobody must suspect you know him! If necessary, you can disguise yourself.”

“That is my business.”

“This man, I am told, is trying to buy over some of the chief scoundrels in the Manderaggio. What his object is I do not know, and that is what I want you to find out as soon as possible.”

“I understand.”

“When you have found out, do not return on board, as you may be followed. Put a letter in the post and meet me in the evening at the other end of Senglea. You will find me there.”

“Agreed,” answered Point Pescade; “but how am I to know the man?”

“Oh, that will not be very difficult! You are intelligent, my friend, and I trust to your intelligence.”

“May I know the gentleman’s name?”

“His name is Carpena.”

As he heard the name Pierre exclaimed—

“What! the Spaniard here?”

“Yes,” replied the doctor; “and he is living in the very street where we found the children of Andrea Ferrato, whom he sent to prison and to death.”

The doctor told them all that he had heard from Maria. Point Pescade saw how urgent it was for them to clearly understand the Spaniard’s game, for he was evidently at work at some dark scheme in the slums of Valetta.

An hour afterward Point Pescade left the yacht. To throw any spy off the track in case he was followed he began by a stroll along the Strada Reale, which runs from Saint Elmo to Floriana, and it was only when evening closed in that he reached Manderaggio.

To get together a band of ruffians ready for either murder or robbery, no better place could be chosen than this sink of corruption. Here were scoundrels of every nation from the rising to the setting of the sun, runaways from merchant ships, deserters from war ships and Maltese of the lowest class, cut-throats in whose veins ran the blood of their pirate ancestors who made themselves so terrible in the razzias of the past.

Carpena was endeavoring to enlist a dozen of these determined villains—who would stick at nothing—and was quite embarrassed in his choice. Since his arrival he had hardly been outside the taverns in the lower streets of the Manderaggio, and Pescade had no difficulty in recognizing him, though he could not easily find out on whose behalf he was acting.

Evidently his money was not his own. The reward of 5,000 florins for his share in the Rovigno matter must have been exhausted long ago. Carpena, driven from Istria by public reprobation, and warned off from all the salt-works along the coast, had set out to see the world. His money soon disappeared, and rascal as he was before, he had become still more of a rascal.

No one would be astonished to find him in the service of a notorious band of malefactors, for whom he recruited to fill the vacancies the halter had caused. It was in this way that he was employed at Malta, and more particularly in the Manderaggio. The place to which he took his recruits Carpena was too mistrustful of his companions to reveal. And they never asked him. Provided he paid them cash down, provided he guaranteed them a future of successful robbery, they would have gone to the world’s end—in confidence.

It should be noted that Carpena had been considerably surprised at meeting Maria in the Manderaggio. After an interval of fifteen years he had recognized her at once, as she had recognized him. And he was very anxious to keep her from knowing what he was doing in Valetta.

Point Pescade had therefore to act warily if he wished to discover what the doctor had such interest in learning, and the Spaniard so jealously guarded. However, Carpena was completely circumvented by him. The precocious young bandit who became so intimate with him, who took the lead of all the rascality in the Manderaggio, and boasted to have already such a history that every page of it would bring him the rope in Malta, the guillotine in Italy, and the garrote in Spain, who looked with the deepest contempt at the poltroons whom the very sight of a policeman rendered uneasy, was just the man whom Carpena, a judge in such matters, could fully appreciate!

In this adroit way Point Pescade succeeded in gaining what he wanted, and on the 26th of August the doctor received a word making an appointment for that evening at the end of Senglea.

During the last few days the work had been pushed ahead on board the “Ferrato.” In three days or more the repairs would be finished, and she would be coaled up and ready for sea.

That evening the doctor went to the place named by Pescade. It was a sort of arcade near a circular road at the end of the suburb.

It was eight o’clock. There were about fifty people gathered about the market, which was still in progress.

Dr. Antekirtt was walking up and down among these people—nearly all of them men and women of Maltese birth—when he felt a hand touch his arm.

A frightful scamp, very shabbily dressed, and wearing a battered old hat, presented him with a handkerchief, saying—

“See here what I have just stolen from your excellency! Another time you had better look after your pockets.”

It was Point Pescade, absolutely unrecognizable under his disguise.

“You funny rascal!” said the doctor.

“Funny, yes! Rascal, no!” said Pescade, as the doctor recognized him; and immediately came to the point with—

“Carpena?”

“He is at work collecting a dozen of the biggest ruffians in the Manderaggio.”

“What for?”

“On account of a certain Zirone!”

The Sicilian Zirone, the companion of Sarcany? What connection was there between those scoundrels and Carpena?

As he thought thus the following explanation presented itself to him, and it was the correct one.

The Spaniard’s treachery, which had brought about the arrest of the fugitives from Pisino, had not been unknown to Sarcany, who had doubtless sought him out, and, finding him in want, had easily gained him over to be an agent of Zirone’s band. Carpena would therefore be the first link in the chain which the doctor could now follow up.

“Do you know what his object is?” he asked of Pescade.

“The gang is in Sicily.”

“In Sicily? Yes! That is it! And particularly—?”

“In the eastern provinces between Syracuse and Catania!”

The trail was evidently recovered.

“How did you obtain that information?”

“From Carpena himself, who has taken me into his friendship, and whom I recommend to your excellency.”

A nod was the doctor’s reply.

“You can now return on board and resume a more fashionable costume.”

“No; this is the best for me.”

“And why?”

“Because I have the honor to be a bandit in the gang of the aforesaid Zirone!”

“My friend,” answered the doctor, “be careful! At that game you are risking your life—”

“In your service, doctor,” said Pescade, “and it is my duty to do so.”

“You are a brave lad.”

“Besides, I am rather a knowing one, I fancy, without boasting too much, and I have made up my mind to trap these beggars!”

The doctor saw that in this way the help of Point Pescade might prove very useful. It was in playing this game that the intelligent fellow had gained Carpena’s confidence and wormed out his secrets. He had better leave him to go on.

After five minutes the doctor and Point Pescade, not wishing to be surprised together, left each other. Point Pescade, following the wharves of Senglea, took a boat at the end and returned to the Manderaggio.

Before be arrived Dr. Antekirtt was already on board the yacht. There he told Pierre of what had taken place. At the same time he thought it his duty to tell Cape Matifou that his friend had started on a very dangerous enterprise for the common good.

Hercules lifted his head and three times opened and shut his huge hands. Then he was heard to repeat to himself:

“If he has lost a hair of his head when he comes back—yes! a hair of his head—I’ll—”

To finish the phrase was too much for Cape Matifou. He had not the gift of making long sentences.

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