



Produced by David Widger




SAILORS' KNOTS

By W.W. Jacobs


1909



DOUBLE DEALING


Mr. Fred Carter stood on the spacious common, inhaling with all the joy of
the holiday-making Londoner the salt smell of the sea below, and
regarding with some interest the movements of a couple of men who had
come to a stop a short distance away.  As he looked they came on again,
eying him closely as they approached--a strongly built, shambling man of
fifty, and a younger man, evidently his son.

[Illustration: "Stood on the spacious common, inhaling the salt smell of
the sea below."]

"Good-evening," said the former, as they came abreast of Mr. Carter.

"Good-evening," he replied.

"That's him," said both together.

They stood regarding him in a fashion unmistakably hostile.  Mr. Carter,
with an uneasy smile, awaited developments.

"What have you got to say for yourself?" demanded the elder man, at last.
"Do you call yourself a man?"

"I don't call myself anything," said the puzzled Mr. Carter.  "Perhaps
you're mistaking me for somebody else."

"Didn't I tell you," said the younger man, turning to the other--"didn't
I tell you he'd say that?"

"He can say what he likes," said the other, "but we've got him now.  If
he gets away from me he'll be cleverer than what he thinks he is."

"What are we to do with him now we've got him?" inquired his son.

The elder man clenched a huge fist and eyed Mr. Carter savagely.  "If I
was just considering myself," he said, "I should hammer him till I was
tired and then chuck him into the sea."

His son nodded.  "That wouldn't do Nancy much good, though," he remarked.

"I want to do everything for the best," said the other, "and I s'pose the
right and proper thing to do is to take him by the scruff of his neck and
run him along to Nancy."

"You try it," said Mr. Carter, hotly.  "Who is Nancy?"

The other growled, and was about to aim a blow at him when his son threw
himself upon him and besought him to be calm.

"Just one," said his father, struggling, "only one.  It would do me good;
and perhaps he'd come along the quieter for it."

"Look here!"  said Mr. Carter.  "You're mistaking me for somebody else,
that's what you are doing.  What am I supposed to have done?"

"You're supposed to have come courting my daughter, Mr. Somebody Else,"
said the other, re-leasing himself and thrusting his face into Mr.
Carter's, "and, after getting her promise to marry you, nipping off to
London to arrange for the wedding.  She's been mourning over you for four
years now, having an idea that you had been made away with."

"Being true to your memory, you skunk," said the son.

"And won't look at decent chaps that want to marry her," added the other.

"It's all a mistake," said Mr. Carter.  "I came down here this morning
for the first time in my life."

"Bring him along," said the son, impatiently.  "It's a waste of time
talking to him."

Mr. Carter took a step back and parleyed.  "I'll come along with you of
my own free will," he said, hastily, "just to show you that you are
wrong; but I won't be forced."

He turned and walked back with them towards the town, pausing
occasionally to admire the view.  Once he paused so long that an ominous
growl arose from the elder of his captors.

"I was just thinking," said Mr. Carter, eying him in consternation;
"suppose that she makes the same mistake that you have made?  Oh, Lord!"

"Keeps it up pretty well, don't he, Jim?"  said the father.

The other grunted and, drawing nearer to Mr. Carter as they entered the
town, stepped along in silence.  Questions which Mr. Carter asked with
the laudable desire of showing his ignorance concerning the neighborhood
elicited no reply.  His discomfiture was increased by the behavior of an
elderly boatman, who, after looking at him hard, took his pipe from his
mouth and bade him "Good-evening."  Father and son exchanged significant
glances.

[Illustration: "An elderly boatman, who, after looking at him hard, took
his pipe from his mouth and bade him 'Good-evening.'"]

They turned at last into a small street, and the elder man, opening the
door of a neat cottage, laid his hand on the prisoner's shoulder and
motioned him in.  Mr. Carter obeyed, and, entering a spotless living-
room, removed his hat and with affected composure seated himself in an
easy-chair.

"I'll go up and tell Nan," said Jim.  "Don't let him run away."

He sprang up the stairs, which led from a corner of the room, and the
next moment the voice of a young lady, laboring under intense excitement,
fell on the ears of Mr. Carter.  With a fine attempt at unconcern he rose
and