THE LORD OF THE SEA

By M. P. SHIEL

CONTENTS

I. THE EXODUS

II. THE FEZ

III. THE HUNTING-CROP

IV. THE SWOON

V. REID'S

VI. "PEARSON'S WEEKLY"

VII. THE ELM

VIII. THE METEOR

IX. HOGARTH'S GUNS

X. ISAAC

XI. WROXHAM BROAD

XII. THE ROSE

XIII. OUT OF THE WORLD

XIV. THE PRIEST

XV. MONSIGNOR

XVI. THE ROPE

XVII. OLD TOM'S LETTER

XVIII. CHLOROFORM

XIX. THE GREAT BELL

XX. THE INFIRMARY

XXI. IN THE DEEP

XXII. OLD TOM

XXIII. UNDER THE ELM

XXIV. FRANKL SEES THE METEORITE

XXV. CHURCH ARCHITECTURE

XXVI. FRANKL AND O'HARA

XXVII. THE BAG OF LIGHT

XXVIII. THE LETTER

XXIX. PRIORITY OF CLAIM

XXX. MR. BEECH

XXXI. THE HAMMERS

XXXII. WONDER

XXXIII. REEFS OF STEEL

XXXIV. THE "KAISER"

XXXV. THE CUP OF TREMBLING

XXXVI. THE "BOODAH" AND THE BATTLESHIPS

XXXVII. THE STRAITS

XXXVIII. THE MANIFESTO

XXXIX. THE "BOODAH'S" LOCK-UP

XL. THE WEDDING

XLI. THE VISIT

XLII. REBEKAH TELLS

XLIII. THE LAND BILL

XLIV. THE REGENCY

XLV. ESTRELLA, THE PROPHETESS

XLVI. THE ORDER IN COUNCIL

XLVII. THE EMIGRANTS

XLVIII. THE SEA-FORTS

XLIX. THE DÉBACLE

L. THE DECISION

LI. THE MODEL

I

THE EXODUS

In the Calle Las Gabias--one of those by-streets of Lisbon below St. Catherine--there occurred one New Year a little event in the Synagogue there worth a mention in this history of Richard, Lord of the Sea.

It was Kol Nidrè, eve of the Day of Atonement, and the little Beth- El, sweltering in a dingy air, was transacting the long-drawn liturgy, when, behind the curtain where the women sat, an old dame who had been gazing upward smote her palms together, and let slip a little scream: "The Day is coming...!"

She then fainted, and till near ten lay on her bed, lit by the Yom Kippur candle, with open eyes, but without speech, her sere face still beautiful, on each temple a little pyramid of plaits, with gold-and-coral ear-rings: a holy _belle._ About ten P.M. three women watching heard her murmur: "My child, Rebekah...!"

She was childless, and whom she meant was not known. However, soon afterwards there was a form at the amulet-guarded door, and Estrella sat up, saying: "Rebekah, my child..."

A young lady of twenty-two ran in and embraced her, saying: "I have been to Paris and Madrid with my father--just arrived, so flew to see you. We leave for London to-night".

"No: I shall keep you seven days. Tell Frankl _I_ say so. What jewels! You have grown into a rose of glory, the eyes are profounder and blacker, and that brow was made for high purpose. Tell me--have you a lover?"

"No, mamma Estrella".

"Then, why the blush?"

"It is nothing at all," Miss Frankl answered: "five years ago when at school in Bristol I thrice saw through a grating a young man with whom I was frivolous enough to speak. Happily, I do not know what has become of him--a wild, divine kind of creature, of whom I am well rid, and never likely to see again".

The old lady mused. "What was he?"

"A sailor".

"Not a common sailor?"

"I fancy so, mamma".

"What name?"

"Hogarth--Richard".

"A Jew?"

"An Englishman!"

She laughed, as the old lady's eyes opened in sacred horror, and as she whispered: "Child!"

Within three months of that night, one midnight the people of Prague rose and massacred most of the Jewish residents; the next day the flame broke out in Buda-Pesth; and within a week had become a revolution.

On the twelfth morning one of two men in a City bank said to the other: "Come, Frankl, you cannot fail a man in this crisis--I only want 80,000 on all Westring--"

"No good to me, my lord," answered Frankl, who, though a man of only forty--short, with broad shoulders,--already had his skin divided up like a dry leaf; in spite of which, he was handsome, with a nose ruled straight and long, a black beard on his breast.

But the telephone rattled and Frankl heard these words at the receiver: "Wire to hand from Wertheimer: Austrian Abgeordneten-haus passed a Resolution at noon virtually expelling Jewish Race...."

When Frankl turned again he had already resolved to possess Westring Vale, and was saying to himself: "Within six months the value of