It was about twenty-four hours after the events narrated in the preceding chapters that Mr.Sherlock Holmes assumed command of the Gehenna, which was nothing more nor less than the shadow of the ill-starred ocean steamship City of Chicago, which tried some years ago to reach Liverpool by taking the overland route through Ireland, fortunately without detriment to her passengers and crew, who had the pleasure of the experience of shipwreck without any of the discomforts of drowning.As will be remembered, the obstructionist nature of the Irish soil prevented the City of Chicago from proceeding farther inland than was necessary to keep her well balanced amidships upon a convenient and not too stony bed; and that after a brief sojourn on the rocks she was finally disposed of to the Styx Navigation Company, under which title Charon had had himself incorporated, is a matter of nautical history.The change of name to the Gehenna was the act of Charon himself, and was prompted, no doubt, by a desire to soften the jealous prejudices of the residents of the Stygian capital against the flourishing and ever-growing metropolis of Illinois.
The Associated Shades had had some trouble in getting this craft.
Charon, through his constant association with life on both sides of the dark river, had gained a knowledge, more or less intimate, of modern business methods, and while as janitor of the club he was subject to the will of the House-boat Committee, and sympathized deeply with the members of the association in their trouble, as president of the Styx Navigation Company he was bound up in certain newly attained commercial ideas which were embarrassing to those members of the association to whose hands the chartering of a vessel had been committed.
"See here, Charon," Sir Walter Raleigh had said, after Charon had expressed himself as deeply sympathetic, but unable to shave the terms upon which the vessel could be had, "you are an infernal old hypocrite.You go about wringing your hands over our misfortunes until they've got as dry and flabby as a pair of kid gloves, and yet when we ask you for a ship of suitable size and speed to go out after those pirates, you become a sort of twin brother to Shylock, without his excuse.His instincts are accidents of birth.Yours are cultivated, and you know it.""You are very much mistaken, Sir Walter," Charon had answered to this."You don't understand my position.It is a very hard one.As janitor of your club I am really prostrated over the events of the past twenty-four hours.My occupation is gone, and my despair over your loss is correspondingly greater, for I have time on my hands to brood over it.I was hysterical as a woman yesterday afternoon--so hysterical that I came near upsetting one of the Furies who engaged me to row her down to Madame Medusa's villa last evening; and right at the sluice of the vitriol reservoir at that.""Then why the deuce don't you do something to help us?" pleaded Hamlet.
"How can I do any more than I have done? I've offered you the Gehenna," retorted Charon.
"But on what terms?" expostulated Raleigh."If we had all the wealth of the Indies we'd have difficulty in paying you the sums you demand.""But I am only president of the company," explained Charon."I'd like, as president, to show you some courtesy, and I'm perfectly willing to do so; but when it comes down to giving you a vessel like that, I'm bound by my official oath to consider the interest of the stockholders.It isn't as it used to be when I had boats to hire in my own behalf alone.In those days I had nobody's interest but my own to look after.Now the ships all belong to the Styx Navigation Company.Can't you see the difference?""You own all the stock, don't you?" insisted Raleigh.
"I don't know," Charon answered, blandly."I haven't seen the transfer-books lately.''
"But you know that you did own every share of it, and that you haven't sold any, don't you?" put in Hamlet.
Charon was puzzled for a moment, but shortly his face cleared, and Sir Walter's heart sank, for it was evident that the old fellow could not be cornered.
"Well, it's this way, Sir Walter, and your Highness," he said, "I--Ican't say whether any of that stock has been transferred or not.The fact is, I've been speculating a little on margin, and I've put up that stock as security, and, for all I know, I may have been sold out by my brokers.I've been so upset by this unfortunate occurrence that I haven't seen the market reports for two days.Really you'll have to be content with my offer or go without the Gehenna.There's too much suspicion attached to high corporate officials lately for me to yield a jot in the position I have taken.It would never do to get you all ready to start, and then have an injunction clapped on you by some unforeseen stockholder who was not satisfied with the terms offered you; nor can I ever let it be said of me that to retain my position as janitor of your organization I sacrificed a trust committed to my charge.I'll gladly lend you my private launch, though I don't think it will aid you much, because the naphtha-tank has exploded, and the screw slipped off and went to the bottom two weeks ago.Still, it is at your service, and I've no doubt that either Phidias or Benvenuto Cellini will carve out a paddle for you if you ask him to.""Bah!" retorted Raleigh."You might as well offer us a pair of skates.""I would, if I thought the river'd freeze," retorted Charon, blandly.
Raleigh and Hamlet turned away impatiently and left Charon to his own devices, which for the time being consisted largely of winking his other eye quietly and outwardly ****** a great show of grief.
"He's too canny for us, I am afraid," said Sir Walter."We'll have to pay him his money.""Let us first consult Sherlock Holmes," suggested Hamlet, and this they proceeded at once to do.