CHAPTER III
THE POSSIBLE DANGERS OF THE VOYAGE
Scott Fencelowe, who had been on probation over three months, proved very unexpectedly to the captain and others on board of the Guardian-Mother to be thoroughly reformed. As soon as the commander was satisfied on this point, he treated him with great kindness and consideration. The young man had been a very diligent student, and, having rather remarkable ability, he made rapid progress in his studies.
The stateroom formerly occupied by the third officer, leading off the promenade deck, like those of the first and second officers, had been assigned to him. He was nominally a quartermaster, though his services were seldom required at the wheel. He was the commander's messenger, and had come to be called the "middy." He had the charge of the flags and signals, and was made useful in any capacity in which he could be of service.
He messed with the officers, and as a sort of reward of merit he was occasionally invited to dine with the cabin party, as were the other principal officers of the ship. The other boys treated him as though he had been in every respect their equal, as indeed he was, except that he was a petty officer, as Felix was the captain's clerk. Scott was a very skilful boatman, and in three months he had learned his duty as a seaman.
"I suppose this moonlight excursion means an adventure of some sort, Sir Louis," said Captain Ringgold, when the serious part of the business was settled, and no objection had been made to the enterprise of the big four.
"Of course I am bound to be a knight-errant wherever I go and whatever I do, and I am as sure to get into an adventure as I am to get into my berth when I turn in," replied Louis, laughing with the captain all the time.
"It generally happens so. You were going to the top of the Peak of Teneriffe; but instead of going there, you had a battle with banditti, and whipped out your captors in a felucca."
"But the big four came back safe and sound, and brought the enemy with them."
"You were all plucky, and I believe you never fail to get the better of all enemies in whatever form they come."
"Now, beloved commander of the Guardian-Mother, can you tell me what possible chance there is for an adventure in the excursion we have arranged?" asked Louis, rather more seriously.
"If you should undertake to capture the Rock of Gibraltar, it will be well for you to know that it is garrisoned by about five thousand soldiers of all arms; and that number of full-grown men are too many for even the big four," continued the commander, not disposed to be serious.
"The big four don't mind five thousand soldiers; if there were ten thousand of them, we might hesitate."
"Perhaps you will prefer to pick up the entire Rock and drop it into the bay; but the water is not deep enough to cover up the highest points of it, and somebody might find out what you had been about."
"Now, Captain, could you be reasonably serious for a moment, only long enough to guess the conundrum I put to you just now?" asked Louis.
"I might try. What was the conundrum?" asked the commander, smoothing off his face.
"If my mother knew I was going ashore, or off in a boat, she would immediately conclude that I was to be shot, pitched over a precipice, or sunk to the bottom of the bay with a fifty-six tied around my neck."
"Formerly she would; but Dr. Hawkes has wonderfully improved her nervous system, so that she would not conclude that anything of the sort would happen to you. You have got into so many scrapes and always come out of them without the singeing of a hair of your head, that she has acquired some confidence in your happy destiny," replied the captain.
"Then can you indicate nearly or remotely what possible adventure I can fall into in this excursion?"
"I give up the conundrum; I cannot guess as to how it is to come about; but if I were a sporting man, I should be willing to wager that you will have an adventure of some kind; but I should wish to wager at the same time that you would come out of it unscathed, and with the head of the enemy under your arm," answered the captain, resuming his mirthful rallying.
"I cannot see for the life of me where the adventure is to come in. John Scoble is hard at work in Sing Sing prison, and"—
"He may have been pardoned, or escaped from the stone walls that held him," interposed the commander, very cheerfully, as though he did not anticipate either of these events.
"Mr. Fobbington,aliasWilson Frinks, is mending roads with his ankles chained together in Santa Cruz, in the island of Teneriffe; these two were the most virulent enemies I ever had, and I do not know where to look for any others," replied Louis, as he saw his mother with the rest of the party come out of the boudoir.
Captain Ringgold told her all about the proposed excursion of the big four; but Mrs. Belgrave did not offer a single objection. She asked her son some questions about it, and then joined Mrs. Sharp in a walk on the deck.
"But which of the big four is to be the engineer of the Salihé?" asked the commander.
"No one of them, Captain; and that reminds me that I wish to borrow Felipe Garcias, the oiler, for that office," replied Louis.
The commander sent the middy to summon Felipe; and both of them soon returned together. The young Spaniard was very willing to undertake the duty, as he was anything that was for Louis, to whom he was fully devoted. The dinner in the cabin, complimentary to Captain and Mrs. Sharp, was served at five o'clock in Monsieur Odervie's best style. The boys retired early, and were at the gangway when the steam-yacht came alongside.
Giles Chickworth was in the pilot-house, and the same engineer as when they had seen the craft before was at the door of the engine-room. Felipe was in readiness to take the place of the latter, as Scott was that of the former. But the young engineer did not appear to be in a very cheerful mood, and looked furtively about the vicinity of the ship as if in search of somebody or something.
"Ali-Noury Pacha here?" he said, looking earnestly at Louis, for he had been generally confined to his duties below, and had not heard the news that the Pacha's yacht had gone to the southward three weeks before.
"The Grand Mogul is not here now," replied Louis, laughing at the fears of the young Spaniard. "His steam-yacht has probably gone back to Mogadore."
"Sure?" persisted Felipe.
"I am sure the Fatimé is not here, though I am not sure where she has gone. Besides, he has sold the Salihé to the man in the pilot-house, and he has no claim to her," Louis explained.
"I don't know; the Grand Mogul is a bad man; I am afraid," added the engineer, shaking his head doubtfully.
"He cannot harm you now."
"He send me back to Mogadore; he whip me on the feet; he put me in the prison," continued Felipe.
"He cannot touch you here."
"I am not so sure of that," interposed Uncle Moses, the lawyer. "He could be arrested for stealing the steam-yacht;" but the trustee spoke in a low tone, so that the Spaniard could not hear him, and he could not yet speak or understand English very readily.
"He could in Morocco, but not here, under the British flag," suggested Louis.
"There may be an extradition treaty between the two countries," replied Uncle Moses. "But I don't think Filopena is in any great danger of being arrested. Don't be afraid, my boy," he added to the engineer.
"It is all right, Felipe; the Pacha can have no idea of what has become of you," said Louis, as he led the way down the steps and on board of the Salihé. "You are here on time, Mr. Chickworth."
"Which I am halways on time, sir," replied the owner of the craft.
"This man owns the Salihé now," added Louis, turning to Felipe, who closely followed him.
"Lo he comprado" (I have bought her), said the skipper, seeing that the engineer was a Spaniard. "She is mine now."
But he had no idea that the person he addressed was the one who had run away from the home of the Pacha with the steamer; and Louis did not deem it wise to enlighten him in this particular.
"Esta aqui el Pacha?" (Is the Pacha here?) asked Felipe of the skipper.
"No esta aqui" (He is not here), replied Chickworth. "Now, Mr. Belgrave, I suppose you are in no 'urry, and per'aps you would not mind setting me and my hengineer on shore by the Ragged Staff," he continued, turning to Louis.
"In no hurry at all, and we had as lief go to the Ragged Staff, whatever that may be, as anywhere else. Run for the shore at any place you please. By the way, Mr. Chairman, where shall we leave the Salihé when we return?"
"Just make 'er fast by the gangway of your ship, and I will come on board to-morrow morning," replied the skipper, as he rang the bell to go ahead.
Scott stood at the door and asked some questions about the navigation of the bay; but Chickworth seemed to have no doubt that the temporary pilot would be able to keep the steamer on the top of the water. It was a run of only half a mile to the stairs where the skipper wished to land, and a few minutes later he was set ashore there. He stood at the head of the steps observing the Salihé as she headed up the bay, and seemed to be informing himself whether or not her new crew knew how to manage her.
Of course Felipe was entirely at home in the engine-room, for he had served there in the employ of the Pacha, as well as on the broad ocean when all his present shipmates were with him. Scott was a skilful wheelman, and had steered the craft on the voyage from Madeira. No commander had been chosen for the present trip, but Louis fell naturally into this position without any appointment, for his ability invariably made him the leader in all enterprises in which the big four engaged. In fact, he had a talent for commanding as well as for obeying; and the latter sometimes requires more talent than the former. But he was modest and did not make himself offensive by an overbearing manner.
The Salihé was abreast of the town of Gibraltar after she left the landing stairs, where there is a fixed light, showing green, which Scott noted as his guide for the return run. Four miles from it to the westward was a light on Verde Island, near the city of Algeciras, visible nine miles; and between the two the helmsman was not likely to get lost, unless a dense fog should shut them out from his view, of which there was no immediate prospect.
"It is about time to give the pilot some instructions in regard to the course," said Scott, addressing Louis, who stood on the forecastle with Felix. "It won't take long to use up this bay, which don't pan out more than five miles in any direction."
"Sailing for itself don't amount to much, for we are somewhat accustomed to that sort of thing," replied Louis. "I think you had better keep her within about a quarter of a mile of the shore, and make the circuit of the entire bay as far as Carnero Point on the other side. Then we can see the coast by daylight or moonlight. If anybody objects, let him say so."
This course was followed, and the voyagers had a good view of the town and of the Rock. Scott had studied the chart, and announced to his companions the Old Mole, the Neutral Ground, and finally Point Mirador, with St. Roque on the hills above it.