CHAPTER IX
WORKING UP THE DETAILS OF THE SCHEME
Louis was the first to be released from his bonds. His hands were now free, and he took the knife from Felix. Without any of the disadvantages under which the Milesian had performed the operation, he severed the bonds of his crony, and then proceeded to repeat the ceremony upon Scott and Morris.
"Put your hands behind you!" said Louis, as he heard footsteps on the deck. "Take your seats on the divan!"
He spoke quite sharply for him; but fortunately his companions had imbibed enough of the spirit of the sailor, whose duty it is to obey without asking any questions, to heed the command on the instant.
"How are you getting on, boys?" asked Gray, as he drew aside the curtain of one of the windows, all of which opened on the gangway.
"First rate," replied Louis. "We are all very comfortable just now. Where do we happen to be at the present moment, Captain Gray?"
"We happen to be off the Almirante tower, headed for the light on Verde Island; and everything is working well for us. We are beginning to get a little breeze now," replied Gray, who appeared to be in a very cheerful mood. "But Captain Velazquez is hailing me from the schooner."
The Scotchman went aft from the window, and Louis hastened to one that opened into the standing-room. Gray replied to the hail of the captain of the schooner.
"A donde va V?" (Where are you going?) yelled Diego; and his tones indicated that he was a very angry man.
"We are headed for the light on Verde Island," replied the Scotchman.
"Nécio!" (Fool!) bellowed Captain Velazquez, putting all the vim he could into the word. "Do you want to hand us over to the officers at Algeciras? Make the course for the red light on the New Mole!"
"All right, Captain!" returned Gray, as he hastened forward to the pilot-house.
"We are safe so far," continued Louis, as he retired from the window. "Gray is the most dangerous man with whom we have to deal, for he is a heavy fellow; he shares the profits of this smuggling enterprise; and I think he will fight as long as there is anything left of him."
"Then we must take him where the hair is short," replied Scott.
"About where on his carcass is the hair short?" asked Louis, amused in spite of himself at the manner of the pilot.
"About the neck, I should say," answered Scott.
"You speak in enigmas. Will you explain yourself?"
"With the greatest pleasure. I believe you have never been in South America, Captain Belgrave?"
"I have never been there," replied Louis; and from Scott's half-suppressed laugh, and his manner, he concluded that there must be a humorous element in the plan he had suggested.
"But of course you have heard of such an operation as lassoing horses and other animals. Certainly you know all about it. Well, Captain Belgrave, I propose to lasso Mr. Gray, just as you would lasso a wild bull if you were a ranchman in South America or Mexico."
"Lasso him!" exclaimed Louis; and his companions repeated the words. "That will be a dangerous operation."
"It will—for Mr. Gray."
"And for us!"
"Not a bit of it! It will be as safe as falling on a haystack," argued the pilot with no little enthusiasm. "Give the order to carry out my plan, and I will proceed to business at once."
"Go ahead then, as you seem to have an idea," added Louis.
"I have a big idea. Now, Morris, you are the smallest fellow of the party, and I am going to put you through one of the windows, and drop you down on the deck," continued Scott in the briskest of tones.
"I can get out of the window without any help," replied Morris, who was glad to have a part in the proceedings.
"Any way you like, little fellow. I think the heave-line the Scotchman used to throw into the smugglers' boat is somewhere about the standing-room. I want that rope; and if you can't find that one, look up another, and pass it in through the window. Do you understand me?"
"Of course I do; you don't talk Spanish or Chinese," Morris responded as he leaped on the divan.
"Hold on a minute! Go around to this door in the standing-room, and if you find the key there, unlock it. I'll wager a rusty nail against a cold potato that Gray left the key in the door so that we could not pick the lock."
Morris sprang lightly into the open window, which was large enough to admit the passage of his body without any pinching. He looked forward, as the pilot warned him to do, and then lowered himself to the deck. The heave-line was lying on the planks beside the bulwark, and he passed the end of it to Scott, who was at the window watching his movements. It was immediately hauled into the cabin. Two minutes later Morris opened the door and walked in.
"You won your wager, Scott, and you can have the cold potato for your breakfast to-morrow morning," said Morris as he entered.
"Now, little fellow, just poke your head into that window, like a pretty picture in a frame, and keep a sharp lookout forward to see that Gray don't come aft to disturb proceedings. Felix, just do the same at the opposite window," said Scott, who was doubled up on the floor like a Turk, at work on the line he had obtained.
The pilot was a sailor, and he knew how to make all the more common knots, though he would not have passed for an able seaman. He worked away very industriously till he had made a slip-noose, and assured himself that it was in working order by repeated trials. There was no interruption to his work, and in a short time the lasso was ready for service. As an experiment, he tried it on Felix, and lassoed him at the window.
Scott was not a ranchman or agaucho, but he handled the lasso with considerable skill. As a boatman he had had experience in heaving lines, and he appeared to have made good use of his opportunities. The two sentinels at the windows had nothing to report, for Gray did not come aft again. The steamer was now headed for the New Mole light, Morris ascertained.
"I should like to know a little more about your plan before we go any farther, Scott," said Louis, for the pilot had developed it only as he procured the line and adjusted it for use. "Do you mean to lasso the Scotchman on the deck?"
"While he is on the deck, but not while I am there," replied Scott. "I am going on the hurricane deck, where I shall lie down so that he cannot see me. I shall have the line all ready, and when I get Gray in the right position, I shall lasso him around the neck."
"But do you think he will let you do so? He is a powerful man, and when he gets hold of the rope with his hands, I am afraid he will be more than a match for you in a hard pull," suggested Louis.
"But I don't expect to do this thing all alone. When I get him in the trap, it will be time for you three fellows to come in and take a hand in the game. We must have some lines so that you can tie his hands behind him, as he served us. I don't believe he carries any knife like the Spaniards, and you can try the moral effect of your revolvers."
"But I would not shoot him, and no other fellow must do anything of the sort," protested Louis. "I should rather let the affair go through to the end as arranged by the smugglers than have a drop of blood on my conscience."
"We are not exactly doing this thing to save our own life or limbs, for I think we are safe enough," added Scott. "Just now we are at work for the Spanish government, trying to capture those who are engaged in robbing the country of its revenues. I spoke only of using the revolvers for their moral effect, and I am not in favor of shooting anybody."
"Very well, then that is understood; and Morris and Felix will govern themselves accordingly," replied the leader.
"But we have to look ahead a little farther than making a prisoner of Gray. Francisco at the wheel and Pedro in the engine-room are to be served in the same way."
"Do you mean to lasso them?"
"They are hardly in a position to be captured in just that way; but four of us can easily dispose of them, one at a time," answered Scott.
"Then there are Diego and Lucio on board of the schooner," suggested Louis.
"But we shall have no trouble with them as long as we keep the steamer moving at eight or nine knots an hour."
"They can pass the tow-line over the windlass, and shorten it up so as to bring the vessel close aboard of us."
"If we can't prevent the two men on board of the Golondrina from getting on the deck of the Salihé, we ought to put our heads in soak, and retire from active business," said Scott confidently.
"Hush up!" called Felix in a loud whisper. "He's coming this way!"
The lasso was put under the divan, and the four boys all seated themselves with their hands behind them.
"How are you getting on, boys?" asked Gray at the window from which Felix had just retired.
"First rate," replied Scott. "We are going to sleep now, and we want you to wake us when you have done with the steamer. Don't set her adrift while we are snoozing in the cabin, for she might get aground again off Carnero Point."
"Never fear; I will see that you are waked in season to look out for the steamer," replied Gray, as he resumed his walk to the standing-room.
"On board the steamer!" shouted Captain Velazquez, a moment later, when he saw the Scotchman at the stern.
"Ay, ay, Diego!" replied Gray.
"We are half way over to Gib now. Don't go too near the town, but head her south south-west," called the captain in Spanish, for he could not speak English.
"Muy bien!" (Very well!) returned Gray, as he went forward to give Francisco the new course.
"What time is it, Captain Belgrave?" asked Scott.
"Ten minutes past nine," replied Louis, after looking at his watch.
"I thought it must be ten or eleven," added Scott. "We have been out only three hours; and it seems as though we had been a week on this cruise."
"We have been well occupied all the time, and it seems longer than it is. But it is late enough for us to make a beginning of our affair, or we shall have no chance to do anything," said Louis. "As nearly as I can make out the position of the steamer, we shall be off Carnero Point in half or three-quarters of an hour, and if the smugglers get a breeze there, they will part company with us."
"I'm all ready for business, and I am only waiting for your orders, Captain Belgrave," replied Scott. "If you will station your men to support me, I will proceed at once."
"But you are the principal in this lassoing business, Scott, and I want you to put the fellows just where you want them," replied Louis. "We will all obey your orders now."
"Just as you say, Captain. I will make my way to the hurricane deck, and lie down directly over the cabin door. I will heave the lasso just as soon as I find our man in the right position," said Scott, as he coiled up the line, and thrust it under his belt. "You three will place yourselves at the door, and have it open a crack so that you can see out at it. As soon as the music begins, rush out and make the Scotchman fast, if he holds still long enough for you to do it."
The pilot passed out at one of the windows, and his step was heard on the hurricane deck.