CHAPTER XXI
EUCHRING THE GRAND MOGUL
Felipe Garcia, as the engineer of the Maud, had now a tremendous stimulant in the discharge of his duty, and Louis was only afraid he would overdo it. When the boat seemed to be in danger of shaking herself to pieces under the pressure applied to her, he went to the engine-room to inspect the steam-gage.
"No danger," said Felipe confidently; and the visitor could find none in the gage.
He cautioned the engineer to be very careful, assuring him that it would be worse to be scalded to death with the steam than to be captured by the Pacha. Felipe shook his head, and seemed to have some doubts about the truth of the proposition. Louis went back to the pilot-house. He informed the captain that the engineer was driving the engine "for all it was worth."
"I have been running for that tower on Point Malabata," said the captain, as Louis placed himself at the window.
"You are going very close to the shore, and you can see for yourself that the tide is getting low," said Louis, after he had taken an observation ahead.
"So much the better," added Scott. "I suppose the soundings on this chart are given at mean low water, as on all the others I have used."
"Low water would be very mean if we should get aground here," suggested Louis, who could not help being a little nervous about the boiler and about the close proximity of the shore.
"We shall not get aground, for I have my eyes wide open, Louis, and I know what I am about as well as I do when I take my grub on an empty stomach. Don't you be alarmed, my boy, and that non-eater of pork will go back to Tangier beaten out of his boots, or rather his Morocco slippers, for he don't wear boots."
"I hope you will be a true prophet in this instance, Captain Scott."
"A truer one than Mohammed ever was in spite of his reputation in Tangier and Mogadore as such."
"But you are really running her on the shore, Scott!" exclaimed Louis; and it looked to him as though the Maud was actually going over the point ahead.
"Not a bit of it, my hearty," replied the captain, who appeared to be in most excellent spirits in spite of the peril that menaced the little Maud.
He was in some such a mood as a gambler in an exciting game, or a number at base-ball, who are working for victory. Scott was the principal player in the present stirring game; and he was not only playing for victory, but to save himself and the engineer from the clutches of the Pacha.
"It looks as though we should be high and dry on the shore in five minutes more," added Louis.
"You are looking at the point around a corner, Louis. The flag-pole on the stem is your range. Just oblige me by stepping over to the other window, and take an observation from that position," said the captain, as confident as ever.
"That makes it look different," added Louis, after he had complied with the captain's request. "But you are running exceedingly close to the shore, any way."
"That is just what I mean to do," protested the captain warmly. "Now will you just keep watch of the Fatimé, if you please, for we have come to an exciting point in the game."
"A very exciting point, I should say; but with me the point is whether or not you are going to run the Maud on shore," replied Louis, as he changed his position for one at the rail, where he could obtain a full view of the chaser. "I beg to remind you, Captain Scott, that if we get aground, as I am afraid we shall, the Pacha can send off his boats with an overwhelming force, and make prisoners of the whole of the Maud's ship's company."
"I am well aware of it without any prompting," added the commander.
"You will excuse me, Captain Scott, for saying as much as I have, for I know that it isn't regular or proper to criticise the commanding officer; but I am really nervous about this business," Louis explained.
"Don't mention it, my dear fellow!" exclaimed Scott heartily. "We are only playing ship's company and navigation, and we are not strained up as they are on board a man-of-war. In fact, I have rather enjoyed your uneasiness, and I am not the least bit hurt or offended at anything you have said."
"I will try to do better."
"No need of it."
The young millionaire was watching the Pacha's steamer with all his eyes, and though he had only two of them, he was working them very hard. Felix and Morris had gone aft to the standing-room, where they had seated themselves on the plush cushions, and were observing the approach of the Fatimé, though she did not appear to have gained a foot on the chase. They did not see Malabata Point ahead, and had not worried over the matter which had exercised the patience and the nerves of Louis.
"The steamer astern is changing her course!" almost shouted the lookout on the forecastle.
"All right!" exclaimed Captain Scott. "That is just what I expected her to do, and it means victory for the Maud. This is a part of my little game."
"She is headed almost to the north now," added Louis.
"Precisely so," returned the captain at the wheel, who seemed to be as cool now as a frozen cucumber. "Now come up to the window where I can hear you think, and I will explain my plan from the beginning."
At this moment Morris and Felix rushed forward to announce the change in the course of the Fatimé; but they were too late, and the captain sent them back.
Captain Scott proceeded to explain his plan. Near the shore the water was shallow on the coast of Africa, as it is on most others when not more than a cable's length distant from the dry land. The Almirante Rocks are off the point; and though there was depth enough for the Maud, yet the pilot of the Fatimé would not risk his vessel on them. Three miles beyond the rocks was the Cana Coja Reef, extending about two miles, and reaching about the same distance out from the land.
"How deep is the water off here?" asked Louis.
"In some places it is only from three to twelve feet deep," replied Scott, who had kept his eyes fixed on the chart half the time.
"Three feet!" exclaimed the deck-hand. "The Maud would certainly stick her keel into that bottom."
"But I don't intend to put her through any such water as that," protested the captain. "Just where we are the depth is not more than a fathom and a half a cable's length from the shore; but we shall keep outside of that place."
"A cable's length seems to me to be a rather indefinite measure," suggested Louis.
"Not at all; it is as definite as a two-foot rule. It is just the tenth of a mile, for it takes ten of them to make a mile."
"I did not know that it had a particular extent, but supposed it was used in a sort of general way, like a great many other expressions of sailors."
"Not at all; but I think it would be well for Morris to heave the lead in this locality, though I am confident we shall go through all right," added Captain Scott. "You may pass the word for him to do so."
Louis delivered the order to the pilot in the standing-room, and he went forward to attend to the duty assigned to him, and this time they had a hand-lead for such occasions as the present. On his way back the messenger stopped at the engine-room, and had some talk with Felipe, who was still driving the machine at its best. Louis had a purpose in doing so, for he desired to obtain some information from the engineer in regard to the speed of the Fatimé.
"I don't knowprecisamente," replied the engineer, mixing his English and Spanish. "I was at Mogadore when come the Fatimé from England. I hear the Pacha; he say thevaporwas not quick enough; he must go more than twelve miles in one hour. He say this to Señor Tomlin: he was the engineer; he come from England. He say he was best foronce y medio nudos la hora."
"She was good for eleven and a half knots an hour," repeated Louis, translating the substance of the reply.
"He made twelvenudossome time," added Felipe.
"All right; that will do," said Louis, encouraged by this information, as he hastened forward to communicate it to the captain.
"She is not making more than eleven knots now, if she is doing as much as that," replied Scott when he had heard what the deck-hand had to say. "But she has not got a full head of steam yet. We shall come out off Point Al Boassa more than a mile ahead of her."
The Maud was making a nearly straight course of three miles while the Fatimé was going a mile and a half outside of the rocks and reefs. The former was making the best speed possible for her, and Scott was sure it was not less than twelve knots; but she was forced to her utmost to accomplish this result.
The run from one point to the other was three and a half miles; and it has taken longer to tell about it than it did to do it. The Maud was approaching the second headland, where the race must terminate, unless the captain decided to follow the coast to the south-east, in order to keep in shoal water where the chaser could not follow her.
"Mark under water two!" shouted Morris with energy, for he was still heaving the lead on the starboard side.
"All right; that is just as it should be," said the captain, as he put the helm a little to starboard. "That is the shoalest place within half a mile of the shore."
"We are all right in two fathoms," replied Louis. "The report was 'mark under water,' which gives more than that."
"I want some leeway under the keel, for whatever you may think of me, I am a prudent fellow," laughed Scott. "Now we have to decide on our future course. If I follow the shore and keep in shallow water, it will take us a long way out of our course, for it trends to the south, forming the arc of a considerable circle."
"We don't want to go out of our way if we can help it," added Louis.
"This is Point Al Boassa broad on the starboard bow, about a mile distant," continued Scott, pointing to it.
"That sounds like a Moorish name."
"It is the name on the chart; and that is all I know or care about it. Now, it is just ten miles across the Strait to Tarifa."
"Not more than that?"
"Exactly that; but it is fifteen miles more to the New Mole in Gibraltar. The question to be decided within the next five minutes is whether we shall follow the shore to the south-east, or stick it across to Tarifa."
"How much the lead of the Fatimé have we?" asked Louis.
"We shall come out a mile and a half ahead of her; but she is going to develop more speed very soon."
"I am decidedly in favor of making the course for Tarifa," replied Louis. "I don't believe she can overhaul us before we get across, if ever."
"Just my idea; across it is," responded Scott. "But we are not quite up with the point yet. If the Pacha's steamer comes too close to us, we can run into the shoal water on the other side. We shall euchre the Grand Mogul yet."
Louis did not feel as nervous as before.