AN UNEXPECTED RESCUE.
Sixty's unprovoked and murderous attack on Matt had been made with such brutal suddenness that the king of the motor boys had had no chance to defend himself. Before he fairly realized what had happened he was under the water and fighting his way upward to the surface.Had he not been such a good swimmer the weight of his clothing would have dragged him down and rendered his case hopeless. He was seriously handicapped, as it was, and when he gained the top of the water he was thankful to find a life-preserver bobbing and ducking beside him.
How the life-preserver happened to be there he did not know, but he seized hold of it gratefully and allowed it to support him in the tumbling waves. By that time theSanta Mariawas far in the distance, but there was a commotion on her decks which indicated that the cry of "Man overboard!" was receiving a prompt response. The sharp orders of the officer of the deck, the cries of excited passengers, and even the jingle of the engine-room bell came distinctly to the ears of the youth in the water.
Matt, although still bewildered, congratulated himself on escaping the swiftly-revolving screw. He had been thrown from the ship near the stern, and it was a piece of luck that the suction had not drawn him under the sharp propeller-blades.
Buffeted by the waves, Matt swung back and forth in the water and watched while the boat was lowered. Dick and Carl were in the boat, and there were two sailors at the oars. Dick, at the bow, was coiling a piece of rope in his hands, making ready for a cast as soon as the boat should come near enough.
Matt, his eyes fastened on the boat, gave no attention to the expanse of water in the other direction. Suddenly he heard a cry, coming from behind him, and turned his head. His amazement was complete when he saw a submarine rolling amid the waves. The mystery of the glistening red speck which had claimed his attention from the steamer was explained. It was the round periscope ball of theGrampus!
Some one—Matt could not see distinctly, for the spindrift was in his eyes—was half out of the conning tower of the submarine.
"Come aboard of us, Matt!" shouted the man, whirling a rope about his head and letting it fly.
The youth's ears were filled with thepoppety-popof the submarine's motor, but he heard the request. He could only guess how the submarine happened to be there, and guesses were useless, for he would soon be told everything about the queer situation.
Motor Matt grabbed at the rope as it was thrown to him by the man in the submarine.
As he hauled himself toward theGrampus, hand over hand, he saw that the man in the conning tower was Townsend, or Captain Nemo, Jr., as he preferred to be called when afloat.
Presently the young motorist was hauling himself up on the slippery deck of the submarine.
"Are you all right, Matt?" cried Captain Nemo, Jr.
"All right, captain," answered Matt, "except that I'm as wet as a drowned rat and can hardly understand why I was thrown from the steamer."
"You were thrown overboard?" demanded the captain.
"Yes; by your man, Sixty."
"Myman? I don't understand you. But we'll let that go for now. Dick and Carl are in that boat yonder. Shall we take them aboard?"
"I'd like to, sir, but we have some luggage on theSanta Mariaand the boys had better go back after it."
"Tell them to get the luggage and that we'll stand by to take them off." Nemo, Jr., threw a hasty look around at the sky, which was rapidly becoming overcast. "Ask them to hurry," he added, "for we'll be in for dirty weather before long and we must get them on theGrampusbefore the storm comes down on us."
The rowboat by then had drawn as close to the submarine as safety would permit. The two sailors were lying on their oars and gazing at the craft in astonishment, while the rail of the steamer was crowded with passengers and crew, all staring at the strange scene going forward there in the waters of the gulf.
"Ahoy, Dick!" shouted Matt.
"Ahoy, yourself, old ship!" roared Dick. "That's theGrampus, I take it?"
"Yes. Captain Nemo, Jr., is going to take you and Carl aboard. Go back to theSanta Mariaand get our traps. Be quick about it, for the weather is threatening."
"Ay, ay," cried Dick heartily, "and it's glad I am to leave the old hooker."
Dick dropped down in the boat and the sailors fell-to on the oars.
"Come inside, Matt," called Captain Nemo, Jr. "I'll get out of the way and make room for you."
The captain disappeared downward, and Matt climbed over the rim of the conning tower and quickly descended the iron ladder.
In a square chamber called the periscope room, at the foot of the ladder, Matt found the captain and Cassidy waiting for him. Each grasped his hand. There was only a moment for congratulations.
"Up into the tower with you, Cassidy," called the captain, "and keep watch for Dick and Carl. We're going to take them on as soon as they pick up their belongings."
"Ay, ay, sir," answered Cassidy, "I heard your talk with Matt, and Matt's talk with the fellows in the boat."
Cassidy disappeared up the ladder and Matt dropped down on a locker and began pulling off his water-logged shoes.
"I've got a dry suit in my grip," said he, "and when the boys get here I'll slide into a more comfortable rig."
"And Sixty threw you overboard!" muttered Nemo, Jr., a black frown crossing his face. "The murderous scoundrel! I have long known him as a desperate man, but I would hardly have believed him capable of such a move as that! What was his reason?"
"That's more than I know."
"You mean to say that you don't know what his motive was for attempting such a high-handed piece of work?"
"That's exactly what I mean, captain."
"Did any one see him?"
"Only his niece—and yours."
Captain Nemo, Jr.'s, amazement increased.
"Myniece?" he echoed. "I have no niece."
"Is your real name Harris, Captain?"
"No, certainly not."
"And Sixty isn't your brother-in-law?"
The captain flung up his hands.
"I should hope not! Where did you get all this queer misinformation?"
"From the girl who called herself Sadie Harris, and who said she was a niece of yours."
"You and your friends have been badly fooled, Matt," said the captain. "We must probe to the bottom of this and——"
Just at that moment theGrampusgave a wild roll, nearly upsetting Captain Nemo, Jr., and almost throwingMatt from the locker. A bucket of water came sloshing down the conning-tower hatch.
"The squall's hit us!" roared Cassidy. "The weather's so thick with rain and flying scud I can't see the steamer."
"Did the boys get aboard?"
"Yes, and they've had time to get back into the whaleboat again, but there's been some sort of a hitch."
TheGrampuswas rolling and wallowing frightfully, and it seemed at times as though she must surely turn turtle. The slap of waves on her steel sides and against the conning tower caused a thunderous noise to echo through the boat.
"Close the hatch, and come down, Cassidy!" shouted the captain. "We'll have to submerge her, and try to pick up the steamer with the periscope."
Cassidy could be heard clamping down the hatch. While he was coming down the ladder, the captain turned to one of the speaking tubes that entered the periscope room.
"Let the water into the ballast tanks, Clackett!" he called. "A ten-foot submergence. Slow speed ahead, Gaines," he added through another tube. "Keep her south by west, Cassidy," said he to the mate.
"South by west it is, sir," answered Cassidy, posing himself by a small binnacle and laying hands on a steering wheel.
From a distance Matt heard the old familiar rhythm of the gasoline cylinders. There was a splashing as water poured into the ballast tanks, followed by a very perceptible sinking motion. The frightful wallowing and pitching ceased to a great extent, and theGrampushung on a fairly even keel.
"Ten feet of submergence, cap'n!" came from a speaking tube so distinctly that it almost seemed as though the speaker was in the periscope room.
"Very good, Clackett," replied the captain. "Hold her so. Now, Matt," the captain went on, "we'll see what the periscope has to show us."
The hollow steel mast of the periscope, contrived with powerful reflectors, terminated in a hood that swung above a table.
Captain Nemo, Jr., pushed aside a fold of the hood and he and Matt looked down on the highly-polished mirror that formed the top of the table.
A stormy scene lay under their eyes. Their horizon was narrowed to only a few yards by rain and spray, but within this brief radius they got a sight of raging waves and a fierce tumult of waters. Now and again the scene was blotted out for a moment as the periscope ball was drenched by a comber.
"We can't take the boys off now, captain," said Matt.
"It would be impossible in this sea," answered the captain. "I was not looking for the squall to hit us so soon. We'll try and follow theSanta Maria, however, and take them off later."
"How can you follow her when you can't see her?"
"We know her track, and we'll follow her by compass."
The wild roaring of wind and sea came to those in theGrampuslike a dull murmur, and the submarine's rocking, at a ten-foot submergence, was proof of the power the elements must be showing on the surface.
Both Matt and the captain kept their eyes constantly on the table top, then, abruptly, Matt gave a gasp and caught at the table to support himself.
"Look!" he cried. "Captain—the boat——"
But Captain Nemo, Jr.'s, startled eyes had already seen what Matt had beheld. This was a whaleboat tossed wildly on the crest of a huge wave adrift, and with Carl and Dick clinging desperately to the oars.
Only Matt's two chums were in the boat. The captain whirled to one of the tubes.
"Turbines at work, Clackett!" he shouted; "quick, on your life. Empty the tanks and get us back to the surface! Reverse your engine, Gaines," he added through another tube.
Matt, still clinging to the table, stared down on its polished top. The drifting whaleboat, with his two chums, had vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
A FRUITLESS SEARCH.
"That boat was adrift!" cried Matt, as soon as he could find his tongue.
"Yes," answered the captain in a tense voice, "and only Dick and Carl were aboard of her."
"How could that have happened?"
"When the boys got back to the ship, the boat must have been left at the steamer's side while the luggage was being secured. The boys had time to get down into the boat, and before the sailors could follow the squall came rushing down and tore the boat away from theSanta Maria. Hard luck, Matt! Still, the case isn't hopeless by any manner of means. The whaleboat has an air chamber at each end and can't be sunk. If the boys can stay in her, and keep her right side up, we'll be able to rescue them."
The fierce pitching and plunging of the submarine told Matt that she was again battling with the elements on the surface. A look into the periscope also laid bare the heaving and churning waters within a narrow zone of observation, but nowhere could the whaleboat be seen.
"Follow the wind, cap'n," said Cassidy. "By doin' that we ought to be able to find the boat."
"That's my intention, Cassidy," returned the captain. "Take the waist-tarp and go up into the conning tower. Carry a rope with you, and be ready to throw it the moment we sight the boat."
"Let me go, captain!" requested Matt. "I'm already as wet as I can possibly be, and I should like to do my part."
"Very well, Matt," replied the captain. "Put the tarp around him, Cassidy."
Cassidy lifted the lid of the locker and took a circular oilskin from inside. There was a round hole in the centre of the oilskin, and around the outside edge were eyelets.
The mate pulled the tarp over Matt's head and tied it about his waist.
"There's a ring of hooks around the rim of the tower, Matt," he explained, "and by fitting the edge of the tarp over them you'll keep us from being drowned out down here."
"I understand," answered Matt.
That was not his first voyage in theGrampus, and he was fairly familiar with the boat's equipment.
When he was ready, Cassidy handed him the coil of wet rope recently used by the captain to get Matt aboard.
"When you get tired, Matt," said the captain, "come down and Cassidy will relieve you."
"I hope we'll find the boys before then," answered Matt hopefully. "They were drifting, and if we go with the wind we ought to overhaul them."
"We'll keep track of operations through the periscope and do all we can to lay you alongside the boat if we sight her."
Matt climbed the ladder, pushed back the lever that held the air-tight hatch in place, and threw over the cover just in time to get a barrel of water over his head and shoulders.
Quickly as he could he pushed on until his body, from the waist upward, was over the top of the conning tower. Then, with deft fingers, he made the circular tarp fast along the edge of the hatch. A minute more, when he had leisure to look around over the riotous waters, the novelty of his position caused his pulses to leap.
Forward and aft the water creamed over the steel deck of theGrampus, hiding the hull and leaving only the upper part of the conning tower and the steel periscope mast exposed. It seemed to Matt as though he was afloat in nothing more substantial than a barrel, with the clamoring, rushing waves all around him.
Forward, backward and sideways the submarine rolled through a terrific arc, and an occasional wave charged over him, leaving his dripping hair tumbled about his eyes.
For a brief space only did the awful spectacle claim his attention, and then he turned his eyes over the roaring waves in an attempt to locate the whaleboat. TheGrampuswas now racing with the wind, and the stinging lines of rain struck against the young motorist's back. Again and again he brushed the water from his eyes and continued to peer eagerly ahead.
But his heart was steadily sinking. Dick was a sailor, but what skill could keep the whaleboat right side up in such a tempest? The waves drove past theGrampusat racehorse speed, flinging their foamy arms high in the air. Matt shouted at the top of his lungs, but his voice was puny and ineffective. The gale caught it, feathered it out into a thousand wisps of sound and scattered it into the roar and crash of the waves.
From below him came the notes of a Gabriel horn, but these were little more effective than Matt's voice had been. The minutes passed, and Matt's hopes declined steadily. After a time, he knew not how long, he felt a hand tugging at his feet. Quickly unhooking the edges of the tarp, he descended.
"You've been up there an hour, Matt," said Captain Nemo, Jr., "and Cassidy will relieve you."
"I don't think there's much hope," returned Matt heavily, removing the waist-tarp and handing it to the mate. "I don't see how Dick and Carl could possibly stay in the boat in such a frightful sea."
"We never can tell what we're able to do in this world," said the captain hopefully, "until we're called upon to put forth our best powers. Dick is a cool one, and he knows the sea. If any one could pull through that storm and bring Carl along with him, it's Dick Ferral. We may not find them while the gale is on, but afterward we can cruise about and perhaps be able to pick them up. That is my hope, at all events."
Cassidy, rope in hand, was already on his way up the ladder. When he had taken up his position, the captain turned to Matt.
"That locker is our slop chest," said he, "and in it you will find some dry clothes. Better make a change, Matt, and be as comfortable as possible."
This was good advice, and Matt proceeded to carry it out.
"I had thought of taking Cassidy's place again in an hour," he observed.
"No use," was the answer. "If we don't sight the boat within an hour, then the chances are that we have gone wide of her—perhaps left her behind. We'll sink into quieter waters and come up again when the storm has abated. Then we'll cruise around and do everything possible to locate Dick and Carl."
The captain drew up a chair and braced himself at the periscope table.
At the end of an hour night had fallen, closed in with the Stygian gloom of the clouds and tempest. From that on the periscope was useless, and even a lookout from the top of the conning tower was of no avail.
Cassidy descended, closing the hatch behind him. His face was long and ominous.
"This ends it till mornin', cap'n," said he.
"Exactly so, Cassidy," replied the captain; "but the case isn't hopeless, by any means." He whirled to a speaking tube. "Fill the tanks, Clackett," he ordered, "and descend to twenty yards. Shut off your engine, Gaines," he added through another tube; "we'll pass the night where we are, sixty feet down."
The orders were repeated back, and theGrampusbegan to sink. When the periscope ball was submerged an automatic valve closed the hollow mast against an inrush of water.
Down and down they went, slipping noiselessly into great depths. Cassidy turned on a light from the storage batteries and an incandescent bulb flooded the periscope room.
Climbing the ladder into the conning tower, Matt stole a look through the lunettes. To see under water, contrary to the usual fiction on the subject, is impossible. Only a sombre void met Matt's eyes. By means of electric light and powerful reflectors Captain Nemo, Jr., could throw a gleam several yards through the lunettes; but this was a drain on the storage batteries, and for use only in case of emergency.
At sixty feet down theGrampuslay as easily under the enormous water pressure as a man in a hammock. At the captain's suggestion, Matt stretched himself out on a blanket on the floor of the periscope room and, in spite of his worry, was soon asleep.
When he was aroused by Cassidy a gleam of day was shining down the conning-tower hatch.
"Speake is getting breakfast, Matt," said Cassidy, "and we're up at the surface again. The storm is over, and the cap'n is on deck, calling for you. Better go up."
Matt jumped to his feet and raced up the ladder. The sea was still a bit rough, although part of the submarine's deck was high and dry. Captain Nemo, Jr., was on the deck, clinging to one of the wire guys that supported the periscope mast.
"Do you see anything of the whaleboat, captain?" were Matt's first words.
"Not a sign," answered the captain, handing Matt a pair of binoculars. "Take a look for yourself."
Bracing himself in the top of the tower Matt swept the glasses over the vast expanse of sunlit, heaving water.
There was nothing to be seen. From horizon to horizon the gulf held only the dancing, gleaming waves.
THE OVERTURNED BOAT.
Matt's heaviness of spirit was reflected in his face.
"Don't be discouraged," said the captain. "We'll cruise around in this part of the gulf and I feel pretty sure we'll find your friends. It would have been difficult to locate them during the storm, and theGrampusmight have passed within a cable's length of the whaleboat without seeing it or being seen; but, on a day like this, we've got the range of the ocean for miles, and the whaleboat can't get away from us!"
"Providing it's afloat," replied Matt apprehensively.
"Breakfast!" yelled Cassidy from the periscope room.
"That means us," said Captain Nemo, Jr.
The present complement of the submarine consisted of the captain, mate and three men. The duties of the captain and mate kept them constantly in the periscope room and conning tower. Gaines had charge of the hundred and twenty horse-power gasoline motor, Clackett looked after the trimming tanks, and Speake was general utility, taking care of the electric supply and compressed air and preparing the meals. Each had his particular station, and when the boat was running the officers rarely saw any of the crew.
Gaines' room was aft, Clackett's was nearer the waist of the boat, and Speake was forward in the torpedo room.
There being no use for the torpedo room during peaceable cruising, it was transformed into a galley, and here Speake prepared the meals on an electric range.
During breakfast Speake relieved Gaines at the motor, and Cassidy took the lookout. Gaines, Clackett, Captain Nemo, Jr., and Matt crowded into the little messroom, dropped down on low stools and drank their hot coffee and ate their crackers and boiled eggs.
When Matt and the captain had finished they went up and relieved Cassidy and sent him down. Matt seated himself on the deck at the base of the conning tower, the captain taking the elevated position in the top of the tower.
"While I'm using the glasses, and you're using your eyes, Matt," said the captain, "we might as well talk and try to understand the causes that brought you and your chums into this situation. I was curious on that point last night, but didn't want to bother you when you were so tired and worried."
"If you were surprised to see me, captain," returned Matt, "you can imagine how astounded I was to find you and theGrampus."
"The wind was taken out of my sails completely when I learned that you and your friends had sailed on theSanta Maria."
"Then you didn't send us three tickets and ask us to sail on the steamer for British Honduras?"
"Certainly not! That was part of the plan for getting you away. Sixty must have laid the plan and trusted to his daughter to carry it out."
"His daughter?"
"Yes. She was the girl who called on you at the hotel shortly before the steamer sailed—Ysabel Sixty. Captain Sixty married a Spanish woman in Cuba, and the girl was their only child."
"She used pretty good English when she talked with me."
"That's because she has passed most of her life in the United States, while her father has been engaged in questionable work all over the high seas."
"She said she was your niece, that her mamma was Sadie Harris, and that she had come to New Orleans as soon as she heard that you were sick."
The captain smiled grimly.
"Sixty told her what to say," he answered.
"But," and Matt's surprise took another tack, "how do you happen to know that she called on me at the hotel?"
"Clackett found that out. I sent him to the hotel to ask you and your chums to come to Stuyvesant Dock and board theGrampus. Cassidy was to bring the submarine down from Westwego. But let's begin at the beginning and get at this thing with some sort of system."
Matt led off with an account of the mixed messages, following this with a description of the girl and of what had transpired during their interview, and then finishing with what had taken place on the steamer.
The captain, although he kept the binoculars sweeping the sea, was absorbed in the recital.
"What name was signed to that message that fell into your hands by mistake?" he asked.
"I didn't pay any attention to the name," Matt replied. "I read the message to make sure it wasn't for me, but I didn't read the signature."
"What was the message?"
"It merely gave a position by latitude and longitude with the added words, 'two days ago—no wind and no drift since.'"
The captain showed signs of suppressed excitement.
"What was the latitude and longitude?" he asked. "Can you remember it?"
"No," said Matt. "I knew it did not concern me, so I failed to charge my mind with it."
"It concerned you more than you know. I am positive that Sixty lured you aboard the steamer because he feared you had learned something from the telegram which you could use to his disadvantage. What was your message—the one that Sixty got and read?"
"It was from a man who didn't know our air ship had been wrecked and destroyed. He wanted to buy her, and referred us to you, saying that he knew you."
"My name was mentioned in the telegram?"
"The name of Townsend was mentioned."
"Ah! The cause of Sixty's work is becoming clearer and clearer. He knew I was a friend of yours, that the government had asked me to watch him, and that you had had a chance to secure some important information from the telegram. It was enough to make a man like Sixty try something desperate!"
"You were watching him?" queried Matt, "and for the government?"
"Yes. Sixty has been a trader in the South Seas, but lately he has caused the government to suspect him of an attempt to smuggle arms and ammunition to Central America to help out some revolutionists there. His brig, theDolphin, cleared from New Orleans a few weeks ago, having dropped in at that port from across theocean, and has since mysteriously vanished. It has been something like a week since Sixty showed up in New Orleans again. The government had communicated with me before I came to the South, asking me to locate theDolphin, follow her and see what she was up to. If I couldn't find the brig I was to follow Sixty. That was the business on which I wanted your aid, but I couldn't tell you anything about it until the time came for us to act. You see, I didn't want Sixty to think that he was being watched. When Clackett, who was shadowing Sixty, brought me word that he had just seen him leaving New Orleans on theSanta Maria, I immediately made preparations to follow the steamer; and I was more anxious than ever to trail her when Clackett reported that you and your friends, as well as Sixty, were on the boat. I knew, at once, that there was some crooked work afoot.
"We gained on the steamer in the river, and came within sight of her two or three hours after she had reached the gulf. We submerged theGrampusuntil the periscope ball was just awash and trailed along in her wake. On the periscope table I saw some one drop overboard, and we immediately emptied our ballast tanks and came to the surface. I was surprised enough when I found that it was you who was in the water, Matt. We were too far away to see Sixty throw you over the rail. The truth of the matter is, Sixty is afraid of you—afraid you would tell me what was contained in that telegram. The bearings set forth by that latitude and longitude must have been mighty important!"
"Your work for the government," commented Matt, "in spite of the way you guarded it, must have become known to Sixty."
"Yes; but he did not learn it through me. Some one in Washington must have kept him informed."
"The girl also seemed to have a pretty good knowledge of the fact that I was going to help you."
"Sixty may have inferred that, and if the girl talked guardedly with you she might still further have developed the point."
"That's exactly what she did!" exclaimed Matt, with sudden divination. "I can see now that she was playing a part all the time. I don't think she liked the work, but that she was forced to do it by her father."
"Sixty's a rough old webfoot, and when his unscrupulous mind counsels a course he's not at all particular as to the ways and means by which he keeps to it."
"How would throwing me overboard help him any?"
"If he had put you out of the way, you wouldn't have been able to use the knowledge you had acquired from that telegram."
"But there was Dick and Carl. They knew about the message as well as I did."
"Then Sixty would have taken care of them, too."
"What a murderous scoundrel he is!" muttered Matt with a shudder.
"He's all of that and——"
The words died on the captain's lips and, for a moment, he held the glasses rigidly on some object at a distance.
"What is it, captain?" cried Matt, leaping up and straining his eyes, but without being able to see anything.
"Perhaps nothing," answered Nemo, Jr., "I can't tell. But we'll give it the benefit of the doubt and go over that way."
Dropping a hand at his side he pressed a push button which had a wire communicating with the engine room. The signal he gave sent theGrampuson another tack. As she rushed onward the object that had claimed the captain's attention grew slowly on Matt's eyes.
It was an overturned whaleboat, and on one side, in black letters, was the name "Santa Maria."
Matt staggered, and laid hold of the rim of the conning tower for support.
What if his chums had lost their lives through that despicable work of Captain Sixty's?
ADRIFT IN THE STORM.
Dick and Carl were dumfounded at sight of theGrampusappearing suddenly amid the waves and with Captain Nemo, Jr., in the conning tower heaving a rope at Matt. Their surprise wore away swiftly and delight took its place. Matt was saved, and they were soon to join him on the submarine.
"Hoop-a-la!" carolled the Dutch boy as the whaleboat put back to the steamer. "I peen gladder as I can dell dot ve're going to leaf dotSanda Maria. I vould like to ged pedder acquaindet mit Miss Harris, I bed you, aber I dradder got mit derGrambus."
"That there's the craft we heerd about on the waterfront in New Orleans," said one of the sailors.
"Easy enough," said the other over his oar, "but how does she chance to be bobbin' in our wake? Looks like she was a-follerin' us."
There were many excited questions from the passengers as the boat was held alongside by one of the davit ropes and a sea ladder was dropped over. Sixty and his daughter, alone of all those aboard, showed little interest in the submarine.
The sailors in the boat called out to the officer on the deck that Dick and Carl were to be returned to the submarine, and the officer, with a look at the threatening sky, grumbled at the delay.
"One of the lads is enough to get their luggage," he called down. "You shell-backs come up here and tell me all about it."
The slap of the waves and the noise made by the rising wind rendered talking difficult. Carl went for the luggage, the sailors climbed to the deck, and Dick remained in the boat to keep her fended from the steamer's side with an oar.
While Carl was in the stateroom collecting the traps the officer hung over the rail with others of the crew and some of the passengers, studying the sky and apparently in doubt as to whether he should let the boat put back to the submarine.
Presently he went away, and before he got back Carl had appeared and begun tossing the luggage, piece by piece, into the bobbing whaleboat. Dick deftly caught and stowed the traps as they came down to him.
"Vy don'd you ged indo der poat?" asked Carl, of the two sailors, who were standing near.
"The fust orficer told us ter wait," replied one.
"Vy iss dot?"
"I don't think he reckons it's safe to go back ter the submarine."
"Ach, du lieber!" grunted Carl disgustedly. "Der itee oof sailormans being afraidt oof a leedle bit oof a vind! I peen a lubber meinseluf, aber I don'd vas afraidt!"
With that he lowered himself onto the shaking sea ladder and started downward. When Carl stepped off the ladder he came within one of stepping into the sea. Dick grabbed him, however, and heaved him over the gunwale and to a midship thwart by main force.
"Hi, there!" shouted the officer, coming back and leaning over the rail. "You can't go—it's not safe. We're going to catch it good and plenty in a minute."
"Bosh!" shouted Dick. "We can make it all right if you hurry."
Although Dick spoke confidently, for he was eager to join Matt on theGrampuseven if it was necessary to take a chance or two, yet his practiced eye told him that fierce weather was imminent.
"Hook on the falls!" roared the officer. "Quick on it, or——"
At that moment, with a terrific shriek and a wild splash and splatter, the squall broke. The whaleboat was under the lee of the steamer, but the larger vessel shifted her position so that the heavy wind caught the whaleboat and jerked her away. The fastenings parted, and in a twinkling the boat had shot off from the steamer on the crest of a huge wave. A mist of rain and spindrift closed in between and theSanta Mariawas shut out from the boys' view.
"The oars!" yelled Dick, floundering to a thwart and shipping the oar with which he had been keeping the boat from the steamer's side.
The boat was prancing like a festive broncho, now standing almost straight up in the air, and now dropping with dizzy abruptness, rolling at a hair-raising angle and shipping buckets of water. Carl had been having his hands full keeping himself from going overboard, but he managed to brace his feet and get busy with one of the oars.
Under Dick's direction the boat was brought with the wind and steadied.
"Led's ged on der supmarine!" yelled Carl.
"No use trying that," Dick shouted over his shoulder.
"Den, py shinks, led's ged pack on der shdeamer! I don'd like dis popping around ofer der ocean. I feel like I was in some shoot der chutes."
"Can't do that, either. We've got to do our best to keep afloat—and that's going to be hard enough. Strike me lucky, but fate has played it low down on us."
"Meppy der shdeamer vill come afder us."
"Don't you ever think it! They'd rather lose the whaleboat than hunt for us in this weather. Anyhow, they'd stand about as much chance of finding us as they would of locating a needle in a haystack. We're in for it, mate. Take a piece of that rope and lash yourself to the thwart."
Dick hauled in a trailing line and slashed off a section with his sheath knife. It was difficult hanging on to an oar with one hand while they used the other to tie themselves, but they managed to accomplish the feat.
"Subbose der poat sinks?" howled Carl. "Den ve vas tied und ve sink mit her."
"She can't sink! There's an air chamber in each end."
"Vat oof she shouldt durn over mit herseluf?"
"We've got to keep her from doing that."
"Ach, himmelblitzen! Dis iss der vorst fix vat I was afer in. Der landt iss goot enough for me. Der more vat I see of der ocean, der more vat I like der solid eart'. Now, oof ve——"
Carl, at that moment, was deluged by a wave. He strangled, coughed and spluttered, and if he had not been bound to the thwart would surely have gone by the board.
"Let me have your oar," roared Dick. "Take your cap, and bale!"
"How I vas going to dip all der gulf oudt oof dis poat mit my cap?" answered Carl. "I mighdt shust as vell drow der Mississippi Rifer ofer New Orleans mit a t'imble."
"Bale, I tell you!" whooped Dick, grabbing the oar away from Carl and shipping it opposite his own position.
Carl dipped frantically into the water, but his efforts were of little avail.
"I'll have to make a sea anchor," announced Dick.
"How you make dot? You vould haf to haf a placksmith shop, und——"
"Take the oars."
Dick swung the oars back and Carl laid hold of them. There was a mast and a furled sail in the bottom of the boat. With infinite difficulty, Dick got the mast over the side and made it fast to the stern by twenty feet of cable.
This weight, dragging behind, served to steady the lightly-weighted boat and rendered it easier for the boys to keep her clear of the swamping waves.
After that, Dick again took the oars and Carl continued his baling with more success.
"Id vas gedding vorse insteadt oof pedder," cried Carl, "der gale, I mean."
"That's a fact, matey," answered Dick, "but we're making better weather of it."
"Oof ve keep der poat on dop oof der vater ondil der shtorm iss ofer, ve vill be like some shipwrecked fellers und vill shdarve to deat'."
"We'll not starve to death. We can put up the sail and get to the nearest land. We're not such a long way from land, Carl, and this gale is blowing us toward the southern part of Florida."
"Oof ve hit Florida too kevick, den ve ged pusted oop."
"It will be a day or two before we get there."
"Vat ve eat in der meandime?"
"If you thought more of your life and less of your stomach, mate, you'd be better off."
"Vone means der odder. Und vat ve going to do for some vater to trink? Der ocean iss full mit salt."
"There's always a breaker of fresh water aboard these boats on the steamers."
"Den you t'ink, Tick, dere iss some shances for us?"
"Sure, I do! We're doing finely now!"
"Ach, finely! Mit der vater coming down from oferheadt, und oop from pelow, und der vind almost plowing us oudt oof der poat. Yah, ve vas in pooty fine shape, I bed you!"
Night fell, a hideous night, black as Erebus, with howling waves below and shrieking tempest overhead. The boys, nearly dropping from exhaustion, did their feeble best with the oars. They had no time for talk, and needed all their strength for their trying labor.
Minutes dragged like hours, and hours seemed like eternity.
How long a time passed, neither of the boys had anyidea. All they could do was to work blindly and doggedly on and trust to luck.
"Py shinks," panted Carl, throwing down his oar, "I vas diret enough to tie und I can't do nodding more. Oof I'm to feed der fishes, pedder id vas now as some odder dime."
"You're not going to feed the fishes," answered Dick. "Buck up, matey. The gale is slowly blowing itself out. It was only a squall, anyhow."
"I don'd like skvalls! Dey're too sutten. Anyvay, I don'd vork no more. I can't. My pack iss proke und my hants iss plistered. I vould schust as soon tie as keep id oop. Vat a plackness eferyvere! Der sea shpooks iss oudt und yelling like anyt'ing. Oof I vas shdrong enough I vould ged shcared, aber I ain'd aple efen to do dot. I——"
Just at that moment Carl showed that he was strong enough, at all events, to give a startled yell. He was interrupted by a grinding crash, so terrific that it flung him from the thwart, tearing him loose from the lashings.
The boat had come to a halt, and was filling and turning over.
Carl had no idea what had happened and it was too dark for him to see anything. After his first frenzied cry, he gave himself up, being positive that he and Dick, in spite of their plucky fight, were bound for the bottom.
THE DERELICT.
"Carl!"
It was Dick's voice and Carl was vaguely aware that his comrade was splashing toward him through the water in the boat.
"Goot-py, Tick," wailed Carl. "Dis iss der last, und ve vas a gouple oof goners! Led me take holt oof your hant as ve go down. Gompany vas goot ad a dime like dose."
"We're not going to Jones, matey, at least not right away. We've struck against a wreck of some kind and by luck I've grabbed a rope that was trailing overboard. Are you able to climb?"
"I ain'd aple, und I don'd vant to climb. I haf gifen oop, so I mighdt schust as vell go down as anyt'ing else."
Dick muttered impatiently, grabbed Carl and began tying the rope about his waist.
"Stay here," said he, "and I'll try and get you up. You'll have to help yourself a little, though."
Carl was vaguely conscious that Dick had disappeared somewhere. A few minutes later the whaleboat rolled over, was carried away, and Carl was left floundering in the water. Again he was sure he had reached the end, but again he found himself mistaken. There came a tug at the rope and Carl was hurled with stunning force against something big and heavy. Clutching the rope with his hands, he braced his feet against the object against which he had struck, and, after a fashion, started aloft. The pull on the rope helped him, and he finally floundered over a barrier, dropped on a flat surface and his wits slipped away from him.
He was utterly spent, and his unconsciousness was caused by sleep rather than by the blow he had received. When he opened his eyes, he found that it was morning, that the sun was shining, and that Dick was on his knees beside him, briskly shaking him.
"Vere ve vas, anyvay?" queried Carl, sitting up and peering around.
He was under the lee of a little house. Slippery planks, that heaved and rolled, were beneath him, and he could see the jagged stumps of two masts in the distance. A raffle of tangled rope lay near him.
"We're on a derelict," reported Dick.
"Vat iss a terelick?"
"It's a wreck that failed to go to the bottom. Having a cargo that floats, it stays on the surface, a menace to every craft that happens to be in its vicinity."
"T'anks. Iss preakfast retty, Tick?"
"We'll have to find something for breakfast before we can get it ready. It was a stroke of luck that laid us aboard the derelict. We smashed into her, in the dark, and it couldn't have happened once in a thousand times. Fortune has taken a turn with us."
Carl got up unsteadily, leaned against the side of the house behind him and looked over the cheerless prospect.
"Meppy fortune has dook some durns," he muttered, "aber she ditn't shtrain herseluf any. Vat sort oof a terelick iss dis?"
"She's a brig."
"Vat's a prig?"
"A two-masted, square-rigged vessel. Both masts are gone."
"Yah, I see dot."
"This is the galley. Under the poop, over there, is the after cabin; forward of us is the fo'c'sle."
"Vere iss der pantry? Led's try und findt a cupboardt or somet'ing vere dere iss a biece to eat. I'm so hungry, Tick, dot I don'd know vere I vas ad."
The door of the galley was closed and battened with a tarpaulin.
"The crew of the brig," said Dick, as he removed the tarpaulin, "did what they could to keep the water out. When the sticks went out of her, though, they had to quit."
The galley door was unlocked, and Dick threw it open. An odor came out to them that was far from pleasant, but they pushed into the little room and looked around.
There was a stove, serviceable although a bit rusty, and a number of pots and pans in racks. In a bin, in one corner, was a small supply of firewood. There was also a swinging cupboard, and in this the boys found a tin of ground coffee, a small can of brown sugar and a piece of salt pork that did not look any too fresh.
"Oof ve hat vater," remarked Carl, "ve could make some coffee."
"I'll hunt for the tanks and try to get some water," said Dick. "You get busy with a fire, Carl. There's a box of matches in the cupboard."
Dick took one of the kettles and left the galley. He was gone some fifteen or twenty minutes, and during that time Carl had got a fire going. At first the draft was not good, and Carl investigated and found that the stove-pipe had been stuffed with oakum to keep out the water. When the oakum was removed the fire burned finely.
Dick, highly delighted, came back with the water.
"There's a full tank," said he, "and I believe we're going to be a lot better off than we supposed."
"I know I vill," chirruped Carl, "afder I ged on der outside oof someding to eat."
"When that's done, matey, we'll go on an exploring expedition, and see what we can find."
They took their coffee out of tin cups and ate their salt pork off of tin plates. Enough knives and forks were found to serve their purpose, and hot food put them both in better spirits.
"I vonder vat Matt is doing on derGrambus?" remarked Carl.
"More than likely, mate," answered Dick, "he thinks we're on the steamer."
"Vich means dot der supmarine vill follow der shdeamer to ged us off. Vell, I ped you dot Matt iss a goot vays off, py now, und ven vill ve see him nexdt?"
"Ask me something easy! But we'll see him again, one of these days. As soon as he finds out that we broke adrift from the fruiter, he'll come looking for us."
"Und der Gulf of Mexico iss so pig a blace dot he vill look a long dime pefore he findts der terelick! Vere iss der valepoat? Meppy ve could use her und go py Florida, hey?"
"We can't do that. The whaleboat was damaged, and she either went down or drifted off from the wreck during the night."
"Iss dere some odder poats mit der wreck?"
"No. Captain and crew must have used them when they left."
"Den ve got to shday mit der terelick?"
"That's the sizing I give the outlook, Carl. However, we may drop in with some ship and be taken off. That's more than possible, I should say."
Having finished their meal, the boys got up and left the galley. They first looked into the fo'c'sle hatch. Like the galley door, it had been battened down, and a strong, disagreeable odor was wafted up to them. The bunks were in disorder, and Dick opened the deadlights in order to let the air blow through and sweeten up the place.
Off the fo'c'sle was a small room which had evidently been set aside for the carpenter. At any rate, it contained a small chest of tools.
"Bully!" cried Dick, taking an axe from the chest. "We can clear away the raffle and take more comfort on the wreck. If we could rig a jury mast and spread a sail, perhaps we could take this boat into New Orleans. There'd be a lot of salvage, perhaps."
"Vat's salfage?"
"That's what people get for picking up deserted ships and taking them into port. If the cargo is valuable, the salvage will run pretty heavy."
As they left the fo'c'sle and walked aft, they passed the side of the ship against which they had bumped the night before. Several ropes, from the tangle of cordage on the deck, lay over the side, some of them loose and trailing in the water, and others attached to broken yards.
"We were lucky to have slammed into the ship at just that point," observed Dick. "There were plenty of ropes for us to get hold of, and if I hadn't grabbed that rope, last night, we'd have gone under, sure as fate." He dropped his axe. "We'll leave that here, for now," he went on, "while we go aft and continue looking around."
They climbed the steps leading to the poop deck. The cabin roof rose out of the deck, and there was a row of little windows around the top of the cabin wall.
In the stern of the brig, directly back of the cabin, was the charthouse. This room was quite commodious and was furnished with heavy glass windows that had resisted the fury of the storm that had, in other ways, damaged the brig so heavily. There were two bunks in the charthouse, a deep locker, and a table. The air inside was damp and heavy, but by leaving the door open and opening the windows the atmosphere soon cleared.
"Here iss a goot blace to shleep, anyvays," remarked Carl, with a good deal of satisfaction. "Oof ve can findt a lod oof grup, den I bed you ve ged along finer as silk. Oof id vasn't for Matt, I couldn't care oof ve floated to China."
"We're not going to leave the gulf, matey," averred Dick, decidedly. "We're going to get out of this fix as soon as we can."
"Yah, meppy dot vas pedder," agreed Carl. "Vat's der name oof dis poat? All poats haf names, don'd dey?"
"We'll try and find out," said Dick.
Leaving the charthouse, he lowered himself by the rope of one of the davits—from which a dory had presumably been suspended—and read the lettering on the brig's stern.
He gave a yell of surprise and swung himself back on deck in a good deal of excitement.
"Vat's der madder?" asked Carl.
"Do you remember, Carl," answered Dick, "that Captain Sixty said, that time we talked with him in the steamer's cabin, that he had been skipper of a brig called theDolphin?"
"Yah, I rememper dot."
"Well, this is theDolphin!"
Carl stared blankly into the gleaming eyes of Dick Ferral, wondering why the fact should put Dick in such a taking as it seemed to have done.
THE SCHOONER.
"Vat aboudt it, Tick?" queried Carl. "Dere iss more as vone poat named derTolphin, I bed you."
"Sure; but there's no such happenchance in this case. Sixty's boat was a brig, and that was her name. This boat's a square-rigged two-master, and the wordDolphin, plain as the nose on your face, is there on the stern. It's a cinch this was Sixty's boat."
"Vell, subbosing id vas? Id don'd cut some ice. Ve're here, und Sixty iss on der shdeamer. Led's go looking some more."
"There's something main queer about all this tangle," muttered Dick, leading the way to the sliding doors of the after companion and removing the tarpaulin. "This ought to take us into the captain's quarters, and maybe we'll find something there that will shed light on the situation."
The doors were locked, but Dick sent Carl for the axe and smashed them open. The close air was almost stifling, but the boys faced it and descended into the small cabin. A sextant and a chronometer were the first things Dick's eyes lighted upon.
"If there are charts in that locker in the charthouse," he observed, "we can very easily tell whereabouts in the gulf we are."
Carl wanted to know how this was to be done, but Dick did not have time to explain, just then. He openedsome windows, and the door leading out through the break in the poop. This caused a refreshing current of air to blow through the room.
There was a bunk built against one wall, and, like those in the fo'c'sle and the charthouse, it was in a state of disorder. A sea chest was near one wall. It was opened and, from the way its contents were scattered, it appeared to have been hastily rummaged.
In the centre of the cabin was a table, securely bolted to the floor. Dick pulled open a drawer of the table and drew out a couple of papers.
"The skipper got away in such a hurry," said Dick, "he didn't even take time to get these."
"Vat dey vas, anyhow?" inquired Carl, drawing close and looking over Dick's shoulder.
"The ship's log and her manifest," answered Carl.
"Dot's a funny kind oof a log," said Carl. "Vy dey call some bapers a log?"
"It is just a name, matey, and means a document in which the first officer sets down the things that happen to the ship, how far she sails, any notable things that occur, and so on. It's a sort of diary."
"Vat a funny pitzness!" exclaimed Carl. "Und dot odder t'ing, vat you say iss a manivest. Vat's dot?"
"Why, a manifest is a paper signed by the master. It gives the vessel's name and tonnage, the port she hails from and a full description of the cargo. This tells the number and character of the various boxes, bales and packages in the cargo, where they're taken aboard, and where they're going to. This is full of information for us, matey. And it's signed by James Sixty, as master, which proves conclusively that we're on the boat that was once under his orders."
"Meppy dot's righdt. Anyvay, id don'd make so mooch tifference so long as Sixdy ain'd here now."
"But it's queer we happened to slam into his boat during the storm last night."
"Forged aboudt dot und dell me vere der prig comes from, vat she's got apoardt, und how mooch salvage ve ged oof ve take her py New Orleans."
An examination of the log and the manifest showed the boys that theDolphinhad been doing some great stunts at traveling. Her last port of call was New Orleans, where she had discharged some manufactured products from Liverpool and filled out the available space in her hold with oak barrel staves. On her way from Liverpool she had also put in at Boston and taken on a consignment of mill work—that is, doors, sashes, window frames, etc.—which was to go to Belize. Before reaching Liverpool, theDolphinhad called at Lisbon, Portugal, for part of a load of cork. Previous to reaching Lisbon she had picked up some hemp and sugar and copra at Manila, which she had put ashore at Liverpool. Originally, the brig had cleared from San Francisco.
"Dot mixes me all oop," muttered Carl, who had seated himself in a chair while listening to Dick's reading.
"Belize seems to be the place she was going to when she left New Orleans," said Dick. "It appears, too, that she took on canned goods in addition to mill work in Boston, and that both were for British Honduras. We'd better go down in the hold and hunt for those canned goods."
Carl was immensely delighted with the proposition; anything that had a prospect of food at the end of it always made a hit with him. A lantern was secured in the captain's cabin, lighted with a match from the galley, and the boys stripped open a hatch and got into the 'tween decks.
Between the main and the lower deck there was a good deal of water, and barrel staves were floating in every direction. There were a number of boxes snugly stowed out of reach of the water, however, and Dick, by the aid of the lantern, discovered that some of the upper boxes were filled with canned pork and beans.
"Yah," chuckled Carl, clinging to the iron ladder that led down from the hatch, "I bed you dot come from Poston! Iss id der parrel staves, Tick, vat keeps der wreck afloat?"
"No," answered Dick, crawling over the cargo and pushing the lantern ahead of him, "there are not enough staves to do that, although, of course, they help—and so does the mill work. The cork, though, must be down in the lower hold, and that, I take it, is what buoys the ship up principally. Cork is a great—— Well, keelhaul me!"
Dick broke off his words with a startled exclamation.
"Vat's to pay now?" cried Carl.
"There's something here, matey, that's not down in the manifest."
"Vat id iss?"
"Boxes of ammunition and Krag-Jorgensen rifles."
"Hoop-a-la! Meppy olt Sixdy vas going to durn birate, und dot a gale plew along, wrecked der prig und made him shange his mindt. Vell, nefer mindt dot shtuff, Tick. Der pork und peans iss ammunidion enough for me. Id's pooty near tinner dime, so come on mit a pox."
Dick finished inspecting the rifles and ammunition and crawled back along the piles of boxes and over the sloshing water. Between the two of them, the boys succeeded in getting a case of the canned beans up on the deck.
"Sixty is an old law-breaker," averred Dick. "I had already sized him up for being a beach comber and I can't understand why Captain Nemo, Jr., has anything to do with him."
"Meppy Nemo, Jr., don'd have somet'ing to do mit him, und dot vat Sixdy toldt us vas all some cock-und-pullshtories. Aber vat makes you t'ink he vas a law-preaker?"
"Those rifles and that ammunition. Things like those, Carl, when they're not down in a ship's manifest were not taken aboard for any proper purpose. My eye! I'd give something handsome to know what's up."
While Carl was opening the box of beans and getting dinner, Dick began clearing the deck of the raffle of cordage that covered it. By the time he had finished and cast the splintered yards adrift, Carl was out of the galley and calling for him to come and eat.
In the afternoon the boys brought the bedding from the bunks in the charthouse and spread it on the deck to dry in the sun; then they went down into the 'tween-decks again and looked over as much of the cargo as was above water. They discovered that the freight of arms and ammunition was quite extensive. Carl could not work up much interest in the rifles and cartridges, but, while Dick was prowling through the wet hold looking them over, he dug out a box of tinned beef and a cask of ship's biscuit. With these discoveries they were able to vary their supper menu.
Leaving Carl to get supper, Dick hunted up two more lanterns and trimmed and lighted them and hung them forward, aft and amidships of the wreck.
"I'm tired enough to do a caulk to the king's taste," said Dick, as he left the galley and cast a self-satisfied glance at the lights, "but we can't both of us turn in. We'll have to stand watch and watch. Do you want the first half of the night or the last half?"
"Vat's der use oof shtanding vatch?" protested Carl. "Dere von't nopody shdeal der poat, und oof ve vas going to run indo anypody ve couldn't helup dot."
"It's necessary, Carl," answered Dick, "to know all that takes place while we're on the brig. If our lights should attract any vessel that's passing, one of us ought to be on the alert to answer a hail."
"All righdt. I'll take der fairst vatch, und I vill call you py der chronomoder in der gaptain's room."
Dick had wound the chronometer and set it by guess. The timepiece might be off schedule by an hour or so, but it would serve for dividing the watches.
Leaving Carl by the galley, Dick climbed to the poop deck and went to the charthouse and turned in. Carl's mind was running on "spooks" a good deal, and the swish of water under the deck, and the grinding and thumping of the floating staves, kept his fears and his imagination working overtime.
However, nothing happened; and, after he had gone into the cabin seven or eight times and consulted the chronometer, he at last found it to be twelve o'clock and bounded up the poop-deck steps.
Dick had slept soundly, and when he went forward Carl crept into his warm blankets and was snoring almost as soon as his head was on the pillow.
It seemed to him that he had no more than closed his eyes before he was brought up in his bunk by a loud yell. It was daylight, and the sun was shining through the open door of the charthouse.
"Carl! Come out here!"
Carl leaped from the bunk and hurried out on the deck and to the broken monkey rail.
From the rail he could look down on the main deck and get a good view of Dick.
The sailor had found a piece of canvas and was standing on the stump of one of the masts, waving a signal.
Carl's eyes wandered out over the water, and his heart gave a bound as they rested on a sail not more than half a mile away.
"It's a schooner," shouted Dick, "and her lookout has seen us! The craft's lying-to, matey, and we'll be taken off this old hulk in a brace of shakes."
"Hoop-a-la!" shouted Carl.