“There goes the little beggar again!”
“What a clean dive!”
“Yes; he is grace itself. But say, Clif——”
“He’s got it. Hurray! He catch dime plenty well. Hi! here another.”
“You are getting mighty liberal with your money, Trolley.”
“I no care. It worth dollar to see diving like that. Hi! you little boy, here some more.”
The group of naval cadets were leaning over the port railing on the forecastle ofMonongahela.
It was shortly after quarters on a Saturday morning, and the trim old frigate was riding easily at anchor in the Tagus River just off the main landing dock of Lisbon, Portugal.
After a truly eventful voyage from Annapolis she had finally arrived in port, and the one hundred and sixtyodd cadets on board were waiting eagerly for the time when they could have a run ashore.
The necessary formalities of port inspection had been gone through with, and the ship was in a gala attire aloft and alow in anticipation of the visit always paid an American vessel by the youth and beauty of quaint old Lisbon.
Boats filled with merry parties were coming from the dock even now, and the appearance of many pretty girls in them was beginning to take the cadets’ attention away from a previous attraction.
That attraction was the diving of a number of native boys after coins thrown from the ship. Alongside were half a dozen small and rickety boats occupied by the agile young divers.
They were continually importuning the cadets to toss bits of silver or copper money into the water.
One, a lithe, clean-limbed lad of about sixteen, was the leader of the party, and it was his clever diving which had wrung the words of admiration from Trolley, given at the commencement of this chapter.
The diversion of watching the divers began to grow monotonous after a while.
“The little beggars are pretty good, but their act palls on one,” yawned Toggles, stretching his arms.
“Did you hear anything about the liberty list, Clif?” asked Grat Wallace, with a yearning glance ashore.
“It isn’t made up yet, I believe. We won’t touch the dock until afternoon anyway.”
“And we have got to be back by ten o’clock,” grumbled Nanny.
“Always kicking, always finding trouble,” sighed Joy, with a doleful shake of the head. “Why can’t you be peaceable and contented like me, youngster? It’s painful to a man of meek and lowly spirit to see such contention and strife. If you don’t like the way they conduct liberty on this ship, why don’t you knock the blooming head off the executive officer? Act with due humility and beat the face off the captain.”
The others laughed. They understood Joy.
“I say, Clif, look there,” suddenly spoke up Trolley. “Here comes what you call peach.”
He nodded his head toward a couple of young ladies who were approaching from aft. They had formed part of a visiting party from shore and were strollingabout the deck intent on inspecting the ship after their own fashion.
Both were very pretty, but one, a tall and rather willowy brunette, was particularly handsome. A wealth of lustrous black hair fell to her shoulders; her eyes were large and sparkling, and her lips, half parted, showed two rows of regular, pearly teeth.
She was smiling at something her companion had said as they neared the group of plebes, and the boys fairly gasped at her loveliness.
Clif eyed her furtively, his heart beating more rapidly than usual. His expressive countenance proclaimed his strong admiration, and that must have been the reason why the beautiful girl blushed slightly as she met his ardent gaze.
The girls stopped at the forecastle railing and looked over at the diver boys below.
They laughed, and one—the lovelier of the two—held up a small coin.
All the youthful divers prepared to spring into the water as soon as the bit of money left her hand. The lithe young leader poised himself upon the very edge of his boat.
“Ready!” called out the girl in Portuguese. “It is a hundredreispiece, so do your best.”
She gleefully waved her hand back and forth, then, just as she was about to release the coin, something bright and glittering slipped from her wrist and fell into the water.
It was a bracelet.
A little scream came from the girl, there was a commotion among the group of plebes, then one was seen to vault lightly over the rail and strike the water in a neat dive.
It was Clif!
In an instant there was great excitement on board the practice ship. The loud splash was heard fore and aft, and a rush was made for that side.
Some one raised a cry of “Man overboard!”
The officer of the deck sprang upon the gangway with a life-preserver, and the crew detailed to the lifeboat ran to their stations at the boatfalls.
And in the meantime the cause of all this commotion was experiencing a rather peculiar adventure.
Clif possessed to a remarkable degree the power of quick decision and action in cases of emergency. Heseldom required more than a few seconds to make up his mind.
In the present case he was upon the rail and preparing to dive almost before the bracelet had touched the water. With all his promptness, he was not alone, however.
The young Portuguese boy—the chief spirit among the youthful divers—had also seen the flash of metal.
To him it meant a coveted reward, and his brown heels twinkled in the air just a second after Clif’s body left the top of the forecastle rail.
The two went under the water together.
Clif’s eyes opened after he vanished below the surface. He saw, glittering below him, the bespangled bracelet. And he also saw the dark shadow cast by his antagonist.
Of the two the native lad was probably more at home in the water, but Faraday had a store of determination and grit which made up for it.
As soon as he espied the youngster he realized the true state of affairs, and he sent his feet up with a spurt that shot him toward the glittering bauble.
It was a race beneath the surface of the old Tagus.
The Portuguese boy had as an incentive two things.One was the hope of a pecuniary reward, and the other an overwhelming desire to defeat this insolent visitor from a foreign country who dared to try his skill against a native diver of Lisbon.
As for Clif, what was his incentive?
A smile, that was all.
The bottom of the Tagus is easily reached by a few vigorous strokes. The bracelet had settled upon the bottom where it glittered and gleamed as if mocking the two lads.
Clif, by his spurt, had obtained a slight advantage, but he suddenly felt himself grasped about the waist.
He was just in the act of reaching for the bracelet when the interruption came.
The touch of the Portuguese lad’s hand acted like a spur upon him, and he made a desperate clutch downward.
His fingers closed over the bit of jewelry, then with a wriggle and a savage kick he freed himself and shot toward the surface.
As he rose, gasping and spluttering, his rival was close beside him. Through the water streaming from his hairClif caught sight of the boy’s face, and he marveled at the intensity of hatred it expressed.
“I pay you for dis!” almost screamed the Portuguese. “You come ashore and I kill you. Dog of a Yankee, you hear from Pedro! You see.”
“Calm yourself, my friend,” drawled Clif, coolly, as he struck out for the gangway. “Don’t get excited; it is bad for the health. Ta! ta!”
Pedro swam to his little boat and crouched sullenly in the stern. His companions crowded around him and chattered like so many monkeys, but he waved them off, and watched with burning eyes the progress of the American lad toward the gangway ladder.
A loud cheer burst from the plebes on the forecastle as Clif held up the bracelet. The two pretty girls clapped their hands, and the one who had dropped the piece of jewelry seemed overwhelmed with confusion.
When Clif reached the deck he found both the first lieutenant and the officer of the watch awaiting him.
“What is the meaning of this, Mr. Faraday?” demanded the former, peremptorily.
Clif held up the bracelet, and replied, quietly:
“A young lady visiting the ship dropped this overboard, sir.”
The officers were compelled to smile.
“And you dived for it?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Which young lady was it?”
Faraday turned and indicated the owner of the bracelet, who was walking aft with her companion.
“Jove! I don’t blame the young rascal,” muttered the first lieutenant. “She’s a beauty.”
Extending his hand, he added, aloud:
“It was a gallant act, Mr. Faraday, and it does you credit, but it probably would have been better if you had left the job to one of those boy divers. I will return the bracelet to the young lady.”
But Clif hung back.
“Want the pleasure yourself, eh?” laughed Lieutenant Watson. “Well, you deserve it.”
That was Clif’s opinion also, and he lost no time in claiming his reward. He did not present a very prepossessing appearance in his dripping uniform, but he held his head jauntily and advanced to meet the girl.
His fear that she spoke only Portuguese was speedilydissipated. Extending her hands impulsively, she exclaimed, with an accent which added to the charm of her silvery voice:
“Oh, how I thank you for your kindness, señor! You have dared so much to save my poor bracelet. It was so good of you.”
“I am amply repaid,” replied Clif, gallantly. Then he added, with a smile: “You must pardon my rather moist appearance. The water was not altogether dry.”
“We will not keep you,” said the girl, hurriedly. “You should change your clothing.”
As Clif bowed and started to walk away, she blushed slightly and said:
“My parents will consider it a pleasure if you should call upon them. My name”—she extended a neat card—“and address. Can we not hope to see you soon?”
“I will be pleased to call when I go ashore,” replied the handsome young cadet. “Until then—good-by.”
As he walked forward he saw Judson Greene standing near the spot where the conversation had taken place.
“So Judson has been listening, eh?” thought the latter as he walked past. “He don’t look particularly pleased. Jealous, I suppose.”
He glanced at the bit of pasteboard in his hand and read:
Juanita Windom,Ruo Ferdinand No. 78.
“Windom?” he muttered. “Why, that’s an English name. Her father must be either English or American. That accounts for her excellent command of the language. This is getting more interesting.”
His thoughts were interrupted by a shout, and he found himself surrounded by his friends. They were all laughing gayly except Joy, whose funereal cast of countenance seemed to have increased.
“Hi, Clif!” cried Trolley, slapping him upon the back, “by Jim, you great hero. Hurray! you save bracelet and win beautifulist girl in Lisbon. You one dandy.”
“Slowly there, Trolley,” laughed Clif; “I don’t see where I have won a girl.”
“She likes you; I saw her blush,” put in Nanny Gote. “Just you wait, Clif Faraday. I’ll tell Tess Herndon back in Annapolis all about this affair. I’d be ashamed of myself if I were you.”
“That’s straight,” chuckled Grat Wallace. “He’sgetting to be a regular masher. He’s not content to keep the upper classes guessing about hazing, and saving torpedo boats at sea, and such little things, but he needs must——”
He dodged to escape a blow from Clif’s hand, and darted in high glee to the forecastle.
“Better go down and get those wet duds off,” advised Toggles. “You’ll look better.”
“Clif Faraday, what is the matter with the diver boy?” demanded Joy, solemnly. “He’s looking at this ship as if he would like to eat it.”
Clif glanced out through the nearest port. Pedro was still crouched in the stern of his little boat.
He gave a howl of anger on catching sight of Faraday, and added, with a choice collection of Portuguese epithets:
“Wait till I catch you on shore. I fix you. I make you sorry you dive. You see, dog of a Yankee.”
“He seems excited,” observed Clif, calmly. “His mind must have given way under the strain, poor fellow——”
Nanny stooped and snatched up a wet swab. Flungwith unerring aim, it caught the vociferous lad in the face and bowled him over with neatness and dispatch.
A laugh greeted the shot. It was followed by cries of rage from the half-dozen diver boys in their little boats alongside the ship.
Pedro, the leader, gave a signal, and the flotilla paddled toward the dock. Clif went below to change his clothing, after a last glance in Juanita Windom’s direction, and the episode was closed save for one thing.
Standing near one of the open ports was Judson Greene. With him was Spendly.
“Did you see that Portuguese, Spendly?” asked Judson, in an eager voice.
“Yes.”
“Hear what he said?”
“He threatened Faraday.”
“Yes. Well, there’s a chance for us, I think.”
“What do you mean?”
“We’ll go ashore and see if we can’t use that fellow, Pedro, to help us get square.”
An hour later word was passed that the liberty party would leave for shore at once.
When liberty is given on a man-of-war the whole crew does not go ashore, but only a watch, or part of a watch.
The liberty party from the oldMonongahelawas composed of one-half of the port watch, and the forty odd cadets composing it glanced back in gleeful triumph at their less fortunate mates, who were watching their progress with lugubrious faces from the forward deck.
Conspicuous among the latter were Grat Wallace and Trolley, neither of whom were member of that half of the port watch.
They were doubly sorry that their names had not been included. They regretted that they were not going ashore and also that Clif, whom they liked and admired more than words could tell, would not be able to go with them on the morrow.
For Clif was in one of the boats speeding ashore, andnaval cadets on a practice cruise are not permitted liberty two days in succession.
With Clif in the leading cutter were Joy and Nanny. And in the whaleboat following were Judson Greene and Chris Spendly.
Judson was very thoughtful on the way to the beach. He replied only in monosyllables to the chatter of his crony. He was evolving in his mind a scheme by which the boy Pedro’s newly developed hatred of Clif could be worked to the latter’s undoing.
And he was also going over in his mind the reasons why he, himself, hated Clif so bitterly. The thoughts carried him back to Annapolis and beyond.
There was a long list of little plots and conflicts and rather shady schemes Judson had originated, but he always had been worsted in all these conflicts.
This enmity started in Hartford, Conn., from which city both had entered the academy, and it had continued until the present moment.
When the cadets landed at the main dock they found a crowd of idlers gathered there, possibly attracted by the rumor that a number of American naval cadets would pay a visit ashore.
Curious spectators, beggars, small boys, boatmen, and all that go to make up the water-front population of a city like Lisbon, thronged the street outside the gate and made complimentary and other remarks as the boys passed from the dock.
In the background, partially concealed behind a group of spectators, was a lean, brown-skinned boy with shifty, furtive eyes and a shock of black hair.
He was clad only in a light shirt and trousers, both of which showed signs of recent contact with water. As the naval cadets trouped past he watched them eagerly until three walking together and laughing merrily came into view.
Then his little eyes contracted, his face darkened with rage, and the nails of his clinched fists bit deep into the flesh.
He drew back, but not before he was observed by two cadets who had loitered behind their companions. They walked on a few paces, then dropped back and approached the barefoot boy.
“I say, aren’t you the chap who was diving for pennies alongside the ship this morning?” asked one, with assumed carelessness.
The boy glared at them defiantly, and made a reply in Portuguese.
“Drop that lingo,” sharply exclaimed the cadet. “I know you can speak English because I heard you. Your name is Pedro, and you were defeated in a dive by one of our fellows.”
Pedro made an inarticulate sound in his throat and moved away as if with the intention of leaving the newcomers.
“I guess you had better wait a while if you care to get square with that fellow,” said Judson Greene—for it was he—placing one hand upon the lad’s shoulder. “We know all about the affair, and we are ashore to help you out a little if we feel like it. Any place about here where we can get a drink and have a quiet chat?”
Pedro eyed them for a moment from under his black brows, then he gave a little nod, and without a word, trotted off.
A brief period later the three precious rascals, Judson, Chris Spendly and Pedro were busily talking in the back room of a lowfonda, or drinking resort, on one of the side streets leading from the water front.
In the meantime the rest of the liberty party wasmerrily proceeding toward the center of the city, attracting favorable greetings from shopkeepers, and glances of admiration from the pretty girls along the way, for the American naval cadet ashore is both liberal with his money, and gallant in his personal appearance.
Clif, Joy and Nanny were walking together and their hearts were light within them.
Three weeks on board ship with tumbling decks, close quarters and stormy winds made good dry land very attractive.
Joy alone looked gloomy. He was a human paradox. When his spirits were lightest his face showed the deepest depression.
“It’s worth while spending a long time at sea to get such an appreciation of mother earth,” laughed Clif, executing the first steps of a hornpipe. “Eh, Joy, old boy?”
“Oh, I don’t know; there are other pleasures,” sighed the lanky plebe. “And this isn’t such a great place after all. It looks nice enough from the ship, but——”
“‘Distance lends enchantment to the view,’” quoted Nanny, sagely. “You are right there. These houses that seemed so pretty with their different colors are notso much after all. The most of them are simply baked mud whitewashed or bluewashed or greenwashed, as the case may be. And look at the streets. Humph! they aren’t as wide as an alley at home.”
“I am sorry you boys are not pleased with the state of affairs,” said Clif, gayly. “I’ll see the king and have things attended to. There is one thing you must acknowledge though—the girls are handsome.”
“You noticed that quick enough,” sniffed Nanny, who had rather a contempt for the opposite sex. “You got a girl in Annapolis before you’d been there two days, and you picked up another here before the anchor chain had finished rattling through the hawse pipes. It’s a wonder you didn’t run across a couple of durned mermaids on the way over.”
Clif laughed.
“How can I help it, kidlets?” he replied, with a wink at Joy. “Don’t I try to keep the girls off? But they will fly to me like—like——”
“Niggers to a watermelon patch,” suggested Joy, gravely.
By this time the cadets had reached one of the mainthoroughfares. As usual in such cases, they paired off and went in different directions.
Clif and his two chums remained together.
“We will take a look at the town and then I’ll leave you for a while,” announced the former.
“Going to call on Miss Juanita Windom, I suppose?” said Joy.
“Yes.”
“I think you might stay with us instead of chasing after a girl you never saw until this morning,” complained Nanny.
“I am not due there until four,” laughed Clif. “It’s now one, and we will have almost three hours in which to do the city. What more do you want, youngster?”
Nanny was compelled to acknowledge contentment, and the trio of friends strolled about the streets and visited the great cathedral, and conducted themselves much as boys do under similar circumstances.
At half-past three Clif called a carriage in front of the Praça do Dom Pedro, the principal square of Lisbon, and gave the driver a card upon which he had written Miss Windom’s address.
“I’ll meet you at six or thereabouts on the dock,chums,” he called back to Joy and Nanny. “Take care of yourselves and don’t get into any scrapes.”
“I have a contract to punch Judson Greene’s head if I run across him,” growled Joy. “He’s ashore, you know.”
“Yes. I saw him. But don’t waste any time getting into a row with the fellow,” replied Faraday. “He isn’t worth it. Ta! ta!”
They stood for a moment, and watched him whirl away, then they sadly turned and sauntered across the square.
If either had continued watching the carriage a trifle longer they might have seen something rather surprising.
While the vehicle was rumbling past the northern corner of the plaza, a lithe, brown-limbed, barefooted boy darted from behind a group of chattering beggars and swung on behind the carriage.
The top was down, but Clif was too engrossed in thought to discover the fellow. On went the conveyance through the miserably paved streets, on past churches and stores and residences, and away from the main portion of the city to a quiet, highly respectable suburb where the houses rested in detached grounds abloom with a wealth of semi-tropical verdure.
When the carriage finally slackened up a short distance from a pretty villa, the unbidden passenger was still swinging behind, but he leaped nimbly to the ground and darted into the shadow of a tree in time to escape notice.
The driver placidly overcharged Clif fourfold, and drove away, leaving the cadet to enter the grounds, where he received a hearty and blushing welcome from Juanita and her friend.
An hour later another carriage entered the street. It was of the same class as the first, but the box wasoccupied by a stalwart, black-browed native with a scowling face.
He drove slowly through the street, then turned back again, as if awaiting a call.
Time passed; the sun touched the western hills and disappeared, and the mist of an early twilight gathered over the city. A distant clock sounded the hour of six. From the great cathedral came a mellow chiming of bells, followed by a discordant clatter from some less favored church.
Suddenly the ornamented gate in front of the Windom villa opened and Clif emerged, gallantly lifting his naval cap to those inside.
He glanced hastily at his watch, then with a half-suppressed exclamation of surprise, looked about for a conveyance.
The carriage which had been loitering in the vicinity was coming briskly toward him. He hailed it, leaped inside, and was soon leaving the vicinity.
While passing a nearby corner Clif chanced to look over toward a barefoot lad standing under a wall lamp.
“Gorry! it’s that little beggar, Pedro,” he muttered.“What’s he doing out here, I wonder? Guess he saw me from the expression on his face.”
He fell to musing over the diving episode of the morning. From that to his extremely pleasant afternoon with Juanita was but a step, and Pedro’s scowling face speedily gave way to the beautiful, attractive countenance of the girl.
It was growing dark very rapidly.
The carriage rattled along over the rough cobbles and through streets entirely unfamiliar to the young cadet.
Presently it drew up with a jerk and Clif, aroused from a reverie, looked about him. He saw the façade of a large church on one side, and a small garden, inclosed by an iron railing, on the other.
It was high ground and through the trees of the park could be seen the spires of a number of chapels in the lower part of the city.
The street was apparently deserted, but lights here and there indicated the presence of inhabited residences.
Clif looked questioningly at the driver.
“Why did you stop here?” he asked at a venture.
“Me wanta show you fine view, señor,” replied the man, respectfully.
“View? I don’t care to see any view. Drive on; I want to reach the dock at once.”
“But, señor, it take you one minute. It ver’ fine view. All visitor come here at this time night. It no good any other time. You like-a it ver’ much. You no regret.”
Clif liked nature, especially in the shape of picturesque scenery. He knew that he would be late in meeting his chums, but he could not resist the temptation.
“Hurry up, then,” he said, springing from the carriage.
He did not see the triumphant gleam in the driver’s eyes as the fellow prepared to follow him, nor would he have understood the meaning if he had. Suspicion of evil was very far from Clif’s mind just then.
The horses were drawn up to the side of the street and left standing. As Clif and the driver entered the little park, which seemed untenanted, a brown-limbed lad, lithe and sinewy, hastily entered by another gate.
He was panting for breath as if from a long and hard run, but he did not slacken speed among the trees and bushes a few paces behind the others.
The driver glanced back once and saw him, but Clifcontinued on unsuspectingly to where the park ended abruptly at a low stone rampart.
Beyond this was a steep declivity—a stone precipice—which extended down with scarcely a break to the roofs of the houses one hundred feet below.
The face of the precipice was of rock with here and there a tuft of scraggly vegetation growing in the small crevices.
Clif paid little attention to these details. He was lost in admiration of the really beautiful view stretched out before him.
Darkness was almost at hand, but away in the east, a soft rosy glow still lingered above the hills. Down below at his feet was a panorama of lights and shadows, twinkling sparks of fire, and black objects grotesque in their vagueness.
The river flowed beyond the town, lighter in color and bearing smudges which on nearer view would have resolved themselves into steamers and ships and fishing craft of many sizes.
This much Clif saw and admired, then he remembered the lateness of the hour and was on the point of turningto go when suddenly he felt a pair of sinewy arms clasped about his body.
A low voice hissed some command in Portuguese, then a soft object, evidently a coat, was thrown over his head and wound tightly.
He struggled, of course, and tried to cry out, but the muffled sounds went no further than his lips.
He writhed and tugged and fought madly to free himself, but those inflexible arms did not yield.
A hand snatched away his watch, another went through his pockets with practiced deftness, then came a muttered exclamation, and the lad found himself being lifted from the ground.
This last movement wrung a cry of terror from his lips. He knew the intention of his assailants.
They meant to hurl him from the wall!
Crying frantically for help, Clif made one final, desperate effort to escape.
He struggled to free his arms until the muscles stood out in great bands; he kicked and butted, fought with hand and knee and teeth, but he was slowly and surely forced back against the hard stone rampart.
Then came the end. There was a last mighty effort, then a wild cry rang out into the night echoing down, down, down until a soft, crouching thud placed an abrupt period to the horrible shriek.
And then, silence!
In a back room of a disreputable drinking resort on a narrow street leading from the water front were seated two youths clad in the uniform worn by United States naval cadets.
On the table between them were a bottle and two glasses. Both youths were smoking cigarettes, and both appeared ill at ease.
“I can’t stand this much longer, Chris,” said one, nervously flipping the ash from his cigarette. “If that little beggar don’t turn up pretty soon——”
“You’ll go and look for him,” interrupted the other, with a sneer.
“Don’t be a fool. How could I find him in this confounded city?”
He snapped open his watch and added, abruptly:
“Almost seven. Confound it! what can be keeping him?”
“Probably had trouble finishing—— What’s the matter?”
The other had banged the table with his clinched fist.
“Shut up, will you?” he snarled. “Haven’t you any sense, talking like that? Do you want to get us—us hanged? People may be listening. It isn’t so anyway. Nothing was to be done except giving—except giving Far—him a scare.”
Chris Spendly slowly sent a cloud of smoke toward the ceiling. He smiled grimly. “We won’t argue that question, Judson,” he drawled. “But when you cough up fifty dollars and promise fifty more, it’s not for the purpose of giving people a scare. And that’s true enough.”
Before his companion could reply there was a sound at a door leading to the rear yard. Both sprang to their feet, Judson white-faced and trembling.
A lithe, sinewy, barefooted lad hurriedly entered the room. He was breathing heavily, and his face was mottled white as if from deadly fear.
He tried to speak, but before the words could form themselves an interruption came in the shape of a loud knock at the door opening into the bar.
With a gasping cry, the lad vanished in the directionwhence he had come. The cry was echoed by Judson, who stood cowering near the table.
“We are suspected,” he moaned. “It has been done, and they are after——”
“Stop that, you fool!” grated Spendly. “How can they suspect us?”
He strode to the door and fumbled at the key unsteadily. He was pale, but there was desperate determination written in his face.
At last the lock yielded and the door flung open revealing—the man in charge of the place.
“You want more drink?” he asked, in broken English, bowing humbly.
“No!” snarled Chris, tossing him a piece of money.
“Come on,” he added to Judson. “It’s time we were at the dock.”
They had presence of mind enough to saunter forth leisurely, but once free of the ill-favored resort they quickened their steps almost to a run.
“It won’t do for you to be seen looking like that,” exclaimed Spendly, roughly, passing under a street lamp. “Brace up, you fool. You would give yourself away to a blind man.”
Judson pulled himself together with an effort. He was ghastly pale, but he walked steadily as they resumed their way toward the dock.
They found the majority of the liberty party gathered there awaiting the hour set for returning on board.
It was on the stroke of eight and the boats were already on their way ashore.
Shortly after Judson and Chris reached the dock, a carriage drove up and Joy and Nanny leaped out close to where the former were standing.
Joy glanced anxiously from one to the other of the group of cadets. His face was even more grave than usual. And Nanny looked as if tears were not far away from his eyes.
“I say,” called out the lanky plebe, “has any one seen Faraday?”
Judson and Spendly shrank back into the shadows.
“No,” replied a first class cadet named Blakely. “He ought to be here. Why, what’s up? You fellows look worried.”
“We can’t understand why Clif isn’t here, that’s all. He went out to a place in the suburbs at four o’clock and was to meet us on the dock at six. We’ve been up tothe house where he called and they said he left there in a carriage shortly before dark.”
“He may have stopped somewhere on the way back.”
“No. Clif is not the fellow to break a promise if he could help it.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” came from the shadows back of Blakely. “He’s not so much. I guess he’d break more than a promise if it came to the point.”
“You wouldn’t dare to say that to his face, Chris Spendly,” retorted Nanny, warmly. “He’d make you shake in your boots.”
Chris discreetly remained silent. His malignant nature had caused him to revile the boy whom he knew in his vicious heart was lying mangled and bleeding at the foot of the bluff, but he had sense enough not to carry it too far.
And Judson was frantically plucking at his sleeve and begging him to remain quiet for Heaven’s sake.
“I think you will see Faraday showing up in ample time, youngsters,” said Blakely, kindly, addressing Joy and Nanny. “There isn’t any reason why he shouldn’t.”
“Here come the boats!” suddenly exclaimed a cadet.
Three men-of-war cutters dashed in from the darkness and rounded to alongside the landing steps.
An officer sprang out, glanced at his watch, then cried briskly:
“The liberty party will fall in and answer promptly as the names are called.”
He produced a paper and rapidly read from it by the light of a boat lantern held by the coxswain.
“Mr. Andrews.”
“Present, sir.”
“Mr. Blakely.”
“Present, sir.”
“Mr. Caldwell.”
“Here, sir.”
“Donovan.”
“Present, sir.”
“Mr. Faraday.”
No reply. The line of cadets shifted uneasily and a subdued murmur arose.
“Mr. Faraday,” repeated the ensign, in a louder voice.
Still no answer.
“Any one seen Mr. Faraday?” was the next question, given impatiently.
“Not since four o’clock, sir,” replied Joy, glumly. “He went visiting and has probably been detained.”
“He knows the hour. We can’t wait longer than three minutes.”
The officer’s watch snapped with a determined click. The time passed slowly. Many anxious eyes were directed toward the gate at the end of the dock, for Clif, by his manliness and sturdy independence, won more than one friend even among the enemy.
“Time’s up! Get into the boats,” at last came from the ensign.
Joy and Nanny obeyed with evident reluctance, but Chris Spendly and Judson Greene seemed surprisingly eager to shake the dust of the city from their feet.
“I do not like to report Mr. Faraday absent,” said the young officer, as he took his place in the stern of the first cutter, “but duty is duty. Up oars! Ready! Let fall——”
“Cutter, ahoy!”
The hail, clear and sharp, came from the other end of the dock. The gate swung back and a youth clad in a naval cadet uniform ran toward the boats.
As he passed under a light a cry came from one of the cutters:
“Clif Faraday!”
The cry was followed by a commotion in the boat.
“What’s the matter there?” called out the ensign, sternly.
“Judson Greene has fainted, sir.”
A little later a group composed of the majority of the plebes and a sprinkling of upper class cadets was gathered around Clif as he leaned against the pivot gun on theMonongahela’sforecastle.
The faces of all save the central figure were expressive of the liveliest interest and excitement.
“And they got you against the stone rampart in the park, you say?” eagerly questioned Grat Wallace.
“Yes,” replied Clif. “There were two of them, the driver of the carriage and that scoundrelly little diver, Pedro. I thought my end had come. In fact, to use a common expression, I saw my finish. I had no intention of giving up, though.”
“Not you,” broke out Nanny.
“Thanks,” laughed Clif; then he continued:
“I don’t know how it happened without”—his voicegrew soft and reverend—“the Almighty interposed and aided me. All I know is that we were struggling on the very edge of the stone rampart when the driver slipped over the edge and”—Clif shuddered—“fell down to a horrible death.”
“Served him right!” exclaimed more than one voice.
“I whipped the coat from my head just in time to see Pedro disappear among the trees. I gave chase, but he escaped me. I was pretty well shaken up, I tell you, but I managed to reach the central police headquarters and told my story to an interpreter.”
“And the driver?”
“They found him an hour later on the roof of a house at the foot of the bluff. He was a mass of broken bones.”
“And all this was done simply because you made that little Portuguese diver angry this morning?” said one of the group.
“I suppose so,” replied Clif, thoughtfully; “but it does seem the fellow must have had some other reason than petty revenge and robbery. If so, it’s bound to come out some day.”
“Haw, ye don’t mean to say the blawsted thing will fire a shot forty miles?”
“Thirty-nine miles, two hundred and fifty yards, fifty-six feet and eleven inches is the exact record, sir.”
“But, don’t ye know, that’s almost as far as it is from Lun’nun to Oxford, bah Jove!”
“Just thirteen feet, three inches further, sir.”
“Haw!”
“The charge is the most peculiar part of it, sir.”
“Ya-as?”
“Very peculiar. In fact, you would hardly believe it.”
Clif, who was the speaker, leaned confidentially toward his companion, and added, in an impressive whisper:
“We use green Holland cheese, sir.”
“What! Bah Jove, you cawn’t use cheese to fire a gun, don’t you know?”
“Fact, sir. I’m not supposed to give the secret away, but I know you won’t repeat it. The AmericanGovernment is very progressive, sir. And the American naval officer is great on inventions. It was a cadet that invented the ‘cheesite,’ as the new explosive is called. He made the discovery in a very queer way.”
Clif paused a second for breath, then he continued in the same impressive tone:
“He was a shipmate of mine at the academy, sir. His name was Mudd. Funny name, eh? Well, Mudd was very fond of Dutch cheese. Ate it all the time. One day he brought a pound or two into our room—I bunked with him, you know—and hid it in the stove. There happened to be a little fire in it, and bless me if the cheese and heat didn’t generate gas and blow the room into the middle of the Severn River. I was nearly drowned trying to swim ashore.”
“Haw! Most extraordinary. Must make a note of it.”
“Great, isn’t it? Well, Mudd—when he left the hospital, had three ribs broken and lost a piece of his solar plexus—he experimented on the ‘cheesite,’ found the gas, and is now worth a million. Great, isn’t it?”
Clif’s companion was an Englishman of about twenty-three. He had a full, round red face with a pair of pronounced “mutton-chop” whiskers. A single glass, ormonocle, was screwed tightly in one eye; and he was dressed in tweeds of the loudest patterns.
There was a vacant, open-mouthed expression on his face that seemed peculiarly appropriate to his general appearance.
The young naval cadet finished his remarkable description of the discovery of “cheesite” without the slightest indication of mirth.
“Haw! Most extraordinary invention!” exclaimed the Englishman. “But you Americans, don’t ye know, are extraordinary creatures, anyway. Haw! I had a cousin who went across the pond a few years ago. Landed in Ohio or some other town, I believe, and started the most peculiar business. Haw! it was really remarkable.”
He stopped to give his glass another twist, and continued, with a yawn:
“Haw! the cousin was a queer fellow. He ran away to—aw!—Africa or Iceland when he was a youngster, and had a wild time of it. Then he settled down in Lun’nun, and——”
“What was the queer business he was in?”
“Yas. He settled in the town of Ohio and started a shop, don’t you know. Haw! haw! It was deucedcomical. I split me sides every time I think of it, don’t ye know.”
“But the business?”
“The business? Haw! I forgot what it was, ye know. But it was a blasted peculiar thing. Haw!”
Clif laughed.
“I am deuced obliged to you for your trouble, don’t ye know,” resumed his companion, extracting an elaborate case from his coat. “Here’s me pasteboard. I—aw—would be delighted to see you again.”
“Thanks. I haven’t a card with me, but my name is Faraday, Clifford Faraday, and I am a naval cadet of the new fourth class on board this practice ship, theMonongahela. We left Annapolis, Maryland, where our naval academy is situated, several weeks ago, and have been here in Lisbon three days.”
Clif read the card. The words, finely engraved, were:
“J. Chesire-Cheshire Cate,“London, England.”
It was shortly before noon. The presence of the old American frigate, which, despite her age, was trim andneat aloft and alow, had attracted a number of visitors from the city.
The officers of the ship and the naval cadets forming the crew, always gallant and hospitable, had welcomed them heartily, and were showing the vessel.
To Clif’s lot had fallen this exaggerated specimen of the genus Briton, and the cadet’s delight was great.
He proceeded to spin yarns that even the proverbial marine would not listen to, but J. Chesire-Cheshire Cate simply looked vacant and said “Haw!”
The day was bright and pleasant, and the crowd of visitors was constantly increasing. Theéliteof the city had evidently selected this day on which to inspect the “Yankee” practice ship, as the visitors were altogether of the better class.
The broad spar deck was thronged with handsome girls and well-dressed gentlemen. The gay European costumes, interspersed here and there with the attractive uniforms of the officers and the natty dress of the cadets, formed an inspiring scene.
A band, made up of naval cadets, discoursed sweet music from a tastefully decorated stand on thequarter-deck. From the spanker-gaff floated the Stars and Stripes resplendent in new bunting.
While Clif was reading the inscription on the card given him, Nanny hurriedly approached him, and said, in a stage whisper:
“She’s coming, Clif. She’s in a boat alongside.”
“Who? Not——”
“Yes. It’s the girl. It’s Miss Juanita. She’s got another girl with her.”
“Thanks,” replied Clif, hurriedly. Turning to J. Chesire-Cheshire Cate, he added:
“Please excuse me, sir. I wish to meet a friend.”
“Certainly, by all means, deah boy,” drawled the Englishman, waving his monocle. “I am deuced obliged to you for your—aw!—kindness, don’t ye know. Pray consider my rooms ashore your—aw—home. Glad to see you again, don’t ye know.”
As Clif hurried toward the gangway something very like a scowl came into J. C.-C. Cate’s previously vacant face, and he muttered beneath his breath:
“Miss Windom coming aboard here? And she knows this young cub of an American. What complications will this lead to?”
Clif reached the gangway ladder just as Juanita Windom stepped down to the deck, accompanied by another girl of her own age.
When she espied the young cadet she blushed slightly, and held out her hand, with a winning smile.
“This is indeed a pleasure, Miss Windom,” he said, with even more earnestness than the remark warranted.
“To me, Mr. Faraday,” the fair young girl replied, laughingly. “I have been longing for the time when I could return your visit of—of—when was it, Elna?”
“Such a long, long time ago,” responded her companion, mischievously. “It was day before yesterday.”
“Only day before yesterday,” laughed Juanita Windom, with a shy glance at Cliff, who looked extremely self-conscious under the battery of such eyes. “Why, it seems months since you called at the house. And the dreadful adventure you had at the upper plaza when that horrid driver tried to rob you, and throw you down the cliff.It was in the papers yesterday. You must tell me all about it, Mr. Faraday.”
“I will be delighted——”
“Haw!”
The little group turned at the sound. The Englishman, monocle screwed tightly in his eye, was making a profound bow to Juanita.
“Haw! delighted, Miss Windom. Delighted to see you on board, don’t ye know. Beautiful—aw!—day; lovely weather, lovely girls, and you—aw!—the fairest of them all.”
“Haw!”
The exclamation did not come from the Briton, and he looked at Clif, finding that youth apparently engaged in the innocent occupation of arranging the strap of his cap.
Juanita and her friend repressed their laughter with difficulty.
“Haw! it must have been an echo, don’t ye know. Fawncy hearing one’s own voice when you didn’t speak. Deuced good joke, eh?”
And the Englishman burst into a hearty laugh. But there was something in it that did not ring true to Clif.
By skillful maneuvering Clif succeeded in bringingJuanita’s friend and J. Chesire-Cheshire Cate together, then he boldly walked off with the fair beauty of Lisbon.
“There is a splendid view of the river from the other side of the deck, Miss Windom,” he said, leading the way past the mainmast. “I fancied you did not care to remain with that gentleman,” he added, frankly, when they were alone. “And, anyway, I wished to tell you all about my adventure of the day before yesterday.”
“And I am eager to hear it,” replied the girl. She continued gravely: “As for Mr. Cate, I do not like him. There is something about the man that repels me. He is a business acquaintance of father, and I met him while he was dining at our home.”
“A business acquaintance,” smiled Clif. “One would never connect business with—aw!—J. Chesire-Cheshire Cate, don’t ye know.”
Juanita laughed.
“It is not what you would call business exactly,” she replied. “Father is interested in pearls. It is a hobby and he has spent a long time and a great deal of money in collecting them. He has one of the largest collections in the world, I believe. This Mr. Cate is trying to complete a certain necklace, and he came all the way from Londonto see if father has one of the required size. He has, but I do not think he will part with it.”
“So that is the story of Mr. Cate, eh?” said Clif. “Well, we’ll talk on a more pleasant subject.”
“Tell me about your adventure with——”
She was interrupted by a commotion at the gangway. A splendidly equipped barge, glittering with brass and polished wood, dashed alongside, and an officer fairly covered with gold lace ascended to the deck.
He was met by the executive officer and conducted to the cabin. A few minutes later he reappeared and was rowed ashore.
Then orderlies ran here and there, officers hurried below, and a general air of excitement prevailed.
“Something is in the wind,” said Clif. “That officer brought an important message. Ah! there goes the boatswain’s mate to pass a call.”
A sturdy old sailor, with the insignia of a petty officer upon his sleeve, rolled to the vicinity of the mainmast and gave a long, shrill whistle, adding in a deep, salty voice that had been trained in many a gale:
“A-a-all hands-s-s, dress ship! And st-stand by to man yards. Look lively!”
Like wildfire the word went along the deck:
“The king is coming on board!”
“I believe that is right,” Clif said to Juanita. “They are certainly excited enough. Well, I must leave you for a little while. Duty calls me up on one of those yards. Please do not go away until I see you again.”
“I am afraid I must,” the girl replied. “I promised to lunch with father in the city. I’ll stay a moment to see the king, though. By the way, Mr. Faraday, father would be pleased to have you call at the house this evening if you come ashore.”
“And you?” asked the lad, softly.
“What a question!” murmured Juanita, her eyes falling under his ardent gaze. “Why, I—I—that is—my father’s wish is law, you know. I must coincide with what he says.”
“No, that is not enough,” persisted Clif.
“Well, if you insist,” laughed the girl, “I’ll say——”
“Haw! here you are, my dear Miss Windom. Ha! ha! you quite escaped us. Deuced cruel of you, don’t ye know.”
The Englishman sauntered up, twirling his monocle in an affected manner. Turning to Clif, he added:
“What’s the row, dear boy? Are you going to bombard the blooming town?”
“No,” shortly replied Faraday. “The king is coming on board.”
The effect of this commonplace announcement upon the Englishman was remarkable.
He started as if struck; his face became ashen in color, and he appeared to breathe with difficulty.
“What is the matter?” asked Clif, startled. “Are you ill?”
“No—no, a little attack, that’s all, don’t ye know,” replied Cate, recovering himself with an effort. Another moment and he had regained his usual composure.
“Haw! bah Jove, Richard is himself again,” he drawled, carefully adjusting his eyeglass. “So his royal highness is coming aboard? I’ll be glad to—aw—meet him, don’t ye know.”
“And so will he be glad to meet you—not,” replied the cadet, the last wordsotto voce.
With a low bow and a smile to Juanita, he hurried away to his station.
The two girls strolled to the other side of the quarter-deck as if unconscious of the Englishman’s presence.
Once alone, the latter’s face again took on that hunted expression noticed by Clif. He leaned against one of the broadside guns and stared absently through the port.
“It is fate,” he muttered; “grim fate. It is ordered and must be done. It’s a pity, too. The other chance was so good. Just think of it; strings of them, and each worth a fortune. And the girl, too. If I had the opportunity and that cub of a boy was out of the way—but what’s the use of dreaming? Duty first, then pleasure. Yes, pleasure, if”—he laughed mirthlessly—“if I live to enjoy it.”
A shrill piping of the boatswain’s whistle interrupted his soliloquy, and he turned to see a rainbow of gay bunting flaunt bravely from a line stretched over the three mast trucks.
Some one near him pointed in the direction of the shore, and exclaimed that the king was putting off in the royal barge.
There was a rush for the side, but J. Chesire-Cheshire Cate remained in his former position, the expression upon his face becoming more and more pronounced.
In the meantime Clif had joined the other cadets in the work of preparing the ship for the royal visitor.
Being a plebe, Clif’s duty did not carry him above the deck, but he found plenty to do elsewhere.
Shortly after he left Juanita the crew were called to quarters. Each cadet hurried to his station at one of the guns and stood at attention with military precision.
A moment later the saluting battery opened fire and thundered forth the national salute of twenty-one guns.
The sulphurous vapor from the last discharge had barely lifted above the hammock netting when the cannon in the fort ashore began.
The distant booming of artillery, the smoke enshrouding the old practice ship, the scores of bright flags fluttering from the masts, and the silent groups of uniformed men and cadets lined up on each side of the snowy decks formed an inspiriting scene—one to tarry long in the memory.
Clif with Joy, Trolley and Nanny were stationed at the after starboard broadside gun.
From where he stood Faraday could see the visitors grouped on the port side of the deck. He managed to catch a fleeting gleam from Juanita’s sparkling eyes, then his gaze wandered to a figure clad in the loudest of loud English checks.
It was J. Chesire-Cheshire Cate.
The doughty Briton had dropped his eyeglass and was staring eagerly toward the gangway. To Clif, who was not more than fifteen feet away, his face seemed absolutely transfigured.
He no longer wore the vacuous, simpering expression, but into his face had crept an air of desperate determination so intense that Clif marveled at the sight.
“I say, Trolley,” he whispered to the Japanese youth, who stood next to him, “just look at that blooming Englishman.”
“He sick?”
“No, but he seems greatly excited. That fellow is a mystery to me. I thought at first he was an empty-headed dude, but, by George, I believe he is playing a part.”
“What for?” queried Joy, who had overheard him.
“I don’t know,” replied Clif, “but I’ll keep my eyes on him just the same.”
Joy winked at Trolley.
“It’s a case of jealousy,” he said. “Clif doesn’t like the way he is hanging around Miss Windom.”
Faraday laughed easily.
“If you knew her you would see the ridiculousness of your remark,” he retorted. “She——”
“Silence there,” sharply called out the gun captain. “Attention!”
There was a rattle of drums, a blare of bugles, then a stout, dark-featured man with a heavy, curled mustache and a full sweeping beard stepped down from the gangway.
The side was manned by a number of officers who raised their caps in a salute as the visitor passed them.
It was Dom Carlos the First, King of Portugal.
He was accompanied by a gayly uniformed suite composed of naval and military officers, but he, himself, was attired in simple civilian clothes.
Captain Brookes, at the head of his staff, advanced to meet the royal visitor. Bowing profoundly he uttered a few words of welcome and led the way toward the cabin.
Clif, after one quick glance at the king, again turned his attention to Cate, the Englishman.
The fellow had stepped back, crouching behind the group of absorbed spectators, but his face was plainly visible.
The expression of implacable hatred upon it sent a flood of light through Clif’s mind, and he involuntarily advanced a pace from the gun.
“Get back there,” came sternly from the petty officer in charge. “What do you mean by——”
He stepped back aghast.
There was a sharp cry, a shrill note of warning, then a clamor of excited voices sounded through the ship.
A figure clad in cadet blue was seen to leave the after starboard gun and with one great leap reach the side of Dom Carlos.
It was Clif!
At the same moment a man, who had bounded from among the spectators, sprang upon the king.
There was a glitter of steel, then as the threatened monarch staggered back to avoid the blow, a pair of little arms were thrown about the would-be assassin’s body!