"Meet me at three on the granite paving-stones. The weather is fine, but got no specimens. There is no suspicion as you have directed, but I'm afraid wrong."F.
"Meet me at three on the granite paving-stones. The weather is fine, but got no specimens. There is no suspicion as you have directed, but I'm afraid wrong."
F.
"Well, that's a fine muddle for somebody to make out when they get it," mused Jack, as he sent out a call for the Fowey Station.
"Must be some sort of a cipher the old fellow is using. He's a dry sort of old stick. Goodness! How scared he was when he saw that man lying outside his door. I thought he was going to faint or something."
"Wonder what sort of a cipher that is," mused Jack, as he waited for an answer to his call. "Looks to me as if it's one of those numerical ciphers where every second or third or fourth or fifth word is taken from the context and composes a message. Guess I'll try and work it out some time. It'll be something to do. And, hullo, he signs himself 'F'."
Jack looked up at the printed passenger-list that hung before him. "Professor F. Dusenberry" was the last of the "D's"
"His initial," thought Jack, "but it's a funny coincidence that it should be the same as that of the man the diamond merchant was warned to watch out for, and that it should have been the professor's door outside of which he was struck down."
Having dispatched the message, Jack sat back in his chair and mused over the future of the Universal Detector. It was a fascinating subject to day-dream over, but his reverie was rudely interrupted by a sharp summons from space.
"Yes—yes—yes," he shot back, "who—is—it?"
"This is theOriana," came back the reply, "Hamburg for New York. We are in distress."
"What's the trouble?"
The spark crackled and writhed, as Jack's rapid fingers spelled out the message.
"We struck a half submerged derelict and our bow is stove in. We believe we are sinking. This is an S. O. S."
Then followed the position of the craft and another earnest appeal to rush to her aid. Jack roughly figured out the distances that separated the two ships.
"Will be there in about two hours," he flashed, and then hurried to Captain Turner's cabin with his message.
The captain scanned the message with contracted brow.
"TheOriana," he muttered, "I know her well. Rotten old tramp. We must have full speed ahead. Stand by your wireless, Ready, and tell them we are rushing at top speed to their aid. Confound it, though," he went on, half to himself, "this will lose us the race with the Britisher, but still if we can save the lives of those poor devils I shall be just as well satisfied."
The captain hastened to the bridge to issue his orders and change the big ship's course. Jack went quickly back to his cabin and began flashing out messages of good cheer. About half an hour later Captain Turner came along.
"Any more news, Ready?" he asked.
"No, sir. Their current is getting weak. The last time I had them the operator said that the ship was slowly settling, but that they had the steam pumps going and would keep them working till the water reached the fires. The officers were keeping the firemen at their work with revolvers."
"I've been through such scenes," remarked the captain. "It's part of a seaman's life, but it's an inferno while it lasts."
"Notify me if you hear anything further," said Captain Turner a few moments later.
"Yes, sir. Hullo, here's something coming now. It's theBorovian, of the Black Star line. She got that S. O. S. too, and is hurrying to the rescue. But she's far to the south of us."
"Yes, we shall reach theOrianalong before she does," said the captain. "By the way, Ready, I've heard that you have quite a reputation for loving adventure."
Jack colored. He did not quite make out what the captain was "driving at," as the saying is.
"I do like action, yes, sir," he replied.
"Well, then," said Captain Turner, "you've got a little excitement due to you for your prompt action last night in the case of the assault on that diamond merchant. If you want to go on the boats to theOriana, you may do so. Get Thurman to stand by the wireless while you're gone. You can make the time up to him on some other occasion."
Jack's eyes danced. He could hardly express his thanks at the opportunity for a break in the rather monotonous life on shipboard. But the captain had turned on his heel as he finished his speech and left the grateful lad alone.
Thurman was sleeping when Jack roused him. When he learned that Jack was to make one of the boat parties and that he (Thurman) was to remain on duty, the second wireless man's temper flared up.
"That's a fine thing, I must say," he growled. "You're to go on a junket while I do your work. I won't stand for it."
"Pshaw, Thurman," said Jack pacifically. "I'll do the same for you at any time you say. Besides, I heard you say once you wouldn't like to go in the small boats."
"Think I'm afraid, eh?"
"I said no such thing," retorted Jack, "I——"
"I don't care, you thought it. I'll complain to Captain Turner."
"I would not advise you to."
"Keep your advice to yourself. I've got pull enough to have you fired."
"This line treats its employees too fairly for any such claim as a 'pull' to be advanced."
"You think so, eh? Well, I'll show you. You've been acting like a swelled head all the way over, Ready," said Thurman, forgetting all bounds in his anger. "I'll find a way to fix you——"
"Say, you talk like an angry kid who's been put out of a ball game," said Jack. "I hope you get over it by the time you come on duty."
An angry snarl was Thurman's only rejoinder as Jack left the wireless operator's sleeping quarters. But the next instant all thought of Thurman was put out of his mind. The lookout had reported from the crow's-nest. On the far horizon a mighty cloud of dark smoke was rising and spreading.
Before many moments had passed it was known that fire—that greatest of sea perils—had been added to the sinkingOriana'stroubles.
As the news spread through the ship the passengers thronged to the rails. Suppressed excitement ran wild among them. Even Jack found himself unable to stay still as he thought of the lives in peril under that far-off smoke pall. All communication with the stricken ship had ceased, and Jack knew that things must have reached a crisis for her crew.
Then came an order to cast loose four boats, two on the port and two on the starboard side. Officers and men obeyed with a will. By the time they were ready to be dropped overside, the outlines of the burning steamer were plainly visible. She looked very low in the water. From her midships section smoke, in immense black clouds, was pouring.
But to Jack's surprise no boats surrounded her, as he had expected would be the case. Instead, on her stern, an old-fashioned, high-raised one, he could make out, through his glasses, a huddled mass of human figures. Suddenly one figure detached itself from the rest and Jack saw a pistol raised and aimed at the lower deck. Spurts of smoke from the weapon followed. Thrilled, Jack was about to report what he had seen to the bridge when the third officer, a young man named Billings, came up to him.
"You're in my boat," he said. "Cut along."
"Well, boys, we got here just in time," observed Mr. Billings, as the boat cut through the water.
"I'm not so sure that we have arrived in time to avert a tragedy," said Jack, and he told of the shooting that he had witnessed.
"Probably a mutiny," said Mr. Billings, with the voice of experience. "The crews on those old tramps are the riff-raff of a hundred ports. Bad men to handle in an emergency."
He had hardly finished speaking when, borne toward them on the wind, which was setting from the burning, sinking ship, came a most appalling uproar. It sounded like the shrieks of hundreds of passing souls mingled with deep roars and screeches.
Even Mr. Billings turned a shade paler under his tan.
"In the name of heaven what was that?" he exclaimed.
As he spoke a huge tawny form was seen to climb upon the rail of the rusty old steamer and then launch itself into the sea with a mighty roar.
"A lion!" exclaimed Jack, "by all that's wonderful, a lion."
"That explains the mystery of those noises and the predicament of those poor fellows crowded on the stern away from the boats," said Mr. Billings, who had quite regained his self-possession.
"But—but I don't understand," said Jack.
"That ship has a cargo of wild animals on board," explained Mr. Billings. "Such shipments are regularly made from Hamburg, her hailing port, to America. Most probably she had lions, tigers, leopards, great serpents and other animals on board. When her bow was stove in a number of cages were smashed and the wild beasts escaped."
"That accounts for the shooting I saw, then," exclaimed Jack; "they must have been firing from the raised stern at the animals which menaced them on the main deck."
"Unquestionably. I am glad I brought my own shooting iron," said Mr. Billings. "I packed it along in case we had trouble with a mutinous crew."
They were now close to the blazing ship. The heat and odor of the flames were clearly felt.
"We'll have to pull around on the weather side," decided Mr. Brown. "If we come up under the wind, we'd all be scorched before we could effect any rescues.
"Pull round the stern, my lads," he ordered.
"Aye, aye, sir," came in a deep-throated chorus from the crew.
As the four boats made under the stern, white, anxious faces looked down on them.
"Thank heaven you've come!" exclaimed the captain, whose haggard countenance showed all that he had been through. "We're just about at our last ditch. The animals we were taking from Jamrachs, in Hamburg, for an American circus, broke loose after the collision with the derelict. They've killed two of my men and maimed another."
"All right, my hearties, just hold on a minute and we'll have you out of that," exclaimed Mr. Billings cheerfully.
More roars and screeches from the loosened animals checked him. Then came more shots, telling of an attack on the stern, the only cool part of the ship left, which had been repulsed. The flames shot up, seeming to reach to the sky, and the smoke blotted out the sun, enveloping everything in the burning ship's vicinity in a sort of twilight.
"Do you think we'll be able to get all of them off?" asked Jack eagerly.
"I'm in hopes that we will," said Mr. Billings, "if nothing untoward happens."
There was, Jack noticed, a shade of anxiety in the young officer's tone. There was, then, some peril, of which he knew nothing as yet, attached to the enterprise, thought Jack. But of the nature of the danger he had no guess till later.
As the first boat, Mr. Billings' craft, drew alongside the blistering side of the burning ship, a Jacob's ladder came snaking down from the stern. At almost the same moment Jack, who had been looking upward, uttered a shout of alarm.
The fierce face of a wild beast had suddenly appeared above the rail of the blazingOriana. The next instant a great lithe, striped body streaked through the air straight for the boat. Instinctively Jack, who saw the huge form of the tiger, for that was the desperate flame-maddened creature that had made the jump, sprang for the side of the boat and dived overboard.
He was not a second too soon. The tiger struck the side of the boat in the stern just where Jack had been sitting a fragment of a minute before. The boat heeled over as the great beast, mad with terror, clawed at its sides with its fore-paws and endeavored to climb in. Mr. Billings, pale but firm, whipped out his revolver with an untrembling hand while the men, utterly unnerved, dropped their oars and shouted with alarm.
Bang! The tiger gave a struggle that almost capsized the boat. Then, suddenly, its claws relaxed their hold and it slid into the water, limp and lifeless, shot between the eyes. But where was Jack? The question just occurred to Mr. Billings when, looking up suddenly, he saw something that made him yell a swift order at the top of his lungs.
"Row for your lives, men, row. She's going to blow up!"
When Jack dived overboard he was so unnerved by the sudden apparition of the fear-frenzied tiger that he rose some distance back of the boat. He came to the surface just in time to see the slaying of the animal and hear Mr. Billings' sharp cry of warning.
Before he could attract attention the boats were all pulling at top speed from the burning ship.
"She's going to blow up!" the words etched themselves on Jack's brain with the rapidity of a photographic plate.
He saw a convulsive tremor shake the big steel fabric and the despairing shouts of the men in the stern rang in his ears. At the same moment he dived and began swimming with all his strength away from the doomed ship. Suddenly came a shock that even under water seemed to drive his ear-drums in.
Then he felt himself seized as if in a giant's grip and dragged down, down, down. His vision grew scarlet. His heart beat as if it must burst from his frame and his entire body felt as if it was being cruelly compressed in a monster vise. Jack knew what had occurred: the boilers of theOrianahad blown up and he was being carried down by the suction of the hull as it sank.
Just as he felt that he could no longer endure the strain, the dragging sensation ceased. Like a stone from a catapult Jack was projected up again to the surface of the sea. The sky, the ocean, everything burned red as flame as he regained the blessed air and sucked it in in great lungfulls.
For a moment or so he was actually unconscious. Then, as his normal functions returned, and his sight grew less blurred, he made out a hatch floating not far from him. He struck out for this and clambered upon it. The sea was strewn with the wreckage of the explosion. Beams, skylights, even charred and blistered metal liferafts floated all about him. But these did not engross Jack's attention for long after he had cast his gaze in the direction where theOrianalast lay. There he encountered an extraordinary sight.
On the surface of the ocean floated the stern section of the sunken steamer. To it still clung the occupants that he had last seen there. Jack rubbed his eyes and looked and looked again. Yes, there was no doubt about it, the after part of theOrianawas still afloat, although how long it would remain so it was impossible to say.
Jack guessed, and as it afterward transpired, guessed correctly, that the watertight bulkhead doors, which had automatically been closed all over the ship when the collision occurred, were sustaining the stern fragment of the ship on the surface. This part of theOriana, unharmed by the explosion or the collision, was now floating much as a corked bottle might be expected to do, excepting, of course, that there was a marked list to the drifting fragment.[1]
Jack now saw the scattered boats returning to the scene. The man in command of each was urging the crews on with voice and gesture. Not one had been harmed, but it was a narrow escape. Jack set up a shout, but apparently, in the excitement of racing for the floating stern part of theOriana, he was unnoticed. However, this did not alarm him, for he was sure of being able to attract attention before long.
A sudden lurch of the hatchway on which he was drifting, and the sound of a slithering motion as of some heavy body being dragged along some rough surface, made him turn his head.
What he saw made him almost lose his grip on the hatchway.
The hideous flat head and wicked eyes of a huge python faced him. The great snake, escaping somehow from the catastrophe to the menagerie ship, had swum for the same refuge Jack had chosen. Now it was dragging its brilliantly mottled body, as thick as a man's thigh, up upon the hatchway. The floating "raft" dipped under the great snake's weight, while Jack, literally petrified with horror, watched without motion or outcry.
But apparently the snake was too badly stunned by the explosion to be inclined for mischief. It coiled its great body compactly in gay-colored folds on the hatch and lay still. But Jack noticed that its mottled eyes never left his figure.
"Gracious, I can't stand this much longer," thought Jack.
He looked about him for another bit of wreckage to which he might swim and be free of his unpleasant neighbor. But the débris had all drifted far apart by this time and his limbs felt too stiffened by his involuntary dive to the depths of the ocean for him to attempt a long swim.
Not far off he could see the boats busily transferring the castaways of theOrianaon board. Supposing they pulled away from the scene without seeing him? Undoubtedly, they deemed him lost and would not make a search for him. Warmly as the sun beat down, Jack felt a chill that turned his blood to ice-water run over him at the thought. Left to drift on the broad Atlantic with a serpent for a companion and without a weapon with which to defend himself. The thought was maddening and he resolutely put it from him.
So far the great snake had lain somnolently, but now, as the sun began to warm its body, Jack saw the brilliantly colored folds begin to writhe and move. It suddenly appeared to become aware of him and raised its flat, spade-shaped head above its coils.
Its tongue darted in and out of its red mouth viciously. Jack became conscious of a strong smell of musk, the characteristic odor of serpents.
His mouth went dry with fear, although he was naturally a brave lad, as we know. A dreadful fascination seemed to hold him in thrall. He could not have moved a muscle if his life, as he believed it did, depended on his escape. The hideous head began to sway rhythmically in a sort of dance. Still Jack could not take his eyes from that swaying head and darting red tongue. A species of hypnotic spell fell over him. He heard nothing and saw nothing but the swaying snake.
All at once the head shot forward. With a wild yell Jack, out of his trance at last, fell backward off the hatch into the water. At the same instant Mr. Billings' pistol spoke. Again and again he fired it till the great snake's threshing form lay still in death. Unwilling to give Jack up for lost, although he feared in his heart that this was the case, the third officer would not leave the scene till all hope was exhausted. Sweeping the vicinity with his glasses, he had spied the impending tragedy on the hatch.
Full speed had been made to the rescue at once and, as we know, aid arrived in the nick of time. As Jack rose sputtering to the surface strong hands pulled him into the boat. He was told what had happened.
"A narrow escape," said Mr. Billings, beside whom sat Captain Sanders of the lost steamer. He looked the picture of woe.
"I owe my life to you, Mr. Billings," burst out Jack, holding out his hand.
The seaman took it in his rough brown palm.
"That's all right, my lad," he said. "Maybe you'll do as much for me some day."
And then, as if ashamed even of this display of emotion, he bawled out in his roughest voice:
"Give way there, bullies! Don't sit dreaming! Bend your backs!"
As the boats flew back toward where the great bulk of theColumbia, her rails lined with eager passengers, rested immobile on the surface of the ocean, the castaway captain turned a glance backward to the stern of his ship, which was still floating but settling and sinking fast. It was easy to guess what his thoughts were.
"That's one of the tragedies of the sea," thought Jack.
It was two days later and they were nearing Southampton, but the stop they had made to aid theOriana'screw had given the Britisher a big lead on them. The passengers eagerly clustered to read Jack's wireless bulletin from the other ship which was posted every day. Excitement ran high.
Jack had seen no more of Professor Dusenberry, but he had spent a good deal of leisure time pondering over the code message the queer little dried up man had sent. Raynor, who had quite a genius for such things, and spent much time solving the puzzles in magazines and periodicals, helped him. But they did not make much progress.
Suddenly, however, the night before they were due to reach Southampton, Jack was sitting staring at the message when, without warning, as such things sometimes will, the real sense of the message leaped at him from the page.
"Meet me atthreeon the pavingstones, the weather isfinebut got nospecimens, there is nosuspicionas you havedirectedbut I'm afraidwrong."
Taking every fourth word from the dispatch then, it read as follows:
"Three stones. Fine specimens. Suspicion directed wrong."
"Three stones. Fine specimens. Suspicion directed wrong."
Jack sat staring like one bewitched as the amazingly simple cipher revealed itself in a flash after his hours of study. Granted he had struck the right solution, the message was illuminating enough. Professor Dusenberry was a dangerous crook, instead of the harmless old "crank" the passengers had taken him for, and his cipher message was to a confederate.
But on second thought Jack was inclined to believe that it was merely a coincidence that placing together every fourth word of the jumbled message made a dispatch having a perfectly understandable bearing on the jewel theft. It was impossible to believe that Professor Dusenberry, mild and self-effacing, could have had a hand in the attack on the diamond merchant. Jack was sorely perplexed.
He was still puzzling over the matter when the object of his thoughts appeared in his usual timid manner. He wished to send another dispatch, he said. While he wrote it out Jack studied the mild, almost benevolent features of the man known as Prof. Dusenberry.
"But there's one test," he thought to himself. "If the 'fourth word' test applies to this dispatch also, the Professor is a criminal, of a dangerous type, in disguise. But he contrived to glance carelessly over the dispatch when the professor handed it to him and fumbled in his pocket for a wallet with which to pay for it. Not till the seemingly mild old man had shuffled out did Jack apply his test to it. The message read as follows:
"Columbiafast as motor-boat, watch her in Southampton. Am well and will no more time throw away on fake life-preserver."F.
"Columbiafast as motor-boat, watch her in Southampton. Am well and will no more time throw away on fake life-preserver."
F.
With fingers that actually trembled, Jack wrote down every fourth word. Here is the result he obtained:
"Motorboat Southampton. Will throw life-preserver."
"Motorboat Southampton. Will throw life-preserver."
"By the great horn-spoon," exclaimed Jack to himself, "it worked out like a charm. But still, what am I going to do? I can't go to the captain with no more evidence than this. He would not order the man detained. I have it!" he cried, after a moment of deep reflection. "The Southampton detectives have been already wirelessed about the crime and are going to board the ship. I'll flash them another message, telling them of the plan to drop the jewels overboard in a life-preserver so that they will float till the motor-boat picks them up."
Jack first, however, sent the supposed Prof. Dusenberry's message through to London, with which he was now in touch. He noted it was to the same address as before, that of a Mr. Jeremy Pottler, 38 South Totting Road, W. Then he summoned the Southampton station, and, before long, a messenger brought to the police authorities there a dispatch that caused a great deal of excitement. He had just finished doing this when Jack's attention was attracted by the re-entrance of the professor.
He wanted to look over the dispatch he had sent again, he said, but Jack noticed that his eyes, singularly keen behind his spectacles, swept the table swiftly as if in search of something. The abstract that Jack had made of the cipher dispatch lay in plain view. Jack hastily swept it out of sight by an apparently careless movement. But he felt the professor's eyes fixed on him keenly.
But if Prof. Dusenberry had observed anything he said nothing. He merely remarked that the dispatch appeared to be all right and walked out again in his peculiar shambling way.
"The old fox suspects something," thought Jack. "I wonder if he saw that little translation I took the liberty of making of his dispatch. If he did, he must have known that I smelled a rat."
Just then Raynor dropped in on his way on watch.
"Well, we're in to-morrow, Jack," he said, "but I'm afraid the Britisher will beat us out."
"I'm afraid so, too," responded Jack. "Their operator has been crowing over me all day. But at any rate it was in a good cause."
"Yes, and they're taking up a subscription for the shipwrecked men at the concert to-night, I hear, so that they won't land destitute."
"That's good; but say, Bill, you're off watch to-morrow and I want you to do something for me."
"Anything you say."
"This may involve danger."
"Great Scott, you talk like Sherlock Holmes or a dime novel. What's up?"
"I've got the man who stole those diamonds."
"What!"
"Don't talk so loud. I mean what I say. Listen."
And Jack related everything that had occurred.
"Now, what I want you to do is to watch Prof. Dusenberry, as he calls himself, to-morrow when we get into the harbor. His is an inside stateroom so that he can't throw it out of a porthole from there. He'll most likely go to one at the end of a passage."
"Yes, and then what?"
"I'd do it myself but the old fox suspects me, I half fancy, and if he saw me in the vicinity he'd change his plans. You'd better take two of your huskiest firemen with you, Billy. He's an ugly customer, I fancy, and might put up a bad fight."
"U-m-m-m, some job," mused Billy. "Why don't you put the whole thing up to the captain?"
"It would do no good the way things are now, and he might get wind of it and hide the jewels so that they couldn't be found. Anyhow, we've no proof against him till he is actually caught throwing the jewels out in that life-preserver to his confederates in the motor-boat."
"I see, you want to catch him red-handed, but what about those cipher radios?"
"There's no way of proving that I read the cipher right," said Jack. "Our only way is to do as I suggested."
"I hear that Rosenstein has offered a big reward for the recovery of the diamonds," said Billy. "He's up and about again, you know."
"Well, Billy, I think he'll have his diamonds back by to-morrow noon if we follow out my plan."
And so it was arranged. The next morning Jack received a message from Southampton:
"All ready. Does our man suspect anything?"
This was Jack's answer:
"Not so far as I know. Have a plan to catch him red-handed. You watch the motor-boat."
Saluted by the whistles of a hundred water craft, theColumbiamade stately progress into Southampton harbor. As her leviathan bulk moved majestically along under reduced speed, her whistles blowing and her flag dipping in acknowledgment of the greeting, Jack with a beating heart, stood on the upper deck watching earnestly for developments.
He knew that Billy and the two firemen he had selected to help him, on what might prove a dangerous job, were below watching Prof. Dusenberry. They all wore stewards' uniforms so that the man who Jack believed struck down the diamond merchant and stole the stones might not get suspicious at seeing them about in the corridors.
"I believe they must have changed their plans, after all," Jack was thinking when, from the shore, there shot out, at tremendous speed, a sharp-bowed, swift motor-boat. It headed straight for theColumbia. As it drew closer, Jack saw it held two men. Both were blowing a whistle, waving flags and pointing at the big ship as if they, like many other small water craft, were just out to get a glimpse of the triumph of American shipbuilders.
They maneuvered close alongside, while Jack's fingers grasped the rail till the paint flaked off under the pressure he exerted in his excitement. What was happening below? he wondered. Could Billy and his companions carry out their part of the program? Not far from the boy the diamond merchant, unconscious of the drama being enacted on his account, stood, with bandaged head, explaining for the hundredth time the beauty and the value of the gems he had lost.
"Five thousand thalers I give if I get them back," he declared.
Suddenly Jack's heart gave a bound. From a port far down on the side of the ship, and almost directly under him, a white object was hurled. It struck the water with a splash and spread out, floating buoyantly.
Instantly the black motor-boat darted forward, one of the men on board holding a boat hook extended to grasp the floating life-preserver, hidden in which was a king's fortune in gems.
Jack stood still just one instant. Then, driven by an impulse he could not explain, he threw off his coat, kicked off the loose slippers he wore when at work, and the next moment he had mounted the rail and made a clean, swift dive for the life-preserver.
Billy rushed on deck, excitement written on his face, just as Jack dived overboard.
"Jack! Jack!" he shouted.
But he was too late.
"Great Neptune, has the boy gone mad?" exclaimed Captain Turner, who had passed along the deck just in time to see Jack's dive. Regardless of sea etiquette, Billy grasped the skipper's arm and rushed into a narrative of the plan he and Jack had hoped to carry out.
"But Dusenberry was too quick for us, sir," he concluded.
"Never mind that, now," cried the captain, "that boy may be in danger."
He looked over the rail, which, owing to most of the passengers being busy below with their preparations for landing, was almost deserted. Billy was at his side. In the black motor-boat two men stood with their hands up. Alongside was a speedy-looking launch full of strapping big men with firm jaws and the unmistakable stamp of detectives the world over. Some of them were hauling on board the police launch Jack's dripping figure, which clung fast to the life-preserver. Others kept the men in the black launch covered with their pistols.
Half an hour later, when the passengers—all that is but Mr. Rosenstein—had gone ashore (the diamond merchant had been asked by the captain to remain), a little group was assembled in Captain Turner's cabin. In the center of it stood Professor Dusenberry, alias Foxy Fred, looking ever more meek and mild than usual. He had been seized and bound by the two disguised firemen as he threw the life-preserver, but not in time to prevent his getting it out of the port. Beside him, also manacled, were the two men who had been in the motor-boat and who, according to the Southampton police, formed a trio of the most daring diamond thieves who ever operated.
"I think we may send for Mr. Rosenstein now," said Captain Turner with a smile. "Only I hope that he is not subject to attacks of heart failure. Ready," he said, turning to Jack, who stood side by side with Billy, "take these and give them to Mr. Rosenstein with your compliments."
Jack blushed and hesitated.
"I'd,—I'd rather—sir—if you—don't mind——" he stammered.
"You may regard what I just said as an order if you like," said Captain Turner, trying to look grim, while everybody else, but Jack and the prisoners, smiled.
"You wanted to see me on important business, captain?" asked Mr. Rosenstein, as he entered. "You will keep me as short a time as possible, please. I must get to Scotland Yard, my diamonds——"
"Are right here in this boy's hand," said the captain, pushing Jack forward.
"What! This is the fellow who took them?" thundered the diamond merchant.
"No; this is the lad you have to thank for recovering them for you from those three men yonder," said the captain.
"Professor Dusenberry!" exclaimed the diamond expert, throwing up his hand.
"Or Foxy Fred," grinned one of the English detectives.
"Oh, my head, it goes round," exclaimed Mr. Rosenstein.
"This lad, with wonderful ingenuity, and finally courage, when he leaped overboard to save your property, traced the guilty parties," went on the captain, "and by wireless arranged for their capture."
"It's a bit of work to be proud of," said the head of the English contingent.
"It is that," said the captain. "It has cleared away a cloud that might have hung over this ship till the mystery was dispelled, which probably would have been never."
Mr. Rosenstein, who had taken the diamonds from Jack, stood apparently stupefied, holding them on his palm. Suddenly, however, to Jack's great embarrassment, he threw both arms round the boy's neck and saluted him on both cheeks. Then he rushed at Billy and finally the two firemen, who dodged out of the way. Then he drew out a check book and began writing rapidly. He handed a pink slip of paper to Jack. It was a check for $5,000.
"A souvenir," he said.
"But—but——" began Jack, "we didn't do it for money. It was our duty to the company and——"
"It's your duty to the company to take that check, then," laughed Captain Turner, and in the end Jack did. The two firemen, who had helped the boys, received a good share of it and later were promoted by the company for their good work. As for Prof. Dusenberry and his companions, they vanish from our story when, in custody of the detectives, they went over the side a few minutes later. But Jack and Billy to-day have two very handsome diamond and emerald scarf-pins, the gifts of the grateful Mr. Rosenstein.
"Looks as if we are always having adventures of some kind or another," said Billy to Jack that evening as they strolled about the town, for the ship would not sail for Cherbourg, her last port before the homeward voyage, till the next day.
"It certainly does look that way," agreed Jack and then, with a laugh, he added:
"But they don't all turn out so profitably as this one."
With which Billy agreed.
It was two nights before theColumbia, on her homeward voyage, entered New York harbor. On the trip across she had once more had the big British greyhound of the seas for a rival. But this time there was a different tale to tell. TheColumbiawas coming home, as Billy Raynor put it, "with a broom at the main-mast head."
All day the wireless snapped out congratulations from the shore. Jack was kept busy transmitting shore greetings and messages from returning voyagers who had chosen the finest ship under the stars and stripes on which to return to the United States. Patriotism ran riot as every bulletin showed theColumbiareeling over two or three knots more an hour than her rival. One enthusiastic millionaire offered a twenty-dollar gold piece to every fireman, and five dollars each to all the other members of the crew, if theColumbiabeat her fleet rival by a five-hour margin. The money was as good as won.
Thurman sat in the wireless room. His head was in his hands and he was thinking deeply. Should he or should he not send that message to Washington which, he was sure, would cause Jack's arrest the instant the ship docked. He had struggled with his conscience for some time. But then the thought of the reward and the fancied grudge he owed Jack overtopped every other consideration. He seized the key and began calling the big naval station.
It was not long before he got a reply, for when not talking to warships the land stations of the department use normal wave-lengths.
"Who is this?" came the question from the government man.
"It's X. Y. Z," rapped out Thurman.
This was the signature he had appended to his other messages.
"The thunder you say," spelled out the other; "we thought we'd never hear from you again."
"Well, here I am."
"So it appears. Well, are you ready to tell us who this chap is who's been mystifying us so?"
"I am."
"Great ginger, wait till I get Rear-admiral —— and Secretary —— on the 'phone. It's late but they'll get out of bed to hear this news."
But it transpired that both the officials were at a reception and Thurman was asked to wait till they could be rushed at top speed to the wireless station in automobiles. At last everything was ready and Thurman, while drops of sweat rolled down his face, rapped out his treachery and sent it flashing from the antennæ across the sea.
"Thank you," came the reply when he had finished, "the secretary also wishes me to thank you and assure you of your reward. Secret Service men will meet the ship at the pier."
"And Jack Ready, what about him?"
"He will be taken care of. You had better proceed to Washington as soon as possible after you land."
"How much will the reward be?" greedily demanded Thurman.
"The secretary directs me to say that it will be suitable," was the rejoinder.
The next morning, when Jack came on duty, he sent a personal message to Uncle Toby via Siasconset. This was it:
"Universal detector a success. Will you wire Washington of my intention to proceed there with all speed when I arrive?"Jack."
"Universal detector a success. Will you wire Washington of my intention to proceed there with all speed when I arrive?
"Jack."
Late that day he got back an answer that appeared to astonish him a good deal, for he sat knitting his brows over it for some moments.
"Washington says some ding-gasted sneak has been cutting up funny tricks. Looks like you have been talking."Toby Ready."
"Washington says some ding-gasted sneak has been cutting up funny tricks. Looks like you have been talking.
"Toby Ready."
This characteristic message occupied Jack for some moments till he thought of a reply to its rather vaguely worded contents. Then he got Siasconset and shot this through the air:
"Have talked to no one who could have seen Washington. My last letter to the Secretary of the Navy was that I thought I was on the road to success."Jack."
"Have talked to no one who could have seen Washington. My last letter to the Secretary of the Navy was that I thought I was on the road to success.
"Jack."
No reply came to this and Jack went off watch with the matter as much of a mystery as ever. But as Thurman came in to relieve him a sudden suspicion shot across Jack's mind. Could Thurman have——?
He recalled the night he had caught him examining the device with such care! Jack had since removed it, but in searching in the waste basket for a message discarded by mistake he had since come across what appeared to be crude sketches of the Universal Detector. If Thurman had not drawn them, Jack was at a loss to know who had. But for some mysterious reason he only smiled as he left the wireless room.
"If you've been up to any hocus-pocus business, Mr. Thurman," he said to himself, as he descended to dinner, "you are going to get the surprise of your life within a very short time."
After dinner he came back to the upper deck again, but as he gained it his attention was arrested by the scream of the wireless spark. It was a warm night and the door of the cabin was open. Jack stopped instinctively to listen to the roaring succession of dots and dashes.
"He's calling Washington," said Jack to himself as he listened.
"He's got them," he exclaimed a minute later.
"Hullo! Hullo! I guess I was right in my guess, then, after all. Oh, Thurman, what a young rascal you are."
He listened attentively as Thurman shot out his message to the National Capital. Jack repeated it in an undertone as the spark crackled and squealed.
"Do—I—get—my—reward—right—away?"
Jack actually burst, for some inexplicable reason, into a hearty laugh.
"Oh, Thurman! Thurman!" he exploded to himself. "What a badly fooled young man you are going to be."
The arrival of theColumbiaat her dock the next day was in the nature of an ovation. A band played "Hail Columbia," and a dense crowd blocked the docks and adjacent points of vantage to view the great liner which had taken the blue ribbon of the seas from England's crack ship. News of the dramatic rescue of the crew of theOriana, wirelessed at the time of the occurrence to the newspapers, had inflamed public interest in the big ship too, and her subsequent doings had been eagerly followed in the dailies.
"Great to be home again, isn't it, old fellow?" asked Raynor, coming up to Jack as a dozen puffing tugs nosed the toweringColumbiainto her dock.
"It is, indeed," said Jack, looking over the rail. "I'm going to——"
He broke off suddenly and began waving frantically to two persons in the crowd. One was an old man, rather bent, but hale and hearty and sunburned. Beside him was a pretty girl. It was Helen Dennis and her father, Captain Dennis, who had been rescued from a sinking sailing ship during Jack's first voyage, as told in the "Ocean Wireless Boys on the Atlantic." Captain Dennis, since the disaster, had been unable to get another ship to command and had been forced to accept a position as watchman on one of the docks, but Jack had been working all he knew how to get the captain another craft, so far, however, without success.
"There's one reason why you're glad to be home," said Raynor slyly, waving to Helen. "You're a lucky fellow."
The gang-plank was down, but before any passengers were allowed ashore, way was made for four stalwart, clean-shaven men who hurried on board.
"Wonder who those fellows are?" said Raynor; "must be some sort of big-wigs."
"Yes, they certainly got the right of way," responded Jack without much interest.
Thurman joined them.
"I hear that the Secret Service men are on board," he said. "Must be looking for someone."
"I suppose so," said Jack. "They usually are."
Somebody tapped Jack on the shoulder. It was one of the men who had boarded the ship. An evil leer passed over Thurman's face as he saw this.
"Are you Jack Ready?" asked the man.
"That's my name," replied Jack.
The man threw back his coat, displaying a gold badge. His three companions stood beside him.
"I want you to come to Washington with us at once," said the man. "I am operative Thomas of the United States Secret Service."
"Why what's the matter? What's he done?" demanded Raynor.
"That's for the Navy Department to decide," said the man sternly. Thurman had slipped away after the man had displayed his badge. His envious mind was now sure of its revenge. He, too, meant to get the first train to Washington.
"Don't worry, old fellow," said Jack. "Just slip ashore and make my excuses to Helen and her father, will you, and then meet me in Washington at the Willard. I think I shall have some news that will surprise you."
Greatly mystified, Raynor obeyed, while Jack and the four men, two on each side of him, left the ship. Thurman followed them closely. His flabby face wore a look of satisfaction.
"Two birds with one stone," he muttered to himself. "I've got even with Jack Ready and I get a reward for doing it. Slick work."
The trip to Washington was uneventful. On their arrival there Jack and the Secret Service men went straight to the Navy Department. They passed through a room filled with waiting persons having business there, and were at once admitted to the office of the Secretary of the Navy, a dignified looking man with gray hair and mustache, who sat ensconced behind a large desk littered with papers and documents.
There were several other gentlemen in the room. Some of them were in naval uniforms and all had an official appearance that was rather overawing.
"So, this is our young man," said the Secretary, as Jack removed his hat. "Sit down, Mr. Ready, these gentlemen and myself wish to talk to you."
Then, for an hour or more, Jack described the Universal Detector and answered scores of questions. After the first few minutes his sense of embarrassment wore off and he talked easily and naturally. When he had finished, and everybody's curiosity was satisfied, the Secretary turned to him.
"And you are prepared to turn this instrument over to the United States navy?"
"That was the main object I had in designing it," said Jack, "but I am at a loss to know how you discovered that I was on board theColumbia."
"That will soon be explained," said the Secretary, with a smile that was rather enigmatic. "You recollect having a little fun with our navy operators?"
Jack colored and stammered something while everybody in the room smiled.
"Don't worry about that," laughed the Secretary. "It just upset the dignity of some of our navy operators. Well, following that somebody offered, for a consideration, to tell us who it was that had discovered the secret of a Universal Detector. It turned out, as I had expected from our previous correspondence, that it was you. But not till two nights ago, when our informant again wirelessed, did we know that you were at sea."
"But—but, sir," stuttered Jack, greatly mystified, "who did this?"
The Secretary pressed a button on his desk. A uniformed orderly instantly answered.
"Tell Mr. Thurman to come in," said the Secretary.
There was a brief silence, then the door opened and Thurman, with an expectant look and an assured manner, stepped into the room.
"Mr. Thurman?" asked the Secretary.
"Yes, sir," said Thurman in a loud, confident voice, "I thought I'd hurry over here as soon as the ship docked and talk to you about my work in discovering for you the fellow who invented the Universal Detector. I——"
He suddenly caught sight of Jack and turned a sickly yellow. Jack looked steadily at the fellow who, he had guessed for some time, had been evilly interested in the detector.
"Well, go on, Mr. Thurman," said the Secretary, encouragingly, but with a peculiar look at the corners of his mouth.
Thurman shuffled miserably.
"I'd prefer not to talk with—with him in the room," he said, nodding his head sideways at Jack.
"Why not? Mr. Ready has just sold his invention to the United States government."
"Sold it, sir——" began Jack, flushing, "why I——"
The Secretary held up a hand to enjoin silence. Then he turned to the thoroughly uncomfortable Thurman.
"We feel, Mr. Thurman," he said, "that you really tried to do us a great service."
Thurman recovered some of his self-assurance. Could he have had the skill to read the faces about him, though, he must have known that a bomb was about to burst.
"Thank you, sir," he said, "I did what I could, what I thought was my duty. And now, sir, about that reward."
"'Suitable reward,' was what was said, I think, Mr. Thurman," said the Secretary.
"Well, yes, sir, 'suitable reward,'" responded Thurman, his eyes glistening with cupidity.
"Mr. Thurman," and the Secretary's voice was serious and impressive, "these gentlemen and I have decided that the most suitable reward for a young man as treacherous and mean as you have shown yourself to be, would be to be kicked downstairs. Instead I shall indicate to you the door and ask you to take your leave."
"But—but—I told you who the fellow was that had discovered the detector. Why, I even made drawings of it for you."
"I don't doubt that," said the Secretary dryly. "There was only one weak point in your whole scheme, Mr. Thurman, and that was that Mr. Ready wrote us some time ago when he first began his experiments about his work and asked some advice. At that time he informed us that if he succeeded in producing a Universal Detector that it would be at the service of this government. So you see that you were kind enough to inform us of something we knew already. But for a time we were at a loss to know whether it was not some other inventor working on similar lines who had discovered such a detector. To find out definitely we fine-combed the country."
"And—and I get no reward?" stuttered Thurman.
"Except the one I mentioned and the possible lesson you may have learned from your experience. Good-afternoon, Mr. Thurman."
Thurman was so thunderstruck by the collapse of his hopes of reaping a fortune by his treachery that he appeared for a moment to be deprived of the power of locomotion. The Secretary nodded to the orderly, who came forward and took the wretched youth, for whom Jack could not help feeling sorry, by the arm and led him to the door. This was the last that was seen of Thurman for a long time, but Jack was destined to meet him again, thousands of miles away and under strange circumstances.
When Jack left the Navy Department he felt as if he was walking on air. In his pocket was a check, intended as a sort of retaining fee by the government, till tests should have established beyond a doubt the value of his invention. His eyes were dancing and all he felt that he needed was a friend to share his pleasure with. This need was supplied on his return to the hotel, for there was a telegram from Billy Raynor, telling Jack to meet him on an evening train. It wound up with these words: