CHAPTER XIA STRANGE STORY
Itwas plain to see that Captain Jason Sudlip was as much surprised as were Sam and Darry. He had returned in thevolanteexpecting to find the two prisoners just where he had left them. Seeing them thus escaping upset all of his calculations.
“Come back here, I say!” he stormed. “Come back!”
“Not much!” replied Darry. “If you want us, crawl down after us.”
“Don’t tell him that!” put in Sam, in a whisper. “He’ll go below and try to cut us off.”
“Are you coming back?” demanded the ex-master of theChester.
“Wait a minute until I unloosen my jacket,” returned Sam. “It’s caught fast on a vine.”
“Gracious, you’re not going back, are you?” whispered Darry, in dismay.
“No—we’ll fool him,” said Sam, in a still lower voice. Then he continued aloud: “We may as well give in, Darry, he’s got the best of us.”
“I hate to do it, but I’ll follow you,” answered Darry, also in a loud voice. “Will you climb up first?”
“Yes. But I’m caught fast. Wait till I cut that vine loose.”
This talk reached Captain Sudlip’s ears—as it was intended it should—and his wrathful look gave place to a grim smile.
“Thought I’d make ’em knuckle under,” he muttered.
In the meantime Sam and Darry continued to climb down with all speed. It was hard for Captain Sudlip to look down at them but he felt the vines moving. He waited a few seconds. Then he heard a dull thud as both boys dropped to the ground below.
“Hi! you!” he yelled, and his face changed instantly. “Aren’t you coming up? Well, I’ll be jiggered!”
For at that moment he caught sight of the two boys, hurrying down the road leading away from the old convent. They were going at their best rate of speed and soon disappeared from view.
“Lost ’em!” he muttered and shook his fist in impotent rage. “First one and now two. I must getout of here. This spot will soon be too hot to hold me!”
In the meantime the boys had made good their escape, with no injury excepting half a dozen scratches from the rough vines and the convent wall. On striking the ground their one thought had been to put distance between themselves and their enemy, and they ran a good way before they dropped into a walk.
“That was an adventure truly,” puffed Darry. “Wonder what Professor Strong will say when he hears of it.”
“We ought to have Captain Sudlip locked up, Darry. Besides we don’t know yet what has become of Hockley.”
“That’s true. What do you propose?”
Both boys stopped short, to give the situation consideration.
“Let us stop at the first house we come to. Perhaps we can get help there. If we go all the way back to the hotel it will give the captain an elegant chance to clear out.”
“All right, Beans, the next house it is,” answered Darry.
It was not long after this that they came in sightof a beautiful villa, set in a mass of tropical flowers. There was an avenue of palms leading up to the front veranda and at one side a beautiful fountain of marble.
On the veranda they found a young lady, sitting in a hammock reading a novel. She received them politely and they were glad to learn that she spoke excellent English.
“Papa is not at home at present,” she said. “He left last week to go to Key West, Florida, on business. Is there anything I can do for you?”
A long conversation ensued, and the boys learned that the young lady’s name was Isabel Valois. Her father was a tobacco exporter and owned large plantations both in Cuba and in Porto Rico. She had been educated in a private seminary in Havana, but had spent two years at a young lady’s school in the United States. She listened to their tale with close attention and a face full of concern.
“I think I saw Captain Sudlip drive past yesterday in thevolanteof which you speak. And late last night I heard somebody drive past at a furious rate of speed. I am willing to help you all I can, but there are at present only three old servants here and one has to look after my mamma, who is an invalid.Perhaps it would be best for you to take our carriage and drive back to town or to some other house for assistance.”
“Thank you, we’ll take the carriage, if you don’t mind. Have you somebody to drive it and show the way?”
“Yes—myself,” and she laughed merrily. “The adventure will just suit me. While old Jose is harnessing up you shall have breakfast.”
As both were tremendously hungry they could not resist this invitation, and soon they were seated in a broad and cool dining hall and eating the food which was hastily prepared for them. The meal did not take long and by the time it was over Isabel Valois drove around with a comfortable carriage of American manufacture. They climbed in, there was a merry crack of the whip, and off they started in the direction of Havana proper.
Had their minds been at ease, Sam and Darry would have enjoyed that ride thoroughly, for Isabel Valois handled the reins with skill, and the team was a spirited one. She was what Darry called a “jolly” girl, and as they passed along she entertained them with a bright flow of talk, as she pointed out many objects of interest.
“I like the people from the United States,” she said, archly. “And I was so disappointed when Cuba was not taken into the Union. But papa says it is bound to come sooner or later.”
“And it will,” answered Sam. “But tell me,” he went on, “were you at home when Havana was blockaded?”
“To be sure I was, and many were scared to death, for fear the big guns on the warships would bombard our homes. Once, when a wild shot did come this way, all the servants ran down into our cellar and hid in a corner.”
“And weren’t you scared?” asked Darry, with a twinkle in his eye.
“No, I was not. I knew the Americans were our friends and would not hurt us.”
“I am afraid we hurt some Cubans down at Santiago.”
“Oh, that was different. Here it was only a blockade—that was a direct attack.”
The drive into the city of Havana took them past the Fairfax House, and here the boys determined to stop and learn if anything had been seen or heard of Hockley.
They had just leaped to the pavement when Professor Strong ran forward to meet them.
“Crane and Winthrop!” he ejaculated. “What does this mean?”
“It’s a long story, sir,” answered Sam. “Have you seen anything of Hockley?”
“No. I was looking for him the best part of the night and also for you, after I learned that you, too, were missing. I traced Hockley and you to this hotel by the note which you tore up and which Mark and Frank patched together. Did you follow Hockley up?”
“We don’t know,” answered Darry, and continued soberly: “It looks as if poor Glum—I mean Jake—had met with foul play.”
Isabel Valois was introduced, and the discovery was made that Professor Strong had met her father years before. Then the two boys told their story. As they proceeded Amos Strong’s face grew dark.
“This Captain Sudlip is a scoundrel!” he murmured. “We shall have to notify the police. He has been discharged from the command of theChester, and it has made him vindictive.”
“So he has lost command of the steamer?” asked Darry.
“Yes. The owners were very angry that he did not have those repairs made at La Guayra, where they would have been cheaper, it seems, than here. Then they read the note that we signed, and Captain Sudlip got his walking papers. I heard afterward that the owners were tired of him as it was. But of course he lays the blame of his discharge on us. We may have to——”
“Here comes Hockley!” broke in Darry.
He pointed up the street and all looked in that direction. It was the lank youth sure enough, but so haggard, ragged and dirty that they scarcely recognized him. He did not see them until he was close at hand and then he started and flushed guiltily.
“Hockley, what does this mean?” demanded Professor Strong, but his voice was not particularly harsh, for he saw that the big youth had suffered.
“Oh, I’m so glad to get back,” said the truant, when he could speak. “I’m nearly dead, sir.”
“Where have you been?”
“It’s all that Captain Sudlip’s fault, sir. He got me in a regular box,” whined Hockley. Then he looked at Sam and Darry. “I thought he—he carried you off, too.”
“He didn’t carry us off. We tried to follow you,after you wrote that you were in trouble and wanted us to come.”
“I didn’t write any such note.”
“You didn’t!” burst out Sam and Darry, simultaneously.
“No, I didn’t. I wrote a note for Captain Sudlip, but it wasn’t that.”
“What was it?”
At first Hockley did not want to answer this question, but he finally admitted that he had written a note stating that Captain Sudlip had treated him first-class while on theChesterand that he was satisfied the captain was a good man. He did not add that he had also written that there was a plot against the captain, hatched out, shortly after leaving Kingston harbor, by Professor Strong, and the second mate.
“I had to write the note. The captain had me a prisoner and he threatened me in all sorts of ways,” concluded Hockley.
Again there was a conference, and it was decided that they no longer needed the services of Isabel Valois, although the young lady said she would place her carriage at their disposal as long as they wished it.
“You must surely call on me before you leave Havana,” said she. “I wish to hear the end of this adventure,” and Sam and Darry promised.
On the way to the hotel at which the party were stopping Hockley told his story in detail only leaving out the fact that he had been drinking and that when he left the café it had been with the intention of seeking amusement at some low theater.
“I thought I’d take a walk and try to get rid of my headache,” he said. “I walked further than I intended, and when I was on something of a lonely street I noticed that I was being followed. It was Captain Sudlip, and behind him came a Cuban who was driving one of thosevolantes. The captain came up to me and started to talk. He was very friendly and humble and said if he lost his job he wouldn’t know where to look for another. Then he asked me to ride over to the home of one of the owner’s of the steamer and put in a good word for him, and I consented.”
Hockley could tell but little of the ride that had followed, for the reason that his head had been muddled by the liquor he had imbibed. He put it down to a headache, and it is quite likely that he did have a headache.
“At last we stopped in front of some sort of stone building,” he continued, “and the captain took me inside. Then he laughed at me and told me I was a prisoner. We had a fight and he knocked me down and tore my clothing as you see. Then he made me write that letter. He wanted me to write to the other boys but I refused. After that he left me alone in the dark. I crawled around until I got to a barred window. One of the bars was loose and I pulled it out and crawled through the window. Then I started to run across a field but fell into a hole and struck my head on a stone. I don’t know how long I lay there. But when I got up it was light, and then I started to walk back into town, for I hadn’t a cent left with which to hire a carriage.”