CHAPTER XXII.SUCCESS.
The machinery had hardly ceased moving before Ned saw a target at which to aim.
The worthy Manuel was creeping as stealthily as a cat to the engine-room door, and before he could stretch out his hand to grasp the knob a bullet struck his arm, calling forth a wild shriek of pain.
There was no opportunity for a second shot, for the fellow disappeared from view with remarkable celerity, and Ned muttered to himself:
“It’s better to disable them than have the thought always before a fellow that he has killed a human being.”
“I reckon by the sound that you hit the mark,” Vance cried from his station in the cabin.
“It was Manuel again, and this time I reckon he’ll find it mighty hard work to use a revolver, unless he’s left-handed.”
“Now what are we to do?”
“Hold on as we are. We can lose nothing bylying here, and they may find themselves in trouble if a revenue cruiser should happen along; even a merchantman might think it worth while to make it hot for them.”
Roy, having done as he was bidden, joined Ned.
“You know something about an engine, don’t you?”
“Either Vance or I can start or stop her now that she is in running order, and I reckon it won’t be a hard job to keep the steam up.”
“There’s no danger of her exploding?”
“Not a bit. The steam will blow off itself if the pressure gets too heavy.”
“Then I reckon we can stick it out as long as they can. Suppose you take a look at all the hatches and make certain I fastened them securely?”
Roy went below at once, and until he returned not a sound could be heard from the wheel-house, where the two pirates were, unless they had seen fit to sneak along the port side in the hope of getting a shot at one of the boys.
Then the whistle was heard, and Ned motioned for Roy to attend to it.
“Sing out what they say, so all hands will have a chance of deciding any question which may come up.”
Roy went into the room and an instant later cried:
“He says the yacht is drifting on to a reef, and will be ashore in ten minutes if we don’t go ahead.”
“Tell him nothing will suit us better than to have her there!” Vance cried angrily, and Ned shouted cheerily:
“It’s all a lie, for even if they have been running up the island we have nothing to fear while the wind holds as it did when we started.”
Roy repeated Vance’s words, and added on his own account:
“There is no use for you to shout through this tube, for we don’t care to make any trade with you, unless it should be on the basis of your leaving the yacht at once.”
“Will you put us ashore if we agree to give up our weapons?”
Roy repeated the question to his companions, and Ned said:
“We can’t afford to run the risk of their treachery. If they want to take to the small boat, we’ll allow them the chance of getting into her; but it must be done mighty quick.”
There was no reply to this decision for a long while, and Roy had gone into the engine-room to assure himself things were all right there, when the whistle was heard again.
Neither Vance nor Ned dared to answer it lest it should be a trick similar to the one they played a short time previous with such good success, and it was necessary to wait until Roy returned.
Then the following conversation ensued, Manuel, as a matter of course, being the spokesman at the wheel-house end of the tube:
“We are willing to admit that we are beaten, and will take to the small boat at once if you send our friends up.”
Ned dictated the reply:
“It can’t be done. Go alone if you choose, but they stay where they are until we reach port or are overhauled by some craft, when you will have a chance to explain how you happen to be on deck with everybody else holding the fort below.”
“Then we shall stay here, and it may be you’ll have a chance to fight fire after we get ready to take to the small boat.”
This threat had the effect of frightening Roy somewhat, but Vance cried positively:
“They won’t dare to do anything of the kind while their chums are in the hold. Besides, I’d rather take my chances of fighting fire than of letting them loose. What would prevent them from doing the same thing after their friends were freed?”
“That’s so!” Ned cried. “Here’s a good trade for them! If they’ll get into the small boat and push off where we can see them, we’ll let the others go one at a time. They can swim to the small boat, and thus save themselves from spending quite a while in jail.”
Roy repeated the words, and a few moments later, to the surprise of all, Manuel cried:
“We’re in a tight place, and are willing to accept the offer. When shall we start?”
“He’s up to some mischief now or I’m a Dutchman!” Ned exclaimed in a low tone, and added: “Tell them to leave at once, and to push off thirty or forty yards on the port side.”
“Do you think it’s safe?” Vance asked nervously.
“We’d better take the chances than hang ’round here two or three days. I believe I can outwit them by working lively.”
Roy repeated the proposition, and Manuel replied:
“Then we’ll start at once, for it will take us nearly all night to pull back to the island.”
“Now, Vance, keep your eyes open and be ready to run to the wheel-house on the starboard side,” Ned said quickly, and he waited at his post until the sound of footsteps on the deck told that the two men had gone aft.
Then he hurriedly joined Vance, and the latter whispered nervously:
“They have got at least one revolver, and probably two between them. We should have insisted on taking the weapons, otherwise they may fire on us while we are getting under way.”
“That’s exactly what I count on their trying to do, but I reckon they won’t make very much by it,” Ned said as he went into the port state-room aft. “Keep a sharp watch there until the boat pushes off, and then get into the wheel-house as lively as you know how.”
It was evidently a portion of Manuel’s scheme to play fair until his companions should be with him, when he probably intended to try something else.
Ned had opened the bull’s-eye a few inches to enable him to see what was going on, and when the men in the boat came within his range of vision he said to Vance:
“Now is your time to get into the wheel-house. Be careful to keep out of sight, and don’t stand erect until we are beyond range.”
“Now send over our friends!” Manuel shouted.
“You shall have them as soon as we can make the necessary arrangements,” Ned replied as he pushed the muzzle of his weapon through the aperture. “For fear you might take a notion toboard us again, or send a few bullets at the man at the wheel, I shall stand right here ready to kill you whenever either of your party makes a threatening gesture. Bring up the prisoners, Roy.”
It was some moments before this order could be obeyed, owing to the network of ropes, but they were finally released and driven through the cabin, Roy marching behind with the heavy starting-bar ready to strike down the first one who attempted to show fight.
“See that they jump together,” Ned said, still keeping his eyes fixed on the boat, where Manuel was busily engaged heaping maledictions on the heads of the boys because his plans were not working exactly to suit him. “Comeback here instantly they are in the water.”
Roy gave the word for the march to be resumed, and the prisoners rushed on deck after the companion-way door had been forced by the aid of the bar.
A moment later a loud splash told that they had leaped together, and as Roy came at full speed below, Ned cried:
“Start her as quick as possible. A few seconds means everything to us just now!”
The men in the water swam directly toward the boat, and as if to pick them up at the earliest possiblemoment, the sailing master pulled toward them.
“That’s their game, to board us again, thinking we can’t start the engine,” Ned muttered to himself. “Manuel fancies he has released his chums, and that we are still in his power.”
Nervous as Ned was, it seemed as if the screw would never revolve.
The men had been pulled on board the boat and the sailing master was rowing toward the bow of the yacht with all speed, probably intending to board from there.
“Hold on or I shall shoot!” Ned cried, and the words had hardly been spoken before the little craft was so far ahead that he could no longer see her.
“Hurry up there unless you are willing we shall take those fellows aboard again!” Ned cried as he ran to the engine-room door, and then, tearing away the barricade he had erected, rushed on to the deck.
A bullet whistled past his head as he emerged, and on shrinking back he understood that the machinery was in motion.
“Give it to her for all she’s worth!” he shouted excitedly, running through the cabin to the main companion-way, and just as he was where he could look out, the boat swept past within half a dozen feet of the stern.
In the bow of the little craft was the darkey, who had been trying to gain a hold of the yacht as she moved swiftly ahead.
“We’ve done it by the skin of our teeth!” he cried sufficiently loud for Roy to hear as he ran forward once more, and shouted from the engine-room door, “take care of yourself, Vance! They are most likely ready to shoot.”
Three minutes later he ventured on deck, and looking far astern, saw the pirates sitting motionless in the boat as if dazed at the very successful manner in which their villainous scheme had been frustrated.
It seemed incredible that the little craft could have traversed such a distance in so short a time, but there was no disputing the fact, and Ned set up a shout of triumph, in which he was joined both from the wheel-house and engine-room.
Then he ran to where Vance, having just risen to his feet, was swinging the yacht around as if to intercept a small craft which was running to the westward.
“That explains why those fellows were so anxious to gain possession of the craft at once that they were willing to accede to our terms in the slight hope of getting the best of us. Unless I’m very much mistaken that is a Key West pilot-boat, whichhas been up the coast somewhere, and we had better speak her.”
Vance was not mistaken.
Half an hour later they had overhauled the craft and taken on board a reliable pilot, who promised they should be at anchor at Key West before midnight, and, what was better still, he kept his word to the letter.
Between them Vance and Roy ran the engine, and it is safe to say both felt a sense of the most intense relief when they heard the signal to slow down, followed by a command to Ned to “clear away the anchor.”
It yet lacked a quarter of twelve when the mighty splash told that the Zoe was in the home port once more, and her capture nothing more dangerous than some hideous nightmare which is quickly forgotten.
Vance and Roy were on shore very soon after sunrise next morning, and almost the first person they met was the former’s father.
The party had heard at New York of the fears which were entertained concerning the safety of the Zoe, and passage was taken on the Key West steamer at once.
They had arrived the evening previous, and Mr. Stewart had left the hotel thus early in order tohire a craft of some kind to make a tour of the keys in search of some tidings of the missing ones.
Now that there is no possibility there can be any trouble regarding the Zoe or her cargo, it is time to end the story.
There is really nothing more to say, except that Ned spent that winter with Vance and Roy, and very many short cruises did they take in the Zoe; but, putting them all together, there was not as much adventure in them as had been crowded into the first voyage.
As a matter of course the treasure was taken charge of by Mr. Stewart and Mr. Harland, and to-day, in a certain New York City bank, there is $8,000 as Ned’s share of the treasure found on Spider Key.
Up to the present time the boy who the good people of Jonesboro had decided was certain to come to some bad end has never returned to that place, nor is he likely to do so until after he has passed an examination for Columbia College, which he, with Vance and Ned, intends to enter next term if possible.
Where is the Zoe?
That question cannot be answered, although it is very probable she is in the vicinity of Key West; but if any of the readers should keep a sharp lookoutduring the coming summer, it is more than likely they will see a jaunty little steam craft, bearing the same name, which is owned by Ned, Vance, and Roy, having been purchased with a portion of the money found in the old hulk on Spider Key.
THE END.
THE END.
THE END.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTESP.257, changed “either side the center panel” to “either side of the center panel”.Table ofContentsadded by transcriber.Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling.
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