OCR Text |
Show erOBf THUS FAR: on a '' ,our d'ly, Dlck I1'"1 ,imost unconscious from - d thirst' when he scoops a 0" lmM from the water ana re- l"; interest in living. He had pJ jtfamer bound from a South port to the United States, ff"radT Hen PetUgrew, who was 1 Aim to prison. They became ,: Khen the steamer sank. Dick's i; , ffent down and only he aur- "If Die slSts a sa" on 0,6 horlzon- mo comes up and takes him 'Tcap'ain of the dirty little ship i an evil-looking halfbreed. The ol the "ew are Caribs. Dick "ey mU8 better thaI1 P'rates- CHAPTER n ri concluded that he would be customer to deal with, and . Ui be much better t0 court his i-dship than to provoke his en- -ick Burley, the mate, was near- (ail and powerful as the skip-but skip-but his black shiny face and i'.thy Umbs proclaimed the pure -J Negro. Pile he was eating and drink-; drink-; Captain Tucu grunted and broke i tilence. Tiere'd y' drift from?" he asked ' his words singularly free a the taint of his black ances-,'; ances-,'; dialect. -ram the City of Bahia 'ied four days ago," Dick re-C: re-C: ; wiping his month. "Struck s -"thing in the storm, reef or an-B an-B ship, and went down In half 1 ;: hour. Four hundred people K- ;rd-men, women and little chil-z;: chil-z;: , 1 was in the last boat that s- ;;er, and we capsized Gloryl it ,r-' ; awful! " !; closed his eyes an instant as 11 " a shut out the memory of it. a he opened them again, Cap-I- :Iucu was asking eagerly: Jjythin' left? Lots o' wreck-jc; wreck-jc; itrom a steamer floats." " Nothing but the small boats," re-w. re-w. A Dick, "and they were filled r : people." . . " ':; half-breed nodded his head I muttered something to his mate i dialect that Dick could not -a.e. m. ihere was this steamer?" defied de-fied Tucu, turning suddenly to i. "What latitude?" ii Jordan shook his head. "I :iknow. I'm not a sailor." :e skipper's face clouded with :;:ointment, and an ugly scar "i! his left cheek showed red, BE "ltd with white. Dick did not 1 1 i the looks of it I drib renegades," he reasoned II imsell. "Sea scavengers half TpM, half pirates. They'd kill tt' rithout batting an eyelash if it r- 'ri their purpose." jjlj ' glanced past the semi-circle jjj -set (aces and he saw the wide, i-ie ag, limitless sea. The shock J'J iing adrift upon it for another pit: -! awakened his mind from its ;;!.: -tthargy. He had to stay aboard ii c agger until they reached shore mj at another ship. He smiled jiii -'J. and spoke slowly. J9f 'lit a minute, captainl Come & of it, I'm wrong. I heard Tireless operator calling for is1? uid giving the steamer's posi-. posi-. - 1 I'm something of a wireless '1 myself. It was it was " ' hesitated and cocked his head l;n in the attitude of one re's re-'s something that eluded his "I got it," he added a M later. "It was North lati-1 lati-1 13-and 80 or 81 yes, that jjave been the longitude 80 D''s surprise. Captain Tucu abruptly: "Roncador Bank!" ! Burley nodded his head, "mbled: "We can make it in 1 urs." j 11 One Danger ''Another , C1jr Bank was a mystery to - , aey seemed to know where j ,y- Perhaps, after all, that e explanation of the queer ac- Tbe City of Bahia had l reef in the night of the 1 ""a foundered as -a result of ifllf ' ''nCan make myself of service wey win keep me .. Dick . , 0 h'mself. "Therefore, I ilC myseu" indispensable. ,'i ;.aJ with them, I'll know too eisdh . 1(1 out things they'll want ,.i0b7 ;;'sret Therefore, I'll be no tin rjw 'n the end th an now. ;'j, rW Put me ashore- On Will .J night, I'U disappear, un- eed"1 i-.il""d topped abruptly. He ,r's. . out of his reverie by the ' ; J' 'he skipper in front of ts e".he 'ooked up, however, m"mg in spite of the shock. ! Vt,SCUed me the nick of k" he said Pleasantly. , in the water, and -1 aone for. I'm mighty jM'.Tucu nodded, but made 0 !tasT' Dick felt 0131 his !;1 "anging by a slender 6 decision on the oth- '.y,3 menacing; but the "sNtin,, ;aded trorn Dick's lips. liCT easily: if I Kmw 8et to the sPot where 5 i-'-f-ds,,"1 dwn, I may help ffir ul a face grew sudden- ft S"6h and eager. "What's ftat. he demanded, stepping near- "Smuggling, you know," Dick went on. feeling his way carefully ticTdV St U'S StU1 Pra: He winked and grinned, with the intent of simulating special knowledge knowl-edge Tucu stepped closer and scowled, but behind the scowl was an eager expectancy. "Y'was smugglin'?" he demanded, demand-ed, thrusting his face close to Dick s. "That isn't a fair question, is it captain?" laughed Jordan. "If i confessed to it you could-could-oh, well," he added, shrugging his shoulders, "I guess you wouldn't arrest ar-rest me not if we divided the stuff!" he winked again, anxious at heart but on the surface smiling and complacent. Would the man fall for the bait? The skipper was eyeing him, half in doubt, half in eager expectancy. All the avarice of his nature was in mm m ix 1 The skipper was eyeing him, half in doubt, half in eager expectancy. his eyes. But he was slow and crafty not child-like as his half Carib brothers. "What is it?" he grumbled, checking check-ing his impatience. "Why specify?" retorted Dick, half rising. "It's enough that it's valuable a rich haul." A gleam of anger shot from the other's eyes. To pacify him, Dick added: "I picked them up in South America Amer-ica at a big bargain. II I get them in the United States, they'll be worth worth well, I can't get them through. The City of Bahia's gone to the bottom. So, of course, the jewels were lost, too." Captain Tucu interrupted with an oath. "Y'left 'em aboard!" he growled. "Y" didn't have sense enough to save 'em?" Dick's Proposition Interests Tucu "Hold on, captainl If you're going go-ing to cuss me for a fool, I'll shut up, and you'll never get a sight of the jewels. I said they'd gone down with the steamer. Wouldn't that be the natural conclusion of their owners own-ers when they heard of the foundering founder-ing of the City of Bahia? For all I know every mother's son aboard, except ex-cept me, was lost. You couldn't expect me to save smuggled goods under such circumstances, could you? That lets me out as an agent for for " He smiled craftily, watching the expression of the half-breed's face and eyes. He was following him nibbling at the bait. Dick drew an unconscious sigh of relief. "They didn't go down then?' snapped Tucu. "Ye-ye-got 'em? Dick chuckled at his eagerness. If I had them," he said easily you could take them. There's all I brought away with me." He pointed to the collection of the things from his pockets be had spread out in the sun to dry The skipper scowled 'in perplexity. His face assumed crafty suspicion, as he turned upon Dick with an ugly If y'know where they are, he said slowly, "ye'd keep a whole k n by teu n' me. I ain't wastin' Ze talk'. Y'know where they are?" .. Sure, captain-or Pretty near it smiled Dick impudently. I put tTem overboard with a string at-Uched at-Uched to 'em-and a float to the end Reckon 1 could pick up that float." , He .Hnned allowing time or e iST-S ftencontinued .Ub-lv .Ub-lv "If, an old trick, of course- from a motorboat. Easy, it?" Captain Tucu was glaring at hin with greedy eyes, his flat nostril dilated to their full expansion. Th mottled complexion , of his fac changed like the shifting of a cha meleon. "When the steamer struck," add ed Dick lightly., glancing seaward "my first thought was of those pre cious gems. If left in the stateroon they'd go down with the steamer. I chucked out in time there was chance to salvage them. So," nod ding, "I let 'em go." "Where was this?" asked Tucu struggling to appear ' calm. "Neai the Roncador Bank?" Dick laughed, a bit insolently, anc shrugged his shoulders. "I won' tell you, captain," Dick continue( quietly, "unless we can come U some sort of a bargain." , "What bargain y' want?" askec the other slowly, checking his an ger. "Half interest no, three quarters You should be satisfied with that.' "An' if not?" "You don't get anything. If I'rr killed or found missing suddenly thf jewels will remain a plaything foi the fishes." "We could find the float by cruis-in' cruis-in' around," replied the Carib, smil ing cratfily. Dick laughed again. "Not in year of Sundays," he replied. "Yoi don't think I'd make that float sc anybody'd spot it, and pick it up? I'm too old at the game. I'd give you ten chances, captain, if yov were within fifty feet of it. Why, s float that looks like a fish or bird oi even a jelly-fish could pass you t dozen times without exciting youi suspicion. Dick could see that his bait was swallowed now, hook, sinker and line. Captain Tucu became sudden ly amiable. He grinned good-na. turedly. "We'll go shares," h said. "Is it a bargain?" "Sure, if you play straight one-quarter one-quarter to you, and the rest to me no double-crossing." "Never double-crossed a friend," was the purring reply. "Come ir the cabin an' talk about It. Mebbe we get those jewels afore night." Later that day one of the Carib! forward called attention to something some-thing on the horizon. Tucu seized a pair of old sea-glasses and inspected in-spected it in silence for a few moments. mo-ments. Then handing them to Black Burley, he grunted: "What d'ye make o' it?" The mate gave a short squint, and exclaimed: "A schooner wrecked!" "Yes, it's a derelict. We can pick her up before dark." Dick, listening and watching, drew a sigh of relief. If they had discovered a floating derelict, they would sail out of their course tc overhaul her. That would give him a respite of a few hours, or perhaps another night and day. He heard with pleasure the orders or-ders to alter the course of the lugger lug-ger to bring her in direct line with the derelict. Captain Tucu and Black Burley were aroused to keen excitement. A derelict on the high sea might mean much to them. If abandond hastily by her crew, the pickings might be of great value. There was the cargo to consider, if not water-soaked water-soaked and ruined; and the personal belongings of the crew and officers, if in the excitement of leaving they had not taken them away. Finally, there was always the possibility of salvaging the hull, and towing if into some port to sell to the highest bidder, if the original owners didn') make a stiff offer for it. Derelict Schooner Changes Plans Altogether, it was not an unprofitable unprofit-able business. It paid sometimes better than out and out piracy. Al such times the sea scavengers kepi strictly within the laws. They knew the laws of sea salvage by heart. When the derelict finally assumed definite shape to the naked eye, Dick became absorbed in studying it. She was not waterlogged; neithei was she battered and broken below decks. Most of the damage seemed to be in the sails and rigging. This fact had not escaped the keen eyes of the skipper of the lugger, and the nearer they approached the more promising appeared the prize they had picked up. Then came a sudden guttural cry from one of the crew, followed bj wild gesticulations and a pointing hand. There, standing in the rigging, rig-ging, waving and nodding at them, was an old man, hatless and nearly shirtless, with bushy whiskers flop ping up and down in the breeze. Al first they could hear no sounds com ing from his lips, but with a slighi change in the wind the voice carried car-ried to them. For the most part it seemed like the wild, incoherent gibberish of one demented. "Ahoy there, mates!" 11 called "What ship is that? Don't recognize her! Never mind, com aboard! This is the Betty of New London-sound of timber and fast of heels makin' twenty knots an nour Come aboard if y'can catch US1 Throw me line while I luf) her quick now!" Tucu and Black Burley stared al the man in silence. Then they glanced glanc-ed at each other, and, reading each other's thoughts, nodded. ' (TO BE COiN'TlNUEO) |