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Show I KM LAST VOYAGE OF TffitA 11 S rk ID iu lb nNk ; xJ, l; :51 : "TTT 1 " T",""0 fsiE iii!!O0B-t f y "You Damned Bloody Pirate!" He Yelled, Glaring at Me Savagely. Lieut. Sanchez; my brief iiieollnp, wilh ( lit) Kugli.shnian ; the friendly eyes of Doris; the llirob of sudden interest in-terest aroused by her presence and as quickly lost again; I In- sudden swinging of tin; pendulum of Kale; tin: approach of He Caslillo bringing unexpected unex-pected opportunity for action and es cape, and those later events which hail so rapidly followed. I struck my hand hard against the iron rail lo assure myself I was awake, and to arouse my dormant faculties to action. "1 lold her steady us she is, Johnson," I said, my voice In iiiulous from sud den awakening. "I'm going down to recall thu boats." "Steady as she is, sir." In the engine room, two seamen, each grasping a gun, leaned negligently negligent-ly against a bulkhead, while De Nova, bareheaded, his little black miislache clearly outlined against the olive of his cheek, occupied the stool between them. The Kanaka firemen wi re out of sight, but the red-faced engineer was on his knees tinkering over a refractory bolt wilh a monkey-wrench. "Kveryt hing working all right, Mr. Di! Nova?" I questioned, quietly. The eyes of the four men instantly turned toward ine, the eagiiu el straightening up, monkey-wrench in hand. "No troubles here, monsieur," and Ihe mate rose to his feet, his white teeth showing. "Were arc we now?" "Just off the point, with Ihe lighthouse light-house dropping asti i n, and the swell of the ocean under our forefoot. I am going to call In the boats. Have you plenty of coal?" "Hunkers all full, monsieur." "How is your steam?" He stepped over to Ihe gauge, peer ing at it across the burly shoulder oi Ihe engineer, who still stood staring at me. "Pretty near up to ze danger mark monsieur." "Then stand by for signals." The engineer came to life as I hough (realed to an electric shock, his fist, still grasping the monkey-wrench, suddenly extended, his red face purpling pur-pling with passion. "You damned, bloody pirate!" he yelled, glaring at me savegly. "It's hung the whole lot of you will be for (his bloody night's work. No, I won't keep still, you moon-faced mulatto. I'm a free-born Briton, an' I'll smash in the heads of some of you yet, an' I'll live to see the rest hung in chains for the bloody pirates you are. Just wait till you're caught, an' then you won't be grinnin' that way at an honest man. Oh, you'll git it all right, my fine lads. There'll be hell to pay for this job, let me tell you! It's on nothin' you'll be dancin' then, ycu murderin' spawn o' hell!" De Nova pressed the baVrepof a revolver re-volver into the man's neck, with a stern threat and an unpleasant gleaming gleam-ing of white teeth. The sailors re mained leaning on their guns, grinning as if in enjoyment of the play. "Never min' w'at he say, sir," and the mate glanced up toward me, as il in apology. 'He bust out zat way ever' fiv' minutes since we be down here. We have club him, two, t'ref time, but he stick here just ze same, an' run ze engine. Oui, o'ui, it just ze way wiz; ze bull-headed Englisher." "I see," I acknowledged, drawing back, "only watch that he doesn't kink the machinery." I was not in the least surprised at discovering one of his nationality in charge of the vessel's engine room, nor was I sorry. He would feel little real interest in the affair, after he once clearly comprehended the situation, situa-tion, while a native Chilean might be impelled by a spirit of patriotism to cause us serious trouble. Englishmen were very frequently met with in foreign for-eign engine rooms; this fellow had probably been picked up because oi better qualifications than any native applicant; or, indeed, he might have been a member of the original crew of the yacht before it was disposed of to the government. I would have a talk with him later; meanwhile he was certainly in good hands; and I had enough else to attend to. The tow-ropes came in hand over hand, and were coiled dripping on the fore: castle deck. At the end of them the two boats emerged from out the 'fog, and the men tumbled in silently over Ihe rail. I watched from the vantage of the bridge, as the whole crew tailed onto the falls, distinguishing Tuttle's nasal tones above the incessant shuffling shuf-fling of feet. SYNOPSIS. The story opens with th introduction 6f John 8lephtMiy. mlveutiuvr. a M:ssu-rlnisells M:ssu-rlnisells man mnrooneil by authorities nt Valparaiso. Chile. Holns tntoivslod in oiiutni;' operations In liolivin, ho was denounced de-nounced by I'hilo as an Insurroct lontst lmt ns a consequence was hiding. At his hotel his intention was attrarled by an t-n.clishnian and il youim" woman. Stephens rescued the youur woman from I drunken otlieor. lie was thanked by her. Admiral of the roruvian navy confronted con-fronted Stephens, told him that war had heen declared between Chile and Peru nd offered him the ottiee of captain. He Jesired that that niht the Ksiuenilda, a rhiloan vessel. should bo captured. Stephens accepted the commission. Stephens mot a motley crew, to hieh ho ivas assigned. Ho gave, them linal in-Itruetions. in-Itruetions. Tlioy boarded the vessel. CHAPTER V. Continued. "There is certainly no watchman aft." I announced, softly, "unless he be found upon the other side of the cabin. Patten down the companionway while r I examine the deck. Two of you men come with me." We dropped over the low rail together, to-gether, moving silently in our stocking-feet. The roof of the cabin, forming form-ing the quarter deck, extended clear to the rail. We groped over this shadowed shad-owed space as though exploring a cave, encountering' nothing except a few camp stools, although my fingers discovered a goodly sized boat swinging swing-ing from davits across the stern. From the opposite side we could peer forward for-ward toward the dim light streaming from out the hatch, the deck being Ihus fairly revealed as far as the funnel. fun-nel. Beyond all remained black and Impenetrable. A man sat upon a bench against the side of the galley, a dull red showing from his pipe bowl. His Earliest knowledge of our presence was when the two men closed on his windpipe, and I pressed a revolver muzzle against his cheek. "Not a sound. Jack," I muttered Bternly in Spanish, '"or else your life pays for it." Tka pipe fell with a click to the deck, the fellow's eyes staring up at us, his opened mouth showing oddly amid a surrounding gray beard. A moment later, securely gagged and bound, we rolled his body close in against the rail. "I thought I heard a bit of a blow and a yelp on the fo'castle just now, sir," said one of the men, pointing eagerly forward. I stood still, intently intent-ly listening, staring into the gloom. "Quiet enough there at present. Probably Mr. Tuttle has been attending attend-ing to the for'ard watch. Come on, lads, and we'll join forces with him." Beyond all doubt the main deck was clear as far as the bridge, and, providing provid-ing Tuttle's crew had attended to their share of the work, as far as the fo'castle head as well. W:e advanced cautiously, Keeping close within the denser shade along the weather rail, pausing a moment to peer over the edge of the open hatchway into the Illuminated space below. Two Kanakas, Ka-nakas, naked to the waist, their slim, brown bodies glistening, each grasping grasp-ing the handle of a' coal scoop, were backed up against a bulkhead conversing, con-versing, while on a low stool, tipped back to a comfortable angle, his feet on the rounded crosspiece, a pipe in his mouth, his hands buried deep in his pockets, sat a wnite man, with red face and long, sandy mustaches. His brown overalls and pink undershirt under-shirt told nothing distinctive, but the uniform cap, pushed well back on his bristling stock of hair, proclaimed him the vessel's engineer. As I drew back from this swift survey, Mr. Tuttle suddenly rounded the end of the chart-house, chart-house, and, with whispered word of Inquiry to one of the men, advanced to meet me. "Weil," I said as soon as certain of his identity, "the "after-deck is ours without a blow; what have you discovered dis-covered forward?" "Two men were posted on the fo'castle, fo'-castle, sir," he returned, the disagreeable disagree-able nasal tone apparent even In his subdued voice. "We got them both, but Mason was pricked with a knife during the scuffle." "Did you close the fo'castle?" I questioned briefly. "All fast, sir, but I doubt if any of the crew are below." "Well, there are some down in the engine room, and the fellow in charge looks as if he might fight on occasion. Take half a dozen men with you, and jump below. The Kanakas won't make any serious trouble, hut you had better bet-ter clap a gun to the engineer." , I watched them as they swarmed like rats over the hatch-combing and dropped down into the light. There was a scurrying of bodies, a sharp exchange ex-change of blows, a yelp of alarm from the startled Kanakas, a stout volley of English oaths, and, when the tangle partially cleared away, the engineer was lying flat on his back, the knee of the big singer at Rodrigues' at his chest, and Tuttle holding a blue-barreled revolver at his ear. I never beheld be-held an angrier man, but he was help- less as a baby. Assured of the future of the engine room, I mounted the steps and took a hasty survey of both bridge and wheelhouse. They were unoccupied the vessel was entirely in our possession. CHAPTER VI. In Which We Attain the Open Sea. Our adventure had been successfully successful-ly accomplished through its first step; now it remained to get safely out to sea. As I turned to retrace my steps to the deck I encountered De Nova coming up. "Pretty lucky job, monsieur," he said, jovially. "It was w'at you call ze picnic, I bet. Ze companion was lock', an' ze guard posted. W'at more now for me?" "Relieve Mr. Tuttle in the engine room. Keep three men below there with you, and arm them as guards. Make the Kanakas do the firing, and hold the engineer to it with a gun at his head. You know enough about a stoke-hole to tell whether things are going right, don't you?" He nodded, and I could see the gleam of his white teeth. "Then get your steam up, but don't let those fellows fire so as to drive any flame out of the stack, and watch that Johnny Bull so that he can't put any kinks in the machinery. Don't take your eyes off him. Do you understand under-stand the signals?" "Ay, ay, monsieur." "Then stand by. We'll tow out at once with the boats, but I want you ready for business the very moment we cast off the lines. Send all the rest of the men on deck and ask Mr. Tuttle to report to me here immediately." imme-diately." I was not kept waiting. Two men came stumbling up the companionway together. I peered at them, uncertain of their identity in the gloom. "Is that you, Mr. Tuttle?" "Yes, sir. This is Johnson, one of the wheelsmen; thought you would likely need him, so I brought him along."' "Very good. Johnson, go on up into the wheelhouse and see that all is clear. I'll give you directions later. Mr. Tuttle, we'll tow out until we get the sweep of the sea fairly under our fore foot. Get the lines out to the boats at once, with full crew at the oars. You are to take command, and I shall have to trust you for the course,, as we can't risk signaling. I presume you are acquainted with the harbor lights?" "Been in here eight times in ten years without a pilot." "Then you ought to know the course, but take no chances; feel your way, only keep the ropes taut. Have you any man fit to take charge of the second boat? I. need De Nova below." "The boatswain, sir; that big fellow with the scar." "What's his name?" "Bill Anderson." "All right; put him in the cutter. Leave me three men on deck, and post the best one of the lot at the stern line ready to cast off. As soon as you get the ropes out I'll slip the anchor-chain, anchor-chain, and leave the flukes in the mud. v f Work lively now; we must be well out at sea before daylight." He stood leaning against the rail, peering out over the water, his bands shading his eyes. "Have you spotted any( guardhoals with your glasses?" he queslioned, uneasily. un-easily. "Only that one"yonder; see, the yellow yel-low light just rounding the stem of that big brig. There was a steam-launch out there to the west about 20 minutes ago, but it seems to have disappeared." disap-peared." "Swallowed up in the fog likely," he admitted, snuffing the air like a pointer dog. "We'll find it banked pretty heavy outside, or I'm a lubber. Well, so much the better for our job. All right, Mr. Stephens, I'm off, and we'll have you in tow in a jiffy. I'll put the nigger at the stern line; he's the best all-round hand on board." However I may have disliked and distrusted the whaleman he certainly proved himself an able seaman and a smart officer. He comprehended every detail of his work, and held his men to it finely. Within 20 minutes we were in motion, moving slowly, yet steadily, toward the black vacancy outlined by the harbor lights on either hand. There was no disturbing sound to betray be-tray progress, the yacht's sharp cutwater cut-water cleaving its passage through the liquid with the merest faint ripple, scarcely leaving a gleam of white foam behind, the oars dipping silently, the two lines held taut to the strain. Exultant, Ex-ultant, I climbed once again to the bridge, gave a few directions to the observant Johnson standing motionless motion-less at the wheel, and leaned anxiously anxious-ly over the rail, studying the waterfront water-front through leveled glasses. It was a barren, deserted waste, except ex-cept for a deeply laden schooner beating beat-ing slowly up along the north shore under closely reefed topsails, and the gleaming lights of a large steamer just beginning to emerge faintly through the curtain of fog a trifle to the left of our course. The towing boats appeared as two insignificant blots on the surface, but that they were making excellent progress was proved by the way we were steadily drawing up toward the outer lights, already shining round and yellow through the increasing haze. How dark, silent, uncanny the gloom-enshrouded yacht appeared as I leaned over the tarpaulin-protected rair'and gazed down on the deserted decks, no movement, no gleam of light anywhere visible. The tw-o masts, for the vessel was schooner-rigged, rose ra-kishly ra-kishly and with noble sweep into the sky, yet I could trace little of the cordage against the expanse of cloud. They appeared skeleton-like reeds to be broken by a gust of wind. A slight fringe of white water alone marked our progress, while a misty vapor of escaping steam spoke of the chained engine and hissing boilers below. As I rested thus, the watchful Johnson grasping the spokes behind me, the momentous events of the past few hours swept through my mind like fragments of a strange, disconnected dream my seemingly hopeless plight in Valparaiso; my controversy with "Nor'west by nor', Johnson now hold her steady, my lad." I pulled the signal cord, dimly distinguishing dis-tinguishing the faint responsive tinkle of the bell far beneath. Like a hound suddenly released for the chase, the steamer sprang forward into the fog wreaths and buried her sharp nose in the sea. (TO BE CONTINUED.) |