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Show t SYNOPSIS. The story opens with the introduction of John Stephens, adventurer, a Massachusetts Massa-chusetts man marooned by authorities at Valparaiso. Chile. ll'-iii, interested in illinium operations in Boliyia, he was denounced de-nounced by Chile as an insurrectionist and as a 'consequence was hiding. At his hotel his attention was attracted by an Englishman and a young woman. Stephens rescued the younjr woman from a drunken oflieer. He was thanked by her. Admiral of the Peruyian nayy confronted con-fronted Stephens, told him that war had been deehired between Chile and Peru and offered him the office of captain. He desired that that ni.ht the Esmeralda, a Chilean vessel, should be captured. Stephens accepted the commission. Stephens met a motley crew, to which lie was assigned. He gave them final instructions. in-structions. CHAPTER IV. Continued. "Sacre! it has been as ze devil drove," easily. "Ze last was sandalwood sandal-wood in ze South seas. I care little, so ze pay be good." "Then we'll get down to facts," and I sat back in the chair fronting the two of them. "Mr. Tuttle, how many men have you enlisted for this affair?" "Twenty." "Those fellows out yonder?" and I nodded toward the closed door. He exhibited his yellow teeth, his eyes narrowing. "They'll be about all ye'll want to tackle, I guess," he volunteered, with some assumption of cheerfulness, "unless "un-less maybe you decide to turn this expedition into piracy, an' give 'em half the spoils. They're that sort, all right." I straightened back in my chair, my jaws set hard, my gaze endeavoring vainly to catch and, hold his shifty eye. "Mr. Tuttle," I said, sternly, "as I understand matters I am captain this cruise, and you're mate. Whenever I iltc men the merest silent shadows as hey hauled the two hidden bouts forth from concealment and quiolly took their assigned places at the oars. Tuttle's crew was first uiloat, T)o N'ova experiencing some diillculty from .'.tempting to lor.d too near shore, in somewhat shallow water.. "Drop overboard, two of yon, and hove off," I ordered, finally. "Lively now, lads, but no splashing." The two fellows in the stern lowered low-ered themselves into the shallow wain, wa-in, lit tiding down so as to put. their -boulders against the planks for a heave. Suddenly, not three foot, distant, dis-tant, a smudge of shadow uplil'leil, and 1 became conscious of a pallid human face gleaming faintly through tho dark. Instantly I leaped toward it, with such force as to send the heavily laden boat swirling forward, the heaving heav-ing men plunging face downward into the water. There was a startled exclamation ex-clamation in Spanish, a short-arm blow shot into a dimly revealed, half-familiar half-familiar face, a fierce grip at the throat, and the two of us were on the sand, grappling like wild cats. Out of the water, dripping from their bath', the two seamen came to my aid, and, between us, we pinned the fellow to helpless silence. "Toss him into ihe boat," I said, panting from exertion1. "He will be safer with us than left ashore." It appeared even darker out on the water than when we looked off upon it from the land, but, with a few cau tious strokes, we discovered the smudge which represented Tuttle's whaleboat, and drew up within an oar's length of where he lay waiting. "Mr. Tuttle," I began, speaking slowly and concisely so that the men in both boats could hear, "this is going to be no boy's play to-night, and I ex- The Two of Us Were on the Sand, Grappling Like Wild Cats. desire your advice I'll probably ask for it. Just at present please confine yourself to my questions. What crew have you?" The expression of his face was angry enough, yet he evidently thought best to answer civilly. "First and second officers, boatswain and gunner, five coal-heavers, the rest seamen." "Nationality?" "Every mongrel race under the sky." "You have no engineer?" "Couldn't pick up any; however, there's one on board, and, no doubt, we can persuade him to stick to the job." The man's manner and tone remained re-mained surly and insolent, but I gripped my indignation and held back the hot words burning my tongue. It was necessary that I make the best of it now, but after we were once safely at sea I intended very shortly to take the measure of this Yankee whaleman. My eyes wandered toward the olive-tinted olive-tinted face of De Nova, barely visible through the enveloping smoke of his cigarette. The latter nodded cheerfully, cheer-fully, as though he interpreted my thought. "Oh, ze men was all right, monsieur," mon-sieur," he put in, smilingly. "Maybee a bit rough, but, sacre, w'at would you?" his shoulders rising to the question. ques-tion. "Mr. Tuttle he grumble, but it was all bark. I know him, an' I raz-zer raz-zer have him so zan hear him talk to ze spirits; w'en he do zat, it make me sick, by gar!" "You blaspheming, mongrel infidel," the whaleman's nasal voice rising shrill with anger. "I don't have to count beads in order to lift my soul to the other world." "There is liable to be fighting enough before morning," I interposed, sharply, fearing a quarrel, "without comrades falling out about their belief. be-lief. Leave that for lubbers ashore to argue oyer. Now tell me what arrangements ar-rangements have been made for boarding board-ing the Esmeralda?" Tuttle spat into the sawdust, his gaze still on De Nova. "Two boats concealed beneath the piling of the Mercantile Company's coal wharf; a whaleboat and a cutter." "Any arms?" "A dozen rifles, six in each boat." I arose to my feet, glancing at my watch in the dim light. He had not given me the customary "sir" in any of his replies, yet I ignored the omission, omis-sion, willing for the time being to sink formality for the sake of action. "Very well, Mr. Tuttle. Have your men there in an hour from now. They had better travel in parties of two; and see that they start out sober. You understand these orders clearly, I hope, sir have them there in an hour, sober. De Nova, you must know how to bring sailor-men to their senses; get busy with that gang. Now work rapidly and quickly, both of you, for if we get caught, this is likely to be a hanging matter for all of us." I stared at the two of them for just an instant De Nova on his feet, Tuttle Tut-tle leaning forward in his chair and stepped forth into the outer room, closing the door behind me. A drunken yell greeted my re-entrance into the boisterous crowd, but ignoring ignor-ing everything, glancing neither to right nor left, I picked my way through the motley gathering out into the welcome wel-come blackness of the night. CHAPTEF? V. In Which We Gain the Deck. I paused a moment amid the dense shadows to reflect more carefully upon some of the details of our night's work. For the first time I clearly realized the desperate nature of this adventure upon which I was so recklessly reck-lessly embarked. Could we once attain at-tain the yacht's deck unobserved and make our attack with sufficient swiftness swift-ness to prevent the discharge of firearms, fire-arms, the rest might be accomplished without great risk of discovery, barring bar-ring some unexpected mishap. The very audacity o such an attempt was strongly in our favor. If we succeeded in silently warping the Esmeralda beyond be-yond range of the guns of the shore batteries all real and immediate danger dan-ger would be over. Probably not a war vessel in the harbor had steam up, and, if they did, no Chilean warship war-ship could hope to overhaul us when once fairly at sea. I gave the personnel of the crew Tuttle had collected brief consideration. considera-tion. They were no rougher than I should naturally expect men to be who were volunteering for such a task. Besides, Jack ashore and Jack at sea. are two widely differing personalities; once sobered and on shipboard, steadied somewhat by the perils of their position, and exhilarated by the promised reward, they would doubtless prove efficient enough. Tuttle might require a lesson in sea etiquette, and, if he did, I fslt perfectly confident of my ability to administer it promptly and forcibly. As for De Nova, I had no doubt that he would prove himsell a good man. So, altogether, my spirits rose as I thus contemplated a definite plan of action. The movement on the water was only the merest ripple, with the riding lights of the various ships at anchor reflected back as from a giant mirror. mir-ror. Two vessels, a full-rigged ship and a small schooner, lay close in shore, apparently deserted, their decks gloomy wastes, their, bare spars sticking stick-ing up skeleton-like and ghostly. Farther out, and somewhat to the left, a yellow lantern, perhaps in the bow of a guardboat, bobbed about, zig-zag-ging here and there like some erratic star. It was some time before I could locate with any certainty the particular partic-ular vessel I sought. The harbor was littered with sea craft of every description, de-scription, and my knowledge regarding the Esmeralda was most meager, being be-ing merely her point of anchorage, and that she was a large steam-yacht, schooner rigged. Finally, into the focus of the leveled glasses there crept indistinctly the delicate tracery of her bow, rendered more plainly visible beneath the green radiance of her riding lamp. Lights were showing faintly through several portholes amidships, certain proof that she was not entirely deserted; yet the cabins aft were dark, and the only moving figure I could distinguish with certainty was slowly pacing back and forth along the lee rail of the poop. Suddenly, out from the enveloping smudge, came a shower of sparks and a red glare, and, a moment later, I traced the outlines of a steam launch cleaving the black water. It quickly vanished behind the fog wreaths hanging hang-ing to seaward, the faint sound of its churning dying away, leaving the silent si-lent loneliness behind more solemnly impressive than ever. Only from off the land came echoing the noises of men the loud vivas, the reiterated boom of explosives, the ceaseless blare of bands. The scene became oppressive in its barrenness, and I felt the need of movement to overcome its weakening effect upon the nerves. This was to be a night of action, not of dreams, so I groped my uncertain path back along the littered wharf and around the curve of the shore line, beneath the gloomy shadows of coal sheds. Of lights there were comparatively none, if I except the uncertain glimmer of rockets along the water's surface, and I was consequently compelled to feel my way from object to object like a blinded man. Still, the course was sufficiently familiar so that I successfully success-fully maintained both footing and direction, di-rection, finally emerging safely close beside the spot appointed for our rendezvous. ren-dezvous. There was considerable open space here, the Mercantile Company's sheds standing some 30 feet back of the shore line, and their wharf for the unloading of barges extending more than 50 feet out into the harbor. I could dimly perceive a great crane at the farther extremity, with dangling dan-gling buckets, outlined against the sky. The night was too dark for me to decipher the face of my watch, yet it could not now be long before the arrival of the men. I crouched down beside a post to await their coming, once again searching the harbor with my night-glasses. The company at last arrived by twos from out the enveloping gloom, silently silent-ly grouping themselves amid the shadows. shad-ows. I could distinguish an occasional gruff cough, and the shuffiing of feet, but there was no sound of converse tion or hilarity. Evidently De Nova had sufficient:- sobered them to their duty. At last one man detached himself from among the crowd and moved stealthily forward. I met him at the shore end of the wharf, peered into his face, half-concealed beneath the visor of his cap, until I recognized the fellow. "Crew all here, Mr. Tuttle?" "Yes, sir," he answered, startled by my sudden appearance into courteous response, "but mighty uneasy to be off." "They shall not be delayed. Get the boats out at once. You are to take charge of the whaleboat and I will accompany De Nova in the cutter. Pull silently to the end of the wharf and lie by there to await instructions. Do your men understand the boats they are assigned to?" "Ay, ay, sir." "Very well, then; get the boats out, and the crews aboard. Not a sound, remember, for there are guards patrolling patrol-ling the harbor." I must confess this preparatory work was well and smartly, accomplished, pect implicit obedience to my orders. Do exactly what I tell you and no more. You know the situation of the Esmeralda, and I want you to put. your whaleboat in under her bow. If you keep a point east of north you can scarcely miss it. There is a lumping big brigantine anchored 100 feet beyond, be-yond, with only a single light showing on her foremast. I you come up under un-der her shadow you are not likely to be seen before you drift down against the Esmeralda's cutwater. Make use of the anchor-chain, and get half a dozen men quietly over the forecastle rail. Don't move from there until you receive some signal from me. Then clap down the forecastle scuttle, and make straight for the engine room. That will comprise the entire duty of your crew; and, above all things, let it be accomplished silently. Don't permit per-mit one of your men to carry a loaded firearm. Use belaying pins, if you need to, or a marlinspike, but no guns. De Nova and I will go in by way of the stern, and we will be responsible for the after-deck and the bridge. Has any one a question to ask?" There was no response, the only sounds audible being the soft lapping of the water and the deep breathing of the men. I could distinguish them leaning eagerly forward, but the faces were undecipherable in the gloom. "You understand clearly?" "Ay, ay, Mr. Stephens," and Tuttle's nasal voice had completely lost all its former trace of insolence. "Then pull away slowly and noiselessly; noise-lessly; don't hurry; we'll give you plenty of time to get in. Good-by, and good luck to you." The balanced oars dipped genlly into the water, scarcely rippling it, and the sharp-stemmed whaleboat glided away into the surrounding blackness like a ghost. ' "All right now, De Nova' 1 whispered. whis-pered. "I'll go forward into the bow. Keep her head off about a point and watch out for signals." We slipped through the water silently, si-lently, the sound of the dipping oar-blades oar-blades little more audible than the suppressed breathing of the oarsmen. Confident that if any eyes were watching watch-ing from the deck they were not likely like-ly to be directed astern, we made wide detour, creeping cautiously in beneath the slight bulge of the yacht's side, until the feliow behind me fastened his boathook firmly into the after-chair.;;. after-chair.;;. Breathlessly we waited listening, but no sound reached 113 other than the slight hiss of escaping steam. "Hold hard!" I whispered, the word passing back from man to man. "Two remain with the boat, the rest rollow me." I crept silently up into the chains and peered cautiously over onto tho open deck. It was wrapped in darkness dark-ness and silence, the sole gleam of revealing light coming from out the open main-hatch, and that only the merest glimmer slightly illuminating the ship amidships. There was a lamp alight in the after-cabin, but the shades were drawn so closely I could scarcely perceive its presence. 1 became be-came aware that De Nova stood beside be-side me. 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