A SUSPICIOUS CRAFT.
"I tell you, boys, there is something wrong about this vessel."
The speaker was Jack Greenland, and his companions were Ronie and
Harrie, but the scene is now many leagues from the quiet corner where
they took their vote to hazard a journey to the rubber forests of
Venezuela. Instead of the quaint old buildings of Manilla on the one
hand, and the sullen old bay, filled with its odd-looking crafts, on
the other, roll the blue waters of the Caribbean Sea, almost as placid
as the southern sky that bends so benignly over their heads, while they
stand by the taffrail of the rakish ship upon which they have only
recently taken passage to the South American coast.
To explain in detail this change of base would require too much space.
A few words will suffice to describe the long journey by water and land
necessary to make this stupendous change. In the first place, having
decided unanimously to undertake the trip, they were exceedingly
fortunate in finding that they could leave Manilla within twenty-four
hours by steamer for San Francisco. This required some smart hustling,
but our trio were used to this, and the next morning found them safely
aboard ship, looking hopefully forward to a speedy and safe arrival in
the city of the Golden Gate. In this they were not disappointed, while
the run down the coast to Panama was also made under favorable
conditions. Then the isthmus was crossed with some delay and vexation,
when their adventures and misadventures began in earnest.
At Colon tidings of war in Venezuela reached them. These being
somewhat indefinite, and the republic in question being a land of
revolutions and uprisings, but little attention was given these vague
reports. They had barely left port, however, before the captain of the
little coastwise vessel declared that they were likely to have trouble.
The next day they were, indeed, fired upon by a strange craft, and
instead of keeping on toward La Guayra, the port of Caracas, he put to
sea. While bent upon this aimless quest, they were overtaken by a
tropical storm, and were eventually driven upon one of the small isles
forming the lower horn of that huge crescent of sea isles known as the
Windward Islands. From this they managed to reach, after repairing
their damages somewhat, Martinique, where our three heroes were only
too glad to part with such uncertain companions.
There was a strange ship in this port, which immediately attracted
them. Learning that the captain, though he had taken out papers for
Colon, intended to stop at La Guayra, they engaged passage. At the
outset they had felt some distrust in doing this, while the commander
showed equal hesitation in taking them. Still, it was their only
chance to get away, so they resolved to take their chances, with the
determination to keep their eyes and ears open. Thus they had
frequently expressed the opinion among themselves that they had been
justified in their suspicions, though this was the first outspoken
belief in the fact.
"I agree with you, Jack," declared Ronie.
"What have you learned that is new, Jack?" asked Harrie.
"Enough to confirm what doubts I already had as to her character.
Captain Willis does not intend to put in at La Guayra, as he claimed he
should to us."
"Perhaps he dares not," said Ronie.
"Ay, lad, that's where you hit the bull's-eye. He dares not do it."
"That means either that his intentions are not honest, or that the war
in Venezuela is more than a civil war," said Harrie.
"Now you've hit the bull's-eye with a double shot. I do not believe he
is honest," nodding in the direction of the commander, "and that this
is an international war!"
"Whew!" exclaimed the young engineers in the same breath. While both
had really about come to this conclusion, the proposition seemed more
startling when expressed in so many words.
"Before we fully agree to this," continued Professor Jack, "let's
compare notes. In the first place this vessel before undergoing some
slight alterations came to Martinique as a Colombian vessel, officered
and manned by Englishmen. Upon reaching this island she was
immediately sold, and her English crew discharged. But her captain
remained the same, while she still carried the English colors. The
next day it was claimed she had been again sold, this time passing into
the possession of followers of General Matos, the leader of the
Venezuelan revolutionists. Her English flag was now replaced by the
colors of Venezuela, and she was renamed from the _Ban Righ_ to the
_Libertador_. Can the chameleon beat that in changing colors? It is
my private opinion she is a cruiser in the employ of the insurgents,
and that we are booked for lively times."
"With small chance of reaching Caracas for a long time, if at all,"
added Ronie.
"How came England to allow such a vessel to leave her port?" asked
Harrie.
"She must have been deceived as to her real character. Thinking she
was a Colombian ship, and being on peaceful terms with that republic,
she had no business to stop her.[1] Hi! what have we here?"
Jack's abrupt question was called forth by the sudden appearance almost
by his side of a tall, slender youth, whose tawny skin and dark
features proclaimed that he belonged to the mixed blood of the South
American people. He had risen from the midst of a coil of rope, and in
such close proximity that it was evident he had overheard what had been
said. The three Americans realized their situation, though the opening
speech of the young stranger reassured them.
"Senors speak very indiscreetly," he said, "of affairs which they must
know bode them ill, in case their words reach the ears of others."
"Who are you?" demanded Jack, who was the first to speak. He
remembered having seen this youth among the men on board, but had not
given him any particular notice, although he noticed that he presented
an appearance that showed he did not belong to the class of common
sailors, while dressed no better than the poorest. There was an air of
superiority about him which they did not possess.
"It is not always well for one to be too outspoken to strangers," he
answered, glancing cautiously about as he said the words. "Even coils
of rope have ears," he added, significantly.
"You overheard what we said?" queried Jack, who continued to act as
spokesman for the party.
"_Si, senor_. I could not help hearing some of it, though you did
speak in a low tone. My ears are very keen, and not every one would
have heard the little I did."
"It is not well for one to repeat what one hears, sometimes," said
Jack, by way of reply.
"I have a mind as well as ears, senors," replied the youth. "While I
can see as well as I can hear, I can think for both eyes and ears. You
are not satisfied with the appearance of the _Libertador_?"
"I judge you are pretty well informed as to our opinion," replied Jack,
more vexed than he was willing to show that they should have been
caught off their guard. "Listeners are not apt to hear any good of
themselves, we are told."
"Had I been a spy," retorted the youth, with some animation, "I should
have remained quietly in my concealment, and not shown my head at all,
and most assuredly not when I was likely to hear that which was to
prove the most important."
"Please explain, then, your motive in addressing us at all."
"Not here--not now," he answered. "When the Southern Cross appears in
the sky, and the sharp-eyed, doubting Englishman at the head sleeps, I
will meet one of you here, and make plain many things you do not
understand."
"Why not meet all of us?" demanded Jack, suspiciously.
"Because one of you in conversation with me would create less suspicion
than all of you would be likely to do. That is my only reason, senor."
"By the horn of rock--Gibraltar, if you please," exclaimed Professor
Jack, "there is a bit of common sense in that. One of us will be here,
if we find it convenient."
"Good, senor. Now, as we seem to be attracting attention, it may be
well for us to separate. I will be on hand at the appointed time."
A moment later the unknown youth mingled with the motley crew, leaving
our friends wondering what their meeting with him portended.
"He seems honest," declared Ronie.
"He must be half Spaniard, and the other is doubtless something worse,
if that is possible," said Jack, who confessed that he had no liking
for the South American races.
"Shall we accept his proposition?" asked Harrie. "I will confess I am
curious to know what he has to tell."
"I do not understand what this disturbance between the countries
means," said Ronie. "When foreign nations take a hand in the affair it
would seem to show that something more serious than a civil revolt is
likely to follow. There could not have been a suspicion of this
outside preparation of war in the United States, or Colonel Marchand
would have known of it. I do not see how this has gone on under the
American eyes."
"It is probably due to the fact that these republics of South America
are almost continually at war. Venezuela has had a stormy time of it
from the very first. I think one of us had better listen to what this
young Venezuelan has to say. He is evidently not in sympathy with the
commander of this vessel."
"Who is working in the interest of Matos, the leader of the
revolutionists?"
"As President Castro is at the head of the government, and the target
for the fire of the whole world at this time."
It was finally decided that Harrie should meet the stranger at the
appointed time, while Ronie and Jack were to remain nearby to lend
their assistance in case the youth showed any signs of treachery.
Having come to this decision, the three waited, as may be imagined,
with considerable anxiety for the hour to come.
[1] Jack hit nearer the truth than he realized at the time. The _Ban
Righ_ had, in fact, awakened the suspicions of the English authorities,
and the attention of the custom officers was directed to her by the
placing of a searchlight on her foremast. An examination disclosed the
fact that parts of guns and gun-mountings had been stowed away below
deck, where passages had been cut to allow the crew to move about with
facility. She was released and permitted to leave port because the
Colombian official in London claimed that she was being fitted out for
the service of his government. Sailing ostensibly for Colon, she
called at Antwerp, where she was loaded with 175 tons of Mausers and
180 tons of ammunition, besides field guns, billed as "hardware,
musical instruments and kettledrums." She also took on here a French
artillery captain, a doctor, and two sergeants. The guns were mounted
before she reached Martinique, and while there a sham sale was made.
So it will be seen that Jack and the young engineers had ample reason
for mistrusting the vessel whose career reads like a chapter from
romance rather than the actual history of a ship that, possibly, did
more to foment international disputes concerning the Venezuelan war
than anything else.--AUTHOR.