THE STRANGERS.
The new-comers were by no means pre-possessing in appearance, and would
hardly have inspired confidence even had their manners been more
agreeable.
He who acted as spokesman for the party was a stout man with a very long
body and short, bowed legs, that caused him to roll to and fro like a
ship in a gale when he walked. It was his nose which attracted the most
attention, for it was not only the most prominent feature of a not
remarkably pleasing-looking countenance, but so enlarged and red at the
end that one could well fancy he had fastened a boiled beet to his face
as a partial disguise.
The other American was exactly the reverse in form and feature. He was
tall and thin, with a sickly yellow complexion and a little snub nose
which looked as if made of putty for a much smaller face--one that might
have been bought at auction because it was cheap, if noses could ever be
sold.
The Mexican would answer for a type of that class known as "greasers,"
save for the fact that he had discarded his national costume in favor of
a dirty pair of duck trousers and a blue flannel shirt.
In the boys' eyes, at least, the three appeared more like hardened
villains than honest sailors; and this opinion was strengthened rather
than lessened when they were better known.
Although Bob doubted the story they told, he had no proof that it was
false; therefore he treated them as if believing every word, and as the
first move toward ministering to their alleged necessities had ordered
Jim to prepare breakfast.
As a matter of fact, the account which these men gave of themselves was
such as could not well be questioned in the absence of evidence to the
contrary.
They were a portion of the crew of a turtling-schooner hailing from
Nassau; so the red-nosed man had said during the short pull from the
beach to the brig. Five days previous their craft put into this cove,
and they, with two others, came ashore to search for turtles. At this
work they followed around the shore of the key until so far away that
night came on before the return journey could be made.
The other two men had traveled in an opposite direction, consequently
they were alone, but not at all disquieted at being forced to remain
over night on the island, because in their business such incidents were
of frequent occurrence. With never a thought of trouble they made
themselves comfortable in the thicket, returning to the cove as soon as
possible after sunrise.
To their great surprise the schooner was no longer there, nor could the
other members of the crew be found. They had been deserted; but why,
neither of the party could even so much as guess. The Bonita and the tug
were the first crafts the men had seen, and, quite naturally, they lost
no time in hailing the crew.
Jim was not an expert cook; therefore the work in the galley was done
very slowly. It would have been nearly noon before the second meal could
be served had not Harry and Walter assisted to the extent of making the
table ready, and afterward carrying the food below.
Bob and Joe had gone about their task of ascertaining the exact
condition of the brig in order to form plans for floating her, and Jim
was forced to announce breakfast when his culinary labors were ended.
"You've been about it long enough to cook dinner for the President!" the
man with the red nose said, in a surly tone. "If I was the skipper of
this 'ere brig I'll find a way to make you more lively!"
"Well, so long as you ain't the skipper, but only a sailor what says
he's starvin' to death, s'posin' you buckle down to the grub that's
cooked, so's I can get the cabin cleaned up!" Jim replied saucily; and
before the words were hardly out of his mouth he received a blow on the
side of his head which sent him reeling against the rail.
Then, as if the uncalled-for punishment had been a kindly reward for
services performed, the red-nosed man led the way below, followed by his
companions, who seemed to think that gentleman's method of treating
their hosts was something very comical.
Jim was too much surprised to make any outcry. After looking around to
learn if Bob had been a witness of the injury he retreated to the
galley, soothing his anger by shaking his fist in the direction of the
cabin.
"You jes' wait," he muttered, seating himself on an empty mess-kid where
he could nurse his sore face. "You jes' wait an' see if I don't fix the
whole crowd! Talk about bein' sailors an' then cuffin' the cook when
you're goin' to eat aft! I'll bet not one of them villains knows how to
reef a jib, an' before they leave this vessel I'll show what I can do."
It is not probable that Jim had any very clear idea as to what kind of
punishment he would mete out to this man who had struck him without
provocation; but he believed an opportunity of avenging his wrongs would
present itself in the near future, and this thought had a wonderfully
soothing effect.
Harry and Walter, as attendants upon the guests, were treated with no
more consideration than that shown Jim. When the men seated themselves
at the table, both boys went toward the companion-way as if to go on
deck; but the thin man cried gruffly:
"Stay here, you young cubs! We may need somethin' more, an' in that case
you're to bring it!"
Just for an instant Harry glanced at Walter, as if questioning whether
they should obey, and then, evidently concluding discretion was the
better part of valor, he retreated to one corner of the cabin, where he
would be ready to obey the commands of these strange guests.
During the next ten minutes the men ate voraciously--not as if they had
been on the verge of starvation, but like pigs; and at the end of that
time he with the red nose asked, as he rested both elbows on the table
and picked his teeth with a fork:
"Where does this brig hail from?"
"I don't know," Walter replied, after waiting in vain for Harry to
speak.
"Don't know? Haven't you got sense enough to tell where you come from?"
"_We_ belong in New York. While we were at the Isle of Shoals, Jim and
Harry and I rowed out to the brig, and found her abandoned. Then the
wind sprung up and she ran away with us."
"Where did the old sailor come aboard?" the man asked, after exchanging
glances with his companions.
Walter told him in the fewest possible words how Bob had become a member
of the party, and also in what condition the Sea Bird was when Joe
linked his fortunes with theirs.
"How happened it that you run ashore here?" the Mexican asked, and this
question Harry answered.
"Then you've got no more right aboard this craft than we have," the
first speaker said, "an' I reckon we'll stick by the ship. Do you know
where there's any tobacco?"
"No, I haven't seen a piece except that which Bob has."
"Then hunt for some. In a well-found craft like this there's sure to be
plenty."
"We don't know anything about it, and do not intend to look!" Harry
said decidedly, as he retreated toward the companion-way, taking up his
stand directly in front of Walter.
"I'll have to give you a lesson, the same's I did the other fellow!" the
red-nosed man cried in an angry tone. "Are you goin' to obey orders?"
"I'm willing to do any necessary work, but I don't intend to wait upon
you!" and Harry tried very hard to prevent his voice from trembling.
"That's jes' what you will do!" the man cried, as if beside himself with
passion, and seizing a plate from the table he hurled it with better
intent than aim directly at the boys, grasping another the instant the
first had left his hands.
The second he did not throw, however. As the crockery was shivered into
fragments against the companion-ladder, passing within an inch of
Harry's head, Bob appeared at the hatchway.
"What's goin' on in here?" he asked sternly.
"Them boys were givin' us some of their impudence, an' I was showin' 'em
the proper place aboard ship, that's all," the red-nosed man replied in
a mild, friendly tone, as if he had simply been doing his host a favor.
"Look here, my friend," and it could be plainly seen that Bob was trying
hard to control his temper. "It won't be well for you to show any one
on this craft what his place is. We took you aboard believin' you were
sailors an' starvin'; but we'll set the whole lot adrift mighty quick if
I see any more of this kind of work." Then turning to the boys, he
added, "Go on deck or stay here, as you choose; but don't play servant
to a single person on the brig."
"I allow you're lookin' at this matter wrong," the thin man said in a
conciliatory tone, as Harry and Walter ascended the companion-ladder.
"We haven't said or done anything out of the way. How was we to know but
they was the reg'lar cabin-boys, an' when they insulted us jes' 'cause
we'd lost our vessel an' luck was agin us, we only did what you would."
As a matter of course, Bob was not absolutely certain but that there
might be some truth in the man's statement, although from what he knew
of Harry and Walter it did not seem probable; therefore he said, with
less show of anger:
"We'll let the matter drop; but you must understand that the boys are to
be treated as I am. The one who acts as cook has been to sea a little,
and can stand harder work than the others, who were never on board a
vessel before. Neither of 'em are to be bossed or scolded, for all do
what they can willingly, an' I'm standin' right by 'em. Now that you've
had somethin' to eat, an' ain't sufferin', what do you propose doin'?"
"You're short-handed, even if you had only the brig to look after; so
what's to hinder our workin' a passage to sich port as you calculate on
makin'?" and the red-nosed man spoke very humbly.
"We reckon on leavin' the tug here," Bob replied gravely. "She's
aground, an' what's worse, bunged up so bad that three weeks wouldn't be
any too long for repairs. 'Cordin' to my figgerin' the brig can be
floated reasonably easy; an' with Joe Taylor aboard I can run her to the
mainland pretty nigh as quick as if we had more of a crew."
"Do you mean that you don't care about takin' us along?" the slim man
asked.
Bob hesitated an instant, hardly caring to say plainly that he had no
desire for their company, and then he replied:
"It ain't wholly as I say. Considerin' what has been done, an' that the
Sea Bird was disabled through the carelessness of one of my party, Joe
has got as much interest here as I, an' he'd have to agree."
"Does he make any objection to helping us out of this hole if we're
willing to do our full share of work?" the Mexican asked.
"I don't say he does, 'cause, you see, we haven't made any talk about
sich a plan."
"Then find out jes' what he's willin' to do;" and the thin man spoke
very earnestly. "We'll agree to obey orders like as if we'd signed
articles, an' before the brig reaches the coast you'll be mighty glad of
our help."
"Do you know what island this is?" Bob asked as if desiring to change
the conversation.
"It's one of the Double-Breasted Keys," the thin man replied.
"On the Bahama Bank?"
"Yes; pretty nigh the northern point of the shoal."
"Then we're not more than three days' sail from Nassau?"
"About that; but you can't get in without a pilot, an' it ain't much
further to some port in the United States."
To this Bob made no reply, but turned as if to leave the cabin when the
Mexican stopped him by asking:
"Will you say whether we are to be given a passage, or must we go ashore
to starve?"
"I'll talk the matter over with Joe. If he's agreed I won't say a word
ag'in it, though I'd much rather take the brig in alone." And then Bob
hurried up the companion-ladder, as if eager to escape from his guests.
When the three men were alone their entire bearing changed, and the one
with a red nose said in a whisper, as he shook his fist threateningly in
the direction Bob had vanished:
"We'll whine 'round only till the brig's afloat, an' then if we can't
get away in her, leavin' that crowd behind, we deserve to stay!"
"And when we do have a craft of our own we'll pay off some old scores to
that meddlin' fool who broke up our little game in Nassau!" the thin man
added.
"It will be well if we do not show our hand too quickly," the Mexican
said. "Without even so much as a revolver, we cannot hold possession in
case they should decide to set us ashore."
"What a coward you are!" And he with the red nose spoke in a tone of
contempt. "There are only two of them, for the boys don't count, an'
marlin'-spikes or belayin'-pins comes as cheap to us as any one else. If
we wanted to drive that crowd over the rail it wouldn't be very hard
work, unless we two was the same chicken-hearted lubbers you are!"
The Mexican turned upon his heel as if the conversation was decidedly
too personal; but he made no attempt to resent the insult, and the thin
man said, in a soothing tone:
"You're talkin' sense now, pardner; but we need them fellers worse'n
they do us. The brig must be afloat before anything is done."
"Of course she must. You don't think I'm sich a fool as not to think of
them tricks. Leave me to boss the job, an' it won't be many hours till
we have everything our own way."
Then the three men went on deck apparently the most honest sailors to be
found on the sea; and from his place of refuge in the galley Jim watched
them distrustfully.