OFF FOR TRINGANU
It was Sunday afternoon. Joe Swanson and the second mate, "Liverpool"
Peters, had departed that morning to enjoy their last few hours on
shore. Captain Hollinger, Mart, and Bob were alone on board, save for
the steward, and the three were sitting around a big pitcher of lemonade
under the after-deck awnings. The financier-yachtsman was
enthusiastically outlining his plans for sport during his trip.
"We're going to have a great time, boys," he exclaimed heartily, "I've
got everything on board you can think of, from tackle for sharks to
dynamite."
"Huh? Dynamite?" asked Mart quickly. "What's that for, Cap'n?"
"I don't know," returned the captain coolly. The two boys stared.
"What--you don't know?" asked Bob in surprise. His father laughed.
"No. I put it aboard at the suggestion of old Jerry Smith. He said we
might have need for it during the diving operations, and I simply took
his advice. He's pretty well posted on everything out in that section of
the world, and promises me some exciting sport shooting tigers."
"I thought tigers were found only in India," put in Mart, puzzled.
"That's where they usually shoot 'em, isn't it?"
"No," said the captain, leaning back and lighting his cigar. "No, Mart,
you're off there. You'll find tigers all through the Malay States and up
into China proper--I believe they've even been found in parts of Japan.
We're going to have some great shooting, boys! And while I'm off with
you in the jungle, or hills--for I'm not sure which we'll find--old
Jerry can be managing the diving and dredging operations at the other
end without bothering me till the work's ready for inspection."
"What's Jerry gettin' out o' this?" queried Mart thoughtfully.
"Oh, I'm to allow him one-third of the stock. Our consul at Singapore is
already getting us the concession, and Jerry has letters from the Sultan
of Tringanu to all the native chiefs."
"What're they like, dad?" Bob sat up. "The letters, I mean."
"They're written in Arabic," laughed his father. "There are a good many
Arabs out in that part of the world, and I suppose Arabic is the usual
written language; or rather, the Malays use the Arabic characters.
They're all Mohammedans, anyway."
"Can't we take a squint at those diving outfits?" Mart looked out at the
sparkling waters of the bay, and sighed. "Oh, I'd give 'most anything to
go down and really get underneath the ocean! Where are the outfits,
Cap'n?"
"Boxed up in the hold, Judson. There's no chance of our using them till
after we get to Tringanu. Swanson knows a good deal about diving, and
Jerry Smith promised to pick up a couple of men who were used to it, so
we'll be all right there."
"Oh!" Mart suddenly sat up and squared around in his seat. "Am I under
Swanson's orders, Cap'n?"
"Nominally, yes, as a member of the crew. But in actual fact, no. Why?"
The boy's face was troubled, and he hesitated an instant.
"Nothing much," he said at last, his gray eyes suddenly hard and cold.
"Only, I had an argument with Swanson Friday, and by somethin' he said
yesterday I wondered if I was under him."
"I guess not!" cried Bob indignantly. "You're an officer, and you're
under no one but the captain--who is dad."
"That's right, Mart," nodded Captain Hollinger. "You take your orders
from me, and that's all. Hello, there's Swanson now!"
The boys looked up to see the burly mate coming along the dock. Without
heeding them, he crossed the gangplank and went forward, doubtless to
remove his "shore clothes," in order to prepare for the night's work.
Captain Hollinger had heard the message left by Jerry Smith, saying that
the old man could sign articles and draw wages if he liked. It looked to
Mart as though the old seaman was cranky and wanted to have things just
so, in which opinion Bob agreed, but as Jerry was to all intents a
partner in the expedition, it mattered little.
The sun was just going down, and the boys were looking for the last time
on the hills of San Francisco, when Swanson came along the deck and
touched his hat to the captain in a hesitant fashion. Mr. Hollinger, who
was no mere amateur sailor, nodded.
"Yes, Mr. Swanson? Mr. Peters come aboard yet?"
"Not yet, sir." Swanson hesitated again. "I--I wanted to ask you
something, sir, meanin' no offense. Yesterday mornin', sir, there was a
little round-shouldered man come aboard--gray hair, he had, and--"
"You mean old Jerry Smith?" asked Captain Hollinger. Somehow both he and
the boys always thought of the man as "Old Jerry."
"Yes, sir, that's him. If I might ask, sir, is he a-going to ship aboard
us?"
"Why, he was going as passenger, Mr. Swanson, but seems to have changed
his mind. Yes, he'll sign articles as quartermaster. Why, do you know
him?"
"No, sir, not rightly," and the mate shuffled awkwardly. "He--he ain't
said to be a lucky shipmate, Cap'n. They tell queer yarns about him;
I've heard say as he was off his head a bit. Is he the one what's
bringing the crew abroad, sir!"
"Yes--why? This talk is all nonsense, Swanson. Smith is as sound in his
head as you or I, and he certainly knows the sea."
"Yes, sir," agreed the mate quickly--a little too quickly, thought Mart,
who was watching him keenly. "Yes, sir. He does that. And he'll bring a
crew, Cap'n Hollinger, as'll take handlin'. I was thinkin', sir, that
mebbe we'd have quite a ruction to-night--"
The financier laughed. He, as well as the boys, saw now what was on the
mate's mind. Swanson believed that old Jerry would pick up a scoundrelly
crew, most of them drunk when they came aboard, and that the millionaire
might get drawn into a fight with them. Much as he disliked the big
mate, Mart gave him credit for being true to his salt, as indeed he was.
"Look here," smiled the captain, getting to his feet and facing the
mate, who was an inch shorter than he. "I wouldn't be captain of this
yacht unless I could take care of myself, Mr. Swanson. If you doubt it,
I'll put on the gloves with you now!"
Swanson grinned. "No, sir, not me! I'm satisfied if you are, Cap'n
Hollinger. I just wanted to ease off steam a bit--"
"I understand," laughed the financier. "But I guess you and Peters can
handle the crew right enough. Now, you come down and mess with us, and
Mr. Peters can take the deck when he comes."
All four descended into the mess cabin as Ah Sing rang the bell, and
during the meal Mart revised his opinion of the mate to some extent. He
saw that Swanson did not like him because he considered the wireless job
a sinecure, and wanted to keep all the crew hard at work all the time.
It was the usage of the sea, and the big mate himself was blunt and
well-meaning. But Mart Judson had no mind to be ordered about by anyone,
and he determined that if Swanson tried it, the mate would find out
something.
Peters, the second mate, came aboard before dark, and put the
engine-room crew to work, so that after mess the boys went on deck to
find steam up and the lines ready to be flung off at a moment's notice.
By ten o'clock no crew had come aboard, however, and Captain Hollinger
finally ordered the boys to their cabins, in order to get to sleep
early.
"Holly!" said Mart softly, when they had left the main cabin. "You going
to bed?"
"Huh! With a scrap due to arrive? Not much!"
"Me neither. Let's get up in the bow."
So, treading very softly, they made their way to the bow and crouched
there as comfortably as possible. Hardly fifteen minutes had passed when
there came a tramp of feet from the wharf, and a confused murmur of
voices. Looking down the deck, by the gangway light the two boys could
see Captain Hollinger and "Liverpool" Peters waiting. Swanson had
disappeared, as it was his watch below.
The noise of feet swelled up into a steady stamping; then, as Mart and
Bob got to the rail and looked over, they made out the figures of eight
or ten men in the dim glow from the gangway. But, to their great
disappointment, there was no fight whatever, and neither did any of the
new arrivals seem to be intoxicated. Instead, all halted at sight of the
two waiting officers, and the boys saw the stoop-shouldered Jerry Smith
come forward and touch his hat.
"We've come aboard, sir, all shipshape and Bristol fashion."
"Very good, quartermaster," replied Captain Hollinger briskly. "Mr.
Peters, if you'll see that these men sign articles, we'll be off at the
turn of the tide. I'd better come with you, while you send someone after
Mr. Swanson. We'll want all hands--"
"On deck, sir," came the voice of Swanson, and Mart looked aft to see
the burly mate come to the gangway. Captain Hollinger nodded and led the
way below, followed by the first mate and the crew, all of whom seemed
to be decent-looking fellows, and far from what Swanson had so gloomily
predicted. But, as they vanished, the boys saw the stoop-shouldered
figure of Jerry Smith stop abruptly by the gangway; then came Swanson's
voice once more, aggressive and heavy.
"Look a-here, Shark Smith! I don't know what your game is aboard this
craft, but you lay a fair course or I'll trim you. Savvy that? This
ain't the old _Coralie_, not by a long shot. I'm workin' honest now, an'
you ain't goin' to get me from _behind_ neither, like you got poor Bucko
Tom!"
Mart, watching in wild astonishment, saw old Jerry crouch abjectly. Then
with the mate's final words the old man straightened up as if in
accusation. His white hair shone dimly in the light.
"You're right, Joe Swanson, you're right!" he said in his quiet voice,
that carried clearly and distinctly to the boys at the forward rail.
"But if it _was_ me as got Bucko Tom, who was it got the officers o' the
_Melbourne_, eh? No, no, Joe Swanson! I'm a new man now, and let's
forget the past. Fish tell no tales, Joe; fish tell no tales. I'm an old
man, but I'm quartermaster o' this packet. I'm an old man, but I'm a new
man inside--"
And turning abruptly, muttering as if he was actually out of his head,
old Jerry Smith shuffled to the companionway and vanished. For a moment
Swanson stared after him as if in surprise, then Mart felt his chum's
hand on his arm.
"Better get out o' here, Mart! They'll be sendin' the men forward pretty
soon."
"You're right," Mart cautiously led the way aft, as Swanson began
ascending the ladder to the bridge deck. When he had vanished, the two
boys hurriedly gained their own staterooms, and Bob stopped with Mart
for a short chat.
"What d'you reckon those old fellows meant?" asked Mart, rumpling his
black hair in perplexity. "Think they knew each other before this?"
"Looks like it," agreed Bob thoughtfully, his blue eyes narrowed. "What
did they mean by 'getting' Bucko Tom, an' the _Melbourne_ officers? Do
you s'pose--"
"Pirates!" cried Mart excitedly, and dropped his voice. "They were
pirates together on a ship called the _Coralie_! Bet you a dollar on
it!"
"Then we're off to sea with a couple o' pirates aboard," responded Bob,
as they heard shouted orders above, and the engines began to throb.
"Shucks--forget it, Mart--we'll wake up plumb out of sight o' land.
We're off--hooray for Tringanu!"
And the _Seamew_ had begun her long voyage.