THE STORM BREAKS
"Hey, there! Wake up, Holly!"
Mart pounded on his chum's door again, as a sleepy answer came from
within. The night mists had been gone for an hour, and the sun was
flooding the lagoon with light and warmth, but Mart was more excited
than the early hour warranted.
"Hurry up there, Holly!" he urged, pounding again. "Get a move on!
Something's happened!"
"What?" sounded the question.
"Never mind till you see it. Get your duds on and get out here."
After thirty seconds more the half-dressed figure of Bob appeared at the
door. Mart seized him by the arm and jerked him out. Bob stared in
wonder, for Mart's strong, determined face was filled with grief and
anger.
"What's struck you, Mart?"
"Come along and see."
With which enigmatic response Mart led the way forward and up to the
bridge. Two of the Kanakas were on watch, but Mart passed direct to the
wireless house, with the wondering Bob close behind.
"Now, look at that," exclaimed Mart, standing by the table and waving
his hand toward the wireless outfit. "Look at it real close, Holly."
Bob advanced, puzzled. The silence cabinet in which was enclosed the
transmitting apparatus, had been forced open, and even the unmechanical
Bob could see at a glance that something had been disarranged, or worse.
"Look at her!" exclaimed Mart bitterly. "Wires out and gone, and
everything busted that would bust--why, they must have gone through her
with an axe! Holly, this wireless was busted a-purpose, and someone
aboard the _Seamew_ did it!"
"Is she badly smashed?" queried Bob, who was startled by the news
without quite comprehending what it meant.
"I haven't had a chance to look yet. But say, Holly! Don't you see what
it means? There's someone aboard here who wants to cut us off from
connection with everything--and he didn't know much about wireless,
either. The aerials ain't touched. Let's see--"
Mart began to investigate feverishly, but Bob stood transfixed as he
finally realized what this destruction portended. Then, as he gazed down
at the kneeling figure of his chum, his face flooded with anger and he
turned and went out to the forward end of the bridge. The Kanakas were
lolling below in the sun, and Bob woke them sharply.
"Call all hands and send Mr. Smith here."
At the unwonted note of authority in his voice, the Kanakas jumped. Five
minutes later the whole crew poured up, thronging the foredeck, while
old Jerry came up to the bridge in mild astonishment.
"Come back here," ordered Bob briefly, in reply to his queries, and led
the old quartermaster hack to the wireless house.
"Now, Jerry," he said, "last night someone broke in there and went
through the wireless outfit with an axe. How about it, Mart! Much
damaged?"
"Clean smashed up, Holly," groaned Mart from his position beside the
cabinet, where he was investigating the helix. "Everything's busted.
She's ruined."
"Get to work, Jerry," commanded Bob curtly. "You're responsible. Now
find out who did it--"
"How do you know it was done last night, lads?" inquired Jerry softly.
"When was you up here last, if I may ask?"
Bob glanced at Mart, who was rising. They found that neither of them had
been up since early the previous morning when Mart had sent a message
through the Nederland boat. At this Jerry suggested that one of the
Malays had possibly stolen up while their prau was waiting alongside for
the captain, the day before, and had stolen what he could find. The
Malays had a fondness for wire, he went on to say.
"Mebbe," said Mart suspiciously. "You get busy and investigate here
first. I don't take much stock in your suggestions."
With an injured air, Jerry retraced his steps and put the crew through a
stiff examination, but nothing was brought to light. It finally proved
that the Malay explanation was the most plausible one, simply for lack
of other evidence, and although Bob and Mart were both furious, they
could do nothing. Once they were alone in the cabin, however, Mart
winked mysteriously at his chum.
"Say, Holly, I was putting up a bluff on you for Jerry's benefit. That
wireless ain't wrecked, not by a jugfull! Whoever did it was too plumb
ignorant to do the job right. I can fix her up, but it'll take time.
Now, you lay low and let on like she's busted for good. If one o' the
men did it, and finds it ain't busted, he's liable to go after our
aerials, which would sure dish things for us, see?"
Bob nodded thoughtfully.
"Good for you, Mart. Well, you wait an' see what happens when dad gets
back, that's all I have to say."
He had no chance to say more, indeed, for a trampling of feet on the
deck, and the sound of voices, apprised them that the diving was about
to commence. They at once set aside all other thoughts, agreed to forget
the wireless for the time being, and hurried on deck to watch
operations. At Bob's suggestion Mart brought along a couple of the
thirty-thirty rifles, in case they should see any further signs of the
Pirate Shark.
They had already made sure that the Kanakas knew the danger of diving
here in the lagoon, but one and all the brown-skinned men had laughed at
the very name of shark, patting their sheath knives and assuring the
boys that they were used to killing sharks as a form of exercise. Size
made no difference, it appeared, so the boys made no more objections.
Four of the Kanakas had stripped and stood on the gangway landing,
holding to lines and weights, while the rest of the crew clustered about
the rail and Jerry gave them instructions as to depth and bottom and
what to look for. Then the men grinned, put their knives between their
teeth, and slipped off into the water.
After a minute they reappeared, merely took breath, and vanished again.
This time they were down well over a minute, then shot up to the surface
together and piled on to the landing, their brown bodies glistening in
the sun. The boys went down the ladder and joined Jerry in getting the
reports of the divers.
These all agreed that the yacht lay directly over an old wreck, which
was so overgrown that it seemed little more than a huge rock. One of the
men had brought up a sliver of wood in proof of the story, however, and
at sight of it Jerry nodded, satisfied.
"There she is, lads--eight fathoms down! Mystery o' the sea,
lads--mystery o' the sea, and us up above here in the sun!"
The boys kept a sharp lookout for the shark, but he was not to be seen,
and the Kanakas declared there was nothing alarming to be seen
underneath the surface. Now it was that Jerry had Dailey and Birch bring
down the diving outfits to the landing, and he briefly ordered the
Kanakas to don them and go down.
To the surprise of all, the Kanakas refused. They looked with some
suspicion on the heavy boots and copper helmet, declaring that they felt
safer without all these things and were perfectly willing to go down as
often as was wished.
At this Jerry carefully explained that such work would not do, that he
wanted the wreck explored, and that it was necessary for a man to be
down for a long period to do this successfully. The Kanakas still
balked, however, and when Jerry grew furious and ordered one of them
flatly to get into the diving dress, Bob interposed.
"None o' that, Jerry. The men are right. If you want someone to go down,
pick out one of your own men--Birch or Dailey there."
The Scotch engineer, standing up above, burst out laughing. Birch
promptly denied all interest in the wreck.
"Not me, sir! I ain't no diver, nor shark fighter neither. If anyone's
to go down, let the quartermaster go down, I says!"
"That's right," grinned Mart maliciously. "You climb into one of the
suits, Jerry! Mebbe your old friend the Pirate Shark is waiting for you
to show up."
Jerry chuckled and wagged his white head in solemn refusal, while those
above made fun of him unrestrainedly. Finally Jerry scratched his head
and gazed up at the men lining the rail.
"Dailey," he ordered, "see to gettin' out two o' the boats. Yorke, you
an' Birch an' Borden come down to the after cabin. I'll learn ye who's
master aboard here!"
He chuckled again, and beckoned to the boys to follow, which they did.
Dailey ran to the bridge deck with a squad of Kanakas and as Mart went
below he heard the davits creaking, and saw one of the boats descending
to the water.
Jerry vouchsafed no explanation of his ordered consultation until the
three men in question had come down to the cabin where he and the boys
waited. Mart detected something strange in the old man's manner, and the
instant the men came down he saw an insolent expression on Birch's face
that he did not understand. He was soon to understand it, however, with
a good many other things.
"Now, comrades, what had best be done?" asked Jerry. "These here lads
don't want us to make the Kanakas go down, and you don't want to go down
neither. Our dynamite's gone, so I asks you again, what's to be done?"
Yorke leered with his twisted mouth.
"Take a rope's end to the Kanakas, Shark. Ain't you master aboard here?"
"Aye, that I am, Yorke, but owners is owners."
Jerry chuckled again, which disarmed Bob's anger. Mart was watching the
four men anxiously. Their attitude puzzled him, for the seamen were
undoubtedly insolent, but Jerry seemed to pay no attention; and the old
quartermaster was usually a stickler for sea etiquette.
"Are you sure the Pirate Shark's down there, Jerry?" asked Bob suddenly.
"Don't you think he's gone out to sea--"
"No, no, lad, he lives down there--eight fathom down, in the wreck, with
the fish all around and us up above."
"He didn't go after the Kanakas," persisted Bob skeptically.
"You're right, lad, he didn't--'cause why, he knowed better, he did!
He's waitin' till a diver goes down, lads--a real diver wi' the shoes
an' helmet, as can't swim about like the Kanakas. I'll go down myself."
"What!"
The cry of surprise broke from men and boys alike, but Jerry nodded, his
jaw set and his old face showing a sudden angry determination.
"Yes. I'll go down, wi' some kind o' weapon, and I'll--"
"Take that kris of mine!" shouted Bob eagerly.
"Stow your jaw!" The one-eyed Birch turned on them roughly and
threateningly, to Mart's amazement. "Jerry, stop this fooling. What you
goin' to do with these kids, eh?"
"Let them go down," broke in Borden, a malicious expression on his
wrinkled face. "Let 'em go down, Jerry, to the wreck."
"Shut up!" Jerry straightened up. So swiftly had this dialogue passed
that the two boys had hardly realized its import, when the old
quartermaster shook his fist at Birch. "Shut up, I say! Them boys ain't
a-goin' to be hurt, understand? Nor they ain't goin' to hurt us neither;
I'll see to that. Borden, you and Yorke go up and lay that engineer in
irons in the forehold. Birch, get hold o' Dailey and take a gun to them
Kanakas till they agree to go down. This here is business, and I'm boss.
So step lively."
The men obeyed quickly, for Jerry's gentle face was transformed into
furious energy. The two boys, however, leaped forward with an angry cry
as the meaning of his orders broke on them.
"See here," exclaimed Mart, taking the old man by the shoulder and
whirling him around to face them. "What's this mean anyhow?"
"You're crazy with the heat, Jerry," added Bob angrily. "This isn't any
pirate--"
Jerry, with unexpected strength, put a hand on each of their chests and
flung them back with seeming ease. When they recovered, his blue eyes
were blazing and a revolver showed in his hand.
"Now, lads," he said in his soft, penetrating voice, "I like you, I do,
and I'm takin' care o' you. You heard what old Borden said, eh? 'Let 'em
go down to the wreck,' he said, lads, but not me. No, old Jerry likes
you, an' you ain't a-goin' to be hurt."
"Why--why, blame it all, what do you mean?" gasped Mart.
"He's puttin' up a joke on us, Mart," grinned Bob. Jerry chuckled.
"Joke, eh? Look ye here, lads. Up back at the village yonder, the cap'n
and Joe Swanson is took care of in a hut. They're safe enough, but
they're took care of. That's why I went ashore first, to see my friends.
This here yacht belongs to me, lads, until we get up the treasure out o'
the wreck. Then me and the rest, we'll be off all shipshape and Bristol
fashion, we will, and no one won't be hurt. Understand that, lads?"
Mart stared. But there was no denying the earnestness of the old man.
Then over both boys flashed the whole thing--the three old men plotting
at Waikiki, the different snatches of talk they had heard, everything
that pointed to the same end. Jerry and his comrades had seized the
_Seamew_.
"You mean you're a gang of pirates?" asked Bob, paralyzed with
astonishment.
"That's it, lads," chuckled Jerry calmly. "You ain't to be hurt so
long's you keep quiet, lads. Pirates it is--the fish down below and us
up here above, lads. But when we've got the treasure out o' the wreck,
we'll set the cap'n free and leave you wi' the ship. Fish tell no tales,
lads--fish tell no tales!"
And with that Jerry turned and ascended the companion, revolver in hand.