“But what do you think of the grizzled old chap?” asked Amos, managing
to snatch a look at the skipper as he spoke.
“I can give only a guess at the most,” admitted Jack. “These Greeks
have always been good sailors and regular water-dogs. You know how
we have read about their exploits in ancient history. Scylla and
Charybdis, the rock and the whirlpool, were among their most feared
enemies, not to speak of the mermaids, who combed their long hair and
sang to the sailors, trying to entice them to drop overboard and make
love to them. As for Captain Zenos, I’m afraid he’s something of a bold
adventurer.”
“I’ve thought, myself, he had the free-and-easy look of a regular
buccaneer, with those rings in his ears, and that red handkerchief
about his head,” said Amos. “As long as he carried out his contract
with us I made up my mind it was really no business of ours, even if he
turned out to be a pirate.”
“But watch him look over this way every little while, and you’ll feel
that he’s got us on his mind. I think, Amos, he’s concluded we’re
English boys, and, as some of these Greek sailors are apt to be hand in
glove with the Turks, perhaps he may be plotting to hand us over to the
enemy, expecting to profit thereby.”
“Whew! I wonder now!” whiffed Amos, as though the idea rather staggered
him.
“Of course, as I said before, it’s pretty much all guess work with
me,” Jack repeated, “but I’ve been fairly successful in reading faces.
Honestly, if you asked me what I thought of our skipper, I’d say he
might be a man who would turn on his best friend, if the pay was big
enough.”
“I wish we knew the truth,” muttered Amos. “We might do something
to put a peg in his nice little game. Each of us is carrying a
shooting-iron now, for self-defense, even though we decided not to go
armed when near the firing line, for fear of being roughly handled in
case we fell into the hands of the Germans, as almost happened several
times.”
“We must keep on our guard and watch out for treachery,” said Jack.
“This happens to be one of those times when ‘an ounce of prevention is
better than a pound of cure.’”
“Yes, and I’ll match your proverb with another when I say that
‘forewarned is forearmed.’ If that old chap wants to get the better of
two wide-awake American boys like us he must rise pretty early in the
morning, that’s all.”
“Listen, Amos. I was just wondering what sort of a cargo they have down
below.”
“Well, up to this minute, I’ve never bothered my head about that part
of it,” admitted the other. “All I knew was that it’s carefully covered
over with tarpaulins, so that the water can’t get at it. I took it for
granted they were carrying bags of flour, or something in the way of
food, to Smyrna, and would fetch back figs or oranges, or some other
fruit grown around there.”
“It might turn out we’d be able to get a line on Captain Zenos if
only we knew what his cargo consisted of,” suggested Jack, softly yet
significantly.
Amos started, and looked into his chum’s blue eyes.
“Ginger! does that mean you suspect him of being what might be called a
blockade runner?” he asked in a hushed tone.
“Something along those lines,” asserted Jack. “Look him over again
and tell me if you could ever imagine a better specimen of a daring
adventurer. Doesn’t his every movement and expression say that Captain
Zenos has spent the better part of his life dodging customs officers as
a smuggler, or something like that?”
“Honest, Jack, I do believe you are right. Now that you’ve mentioned
it, I think of several things I’ve noticed, and I agree with you. The
old Greek skipper has all the ear-marks of a bold adventurer. The
chances are he’s as unscrupulous as he is daring.”
“Then it strikes me we ought to be doing something before it’s too
late, so as to find out what sort of a boat we’ve taken passage on,”
Jack suggested, quietly.
“By demanding that he tell us, do you mean?” asked Amos.
“Well, hardly,” came the reply. “That would only hurry him along, I’m
afraid. But there’s another way to find out. I might watch my chance
and make an effort to see what lies under those snug tarpaulins down
below!”
Amos gave a slight whistle, which was one of his customary ways of
indicating surprise.
“Not a bad scheme, Jack, sure it isn’t, only I don’t see why you
wouldn’t let me do the prowling around.”
“It was my idea, and you must expect me to be the one to do the job,”
he was told, although at the same time Jack favored him with a smile of
appreciation, for he knew just how willing Amos always was to undertake
any manner of task, regardless of the labor involved or the peril that
threatened.
“If, as you suspect, they turn out to be blockade runners, Jack,
perhaps they mean to hide behind that island yonder until dark comes
on, when they can slip past the torpedo-boat lines, and land their
stuff.”
“As like as not,” agreed Jack. “As there’s no time to be lost, I reckon
I might slip my cable right now while they’re all so busy up forward,
and see if it’s possible to get a line on that mysterious cargo.”
“Good luck to you then,” Amos told him. “But before you go, give
me some idea of what you want me to do in case I learn the captain
suspects you and acts.”
“I hope that isn’t going to happen,” said Jack. “It would precipitate
a crisis. I’d rather wait until it gets dark, when we might manage to
slip the boat loose they are towing behind, and get to the land in it.”
“But what if discovery _does_ come about?” persisted Amos.
“In that case there’s only one thing for you to do,” explained Jack;
“stop the captain from coming down on top of me, even if you have
to cover him with your gun. Then give our old signal, and I’ll be
alongside in a jiffy.”
“All right, I’ll remember, though, like you, I certainly hope he
won’t notice your absence, or, if he does, he may think you’ve just
stepped back in the little cabin for something. I say that, to tell
you the honest truth, I don’t like the idea of trying to offstand that
ferocious sea-dog. He might rush me, and then I’d have to pull trigger,
you know. So-long, Jack. Be back as soon as you can.”
“You may depend on that,” he was told, and with that Jack disappeared.
Amos continued to stand there, using the glass, and, occasionally, when
he thought the skipper might be looking his way, he would turn and
speak as though conversing with his chum, who apparently was lying down
and beyond the range of Captain Zenos’ vision.
It was really very cleverly arranged by Amos, and did him much credit.
Possibly only for this scheme he put into play the skipper may have
become suspicious and advanced toward him to learn where Jack had gone
to, which act would have precipitated a crisis.
A few minutes passed.
Amos had become intensely interested in a black smudge which, through
his powerful binoculars, he had just discovered on the horizon. He
found himself wondering what kind of vessel was leaving that low trail
of smoke behind it. Was it a dreadnaught carrying the British Union
Jack or just a transport bearing more forces of the Allies to help
beat a way through the rock-bound strait that barred the route to
Constantinople?
The captain and crew were still engaged forward, though occasionally
the former would think to glance in the direction where his young
passenger stood, glass in hand. Amos never forgot to carry out his
scheme and make a great show of speaking to some one close by.
He had reason to believe that the little game quite deceived the
skipper, for, to the boy’s relief, Captain Zenos made no effort to
approach him on some plea or other, but really to investigate.
Why was Jack so long, Amos asked himself, and then decided it was his
own impatience that made the seconds seem like minutes. Jack had to
proceed with a due amount of caution; and, having accomplished his
purpose, he might be expected back at any time now.
Even as Amos told himself this he heard a slight movement behind him,
and, turning, discovered his chum. The first thing that struck him as
particularly suggestive was the sober look on Jack’s face.
“He has found something out, that’s sure,” Amos told himself, with a
sensation akin to a shiver running over his system; but it was the
thrill of excitement and not fear that caused him to grit his teeth in
expectancy.
In another minute Jack was beside him again.
“Give me the glass, and be pointing something out,” said the latter.
“He’s watching us. Yes, I can see that smoke low down on the horizon;
and the chances are it’s made by a British battleship going to or
coming from the island where we understand they do all their repairs
after being struck and damaged.”
“Did you find out anything?” asked the eager Amos.
“I sure did,” he was told.
“And the cargo they’ve got hidden under the canvas tarpaulins, Jack?”
“Consists of guns and ammunition, as well as big shells, Amos! Fact is,
we’re aboard a gun runner carrying arms to the Turks!”