The importance of the news rather staggered Amos. He held his breath
for nearly half a minute before venturing to say anything.
“That sounds pretty lively, take it from me, Jack. Guns and shells, you
say, for the Turks on Gallipoli Peninsula?”
“Yes, and there’s much ammunition besides, powder and rifle cartridges.
They must be using those up at a terribly rapid rate,” declared Jack.
“If a lighted match happened to be thrown carelessly under that lot of
tarpaulins, an explosion would follow, eh, Jack?”
“I guess what’s passing through that rapid-fire brain of yours, Amos,
but unless we’re attacked we really have no right to do anything as
serious as that. You must remember that we’re neutral in this war.”
“Huh! we may be so far as the Germans and Austrians are concerned,”
grumbled Amos, “but it’s a different thing with the Turks. Every hand
in Europe has at times been raised against them. England saved them
from being kicked out of Constantinople more than once. And when I see
British and French soldiers scrapping with the dark-skinned Turk, I’m
just _bound_ to take sides, no matter what anybody says.”
“It must be in the blood,” admitted Jack. “Like father, like son, and
after all you’ve got the soldier’s instinct handed down to you.”
“But tell me, Jack, if you’ve guessed it by now, why should the Greeks
want to send all this ammunition over there, when the chances are
before long they’ll be in the swim, too, and with the Allies as side
partners?”
“Oh! it isn’t the Greeks as a people who do this underhand business,”
the other explained. “You’ll always find some men ready to take risks
when they see a big profit in the gun-running game. You know, Germany
hasn’t been able to get as much ammunition across Roumania and Bulgaria
as the Turks need; and so some of the German secret agents in Greece
have organized a regular fleet of these big powerboats to carry cargoes
through the lines of the Allies.”
“If they’re held up it would be a bad job for the skippers I reckon,
Jack?”
“No question about it. They might be stood against a wall and shot.”
“But if the captain had this big game up his sleeve,” questioned Amos,
who always wanted an explanation, “why should he bother taking a couple
of American boys aboard, and perhaps spoil his other work?”
“The big sum we offered tempted him in the first place, I suppose,”
explained Jack. “Then, with a crew of seven men, not counting himself,
he took it for granted they could do what they liked with us.”
“You mean chuck us ashore on some measly little island in this Ægean
Sea, to be marooned, goodness knows for how long?” suggested Amos.
“Perhaps that was the plan, and the island ahead of us the place
selected for carrying out the plot. But Amos, for all we know he may
have figured on taking us as prisoners ashore on the Peninsula, and
handing us over to the Turks as English boys.”
“The dickens you say!” grumbled Amos, shaking his head, upset by the
thought. “If I felt sure he had that idea passing through his head, I’d
say we ought to do something to foil his plans, and right away in the
bargain.”
“Well, I’ve evolved a scheme that may give us the boat,” was the
staggering remark made by Jack. It fairly took Amos’ breath away.
“Then let me hear it, please, Jack. They’re still working in the bow
there, and we’ve got some time to ourselves. The man at the wheel keeps
us heading in the direction of that island, and it’s got something
to do with their plans. They mean to either drop us ashore there and
maroon us, or else lie to behind until the night wears on, when they
can slip past the guard line of patrol boats.”
“When I was down below,” explained Jack, “it struck me what a commotion
there would be aboard if smoke was suddenly discovered coming up out
of the hold!”
“Oh! my stars! I should say so!” gasped Amos, looking startled. “If, as
you say, the cargo is made up of high explosives, we would be shot up
into the clouds, and none of us would ever know what had happened. But
are you thinking of blowing up the old boat, Jack?”
“Well, not exactly,” was the reply, “but it might answer the same
purpose if we could make the crew believe they were in danger of being
scattered to the four winds. I think most of them would jump overboard
and start swimming for the island we’re getting so close to.”
Amos began to chuckle. Evidently the humorous side of the thing struck
him fully.
“Say, wouldn’t that be a great joke though, Jack, if we could scare the
bunch into abandoning the boat! Why, what would hinder us from running
it, and in the end turning the stuff over to the Allies?”
“You like the idea, then, do you?” questioned Jack.
“It’s a jolly good scheme, let me tell you, if only it could be worked
out,” Amos assented--not doubtfully, either, for he had infinite faith
in anything his chum attempted to do.
“Leave that part of it to me, Amos. I know just how I can fix things so
that in a short time smoke, heavy, black smoke, will ooze out of the
hold, though there’ll not be the least danger of an explosion.”
“Then, Jack, since we’ve decided that it’s a case of biting or being
bitten, please get busy as quick as you can. I’m fairly wild to see
what happens when that smoke is discovered. We must act as if we’re
half frightened to death, even if we’re not supposed to know the nature
of the cargo under our feet.”
Jack took another look around him. The island came in for a
considerable share of his attention, for if there was to be a sudden
exodus of captain and crew belonging to the powerboat, that was the
only place to which they could go.
The afternoon was near its end and already the shades of approaching
night had commenced to creep forth. He could see some slender masts
outlined against the sky-line above one part of the land, and concluded
there must be a small bay there, possibly a Greek village, and in which
shelter from the storms that sweep the Mediterranean in the spring
season of the year, these small fishing boats might be safe from damage.
“Listen!” cautioned Amos.
Both of them strained their ears to catch the distant grumble as of
thunder that came over the water.
“It seems to come from the northeast, as near as I can make it out,”
remarked Jack, presently.
“It must be the sound of the monster guns of a dreadnaught engaging
some of the Turkish batteries or forts along the Dardanelles,” ventured
the second lad.
“As like as not we’re listening to the sixteen-inch guns carried by the
super-dreadnaught _Queen Elizabeth_,” admitted Jack. “I forget how many
dozen miles they claim you can hear the sound, but it’s a long ways.
Mark the location well, Amos.”
“That’s right,” added the other, with a wide smile, “because if later
on we do the piloting of this craft we’ll want to know our course,
so as to strike the line of guard-ships off the end of the Gallipoli
Peninsula.”
They stood and listened as the strange complaining grumble came
stealing again over the swelling sea. Perhaps, in that moment, both
boys could see, in imagination, the great battleship wreathed in smoke
after the discharge of a monster gun. Somehow the very thought thrilled
them, for they had been anticipating just such a sight as this for some
time now.
“Well, we may never have another chance as good as this,” remarked
Jack, presently, in a singularly calm voice, which showed how
completely he had control of his nerves; “so, perhaps, I’d better be
‘making hay while the sun shines.’”
“You’re away off there, Jack, because the sun has dropped behind the
level horizon, and there’s only a glow to tell where he vanished. I’ll
stand guard here and see that no one surprises you at work. But for the
life of me I can’t guess how you’re going to make smoke, and run no
danger of fire.”
“Oh! that’s easy,” chuckled Jack. “I’ve made too many a smudge to keep
the skeeters off when in the open not to know the ropes. Just wait and
see what happens.”
He was gone almost as soon as he had spoken the last word, and once
more Amos began to sweep the horizon with his binoculars, as though
eager to pick up some distant spot that would prove to be a vessel. It
was becoming more and more difficult to make anything out, on account
of the haze that extended with the coming of evening; but as we know,
the main object Amos had in mind was to deceive the skipper, whenever
he glanced that way.
Fainter grew the glow in the western sky. The far-off booming had
also died away, so the only sounds that reached his ear consisted of
the loud voice of the Greek captain berating his men for not doing
something as he wished it.
Jack had been gone some little time, and Amos began to worry about
him. It would really be too bad if, after all, the plan which he had
considered so brilliant should be ruined by a sudden movement on the
part of the skipper. They were nearly through their job, whatever it
was, and the captain as well as the man who attended to all the cooking
were likely to approach Amos.
If they saw Jack come up out of the hold they would instantly guess he
had been prying around down there and making discoveries that had not
been intended for the eyes of the two young passengers.
“Gee! I wish he would hurry,” Amos kept saying to himself, as he
shifted his weight from one foot to the other, then looked around to
see if Captain Zenos was observing him, and upon finding that it was
so, immediately pointed off somewhere as though showing his chum some
object the glass had brought to his attention.
Just when Amos was giving up all hope of their being able to carry out
the little scheme, once more he heard a rustling sound close by, and
knew that Jack had crawled up out of the open hatch.
Fortunately this gap could not be seen by those forward, nor was the
man at the wheel able to keep his eye upon it, thanks to a stack of
empty crates that were possibly being returned to fruit shippers around
Smyrna--at least that was what the boys had been told, though they now
believed it to be a mere subterfuge calculated to divert suspicion from
the real errand of the big Greek powerboat.
Jack was breathing hard as though he had rushed matters somewhat. Amos
felt glad to have his chum once more at his right hand, for he had come
to depend on the executive ability of Jack more than ever of late.
“Is the train laid, you black conspirator?” he asked eagerly.
“Yes, and given five minutes more you’ll see it come up with a rush,”
he was told by Jack.
“All I can say is that you beat the Dutch when it comes to arranging
things like this. And, Jack, whether the skipper comes back here or not
doesn’t matter much any more, does it?”
“I think that’s just what is going to happen before many minutes,”
announced the late hard worker, as he wiped his forehead, as the
evening was warm. “Come, while we have half a chance, let’s move
further away from the hatch. I’d like to be well off when the discovery
is made that the boat’s afire!”
“Whew! I bet there’s going to be a whole lot of excitement around here
to the square inch before long,” muttered Amos. “I’m going to whoop it
up good and hearty too, when the row begins. The more noise we make the
bigger will be the scare, it strikes me.”
They managed to edge along a little at a time, when no one was looking,
so that presently they were able to come to a stand further away from
the open hatch, from the edge of the coaming of which the cargo,
covered with heavy tarpaulins, could be seen below.
“They’re making a move now, as if they meant to scatter,” reported Amos.
“Yes, and the captain together with the cook have started this way,”
Jack ventured. “Look for something not down on the bills to happen at
any second, for I reckon my smudge is about due to show itself all at
once.”
Amos tried hard to suppress his feelings. He was afraid those keen orbs
of the old Greek skipper might read the secret in his glowing eyes,
so he once again clapped the glasses up to his face and appeared to
be scanning the sea beyond the nearby island as though in search of
something.
Still he knew when the captain and the cook drew near the spot where he
and his chum stood. If only the discovery might be made just at that
critical moment, Amos believed it would count for a good deal more than
if they were forced to call out a little later and bring the skipper on
deck.
All at once he heard a loud outcry. It was the cook who uttered it, and
as the two boys turned quickly to see what he meant they discovered
the sailor pointing toward the open hatch, his whole manner telling of
sudden fear.
Then the boys whirled around to see what had so startled the sailor,
who knew the explosive character of the cargo in the hold, since not
even a lighted pipe had been allowed near the opening.
Well, Jack’s plan had apparently worked all right, for out of the hold
rolled a curling billow of black smoke. How Jack had contrived to
create all this Amos could not for the life of him understand; nor was
that the time or place to ask questions. He simply remembered what he
had said his plan would be, and at sight of that column of smoke he let
out a yell that would have shamed some of those wild cowboy friends
with whom Jack, mounted on half-tamed bronchos, once upon a time had
been wont to race over the plains.