Mysteriously the naval seamen and their captives disappeared down the
river, yet leaving a vague impression of a line of keen-eyed sentries
somewhere behind the mists of night. That was the impression always left
upon Jack Barry by Vandersee of late: the feeling of eternal
wakefulness, incessant vigil, sure and inevitable success. The old,
original feeling came back, in short,--of a velvet-covered steel trap,
yet there was now no fear of the trap in Barry's mind.
"Come, we have six hours to wait for the next arrival at our party,"
Vandersee smiled, now coming forward and greeting Gordon with special
warmth. In spite of his determination to accept every situation without
question since realizing how big a part Vandersee played, how small his
own, Barry could not conceal his irritation at this fresh indication of
his own inconsequence in the great game. Though always expecting it now,
there was something that irked the skipper in this continual hint of
events in motion in which he might or might not figure without having
the slightest bearing on the inevitable result. And Houten saw and
understood. He made room for Barry on his own blanket, and his deep
rumbling voice droned in the skipper's ear, gradually soothing that
harassed shipmaster until he subsided to the influence of the beneficent
Goliath.
"Soon I shall tell you, Captain," said Houten. "Yoost now I say all iss
vell, ja. Yoost now I am glad my _Barang_ iss lost, mine friendt;
eferything iss goot, unt dere iss to be no more accidents."
Barry settled down to rest, gazing thoughtfully across the silent river.
The more distant reaches of the stream were still tinged redly with the
fierce jungle fire that grew and spread back to the flat lands. There
was some unfathomable influence that persuaded the skipper of the
superfluity of keeping watch now Vandersee was there, but the influence
could not tranquilize minds so utterly awakened as were those of the
destroyed ship's company. Gordon was restless and edged ever nearer to
the recumbent Vandersee; Little had fallen asleep but was obviously
dreaming what the others were wakefully thinking. Beyond the circle of
resting men Bill Blunt groaned away at an endless, tuneless ditty
concerning "A sailorman as fell overboard in a gale, an' fell wi' a gal
wi' a tail, an' got marri-e-d to a little marmaid an' wuz changed into a
marman, an' never arterwards could he see th' use o' the seaboots he
wore when he fell overboard, 'cos how could ye tell which boot 'ud fit a
bloomin' flapper as wuz naither right, ner left, but 'twartships?"
One by one the seamen slept, until only the white men around the
smoldering fire remained awake. Gordon peered continually into
Vandersee's smiling face, and when he dropped his gaze for a moment and
met Barry's bent full upon him, the two men saw in each other a fear
that was emphatically not for themselves, but nevertheless would not
quiet. It became too intense for concealment; the two big Hollanders
detected it, and a nod passed from Houten to Vandersee.
"You two gentlemen are anxious," smiled Vandersee. "Perhaps we can
dispense with a little of the mystery now, though even at this stage a
small slip will ruin all. I can tell you this, however, that the fire
over there that destroyed your ship, Captain, was unforeseen. My sentry,
who gave you my messages, was killed by an arrow from over the creek; my
men at the river saw his body floating down. Otherwise you would not
have been in that peril from fire." Barry met his eye with a wry smile,
as if to question whether it might not have been well to warn the
shipmaster, instead of keeping him and his ship in the safe keeping of a
little brown man in a tree. Vandersee explained: "I had lookouts from
end to end of the river, Barry, on both sides, and above and below here.
That is the strength of my net. But the killing of that one watchman was
about the last thing to be expected. It was a slip of mine, of course;
but to me that one man in particular was invisible and undetectable. But
that is past, and all of you are here yet. You are worrying about the
personal welfare of two ladies, I know."
Gordon's face darkened, and his lip was drawn between his teeth. The big
Hollander regarded him very softly and went on: "Both are now on board
the _Padang_--" Gordon choked down a curse, and apologized, and
Vandersee ignored the interruption--"Aboard the _Padang_, both safe and
well, and in no danger whatever. The schooner is due abreast here just
after dawn; her master is due about the same time, in his own steam
launch. He knows that Miss Sheldon is there; in fact she is practically
in charge of his vessel, so infatuated is he at his imagined triumph in
spite of you, Barry; but Mrs. Goring is there unknown to anybody except
Miss Sheldon and ourselves, and solely to give Natalie the support of
her presence and advice in what is going to be a very difficult
situation for a young girl."
Barry kicked at Little, to awake him to listen, and asked:
"Say, Vandersee, that sort of thing's a habit with Mrs. Goring, isn't
it?"
"Habit? Reassuring people, do you mean, Captain?"
"I mean sailing aboard of ships unknown to owners or skippers."
"Yes," put in Little, awake at last, "if she didn't arrive here in our
ship, I'll eat what's left of her--the ship, I mean."
"She certainly didn't leave Java before us, and she was undoubtedly in
this river as soon as we, and besides, there's a matter of a photo--"
Barry was rattling on, and Vandersee stopped him.
"I see you smell the rat, Captain." Houten was shaking like a vast jelly
with silent amusement. "I may as well tell you now that Mrs. Goring did
come in your ship. It was vital that she get here to the station before
Leyden, and unknown to him. I took care of her on the passage, and saw
that she got ashore safely while we were docking. Yes, she is rather
noted for doing unusual things, I think." The speaker glanced meaningly
at Gordon, who flushed and turned away with glistening eyes.
"Then she did steal Miss Sheldon's picture from my room, hey?"
"Yes, she took it, and I believe she told you why, Captain, although she
did not admit taking it at that time. Among our other necessities was
that you arrive here deeply interested in Miss Sheldon, and that was
considered the easiest way of keeping you piqued at Leyden. It was
necessary that my own presence here remain unknown to Leyden, too, and
right to this minute he doesn't know who is responsible for certain
little mishaps that have befallen him. That was one reason why I shipped
with you." Vandersee paused, gazed out at the silent, swift river, and
said more seriously: "But why not let the event answer all questions,
Barry? In a few hours the whole thing comes to a head, and there is not
a chance on earth now for my plans to fail. Miss Sheldon will tell you
what you want to know when you see her, and tell it far, far better than
I can. If it will aid you to patience, though, I will assure you that
Miss Sheldon is absolutely beyond Leyden's influence; free as the air,
she knows everything now; Mrs. Goring is with her, and they know they
are surrounded by friends too strong for Leyden to combat. Leyden is now
making his way by a roundabout track to the stream where he left his
steam launch, believing he has escaped my line. He intends to overtake
the schooner here, lift the gold dust out of the _Barang_, and board his
own schooner, which cleared direct from Surabaya for Europe."
"Europe!" Barry gasped at the slender margin standing between Natalie's
safety and utter catastrophe. Here was a piece of cunning not expected
even from Leyden. To clear for Europe meant, with Natalie on
board--Barry could not think clearly. He stared at Vandersee like one
fascinated.
"Snatch a little sleep, Captain. You too, Gordon," Vandersee advised.
"We all need fresh heads and cool nerves in the morning. With all his
crimes, Leyden is a clever rascal, and he must be taken alive!"
"Seems to me you'd better shoot him from as far off as your gun will
carry," retorted Barry, still thinking of the extremely tiny slip
necessary for the _Padang_ to pick up her master and sail out into the
vast ocean clear of pursuit. "Suppose he doesn't wait to loot the
_Barang_?" he said. "Maybe he's heard that we have taken the dust out
of her. He must be well posted on her situation since he's got as many
men about him as you have, apparently."
"No, Captain," returned Vandersee, very softly. "He doesn't know that
the dust is taken out. He doesn't know, yet, that your ship is burned.
He simply expected his people to bottle her up in that creek and kill or
drive you off. That was what he was assured would be the case by the
chief of the savages he hired. Their own discovery of the oil may well
upset all his schemes, although they were upset whether the oil was
found or not."
"Oh, well, I won't think about it any more. Next thing you'll tell me
that Houten knew all about this attack, and that he came up just in time
to save us on a prearranged plan."
"Not exactly, but nearer right than you imagine," chuckled Houten. "I
haf been in communication with Hendrik unt his mans effer since t'ree
days ago, mine friendt. I pring opp mine launch as a part ouf a plan,
unt it vas goot, ja? I toldt you it vas goot. Now schleep. I am heavy
for schleep."
Barry dozed, and his last waking thought was of a spider-web of gigantic
size, with two great, fat, laughing spiders in the midst. As his brain
lost its power to register, the spiders changed into smiling, red, fat
faces, and all about the web hung white men and brown who smiled back at
the spiders and watched intently while flies were drawn by some power,
unseen but irresistible, into the web. And the greatest fly, the fly
that struggled, the fly that broke the web over and over, yet never once
forced the fat red smiles from the fat red spiders, was Leyden.
Gray dawn was creeping up in the east when a soft shake awakened Barry,
and he sat up to find the camp astir. During the last hour or two
Vandersee had mustered his far-flung sentries, and now, besides the crew
of the _Barang_ and Houten's men, twenty sturdy naval seamen stood by,
armed and alert.
"The schooner is in sight," Gordon told him. The Englishman was cool and
emotionless now, in face of the approaching crisis in his affairs.
Peering over the hummock, the _Padang_ was dimly seen emerging out of
the river mists, and as she drew near the devastated creek, sharp voices
could be heard on her forecastle head directing the preparing of an
anchor. But, leaving nothing to chance, Vandersee had manned Houten's
big launch and she was ready, held by a single line; and as the schooner
swung around the last bend and let her canvas shake, the big Hollander
called Barry and Gordon.
"Come, friends," he said, "here is work for us all, and in particular
for you."
They boarded the launch, and she swung out of the cove and headed out
across the schooner's course. As they shot into sight, a cry of alarm
pealed out from the _Padang's_ quarterdeck, and an order halted work on
the anchor. Vandersee replied with a sharper order that was punctuated
by a rifle shot, and on the bank abreast appeared a file of sailors
with rifles aimed at the schooner. The anchor was let go in a hurry, and
the launch stormed alongside a hurriedly flung ladder, Vandersee
starting to climb the moment his foot could reach a rung.
"Come up, Barry," he called, and the skipper followed, with Gordon and
eight naval seamen after him. The schooner's crew, but a half of her
full complement, stood in attitudes of bewilderment. They had expected a
very simple, cut-and-dried halt, getaway, and reward; instead, here were
intruders who forced obedience by mysteriously produced riflemen on the
river shores. The Dutch sailors were businesslike in their acts now, and
before the alarm had subsided, the schooner's men were lightly hand-tied
and passed down to the launch. In their places remained the eight naval
seamen, and Vandersee said, as he prepared to leave with his new
prisoners:
"You are in command, Captain Barry. I shall remain alongside until you
can get the anchor off the ground again, in order to give you a shove
over near the creek. Then all I expect you to do is to make sure that
once Leyden comes into our trap he does not get out by way of this
schooner. Apart from that, you have little to do beyond comforting and
reassuring two ladies whom I see aft."
Barry looked up from the waist, where they stood, and saw Miss Sheldon
at the quarterdeck rail; and as he looked, Mrs. Goring joined her,
winking with the sudden transition from the cabins into the vivid
morning light. The seamen were already taking up the slack cable, and
Barry stared at the big Hollander and Gordon, helpless for the moment
from the shock they gave him. It was shock after shock for Barry. Here
was Vandersee, smiling cherubically, taking Mrs. Goring into his great
arms. He gently pressed her head back and kissed her warmly full on the
lips, and she responded to his caress with glad submission. And there
stood Gordon, looking on with no trace of jealousy; smiling rather, as
if he enjoyed the spectacle of another man embracing the lady.
Barry looked helplessly at Miss Sheldon. Her face wore a smile which
plainly said she approved the whole business. So Barry once more
repressed his curiosity and gave the lady good morning.
"I'm so glad to see you again, Captain Barry," she responded, her cheeks
very pink and her eyes sparkling, notwithstanding the impending crisis
in her life. "This morning, at least, I can express my true sentiments."
"Which are?" Barry would have let all go to hear her reply to that
query.
"A sincere hope for the eventual success of your expedition."
"Is that all?" Barry persisted, holding her hand and watching with a
thrill the rich color that flooded her cheeks under his gaze.
"Pardon me, Captain," Vandersee interrupted, bringing relief to Natalie.
"Pardon, but time is short. I am ready to give you a push over. Then
anchor again, right across the creek mouth. If Leyden smells the trap,
he will try to board the ship. If so, you will welcome him and make him
secure." The big Hollander checked himself, then added, with an awful
change of expression: "On your life, Barry, don't you dare to kill him.
I want that man alive and sound!"
The big man had gone livid. He violently regained control of himself,
stepped to the ladder to reenter the launch, and as he went he smiled
softly at the women and said in adieu:
"Juliana, you will keep out of sight, of course, for a while. Miss
Sheldon, we are depending on you to play an important little part. Don't
forget, now. And if your heart fails you now, please let me know before
I go. Upon you depends all."
"Have no fear for me," replied Natalie, paling slightly, but with a firm
set of her round, dimpled chin. "I am fear-proof now I have such able
protectors around me," and she smiled at Gordon and Barry.
The schooner was brought over near to the creek mouth, and when her
anchor was again let go she swung to the stream almost parallel to the
wreck of the _Barang_, and within a short biscuit-toss. The steam launch
shot back to the cove and took up the men left there in Houten's charge;
then she steamed over to the creek, landed Rolfe, Blunt, Little, and
three seamen on the down-river bank of the creek, and swung back
alongside the blackened hulk of the brigantine.
Barry intently watched the maneuvers of that launch, for, with Natalie
beside him, and Gordon on deck by the companionway door talking quietly
to Mrs. Goring concealed inside, the air seemed suddenly charged with
portent. The wrecked _Barang_ lay close by like a stranded, decayed
monster on a desolate shore. She was black and jagged with burned stumps
of timbers down to the water line; on her upper part, where decks had
been, and houses, half-consumed beams supported planks that were
charcoal rather than wood; part of the poop remained, with one side of
the deckhouse-companion, and down under them, where they had fallen
under their own weight through the burned planks, lay two great iron
tanks that had contained the spare fresh-water supply, and it was their
contents, discharged when they fell, that had quenched that part of the
fire. Besides these trifles of salvage, the vessel was swept bare of all
semblance to a ship, and the black, pointed stumps of masts and
stanchions stuck up in awful desolation.
Into this black horror Vandersee waved six seamen, armed with rifles. He
then gave some instructions to Houten, and the launch shoved off and
entered the head of the creek, taking cover behind a great mass of
charred weed and moss, whose dampness had prevented their utter
incineration. Vandersee himself stood for a moment gazing down the river
from the top of the remaining part of the deckhouse, then he turned to
the _Padang_, waved a hand cheerily, and vanished inside the blackened
shell of debris. Barry stared in surprise for an instant, for
Vandersee's disappearance reminded him that six men were also there,
hidden somewhere. All had vanished as utterly as if the ship were
complete and built for purposes of concealment.
But looking in the direction in which Vandersee had waved, Barry saw
farther down the main river yet another big steam pinnace, full of
uniformed seamen. He just caught sight of her as she swept alongside the
near bank, and a party of men poured out of her and started to double
towards the creek. They too dipped out of sight the moment they left the
bank, and the steamer backed off, turned, and followed the general
example of concealment.
"Why, a rat couldn't get through this net!" exclaimed the skipper,
addressing Natalie, who appeared not in the least surprised. And Gordon
replied for her and for himself.
"That's the right word, Barry. Rat he is. We know all his evil cunning,
and most of us have seen the rattish, yellow streak that runs clear
through him. But you know what a rat will do? Well, you can expect this
rat to try his best to run; but let him once see the ring completely
around him, and he'll fight as a rat will fight."
Barry covertly watched Natalie while Leyden's rattish characteristics
were under discussion. She showed no agitation; no sign of personal
shame at having ever fallen to such a spell; but at that instant a
shrill whistle sounded upstream, quite near, and she paled, then flushed
hotly, and at last recovered her balance but with a trembling lip.
Then the sound of engines was heard, and on the still river brooded an
atmosphere of imminent Fate. In the devastated creek no sound or sigh
broke the barren stillness. The waters swirled and eddied around the
entrance; the matted grasses and weed-stems writhed and twisted in the
grip of the current like slimy, clutching fingers waiting for prey to
clutch and hold to strangled death. For just one second a man's head
appeared above a clump of blackened roots where Rolfe's party had
landed. Barry saw it was the irrepressible Little bent on seeing the
sights; then a great, gnarled hand shoved the head down, and all was
barren again.
Now the oncoming launch came in sight; the same launch that had carried
Leyden up the river, which Barry had lost track of on that dark night
before he was taken and given to the ants; and she foamed straight down
between the schooner and the creek with creaming bow-wave and flying
funnel-sparks. Leyden was in the bows, jaunty and triumphant; but as he
came near the schooner and saw nobody on her decks, his face clouded,
and he waved to his engineer to stop. Then Barry, from his hastily taken
hiding place, watched Natalie, curious about her part in this crisis.
Stepping over to the rail, she turned her smiling, morning-fresh face
upon the launch and waved her hand airily at Leyden. All Barry's doubts
resurged upon him. He felt choky, and red spots danced before his eyes.
Then in a God-given instant of clarity he saw it all: saw Leyden's own
doubts vanish, and the launch move on to the wreck; and he saw, too,
that Natalie tottered and panted, still fighting bravely to maintain her
attitude in sight of Leyden, yet in dire need of comfort the moment her
friend could render it.
Leyden called back a clear, exultant greeting to the girl, and the next
moment his launch ran alongside the _Barang_ and her bowman made his
boathook fast.