THE END, A NEW START
Jim, well fed and rested, was up to his full strength, and to this was
added his fierce anger against the captain. Not on his own personal
account, but because of his heartless cruelty towards the captive girl
whom he had in his power and was holding for ransom. With a twist Jim
got hold of the back of Captain Bill Broome's neck, and by means of a
mighty wrench he got the old wretch around in front of him, breaking
free from his hold. Jim sent him staggering back.
As the captain, regaining his footing, rushed forward like an enraged
bull, Jim Darlington measured him with a crashing blow on the jaw that
sent him dazed against a sharp edge of woodwork that cut his scalp and
laid him out for the moment. Drawn by the racket, the first and second
mate came tumbling down, and joined in the attack, but Jim knew a trick
or two about boxing and surprised them with lightning blows that they
did not know how to block. He was hampered, however, by a lack of space.
Nevertheless, as they came to close quarters, jarred and bleeding, Jim
was able to fling them off, the sinews of his powerful frame working in
perfect unison.
Just at the moment he was free, he stumbled over the prostrate body of
the captain, who thus accomplished more by his prone position than when
he was on his feet and in the midst of the fray. At this juncture, the
Amazon sister jumped into the fight. She had run up on deck for a
purpose, when the fight started, and returned with a marlin spike. Jim
was so involved with the two mates for a few brief seconds that he did
not see her, and would not have paid much attention if he had, he was so
full of the struggle in hand.
As Jim stumbled, before he could regain his feet, the woman brought down
the marlin spike with a glancing blow on the side of his head. The boy
dropped as though dead. There was no doubt of the strength of the
captain's sister. She was evidently more than a match for any man
aboard, and it was little wonder that the youth lay like a log, the
blood streaming from a cut on the side of his head. He had not heard the
shriek of the señorita as she threw open the door of her cabin prison
and saw Jim lying almost at her feet.
As she stooped to his help (she was no hysterical girl to faint at the
sight of blood), she was thrust violently back, after a short struggle,
by the captain's sister, and locked in the cabin. However, she did not
weep or wring her hands, but she became suddenly, even ominously quiet,
her eyes shining in the pallor of her face with a luminous light.
Meanwhile, there was a council of war outside in the cabin as to the
disposal of their prostrate enemy.
Old Captain Broome had recovered enough to enable him to stand up,
holding on to the table, but he was still swaying somewhat, and was an
ugly looking customer with his cut face.
"Better put him in the hold until we get out to sea," said the Amazon
sister.
"I reckon he's done for this time," said the captain; "he oughter be if
you gave him one of your love taps, Anne," he concluded, with a ghastly
grin.
The woman bent down and coolly felt the boy's pulse, and pushed back the
lids of his eyes, with no more show of feeling than if he had not been a
human being.
"He ain't quite done for," she said, getting to her feet.
"Then he will be, durn soon," declared the old captain venomously.
"Here, Bill, you and Gus take him up on deck and throw him over. That
sure will finish him. One of you take his feet and t'other his head, and
Ann will give you a hist up the stairs. I'm too joggled to help any, but
I will give him my blessing as he goes over, that is, if you don't feel
too squeamish to do it."
The two mates laughed at this with great heartiness.
"I will say this for that young feller, he was some fighter," remarked
Bill. "I have handled some hard specimens in my time, but he was the
toughest yet. He handed me and Gus a couple of cuffs that made our jaws
wobble."
They got the limp figure up the stairs with the Amazon's help, but she
did not follow, but went below to get her brother something to eat as
his strenuous day had begun, and he stood in need of immediate ballast.
The scene just enacted might have been a daily occurrence from her
perfect indifference, as indeed scenes of violence no doubt were, but
none of the men could equal her in _sangfroid_.
Now they were on deck. Which way would they turn, to the right or left
rail. They did not know it, but it would make all the difference in the
world which side they would choose.
"I tell you, boys, you can throw him overboard in front of my cabin;
that would just suit me to the ground," said the captain.
"Aye, aye, sir," replied the amiable pair of mates.
It was accomplished in short order. There was a heave of the shoulders,
and then a heavy splash into the dark waters beneath. No one heard or
heeded a low wailing cry from the prisoner in the cabin. She knew what
had happened. She flung the small port hole open as Jim fell and the
water from the impact splashed into her face. Then to her unspeakable
relief she saw a black boat glide to where the figure came up, and she
saw that he was in safe hands.
With a quick motion she knotted her daintily-scented handkerchief and
tossed it into the boat as it swept by. It had her monogram on it, and
the engineer was quick to seize the handkerchief as well as the import
of it.
"I will give it to him, Señorita," he said in a low voice. Then the boat
was one with the darkness, and was gone from her sight, but she was
happy knowing that Jim was safe. She was not thinking of herself and her
own danger at the time, as is the way of some women.
John Berwick, the engineer, had had an anxious time while Jim had been
conducting his séance on board the ship, and it was his prompt action
that had saved his friend. It was some luck, too, that the three rascals
aboard had not sighted the slender dark boat, but they were dazed
somewhat, due to the effect of Jim's fierce attack upon them, and
likewise the two comrades deserved a little luck considering how
fortunate their enemies had been of late.
Berwick lost no time in pulling for the shore, and had no difficulty in
finding the outjutting rock which was the point of departure.
* * * * *
It was a full two hours before Berwick could bring Jim fully around, and
then the latter sat by a bright camp fire in the cove, pale and drawn,
with a handkerchief tied around his injured head. He was drinking some
coffee, but as yet he could not eat anything.
"Who was the guy, John, who first called women the weaker sex?" inquired
Jim, in a faint and injured tone.
"Some chump who probably died a sadder and a wiser man," replied his
friend.
"I only wish the gentle Annie back there had given him a tap with the
shillalah," remarked Jim.
Finally, by the time the fog thickened, Jim was himself once more and
the two comrades had determined upon their course. They had this
advantage in that they knew, from what Jim had overheard, something of
the immediate plans of Captain Bill Broome and his evil crew, and what
actually occurred will be fully and graphically told in the "Frontier
Boys in the South Seas." Furthermore, at this particular time, the
captain believed his enemy drowned beyond all possibility of a doubt;
therefore, he would not be on his guard against him in the future, and
would know of no need to hurry his departure.
"All aboard now, John," said Jim. He rose stiffly to his feet. "We will
row across the bay to the city and charter a fast craft to follow these
beggars. I guess there will be a surprise in store for those blooming
pirates in a few days."
"We are short of cash, Captain," remarked John; "I don't see how we are
going to get a boat."
"Trust to luck," said Jim; "it is coming our way I tell you. That was
the break when I wasn't drowned this morning."
It came out, the luck part, as Jim said, and yet it was nothing so
remarkable, for as they had rowed some distance on their way and were
between the shore and the _Sea Eagle_, John Berwick suddenly stopped at
a gesture from Jim.
"Hold on," he whispered, "there is a boat coming our way."
Sure enough, in half a minute a rapidly propelled boat shot into their
circle of the fog. It was pulled by two powerful Hawaiians and heading
for the _Sea Eagle_. In the stern sat the humped and well-known and
sinister figure of the Mexican dwarf.
"Halt, there," cried Jim. The two Hawaiians obeyed with indifferent good
nature.
"None of that, Manuel," yelled Jim, as the Mexican started to draw, and
himself leveling a revolver which they had captured in the castle. It is
true it had but one cartridge in it, but that was enough with Jim at the
directing end of it.
The Mexican wilted as he saw the game was up, and his transfer was
quickly made. Then Jim after a hasty and vigorous search, with a yell of
triumph, unbuckled his treasure belt which the Mexican had stolen from,
him on the train.
"What did I tell you about our luck, John, old boy?" cried Jim. "You
boys come along with us," he continued, speaking to the Hawaiians; "we
give you good pay and treat you right."
"Yes, yes," they agreed smilingly, adding, "Wele ke hau." This was their
native phrase of enthusiasm; in other words, their college yell.
So they took the place of the oarsmen in the black boat, and trailed the
other behind. They rowed with splendid speed and precision towards the
city. The Mexican laid in the bottom of the boat at Jim's feet, securely
tied. The tables were turned, indeed.
I need not weary you with the business details by which Jim Darlington
and the engineer got the boat they wanted, nor how they were joined by
Tom, Jo and Juarez, but at three o'clock one fair day the _Sea Eagle_
glided gracefully through the Golden Gate and turned her prow to the
southwest, and in due time thereafter a slender but powerfully engined
black boat slipped through to the open sea and on the trail.
And now, Jim Darlington, and your crew, the best of good luck go with
you, for we know you all of old, and we like you. Vale.