"SHANGHAIED."
THE morning broke bright and clear, and all hands were astir at an
early hour. The first thing was to hoist the anchor and haul the
schooner alongside the dock. This being done, breakfast was served,
and the boys having put on their shore-clothes, started out to take a
good look at the city which they might never see again, and to make
purchases of various articles they needed. Fred and Eugene each wanted
a rifle and a brace of revolvers, their own weapons having been stolen
from them by the hunters who robbed the Pike. Some of the others needed
a few articles of clothing, and Frank's Maynard required some repairs.
They set out together, but before an hour had passed, were scattered
all over the city. Fred, Archie and Eugene hired a carriage and went
for a ride, taking old Bob with them, while Dick Lewis stuck close
to Frank and Walter. Knowing that the time for parting was not far
distant, he did not seem willing to allow them out of his sight.
A few years before men like Dick were often met with in the streets
of the city; but now a genuine trapper was not seen every day, and he
created something of a sensation wherever he went. Almost every one
he met stared at him and turned to look at him after he had passed;
and Dick, finally becoming nettled by the interest and curiosity his
appearance excited, begged the boys to take him back to the schooner
and leave him there. He would stay on board until she was ready to
sail, he said, and then he and Bob would bid a long farewell to
civilization, and make the best of their way back to Fort Bolton. He
hoped that neither of them would ever see a paved street or a brick
house again.
At six o'clock in the evening the boys, and the few sailors who had
been allowed shore liberty, began to retrace their steps toward the
dock where the Stranger was lying. At seven they were all on board
except two--Lucas, the boatswain's mate, and Barton, the coxswain of
the cutter. These men had not been seen since noon, and they were to
have been back at three o'clock. Preparations were already being made
for getting under way, and Uncle Dick began to grow impatient. "I don't
see what keeps those fellows," said he to Frank. "I have always found
them trustworthy, and I hope they will not fail me now."
"I must go ashore again after my rifle, you know," replied Frank--"it
was to be done at half-past seven--and I'll go along the dock and keep
an eye out for them."
"All right. Hurry them up, if you see them, and be sure that you are in
time yourself."
Frank went ashore accompanied by the trapper--Dick was not afraid of
attracting so much attention now that it was growing dark--and hurried
away toward the gunsmith's. He followed the wharves as long as they
led him in the direction he wanted to go, looking everywhere for the
missing sailors, but without finding them. The actions of himself and
his companion attracted the attention of two men, who were walking
along the dock behind them. They watched them for some time, and then,
after whispering together a few minutes, one of them came up and tapped
Frank on the shoulder. "Who are you looking for?" said he.
Frank turned and fastening his eyes on the man took a good survey
of him before he answered. He was a flashily-dressed person, with a
sneaking, hang-dog cast of countenance, and the grimy hand he placed
upon Frank's shoulder, and which the latter promptly shook off, was
heavily loaded with bogus jewelry.
"Don't be quite so familiar, if you please!" said Frank.
"Beg pardon," said the man, stepping back and straightening up his
battered plug hat which he had thus far worn cocked over his left ear.
"I thought you belonged to the Stranger."
"And what if I do?" asked Frank.
"I thought maybe you were looking for them two men."
"What two men?"
"Why, one of 'em is a short, thick-set fellow, and carries a silver
whistle in the breast pocket of his shirt. The other is tall and
slender, wears some kind of a badge on his arm--a petty officer's badge
I took it to be--and has light hair and whiskers."
The man gave an accurate description of the missing sailors of whom
Frank was in search. No doubt they had got into trouble and found
their way into some station-house; and this fellow was some little
pettifogger, who hoped to make a few dollars by helping them out.
"I thought maybe you were looking for 'em," continued the man, as he
turned to go away; "but seeing you ain't, I am sorry I pestered you."
"One moment, please," said Frank. "Where are these men now?"
"They're aboard my ship."
"O, you're a sailor, are you?" exclaimed Frank, again running his eye
over the man, who looked about as much like a sailor as Dick Lewis
did. "What is the name of your ship, and where is she?"
"She's the Sunrise, and she is at anchor out here in the bay."
"How came our men aboard of her?"
"Well, you see, they've got some friends and acquaintances among my
crew, and when we were lying alongside the dock they came aboard to see
them. While they were skylarking about, one of them, the boatswain,
fell into the hold and broke his leg. We hauled out into the bay just
after that, and did it in such a hurry--you see there was another
ship waiting to take our berth at the dock as soon as we were out of
it--that we didn't have time to put him ashore. We've had a doctor to
see him, and maybe it would be a good plan to get an ambulance and take
him back where he belongs."
"I think so too," said Frank, who became interested at once; "that is,
if he can bear removal. But whatever we do, must be done at once. Our
vessel is all ready to sail."
"I guess he can stand it to be moved. You might come aboard and
see--you and your pardner here. I've got a boat close by."
Frank assenting to this proposition, he and Dick Lewis followed the
man, who led the way along the wharf, and finally showed them a yawl
manned by two oarsmen. They climbed down into it, their companion took
his seat at the helm, and the boat was pushed off into the darkness.
The man talked incessantly, answering all Frank's questions, and going
so fully into the particulars of the accident that had befallen the
boatswain's mate, and telling so straight and reasonable a story, that
not a shadow of a doubt entered Frank's mind. He remarked that the ship
was a long way from the wharf, and that the two men who were pulling
the oars looked more like "dock rats" than sailors; but still he
scarcely bestowed a second thought upon these matters, for his mind was
fully occupied with the injured man to whose relief he was hastening.
At last the hull and rigging of a ship loomed up through the darkness,
and a hoarse voice hailed the yawl.
"Sunrise!" replied the man at the helm.
The answer was perfectly right and proper. It conveyed to them on board
the ship the information that their captain was in the approaching
boat; but it seemed to Frank that his presence brought very little show
of respect from the officer in charge of the deck, for he ordered no
lanterns to light him aboard. Indeed there were no lights to be seen on
the deck, as Frank found when he clambered over the side, the only ones
visible being those in the rigging, which were placed there to point
out the position of the ship, so that passing vessels might not run
into her.
The captain, who was the first to board the ship, talked rapidly in a
low tone to some one who hurried aft to meet him, and when Frank came
up, he said aloud:--
"Take this gentleman into the forecastle and give him all the help he
needs to remove that man. This one," he added, pointing to Dick, "can
go with a couple of you to get a stretcher."
"Ay! ay! sir," replied a voice. "Step right this way, sir."
Frank followed the speaker toward the forecastle, and when he came
within sight of the ladder that led into it, was surprised to see that
it was as dark as a dungeon below. Then for the first time the thought
that things did not look just right began to creep through his mind.
His companion descended the ladder, but Frank halted at the top. "Look
here, my friend," said he; "if you want to get me below there you had
better light up first."
"Come on," said the man, in a tone of command.
"Where's that sailor with the broken leg?" demanded Frank.
"Are you going to come on?" asked the man.
"Well, that depends---- I want to hear from that man of ours first. If
you are down there, Lucas, sing out!"
There was no response. In an instant it flashed upon Frank that he and
Dick had been led into a trap. The man in the battered plug hat was
no captain at all. Probably he was a shipping-agent. Having persuaded
Frank and the trapper to accompany him on board the ship, he made
a very plausible excuse for separating them for a moment, so that
they could not assist each other, and now they were to be overpowered
and confined until the vessel was well out to sea, when they would
be brought out and compelled to act with the crew. While Frank was
thinking about it, his conductor, who had gone half way down the
ladder, turned around and started to come back. Frank's ears told him
this and not his eyes, for they were of no use to him in that intense
darkness. "Avast, there!" he cried, with emphasis. "If you come a step
nearer to me I'll send you down that ladder quicker than you ever went
down before. You have picked up the wrong men this time. Where is that
scoundrel who called himself the master of this ship?"
"Here I am," replied that worthy, in tones very different from those he
had thus far used in addressing Frank.
"Well, if you are wise, you will undo this half-hour's work with the
least possible delay. Call away that boat and leave us a clear road to
get to it, or----"
Frank was interrupted by the sounds of a fierce struggle which just
then arose from the quarter-deck. He heard the sound of stamping and
scraping feet, muttered oaths and blows, and then Dick's voice rang out
clear above the tumult. "Keep off, the hul on you," said he, "fur I'm a
leetle wusser nor a hul parsel of wild-cats!" And then followed a sound
such as might be made by somebody's head coming in violent contact with
the deck.
"Stand your ground, Dick!" shouted Frank. "I'll be there in a minute!"
With these words he sprang forward, intending to run to his friend's
assistance; but before he had made half a dozen steps his heels flew
up and he was sent at full length on the deck, which he no sooner
touched than two men, whom he had not yet seen, sprang up from behind
the windlass and threw themselves across his shoulders. He had been
entirely deceived as to the number of enemies with whom he had to deal.
He had seen but four men on deck and there proved to be a dozen of
them--more than enough to render resistance useless. Almost before
he realized the fact he was powerless, a pair of irons being slipped
over his wrists and another about his ankles. When he was helped to his
feet, he found that the struggle on the quarter-deck had ended in the
same way. Dick Lewis was led up, and by the light of a lantern which
one of the crew drew from under a tarpaulin, Frank saw that he was
ironed like himself.
The man who carried the lantern held it up so that its rays fell full
on the prisoners, and gave them a good looking over, bestowing his
attentions principally upon their arms and shoulders, as if trying to
judge of the amount of muscle they might contain. "They'll do," said
he, at last, "and now we're all ready to be off. Can you pull an oar?"
he added, flashing his lantern in Frank's face.
"I can," was the reply.
"I can! Is that the way you talk to me? I am mate of this vessel and
there's a handle to my name."
"I did not know that you were an officer," replied Frank, "and neither
am I aware that I am under any obligations to put a handle to your
name."
"Well, you'll find it out pretty sudden. It shall be my first hard work
to teach you manners, my fine gentleman. Take 'em below."
The mate handed the lantern to one of the crew, who moved toward the
forecastle, followed by the prisoners, who never uttered a word of
complaint or remonstrance. Frank knew it would do no good, and Dick
was so bewildered that he could not have spoken if he had tried. He
kept as close to his young companion as he could. He seemed to think
that Frank, powerless as he was, could in some way protect him. They
followed their conductor into the forecastle, and the latter, after
hanging the lantern to one of the carlens, went on deck again, closing
the hatch after him.
Frank and the trapper looked about them before they spoke. The very
first objects their eyes rested on were the two missing seamen, the
coxswain and the boatswain's mate, who lay side by side in one of the
bunks, snoring at the rate of ten knots an hour. They were there,
sure enough--the bogus captain told the truth on that point--and
Frank was glad to see that they were all right, or would be as soon
as the effects of the drug they had swallowed had been slept off.
There were three other men in the forecastle, and they were in irons
like themselves. They lay in their bunks and looked sullenly at the
new-comers. "What's the matter with you?" asked Frank. "What have you
been doing to get yourselves in this fix?"
"Trying to desert," growled one of the sailors, in reply. "What's the
matter with _you_?"
"Shanghaied," answered Frank. "What ship is this, and where is she
bound?"
"She's the Tycoon, and I expect she's off for the Japan station."
Frank's heart seemed to stop beating. His situation was even worse than
he had supposed. He recalled the story of the man he had seen desert
that same ship on that very day, and shuddered when he thought of what
might be in store for him.
"What did you say was the matter with us, Master Frank?" asked the
trapper, leaning against a bunk by his friend's side and speaking in a
low voice.
"I say we have been shanghaied--that is, kidnapped," replied Frank.
"But what fur?" said Dick, who did not understand the matter at all.
"We hain't been a doin' of nothing."
"I know that; but you see--in the first place, Dick, there's no use
in denying that we are in serious trouble. You might as well know it
first as last and make up your mind to stand it, for there is no way
of escape. This is the same ship that that man we picked up to-day
deserted from, and that red-faced man in gray whom we saw in the
whale-boat is the captain of her. He and his officers treat their men
so harshly that they run away every chance they get. The captain must
have men to handle his vessel, and as he can't get them in the regular
way, he kidnaps them."
"But what do I know 'bout a ship?" exclaimed Dick.
"Nothing whatever; but that is no matter. You have good strong arms,
and it will not take long to break you in."
"Whar--whar----"
The trapper could not ask the question he was most anxious to have
answered. It seemed to stick in his throat.
"I know what you mean," said Frank. "This man says we are bound for
Japan, and that is nearly three thousand miles from here."
Dick was frightened almost out of his senses. His face grew as pale as
death, great drops of perspiration stood on his forehead, and he tugged
and pulled at his irons with the strength of desperation. But they
had been put on him to stay, and all his efforts to free himself were
unavailing. Frank knew what he stood in fear of, and he knew, too, that
anything he could say would not set the poor fellow's mind at rest.
The wrong ideas he had formed of things and the ridiculous stories he
had heard in the forecastle of the Stranger, had made an impression
on him so deep and lasting that even Frank, in whom the trapper had
every confidence, could not remove it. The real dangers he was
likely to encounter would be but small things comparatively; but the
imaginary evils which he would look for every day, would cause him much
suffering. Frank thought more of his friend than he did of himself.
How would Dick behave when he found himself dancing over the waves of
the Pacific in a small boat in pursuit of a whale? What would he think
if he saw one of those monsters of the deep--as Lucas, the boatswain's
mate, said he had often seen them--come up on a breach, shoot up forty
or fifty feet into the air, and then fall down into the water with
a noise like the roar of Niagara? No doubt he would refuse duty. No
doubt, too, when the captain or his officers attempted to punish him
for disobedience there would be a desperate fight--for Dick stood not
in fear of anything that walked on two feet--which would not end until
the trapper had been severely injured and perhaps permanently disabled.
"Human natur'! What'll I do?" cried Dick, after he had exhausted
himself in his efforts to pull off his irons.
"Watch, me and do as I do, as nearly as you can," replied Frank. "We
are completely in the power of these men, and there is no way to get
out of it. While on our voyage from Bellville, I took particular pains
to learn all I could of a seaman's duties, and perhaps I shall be able
to be of some assistance to you. What we don't know Lucas and Barton
will teach us. But, whatever you do, don't refuse duty or talk back, no
matter what is said or done to you. It will only be worse for you if
you do."
"And bear another thing in mind," said one of the sailors, who had been
listening to this conversation, "and that is, you take rank next below
the cap'n's dog, and hain't got no rights of your own!"
The trapper looked toward Frank, and while the latter was explaining
that, according to a sailor's creed, those who follow the sea take rank
in this way: first the captain, then the mates, then the captain's
dog, and lowest of all, the foremast hands--while Frank was explaining
this, there was the sound of a commotion on the deck over their heads,
and after listening a moment the sailors declared that the vessel was
about to be taken to sea. And so it proved. The anchor was hove up, the
sails spread one after the other, and finally the prisoners below began
to feel the increasing motion of the ship. Just then the hatch was
thrown open and the first mate came down the ladder. He walked straight
up to Dick, unlocked his irons and slapping him on the back ordered him
to go on deck and lend a hand. Even this simple order was Greek to the
honest trapper; but he understood the word "go," and he went, delighted
to find himself in possession of his liberty once more. Frank would
have been glad to go with him, for it was anything but agreeable to his
feelings to be confined below like a felon; but the officers wanted to
get a little farther away from shore before they allowed too many of
their unwilling crew the free use of their hands and feet.
The first order Dick heard when he reached the deck was: "Let fall and
sheet home;" and the mate giving him a push by the shoulder and a kick
at the same time, commanded him to "Grab hold of that rope and pull as
if the sweetheart he left in the backwoods was at the other end of
it." Or, we ought rather say that that was the order the mate intended
to give, but he never finished it, for he was knocked down so promptly
that it seemed as if his foot and the trapper's right arm were both
put in motion at the same instant. Dick's hot blood, which was already
at fever heat, boiled over completely when he felt the weight of the
mate's boot, and he wiped out the insult as soon as it was given.
Of course there was a tumult at once. The second mate caught up a
handspike and the captain descended from his quarter-deck, flourishing
a rope's end as he came. They advanced upon the trapper from opposite
sides, but he was ready and waiting, and they must have been astonished
at the rough reception they met at his hands. With one single twist,
which was so sudden and powerful that it almost dislocated the second
mate's shoulder, Dick wrenched the handspike out of his grasp and threw
it to the deck. Then his long arms swung in the air like the shafts
of a windmill, one huge clenched hand, as heavy as a sledgehammer,
fell full in the captain's face, the other alighted on the top of the
mate's head, and both these worthies sank to the deck on the instant.
The first mate by this time recovered his feet, and picking up a
handspike looked all around for the trapper; but he was not to be seen
anywhere on deck. Nor indeed was he to be found about the ship. He was
gone.