FRANK MAKES A FRIEND.
It was clear to Jack that this was no place to stay if he could help it.
From the first it had been evident to him that there was something wrong
about the ship. Apart from the lawless behavior of the crew, there was
the fact that since he had come on board he had seen no vestige of an
officer.
The sailor who had first attacked him seemed to have some sort of
authority. Jack naturally came to the conclusion that he was in command
of the vessel. There was only one reasonable answer, which was confirmed
by a certain brown stain Jack had noticed on the deck. There had been a
mutiny on the ship.
Jack struck a match. The flame lighted up the corner into which he had
crept and he saw several objects that he had not noticed before, a
shipwright's auger, a calking mallet and probably a dozen wooden pegs,
tapering at one end.
The purpose of these was unmistakable. The sailors intended to scuttle
the ship. Holes were to be bored in the bottom and the plugs driven into
them. Then, when the mutineers were ready to leave, the ship would be
abandoned with the water pouring into her hold.
The tools suggested an idea to Jack. He picked up the auger and mallet
and groped his way aft. He climbed up on the pile of sacks and crawled
along until he came to the bulkhead that separated the cabin from the
hold. He set the point of the auger against the bulkhead, and grasping
the cross lever, set to work vigorously. He was soon rewarded by feeling
the tool give with a jerk, and when he withdrew it there was a circular
hole, through which daylight streamed faintly.
Jack put one eye to the hole and peered through. He could make out
several objects in the cabin beyond. Having made this brief survey, he
returned to his task. Above the hole he had already bored, he bored
another slightly intersecting it, above this another, and so on, tracing
a continuous row of holes, each encroaching on the next, in a wide
circle.
By the time he had drilled the thirtieth hole, the weakening light
filtering through told him the sun was setting. The fortieth hole was
within an inch of the first one bored. Jack gave a vigorous kick on the
space inclosed by the line of holes, and sent the oval piece of plank
flying into the cabin.
He slipped easily through the opening and groped about the cabin. He
felt his way to the companion ladder, where he bumped against a bunk. He
sprawled headlong, and beneath his fingers felt a human form. He sprang
back and struck a match.
Before him he saw the face of a boy, and he again approached the bunk.
The lad's hands were bound and he was sleeping. Jack shook him, and the
boy looked up.
"Hello," he said. "What are you doing here?"
"Rather, what are you doing here?" was Jack's reply.
"I'm Frank Chadwick, an American," was the answer. "Untie my hands and
I'll tell you all about it."
Jack did as he was requested, and then Frank motioned toward the upper
bunk just across from him.
"We'll perform the same operation there, and then we'll have a talk," he
said.
Jack approached the bunk indicated, and perceived a second bound form.
Quickly the two lads untied him, and the man slid to the floor and
stretched himself.
"Thanks," he said, rubbing his hands. "I'm glad to get out of that."
"What's this all about, anyhow?" demanded Jack, in great surprise.
Frank gave an account of his adventures after meeting the little
American with the red sweater in Naples. Then the man who had been tied
in the bunk repeated the story he had told Frank when the lad had first
entered the cabin, adding that his name was Albert Hetherington.
"But how do you come to be here?" he demanded of Jack.
Jack explained.
"Well," exclaimed Hetherington, "you have put your head into a hornet's
nest, young man."
"Yes," replied Jack, "and I'm going to keep it there until I'm paid to
take it out. I want two pounds four and I'm going to get it before I
leave this ship."
Jack climbed up on a small table, and wrapping his hand in his
handkerchief, crashed his fist through the skylight. The skylight had a
fixed top, and, instead of the usual guard bars, had loose wooden
shutters for use in bad weather. Jack picked away the remainder of the
glass. Placing a small box on top of the table, he climbed upon it and
peered out.
He could just catch a glimpse of the man at the wheel. The fellow was
not taking his duties very seriously, for he was sitting on the grating
filling his pipe and letting the ship steer itself. Jack considered,
looked out again, then descended from the table with a distinctly
purposeful air.
"I'm looking for a piece of rubber plaster," he told Frank and
Hetherington.
He opened the medicine chest, and cut off several strips. Then he picked
up a piece of rope that hung upon a peg on the cabin wall.
"I want to try a little experiment," he told the others. "I'll tell you
about it later."
He cut off a couple of lengths of rope, and having pocketed one, and
having made a small fixed loop in the end of the other, climbed up on
the box again and looked out on deck.
All was quiet without. Jack heard the helmsman yawn sleepily; he had
left the wheel with a rope hitched around one of the spokes, and was now
leaning over the rail looking at the water.
Grasping the frame of the skylight, Jack gave a light spring and came
stealthily through the opening. Then, creeping along the deck in the
shelter of the small boat and the companion hood, he stole toward the
sailor.
As the man threw back his head and yawned, Jack slipped his left hand
around, holding the strip of plaster spread out on it, and clapped the
plaster over the man's mouth, and instantly pinioned his hands by
clasping him tightly round the chest.
The man struggled furiously and would have shouted, but was only able to
grunt and snort, so well had the plaster done its work. The struggle
went on with little noise. Jack contrived to pass the end of the line
through the loop and draw it until it was ready for a final pull. Then
he hurled the man to the deck, jerked the line tight and sat on the
prisoner's legs. He bound him tightly and then sat quiet a moment,
listening.
Finally he arose and slid his helpless prisoner through the skylight
into the cabin and then lowered himself by the way he had emerged.
Here he seized the captive, dragged him across the cabin, and thrust him
through the bulkhead, followed him through and removed the plaster from
the man's mouth.
"Now," he said to his prisoner, "if you know what is good for you, you
will keep quiet."
Evidently the man knew. He signified his intention of keeping quiet, and
Jack returned to the cabin.
"Well, that's one of them out of the way," he told his new friends.
"Yes," replied Hetherington, "but there are five or six more up there."
"Five," said Frank.
"We'll see what can be done," remarked Jack, and again climbed on the
table and peered forth from the skylight.
But now there was no one to capture. The wheel jerked to and fro in its
lashings. Suddenly the vessel heeled over crazily. At the same time a
voice called:
"What's the matter, Pedro? You'll have the masts overboard if you don't
look out."
A moment later the leader of the mutineers came staggering aft, followed
by several of his men. He gazed at the wheel in surprise.
"Where has he gone?" he demanded.
"Down in the cabin, I guess," said one of the men.
"No," was the reply, "the companion is fastened up."
"He's gone overboard, that's where he's gone," said another voice.
"I guess you're right," replied the leader. "Here, Antonio, you mind the
helm, and don't you go overboard, too."
Muttering sleepily, another man took his place at the wheel, and the
others moved off. Jack bent down from the table and whispered to the
others.
"Now is the time to get the next one. You two stand by and take care of
him when I pass him along to you."
"Better be careful," said Frank. "They are all liable to jump you."
Jack did not reply. He pulled himself up and dropped to the deck.