A Choice of Two Evils
Siegfried Strauss did his level best to carry out his employer's
instructions to hoodwink the abducted Villiers. For the first two
days following Jack's return to consciousness the Englishman was
treated with every possible consideration. At least that was how it
struck Villiers.
Hourly his strength returned and with it his reasoning powers. He was
well supplied with food--of the average quality to be found on
tramps--and was allowed to sit on deck.
Then one or two things began to strike him as being somewhat
peculiar. Strauss evinced a decided tendency to prevent Villiers from
strolling for'ard. On the face of it there could be no satisfactory
reason why he should not do so; but Jack, always obliging, fell in
with the supposed Swedish skipper's wish.
Then he made another discovery. One of the men left a newspaper
wedged in the falls of one of the davits. A gust of wind displaced it
and carried it across the deck almost to Villier's feet.
Jack's first impulse was to return it to its owner. A Swedish
newspaper would be useless to anyone not possessing a knowledge of
that language. But somewhat to his surprise he saw that it was
English. His astonishment increased when he found that it was a
Southampton paper and dated the Saturday on which he had been foully
struck down.
Obviously, Villiers reflected, there was a flaw in Captain Strauss'
carefully-pitched yarn. If the _Zug_ had proceeded down-Channel
without putting in anywhere and without holding communication with
any other craft, how could that paper have found its way on board?
"I'm up against something here," thought Villiers, and proceeded with
his investigations. He acted warily, for he was not sure of his
ground.
In quite a casual way he refolded the paper and replaced it in the
falls; then he made his way for'ard, carrying his chair, until he
reached the engine-room's fidley.
Here he sat down and listened through the open gratings. Before long
he overheard the engineer shout something to one of his assistants.
The voice was plainly audible above the pulsations of the engines,
and the words were unmistakably German; so was the reply.
"We're getting on," decided Villiers. "I wonder if this is the _Zug_.
I have my doubts."
He glanced to and fro along the deck. On the fo'c'sle two men were
engaged in coiling down a rope. Their backs were turned towards him.
Those were the only members of the crew within sight. The helmsman
was invisible from the spot where Villiers had taken up his position,
owing to the height of the bridge and to the fact that the
wheel-house was set well back from the canvas screen running round
the bridge stanchion-rails.
Having satisfied himself on this point, Villiers peered through the
open fidley into the engine-room. He saw what he expected, for right
in the centre of the for'ard engine-room bulkhead was a brass plate
setting forth the information that the steamship _Geier_ had been
engined in 1904 by the firm of Hopper and Heinz of Stettin.
That ought to have been conclusive, but Villiers did not rest there.
After a while he made his way right aft and leant over the stumpy
counter. There were the words "_Zug_--Malmo" written plain for anyone
to read, but the letters were freshly painted, and there were signs
that a longer word had been somewhat carelessly obliterated.
"Feeling better, Mr. Villiers?" asked Strauss, who happened to come
on deck at that moment. "I wouldn't look down if I were you; it won't
do your head any good."
Villiers, caught out, made no reply.
"Come and have tea in my cabin," continued the skipper of the _Zug_,
as a preliminary to his ordered task of "pumping" his involuntary
guest.
Jack acquiesced.
"What land is that?" he inquired casually, indicating a rugged range
of hills about four miles on the port beam.
"Portuguese coast," replied Strauss. "Thinking of swimming there?"
"About a hundred yards is my limit," said Jack. "So I don't think
I'll take it on."
Both men descended the companion and entered the cabin, which opened
aft out of the saloon, for in her earlier days the s.s. _Geier_ had
passenger accommodation in addition to carrying cargo.
Siegfried Strauss waited until tea was served, and, ordering the
steward to clear out, prepared to subject his guest to a carefully
manipulated cross-examination.
But before he could get in his first question he was totally taken
aback when Villiers looked him straight in the face and demanded
bluntly.
"Isn't your name Kristian Borgen?"
It was wide of the mark, nevertheless Strauss knew now that Villiers
had his suspicions.
"No, it is not," he replied. "I am ready to swear to that."
"What's in a name?" quoted Jack. "I suppose you are equally prepared
to swear that you are not a German, and that this vessel isn't the
_Geier_ under an assumed name?"
Strauss was on the point of blustering when he bethought himself that
it would be advisable to assume a conciliatory and non-committal
attitude.
"You are quite under a misapprehension, my friend," he said
smilingly. "I don't know why you have adopted this truculent
attitude. I suppose you are still feeling the effect of your rough
usage. To allay your unfounded suspicions I will show you the ship's
papers."
The skipper got up from the table and went to a locker above one of
the settees. This he opened and removed a packet of papers. As he did
so Jack caught a glimpse of a yellow-leather case boldly stamped with
the initials H. H.
It was the identical attaché-case that Sir Hugh Harborough lost from
the car at Southampton. Even Villiers was taken aback by the
discovery, but, controlling himself, he decided to ignore the facts
for the present.
"H'm," he remarked, after he had examined the "Certificate of
Registry" and other documents appertaining to the ownership and
nationality of the s.s. _Zug_. "I'll swear those are forgeries. But
we'll let that pass. How can you account for the fact that the name
_Geier_ is in the engine-room. Beastly careless of you, you know."
Villiers had certainly scored.
Although the change in the ship's name had been publicly advertised,
Strauss had tried to conceal the fact from his unwilling guest. Now
he had to admit it.
"And you left Southampton early on Sunday morning last," continued
Villiers. "I know that, and you can deny it if you like--you did
before, you remember--but that won't alter the fact. That's a Hun
all over. You couldn't enter into a rivalry with Sir Hugh Harborough
on this treasure-hunting stunt without descending to low-down tricks
such as waylaying him and sand-bagging me. That's enough to land you
in the dock, my festive."
Siegfried Strauss realized that the cat was out of the bag. Unmasked,
he was no longer an amiable Swede but an unspeakable Hun.
With a sudden rush he bounded out of the cabin and up the
companion-ladder. At the head he paused to reassure himself that
Villiers was not in pursuit.
"You've done for yourself, you swine!" he shouted. "Since you have
made yourself dangerous there is but one thing to be done--get rid of
you."
Jack could hear him bawling for the hands to come aft. He was in a
tight corner, but he had no intention of quietly giving in to a swarm
of Huns.
Strauss had threatened "to do him in". No doubt he, Villiers, had
asked for it when he tackled the fellow. Perhaps it would have been
better to have pretended to humour him, and then Strauss might have
set him ashore at Las Palmas. But it was too late now. There was no
averting the crisis.
For a brief instant Villiers considered the possibility of gaining
the bridge and holding it against all corners, but the futility of
that plan at once became apparent. He was unarmed; the crew of the
_Zug_ were not. Every man carried a sheath-knife, and possibly
several had firearms as well.
Acting upon an inspiration, although he hardly knew why, Villiers
dragged the missing attaché-case from the locker and ran on deck.
Captain Strauss was still shouting to the crew. He hardly expected
Jack would dare to come out of the cabin. When he saw him he
attempted to close.
With a pleasurable feeling that he was getting his own back for the
sand-bagging affair, Villiers saw the burly German measure his length
on the deck as the result of a straight left with the Englishman's
fist. For the present Siegfried Strauss ceased to count in the
unequal contest.
Three or four of the crew ran on with a rush. Villiers didn't stop to
meet them. He was cool enough to realize, in the first sense of
elation, that there are limits to human powers. Running aft, he
paused only to unship a life-belt and hurl it overboard, then, with
the leather case still grasped in his right hand, he leapt over the
rail into the sea.
He hit the water with tremendous force, for the _Zug_ was steaming at
a good twelve knots. That and his still weak condition almost
deprived him of breath. He swallowed a good half-pint of salt water
before he rose spluttering to the surface.
Even while he was still under the surface Villiers found himself
debating upon the wisdom of his rash act.
"If I hadn't jumped into the ditch," he soliloquized, "those fellows
would have slung me in, and perhaps given me another tap on the head
just to make things doubly sure. I told friend Strauss that I was
good for a hundred yards. So I am at racing-speed. It is now up to me
to see if I can cover four or five miles, hampered by a leather bag
and a life-buoy."
Why he hung on to the attaché-case he hardly knew. Whatever there
was within it was evidently now no secret to the directing spirits
behind the s.s. _Zug_. Even if Harborough's charts and plans were
still inside the case, there was every reason to suppose that they
had been duly inspected and the information they contained committed
to memory. Sir Hugh knew the locality of the wreck, even without the
aid of the stolen documents, so, now that the mischief was done,
there could be little good served by regaining them.
The attaché-case was well made and the lid fitted closely;
consequently it possessed a considerable amount of buoyancy. On
coming to the surface Villiers found that he could support himself by
the case without much effort, and thus give himself time to take
stock of his surroundings.
Fifty yards away floated the life-buoy. Having assured himself of his
position, the swimmer devoted his attention to the _Zug_. Already she
was a good cable's length away, and holding on without apparently
altering course. Five or six of the crew were standing right aft, and
Villiers fancied that he caught the dull glint of the barrel of a
rifle.
"They'll put about," he thought, "and either run me down or else put
a bullet through my head if they spot me. I don't think they do,
although I'm right in the glare of the sun. I'll keep clear of that
buoy for a time, though."
Which was sound logic. The white-painted buoy, bobbing up and down
over the crests of the waves, was a fairly-conspicuous object--as it
was intended to be. But Jack, bareheaded and almost motionless, ran
very little risk of being spotted by the crew of the rapidly-receding
vessel.
But, contrary to his expectations, the _Zug_ neither altered course
nor did her crew open fire. She held on, leaving Villiers to his
fate.
"Now for it," he muttered, and, turning on his back and still
grasping the recovered attaché-case, he made toward the buoy.