Jack Striker and Bill Davis are "Sydney Ducks," who have seen service in
the chain-gangs of Australia. They have also served as sailors, this
being their original calling. But since a certain voyage to the Swan
River settlement--in which they were but passengers, sent out at the
expense of Her Britannic Majesty's Government--they have had aversion to
the sea, and only take to it intermittently--when under the necessity of
working passage from port to port for other purposes. Escaping from a
colonisation forced upon them, and quite uncongenial, they had thus made
their way into California; and, after a run up the Sacramento, and a
spell at gold-seeking, with but indifferent success, had returned to San
Francisco; in the Queen City of the Pacific--finding ways of life they
liked better than the hard labour of pick, pan, and cradle. Loitering
among its low sailor-haunts, they encountered a pleasant surprise, by
meeting a man who offered them five thousand dollars each to ship in a
merchant-vessel, for the "short trip" to Panama! A wage so
disproportioned to the service asked for, of course called for
explanation; which the princely contractor gave, after having secured
their confidence. It proved satisfactory to the Sydney Ducks, who,
without further questioning, entered into the contract. The result was
their getting conducted aboard the _Condor_--she being the vessel bound
for the port of Panama.
He who had given them this handsome engagement was not the owner of the
ship; no more was he her captain or supercargo; but a gentleman
representing himself authorised to accept their services, for a somewhat
different purpose than the mere working of her sails; and who promised
to pay them in a peculiar manner--under certain contingencies, even more
than the sum stipulated, notwithstanding its magnificence.
The conditions were partially made known to them before setting foot on
the ship; and though an honest sailor would scornfully have rejected
them--even in the face of such tempting reward--Jack Striker and Bill
Davis have accepted them without scruple or cavil. For they are not
honest sailors; but ex-convicts, criminals still unreformed, and capable
of any misdeed--piracy, or murder--if only money can be made thereby.
Since coming aboard the _Condor_, and mixing with her crew, they have
had additional insight into the character of their contract, and the
services required of them. They find that several other men have been
engaged in a somewhat similar way; and at a like bounteous wage--for a
while wondering at it--till after a mutual comparison of notes, and
putting together their respective scraps of intelligence, with surmises
added, they have arrived at a pretty accurate understanding of how the
land lies, and why their _entrepreneur_--who is no other than the second
mate, Padilla--has been so liberal.
Striker, who has seen more of the world, and is the elder of the two
"ducks," has been the first to obtain this added information; and it is
for the purpose of communicating it to his old chum of the chain-gang,
he has asked the latter to step aside with him. For chancing to be cast
together in the middle watch, an opportunity offers, which the older
convict has all that day been looking out for.
Davis, of more talkative habit, is the first to break silence; which he
does on the instant of their ducking under the sailcloth.
"Well, old pal! what d'ye think of our present employ? Better than
breakin' stone for them Swan River roads, with twenty pound of iron
chain clinkin' at a fellow's ankles. An't it?"
"Better'n that, yes; but not's good as it might be."
"Tut, man, you're always grumblin'. Five thousand dollars for a trip
that isn't like to run up to a month--not more than a fortnight or three
weeks, I should say! If that don't content you, I'd like to know what
would."
"Well, mate; I'll tell'ee what wud. _Thirty_ thousand for the trip.
An' Jack Striker an't like to be satisfied wi' anythin' much short o'
that sum."
"You're joking, Jack?"
"No, I an't, Bill. As you knows, I'm not o' the jokin' sort; an' now
mean what I say, sartin as I ever meant anythin' in my life. Both me
an' you oughter get thirty thousand apiece o' this yellow stuff--that at
the werry least."
"Why, there wouldn't be enough to go round the lot that's in."
"Yes, thar wud, an' will. Old as I am, I hain't yit quite lost hearin'.
My yeers are as sharp as they iver wor, an' jist as reliable. Larst
night I heerd a whisper pass atween Padilla an' another o' them Spanish
chaps, that's put me up to somethink."
"What did you hear?"
"That the swag'll tot up to the total o' three hundred thousand
dollars."
"The deuce it will! Why, they said it wasn't half that much. Padilla
himself told me so."
"No matter what he's told you. I tell ye now, it's all o' the six
figures I've sayed. In coorse, it's their interest to make it out small
as they possibly can; seein' as our share's to be a percentage. I know
better now; an' knowin' it, an't agoin' to stan' none o' theer nonsense.
Neyther shud you, Bill. We both o' us are 'bout to risk the same as
any o' the t'others."
"That's true enough."
"In coorse it is. An' bein' so, we oughter share same as them; can, an'
will, if we stick well thegither. It's jest as eezy one way as
t'other."
"There's something in what you say, mate."
"Theer's every thin' in it, an' nothin' more than our rights. As I've
sayed, we all risk the same, an' that's gettin' our necks streetched.
For if we make a mucker o' the job, it'll be a hangin' matter sure. An'
I dar say theer's got to be blood spilt afore it's finished."
"What would you advise our doing? You know, Jack, I'll stand by you,
whatever you go in for."
"Well; I want it to be a fair divide, all round; detarmined it shell be.
Why shud the four Spanish fellas get a dollar more'n us others? As
I've obsarved, two of them, Gomez an' Hernandez, have set theer eyes on
the weemen folks. It's eezy to see that's part o' theer game. Beside,
I heerd them talkin' o't. Gomez be arter the light girl, an' Hernandez
the dark un. 'Bout that, they may do as they like for ought's I care.
But it's all the more reezun why they oughtent be so greedy 'bout the
shinin' stuff. As for Mister Gomez, it's plain he's the head man o' the
lot; an' the second mate, who engaged us, is only same's the others, an'
'pears to be controlled by him. 'Twar 'tween them two I overheerd the
confab; Gomez sayin' to Padilla that the dust lyin' snug in the
cabin-lockers was full valley for three hundred thousan'. An' as
theer's eleven o' us to share, that 'ud be nigh on thirty thousan'
apiece, if my 'rithmetic an't out o' recknin'. Bill Davis; I say, we
oughter stan' up for our rights."
"Certainly we should. But there'll be difficulty in getting them, I
fear."
"Not a bit--not a morsel, if we stick out for 'em. The four Spanyards
means to go snacks 'mong themselves. But theer be seven o' us
outsiders; an' when I tell the others what I've tolt you, they'll be all
on our side--if they an't the foolishest o' fools."
"They won't be that, I take it. A difference of twenty thousand dollars
or so in their favour, will make them sensible enough. But what's to be
the upshot, or, as they call it in the theatre play-bills, what's the
programme!"
"Well, mate, so far as I've been put up to it, we're to run on till we
get to the coast, somewheer near the Issmus o' Panyma. Theer we'll
sight land, and soon's we do, the ship's to be scuttled--we first
securin' the swag,' an' takin' it ashore in one o' the boats. We're to
land on some part o' the coast that's known to Gomez, he says. Then
we're to make for some town, when we've got things straight for puttin'
in appearance in a explainable way. Otherways, we might get pulled up,
an' all our trouble 'ud be for nowt. Worse, every man-Jack on us 'ud
have a good chance to swing for it."
"And the young ladies?"
"They're to go along wi' Gomez an' Hernandez. How they mean to manage
it, I can't tell ye. They'll be a trouble, no doubt, as allers is wi'
weemen, an' it be a pity we're hampered wi' 'em; mor'n that, it's
reg'lar dangersome. They may get the hul kit o' us into a scrape.
Howsever, we'll hev to take our chances, since theer's no help for it.
The two chaps 'pear to be reg'lar struck with 'em. Well, let 'em carry
off the gurls an' welcome. But, as I've sayed, thet oughter make 'em
less objectin' to a fair divide o' the dust."
"What's to be done with the others--the old Spaniard and skipper, with
the black cook and first mate?"
"They're to go down wi' the ship. The intenshun is, to knock all o' 'em
on the head, soon's we come in sight o' land."
"Well, Jack, for the first three I don't care a brass farthing. They're
foreigners and blacks; therefore, nothing to us. But, as Blew chances
to be a countryman of ours, I'd rather it didn't go so hard with him."
"Balderdash, Bill Davis! What have you or me to do wi' feelins o' that
sort? Countryman, indeed! A fine country, as starves ten millions o'
the like o' us two; an' if we try to take what by nateral right's our
own, sends us out o' it wi' handcuffs round our wrists, an' iron
jewellery on our ankles! All stuff an' psalm-singin' that 'bout one's
own country, an' fella-countryman. If we let him off, we might meet him
somewhere, when we an't a-wantin' to. He'll have to be sarved same as
the t'other three. There be no help for't, if we don't want to have
hemp roun' our thrapples."
"I suppose you're right, Striker; though it does seem a pity too. But
what reason have the Spaniards for keepin' the thing back? Why should
they wait till we get down by Panama? As the yellow stuff's lyin'
ready, sure it might be grabbed at once, an' then we'd have more time to
talk of how it's to be divided? What's the difficulty about our taking
it now?"
"'Tant the takin' o' it. That'll be eezy work; an' when the time comes,
we'll have it all our own way. We could toss the four overboard in the
skippin' o' a flea. But then, how's the ship to be navvygated without
the skipper an' first mate?"
"Surely we can do without them?"
"That's jest what we can't. O' all our crew, theer's only them two as
hev the knowledge o' charts an' chronometers, an' the like; for him as
is actin' second confesses he don't know nothin' 'bout sich. Tharfor,
though we're in a good sound craft, without the skipper, or Blew, we'd
be most as good as helpless. We're now on the biggest o' all oceans,
an' if we stood on the wrong tack, we might niver set eyes on land--or
only to be cast away on some dangersome shore. Or, what 'ud be bad as
eyther, get overhauled by some man-o'-war, an' not able to gie account
o' ourselves. Theer's the diffyculty, don't 'ee see, Bill? For thet
reezun the Spanyards have agreed to let things alone till we've ran down
nigh Panyma. Theer Gomez says he knows o' a long streetch o'
uninhabited coast, where we'll be safe goin' ashore."
"Well, I suppose that'll be the best way, after all. If a man has the
money, it don't make much difference where he sets foot on shore; an' no
doubt we'll find sport down at Panyma, good as anywheres else."
"Theer ye be right, Bill. When a cove's flush there's pleasurin'
iverywhere. Goold's the only thing as gives it."
"With the prospect of such big plunder, we can afford to be patient,"
says Davis resignedly.
"I an't agoin' to be patient for the paltry five thousand they promised.
No, Bill; neyther must you. We've equal rights wi' the rest, an' we
must stan' out for 'em."
"Soon as you say the word, Jack, I'm at your back. So'll all the
others, who're in the same boat with ourselves."
"They oughter, an' belike will; tho' theer's a weak-witted fool or two
as may take talkin' into it. I means to go at 'em the night, soon's
I've finished my trick at the wheel, the which 'll soon be on. Ay!
theer's the bells now! I must aft. When I come off, Bill, you be up by
the night-heads, an' have that Dutch chap as is in our watch 'long wi'
ye; an' also the Dane. They're the likeliest to go in wi' us at oncet,
an' we'll first broach it to them."
"All right, old pal; I'll be there."
The two plotters step out from under the awning; Striker turning aft to
take his "trick" at the wheel, the other sauntering off in the direction
of the forecastle.