PLANNING TO ESCAPE
Ira Small glared at Jack in such an impressive manner that the young
major of the Colby Hall battalion was not a little disturbed. He did
not wonder over the fact that Captain Gilsen had thought the sailor
crazy.
“It would be very fine to find the pirates’ treasure,” he returned
briefly. “But just now what I am more interested in is getting away
from this schooner.”
“I don’t blame you, lad! I don’t blame you! It’s a poor place for any
one to be. An’ it’s much worse than it is now when the men git to
drinkin’ and fightin’. I’ve been through it a dozen times, an’ I know!
I was a big fool to ever come on board!”
“Well, why don’t you leave?”
“Easier said nor done, lad. The cap’n knows I don’t want to stay with
him, an’ he an’ the mate watch me like a dog his bone. I’d git away
fast enough if I had the chance.”
“We’ll talk about this again. Don’t say anything about it now,” warned
Jack hastily, as he saw the mate of the _Hildegarde_ approaching,
having just come from below to take his trick at the wheel.
“Where are the other young fellows?” questioned Letts, shortly, as he
gazed suspiciously at Jack and then at the retreating form of Ira Small.
“They haven’t come on deck yet, so I suppose they’re sleeping,”
answered Jack. “Are you ready to let us take our boat and go?” he went
on.
“We may let you go as soon as it clears a bit. But about taking your
motor boat, that’s another story. Bill Ferguson, the captain’s partner,
says he has a claim on it.”
“A claim? I don’t see how that can be!”
“It was you and your uncle who were responsible for smashing up an
automobile with all the liquor aboard.”
“Oh, so that’s his scheme!” cried Jack, his eyes flashing. “He expects
us to settle that bill, does he? Well, I’ll tell you right now, he
has another guess coming to him! He and that fellow with him were
responsible for that accident, and not I――nor my uncle. Besides that,
the boat belongs to Mr. Mason. I have no claim on it.”
“Ferguson says you’re all in together and you’ll have to settle for
that smash-up before you can have that motor boat.”
“What does he put his claim at? Not that I’ve any idea of settling it.”
“He says that it’ll cost at least three hundred dollars to repair the
car, and he lost over a thousand dollars’ worth of liquor.”
“He had no right to be transporting the liquor.”
“Fairy tales, lad! Fairy tales!” answered the mate sarcastically.
“Everybody’s doing it. You’ve got to settle with Ferguson before we let
you take that boat.” And thus speaking the mate walked away to relieve
the man at the wheel.
It must be admitted that the boys were in anything but a happy frame of
mind when they went to get the scanty and badly-cooked breakfast which
was offered to them. Jack had told the others what the mate had said,
and all were justly indignant.
“I believe they’re nothing but a bunch of thieves,” was Fred’s comment.
“This is only an excuse for robbing us of the motor boat.”
“That’s just what I think!” put in Gif. “Gee, I wish we could arm
ourselves in some way and compel these fellows to run the schooner
ashore.”
“I’m sorry I got you into so much trouble, Ralph,” said Jack to his
friend. “I didn’t know that fellow Ferguson would be on board,” and he
grinned.
“It’s not your fault at all, Jack,” returned Ralph, quickly. “That’s
only an excuse to keep the motor boat. I believe these fellows haven’t
any conscience and they will take everything we’ve got before they let
us go.”
“Maybe they won’t let us go even then,” put in Randy. “You know the old
saying, ‘Dead men tell no tales.’ They may take us to sea and drop us
overboard.”
“Great Cæsar, Randy! you’re the cat’s slippers for scaring us to
death,” burst out his twin.
“Oh, I don’t think they’ll go as far as that,” came from Spouter. “They
wouldn’t dare. But they may take everything we’ve got of value, and
then turn us adrift in one of their rowboats.”
“Well, what shall we do?” questioned Jack. “Shall we try to arm
ourselves and fight?”
“It may come to that later, Jack,” answered Ralph. “But just yet I
wouldn’t advise it.”
“Neither would I,” said Gif.
“A fight would only give them an excuse for shooting us down,” remarked
Fred.
Slowly the day passed, and with it went the mist and rain. The wind was
now blowing freely, and the _Hildegarde_ made good progress on her
course. The boys were not given a chance to look at the compass, but,
by the sun, knew they must be heading southward. Not a speck of land
was anywhere in sight.
“That shows they didn’t go down the coast as they said they would,”
said Jack, about the middle of the afternoon.
“Where do you suppose they’re bound for?”
“Perhaps they’re going straight back to Jamaica,” suggested Spouter.
“Or to some other island of the West Indies where they can get another
supply of liquor,” added Randy.
“I’m going to the stern and take a look at the motor boat,” said Ralph.
“Maybe they won’t let you go to the stern,” said Andy.
“I’ll soon find out.”
“Ralph certainly has a right to look after his own boat,” put in Gif.
“Gosh! these chaps are carrying things with a high hand,” he added,
with a serious shake of his head.
“On the high seas a captain’s word is law,” said Fred. “So this fellow
takes it for granted he can do as he pleases.”
“I wish a revenue cutter would show up,” came from Spouter.
“I guess we all wish that,” answered Jack, with a faint smile.
“Oh, if we could only have the whole crowd placed under arrest!”
muttered Randy.
All of the boys walked toward the stern of the schooner, but speedily
found themselves confronted by Captain Gilsen and Bill Ferguson. One of
the sailors was now at the wheel.
“Where you going?” demanded the commander of the _Hildegarde_, curtly.
“I wanted to take a look at my motor boat to see if it was all right,”
answered Ralph.
“The motor boat is all O. K., and I’m claimin’ it,” came from Bill
Ferguson. “I’m goin’ to keep it for the damage done to my auto and the
liquor I was carryin’.”
“I had nothing to do with that accident, and the motor boat belongs to
my father,” answered Ralph.
“See here! You keep a civil tongue in your head, or there’ll be trouble
on this schooner,” bellowed Ferguson. “All of you fellows are in this
together, and I guess one is about as responsible as another. Better
make ’em go forward, Cap’n, and behave themselves,” he added to his
partner.
“I want the motor boat, and I want it right now,” answered Ralph. “The
storm has cleared away, and we want to go ashore.”
“You talk like that to me, and the next thing you know you’ll be in the
ship’s brig!” roared Captain Gilsen. “We’re on the high seas now, and
I’m in command here. Every one of you get forward, and be quick about
it! I’ll let you know when you can go ashore.”
“All right, we’ll go forward,” answered Ralph, stiffly. “Just the same,
I want you to understand that you’re laying up a lot of trouble for
yourself.”
Another war of words followed, several of the hands, and likewise the
mate, coming to the scene to look on. In the end, there was almost a
pitched battle, the captain shaking his fist in the boys’ faces and
threatening them with all sorts of punishment if they did not behave
themselves and do exactly as he ordered. Ferguson also took part in the
argument, and even grabbed Jack by the arm.
“You thought you could get away from me; but you can’t,” he said, with
a leer. “You’re goin’ to pay good and plenty for that auto wreck.”
“Let go of my arm!” returned Jack, and gave the fellow a shove that
sent him backward against the ship’s rail. At this Ferguson became
furious, and would have drawn a pistol had not the mate of the
_Hildegarde_ interposed.
“No use of fighting now,” he said. “We’ve got a better way of squaring
accounts,” and he looked suggestively at Ferguson.
“All right. Just as you say,” was the surly response. “But that young
cub has got to be taught a lesson, and I’m the man to teach it to him.”
This quarrel made the position of the boys more uncomfortable than
ever. They moved forward while several of the sailors jeered at them.
Evidently the whole crowd was against the lads, the single exception
being Ira Small. The tall, lanky sailor had some work to do, and this
he did without taking part in the discussion or what followed.
“Where do you suppose we are?” asked Fred, after another hour had
passed and the breeze seemed to be stronger than ever.
“I think we’re somewhere off the Jersey coast,” answered Ralph. “But
how far east I can’t tell. There isn’t a sign of land anywhere.”
Slowly the hours dragged by, the boys not knowing what to think of the
situation.
“I wonder if we can’t get aboard the motor boat to-night,” said Randy.
“Of course, we’d have to be very careful about it. But if she is tied
on behind, why couldn’t we slip down on the cable, one after another,
and get aboard?”
“That might be all right,” said Jack. “But we’d have to take some grub
along, and we’d have to be sure that we had gasoline.”
It was not until evening that Jack had another opportunity to talk to
Ira Small.
“See here, Small,” he said, when they met in the semi-darkness, “if you
want to leave the _Hildegarde_, why don’t you come aboard the motor
boat with us?”
“I’d like to do it first rate,” answered the sailor, in a whisper. “But
we’d have to be mighty careful or they’d be sure to spot us.”
“Do you think we could get hold of any provisions and some water to
drink?”
“It might be done, lad. But we’d have to be mighty careful, I’ll tell
you. If they saw any of us runnin’ away they’d shoot at us as sure as
I’m standin’ here.”
“What about gasoline? Have they any on board?”
“Yes; they’ve a couple o’ barrels. You see, sometimes those small boats
from shore have to hang around a long time to keep out o’ the way of
revenue cutters. Then they use up their gasoline, and they’re glad
’nough to git a new supply from the schooner.”
“Where is the gasoline kept?”
“In the oil room up in the bow.”
“Locked up?”
“Yes. But the lock ain’t o’ much account, and could easy be broke.”
“What about grub?”
“To tell the truth, I don’t think we could git a-hold of much. But we
might git some――’nough to last, say, a day or two.”
“And water?”
“Yes, we could git water easy ’nough.”
“Could we make it to-night?” asked Jack, eagerly.
“Better not try it to-night, lad. After what happened on deck this
afternoon, you’ll be watched close. Better take it easy and pretend
you’re waitin’ for what may turn up. It may be they’ll let you go
to-morrow.”
“I don’t think they will,” answered Jack. “But if they do, do you want
to go with us?”
“I’ll go if I kin make it,” answered Ira Small. “P’r’aps I kin drop
overboard quiet like and git aboard the motor boat without their seein’
me.”
“Is anybody aboard the motor boat now?” questioned Jack, suddenly.
“Oh, no. She comes along all right alone, so the sailor who was on
board come back to the ship.”
“Well, Small, you stick to us, and we’ll stick to you. You help us
escape, and you shall be well rewarded.”
“I don’t want no reward. I want to git square with Cap’n Gilsen an’ his
bunch,” answered Ira Small. “I’d like to git away in the motor boat an’
blow the _Hildegarde_ to kingdom come. That bunch of critters on board
this ship ain’t fit to live.”
“Well, I’ll see you again about this,” said Jack, as he noted the
approach of Letts.
“All right, lad. I’ll be ready at the first chance. I want to git away
just as quick as you do. I want to git back to the West Indies an’
spot the thirteen rocks. I’m after pirates’ gold!” concluded the lanky
sailor, as he stalked away hastily.