THE DEFENSE OF JANUARY JONES
“We’ll all be drowned, I know we will!”
The remark came from Hockley. His teeth chattered so that he could
scarcely speak.
“If there is any real danger I should think the captain would have the
boats lowered,” said Mark, who, now that the first scare was over, was
more calm than any of the other boys.
“Perhaps it is not as bad as we anticipated,” said the professor.
“Tie this life preserver on me, will you?” asked Hockley of Sam. He
already had one preserver around his waist and now wanted this on his
breast.
“All right,” replied Sam, and did as requested.
In the meantime all listened for the sound of another explosion. Would
it come, and if it did, would it send them skyhigh? Certainly it was a
moment of terrible suspense.
“I--I know we’ll go up,” chattered Hockley. “And we’re ever so far from
land too!”
But they did not go up, nor did anything more in the nature of an
explosion occur. The hissing of steam continued for fully five minutes
and then stopped as suddenly as it had begun.
“I imagine the worst is over,” said Professor Strong, after a painful
silence. “Unless I am mistaken that accident was nothing worse than the
ripping open of some steam pipes. But it may have cost the life of a
fireman, coal heaver, or engineer. If you will all remain here I will
investigate.”
They promised to stay where they were and he left them, to be gone the
best part of quarter of an hour. In the meantime quietness was restored
on board, and some of the passengers went back to the cabin, which was
now free of steam.
“It was as I surmised,” said the professor. “Two pipes burst and let
out an immense amount of steam. One of the firemen had his leg scalded
and an engineer had his left hand badly lacerated. They are now
repairing the damage done, and they say that by morning we will be able
to steam along the same as usual.”
“I’m glad to know it’s no worse,” observed Frank, while Hockley wiped
the cold perspiration from his forehead. “But it’s queer the pipes
should burst. They must be old.”
“The engineer says he told Captain Sudlip about the pipes needing
repairs before we left La Guayra. But the captain put him off and told
him that he would have the repairs made at Havana.”
“If that’s the case then that fireman and that engineer will have it in
for him,” was Mark’s comment.
“And they ought to have it in for him,” came from Frank. “Those men
might have been steamed to death, and we might have been blown up in
the bargain.”
“Just what I say,” added Sam.
The rain soon cleared off and that evening the countless stars came
out to brighten up the view of the sea. The boys made themselves easy
on the deck, taking in the scene, the single exception being Hockley,
who sat close to a cabin light, reading a novel he had picked up at a
bookstall in La Guayra.
“Did you see that novel Glummy is reading?” said Sam to Frank, as he
drew up his chair.
“I didn’t notice particularly. What is it, something deep?” And Frank
smiled.
“Very deep,” went on Sam, disgustedly. “The title is ‘Pete Prankley,
the Sassiest Boy in Sawtown; Or, Out for a Hundred Laughs a Day.’ Did
you ever hear of such rot? I don’t see how Jake can read it.”
“That’s on a level with another book he was reading--at the hotel in
Caracas. That was called ‘Gold Nose Hank, the Mine Discoverer; Or,
The Whoop-Up at Stampede Hollow.’ Just for fun I looked through the
book and made a note of the things that happened. Gold Nose Hank shot
down three Indians, two road robbers and one government detective. His
enemies fired forty-six shots at him but never touched him. He located
nine gold mines, said to be worth fifteen million dollars, and saved
the life of the girl five times, once from a stampede of cattle, once
from the Indians, once from a road robber, and twice from drowning in a
river which he afterward forded without getting his cartridge belt wet.
And all that for ten cents.”
At this Sam burst into a merry laugh. “That author believed in giving
his reader his money’s worth, didn’t he?”
“Glummy seems to have got a mania for that sort of a story lately. The
professor once took a book away from him and burnt it up. But now
Glummy puts the books out of sight as soon as he sees the professor
coming.”
“If he keeps on he’ll be wanting to follow in the footsteps of Gold
Nose Hank or Pete Prankley,” said Mark, who had listened to the talk.
“If he does it will get him into trouble. He will find--listen!”
Mark stopped short, and all of the boys listened. From the forward deck
of the steamer came a cry, as of sudden alarm. Silence followed.
“That was queer,” said Sam. “It sounded to me like January Jones’
voice.”
“It was January,” returned Frank. “He’s in some sort of trouble. Come
on and see what it is.”
The three boys rushed forward, followed by Darry, the professor having
gone to his stateroom to change his coat. At first they could not find
the colored man, but presently located him near the forecastle. Beside
him stood Captain Sudlip, a bit of an iron chain in his hand.
“That will teach you a lesson,” the captain of the _Chester_ was
saying. “You’ve needed it ever since you came on board.”
To this January Jones made no answer. He was wiping the blood from his
nose and from a cut on his left hand.
“The captain has been striking that negro,” whispered Sam. “It is an
outrage and I mean to tell him so.”
“Don’t do it, Beans,” cried Mark, catching him by the arm. “You’ll only
get yourself into trouble.”
But Sam would not listen. He was ordinarily a quiet, studious boy, but
now his stern New England sense of justice was aroused, and tearing
himself loose he hurried up and confronted the master of the steamer.
“I think it’s a shame for you to strike this man,” he said, in a loud,
clear voice. “I know you are the captain but I don’t think you have a
right to abuse any of your crew.”
At this frank speech Jason Sudlip stared in open-mouthed astonishment.
For the moment he fancied he had not heard aright.
“Why--er--what----” he began, and then his eyes blazed with sudden
fury. “Get out of here!” he roared. “Get out, I say! If you don’t I’ll
knock you down!”
His advance was so threatening that Sam put up his hands to defend
himself. But he did not back away, and Captain Sudlip stopped when
directly in front of the lad.
“Did you hear me?” he stormed. “I want you to get where you belong.
I’ll treat this nigger as I please. By Jove, I think you need a good
licking too!” And he raised the chain as if to strike.
But now Darry ranged up alongside of Sam. “If you fight, you’ll have to
fight me too,” he declared. “He said it was a shame for you to abuse
January Jones and it is. No decent captain would act as you are acting
on this trip.”
If possible this declaration made Jason Sudlip more furious than ever.
He was naturally of a vindictive nature and he glared at the boys as if
he would like to “chew ’em” up.
Mark and Frank were not long in advancing as Darry had done, and the
sight of the four boys, with their determined faces, caused Captain
Sudlip to pause again. He glanced around, but in the semi-darkness of
that portion of the deck no one was visible but the boys, January Jones
and himself.
“Don’t you know you are carrying matters with a high hand, dictating to
me on my own ship?” he demanded, in a slightly milder tone.
“I am not dictating to you,” replied Sam. “But if this man needs
protection and I can aid him I will, that’s as sure as you stand there.
I don’t know much about the sea, but I think the time has gone by when
a captain can treat his crew like a lot of slaves.”
“Dat’s right, I ain’t no slabe no moah,” came from January Jones, who
was beginning to pick up a little courage, now he saw he had so many to
side with him.
“You keep quiet!” stormed the captain, shaking his fist at the colored
man. “I’ll settle this with you at another time,” and then January
Jones slunk back, fearful that he had “put his foot into it” worse than
ever.
“Captain, I can’t see why we can’t settle this little affair in a
friendly way,” said Mark, after an awkward pause. “We don’t want any
trouble. If you’ll only treat that colored fellow as he should be
treated, and continue to serve us with decent meals, there won’t be any
cause for----”
“I don’t want any preaching from a boy!” interrupted the captain. “I
know my business and I want you to mind yours.”
“All right, we will,” came from Darry. “But just the same, we are
going to keep an eye on you so long as we remain on board. And if you
do anything more that the law doesn’t allow you’ll hear from us; isn’t
that so, fellows?”
A chorus of assent followed.
“I won’t talk to you further,” growled Captain Sudlip, and turning on
his heel he started off. His direction was toward January Jones, and
that individual lost no time in getting out ahead and disappearing to
parts unknown.
“He is a brute and no mistake,” was Sam’s comment, when they were once
more left to themselves. “I believe he would have half killed that
darkey if we hadn’t come up.”
“Don’t worry but that the captain has it in for you,” came from Frank.
“And in for Darry, too.”
“I guess he’d have it in for all of us--if he got the chance,” said
Mark. “But we mustn’t give him the chance. In the future, while on
shipboard, we had better keep together.” And on this the boys agreed.
When they returned to where the professor was sitting he asked them
where they had gone so suddenly.
“Oh, we took a walk forward,” said Sam, carelessly, and then to stop
further questioning asked Professor Strong how far he thought they were
on their journey and when they would arrive at Kingston.
Hockley had finished his so-styled humorous book, and now came out to
listen to what the crowd might have to say. But he was not interested
and soon began to yawn.
“I’d rather sleep than sit out here gazing at nothing but stars and
water,” he said, and shuffled off to his stateroom.
It was about an hour later when the professor and the boys also
retired. Mark and Frank who, as told before, roomed together, had just
undressed when there came a slight knock on the door.
“Who is it?” asked Mark.
“It’s me, sah,” came in the low voice of January Jones. “I dun stole
down heah widout de cap’n knowing it.”
“Oh!” Mark opened the door several inches. “What can we do for you now,
January?”
“Nuffin, sah, thank yo’, sah. I jess come down heah to thank yo’ fo’
what yo’ done fo’ me, sah. It was werry kind, dat was, sah. An’ I
thought I’d tell you dat I ain’t a-gwine to stay on dis ship no longer
dan I can help, sah. It ain’t good fo’ my constitution, sah, no, sah!”
“That’s right, it isn’t,” laughed Frank. “But you’ll have to stay on
board until you strike land. Is that all?”
“Yes, sah. Thought I couldn’t go to sleep widout thankin’ yo’ sah,
nohow. Please tell dem other gents, will yo’, sah?”
“We will.”
“Thank yo’, sah, much obliged, sah!”
And with these words January Jones sneaked off as noiselessly as he had
come.