ON BOARD THE SLOOP.
They had no further opportunity, just then, to comment on their
discovery. For, just as Ned voiced it, somebody could be heard fumbling
with the lock on the companionway door. It was the work of an instant
for Herc to replace the removable section of the flooring while Ned
slid silently and swiftly back into the cabin he had vacated.
Herc had just time to resume his seat on the locker, together with a
vacant expression of countenance, when the door was flung open. It
admitted a gust of fresh, crisp air and a shower of spray.
"Wish I was up on deck inhaling some of that," commented Herc to
himself, as he turned his head to see who the newcomer might be.
It proved to be Herr Muller. He came down the steps slowly, glancing
about him sharply as he came. He seemed somewhat surprised as his eyes
lit on Herc perched up on his locker.
"Ah, ha! awake!" he exclaimed.
"You hadn't any reason to suppose I'd be asleep, had you?" inquired
Herc blandly.
"No. You boys are too wide-awake altogether. That is why we have taken
you off on this cruise," chuckled the anarchist grimly.
"Very considerate of you, I'm sure," rejoined Herc. "And this--this
cruise, I presume, it isn't for our health?"
"Hardly," rejoined the other, with a smile; "I mean to make you useful
to us and--to the cause!"
His eyes glittered as he spoke. The glare of a fanatic filled them.
"How is your comrade?" he asked the next instant.
Herc saw the trap instantly. Muller had thought to trap him into
answering without thought. Had he done so, the crafty anarchist would
have known that the boys had been talking together. So Herc assumed his
most unworldly expression.
"What, is Ned on board?" he exclaimed.
"You didn't know it?"
"Not I. You are clever fellows to have trapped both of us."
Herr Muller looked at the lad sharply. He did not know what to make of
this careless, debonair manner.
"Well, as you observed," he said at length, "we have trapped you."
"But what for? What do you want with little us?" grinned Herc.
"You are making fun of me, Mister Yankee."
"Not any more fun than you make of yourself," parried Herc quickly.
Herr Muller looked more puzzled than ever. Then he frowned suddenly.
"You do not seem to realize the seriousness of your position," he said.
"Not I. Oh, I'm a care-free sail-o-r-r-r-r oh!" sang Herc. "How do you
like my singing?" he inquired.
"Not very much," replied the other, looking at him with the same
puzzled expression. Herr Muller couldn't make out whether Herc was
crazy or simply light-headed.
"Sorry you don't like it," rejoined Herc; "when I sing in big cities it
brings crowds. Sometimes it brings the police."
"I don't wonder. But I did not come down here to talk nonsense. Where
is your companion?"
"I told you before I didn't know," rejoined Herc, seemingly with all
the carelessness in the world. For the second time the crafty foreign
anarchist had failed to trap Herc into an admission that he and Ned had
met.
"I'll go and get him," said Herr Muller, starting for the cabin.
"I wish you'd bring me a glass of water," said Herc.
"There is water in that stone jug," said Herr Muller, indicating the
drugged receptacle.
"Oh, I drank all that a long time ago," rejoined Herc, "I'm very fond
of water."
For a reason we know of, Herr Muller looked surprised.
"You drank _all_ that water!" he exclaimed.
"Sure," rejoined Herc.
"Our water supply has run rather low," said Herr Muller, watching the
Dreadnought Boy narrowly, "did you notice anything peculiar about that
water?"
"Ah, now you come to speak of it, I did notice a peculiar taste to it,"
said Herc, restraining a desire to chuckle at the other's amazement, "a
sort of bitter flavor. Is it that which you refer to?"
"Perhaps. But--but didn't it make you sleepy?" queried the other, his
curiosity overcoming his discretion.
"Never felt more wide awake in my life," responded Herc, "I could sing
this instant. I----"
But Herr Muller had fled into Ned's cabin. He found the boy apparently
just wakening from a sound slumber, although Ned had enjoyed every word
of Herc's foolish banter.
"Ah, so you are awake at last, Mister Sailor," said Herr Muller; "may I
trouble you to come into the other cabin? I have business of importance
to discuss."
"I beg your pardon," said Ned shortly.
"What do you mean?"
"Just this: that I have no business to discuss with a scoundrel."
The reply was like the crack of a whip. The other grew livid.
"Be careful how you speak," he said, striving to retain control
of himself, "I am not accustomed to being made game of by
whipper-snappers."
"Well, what do you want?" asked Ned, feeling that, after all, he might
learn something by pretending to fall in with the rascal's plans,
whatever they might prove to be.
"Then you are willing to talk business with us?"
"That depends," rejoined Ned, "on whether it's profitable business. But
I warn you," he went on, raising his voice, "my comrade and I want to
be paid in full and well, too, for anything we do."
Herc in the outer cabin heard the heightened tones.
"What's Ned up to now?" he wondered to himself, "I'll bet he's hit on
some plan. I guess that whatever he says I'll follow his lead. I don't
like playing at being a traitor, though, just the same."
Herr Muller and Ned now emerged into the outer cabin.
"Sit down," said the anarchist, pointing to a place beside Herc. Both
boys instantly simulated great delight and surprise at seeing each
other. Herr Muller looked on somewhat glumly.
"I wonder if they are making fools of me," he thought. "They are both
sharp as steel traps, as they say in this country. It is possible.
Well, I shall govern myself accordingly and watch them closely."
"Well," said Ned, when the first apparently warm greetings were over,
"what is it you want us to do?"
"Just this," said Herr Muller, "you are a good mechanic and a
fair draughtsman. I want you to draw me a sectional design of the
_Manhattan_. When that is done I've got other work for you to do."
"A design of the _Manhattan_?" repeated Ned slowly as if he had not
quite understood. He was in reality trying to gain time to think.
"Yes. You are familiar with her, and I believe she is the finest ship
of your navy."
"I can say 'yes,' to both questions," rejoined Ned. "What would you
want this drawing to show?"
"For one thing, I should like to know where her armor is thinnest," was
the rejoinder.
Herr Muller's eyes narrowed as he spoke, and he gazed sharply at the
lad before him.
"You understand?" he asked, as Ned did not reply.
"Perfectly. I was just trying to collect my thoughts. So you want
a sectional plan of the _Manhattan_, showing where her armor is
thinnest," he said slowly. "Well, supposing I make one, what is there
in it for me?"
"That depends on the success of the grand project," was the rejoinder.
Ned looked puzzled. Into the anarchist's eyes there had come the same
glare of fanatical fire that Herc had noted there before.
"What is this grand project, if I may ask?" he said presently.
"You may ask," was the reply, "but I shall not answer. The
accomplishment itself shall be your reply--and the world's."
The man had risen to his feet and was pacing up and down the cabin
excitedly. Suddenly he turned sharply.
"I shall ask for your reply in half an hour," he said abruptly, and
plunged, rather than mounted, up the cabin stairs.
Ned sat lost in thought after his departure. After a long period of
speechlessness, Herc spoke.
"What are you thinking about, Ned?" he asked.
"I'm trying to put two and two together," said Ned softly. "If I'm
right in my conclusions, this fellow Muller is one of the most
diabolical scoundrels that ever encumbered the face of the earth."