SANDOVAL EXPLAINS.
"It looks," remarked Matt, "as though we were between two fires.
However, of the two enemies, I had rather fall into the hands of
Sandoval. He certainly has no destructive designs on the _Grampus_."
"The war ship is heading up for us," remarked Glennie. "It's a wonder
they don't open on us with some of their small calibre guns."
"Vatch der Chaps," chuckled Carl. "Der Sons oof der Rising Sun acts
schust like dey vas aboudt do set. Ach, du lieber, how dey row pack py
der shdeamer!"
"They're pulling down the Chilian flag," laughed Matt. "They don't
intend to have Sandoval see that."
"But what's the reason the war ship is coming for us, and acting so
peaceably?" queried Glennie.
"I don't know, Glennie, but I wouldn't trust Sandoval the length of a
lead line. I wish we could dive! Call down and ask Dick what he and
Clackett are doing, if anything."
Glennie bent down beside the tower and put the question.
"They haven't found the trouble yet," said Glennie, lifting his head
out of the tower.
"That means," remarked Matt, "that we've got to face Sandoval."
"Ah!" shouted Carl, "dere goes a flag signal."
The signal was a common one, and Matt did not have to send for his code
book.
"Wish to communicate with you," read the flags; "come alongside."
"'Communicate with you,'" repeated Matt. "That sounds rather mild--for
Sandoval. Get us alongside, Glennie."
"Don't you go aboard the war ship, Matt," cautioned Glennie.
"Thank you," said Matt, "once was enough."
As the submarine came along on the lee side of the war vessel, the
big ship slowed her pace. Presently both craft were jogging along as
companionably as a lad and his lass going to market.
"Señor," called Sandoval through a megaphone, "I beg your pardon ten
thousand times."
"Vat's dot?" muttered Carl, with bulging eyes. "Can I pelieve vat I
hear? Ten t'ousant dimes he pegs Modor Matt's bardon. For vy?"
"Why do you do that, captain?" asked Matt.
"Because of the little mistake. I made it. When Captain Enrique
Sandoval makes a mistake he admits it like a man."
"What was the mistake?"
"Why, this, that your wireless instrument was not the one that claimed
the submarine was my war ship."
Matt was puzzled.
"How did you find that out?" he asked.
"By a ruse, which I thought of myself. Early last evening I sent
out calls, through the _Salvadore's_ wireless instrument, for the
_Salvadore_. You see? My ship was calling for herself. The call was
answered by a ship which claimed she was the _Salvadore_, Captain
Sandoval commanding."
Matt was amazed, not so much by what the captain had found out as by
the fact that he had had sense enough to think of such a ruse.
"How did you know, captain," returned Matt, "that I did not answer that
second call as you accused me of answering that other one?"
"_Carramba!_ You would not have been so foolish. There is a ship
somewhere in these waters that is trying to make others think she is
the _Salvadore_. Where is she?"
"Yonder," said Matt, pointing to the Japanese steamer. "That is the
vessel that claims to be the _Salvadore_. One of her officers told me
that was her name, and that her captain was Enrique Sandoval."
Sandoval whirled about on his bridge and picked up a pair of
binoculars. For several moments he studied the steamer.
"She was flying the Chilian flag when we first sighted her," he went on
to Matt through the megaphone, "and now she's flying a piece of German
bunting."
"That's because she don't want you to make her any trouble," said Matt.
"_Car-r-ramba!_ I will make her trouble. I will pursue her and take her
to Punta Arenas while the conduct of her officers and crew is being
looked into. It will be easy for the real _Salvadore_ to overtake the
counterfeit. _Adios_, señor, and good luck to you!"
"Wait a minute, captain!" called Matt.
"What is it you wish, señor?"
"How about that story Garcia told you about me?"
"Ah, it was a fairy tale, a child's story, and unworthy of full-grown
ears."
"But you believed it?"
"For a time, yes. The injured convict told me that Garcia was not
telling the truth. I did not believe, even then. It was only when the
other convict supported the one with the broken arm that I believed.
Garcia had two against him. What better proof could you want?"
"You are not out of patience with us for what my friends did in helping
me escape from you?"
"No! It was a gr-r-rand fight! You and your two friends worsted me,
Captain Enrique Sandoval, and three marines. Of course, had I been
armed with my pistol, the result would have been vastly different. Yet
you escaped, after bidding defiance to all the Chilian authorities
in Punta Arenas. Ah, marvelous! I am filled with admiration for your
disregard of life. All Punta Arenas is talking about it. No one was
killed, no one was even hurt, and yet you were rescued. I am glad it
was so. How would I have felt had I been compelled to face you in your
prison room at the harbor master's house, and admitted that I had made
a mistake? What could I have said to his excellency, the American
consul? I should have perished of shame and mortification. I have your
pardon, señor?"
"You have," said Matt, very gravely but with a mischievous twinkle in
his gray eye. "We are friends, captain?"
"Forever!"
The smoke of the Jap steamer was vanishing rapidly to southward. The
_Salvadore_, a few minutes after the captain ceased speaking, turned
her bow on the other tack and started in pursuit.
"What do you think of that, Glennie, you and Carl?" queried Matt.
"It shows," replied the ensign, "how fortune changes when you least
expect it. I was counting, first, on losing the _Grampus_; then, when
the war ship showed up, I was thinking only that we should have to
return to Punta Arenas. And now here we are, safe on the high seas,
with not even the Japs to molest us!"
"Von enemy has peat off der odder!" said Carl.
"That's the way of it," said Matt. "If----"
Some one called from the periscope room. Glennie bent down to hear what
was said.
"It's Dick," said Glennie, looking toward Matt with a smile. "The tank
valves are fixed, and he wants to know if we are ready to dive."
"Tell him no," answered Matt, "and add that, if the valves had been in
shape, when we first sighted the Jap steamer, we would have dived and
would have missed the biggest chance that has come our way since we
left Port of Spain--the chance to make a friend out of an enemy, and to
set our new-made friend against our implacable foes, the Sons of the
Rising Sun."
Glennie repeated this somewhat lengthy statement to Dick.
"Dick says he can't understand it," said Glennie, "and wants you to
come down and make it clear."
"We might as well go down," said Matt.
"Ve ditn't got no fighdt oudt oof dot," remarked Carl, with a
disappointed air, "so ve mighdt as vell go pelow und shday dere. It
looks like dere vouldn't be any fighding any more for anypody."