A SURPRISING SITUATION.
"Sink me!" growled Dick. "Here's a rum go, if anybody asks you. It's
bobs to sovereigns that those Japs are mixed up in this."
"We can very soon convince the captain of the port that he's made a
mistake," said Matt quietly. "Get your written instructions, Glennie,
and we'll go ashore with him. There's something queer about this, and
it may be a good thing for us to get to the bottom of it."
"How aboudt Tick und me?" inquired Carl. "Ain'd ve going along mit you?"
"You and Dick and the rest of the crew," Matt answered, "will stay
here and take care of the _Grampus_. Somebody will have to do that,
you know, Carl. It's fully as important as going ashore and explaining
matters to the officials."
Glennie told the captain of the port that he and Matt would go ashore
with him and make it plain to everybody that there was a mistake. The
ensign's uniform, spick and span and mighty fetching, made a wholesome
impression upon the captain of the port.
While Glennie was getting his papers, the port official dropped back
alongside the torpedo and examined it with considerable interest. When
the ensign reappeared on the submarine's deck, the boat was brought
back and Matt and Glennie got aboard. In five minutes they had reached
the wharf and clambered ashore.
The negroes who had rowed the boat dropped in on each side of the two
young Americans, each drawing an old-fashioned pistol that fired with a
percussion cap.
"They're bound we're not going to run," laughed Matt.
"I don't know," returned Glennie, "but I'd rather be in front of those
old relics when they're shot off than behind them. I guess a fellow
would be safer."
The captain of the port led the way to the Casa de la Administracion
of the Señora Cousiño. It was built on the crest of a low rise, and
afforded a fine view of the bay. A tall, slim man, who looked like
a Frenchman, stood on the steps of the casa surveying the _Grampus_
through a glass. With an expression of disappointment, he lowered the
glass and turned toward the captain of the port as he drew near. Then
there was French talk and Spanish talk--the tall, slim man using his
native tongue, which the Chilian evidently understood, and the Chilian
using the Spanish, with which the Frenchman appeared familiar.
Glennie gave strict attention to all that was going on. The finger and
whole-arm movements, the hunching of the shoulders, and the shaking and
ducking of the heads, accompanied the talk as a sort of pantomime.
Matt was highly amused.
A look of astonishment appeared in Glennie's face as he listened.
"By George!" the ensign exclaimed, when the conversation between
the Chilian and the Frenchman had died down. "We've jumped into a
surprising situation here, Matt, if I've got this thing right."
"What is it, Glennie?" asked Matt.
"Well, the Frenchman says that the submarine isn't the boat he thought
it was, and that our arrest has been a mistake."
"I'm glad they found that out without putting us to any trouble. Is
there another submarine in these waters? And has it been stolen?"
"That's where the surprising part comes in. I'll have to talk with
these fellows, and ask them a few questions, before I can get the
layout clear in my mind."
French and Spanish had formed a part of Glennie's education at
Annapolis; he reeled off both languages now, first at one and then
at the other of the two men, asking questions and receiving voluble
replies.
In five minutes he had the situation straightened out to his
satisfaction, and sat down on one of the stone steps beside Matt.
"The tall man, Matt," said Glennie, "is Captain Pons, of Edouard
Lavalle et Cie, shipbuilders, of Havre, France. This firm of Lavalle &
Co. are builders of submarines, and they recently finished such a craft
for the Chilian navy. The boat was brought over on a tramp freighter,
and Captain Pons came along to instruct the Chilian officers and crew
in the manner of running the submarine, and also to secure a draft for
the purchase price.
"The submarine was unloaded safely, and was provisioned by Captain Pons
for a run to Santiago, where she was to be inspected by the secretary
of the navy. Captain Pons was not to get his money from the government
until the submarine reached Santiago. The Chilian crew was to come
over from Coronel yesterday afternoon, but arrived in the morning, a
good twelve hours ahead of time. Captain Pons rowed out with them to
the submarine, showed the captain of the crew all over the boat and
explained the machinery to him; then, quite unexpectedly, so far as
Captain Pons was concerned, the crew grabbed the Frenchman, threw him
into the rowboat, closed the hatch of the submarine, and dropped into
the bottom of the bay."
Matt was listening with intense interest.
"The crew that Captain Pons took out to the submarine wasn't the right
one?" he observed.
"No. The real crew arrived in the afternoon, agreeably to schedule, and
found Captain Pons without a submarine and very much up in the air. If
he can't recover the submarine from the thieves, his firm may hold him
responsible for the loss of the stolen boat."
"There were torpedoes in the French submarine?"
Matt began to grow excited as the situation cleared before him.
"Two," replied Glennie.
"And the bogus crew--who were they?"
"Instead of coming from Coronel, it was discovered that they came
from the south--by railroad from Valdivia, on the coast. It has also
been discovered that they were Japanese--Japs who had their eyes
straightened. It is supposed that they are from the mysterious steamer
that escaped from Captain Sandoval, below English Reach."
Matt's astonishment almost lifted him off the stone step on which he
was sitting.
"Our old enemies!" he exclaimed. "The Sons of the Rising Sun have
secured a submarine boat, and that means that they can follow us
wherever we go."
"Hard luck, Matt, that events should drift into this tangle! That
French submarine had to be here, it seems, at just the right time to
help out the Japs. The young Samurai must have known about this other
craft. After dodging Captain Sandoval, they managed to reach Valdivia
and came on from there by train. That is how they were able to get
ahead of us."
"Every mysterious twist is taken out of the situation now, Glennie,"
said Matt, almost stunned by the audacity of the Japs and the marvelous
way in which circumstances had aided them. "They took possesion of
the French submarine and started south to meet the _Grampus_. The
noiseless way in which they hung upon our flanks is easy to understand.
The torpedo was launched at us while the French boat was submerged;
and when that rope was hurled at me, the boat was just out of the
water--there were no lights about her, and the search light of the
_Grampus_ enabled those on the French craft to make that cast with the
riata."
Matt's face went pale.
"Glennie," he continued, "the hardest job of our lives is ahead of
us! The Japs have a submarine, and there's not one of them who would
not willingly give his life if, by doing so, he could destroy the
_Grampus_. As long as our enemies were in a steamboat, and compelled to
remain on the surface, it was easy to keep away from them; but now, no
matter where we go, they can follow us."
"I don't know anything about this French boat," returned Glennie
thoughtfully, "but I'll bet something handsome she's not half so good
a craft as the _Grampus_. There's a big advantage for us, right at the
start. Then, again, about the only thing we're to fear from the stolen
submarine is the torpedo work. Captain Pons says there were only two
torpedoes in the craft. One of them is accounted for. They have only
one more--and I guess we can get away from _that_. Besides all this,
don't forget that the Japs are green hands with the submarine, and have
had no practical experience in running her. Captain Pons explained to
them the theoretical part of the machinery, but, you take it from me,
those wily Orientals are going to get themselves into trouble."
"They manoeuvred the submarine pretty well last night," said Matt. "I
don't see how they could improve much on their work. A Jap, Glennie, is
a regular genius in 'catching on' to things. Show him how to do a piece
of work once, and he knows it for all time. They're clever--as clever
as they are wily, and sometimes treacherous."
At this point, Captain Pons put in a few words.
"I see ze torpedo is wiz youar boat, monsieur. You say zat you peek
heem out of ze sea, but he is my torpedo, and he is vorth many sousand
francs. I am to have him, eh?"
Matt looked at Glennie.
"We might need that torpedo, Matt," suggested the ensign, "for the
_Grampus_ has only one. If it comes to a fight with the French boat
that extra Whitehead would come in handy. I think we had better keep
it."
"So do I," agreed Matt. He turned to Captain Pons. "The torpedo was
fired at us, captain," he went on, "and it was by a happenchance, and
at a considerable risk to myself, that I was able to save it and tow it
in."
"He is mine, by gar!" cried the Frenchman.
"What good is the torpedo to you without the submarine?"
"Ma foi, I can sell heem. I save zat much."
"Any way you figure it," insisted Matt, "we're entitled to salvage on
the torpedo."
"Nozzing, not one centime!" screeched Captain Pons, jumping up and down
and flourishing his arms.
"Suppose I pay you the difference between the salvage and the cost of
the torpedo?" asked Matt, willing to adjust the matter in any way that
would secure peace.
"Non! I want ze torpedo, and zis talk of ze salvage is w'at you call
boosh; _oui_, zat is all, nozzing but boosh."
There seemed no amicable way of settling the dispute. Matt, feeling
that the Whitehead was of prime importance to the _Grampus_, was
determined to stick to his contention.
He and Glennie stood up, and all on the steps of the casa turned their
eyes downward to where the _Grampus_ lay on the placid waters of the
harbor, the long, black cylinder of the Whitehead some forty or fifty
feet back of the stern.
While they looked, a most astounding thing happened. The torpedo seemed
suddenly to become imbued with life. It shivered, jerked sidewise like
an animated log, whirled around frantically, and then, with one end
leaping into the air, it darted downward, out of sight!