THE FIRE-ROOM GANG
Cadet David Downes was on watch with the fourth officer of the
_Roanoke_ at the forward gangway. It was their duty, while the liner
lay at her pier in New York, to see that nobody came on board except on
the ship's business, and to prevent attempts at smuggling by the crew.
David had heard nothing from Captain Bracewell and Margaret since they
went ashore three days before. They had taken such a strong hold on his
affection and sympathy that he was wondering how it fared with these
friends of his, when a quartermaster, returning from an evening visit
to the offices ashore, handed the cadet two letters from the bundle of
ship's mail.
One envelope was bordered with black and he opened it first. The letter
told him of the sudden death of his uncle, who had gone to live in a
Western city. This guardian had shown little fondness for and interest
in the motherless boy, and David felt more surprise than grief. But
the loss made him think himself left so wholly alone that it seemed as
if all his shore moorings were cut. More than ever he longed for some
place to call home, and for people who would be glad to see him come
back from the sea. It was with a new interest, therefore, that he read
his other letter, which was signed in a very precise hand, "Margaret
Hale Bracewell." In it the "little girl" told him:
DEAR DAVID DOWNES:
Grandfather wants me to write you that we are as well as could
be expected and hoping very much to see you. We are boarding in
the house with an old shipmate, Mr. Abel Becket, who used to sail
with us. When are you coming to see us? I am most as well as ever.
We have not found a ship, but Grandfather is looking round and
maybe we will have good news for you next voyage. He tries to be
cheerful, but is very restless and worried. I wish we were in
steam instead of sail, don't you? Good luck, and I am
YOUR SINCERE AND RESPECTFUL FRIEND.
David smiled at the "we" of this stanch partnership of the _Pilgrim_,
and as soon as he was off watch he wrote a long reply, in which he
told Margaret that his uncle's death made him feel as if he kind of
belonged to their little family, for he had nobody else to care for
and be of service to. Once or twice he thought of asking permission to
leave the ship long enough to run over to Brooklyn, but new notions
of discipline had been pounded into him by the events of the homeward
voyage, and he decided to take his detention on board as part of the
routine which made good sailors "in steam."
Two nights before sailing he happened to be left alone at the gangway,
for the watch officer had been called to another part of the ship. A
drizzling fog filled the harbor, and the arc lights on the pier were
no more than vague blobs of sickly yellow. The cadet's attention was
roused by a confused noise of shouting, singing, and swearing out
toward the end of the pier shed. After making sure that the racket
did not come from the ship he concluded that a riotous lot of Belgian
firemen and roustabouts were making merry. When the watch officer
returned, the cadet reported the unseemly noise.
A few minutes later a louder clamor arose, as if the revellers had
fallen to fighting among themselves. Then a quartermaster came running
forward from the after gangway.
"Dose firemen vill kill each odder," he reported. "They tries to come
aboard ship and I can't stop 'em."
The officer told David to stay at his post, and hurried aft in the wake
of the quartermaster. The cadet could hear seamen running from the
other side of the ship to re-enforce the peace party, and presently one
of them dashed up the pier as if to call the police patrol boat, which
lay at the next dock. The cadet had seen enough of the fire-room force,
a hundred and fifty strong, to know that the coal-passers and firemen
were as brutal and disorderly men ashore as could be found in the slums
of a great seaport. But such an uproar as this right alongside the ship
was out of the ordinary.
While the cadet listened uneasily to the distant riot, his alert ears
caught the sound of a splash, as if some heavy object had been dropped
from a lower deck. On the chance that one of the crew might have fallen
over, he ran to the other side and looked down at the fog-wreathed
space of water between the liner and the next pier. He could see
nothing and heard no cries for help. A little later there came faintly
to his ears a second splash. It somehow disquieted him. The galley
force was asleep. Nothing was thrown overboard from the kitchens at
this time of night and the ash-hoists were never dumped in port.
Firemen sometimes deserted ship, but no deserter would be foolish
enough to swim for it in the icy water of early spring. David dared not
leave his gangway more than a minute or two at a time. He wanted very
much to know what was going on overside in this mysterious fashion, but
there was no one in hailing distance, and the watch officer, judging by
the noise in the pier, had his hands full.
David had quick hearing, and in the still, fog-bound night small sounds
travelled far. Presently he fancied he heard words of hushed talk, and
a new noise as if an oar had been let fall against a thwart. It was his
business to see that the ship was kept clear of strangers, and without
knowing quite why, he felt sure that something wrong was going on.
Finally, when he could stand the suspense no longer, he tiptoed across
the deck, moved aft until he was amidships between the saloon deck
houses, and crouched on a bench against the rail.
Cautiously poking his head over, he could dimly discern the outline
of a small boat riding close to the ship as if she were waiting for
something. She was hovering under one of the lower ports, which had
been left open to resume coaling at daylight. Two or three men were
moving like dark blots in the little craft. Presently a bulky object
loomed above their heads and slowly descended. As if suddenly alarmed,
the boat did not wait for it, but shot out in the stream, and there
was the quick "lap, lap" of muffled oars. It was not long before the
boat stole back, however, and seemed to be trying to pick up something
adrift.
David did not know what to do. He guessed that this might be some kind
of a bold smuggling enterprise, but it seemed hardly possible that
anybody would risk capture in this rash and wholesale way. He was
afraid of being laughed at for his pains if he should raise an alarm.
He really knew so little of this vast and complex structure called a
steamship that almost any surprising performance might happen among her
eight decks. It was duty to report this singular visit, however, and
the officers could do the rest.
[Illustration: Some one was kneeling on his chest, with a choking grip
on his neck.]
He rose from his seat and turned to recross the deck, when he was
tripped and thrown on his back so suddenly that there was no time to
cry out before some one was kneeling on his chest, with a choking
grip on his neck. His eyes fairly popping from his head, David could
only gurgle, while he tried to free himself from this attack. The man
above him wore the uniform of a _Roanoke_ seaman, this much the cadet
could make out, but the shadowy face so close to his own was that of
a stranger. He was saying something, but the lad was too dazed to
understand it. At length the repetition of two or three phrases beat a
slow way into David's brain:
"Forget it. Forget it. It'll be worth your while. You get your piece of
it. Forget it, or overboard you go, with your head stove in."
Forget what? It was like a bad dream without head or tail, that
such a thing could happen on the deck of a liner in port. Twisting
desperately, for he was both quick and strong, David managed to sink
his teeth in the arm nearest him. The grip on his throat weakened and
he yelled with a volume of sound of which the whistle of a harbor
tug might have been proud. The assailant pulled himself free, kicked
savagely at the boy's head, missed it, and closed with him again as if
trying to heave him overboard. But he had caught a Tartar, and David
shouted lustily while he fought.
It was Captain Thrasher who came most unexpectedly to the rescue. He
was on his way back from an after-theatre supper party ashore, and he
launched his two hundred and thirty pounds of seasoned brawn and muscle
at the intruder before the pair had heard him coming. Then his great
voice boomed from one end of the ship to the other:
"On deck! Bring a pair of irons! Are all hands asleep? What's all this
devil's business?"
The watch officer came running up with a quartermaster and two seamen.
Without waiting for explanations they fell upon the captive whom
Captain Thrasher had tucked under one arm, and handcuffed him in a
twinkling. Swift to get at the heart of a matter, the captain snapped
at David:
"How did it happen? Anybody with him? I know the face of that dirty
murdering scoundrel."
"I was just going to report a boat alongside," gasped David.
Captain Thrasher sprang to the rail. The fog had begun to lift, and a
black blotch was moving out toward the middle of the river.
"After 'em, Mr. Enos," roared the captain to the fourth officer. "Jump
for the police patrol. It's the Antwerp tobacco smuggling gang. I
thought we were rid of 'em."
The officer took to his heels, and in a surprisingly short time the
captain saw a launch dart out from the pier beyond the _Roanoke_, her
engines "chug chugging" at top speed. Making a trumpet of his hands,
Captain Thrasher shouted:
"I just now lost sight of them, but the boat was headed for the
Hoboken shore. They can't get away if you look sharp."
Then the captain ordered his men to lock the captive in the ship's
prison until the police came back. The chief officer was roused out
and told to search the ship and to put double watches on the decks and
gangways. Having taken steps to get at the bottom of the mischief,
Captain Thrasher fairly picked up David and lugged him to his cabin.
Dumping the lad on a divan, the master of the liner pawed him over from
head to foot to make sure no bones were broken, and then remarked with
great severity:
"You are more trouble than all my people put together. Disobeying
orders again?"
"I guess I was, sir," faltered the cadet. "Mr. Enos told me not to
budge from the gangway, and I went over to see what was going on."
"What was it? Speak up. I won't bite you," growled the captain. David
told him in detail all that happened, but he did not have the wit
to put two and two together. This was left for the big man with the
wrathful gray eye, who fairly exploded:
"Mr. Enos is a good seaman, but his brain needs oiling. It is all as
plain as the nose on your face. That row on the dock was all a blind,
put up by two or three of those fire-room blackguards from Antwerp, who
stand in with the gang of tobacco smugglers. They figured it out that
all hands on deck would be pulled over to the port side and kept there
by their infernal row, while their pals dumped the tobacco out of the
starboard side. It was hidden in the coal bunkers, wrapped in rubber
bags. And because the police patrol boat berths close by us, they even
decoyed the whole squad away for a little while. Oh, Mr. Enos, but you
_were_ soft and easy."
The captain was not addressing David so much as the world in general,
but the cadet could not help asking:
"How about the man that jumped on top of me?"
"He was one of them, the head pirate of the lot," said the captain. "He
sneaked up from below as soon as the coast was clear, to signal his
mates if anybody caught them at work with the boat."
It was worth being choked and thumped a little to be here in the
captain's cabin, thought David, and to be taken into the confidence of
the great man. The guest risked another question:
"Did they ever try it before, sir?"
"Every ship in the line has had trouble for years with these
tobacco-running firemen. But this is the biggest thing they ever
tried. Do you expect me to sit here yarning all night with a tuppenny
cadet? Go to your bunk and report to me in the morning. You are a
young nuisance, but you can go ashore to-morrow night, if you want to.
Punishment orders are suspended. Get along with you."
David turned in with his mind sadly puzzled. One thing at least was
certain. There was more in the life of a cadet than cleaning paint and
brass, but was he always going to be in hot water for doing the right
thing at the wrong time? Before he went to sleep he heard the police
launch return, and stepped on deck long enough to see four prisoners
hauled on to the landing stage.
When David went on duty next morning he noticed a little group of
ill-favored and unkempt-looking men talking together on the end of
the pier. One of them made a slight gesture, and the others turned and
stared toward the cadet. Then they moved toward the street without
trying to get aboard ship. Mr. Enos called David aft and told him:
"The police are watching that bunch of thugs. Two of them used to be in
our fire room. All four ought to be in jail. They had something to do
with the ruction last night, but they can't be identified. The bos'n
tells me he thinks they got wind that you were the lad who spoiled the
game for their pals. If you go ashore after dark, keep a sharp eye out.
They'd love to catch you up a dark street."
David looked solemn at this, but it was too much like playing
theatricals to let himself believe that he was in any kind of danger
along the water front of New York. It was early evening before he was
free to get into his one suit of shore-going clothes and head for
Brooklyn to look for his friends, Captain Bracewell and Margaret. The
bridge cars were blockaded by an accident, and after fidgeting for
half an hour David decided to walk across. There was more delay on
the other side in trying to find the right street, and it was getting
toward nine o'clock before he rang the bell of a small brick house
in a solid block of them so much alike that they suggested a row of
red pigeon-holes. A sturdy man with hair and mustache redder than his
house front opened the door, and to David's rather breathless inquiry
answered in a tone of dismay:
"Why, Captain John and the little girl left here this very afternoon.
Bless my soul, are you the lad from the _Roanoke_ they think so much
of? Come aboard and sit down. No, they ain't coming back that I know
of. My name is Abel Becket and I'm glad to meet you."
David followed Mr. Becket into the parlor, feeling as if the world had
been turned upside down. The sympathetic sailor man hastened to add:
"They didn't expect to see you this voyage and they was all broke up
about it. The old man is kind of flighty and I couldn't ha' held him
here with a hawser. They could have berthed here a month of Sundays,
for he has been like a daddy to me."
"But where did they go?" implored David.
"All I know is," said Mr. Becket, rubbing his chin, "that the old
man came home this noon mighty glum and fretty after visitin' some
ship-brokers' offices. He told me that he heard how an old ship of his,
the _Gleaner_, had been cut down to a coal-barge. He was mighty fond of
her, and it upset him bad. And I think he was sort of hopin' to get her
again. Then he said he was going to move over to New York to be close
to the shipping offices in case anything turned up, and with that him
and Margaret packed up and away they flew."
"But why didn't they stay here with you, Mr. Becket? I can't understand
it."
Mr. Becket laid a large hand on David's knee and exclaimed:
"Captain John is a sudden and a funny man. For one thing, I suspicion
he was afraid of being stranded, and that I'd offer to lend him money
or something like that. He is that touchy about taking favors from
anybody that it's plumb unnatural. I'm worried that he will go all to
pieces if he don't get afloat again. I wish I could drag him back here
so as to look after him."
"And how about Margaret?" David asked.
"Oh, she's feelin' fairly chirpy, and she went off with granddaddy as
proud and cocksure as if they were expectin' to be offered command of a
liner to-morrow."
Despite Mr. Becket's explanations, the flight of Captain Bracewell
remained a good deal of a mystery to David. He could not bear to think
of them adrift in New York, and he declared with decision:
"If you will give me their address, I'll look them up to-night."
"Bless my stars and buttons, I'll go along with you and make my own
mind easy," announced Mr. Becket. "I won't sleep sound unless I know
how they're fixed. I'm so used to thinkin' of Cap'n John as fit and
ready to ride out any weather, that I don't realize he's so broke up
and helpless. And I've got to go to sea before long."
The twisted streets of old Greenwich village in down-town New York
proved to be a puzzle to this pair of nautical explorers, partly
because Mr. Becket had so much confidence in his ability to steer a
straight course to Captain Bracewell's new quarters that he positively
refused to ask his bearings of policemen or wayfarers. After they had
lost themselves several times, the red-headed pilot of the expedition
announced with an air of certainty:
"It's here or hereabouts. I saw the name of the street on a corner sign
three or four years ago, and my memory is a wonder."
This was more cheering than definite, and David meekly suggested that
he inquire at the next corner store.
"Do you think I'm scuppered yet?" snorted Mr. Becket. "Not a bit of it.
Bear off to starboard at the next turn."
But once again they fetched up all standing, and Mr. Becket was obliged
to confess as he meditated with hands in his pockets:
"They've gone and moved the street. That's what they've done. It's a
trick they have in New York."
"You wait here and I'll go back to the cigar store around the last
corner," volunteered David.
Mr. Becket was left to shout his protests while David ran up the dark
and narrow street. But the cigar store was not where he expected to
find it, and certain that it must be in the next block beyond, he
hurried on. Two crooked streets joined in the shape of the letter Y at
the second corner, and the cadet failed to notice which of these two
courses he had traversed with Mr. Becket. Without knowing it, David
began to head into a district filled with sailors' drinking places
and cheap eating-houses. As soon as he was sure that the street was
unfamiliar he slowed his pace, looked around him, and not wishing to
enter a saloon, went over to a gaudily placarded "oyster house."
There were screens in front of the tables, and finding no one behind
the cigar-counter David started for the rear of the room. Three
rough-looking men jumped up from a table littered with bottles, and one
of them cried out with an oath:
"It's the very kid himself. Leave him to me."
David dodged a chair that was flung at him like lightning, and fled
for the street amid a shower of dishes and bottles. He had recognized
the unlovely face of the man who yelled at him as that of one of the
_Roanoke_ firemen who had stared at him from the pier in the morning.
He knew he could expect no mercy at the hands of these ruffians.
The three men were at his heels as he blindly doubled the nearest
corner, hoping that Mr. Becket might hear his shouts for help. But
the silent, shadowy street gave back only the echoes of his own voice
and the sound of furious running. The fugitive had lost all sense of
direction. He was still stiff from the bruising ordeal of the _Pilgrim_
wreck, and his legs felt benumbed, while the panting firemen seemed to
be overhauling him inch by inch. One of them whipped out a revolver and
fired. The whine of the bullet past his head made David leap aside,
stumble, and lose ground. Were there no policemen in New York? It was
beyond belief, thought David, that a man could be hunted for his life
through the streets of a great city.
Far away David heard the rapping of nightsticks against the pavement.
Help was coming, but it might be too late, and where, oh where, was
Mr. Becket? To be stamped on, kicked, and crippled by the boots of
these ruffians--this was how they fought, David knew, and this was what
he feared.
Two of his pursuers were lagging, but the pounding footfalls of the
third were coming nearer and nearer. The street into which he had now
come was lined with warehouses, their iron doors bolted, their windows
dark. There was no refuge here. He must gain the water front, whose
lights beckoned him like beacons. Then, as he tried to clear the curb,
he tripped and fell headlong. He heard a shout of savage joy almost in
his ear, just before his head crashed against an iron awning post. A
blinding shower of stars filled his eyes, and David sprawled senseless
where he fell.