"ALL ABOARD!"
Ruth, Alice, Paul and Russ remained silent and unseen witnesses of the
little scene being enacted before them. It was like some section taken
from a moving picture drama, though they could not guess what the plot
was, nor what the outcome would be.
"What are you doing here, Mr. Jepson?" asked Captain Brisco, and there
was sarcasm in the title he bestowed on his mate, for since he was third
in command, having been given the post of second mate, the old salt was
entitled to be called Mister.
"I was jest--jest lookin'--lookin'--" Jepson faltered.
"Well, you'd better look forward then," came, the harsh command.
"There's plenty to do there, if we're ever to start on this voyage, and
of all the----"
At that moment Alice sneezed. She could not help it, and in trying to
hold it back, she made more of a commotion than if she had let the
sneeze come naturally.
At the sound Captain Brisco and Jack Jepson turned and stared toward the
dimness that marked the companionway.
"Who's there?" called Captain Brisco, sharply.
"We just came aboard to see how matters were coming on," said Russ
stepping forward and under a skylight.
"But we didn't expect to be welcomed with snuff," said Alice, as she
sneezed again. This time Ruth joined her. There was an irritating odor
noticeable in the cabin.
"I beg your pardon," Captain Brisco said, as the others stepped closer
to Russ, so they could be discerned. "I didn't know who it was. I am
glad to see you. That's a paint-remover you smell. It is irritating. I
am very glad to see you."
But he did not say it at all as though he meant it. Alice said afterward
she thought her sneeze had broken in on the captain's denunciation of
the proposed sea voyage.
"It was just as though he were going to say it was the most foolish and
nonsensical thing of which he had ever heard," Alice explained. "Oh, why
_did_ I have to go and sneeze just then?"
"Did you want to hear what he would have said?" asked her sister.
"Yes, I did. I don't like Captain Brisco."
"You mustn't say such things," Ruth cautioned her. But this was some
time later.
Just at present the commander of the _Mary Ellen_ was trying to make his
unexpected guests feel a welcome he rather grudgingly extended.
"We have been over looking at the _Ajax_," explained Russ, "and we
thought we'd stop in and pay you a call."
"Oh, yes, I'm to carry the _Ajax_ on deck, I believe," the commander
said. "Well, you'll find us all pretty busy here," he went on. "Mr.
Jepson, will you kindly go forward and see how the men are coming on
with that caulking?"
It was a very different voice from the one he had used when Ruth, Alice
and the others had been unseen listeners.
"What about the mainmast?" asked Sailor Jack. "It's sprung, as I told
you it was, and unless those stays----"
"I'll look after that!" interrupted the captain. "You do as I tell you,
and leave that mast to me."
"But you said that it didn't need--" persisted the second mate.
"Never you mind what I said!" and the commander's voice was harsh. "I'll
look after that. Now you go forward!"
It was more in the nature of a command than is usual between captain
and mate. The girls felt this, as well as did the boys. But they said
nothing.
"Come along and see how we are progressing," continued Captain Brisco in
more genial tones, as Jack Jepson left the cabin.
"Then you are going to be ready in time?" asked Paul.
"Ahead of time," said the commander, boastfully.
"That's good!" exclaimed Russ. "Mr. Pertell is anxious not to be
delayed."
"He won't be on _my_ account," Captain Brisco assured the young
operator. "A few more details, and we'll be ready for sea. About time,
too, for this good weather won't hold any too long down among those West
Indian islands."
"Oh, are we going there?" asked Alice. "That will be delightful!"
"I thought we were to go only to Florida," Ruth remarked.
"There has been a slight change in the plans," the captain said. "Mr.
Pertell and I decided on it. I believe it is not generally known yet,
but there is no secret about it. I told him he could get better results
by going a little farther south than merely along the Florida coast,
down toward some of the West Indies, and he agreed with me."
"The West Indies," mused Alice as she followed the others about the
refinished schooner. "I wonder if we will get near the 'Hole in the
Wall' that Jack told about? I'd like to see it, but I suppose a hole in
the water is a pretty hard thing to find."
Alice wondered whether she would see the old sailor before they went
ashore again. She had taken quite a fancy to him, as had Ruth, and the
old salt, on his part, seemed to like the moving picture girls more than
any other members of the Comet Film Company.
"I wonder what he was doing all alone there in the cabin?" mused Alice
as she hung back a little while the others were examining some changes
that had been made in the dining-cabin. "It seemed as though he were
trying to discover some secret panel, a passage or hiding place, or
something like that. And Captain Brisco certainly was rather brusque
about it. I do hope there won't be any quarreling or mutiny aboard the
_Mary Ellen_ when we put out to sea."
For a time Alice was a little alarmed, but she soon recovered her
composure, and was able to take her part in the conversation.
The _Mary Ellen_ was indeed assuming a "ship-shape" appearance. The
litter that had obstructed her decks on the first visit had given place
to a semblance of neatness. The craft had been newly painted and she
glistened in the sun, her brass work having been highly polished.
"A few more days and we'll pull out of here," announced Captain Brisco,
as they went up on deck. "Then I suppose you folks will begin to cut up
all sorts of capers," and he smiled indulgently. He seemed to have
recovered his good nature, or, rather, perhaps, to have summoned some of
it to be used on this occasion.
"Well, we'll leave the 'cutting-up' to Mr. Switzer," said Paul with a
laugh. "He's the comedian of the company."
One of the workmen approached and asked the captain some question. It
seemed to be about pumps, though the girls did not understand it very
clearly.
"You needn't bother to mend those valves," the commander said. "We
shan't need the pumps anyhow, and there's no use putting too much time
and work on the old hulk. Pertell told me to get her ready for sea so
she'd last a reasonable length of time. They're going to wreck her
anyhow, you know."
"Yes, I know. But those pumps----"
"Let 'em go!" the commander ordered. "Now about those stays," and he and
the sailor plunged into a mass of technical details in which the moving
picture girls were not interested, nor, I am sure, would you be, my
readers.
In spite of all the work that had been done on the _Mary Ellen_, she was
still far from being a fine ship. Many things were left undone, as they
would not show in a picture. As the captain had said, Mr. Pertell was
not desirous of putting too much time or expense on her, just to send
her to the bottom after a few days' use. Still the craft had to be
rendered seaworthy, as some views were to be taken showing her progress
down the coast to the Florida Straits.
A little later Captain Brisco was called below, and he took leave of his
visitors, saying he would be busy for some hours.
"Well, it's time for us to go," Ruth said. "We promised to meet daddy at
dinner," she added to her sister.
Alice assented and looked around, as though in search of someone.
"What is it?" Ruth asked.
"I was looking for Jack, to say good-bye. There he is over there," and
she pointed to the old man polishing the brass work of the binnacle in
front of the steering wheel. "I'm going over and speak to him," she
added.
Jack Jepson had his back toward Alice, and was not aware of her
approach. She heard him murmuring to himself, and the words sounded
strange to her--as strange as the first ones she had overheard from him
that day.
"It'll never do! It'll never do!" Jack Jepson was saying. "It's criminal
wrong, that's what it is. But I'll jest keep a sharp watch, an' at the
first sign of danger, I'll--"
Then he heard the footfall of Alice on the deck, and turned quickly. He
smiled at her, and the smile was in strange contrast to his rather
ominous words. As Alice knew very little about the sea or boats, she
paid no attention.
"I came to bid you good-bye," she said. "We are going back to New York
now, but we'll soon be aboard here for a long stay, I hope. My, how nice
everything looks!"
"Yes, but it--it's too nice!" exclaimed Jack.
"Too nice? What do you mean?" she asked wonderingly.
"Oh, well, nothing, Miss Alice. You wouldn't understand. I'm glad to see
you. This isn't a mate's work, properly speakin'," he said, as he
indicated the box of polish, "but then we haven't started discipline
yet. We'll do that at sea."
"And I'll hope we'll soon be out on the deep," voiced Alice.
A week later the entire moving picture company that was to take part in
the marine drama assembled at the dock where the _Mary Ellen_ had been
refitted for her last voyage. Stores and provisions had been put aboard,
the _Ajax_ lay stowed in the cradle on deck, and the members of the
company, the moving picture operators and the manager and his
assistants, had sent their baggage aboard. There was plenty of extra
film.
"All aboard!" called Captain Brisco, and the gangplank was about to be
hauled in. "All aboard! We won't wait for him!" he went on, speaking to
the first mate and to Mr. Pertell who stood near him.
"Won't wait for whom?" Alice heard Mr. Pertell ask.
"A new hand I hired at the last minute. He's a good navigator, better
than Jepson, and that's why I took him on. But he isn't here, and so
we'll go without him."
"Not short-handed, are you?" asked the manager, rather anxiously.
"No, not for this voyage. I think----"
But the captain was interrupted by a shout up the wharf. A man,
seemingly a sailor, came running toward the schooner.
"There he is now!" the captain exclaimed. "All aboard. Hurry up, my man,
or you'll be left."
The man flung himself on the gangplank which was separated from the
dock by some little distance. He scrambled aboard, and just then, Alice,
standing near Jack Jepson, heard the old sailor utter an exclamation of
surprise, and murmur:
"Can that be him? Can that be him--after these years? No, it can't be!"
"All aboard!" cried Captain Brisco. And the _Mary Ellen_, in charge of a
fussy little tug, began moving away from the dock.