THE STORM
The old sailor seemed to shrink down in his clothes and become smaller.
He cast an appealing glance at Alice who stood near him.
"See!" he murmured. "What did I tell you?"
"It may be all right yet," she answered. "Surely after these years they
can do nothing to you, especially when you were not guilty."
"Ah, but it's the escape from the prison that hangs over me," he said.
"They want me more for that than on the mutiny charge. Oh, what shall I
do?"
"Stay here and 'face the music,' as Russ or Paul would say," suggested
Alice. "I'll speak to my father, and to Mr. Pertell. You are an American
citizen, and----"
But she had no time for further advice. Again came the hail from the
steamer.
"Stand by there, _Mary Ellen_, or _Halcyon_, as your name used to be,"
was the sharp order. "I'm going to send a boat aboard you. We want that
man!" and once more he pointed accusingly at Jack.
"I don't know what you're talking about," blustered Captain Brisco.
"That man is my second mate, and you can't take him from me that way.
This isn't war time," and he seemed disposed to protect Jack.
"Don't let them take me, Captain!" the old sailor pleaded. "You know
what it means. Don't let them take me away!"
"I won't!" declared Captain Brisco, and for the moment the heart of
Alice warmed to him. She fancied she had misjudged him. But as she
looked at him, she saw a look on his face that made her doubt. It was a
look that made his words seem insincere. And when the moving picture
girl saw the captain speaking in an aside to Hen Lacomb, her doubts were
redoubled.
"Stand by!" someone on the steamer ordered. "We're sending a boat to
take the prisoner."
"This is a pretty how-d'-do!" blustered Captain Brisco. "They're going
to leave me short-handed, and just at a time when I'm likely to need
every man I can get, too," and he cast an anxious look around the
horizon. It had suddenly become quite dark. A bank of clouds, slate
colored, and fringed with an ominous yellow, had gathered in the west,
and there was a moaning in the air as though a far-off wind were sending
a message to those in peril to beware of its breath.
The sea, too, had a glassy look. The big waves rose sullenly, and sank
back into troughs, with an oily smooth motion as though they resented
being thus confined. It was like the action of some raging beast in
leash. There was a curious oppressiveness in the air, too, and more than
one found difficulty in breathing.
"What is it? Oh, what is it?" asked Ruth, as she came toward her sister.
"I feel as though something terrible were going to happen."
"Something _has_ happened!" Alice exclaimed. "They've got poor old Jack!
Isn't it a shame, when everything was going so nicely?"
"Got him!" questioned Ruth. "What do you mean?"
"It's those Britishers! They recognized this ship as the one on which
the mutiny occurred. She's been built over--the ship I mean--but the
steamer knew her--I mean some officer did. And they're going to take
Jack away. You know he told us how he broke out of jail, after he was
locked up on an unjust charge. Well, they want him for that, but he
doesn't want him to go--at least he pretends he doesn't."
Alice paused for breath--she needed it.
"Well!" exclaimed Ruth. "You may understand what you mean, but I don't,
my dear. Who wants whom, and who doesn't want whom--and what?"
Thereupon Alice explained how Captain Brisco had declared Jack should
not be taken, and yet how Alice, herself, believed he would give him up.
"But what does it all mean--that enmity you say Captain Brisco has
against Jack?" Ruth asked Alice, for Alice spoke about the time Jack had
fallen overboard, and mentioned how the sailor had said he was tossed
over the rail.
"I don't know what it means," the younger girl replied. "It is all queer
and mysterious, and it's getting worse. But I think there is some secret
between Captain Brisco and that Hen Lacomb that Jack has found out, and
they're afraid he'll tell. That's why I think they would be glad to see
him taken away--no matter what happened to him. It's all very well for
Captain Brisco to say he doesn't want Jack to go, but I believe he's
glad this happened."
"Oh, Alice! What a thing to say!"
"I don't care! I believe it!"
All this while preparations had been under way aboard the steamer to
lower a small boat, but there seemed to be some delay.
Meanwhile Jack Jepson remained as lookout on the _Mary Ellen_, though
there was no need of him there, for the schooner was now merely
drifting, with sails aback, and the steamer, too, was at the call of the
wind and currents.
"Come on, mate!" hoarsely whispered a sailor to Jack. "Slip below, mate,
and we'll hide you. If they try to take you, we'll stand 'em off. I
don't like the Britishers anyhow. I was shanghaied into one of their
lime-juicers once, an' I never forgot it! Slip below!"
"No, I'll take my medicine!" said Jack grimly. "Might as well get it
done with. This thing has been hangin' over my head a number of years
now, and I'll be glad to hear the last of it. It's a terrible thing for
an innocent man."
"Perhaps some way may be found for clearing you," suggested Alice. "I'll
speak to my father. He knows some prominent lawyers in New York, and
they will induce the government to take up your case. Go quietly, Jack,
and we'll do all we can for you."
"Oh, I shan't raise a row, Miss, never fear. No good'd come of that, and
it would only make trouble. I'll go quietly enough."
"Ha! What is going on?" asked Mr. DeVere, who had been down below. "Has
anything happened?"
Alice and Ruth tried to tell him at once, the former eager to enlist
his sympathies in Jack's cause. Mr. DeVere promised readily enough.
"Though I can't hold out any hope for you," he said. "I know nothing of
law, but international affairs are always slow."
"But I ought to get justice in the end, ought I not?" asked Jack,
respectfully.
"You ought, my man, and I'll do all I can for you," said Mr. DeVere.
"Oh, what a pretty sight!" exclaimed the voice of Miss Dixon, as she
emerged from a companionway with her chum, Miss Pennington. "Isn't it
romantic--stopping to speak to a steamer at sea?"
"Delightful," agreed Miss Pennington. "I wonder if the captain of the
steamer will ask us to tea? It's a British vessel, and Englishmen are so
fond of tea."
"Yes, and they are so romantic and good-looking," agreed Miss Dixon.
"But perhaps this is only for moving pictures."
"Oh, pshaw! Perhaps it is!" sighed her companion, and the two of them,
who had been taking surreptitious glances in mirrors, enclosed in the
flaps of their bags, ceased "primping," until they could be sure whether
or not there was any object in it.
"What's it all about?" asked Miss Dixon again.
"Oh, they're going to take one of our men, I believe," said Pop Snooks,
the property "angel," as the ladies often called him.
"Oh dear! What are they? Pirates?" gasped Miss Pennington.
"No, it's Jack Jepson they're after. Some old charge, I believe."
"Ha! I knew something would happen on this voyage!" exclaimed Mr. Pepper
Sneed. "I felt it in my bones all along."
"Good thing you're not disappointed," murmured Alice.
"Oh dear!" sighed her sister. "It's too bad. And I liked Jack so."
"So did I," returned Alice. "But they're a long while sending that
boat."
It did seem so, for there were no signs yet, of one being lowered over
the side, though Captain Brisco, after the command to lay to, had
ordered his accommodation ladder lowered to receive the visitors.
Then came another hail from the steamer.
"_Mary Ellen_ ahoy!"
"Aye, aye!"
"We won't send a boat right away. A hurricane is sweeping up fast, and
this is a bad locality in which to be caught," called one of the
steamer's officers through a megaphone. "We'll have to get out of here,
and so had you better. There's no sea-room here. We'll pick you up
later, and don't forget you are in English waters, and subject to our
orders. We're going to have that man!"
"Well, if you put it that way, of course I'll have to give in," said
Captain Brisco. "I'll wait for you after the blow."
"Well, that's a respite, anyhow, but not a very pleasant one," said
Alice.
"No," agreed Jack Jepson, who breathed easier now. "We're in for a bad
storm, I reckon. We'll have to make everything snug."
"Attention!" once more came the hail from the steamer, and when Captain
Brisco answered, he was ordered to follow a certain course by compass,
as being safest.
"Then I can pick you up!" the steamer captain cried as the propellers
began to churn the water. The British vessel swept away, leaving Jack
Jepson still on the schooner, but under threat of arrest.
Then the forerunner of the storm came, filling the sails of the _Mary
Ellen_, and heeling her over until the lee scuppers were awash.
"Make everything snug!" cried Captain Brisco. "It's coming on to blow
great guns!"