BENEATH THE WATERS
As the _Richard_ cleared the point and plunged into trough of the swell,
a thin column of light filtered through the fog astern and traveled
slowly over the gray water.
Gregory put the wheel over and began to zigzag as he remembered that the
_Bennington_ was lying in at the goose-neck. At the distance the revenue
cutter would be unable to distinguish friend from foe and would take no
chances.
"Stay down," he called to Dickie. "It's the search from the
_Bennington_. They may shoot."
The light moved shoreward as he spoke, carefully searching the rocks
which fringed the coast. Gregory threw the wheel in the opposite
direction and struck out at a tangent toward the sea. His speed would
soon carry him beyond rifle range. Kicking open the cut-out, he advanced
the throttle. The _Richard_ shook with the sudden burst of power, then
began to plane.
Gregory kept his eyes on the moving rays as he held the launch on her
seaward tack. The light was moving nearer, but its beams were paling.
The cutter evidently had not moved from her anchorage. Doubtless she
would be kept fully occupied at the goose-neck. The next instant the
fog-wall ahead dripped in the rays of the searchlight.
Gregory's hand flashed to the spark as his foot released the throttle.
The angry roar of the speed-boat died away on the instant and the hull
dropped sullenly. Putting about, he started shoreward at right angles to
his former course.
The whine of machine-gun bullets sounded over his head to the starboard.
Then the leaden hail was drowned by the bark of the open exhaust.
He had done the right thing that time. To have tried to dodge at speed
would have turned the _Richard_ over. Now he was safe for a few seconds
at least he reflected, as he watched the light traveling over his former
course.
As the rays again bent shoreward he saw a long point projecting out into
the sea. Beyond the jutting promontory he would be safe. Running a
course which would carry him clear of the point by a narrow margin he
settled low in his seat and dashed forward.
The fog-dimmed light hovered about the point as the _Richard_ plunged
boldly into the focus of its dripping beams. As the launch veered to
make the turn, the waters astern were splashed by the steel pellets from
the _Bennington's_ machine-gun. Then the gunner of the revenue cutter
began to raise his sights. Splinters flew from the _Richard's_ stern.
The coaming was riddled as the deadly hail moved toward the bow.
The gunner on the _Bennington_ ceased grinding as the launch disappeared
behind the point.
"I could have got that bird in one more second," he muttered ruefully.
"If the old man would let us move, we can get him yet."
Gregory threw off the power and hurdled the seat.
"Are you hurt?" he called to Dickie as he hurried toward the stern.
Dickie Lang was not hurt. Only cut by a flying splinter. It was nothing.
The girl made her way forward.
"Let me take her until we clear the coast," she said. "You gave me the
shivers the way you grazed that reef off China Point."
As they inclined their ears into the gray mist which enveloped them,
they caught the murmur of the _Fuor d'Italia's_ exhaust.
Gregory surrendered the wheel.
The girl listened to the rapid-fire pulsations of the boat ahead.
"He's headed out to sea," she said. "And we're going to have to drive to
catch him with this lead."
Her words were drowned in the thunder of the _Richard's_ motor and the
speed-launch bounded away to overtake her hated rival.
* * * * *
"The fog is lifting. Soon it will be clear. We must watch closely for
pursuit."
Mascola grunted a reply to Bandrist's observations. Weather conditions
meant very little to him at the present moment. His mind was occupied
with matters of far more importance.
It would be well to know just where Bandrist stood concerning a division
of his money before they went farther. Now would be a good time to find
out. He made the suggestion at once that the islander grant him an
advance of funds until such time as he could obtain his money from
Legonia and Port Angeles.
"I have no money to spare," Bandrist answered curtly. "You are foolish
not to have been better prepared. Our business is one which should have
taught you that. You will have a hard time now to get your money from
the States."
An angry retort welled to Mascola's lips but he choked it back. Bandrist
was speaking again.
"Here is one hundred dollars. You are welcome to that. But no more."
Mascola's eyes flashed at the smallness of the sum. A hundred dollars
would be next to nothing, even in Mexico. Bandrist, he felt sure,
possessed money in plenty. If there was not enough for two, there would
be plenty for one.
Mascola made up his mind quickly. He would be the one. He had given
Bandrist his chance. The islander had tried twice to-night to give him
the double-cross. Would do it again if he got the chance. But Bandrist
would have no more chances. Reaching out his hand, Mascola took the gold
with muttered words of thanks. Then his fingers sought the switch and
the noise of the motor died suddenly into silence.
"Listen."
Mascola turned quickly in his seat and looked over the stern. At the
same time his right hand sought his dagger.
Bandrist twisted about, his eyes searching the gray waters astern.
"I don't," he began. But his words ended in a choking gasp.
Mascola's knife had found its mark and the Italian's fingers were
tearing at Bandrist's throat.
The islander struggled to reach his gun, but he felt his strength
leaving him. The moonlight shimmered before his eyes, mingled with gray
splashes of fog. A sharp pain laced his side. His mouth opened and he
fought hard for air. Heavy darkness began to settle about him. From the
far-off spaces he heard the sound of rapid breathing. Or was it the
faint pulsing of a motor-launch? Then the murmur grew fainter until it
trailed away into silence. Mascola pulled the islander roughly from the
seat and dragged him along the floor of the cockpit. Then he sprang to
the wheel and started the motor. There was no time now to get the money.
The fog was lifting. And there was a boat following.
* * * * *
Clear of the Diablo reefs, Gregory took the wheel and plunged the
_Richard_ into the shifting wall of fog. Mile after mile he traversed in
silence, stopping at intervals to listen to the faint pulsing of the
boat ahead. At length the gray canopy lifted slowly from the water and
he caught the outline of the _Richard's_ broad hood rising staunchly
above him in the gloom. He smiled grimly at the sight. The motor had not
missed a shot since leaving the island. And they were overhauling the
_Fuor d'Italia_.
He threw the switch again as his eye caught the gleam of the moonlight
ahead. For some moments he listened intently. But only the soft slap of
the waves against the hull of the launch disturbed the stillness.
Mascola had escaped him; had noted the clearing and heard the sound of
pursuit; had doubled back into the fog bank. Anguish took possession of
his heart at the thought as he reached for the switch. But neither
Gregory nor Dickie Lang heard the rasp of the starting mechanism. The
sound was swallowed up in a deafening roar which came from the moonlit
waters ahead.
"Straight ahead," the girl shouted. "I see him."
Gregory had already thrown in the clutch. In a swirl of white water the
_Richard_ raised her head proudly, and snorting angry defiance, raced
across the intervening waves which separated her from her primordial
enemy. Gregory saw the _Fuor d'Italia_ leap forward in the moonlight,
noted that the craft had already changed direction and was heading off
at a tangent, a course which would bring Mascola under cover of the fog
bank.
Veering as sharply as her speed would permit, the _Richard_ dipped like
a gull and sped on to intercept the _Fuor d'Italia_. The shifting bank
of blinding mist hung uncertainly above the shimmering waters less than
half a mile ahead, dead ahead for Mascola, off Gregory's starboard
quarter. For the Italian it meant safety. To his pursuer it spelled
defeat.
The _Richard_ was gaining. Gregory measured the distance with a
calculating eye. He was going to head the Italian off.
"Swing her to port. Catch him on the beam."
Acting at once upon Dickie's advice, Gregory saw the wisdom of it at
once. His angling course would have put him into the fog before the
_Fuor d'Italia_ reached it. Now he would catch Mascola broadside, full
on the beam. Or at least at an angle which would drive the heavier hull
through the lighter one.
With seaman's instinct, Mascola sensed rather than saw the _Richard's_
change of course. If he tried to make the fog he would be cut in two. If
he deviated a hair's breadth at that speed he'd turn turtle. There was
only one thing he could do.
He reached his decision in a whirl of the propeller.
Dickie Lang knew his answer.
"Hard a port. Throw your switch."
The words tumbled from her lips in a piercing shriek. Gregory obeyed on
the second, thinking the girl had lost her reason. The _Richard_ dipped
with a swerve which threw him violently against the coaming. As he felt
the heavy hull sinking down into the water he saw that the _Fuor
d'Italia_ had ceased to plane and was settling sluggishly.
A snarl of disappointment burst from Mascola's lips as he saw the
_Richard_ did not flash across his bow. A snarl, which changed quickly
to a cry of rage as he noted that the two hulls were drifting sullenly
toward each other. Robbed of his way, he could not escape. The _Richard_
was already brushing the _Fuor d'Italia's_ rail.
In a frenzy of mingled fear and rage, Mascola whipped out his dagger and
leaped to the cockpit to battle with the hurtling figure that sprang
from the other boat as the two hulls scraped. Gregory caught Mascola's
knife arm and twisted it backward, crowding the Italian to the rail. For
an instant the two men were locked in a swaying, bone-racking embrace.
Then Mascola felt the oak coaming pressing hard against his knees. He
was being shoved over the rail by the fury of the heavier man.
Struggling in desperation, there came a gleam of hope. In the water
Gregory's superior weight would not count. Strength would not count so
much, without the weight. But a knife would count. Jerking his body
backward, he lunged downward into the sea, dragging his antagonist with
him.
As Gregory and Mascola fell to the water, Dickie Lang drew her automatic
and covering the cockpit of the _Fuor d'Italia_ with her flash-light,
peered cautiously over the rail. Upon the floor of the launch sprawled
the figure of a man. His face was turned away from her. The gray
linoleum was dyed red with his blood. As she watched him, his extended
fingers twitched convulsively. He was still breathing. But that was
all. Seizing the rail of the _Fuor d'Italia_ she began to work the
_Richard_ around the hull of the other craft. She dared not start the
motor. The propeller might cut the men in the water to shreds. Reaching
the stern of Mascola's launch she directed the rays of her light into
the rippling waves.
Gregory tightened his hold on Mascola's wrist as the waters closed over
his head. The Italian struggled fiercely to free his right arm as he
felt his body sinking deeper into the water. Then he noticed that his
antagonist had freed his legs and was moving them slowly upward to his
stomach.
Locking his knees about Mascola's waist-line in a scissors-grip, Gregory
began to squeeze. Lashing the water with his feet the Italian jerked his
head backward and forced it against Gregory's chin. Then he freed his
left arm and the fingers slid upward to his enemy's throat.
Under the steady pressure of the sturdy legs about his waist Mascola
felt his strength going from him. With bursting lungs he tore at the
corded muscles of Gregory's throat. But his fingers had but little
power. Sharp pains seared his eyeballs. A deadly numbness was creeping
over his entire body. Then he felt the hand which held his knife arm
twist the wrist and forced it inward to his body.
Mascola writhed in terror. By a powerful effort he squirmed sidewise and
checked the onward course of the knife as it came nearer to his side.
The exertion sent the blood pounding to his temples, left him weak with
nausea. For an instant his hold on Gregory's throat relaxed. Then his
fingers dug viciously into the flesh as he felt his wrist being crowded
closer to his body.
The point of the dagger was scratching at his shirt. In another second
it would be piercing his side. Mascola knew that the blade was sharp.
The Italian released his grip on Gregory's throat. With a convulsive
shudder he dropped his knife. He was beaten. At the mercy of his enemy.
Better take chances with the courts than sure death at the hand of
Kenneth Gregory.
Gregory felt the muscles of the Italian relax in a token of submission.
For an instant his heart rebelled at the turn of the battle in his
favor. Why not strangle Mascola beneath the surface? Who would ever
know? The Italian had shown his father no mercy.
Why didn't Mascola fight like a man?
Gregory's fingers reached the Italian's throat. The law of the sea knew
no mercy.
* * * * *
A feeling of utter helplessness seized Dickie Lang as she stared into
the moonlit waters. The man she loved was battling for his life beneath
the surface of the shimmering waves. And she could do nothing.
"God bring him up safe." She repeated the words again and again. Then a
new fear assailed her.
Kenneth Gregory would never give up. If he came up at all there would be
blood upon his hands. Justifiable blood. An eye for an eye. And yet, as
the seconds trailed endlessly by, the girl was surprised to find herself
amending her prayer.
"Bring him up safe--and clean."
She uttered a choking cry as the bright rays of her light fell upon
Kenneth Gregory's head. He was swimming slowly toward the launch,
dragging Mascola after him.
[Illustration: The bright rays of her light fell upon Kenneth Gregory's
head]
"Hold his wrists."
She noted the lifeless tone of Gregory's voice as she made haste to
comply with the order. Saw the fingers of the two men clutch the rail
while they waited for strength to pull their bodies from the water.
Kenneth Gregory pulled himself weakly over the coaming. In silence he
assisted the girl in dragging Mascola from the water. Huddling on the
driver's seat of the _Richard_, the Italian leaned against the dash,
fighting for breath. Gregory stumbled backward and sank to the floor of
the cockpit, covering his face with his hands.
"I--failed," he gasped. "I had a chance.--But I passed it up.--I
couldn't do it."
Dickie fell to her knees beside him and threw her arms about his neck.
"You're a man," she whispered, "One in a million." Then her lips found
his.
Mascola watched the two shadows blend into one. Silhouetted in the
bright moonlight, he leaned against the coaming, his lips curved in a
sneering smile.
From the darkened cockpit of the _Fuor d'Italia_ came a bright jet of
flame. Then another. Before the echoes of the two shots had died away
Mascola's body slid from the seat and fell in a heap upon the floor.
Dickie drew her revolver and sprang to the rail. Sweeping the darkness
of the _Fuor d'Italia's_ cockpit with the rays of her light, she drew
back.
"Bandrist," she whispered to Gregory through whitening lips.