SUCCESS.
The machinery had hardly ceased moving before Ned saw a target at which
to aim.
The worthy Manuel was creeping as stealthily as a cat to the engine-room
door, and before he could stretch out his hand to grasp the knob a
bullet struck his arm, calling forth a wild shriek of pain.
There was no opportunity for a second shot, for the fellow disappeared
from view with remarkable celerity, and Ned muttered to himself:
“It’s better to disable them than have the thought always before a
fellow that he has killed a human being.”
“I reckon by the sound that you hit the mark,” Vance cried from his
station in the cabin.
“It was Manuel again, and this time I reckon he’ll find it mighty hard
work to use a revolver, unless he’s left-handed.”
“Now what are we to do?”
“Hold on as we are. We can lose nothing by lying here, and they may find
themselves in trouble if a revenue cruiser should happen along; even a
merchantman might think it worth while to make it hot for them.”
Roy, having done as he was bidden, joined Ned.
“You know something about an engine, don’t you?”
“Either Vance or I can start or stop her now that she is in running
order, and I reckon it won’t be a hard job to keep the steam up.”
“There’s no danger of her exploding?”
“Not a bit. The steam will blow off itself if the pressure gets too
heavy.”
“Then I reckon we can stick it out as long as they can. Suppose you take
a look at all the hatches and make certain I fastened them securely?”
Roy went below at once, and until he returned not a sound could be heard
from the wheel-house, where the two pirates were, unless they had seen
fit to sneak along the port side in the hope of getting a shot at one of
the boys.
Then the whistle was heard, and Ned motioned for Roy to attend to it.
“Sing out what they say, so all hands will have a chance of deciding any
question which may come up.”
Roy went into the room and an instant later cried:
“He says the yacht is drifting on to a reef, and will be ashore in ten
minutes if we don’t go ahead.”
“Tell him nothing will suit us better than to have her there!” Vance
cried angrily, and Ned shouted cheerily:
“It’s all a lie, for even if they have been running up the island we
have nothing to fear while the wind holds as it did when we started.”
Roy repeated Vance’s words, and added on his own account:
“There is no use for you to shout through this tube, for we don’t care
to make any trade with you, unless it should be on the basis of your
leaving the yacht at once.”
“Will you put us ashore if we agree to give up our weapons?”
Roy repeated the question to his companions, and Ned said:
“We can’t afford to run the risk of their treachery. If they want to
take to the small boat, we’ll allow them the chance of getting into her;
but it must be done mighty quick.”
There was no reply to this decision for a long while, and Roy had gone
into the engine-room to assure himself things were all right there, when
the whistle was heard again.
Neither Vance nor Ned dared to answer it lest it should be a trick
similar to the one they played a short time previous with such good
success, and it was necessary to wait until Roy returned.
Then the following conversation ensued, Manuel, as a matter of course,
being the spokesman at the wheel-house end of the tube:
“We are willing to admit that we are beaten, and will take to the small
boat at once if you send our friends up.”
Ned dictated the reply:
“It can’t be done. Go alone if you choose, but they stay where they are
until we reach port or are overhauled by some craft, when you will have
a chance to explain how you happen to be on deck with everybody else
holding the fort below.”
“Then we shall stay here, and it may be you’ll have a chance to fight
fire after we get ready to take to the small boat.”
This threat had the effect of frightening Roy somewhat, but Vance cried
positively:
“They won’t dare to do anything of the kind while their chums are in the
hold. Besides, I’d rather take my chances of fighting fire than of
letting them loose. What would prevent them from doing the same thing
after their friends were freed?”
“That’s so!” Ned cried. “Here’s a good trade for them! If they’ll get
into the small boat and push off where we can see them, we’ll let the
others go one at a time. They can swim to the small boat, and thus save
themselves from spending quite a while in jail.”
Roy repeated the words, and a few moments later, to the surprise of all,
Manuel cried:
“We’re in a tight place, and are willing to accept the offer. When shall
we start?”
“He’s up to some mischief now or I’m a Dutchman!” Ned exclaimed in a low
tone, and added: “Tell them to leave at once, and to push off thirty or
forty yards on the port side.”
“Do you think it’s safe?” Vance asked nervously.
“We’d better take the chances than hang ’round here two or three days. I
believe I can outwit them by working lively.”
Roy repeated the proposition, and Manuel replied:
“Then we’ll start at once, for it will take us nearly all night to pull
back to the island.”
“Now, Vance, keep your eyes open and be ready to run to the wheel-house
on the starboard side,” Ned said quickly, and he waited at his post
until the sound of footsteps on the deck told that the two men had gone
aft.
Then he hurriedly joined Vance, and the latter whispered nervously:
“They have got at least one revolver, and probably two between them. We
should have insisted on taking the weapons, otherwise they may fire on
us while we are getting under way.”
“That’s exactly what I count on their trying to do, but I reckon they
won’t make very much by it,” Ned said as he went into the port
state-room aft. “Keep a sharp watch there until the boat pushes off, and
then get into the wheel-house as lively as you know how.”
It was evidently a portion of Manuel’s scheme to play fair until his
companions should be with him, when he probably intended to try
something else.
Ned had opened the bull’s-eye a few inches to enable him to see what was
going on, and when the men in the boat came within his range of vision
he said to Vance:
“Now is your time to get into the wheel-house. Be careful to keep out of
sight, and don’t stand erect until we are beyond range.”
“Now send over our friends!” Manuel shouted.
“You shall have them as soon as we can make the necessary arrangements,”
Ned replied as he pushed the muzzle of his weapon through the aperture.
“For fear you might take a notion to board us again, or send a few
bullets at the man at the wheel, I shall stand right here ready to kill
you whenever either of your party makes a threatening gesture. Bring up
the prisoners, Roy.”
It was some moments before this order could be obeyed, owing to the
network of ropes, but they were finally released and driven through the
cabin, Roy marching behind with the heavy starting-bar ready to strike
down the first one who attempted to show fight.
“See that they jump together,” Ned said, still keeping his eyes fixed on
the boat, where Manuel was busily engaged heaping maledictions on the
heads of the boys because his plans were not working exactly to suit
him. “Comeback here instantly they are in the water.”
Roy gave the word for the march to be resumed, and the prisoners rushed
on deck after the companion-way door had been forced by the aid of the
bar.
A moment later a loud splash told that they had leaped together, and as
Roy came at full speed below, Ned cried:
“Start her as quick as possible. A few seconds means everything to us
just now!”
The men in the water swam directly toward the boat, and as if to pick
them up at the earliest possible moment, the sailing master pulled
toward them.
“That’s their game, to board us again, thinking we can’t start the
engine,” Ned muttered to himself. “Manuel fancies he has released his
chums, and that we are still in his power.”
Nervous as Ned was, it seemed as if the screw would never revolve.
The men had been pulled on board the boat and the sailing master was
rowing toward the bow of the yacht with all speed, probably intending to
board from there.
“Hold on or I shall shoot!” Ned cried, and the words had hardly been
spoken before the little craft was so far ahead that he could no longer
see her.
“Hurry up there unless you are willing we shall take those fellows
aboard again!” Ned cried as he ran to the engine-room door, and then,
tearing away the barricade he had erected, rushed on to the deck.
A bullet whistled past his head as he emerged, and on shrinking back he
understood that the machinery was in motion.
“Give it to her for all she’s worth!” he shouted excitedly, running
through the cabin to the main companion-way, and just as he was where he
could look out, the boat swept past within half a dozen feet of the
stern.
In the bow of the little craft was the darkey, who had been trying to
gain a hold of the yacht as she moved swiftly ahead.
“We’ve done it by the skin of our teeth!” he cried sufficiently loud for
Roy to hear as he ran forward once more, and shouted from the
engine-room door, “take care of yourself, Vance! They are most likely
ready to shoot.”
Three minutes later he ventured on deck, and looking far astern, saw the
pirates sitting motionless in the boat as if dazed at the very
successful manner in which their villainous scheme had been frustrated.
It seemed incredible that the little craft could have traversed such a
distance in so short a time, but there was no disputing the fact, and
Ned set up a shout of triumph, in which he was joined both from the
wheel-house and engine-room.
Then he ran to where Vance, having just risen to his feet, was swinging
the yacht around as if to intercept a small craft which was running to
the westward.
“That explains why those fellows were so anxious to gain possession of
the craft at once that they were willing to accede to our terms in the
slight hope of getting the best of us. Unless I’m very much mistaken
that is a Key West pilot-boat, which has been up the coast somewhere,
and we had better speak her.”
Vance was not mistaken.
Half an hour later they had overhauled the craft and taken on board a
reliable pilot, who promised they should be at anchor at Key West before
midnight, and, what was better still, he kept his word to the letter.
Between them Vance and Roy ran the engine, and it is safe to say both
felt a sense of the most intense relief when they heard the signal to
slow down, followed by a command to Ned to “clear away the anchor.”
It yet lacked a quarter of twelve when the mighty splash told that the
Zoe was in the home port once more, and her capture nothing more
dangerous than some hideous nightmare which is quickly forgotten.
Vance and Roy were on shore very soon after sunrise next morning, and
almost the first person they met was the former’s father.
The party had heard at New York of the fears which were entertained
concerning the safety of the Zoe, and passage was taken on the Key West
steamer at once.
They had arrived the evening previous, and Mr. Stewart had left the
hotel thus early in order to hire a craft of some kind to make a tour of
the keys in search of some tidings of the missing ones.
Now that there is no possibility there can be any trouble regarding the
Zoe or her cargo, it is time to end the story.
There is really nothing more to say, except that Ned spent that winter
with Vance and Roy, and very many short cruises did they take in the
Zoe; but, putting them all together, there was not as much adventure in
them as had been crowded into the first voyage.
As a matter of course the treasure was taken charge of by Mr. Stewart
and Mr. Harland, and to-day, in a certain New York City bank, there is
$8,000 as Ned’s share of the treasure found on Spider Key.
Up to the present time the boy who the good people of Jonesboro had
decided was certain to come to some bad end has never returned to that
place, nor is he likely to do so until after he has passed an
examination for Columbia College, which he, with Vance and Ned, intends
to enter next term if possible.
Where is the Zoe?
That question cannot be answered, although it is very probable she is in
the vicinity of Key West; but if any of the readers should keep a sharp
lookout during the coming summer, it is more than likely they will see a
jaunty little steam craft, bearing the same name, which is owned by Ned,
Vance, and Roy, having been purchased with a portion of the money found
in the old hulk on Spider Key.
THE END.
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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
1. P. 257, changed “either side the center panel” to “either side of
the center panel”.
2. Table of Contents added by transcriber.
3. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling.
4. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.