A FOG OF SUSPICIONS
It was not until a fortnight after Dan Frazier had been taken home to
Key West that he was allowed to leave his room and lounge in a wicker
chair on the cottage porch. His face and hands were thinner and the sea
tan could not hide the pallor caused by fever, but he looked at the
glad, green world with bright eyes and clamored for food like a young
cormorant. His mother, who fluttered about him with fond anxiety, had
tried to banish all mention of the _Kenilworth_, but now that he was
able to be outdoors he fairly bullied her with questions which had been
disturbing his days and nights of illness.
"I am sure Barton is as fond of you as ever," said she. "He may have
been angry at first, but he has been here to ask about you almost every
day. He told me you had nothing to do with his father's tug being cut
in two by brother Jim, but he said you hooted at him when it happened.
That wasn't like my Dan."
Her son tried to look repentant, but his eyes twinkled and he grinned
as he replied:
"It wasn't nice of Bart to laugh at me while his cantankerous old
daddy's tug was keeping the _Resolute_ away from the wreck. How did
Bart explain the smash-up?"
"He as much as said that Jim Wetherly behaved like a pirate and a
lunatic, though of course Barton is too polite to put it in so many
words," confessed Mrs. Frazier with a sigh. "It has made a lot of talk
in Key West. Mr. Pringle swears he is going to take it into court. He
declares he had made a contract with the captain of the _Kenilworth_
when along came Jim and rammed him to get the job away from him."
"Made a contract with the _Kenilworth_! I should say Jerry Pringle
did," snorted Dan with rising color. "He made his rotten contract in
Pensacola, months before the ship was wrecked. He didn't get half
what's coming to him. I wish Uncle Jim had sunk the _Henry Foster_.
What else has happened?"
"Captain Bruce has called twice to see you. And since meeting him I am
more skeptical than ever about your conspiracy story, Dan."
"Captain Bruce been here? So you like him, too, do you?" exclaimed Dan.
"Were all hands saved from the wreck?"
"They got away from the ship in their boats at daylight," answered Mrs.
Frazier. "Captain Bruce had some ribs broken by being dashed against
the side, and two boats were swamped. But they reached the keys with
all hands and were picked up a day later by a sponger and brought down
the Hawk Channel to Key West. Captain Bruce was broken-hearted over
losing you, and when he heard you were still alive he insisted on
leaving the hospital and coming up here, broken ribs and all. He seems
very moody and depressed. I suppose he is unhappy about losing his
ship."
"He is thinking about several things, I reckon," said Dan. "That ship
has made everybody unhappy. She is loaded with trouble. Captain Bruce
is sorry he ever clapped eyes on Jerry Pringle for one thing. And he
hates himself even worse for not sticking to his vessel. And he quit
her and left me on board to come through the gale all right with the
ship still under me. What is he planning to do now?"
"Wait, and take the _Kenilworth_ again if she is floated," replied Mrs.
Frazier. "He is going up to the Reef as soon as the doctor will let
him."
She walked to the end of the porch and brushed aside the tangle of
vines which partly screened her view of the street. Then she turned and
said to Dan:
"Here comes Mr. Prentice and I think he intends to call here. What a
very stiff and formal looking person he is!"
The underwriters' agent opened the gate with a courtly bow to Mrs.
Frazier. His greetings were most polite, but he lost no time in coming
to the point. Mrs. Frazier was about to withdraw, but Dan spoke up
sharply:
"If it's about the _Kenilworth_, Mr. Prentice, I want my mother to
stay. I keep no secrets from her."
Mr. Prentice bowed gravely and seated himself facing Dan, who could not
help feeling that this elderly gentleman was unfriendly to him. The
underwriters' agent opened fire without further warning:
"I am pleased to note your rapid recovery from a very trying
experience, Mr. Frazier. As you may know, I represent English insurance
interests which wrote a total of a hundred thousand pounds sterling
on the _Kenilworth_ and her cargo. If the efforts to float the vessel
prove successful, the loss may be comparatively small."
Mr. Prentice adjusted his glasses, cleared his throat, and resumed with
emphatic earnestness:
"You hinted at having prevented a disastrous explosion in the steamer's
hold, Mr. Frazier. You may not recall the words you used. It was after
you were taken on board the tug _Three Sisters_. I have made the most
thorough examination of the _Kenilworth_ and failed to find any traces
of explosives."
"If you are going to call me a liar at the start, you won't get very
far," hotly cried Dan. "Do you think I cooked up that yarn to get
a reward out of the insurance companies? Did you fish in the water
amidships for a sack of powder? Wait till the ship is pumped out and
I'll find it for you fast enough."
[Illustration: "If you are going to call me a liar at the start, you
won't get very far!"]
Mrs. Frazier laid her hand on the lad's shoulder, whispered in his
ear, and he sank sulkily back in his chair while the unruffled Mr.
Prentice asked:
"Why did you dump the powder down the hatch instead of letting it stay
where it was as evidence of the dastardly attempt of the wreckers?"
"I didn't know what I was doing," exclaimed Dan in a flare of
impatience. "I was scared clean out of my wits. I was afraid to turn my
back on that bag of powder. Maybe you wouldn't have been as cool as an
ice-chest, either, and thinking about _evidence_. What the dickens are
you driving at anyhow?"
"I will drop this matter for the present," said Mr. Prentice, fishing
out a small note-book as if to confirm his recollection before he
declared:
"I heard you say on board the _Three Sisters_, '_Don't let them know.
Keep it dark. We can handle it all by ourselves. The captain is sorry
he did it._' What did you mean, Mr. Frazier? This wreck is to be
investigated. I am already convinced that certain persons on board
the tug _Resolute_ had advance information of the intended loss of
the _Kenilworth_. Your tug had steam up and her crew on board for
several days before the disaster. Captain Wetherly started for sea in
a tremendous hurry after getting a cable message that the _Kenilworth_
had passed Jupiter Light. I have copies of the message he sent asking
for this information and the reply from the Government signal station.
Then, as if to prevent interference with a bargain made in advance,
Captain Wetherly deliberately cut down and disabled the tug _Henry
Foster_. I believe you know the truth. What did you mean by '_Don't let
them know? Keep it dark?_'"
Dan looked bewildered for a moment and stared at Mr. Prentice who
seemed to be talking the sheerest nonsense. Then, as the meaning of
these suspicions filtered into the boy's mind, his face became red
with wrath and astonishment. His world was turning topsy-turvy. The
underwriters' agent was actually accusing Captain Jim Wetherly and the
_Resolute_ of the wicked deed which they had been trying to mend--of
plotting to put the _Kenilworth_ on the Reef! Why, this was like one of
the dreams of Dan's weeks of fever. At length he pulled himself to his
feet and fairly shouted:
"I know who started this crazy story of yours, Mr. Prentice. Jerry
Pringle must be at the bottom of it. Do you mean to say you have
listened to such infernal lies about a man like Captain Jim Wetherly?
You didn't understand what I was talking about on board the _Three
Sisters_. And do you think _we_ had anything to do with the stranding
of Captain Bruce's steamer? Do you want to know the truth? I'll tell
you the truth--No, I won't. Captain Jim is my skipper and I must take
my orders from him. He told me to keep my mouth shut, and I can't say
anything until he gives me the word."
Mrs. Frazier was wringing her hands as she stood between Mr. Prentice
and Dan, as if trying to shield her boy from harm. "Dan must not talk
to you another minute," she exclaimed indignantly. "He is all of a
tremble now. It is cruel of you to torment and bully him, Mr. Prentice."
The underwriters' agent apologized and tried to explain his errand in
more detail.
"I like your boy, Mrs. Frazier. He is a manly fellow. I am inclined
to believe that he is prompted by good motives. He is loyal to
Captain Wetherly and the _Resolute_, which is quite natural. But this
_Kenilworth_ affair looks like a bad business from start to finish.
Something was in the wind before the steamer went ashore, and it is my
duty to get at the facts without sparing any one's feelings. I want Dan
to think it over and I shall have another talk with him when he feels a
bit stronger."
"Why don't you tackle Captain Bruce and make him tell what he knows?"
burst out Dan. "What does he say about it?"
"The case of Captain Bruce will be disposed of in London," answered Mr.
Prentice; "but the evidence must be gathered in Key West."
He reluctantly took his departure and, as his tall, spare figure
moved down the street, Dan followed Mrs. Frazier into the cottage and
declared:
"This notion of fighting to keep disgrace and exposure away from Bart
Pringle and his mother has gone about far enough. Do you suppose I am
going to have you dragged into it, all because Jerry Pringle is smart
enough to cover up his tracks and shift the suspicion to Uncle Jim? Not
in a thousand years. Uncle Jim will have to come to Key West and clear
himself somehow."
A heavy footfall sounded on the porch and the spoon on Dan's medicine
glass jingled as the ponderous presence of Bill McKnight filled the
outside doorway while he raised his big voice in "Ship, ahoy? Is Dan
aboard?"
"The very man I want to see. Come in," called Dan. "He won't excite me,
mother, he'll be just like a hogshead of soothing syrup."
The chief engineer advanced cautiously, as if not quite certain how to
handle himself in a sickroom, and whispered hoarsely:
"Keep perfectly cool and calm, my boy. We'll say nothing at all about
wrecks, riots, and revolutions, will we, Mrs. Frazier? Birds and
flowers and how's the weather, eh? They're the topics."
"Oh, shucks," was Dan's rude comment. "I want to know all about
everything, don't I, mother? Where is the _Resolute_? What's the news
from Captain Jim?"
Mr. McKnight turned to Dan's mother and waited for orders. She nodded
her assent, and the visitor set himself down in a chair which creaked
and groaned. Then he extracted a package from his white duck coat and
removed the paper wrapping. A glass jar was revealed which Mr. McKnight
placed on the table with the explanation:
"Calf's-foot jelly, ma'am. I had to cable for it. There's a poor crop
of calves in Key West. I've never been sick myself, except when I got
my head busted, or broke an arm or leg, or got shot up. But we fished
a box of books out of an English wreck one time, and they were mostly
novels. We dried 'em out in the engine-room and all hands read 'em. And
whenever anybody in them yarns took sick, I'm blessed if the vicar's
wife, or the squire's daughter, or the young ladies next door, didn't
trot in with this here calf's-foot jelly. They used tons of it in every
novel, ma'am. I reckon it'll put Dan on his pins."
The chief engineer wiped his face and fixed a pair of spectacles on his
ruddy nose, after which he gazed searchingly at Dan as if to satisfy
himself that the boy was all there. Bashfully waving his paw as if to
ward off Mrs. Frazier's laughing thanks, he went on to say:
"The _Resolute_ is almost ready for sea and your berth is waiting for
you, Dan. Captain Jim jerked the life out of her when he fetched away
the towing-bitts. She was most as sad a sight as the _Henry Foster_.
I've just come down from the Reef to see that the repairs are all
ship-shape and run her to sea in three or four days."
"Can't I go in her, mother?" begged Dan. "I won't do any work. Tell the
doctor the air will do me good. I've simply got to see the wreck. How
about it, Mr. McKnight? Is she really going to come off?"
"You'd think so, if she brings a chunk of the Reef along with her,"
chuckled the engineer. "Captain Jim has built two coffer-dams in her,
where her bottom was ripped out. He'll begin to pump 'em out next week.
That will lift the bulk of the water out of her. And the wrecking pumps
can handle the rest of the leaks. He's a terrible man is Captain Jim,
when he gets a full head of steam in his boilers. He's patching up
the bulkheads, lightering the cargo, got a force of mechanics in the
engine-room, and so on till she hums like a beehive. Good weather,
Reef like a mill-pond, and two chartered tugs waiting to hook on to
her, not to mention the _Resolute_."
"That beats doctors and calf's-foot jelly for putting me on my toes
again," was Dan's jubilant comment. "Have you heard anything ashore
here about her going on the Reef?"
Mrs. Frazier tried to head off this agitating topic, but Mr. McKnight
failed to comprehend her manoeuvres and briskly replied:
"No, I just come away from the Reef and hustled straight up here from
looking over the _Resolute_. There's nothing leaked out, has there? I'd
like to see somebody punished, you understand, but Captain Jim told me
to shut up and stay shut up."
"Well, _we_ are accused of putting up the _Kenilworth_ job," exclaimed
Dan. "Don't mind mother. She's one of us. If you're going to have a
fit, please go outside. This house isn't big enough."
Mr. McKnight was too taken aback to display any violent emotion. He
wiped his spectacles with great care, as if they had something to do
with his hearing, and asked Dan to "say it again, and say it slower."
Dan told him all about the visit of the underwriters' agent, whereupon
Mr. McKnight raised both hands and exclaimed:
"Hold on, boy. It all sounds plumb raving crazy to you, but there may
be a heap more in it than you think. Who knew Jerry Pringle was aboard
the _Resolute_ that night in Pensacola harbor? You and me and Captain
Jim, and the cook and galley boy. The rest of the crew was ashore or
down below. Did you know that the cook and the galley boy quit the
_Resolute_ last week and went up the Gulf to ship on a Central American
fruiter? They may be mighty hard to find if Jerry Pringle had anything
to do with getting them out of the way. Where are our witnesses, eh?
And you tell me old man Prentice has copies of the cable messages that
prove Captain Jim was waiting for the _Kenilworth_? They may be mighty
hard to explain."
"How about Captain Bruce?" asked Dan with a very sober face. "He is the
only man that can clear it all up in a jiffy."
"I can't quite fathom him, Dan. Sometimes I think he only needs a good
strong shove to make him own up to it all and take his medicine like a
man. But supposing Pringle offers him the ten thousand dollars anyhow
to saddle the job on us _Resolutes_? It's worth that to Jerry to save
his own skin."
"Captain Jim must get after Captain Bruce and make him tell the truth
if he has to choke it out of him," cried Dan in great excitement. "As
soon as we pull the _Kenilworth_ off the Reef there is going to be a
fight to a finish."
"You ain't quite fit for wrecking or fighting, and your mother will
scold me directly for getting your bearings hot," quoth Mr. McKnight.
"You just sit tight and maybe you can go up to the Reef in the
_Resolute_ with me."
With this the chief engineer departed under full steam, evidently
afraid of facing Dan's mother. The patient suffered no relapse,
however, and felt so much stronger next day that Mrs. Frazier suggested
a walk as far as the parade-ground of the artillery barracks, hoping
to give him a respite from any more disturbing visitors. They strolled
slowly through quaint crooked streets of the sea-girt town, into the
shaded plaza of the garrison which faced an expanse of green lagoon
and low mangrove-covered keys. A wharf ran out from the seawall in
front of them and they walked idly toward it to look at the schooners
beating up to the town.
Dan delayed to watch a distant sail which was scudding in from one of
the near-by keys. Presently he called out:
"Don't wait for me, mother. That's the _Sombrero_ yonder, and she will
pass within hail of the wharf. I'm going out there and catch Bart
Pringle as he scoots by."
The boys had not met since Dan's return from the Reef, and Dan was a
trifle surprised that Bart had let the last three days pass without
calling to see him. "I want to beg his pardon for laughing at him when
the _Henry Foster_ was stood on her ear," reflected Dan as he walked
toward the end of the wharf. "We have a pack of things to talk about,
and I must be awful careful not to say a word against his father. But
there's due to be a rumpus before long."
The _Sombrero_ tore past with a free sheet, fluttered into the wind,
and slid gracefully up to the wharf. Dan jumped onto the bowsprit and
footed it aft with a cheery greeting to Bart who was busy with sheets
and tiller.
"Hello, Dan. Glad you feel so spry. Want to run down to the fort and
back?" said Bart without his usual smile. His manner was so glum, in
fact, that Dan spoke up rather sharply:
"What in the world has happened to you? Has the _Sombrero_ been beaten
while I was laid up? My goodness, I thought you'd be glad to see me."
Bart rubbed his head, scowled at the main-sail, and sighed before he
responded with an effort:
"I've got to tell you, Dan. Mind you, I don't take any stock in it, but
I hate myself for letting it worry me. It's about the _Kenilworth_.
It's too tough to repeat, really it is, but you ought to have a chance
to come out and nail it as a lie. They say Captain Jim Wetherly knew
she was going on the Reef, and that you knew it, too. I wish----"
"And you listened to such stuff?" Dan fiercely broke in. "Who told it
to you?"
"Mr. Prentice asked me a lot of questions and I couldn't help seeing
what he was trying to prove, Dan. I asked my father about it and he
seemed to think things looked pretty black for Captain Jim. And father
is mighty seldom fooled about anything that goes on along the Reef. I
want to tell him that you say it's all foolishness. He would be mighty
glad to have it cleared up all right for Captain Jim Wetherly. And he
knows how chummy I am with you."
"Y-you asked your f-father about it?" stuttered Dan and his eyes were
blazing. "Bart Pringle, you make my head dizzy. Look here, I'll tell
you one thing that's straight goods. I wouldn't believe _you_ were
guilty of a murder, not if they had a million witnesses, unless I saw
you do it with my own two eyes. And as for the _Kenilworth_, whether
Captain Bruce meant to put her on the Reef or not, Captain Jim Wetherly
had nothing to do with it. And that's all I can tell you. Of course
that lets me out."
Dan's heart was sore that his chum's loyalty should have been shaken in
the slightest degree, but he tried to be fair, and added in a milder
tone:
"Mr. Prentice got things all snarled up somehow, but it's sure to come
out right. Maybe I ought not to blame you for being worried, Bart.
Things have been happening mighty fast for all hands concerned."
By this time Barton was honestly ashamed of himself and could think
of nothing to say but a stammering apology which Dan accepted with a
rather gloomy nod. It was the nearest their friendship had ever come
to a break, and both boys would have preferred an open quarrel to this
cloud of aggrieved misunderstanding. There was little more talk between
them while the sloop crashed into the long seas of the outer roadstead.
After they had put her about and were heading homeward, Dan exclaimed:
"There's the good old _Resolute_ at her dock, and she is getting up
steam. She must be 'most ready to go to the Reef. Put me alongside,
Bart. I want to look her over. I'll walk home from there."
As Dan sprang up the deck of the tug he was hailed by the chief
engineer. Leading the way to his state-room, Mr. McKnight picked Dan up
bodily, tossed him on the bunk, locked the door, and spoke as follows:
"Things are a-popping red-hot, my boy. Captain Jim landed from the
Reef an hour ago. I told him all I knew about his being suspected of
the crooked job, and what does our busy skipper do then? He promptly
lays for Jerry Pringle. Does he beat him to death, same as I figured
on doing sooner or later? No, Captain Jim, as usual, does what you
least expect. He tells Pringle that he needs help on the _Kenilworth_
wreck. Weather looks unsettled; must lighter more cargo out of her
quicker than blazes; needs all the schooners he can lay his hands on,
and is in a desperate hurry for another tug. Then he up and offers J.
Pringle a contract to take all his vessels up to the _Kenilworth_ and
go along himself as assistant boss on the wreck. Jerry hems and haws,
but Captain Jim looks him square in the eye and tells him to have that
Tampa tug of his ready for sea at daylight to-morrow. And Jerry agrees
as meek as Moses and goes off to find the skipper of his vessels."
"But why and what for?" exclaimed Dan. "Jerry Pringle working for
Captain Jim on the _Kenilworth_! It's too much for me to fathom."
"For one thing, Captain Jim needs his help to get the steamer off,"
returned Bill McKnight. "There isn't a smarter wrecker on the coast
than this same Pringle. The love of wrecking is in his blood, and
it fairly kills him to be idle with a fine, big ship on the Reef.
Now that his plot to lose the _Kenilworth_ is spoiled, why shouldn't
he win a nice pot of money by helping save her? Then, again, maybe
Captain Jim wants to heap coals on his head till he hollers for a
fire-extinguisher. There is going to be something doing on the Reef,
Dan. Better come along with us. You will be plenty strong enough if you
have eaten up all that calf's-foot jelly I lugged up to you."
"Where does Captain Bruce come in?" asked Dan. "Will he be on the
_Kenilworth_, too?"
"He goes up in the _Resolute_ with us, but Jerry Pringle doesn't know
it," answered Mr. McKnight with a solemn wink. "Everybody that has
played a hand in this game is going to round to on the deck of that
unfortunate steamer in a couple of days from now, and I'm a poor
guesser if it don't turn out to be a lively reunion before she comes
off the Reef."