OLD ANTWERP.
Through varying winds and seas, the _Ajax_ plowed steadily on her way,
and in due course arrived at Antwerp and discharged her cargo. Of
course, while in port, Jack was at liberty, and he spent his time
roaming about the quaint old harbor and city.
Raynor joined him sometimes on these expeditions, but the young engineer
was kept busy making minor repairs on the engines and directing the
machinists. Since he was the junior member of the engine-room crew, this
work fell to his lot.
On the voyage across, and in port, too, whenever it was possible, he had
been steadily perfecting himself in the wireless craft till he was quite
proficient at it for a beginner. Jack proved an apt teacher and the
young engineer, himself unusually quick and intelligent, was a willing
scholar.
So the days passed pleasantly among the foreign scenes of the town and
harbor. All this time Jack had been noticing surprising vigilance
concerning the firemen and the crew of the big tanker.
One evening while they were roaming about the town, making purchases of
post-cards and other small articles, Jack asked Raynor about this.
“They’re on the look-out for the tobacco smuggling gang,” explained his
friend.
“The tobacco smuggling gang? What is that?” asked Jack.
“Do you mean to say that you have never heard of them or of their
activities?” asked Raynor.
Jack shook his head.
“Not till this minute, anyway,” he said.
“Well, then, you must know that most of the Sumatra tobacco used for
cigars and so on comes to this port, and it can be bought here very
cheaply. In New York there is a well-organized gang, as is known to
every seaman, that makes a practice of buying all that can be smuggled
into the country by the crews and firemen of ships trading out of this
port. Their activities have been reported in the papers many times, and
all sorts of means have been employed to check them, but somehow the
trade still seems to go on. So now you know why we keep such a careful
look-out while in this port.”
Jack was satisfied with the explanation and thought no more of the
matter, but a time was to come, and that before very long, when it was
to be brought vividly before him again.
Jack liked Antwerp, with its fine buildings and picture galleries. But
he found that along the docks were all manner of tough resorts where the
worst class of sailors spent their time while in port.
He was passing one of these places one day when a man, whom he
recognized as one of the engineers of the _Ajax_, approached him.
“Hullo, youngster,” he said, “come inside and have something. I want to
talk to you.”
Jack shook his head.
“I don’t go into places of that sort and I don’t smoke or drink.”
The man looked at him and then burst into a roar of laughter. “You’ll
not get very far at sea then,” he said.
“That’s just where I differ with you,” said Jack, and was passing on
when the man seized his arm.
“Well, forget it,” he said. “See here, you’re a pretty smart sort of lad
and I can put you in the way of making some money.”
“What sort of money?” asked Jack.
“Well, about the hardest part of your job will be to keep your mouth
shut.”
“You mean that there is something dishonest involved?” inquired the boy.
“That all depends on what you call dishonest. Some folks are pretty
finicky. This something doesn’t come within the law exactly, but there’s
good money in it.”
“I don’t want any of it,” said Jack, and moved off.
The man called after him.
“All right, if that’s the way you feel about it, but just forget
anything I said.”
Jack did not reply, but hurried on. He was bound for the Boulevard des
Arts, one of the most beautiful thoroughfares in Europe. As he walked
along, he wondered what the man who had intercepted him could have been
driving at. He finally gave it up as too tough a problem. But later on
he was to recollect the conversation vividly.
Jack’s pay was not very large, nor was that of his chum, Raynor, but the
two planned a trip one day on one of the canals. They boarded an
odd-looking boat and for a very small sum they voyaged across the
frontier into Holland with its quaintly dressed peasants, low, flat
fields and general air of neatness.
It was drowsy work gliding along the canal at a rate of not more than
six knots an hour. Jack declared that he would have gone to sleep for
the voyage, had it not been for the captain of the canal craft, who was
a most willing performer with his whistle, and tooted at everything and
everybody he saw.
From time to time they slowed up at a dock and the passenger, if a man,
jumped off without the boat stopping. When a woman traveler wished to
alight, the boat was brought to a standstill.
“Look over there!” called Raynor suddenly, as they passed a pretty
cottage on the canal banks.
There, on the roof, was a stork family, father, mother and two young
ones.
“Well, we sure are abroad,” declared Jack, gazing with pleasure at the
pretty picture.
“Low bridge,” or its equivalent in Dutch, was frequently called, and
then all hands ducked their heads till the bridge was passed. Clouds
began to gather, and one of the sudden rain storms which sweep over
Holland descended in a pelting downpour. The passengers were driven to
the cabin, which they shared with a cargo of cheese, traveling in state.
But the storm soon passed over and the sun shone out brightly once more.
Windmills were in sight everywhere, their great sails turning slowly. In
some places the roofs of the farm houses were on a level with the banks
of the canal.
Occasionally a broad-beamed canal craft, with a patched brown sail,
drifted lazily by, with a leisurely Dutchman standing at the stern
placidly smoking a big China-bowled pipe, his family, perhaps, or at
least a dog, voyaging with him.
“Nobody seems to be in a hurry over here,” said Raynor.
“No, it’s like that country where it is always afternoon, that we used
to read about in school,” said Jack.
“Hullo,” he added suddenly, “what’s coming off now?”
The little vessel was making for a sort of garden with tables set about
in it.
“Going to stop for dinner, I guess,” suggested Raynor.
This proved to be the case. A true Hollander cannot go long without
eating, and the amount of food the voyagers consumed astonished the
boys.
“They’ll sink the ship when they get back on board,” prophesied Jack,
looking about him with apprehension.
The boys did not see Antwerp again till late, as the returning boat was
delayed. They found everything closed up, although it was only eleven,
and the streets deserted. Antwerp believes in going to bed early, and
the hotels are all locked by midnight. But that didn’t trouble the boys,
for they had their floating hotel in which to stay and which they
reached without incident.
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