The horror which greeted the announcement that a man-o'-war had made
its appearance upon the horizon may be better imagined than described.
"By heaven, we have been trapped!" cried MacAndrew, as he ran out of
the smoking-room in Browne's wake, and gazed out to sea.
They formed a small group in front of the door: Browne, MacAndrew,
Maas, Jimmy Foote, the captain, and the chief-engineer. Day was
scarcely born, yet the small black spot upon the horizon could be
plainly descried by every one of the party, and was momentarily growing
larger. Without doubt it was a man-o'-war. What was more to the
point, she was coming up at a good rate of speed. The position was an
eminently serious one, and what those on board the yacht had to decide
was what should be done.
"If she's a Russian, we're in no end of a hole," said MacAndrew; "and,
when you come to think of it, she's scarcely likely to belong to any
other nationality."
"Let us come into the smoking-room and talk it over," replied Browne;
and as he spoke he led the way into the room he mentioned. Once
inside, they seated themselves, and fell to discussing the situation.
"We'll presume, for the sake of argument, that she is Russian," began
Browne. "Now what is to be done? Mr. M'Cartney," he added, turning to
the chief-engineer, "what was the cause of the breakdown in your
department?"
"A bit of foul play, if I know anything about such things," replied the
other. "Early this morning, or last night, somebody removed the main
crosshead-pin of the high-pressure engine."
"With what result?" inquired Browne.
"That we're as helpless as a log, sir," answered the chief-engineer.
"Until it has been replaced it would be useless for us to attempt to
get any steam out of her."
"But surely you have some duplicate pins," said Browne a little
testily. "Why not put one in, and then let us get ahead again without
further loss of time?"
"For the simple reason, sir, that all the duplicates have been taken
too," the old man returned. "Whoever worked the plot must have the run
of the ship at his fingers'-ends. I only wish I could lay my hands
upon him, that's all. I'd make him smart, or my name's not M'Cartney."
"Surely such an important point can easily be ascertained," remarked
Maas. "Will you leave it to me to make inquiries?"
"Oh, don't you trouble," responded Browne. "I shall sift the matter
myself later on." As he said this he noticed that Jimmy Foote had not
entered the smoking-room with them. In an idle sort of a way he
wondered at his absence.
"How long will it take you to repair the damage, do you think?" Browne
inquired of the chief-engineer.
"Well, sir, it all depends upon circumstances," said that officer. "If
we find the duplicate pins we can do it in less than an hour; if we
cannot, it may take us twelve hours, and it may take us twenty-four."
"And how long do you think it will be before that boat comes up?" asked
Browne, turning to the captain.
"Oh, a good hour at least, sir," the captain replied. "She has seen
us; and I'm afraid it would be of no use our even thinking of trying to
get away from her."
"But how do you know that she wants us?" Maas inquired. "Being aware
of our own guilt, we naturally presume she knows it too. As
Shakespeare says, 'Conscience doth make cowards of us all.'"
"I don't think there can be very much doubt, but that she's after us,"
said Browne lugubriously. "Her appearance at such a time is rather too
much of a coincidence. Well, Mr. M'Cartney, you'd better get to work
as soon as possible. In the meantime, Captain Mason, keep your eye on
yonder vessel, and let me know how she progresses. We," he continued,
turning to MacAndrew and Maas, "must endeavour to find some place in
which to hide Monsieur Petrovitch, should the commanding officer take
it into his head to send a boat to search the ship."
The captain and the engineer rose and left the room; and, when the door
had closed behind them, the others sat down to the consideration of the
problem, which Browne had placed before them. It was knotty in more
points than one. If, as Browne had the best of reasons for supposing,
the warship was in search of them, they would hunt the yacht from stem
to stern, from truck to keelson, before they would be satisfied that
the man they wanted was not on board. To allow him to be found would
be the most disastrous thing that could possibly happen to all of them.
But the question that had to be settled was, where he could be hidden
with any reasonable chance of safety. They had barely an hour in which
to make up their minds on this point, and to stow the fugitive away
before the man-o'-war's boat would arrive. In vain they ransacked
their brains. Every hiding-place they hit upon seemed to have some
disadvantage.
"The only place I can think of," said Maas, who was lolling in a corner
smoking a cigarette, "would be in one of these lockers. He might
manage to crouch in it, and they would scarcely think of looking for
him there."
"It would be one of the first they would try," retorted MacAndrew
scornfully. "No, Mr. Browne; the only spot I can think of is in the
tunnel of the tail shaft. We might squeeze him in there, and I could
go with him to take care that he makes no noise."
"The very idea," Browne replied. "There's plenty of room, and no one
would ever suspect his presence there. If you will take charge of him,
and get him down there at once, I will go off and see Miss Petrovitch,
and tell her what has happened, and what we intend to do."
"And is there nothing I can do to help?" Maas inquired, raising himself
to a sitting posture.
"Oh yes," continued Browne. "You can keep your eye on the warship, and
warn us when she gets too close to be pleasant. By the way, I must
confess I should like to know where Jimmy Foote is. It's not like him
to be out of the way, when there's trouble in the wind."
Without waiting for a reply, he ran down the companion-ladder and made
his way along the saloon in the direction of Katherine's cabin. On
reaching it he rapped upon the panel of the door, and bade Katherine
dress as quickly as possible, and come to him in the saloon. The girl
must have gathered from his voice that something very serious had
occurred, for it was not long before she made her appearance with a
scared look upon her face.
"What has happened?" she asked. "I can see something is the matter.
Please tell me everything."
"Something very unpleasant," Browne replied. "In the first place, some
evilly-disposed person has tampered with the engines so that we cannot
go ahead for the present; but, worse than that, a
man-o'-war--presumably a Russian--has come up over the horizon, and is
steaming towards us."
"A Russian man-o'-war?" she exclaimed, with a look of terror in her
eyes. "Do you mean that she has come after us?"
"I cannot speak positively, of course," said Browne, "but since she is
here, it looks very much like it."
"Oh, Jack, Jack," she cried excitedly, "what did I tell you at the
beginning? This is all my fault. I told you I should bring trouble
and disgrace upon you. Now my words have come true."
"You have done nothing of the kind," Browne answered. "There is
treachery aboard, otherwise this would never have happened."
Afterwards, when he came to think it all over, it struck Browne as a
remarkable fact that on this occasion her first thought was not for her
father, as was her usual custom, but for himself. What did this mean?
Had she been disappointed in her parent, as he had half-expected she
would be? Her quick womanly intuition must have told her what was
passing in his mind, for her face suddenly flushed scarlet, and,
clenching her hands together, she said slowly and deliberately, as if
the question were being wrung from her, and she were repeating
something she had no desire to say:--
"But if it is a Russian man-o'-war, what will become of my poor father?"
"We are going to hide him," returned Browne. "MacAndrew has taken him
below to a certain place where he will be quite safe. He will remain
there, while the ship is in sight, and rejoin us when she has
disappeared again. Believe me, dear, they shall not get him, whatever
happens."
There was a little pause, and then Katherine said, as if she were
following up the conversation:--
"It would be too cruel if he were to be captured, just as he has got
away."
"He shall not be captured; never fear," continued Browne. "And now,
dear, you had better go and tell Madame Bernstein all that has
happened. I think you had better both remain in your cabins for the
present. When the Russian officer arrives, if all turns out as I am
very much afraid it will, I will ask you to dress and come on deck, for
they will ask to be allowed to search your cabins for a certainty."
"I will go to Madame at once," she answered; "but I think----"
She was about to say more when a footstep sounded upon the
companion-ladder, and a moment later Jimmy Foote, his face surcharged
with excitement, looked down upon them.
"For heaven's sake, Browne," he cried, as he held on to the brass
hand-rail, "come up to the smoking-room at once! There is not a moment
to lose."
"What on earth has happened?" Browne inquired, as he left Katherine's
side and bounded up the ladder.
"Just what I suspected," said Jimmy. "I never could have believed such
villainy could be possible."
Having reached the deck, they hastened towards the smoking-room. As he
did so, Browne glanced out to sea, and noticed that the man-o'-war was
now so close that her hull could plainly be distinguished. At most she
could not be more than eight or nine miles away.