THE POSSIBLE DANGERS OF THE VOYAGE
Scott Fencelowe, who had been on probation over three months,
proved very unexpectedly to the captain and others on board of the
Guardian-Mother to be thoroughly reformed. As soon as the commander
was satisfied on this point, he treated him with great kindness and
consideration. The young man had been a very diligent student, and,
having rather remarkable ability, he made rapid progress in his studies.
The stateroom formerly occupied by the third officer, leading off the
promenade deck, like those of the first and second officers, had been
assigned to him. He was nominally a quartermaster, though his services
were seldom required at the wheel. He was the commander's messenger,
and had come to be called the "middy." He had the charge of the flags
and signals, and was made useful in any capacity in which he could be
of service.
He messed with the officers, and as a sort of reward of merit he was
occasionally invited to dine with the cabin party, as were the other
principal officers of the ship. The other boys treated him as though he
had been in every respect their equal, as indeed he was, except that
he was a petty officer, as Felix was the captain's clerk. Scott was a
very skilful boatman, and in three months he had learned his duty as a
seaman.
"I suppose this moonlight excursion means an adventure of some sort,
Sir Louis," said Captain Ringgold, when the serious part of the
business was settled, and no objection had been made to the enterprise
of the big four.
"Of course I am bound to be a knight-errant wherever I go and whatever
I do, and I am as sure to get into an adventure as I am to get into my
berth when I turn in," replied Louis, laughing with the captain all the
time.
"It generally happens so. You were going to the top of the Peak of
Teneriffe; but instead of going there, you had a battle with banditti,
and whipped out your captors in a felucca."
"But the big four came back safe and sound, and brought the enemy with
them."
"You were all plucky, and I believe you never fail to get the better of
all enemies in whatever form they come."
"Now, beloved commander of the Guardian-Mother, can you tell me what
possible chance there is for an adventure in the excursion we have
arranged?" asked Louis, rather more seriously.
"If you should undertake to capture the Rock of Gibraltar, it will
be well for you to know that it is garrisoned by about five thousand
soldiers of all arms; and that number of full-grown men are too many
for even the big four," continued the commander, not disposed to be
serious.
"The big four don't mind five thousand soldiers; if there were ten
thousand of them, we might hesitate."
"Perhaps you will prefer to pick up the entire Rock and drop it into
the bay; but the water is not deep enough to cover up the highest
points of it, and somebody might find out what you had been about."
"Now, Captain, could you be reasonably serious for a moment, only long
enough to guess the conundrum I put to you just now?" asked Louis.
"I might try. What was the conundrum?" asked the commander, smoothing
off his face.
"If my mother knew I was going ashore, or off in a boat, she would
immediately conclude that I was to be shot, pitched over a precipice,
or sunk to the bottom of the bay with a fifty-six tied around my neck."
"Formerly she would; but Dr. Hawkes has wonderfully improved her
nervous system, so that she would not conclude that anything of the
sort would happen to you. You have got into so many scrapes and always
come out of them without the singeing of a hair of your head, that
she has acquired some confidence in your happy destiny," replied the
captain.
"Then can you indicate nearly or remotely what possible adventure I can
fall into in this excursion?"
"I give up the conundrum; I cannot guess as to how it is to come about;
but if I were a sporting man, I should be willing to wager that you
will have an adventure of some kind; but I should wish to wager at the
same time that you would come out of it unscathed, and with the head of
the enemy under your arm," answered the captain, resuming his mirthful
rallying.
"I cannot see for the life of me where the adventure is to come in.
John Scoble is hard at work in Sing Sing prison, and"--
"He may have been pardoned, or escaped from the stone walls that held
him," interposed the commander, very cheerfully, as though he did not
anticipate either of these events.
"Mr. Fobbington, _alias_ Wilson Frinks, is mending roads with his
ankles chained together in Santa Cruz, in the island of Teneriffe;
these two were the most virulent enemies I ever had, and I do not know
where to look for any others," replied Louis, as he saw his mother with
the rest of the party come out of the boudoir.
Captain Ringgold told her all about the proposed excursion of the big
four; but Mrs. Belgrave did not offer a single objection. She asked her
son some questions about it, and then joined Mrs. Sharp in a walk on
the deck.
"But which of the big four is to be the engineer of the Salihé?" asked
the commander.
"No one of them, Captain; and that reminds me that I wish to borrow
Felipe Garcias, the oiler, for that office," replied Louis.
The commander sent the middy to summon Felipe; and both of them soon
returned together. The young Spaniard was very willing to undertake
the duty, as he was anything that was for Louis, to whom he was fully
devoted. The dinner in the cabin, complimentary to Captain and Mrs.
Sharp, was served at five o'clock in Monsieur Odervie's best style. The
boys retired early, and were at the gangway when the steam-yacht came
alongside.
Giles Chickworth was in the pilot-house, and the same engineer as when
they had seen the craft before was at the door of the engine-room.
Felipe was in readiness to take the place of the latter, as Scott was
that of the former. But the young engineer did not appear to be in a
very cheerful mood, and looked furtively about the vicinity of the ship
as if in search of somebody or something.
"Ali-Noury Pacha here?" he said, looking earnestly at Louis, for he had
been generally confined to his duties below, and had not heard the news
that the Pacha's yacht had gone to the southward three weeks before.
"The Grand Mogul is not here now," replied Louis, laughing at the fears
of the young Spaniard. "His steam-yacht has probably gone back to
Mogadore."
"Sure?" persisted Felipe.
"I am sure the Fatimé is not here, though I am not sure where she has
gone. Besides, he has sold the Salihé to the man in the pilot-house,
and he has no claim to her," Louis explained.
"I don't know; the Grand Mogul is a bad man; I am afraid," added the
engineer, shaking his head doubtfully.
"He cannot harm you now."
"He send me back to Mogadore; he whip me on the feet; he put me in the
prison," continued Felipe.
"He cannot touch you here."
"I am not so sure of that," interposed Uncle Moses, the lawyer. "He
could be arrested for stealing the steam-yacht;" but the trustee spoke
in a low tone, so that the Spaniard could not hear him, and he could
not yet speak or understand English very readily.
"He could in Morocco, but not here, under the British flag," suggested
Louis.
"There may be an extradition treaty between the two countries," replied
Uncle Moses. "But I don't think Filopena is in any great danger of
being arrested. Don't be afraid, my boy," he added to the engineer.
"It is all right, Felipe; the Pacha can have no idea of what has become
of you," said Louis, as he led the way down the steps and on board of
the Salihé. "You are here on time, Mr. Chickworth."
"Which I am halways on time, sir," replied the owner of the craft.
"This man owns the Salihé now," added Louis, turning to Felipe, who
closely followed him.
"_Lo he comprado_" (I have bought her), said the skipper, seeing that
the engineer was a Spaniard. "She is mine now."
But he had no idea that the person he addressed was the one who had run
away from the home of the Pacha with the steamer; and Louis did not
deem it wise to enlighten him in this particular.
"_Esta aqui el Pacha?_" (Is the Pacha here?) asked Felipe of the
skipper.
"_No esta aqui_" (He is not here), replied Chickworth. "Now, Mr.
Belgrave, I suppose you are in no 'urry, and per'aps you would not
mind setting me and my hengineer on shore by the Ragged Staff," he
continued, turning to Louis.
"In no hurry at all, and we had as lief go to the Ragged Staff,
whatever that may be, as anywhere else. Run for the shore at any place
you please. By the way, Mr. Chairman, where shall we leave the Salihé
when we return?"
"Just make 'er fast by the gangway of your ship, and I will come on
board to-morrow morning," replied the skipper, as he rang the bell to
go ahead.
Scott stood at the door and asked some questions about the navigation
of the bay; but Chickworth seemed to have no doubt that the temporary
pilot would be able to keep the steamer on the top of the water. It was
a run of only half a mile to the stairs where the skipper wished to
land, and a few minutes later he was set ashore there. He stood at the
head of the steps observing the Salihé as she headed up the bay, and
seemed to be informing himself whether or not her new crew knew how to
manage her.
Of course Felipe was entirely at home in the engine-room, for he had
served there in the employ of the Pacha, as well as on the broad ocean
when all his present shipmates were with him. Scott was a skilful
wheelman, and had steered the craft on the voyage from Madeira.
No commander had been chosen for the present trip, but Louis fell
naturally into this position without any appointment, for his ability
invariably made him the leader in all enterprises in which the big
four engaged. In fact, he had a talent for commanding as well as for
obeying; and the latter sometimes requires more talent than the former.
But he was modest and did not make himself offensive by an overbearing
manner.
The Salihé was abreast of the town of Gibraltar after she left the
landing stairs, where there is a fixed light, showing green, which
Scott noted as his guide for the return run. Four miles from it to
the westward was a light on Verde Island, near the city of Algeciras,
visible nine miles; and between the two the helmsman was not likely to
get lost, unless a dense fog should shut them out from his view, of
which there was no immediate prospect.
"It is about time to give the pilot some instructions in regard to the
course," said Scott, addressing Louis, who stood on the forecastle with
Felix. "It won't take long to use up this bay, which don't pan out more
than five miles in any direction."
"Sailing for itself don't amount to much, for we are somewhat
accustomed to that sort of thing," replied Louis. "I think you had
better keep her within about a quarter of a mile of the shore, and make
the circuit of the entire bay as far as Carnero Point on the other
side. Then we can see the coast by daylight or moonlight. If anybody
objects, let him say so."
This course was followed, and the voyagers had a good view of the town
and of the Rock. Scott had studied the chart, and announced to his
companions the Old Mole, the Neutral Ground, and finally Point Mirador,
with St. Roque on the hills above it.