LASSOING THE SCOTCHMAN
Louis opened the cabin door, and looked out; but he closed it
immediately, for the light in the apartment would enable Captain
Velazquez to see that it was open, and cause him to suspect that the
prisoners had made their escape. The lamp hanging from the deck beam
above was a bracket with three lanterns. Felix climbed upon the table
which stood beneath it, and took it down. It was then wrapped up in the
tablecloth, and placed under the divan, where it could shed none of its
light about the apartment.
The door was then opened again; but it looked as though Diego had seen
the light before, and he was hailing the Scotchman very vigorously.
Louis had only time to gather up a handful of lanyards and other lines
from a box under the seats in the standing-room before he heard the
footsteps of Gray in the port gangway. He retreated, closing the door
all but a crack.
"What's the matter on board of the steamer?" yelled Diego.
"Nothing is the matter," replied Gray, who had not stopped to look in
at the cabin windows as he came aft, for the master of the schooner
was yelling at him all the time.
"The cabin door is open, and"--
And Louis heard no more, for at that moment Scott heaved his lasso, and
the Scotchman began to dance about the standing-room, swearing like a
smuggler as he was. Louis threw the door of the cabin wide open, for
concealment was no longer necessary or practicable. He had hastily
supplied his companions with the lanyards and lines he had procured.
He rushed out followed by the others. The slip-noose of the lasso had
already been drawn tight about his neck, and Gray was roaring like a
bull, though his voice had become very husky.
[Illustration: "THE SLIP-NOOSE OF THE LASSO HAD ALREADY BEEN DRAWN
TIGHT."]
He was struggling furiously, with his hands free, trying to release his
neck from the pressure of the rope. Louis hesitated, for he realized
that a blow from the powerful man would fell any of them to the deck.
Scott was tugging at the lasso all the time, pulling and jerking it so
that his victim should not escape. Diego, who could not help seeing
what had transpired in the stern of the steamer, was still yelling
with all his might. Fortunately that was all he could do, and he was
permitted to do all he pleased of it.
"Don't go near him, Louis!" called Scott from the hurricane deck--"not
yet, for he can strike an awful hard blow."
The pilot was certainly a prudent young man, and he was not always
so; but Louis had anticipated him, and kept out of Gray's reach. The
struggle continued, and Scott was vigorously manipulating the lasso so
that Gray could not obtain an instant's respite from the strain upon
his neck. The pressure was rapidly doing its work upon him, for he was
beginning to writhe and struggle for breath. He had ceased to yell and
to swear, for he lacked the wind to do or say anything. He had soon
weakened so much that the time for more decided action had come; and
Scott initiated it.
The lassoer had drawn his victim towards him till he was directly
in front of the cabin door. Without announcing his intention to his
associates, the pilot threw down his lasso into the standing-room,
and then leaped down himself directly upon the head of Gray. In his
weakened and gasping condition he could not resist the force of this
onslaught, and he sank down upon the deck beneath his persecutor.
"Take one of his arms, and I will take the other, Flix!" called Louis,
as he sprang upon the fallen Scotchman, and seized his right arm, while
Felix did the same with his left. "Have the lanyards all ready, Morris!"
Scott had seized his victim by the throat, and held his head down
upon the deck. Just at this critical moment Francisco, who had heard
the yells of Gray, put in an appearance, and, seeing the desperate
situation of the smuggler, he was rushing forward to his assistance.
Morris threw the lines upon the deck, wheeled about, drew his revolver,
and faced the wheelman.
"Back to the pilot-house, or you are a dead man!" said Morris, as he
pointed his weapon at the head of the helmsman.
Francisco halted, and looked at the shining revolver, which was
a high-cost one his father had bought for him in London. Louis
wondered from Morris's words whether or not he had been reading
"blood-and-thunder" stories; but the boy was resolute enough for
the occasion, and cool enough to remember what Louis had said about
shooting in the present affair. The Spaniard could not understand a
word that he had spoken.
"_Va a la casa del piloto!_" (Go to the pilot-house!) shouted Louis
with vim enough to show that he was in earnest as well as Morris.
Francisco evidently did not like the situation at all. He had drawn a
long _cuchillo_, or knife, and he was certainly a dangerous man.
"Fire, Morris, if he moves on you!" called Louis, as he saw the blade
gleaming in the moonlight.
Probably Francisco realized that a ball from the revolver could
travel faster than his knife, and perhaps he had less sympathy for
the Scotchman than he would have had for one of his other associates,
for he backed away from the dangerous vicinity to the barrels of the
weapon, and returned to the pilot-house. The steamer had fallen off her
course, but she presently came back to it, indicating that the wheelman
had returned to his duty.
This affair was only a momentary interruption of the more serious
business in progress in the standing-room. Gray was out of breath,
and out of strength, and after a vain attempt to release himself from
the grip of Scott, he gave up the battle, for he had become absolutely
powerless. He was actually suffering, and his gasps and struggles for
breath were painful to witness.
"Loosen the line at his throat, Scott! The man is choking to death!"
called Louis in a very decided tone, as he and Felix rolled the victim
over on his back.
"Stay where you are, Morris!" shouted Scott, as he complied with the
humane request of Louis, who could see that the prisoner--as he was by
this time--had not the strength to make any further resistance. "Shoot
any one that shows a knife!"
Francisco had gone to the wheel, and there was no one to shoot. Louis
and Felix were each in full possession of one of the arms of Gray, and
he could do nothing more to help himself. His hands were securely bound
behind him, and then he was left to himself. He presently recovered a
portion of his strength, and tried to rise. He was assisted in doing
so, and then conducted to the cabin.
He was invited to recline on the divan, and, weak as he was still, he
was willing to comply with the request. But Louis, satisfied that he
would soon be as strong as ever, was not content to leave him until he
had been more effectually secured. Scott took off his belt, and after
winding it around the prisoner's wrists several times, he buckled it so
tight that it seemed to be impossible for him to get loose.
Not yet satisfied, they bound his legs together at the ankles, and then
tied him down to the supports of the divan. Gray said not a word, and
appeared to be too weak to do so, or to be inclined to do so.
"Francisco has a knife, and he may give us more trouble than the
Scotchman did," said Scott, when they had all retired from the cabin to
the standing-room. "If you will take my advice, all three of you will
stick your pistols in his face while he stands at the wheel. Louis will
tell him he shall not be harmed if he submits, and then we will tie his
arms behind him, and make him fast to something in the pilot-house."
"All right," replied Louis; "but remember that no fellow is to fire."
"I don't think you will find any occasion to fire," added Scott, as he
picked up the saw which he had used in his first encounter with the
Scotchman. "Francisco has already shown that he does not like the looks
of revolvers."
Scott led the way. The Spaniard was standing by the wheel, intently
observing the compass, when the pilot, varying his programme a little
to suit the situation, threw his arms around him, and brought him to
the floor. Louis and Felix seized his arms, without even threatening
him with the arsenal of weapons in their pockets. Francisco was made a
prisoner. He was thrown upon the settee abaft the wheel, and secured to
the back and legs of it.
His knife was taken from him; but Louis assured him he should not
be harmed if he made no resistance. The party then proceeded to the
engine-room. Not one of them had seen or heard a word from Felipe since
they started on the excursion. He attended to his duty, and heeded the
bells apparently without knowing or caring who rang them. Pedro, his
custodian, was fast asleep on the seat back of the machinery, and did
not appear to have heard the noise or the yells from the standing-room.
He was an easy victim, and when he had been secured he was conducted
to the pilot-house, where he was laid out on the floor in front of
Francisco. He was fastened to the settee.
Felipe wanted to know what had happened. He had tried to ascertain,
but Pedro showed him his knife, and would not allow him to leave
the engine-room. The situation was explained to him, and all he was
required to do was to run the engine. Scott had taken the wheel when
Francisco was deposed, and his companions joined him when they brought
in their last prisoner. Diego was still yelling; but they did as they
do in Spain when it rains--they let him yell.
"Do you know where you are, Scott?" asked Louis, as he looked out the
window in front of the wheel.
"Of course I do; we were about half-way between Gibraltar and Algeciras
when I took the wheel, and then I headed her for the red light on the
New Mole. You have not told me, Captain Belgrave, what you intend to do
with the prize and the prisoners we have taken."
"We will go alongside the Guardian-Mother, and Captain Ringgold may do
what he pleases with them," replied Louis.
"That was just my idea of what you would do with them," added the
pilot. "But there is no one of our number in the standing-room to watch
the movements of Captain Velazquez. He may get up some mischief that
will bother us. If you prefer, Captain Belgrave, to take the wheel, I
will stand guard at the stern."
"You are a better helmsman than I am, Scott; you had better keep the
wheel, and I will keep watch of Diego," replied Louis. "If anything
happens, send me word. Morris will be within hail of you to be your
messenger, though I don't think anything is likely to happen in this
part of the steamer. If I want you, I will send Morris to take your
place."
"That blackguard can chop off the tow-line when he takes a notion to do
so," suggested Felix, as they moved aft.
"That would only be jumping out of the frying-pan into the fire,"
replied Louis. "We are not more than two miles from the New Mole, and
we shall be there in twenty minutes."
"Then it is time for him to chop it off now."
"I don't know what he will do. If he cuts loose from the Salihé, he can
be easily overhauled by the custom-house officers, if there are any
here," answered Louis.
"Faix, I think it is Spanish officers, and not English, we want; and
why don't you run into the town on the other side of the bay?"
"I thought of that; but I am not inclined to bother with them. Captain
Ringgold will know how to settle the case better than we do."
Captain Velazquez had kept up his yelling as long as he could see any
one at the stern of the steamer; and as soon as Louis and Felix showed
themselves, he resumed his cries.
"The skipper of that hooker is in a tight place, and he knows it," said
Felix. "What's that he says?"
"He says he will cut the tow-line if we don't go down the bay," replied
Louis, translating his frantic cry.
Louis answered the yell by firing his revolver in the air, directing
Felix to do the same.
[Illustration: "LOUIS ANSWERED THE YELL BY FIRING HIS REVOLVER IN
THE AIR."]