EUCHRING THE GRAND MOGUL
Felipe Garcia, as the engineer of the Maud, had now a tremendous
stimulant in the discharge of his duty, and Louis was only afraid
he would overdo it. When the boat seemed to be in danger of shaking
herself to pieces under the pressure applied to her, he went to the
engine-room to inspect the steam-gage.
"No danger," said Felipe confidently; and the visitor could find none
in the gage.
He cautioned the engineer to be very careful, assuring him that it
would be worse to be scalded to death with the steam than to be
captured by the Pacha. Felipe shook his head, and seemed to have some
doubts about the truth of the proposition. Louis went back to the
pilot-house. He informed the captain that the engineer was driving the
engine "for all it was worth."
"I have been running for that tower on Point Malabata," said the
captain, as Louis placed himself at the window.
"You are going very close to the shore, and you can see for yourself
that the tide is getting low," said Louis, after he had taken an
observation ahead.
"So much the better," added Scott. "I suppose the soundings on this
chart are given at mean low water, as on all the others I have used."
"Low water would be very mean if we should get aground here," suggested
Louis, who could not help being a little nervous about the boiler and
about the close proximity of the shore.
"We shall not get aground, for I have my eyes wide open, Louis, and I
know what I am about as well as I do when I take my grub on an empty
stomach. Don't you be alarmed, my boy, and that non-eater of pork will
go back to Tangier beaten out of his boots, or rather his Morocco
slippers, for he don't wear boots."
"I hope you will be a true prophet in this instance, Captain Scott."
"A truer one than Mohammed ever was in spite of his reputation in
Tangier and Mogadore as such."
"But you are really running her on the shore, Scott!" exclaimed Louis;
and it looked to him as though the Maud was actually going over the
point ahead.
"Not a bit of it, my hearty," replied the captain, who appeared to be
in most excellent spirits in spite of the peril that menaced the little
Maud.
He was in some such a mood as a gambler in an exciting game, or a
number at base-ball, who are working for victory. Scott was the
principal player in the present stirring game; and he was not only
playing for victory, but to save himself and the engineer from the
clutches of the Pacha.
"It looks as though we should be high and dry on the shore in five
minutes more," added Louis.
"You are looking at the point around a corner, Louis. The flag-pole on
the stem is your range. Just oblige me by stepping over to the other
window, and take an observation from that position," said the captain,
as confident as ever.
"That makes it look different," added Louis, after he had complied with
the captain's request. "But you are running exceedingly close to the
shore, any way."
"That is just what I mean to do," protested the captain warmly. "Now
will you just keep watch of the Fatimé, if you please, for we have come
to an exciting point in the game."
"A very exciting point, I should say; but with me the point is whether
or not you are going to run the Maud on shore," replied Louis, as he
changed his position for one at the rail, where he could obtain a full
view of the chaser. "I beg to remind you, Captain Scott, that if we get
aground, as I am afraid we shall, the Pacha can send off his boats with
an overwhelming force, and make prisoners of the whole of the Maud's
ship's company."
"I am well aware of it without any prompting," added the commander.
"You will excuse me, Captain Scott, for saying as much as I have, for
I know that it isn't regular or proper to criticise the commanding
officer; but I am really nervous about this business," Louis explained.
"Don't mention it, my dear fellow!" exclaimed Scott heartily. "We are
only playing ship's company and navigation, and we are not strained up
as they are on board a man-of-war. In fact, I have rather enjoyed your
uneasiness, and I am not the least bit hurt or offended at anything you
have said."
"I will try to do better."
"No need of it."
The young millionaire was watching the Pacha's steamer with all his
eyes, and though he had only two of them, he was working them very
hard. Felix and Morris had gone aft to the standing-room, where they
had seated themselves on the plush cushions, and were observing the
approach of the Fatimé, though she did not appear to have gained a
foot on the chase. They did not see Malabata Point ahead, and had not
worried over the matter which had exercised the patience and the nerves
of Louis.
"The steamer astern is changing her course!" almost shouted the lookout
on the forecastle.
"All right!" exclaimed Captain Scott. "That is just what I expected her
to do, and it means victory for the Maud. This is a part of my little
game."
"She is headed almost to the north now," added Louis.
"Precisely so," returned the captain at the wheel, who seemed to be as
cool now as a frozen cucumber. "Now come up to the window where I can
hear you think, and I will explain my plan from the beginning."
At this moment Morris and Felix rushed forward to announce the change
in the course of the Fatimé; but they were too late, and the captain
sent them back.
Captain Scott proceeded to explain his plan. Near the shore the water
was shallow on the coast of Africa, as it is on most others when not
more than a cable's length distant from the dry land. The Almirante
Rocks are off the point; and though there was depth enough for the
Maud, yet the pilot of the Fatimé would not risk his vessel on them.
Three miles beyond the rocks was the Cana Coja Reef, extending about
two miles, and reaching about the same distance out from the land.
"How deep is the water off here?" asked Louis.
"In some places it is only from three to twelve feet deep," replied
Scott, who had kept his eyes fixed on the chart half the time.
"Three feet!" exclaimed the deck-hand. "The Maud would certainly stick
her keel into that bottom."
"But I don't intend to put her through any such water as that,"
protested the captain. "Just where we are the depth is not more than a
fathom and a half a cable's length from the shore; but we shall keep
outside of that place."
"A cable's length seems to me to be a rather indefinite measure,"
suggested Louis.
"Not at all; it is as definite as a two-foot rule. It is just the tenth
of a mile, for it takes ten of them to make a mile."
"I did not know that it had a particular extent, but supposed it was
used in a sort of general way, like a great many other expressions of
sailors."
"Not at all; but I think it would be well for Morris to heave the lead
in this locality, though I am confident we shall go through all right,"
added Captain Scott. "You may pass the word for him to do so."
Louis delivered the order to the pilot in the standing-room, and he
went forward to attend to the duty assigned to him, and this time they
had a hand-lead for such occasions as the present. On his way back the
messenger stopped at the engine-room, and had some talk with Felipe,
who was still driving the machine at its best. Louis had a purpose in
doing so, for he desired to obtain some information from the engineer
in regard to the speed of the Fatimé.
"I don't know _precisamente_," replied the engineer, mixing his English
and Spanish. "I was at Mogadore when come the Fatimé from England. I
hear the Pacha; he say the _vapor_ was not quick enough; he must go
more than twelve miles in one hour. He say this to Señor Tomlin: he
was the engineer; he come from England. He say he was best for _once y
medio nudos la hora_."
"She was good for eleven and a half knots an hour," repeated Louis,
translating the substance of the reply.
"He made twelve _nudos_ some time," added Felipe.
"All right; that will do," said Louis, encouraged by this information,
as he hastened forward to communicate it to the captain.
"She is not making more than eleven knots now, if she is doing as much
as that," replied Scott when he had heard what the deck-hand had to
say. "But she has not got a full head of steam yet. We shall come out
off Point Al Boassa more than a mile ahead of her."
The Maud was making a nearly straight course of three miles while the
Fatimé was going a mile and a half outside of the rocks and reefs. The
former was making the best speed possible for her, and Scott was sure
it was not less than twelve knots; but she was forced to her utmost to
accomplish this result.
The run from one point to the other was three and a half miles; and it
has taken longer to tell about it than it did to do it. The Maud was
approaching the second headland, where the race must terminate, unless
the captain decided to follow the coast to the south-east, in order to
keep in shoal water where the chaser could not follow her.
"Mark under water two!" shouted Morris with energy, for he was still
heaving the lead on the starboard side.
"All right; that is just as it should be," said the captain, as he put
the helm a little to starboard. "That is the shoalest place within half
a mile of the shore."
"We are all right in two fathoms," replied Louis. "The report was 'mark
under water,' which gives more than that."
"I want some leeway under the keel, for whatever you may think of me,
I am a prudent fellow," laughed Scott. "Now we have to decide on our
future course. If I follow the shore and keep in shallow water, it
will take us a long way out of our course, for it trends to the south,
forming the arc of a considerable circle."
"We don't want to go out of our way if we can help it," added Louis.
"This is Point Al Boassa broad on the starboard bow, about a mile
distant," continued Scott, pointing to it.
"That sounds like a Moorish name."
"It is the name on the chart; and that is all I know or care about it.
Now, it is just ten miles across the Strait to Tarifa."
"Not more than that?"
"Exactly that; but it is fifteen miles more to the New Mole in
Gibraltar. The question to be decided within the next five minutes is
whether we shall follow the shore to the south-east, or stick it across
to Tarifa."
"How much the lead of the Fatimé have we?" asked Louis.
"We shall come out a mile and a half ahead of her; but she is going to
develop more speed very soon."
"I am decidedly in favor of making the course for Tarifa," replied
Louis. "I don't believe she can overhaul us before we get across, if
ever."
"Just my idea; across it is," responded Scott. "But we are not quite
up with the point yet. If the Pacha's steamer comes too close to us,
we can run into the shoal water on the other side. We shall euchre the
Grand Mogul yet."
Louis did not feel as nervous as before.