CHAPTER VIII
PLANNING TO ESCAPE
Ira Small glared at Jack in such an impressive manner that the young major of the Colby Hall battalion was not a little disturbed. He did not wonder over the fact that Captain Gilsen had thought the sailor crazy.
“It would be very fine to find the pirates’ treasure,” he returned briefly. “But just now what I am more interested in is getting away from this schooner.”
“I don’t blame you, lad! I don’t blame you! It’s a poor place for any one to be. An’ it’s much worse than it is now when the men git to drinkin’ and fightin’. I’ve been through it a dozen times, an’ I know! I was a big fool to ever come on board!”
“Well, why don’t you leave?”
“Easier said nor done, lad. The cap’n knows I don’t want to stay with him, an’ he an’ the mate watch me like a dog his bone. I’d git away fast enough if I had the chance.”
“We’ll talk about this again. Don’t say anything about it now,” warned Jack hastily, as he saw the mate of the Hildegarde approaching, having just come from below to take his trick at the wheel.
“Where are the other young fellows?” questioned Letts, shortly, as he gazed suspiciously at Jack and then at the retreating form of Ira Small.
“They haven’t come on deck yet, so I suppose they’re sleeping,” answered Jack. “Are you ready to let us take our boat and go?” he went on.
“We may let you go as soon as it clears a bit. But about taking your motor boat, that’s another story. Bill Ferguson, the captain’s partner, says he has a claim on it.”
“A claim? I don’t see how that can be!”
“It was you and your uncle who were responsible for smashing up an automobile with all the liquor aboard.”
“Oh, so that’s his scheme!” cried Jack, his eyes flashing. “He expects us to settle that bill, does he? Well, I’ll tell you right now, he has another guess coming to him! He and that fellow with him were responsible for that accident, and not I—nor my uncle. Besides that, the boat belongs to Mr. Mason. I have no claim on it.”
“Ferguson says you’re all in together and you’ll have to settle for that smash-up before you can have that motor boat.”
“What does he put his claim at? Not that I’ve any idea of settling it.”
“He says that it’ll cost at least three hundred dollars to repair the car, and he lost over a thousand dollars’ worth of liquor.”
“He had no right to be transporting the liquor.”
“Fairy tales, lad! Fairy tales!” answered the mate sarcastically. “Everybody’s doing it. You’ve got to settle with Ferguson before we let you take that boat.” And thus speaking the mate walked away to relieve the man at the wheel.
It must be admitted that the boys were in anything but a happy frame of mind when they went to get the scanty and badly-cooked breakfast which was offered to them. Jack had told the others what the mate had said, and all were justly indignant.
“I believe they’re nothing but a bunch of thieves,” was Fred’s comment. “This is only an excuse for robbing us of the motor boat.”
“That’s just what I think!” put in Gif. “Gee, I wish we could arm ourselves in some way and compel these fellows to run the schooner ashore.”
“I’m sorry I got you into so much trouble, Ralph,” said Jack to his friend. “I didn’t know that fellow Ferguson would be on board,” and he grinned.
“It’s not your fault at all, Jack,” returned Ralph, quickly. “That’s only an excuse to keep the motor boat. I believe these fellows haven’t any conscience and they will take everything we’ve got before they let us go.”
“Maybe they won’t let us go even then,” put in Randy. “You know the old saying, ‘Dead men tell no tales.’ They may take us to sea and drop us overboard.”
“Great Cæsar, Randy! you’re the cat’s slippers for scaring us to death,” burst out his twin.
“Oh, I don’t think they’ll go as far as that,” came from Spouter. “They wouldn’t dare. But they may take everything we’ve got of value, and then turn us adrift in one of their rowboats.”
“Well, what shall we do?” questioned Jack. “Shall we try to arm ourselves and fight?”
“It may come to that later, Jack,” answered Ralph. “But just yet I wouldn’t advise it.”
“Neither would I,” said Gif.
“A fight would only give them an excuse for shooting us down,” remarked Fred.
Slowly the day passed, and with it went the mist and rain. The wind was now blowing freely, and the Hildegarde made good progress on her course. The boys were not given a chance to look at the compass, but, by the sun, knew they must be heading southward. Not a speck of land was anywhere in sight.
“That shows they didn’t go down the coast as they said they would,” said Jack, about the middle of the afternoon.
“Where do you suppose they’re bound for?”
“Perhaps they’re going straight back to Jamaica,” suggested Spouter.
“Or to some other island of the West Indies where they can get another supply of liquor,” added Randy.
“I’m going to the stern and take a look at the motor boat,” said Ralph.
“Maybe they won’t let you go to the stern,” said Andy.
“I’ll soon find out.”
“Ralph certainly has a right to look after his own boat,” put in Gif. “Gosh! these chaps are carrying things with a high hand,” he added, with a serious shake of his head.
“On the high seas a captain’s word is law,” said Fred. “So this fellow takes it for granted he can do as he pleases.”
“I wish a revenue cutter would show up,” came from Spouter.
“I guess we all wish that,” answered Jack, with a faint smile.
“Oh, if we could only have the whole crowd placed under arrest!” muttered Randy.
All of the boys walked toward the stern of the schooner, but speedily found themselves confronted by Captain Gilsen and Bill Ferguson. One of the sailors was now at the wheel.
“Where you going?” demanded the commander of the Hildegarde, curtly.
“I wanted to take a look at my motor boat to see if it was all right,” answered Ralph.
“The motor boat is all O. K., and I’m claimin’ it,” came from Bill Ferguson. “I’m goin’ to keep it for the damage done to my auto and the liquor I was carryin’.”
“I had nothing to do with that accident, and the motor boat belongs to my father,” answered Ralph.
“See here! You keep a civil tongue in your head, or there’ll be trouble on this schooner,” bellowed Ferguson. “All of you fellows are in this together, and I guess one is about as responsible as another. Better make ’em go forward, Cap’n, and behave themselves,” he added to his partner.
“I want the motor boat, and I want it right now,” answered Ralph. “The storm has cleared away, and we want to go ashore.”
“You talk like that to me, and the next thing you know you’ll be in the ship’s brig!” roared Captain Gilsen. “We’re on the high seas now, and I’m in command here. Every one of you get forward, and be quick about it! I’ll let you know when you can go ashore.”
“All right, we’ll go forward,” answered Ralph, stiffly. “Just the same, I want you to understand that you’re laying up a lot of trouble for yourself.”
Another war of words followed, several of the hands, and likewise the mate, coming to the scene to look on. In the end, there was almost a pitched battle, the captain shaking his fist in the boys’ faces and threatening them with all sorts of punishment if they did not behave themselves and do exactly as he ordered. Ferguson also took part in the argument, and even grabbed Jack by the arm.
“You thought you could get away from me; but you can’t,” he said, with a leer. “You’re goin’ to pay good and plenty for that auto wreck.”
“Let go of my arm!” returned Jack, and gave the fellow a shove that sent him backward against the ship’s rail. At this Ferguson became furious, and would have drawn a pistol had not the mate of the Hildegarde interposed.
“No use of fighting now,” he said. “We’ve got a better way of squaring accounts,” and he looked suggestively at Ferguson.
“All right. Just as you say,” was the surly response. “But that young cub has got to be taught a lesson, and I’m the man to teach it to him.”
This quarrel made the position of the boys more uncomfortable than ever. They moved forward while several of the sailors jeered at them. Evidently the whole crowd was against the lads, the single exception being Ira Small. The tall, lanky sailor had some work to do, and this he did without taking part in the discussion or what followed.
“Where do you suppose we are?” asked Fred, after another hour had passed and the breeze seemed to be stronger than ever.
“I think we’re somewhere off the Jersey coast,” answered Ralph. “But how far east I can’t tell. There isn’t a sign of land anywhere.”
Slowly the hours dragged by, the boys not knowing what to think of the situation.
“I wonder if we can’t get aboard the motor boat to-night,” said Randy. “Of course, we’d have to be very careful about it. But if she is tied on behind, why couldn’t we slip down on the cable, one after another, and get aboard?”
“That might be all right,” said Jack. “But we’d have to take some grub along, and we’d have to be sure that we had gasoline.”
It was not until evening that Jack had another opportunity to talk to Ira Small.
“See here, Small,” he said, when they met in the semi-darkness, “if you want to leave the Hildegarde, why don’t you come aboard the motor boat with us?”
“I’d like to do it first rate,” answered the sailor, in a whisper. “But we’d have to be mighty careful or they’d be sure to spot us.”
“Do you think we could get hold of any provisions and some water to drink?”
“It might be done, lad. But we’d have to be mighty careful, I’ll tell you. If they saw any of us runnin’ away they’d shoot at us as sure as I’m standin’ here.”
“What about gasoline? Have they any on board?”
“Yes; they’ve a couple o’ barrels. You see, sometimes those small boats from shore have to hang around a long time to keep out o’ the way of revenue cutters. Then they use up their gasoline, and they’re glad ’nough to git a new supply from the schooner.”
“Where is the gasoline kept?”
“In the oil room up in the bow.”
“Locked up?”
“Yes. But the lock ain’t o’ much account, and could easy be broke.”
“What about grub?”
“To tell the truth, I don’t think we could git a-hold of much. But we might git some—’nough to last, say, a day or two.”
“And water?”
“Yes, we could git water easy ’nough.”
“Could we make it to-night?” asked Jack, eagerly.
“Better not try it to-night, lad. After what happened on deck this afternoon, you’ll be watched close. Better take it easy and pretend you’re waitin’ for what may turn up. It may be they’ll let you go to-morrow.”
“I don’t think they will,” answered Jack. “But if they do, do you want to go with us?”
“I’ll go if I kin make it,” answered Ira Small. “P’r’aps I kin drop overboard quiet like and git aboard the motor boat without their seein’ me.”
“Is anybody aboard the motor boat now?” questioned Jack, suddenly.
“Oh, no. She comes along all right alone, so the sailor who was on board come back to the ship.”
“Well, Small, you stick to us, and we’ll stick to you. You help us escape, and you shall be well rewarded.”
“I don’t want no reward. I want to git square with Cap’n Gilsen an’ his bunch,” answered Ira Small. “I’d like to git away in the motor boat an’ blow the Hildegarde to kingdom come. That bunch of critters on board this ship ain’t fit to live.”
“Well, I’ll see you again about this,” said Jack, as he noted the approach of Letts.
“All right, lad. I’ll be ready at the first chance. I want to git away just as quick as you do. I want to git back to the West Indies an’ spot the thirteen rocks. I’m after pirates’ gold!” concluded the lanky sailor, as he stalked away hastily.