Brave Old Salt Part 27

"I will be with you soon," replied Somers, convinced by this message that there was some foundation for the threats of the traitor. "Go into the hold, Mr. Hudson, and find the fire, if there is any."

He was cool, and did not permit the wretch before him to see a muscle of his face move.

"There is fire there, Somers," said Pillgrim. "I know just where it is.

In a few minutes it will reach the ammunition boxes."

"Corporal," said Somers, opening the door again.

"Here, sir."

"Put the prisoner in irons, hands and feet," continued Somers.

"Do you mean that, Mr. Somers?" asked Pillgrim, quivering with emotion.

"I do mean it, and I shall stand by till it is done."

"Will you leave me in the midst of the fire, ironed hand and foot?"

"I will. You kindled the fire; and if you perish by it, blame yourself."

Pillgrim attempted to resist the execution of the order, but the marines were resolute, and he was fully ironed in spite of his struggles.

"Now lock him in," said Somers.

"One word, Mr. Somers."

"Not another word;" and the young commander hastened from the state-room, and made his way to the scene of peril in the hold.

He did not believe that even Pillgrim was stupid enough to blow up the Ben Nevis for mere revenge; and Captain Walmsley certainly would do nothing of the kind, for he could have no strong feeling on the subject, at least not enough to sacrifice the lives of himself and his crew.

There was a smell of fire in the hold--the hold filled with powder, sh.e.l.ls, and other combustibles. This fact tended to confirm the statement of the wretch; yet Somers was incredulous. When he reached the scene of danger he found the officers and the men timid about proceeding far into the hold, for if there was fire, there must soon be an explosion.

"Follow me, my men!" said he, as he walked aft on the cargo.

"Ay, ay, sir!" cheerfully responded the men,--for the American seaman will go anywhere an officer will lead him.

In the after part of the hold there was a dense smoke and a strong smell of fire.

"Keep back! You are all dead men!" shouted Captain Walmsley, as Somers advanced and discovered the speaker seated on a box.

"What are you doing here?" demanded Somers.

"I am going to blow up the steamer," replied the captain, who held in his hand a tin pan filled with burning oak.u.m, chips, and other combustible material.

"Well, why don't you do it, then?" said Somers.

"For G.o.d's sake, Mr. Somers, don't stay here," pleaded Mr. Hudson.

"You needn't, if you are afraid," replied he, coolly.

"Mr. Somers, in one instant I can blow the Ben Nevis all to pieces,"

said Captain Walmsley, with a proper exhibition of tragic adjuncts.

"Why don't you do it, then?"

"I am willing to give you one chance to save your lives."

"You are very considerate. Mr. Pillgrim was going to blow her up for my special benefit."

"If you think I am not in earnest, you are greatly mistaken," continued the captain, as he stirred up the burning substances in the pan.

"I see you are in earnest, and I am waiting for you to blow her up."

"I will give you ten minutes to save your lives; for I have sworn this vessel shall never go into port as a prize. You and your people can take to the boats and save yourselves."

"Will you blow her up when we are gone?"

"I will."

"I have had quite enough of this, Captain Walmsley," said Somers, advancing to the fire king, revolver in hand. "Now go on deck, or I will blow your brains out, if you have any."

The captain looked at the revolver, and he might as well have acknowledged his defeat, for his face proclaimed it.

"If I should drop this into the cargo, it would blow up the ship."

"No, it wouldn't. There are nothing but solid shot and sh.e.l.l under you,"

replied Somers; and perhaps his coolness and self-possession were in a great measure due to his knowledge of this fact, for he had carefully inspected the cargo immediately after the capture of the vessel.

Captain Walmsley, with the blazing censer in his hand, made his way over the boxes, bales, and barrels which lay above the heavy articles, to the hatchway. The pan and its contents were thrown overboard, and the men informed that there was no danger. The captain was ordered into the cabin, where he was put in double irons, as his fellow-conspirator had been. He protested, at first, against this indignity. Then he begged, declaring that Mr. Pillgrim was the author of the plot by which it was intended to recapture the steamer. It was fully believed that Somers and his crew would abandon the vessel as soon as it was announced that there was fire in the hold, knowing that her cargo would readily explode.

Captain Walmsley declared that Pillgrim was a fool; if he had kept still till the fire was discovered, instead of declaiming over it beforehand, the plan would have succeeded. Somers doubted it; and when the humiliated captain was ironed, he was sent into his state-room, and a sentinel placed at his door. This business was hardly completed before the marine in charge of Pillgrim informed Somers that his prisoner wished to speak with him. The request was peremptorily refused.

"There, Mr. Hudson, I think we have fixed those fellows so that we shall know where to find them when we want them," said Somers, when the conspirators had been disposed of.

"Yes, sir; and if any other man had been in charge of this vessel, he would have lost her, Captain Somers. I should have voted for abandoning her as soon as I was satisfied that she was on fire."

"Perhaps I should, if I had not known the powder and sh.e.l.ls were in the fore hold. But I did not believe the villains had pluck enough to blow themselves up for the sake of blowing me up. If there had been any real danger, they would have been the first to run away."

"Well, sir, I think you have managed them exceedingly well."

Somers was perfectly willing he should think so, and perhaps he thought so himself. At any rate, he was heartily rejoiced to get out of the sc.r.a.pe so easily, and fully resolved that the conspirators should have no further opportunity to exercise their talents at plotting on board the Ben Nevis.

There was a mystery still unsolved to the young officer, and with Mr.

Hudson he repaired to the state-room in which Pillgrim had pa.s.sed the night,--or ought to have pa.s.sed it,--and commenced a further examination. There was nothing supernatural, or even very remarkable, in the absence of the prisoner, when the carpet was pulled up, and a square aperture, now closed by a pine board, was discovered in the corner of the room. In the ceiling there was a similar aperture, which had been filled up to correspond with the deck above. It was evident that a ventilator, which had been used to convey fresh air to the after hold, had been removed at some recent period.

As Captain Walmsley had indicated this state-room for the use of Pillgrim, it was probable that he had chosen it on account of this means of egress. Some time in the night he must have visited the prisoner, entering through this aperture, and conducted him to the hold below.

In the fine weather and smooth sea the Ben Nevis nearly made good the claim of the conspirators in regard to her speed, for all day she logged fifteen knots, and at three bells in the first dog watch Cape Henry was sighted, and at ten o'clock in the evening she anch.o.r.ed off Fortress Monroe.