Captain Calamity Part 9

"That," answered Calamity shortly, pointing to the _Hawk's_ guns.

"This is outrageous, and I shall----"

"Your papers, Captain," interrupted Calamity peremptorily.

There was something in his voice which made the _Ann's_ skipper realise that argument was not only useless, but probably dangerous as well. He shrugged his shoulders and led the way to his cabin, where he invited Calamity to sit down. Then he unlocked a drawer and took from it a metal deed-box which he placed on the table.

"Where the devil are the keys?" he muttered, and, stooping over the box, began to fumble in his pockets.

Suddenly stepping back, he raised his head, and, as he did so, gave a sharp exclamation of mingled rage and fear. He was staring right into the barrel of a nasty-looking automatic pistol which Calamity was pointing directly at him.

"I've seen that game played before," said Calamity with a quiet smile.

"Hand me your pistol; b.u.t.t first, please."

And the discomfited skipper of the _Ann_ reluctantly handed over a fully loaded revolver, which he had been in the act of drawing from his pocket when he chanced to look down the barrel of the automatic pistol.

"Thanks," said Calamity as he took it. "Now for those papers, if you'll be so kind."

Without a word, the other unlocked the box and handed over a bundle of doc.u.ments. Calamity glanced over them hastily and then smiled.

"Your other papers, Captain," he said.

"Other papers! What other papers d'you mean? They're all there."

"I think not. If you wish to avoid trouble, you will fetch out your alternative papers at once. You didn't hoist the German ensign without having something to justify it."

"I swear that----"

"Don't," broke in Calamity. "I can do all the swearing I want for myself."

"But I can't give you what I haven't got!"

Calamity leant across the table till his face almost touched the other's.

"The papers," he said in a low, menacing voice. "Understand me?"

The other did, apparently, for, with a muttered curse, he unlocked one of the table drawers and took therefrom a second bundle of doc.u.ments.

"Take them and be d.a.m.ned to you," he said, flinging them on the table.

Calamity picked up the papers, and, as he glanced at them there was a look of grim satisfaction on his face.

"Will you be good enough to explain to me, Captain Noel, how it is that you happen to have two different sets of papers?" he inquired. "The first state that the _Ann_ is a British ship, owned by Masters and Ready of Sunderland, and that she has cleared for Hongkong from Rio. The second batch declare her to be a German vessel, cleared for Bangkok from Bremen. They give the owner as----"

He stopped abruptly as he glanced again at the paper he was holding. A look of incredulous astonishment appeared on his face, but it was almost immediately succeeded by one of the keenest satisfaction.

"----Isaac Solomon of Singapore," he concluded.

The other made no answer, and for a moment or two Calamity regarded him thoughtfully.

"It's a clever trick and how you managed to obtain these two sets of papers I don't pretend to guess," he went on. "It may interest you, however, to know that the esteemed Mr. Isaac Solomon is a dear--one might almost say, expensive--friend of mine, and no doubt he will let me into the secret later on. What is your cargo, Captain?"

"Sand ballast and Portland cement," growled the other.

"No doubt the cargo you took out was rather more interesting. But what's this?" he added, holding up a doc.u.ment heavily sealed.

"I don't know."

"Still, it would be as well to find out," and without hesitation he calmly broke the seals.

To the astonishment of them both, the doc.u.ment was absolutely blank; to all appearances a virgin sheet of paper.

"H'm, this is strange," murmured Calamity. "It is not usual to enclose and seal a blank sheet of paper with the ship's doc.u.ments. Have you got a candle?"

Captain Noel produced one from a shelf and lit it. He seemed as eager to find out the meaning of this mysterious enclosure as Calamity himself.

The latter held the paper in front of the flame and, as he had expected, writing began to appear. When the whole communication became legible he spread the doc.u.ment out on the table and commenced to read.

It was, in effect, a letter from a German official to Mr. Isaac Solomon of Singapore, informing him that his last cargo had reached its first destination, a neutral port, without mishap. This was followed by some very valuable advice concerning the manner in which another cargo--referred to as "Eastern merchandise"--might be delivered at the same port. There were also other matters of even greater interest, but Calamity decided to study these at a more convenient time.

"I have only one more question to ask you, Captain," he said. "What was the exact nature of this 'Eastern merchandise'?"

"Copper and nickel," answered the other.

"A very profitable cargo, I should imagine; yet not as profitable as this one little piece of paper should prove to me--eh, Captain Noel?"

"I'll take my oath I knew nothing of this," answered the latter eagerly.

"You knew about the cargo, at any rate. However, that's a matter which doesn't concern me. I shall hand you back your German clearance papers, but the English ones, together with this interesting little doc.u.ment, I shall keep."

"You--you're going to keep the English papers?" faltered the other.

"Yes."

"But, good G.o.d, man, I shall be captured! I can't reach a port with German papers. I'm at the mercy of the first British cruiser I meet!"

"Exactly. And dear Isaac Solomon, bless his gentle heart, will have his ship confiscated. Still, I'll wager he'd sooner the authorities took his ship than this piece of paper."

Calamity rose to his feet, and, leaving the German papers on the table, put the others in his pocket.

"I'll wish you good-day, Captain Noel," he said. "I may capture a few prizes during my cruise, but I can never hope to get another like this.

If you should meet Mr. Solomon during the next week or so kindly remember me to him. Captain Calamity; he'll not have forgotten the name."

He left the steamer, and, returning to the _Hawk_, told Mr. d.y.k.es to continue the original course.

"Very good, sir," answered the mate. "I suppose," he added, "there weren't nothin' worth freezin' on to aboard that packet?"

Calamity made no answer, and, going to his cabin, locked himself in.

Meanwhile, to the surprise and disappointment of the crew, the _Ann_ was permitted to proceed on her way and the _Hawk_ resumed her course.