The Last Cruise of the Spitfire Part 16

replied Lowell savagely. "I won't allow any boy to square up to me. And besides, Felix Stillwell is no great friend of mine."

"Nor of me, for the matter of that," said the captain. "But still, we must keep on the right side of him. Remember he has us where the hair is short."

"When do I get my pay?" spoke up Crocker, who was fast becoming the worse for liquor.

"That will be safe, never fear," said the captain, as he staggered to his feet, "only remember to keep a mum tongue in your head. If any one hears of our plans they may blow us sky high."

"I'm all right: only--What was that?"

As Crocker asked the last question all sprang to their feet in alarm.

I could have answered the question with ease. My position had become too cramped for me, and I had tried to change it. In doing so I dislodged several dishes from the rack, and they fell with a crash to the pantry floor.

"Some one's spying on us!" cried the captain. "Lowell, see who it is!"

CHAPTER XII.

THE STORM.

I was greatly alarmed at Captain Hannock's order to Lowell to investigate the cause of the crash in the pantry. If discovered I knew my punishment would be severe. These three men were playing a desperate game, and there was no telling what they would do if cornered.

"Oh, it was only a few dishes in the closet," said Lowell, as he helped himself to more liquor.

"It gave me quite a shock," declared Crocker, and he, too, took another drink.

These remarks relieved me somewhat. Perhaps they would not search the pantry after all. But the next words of the captain caused a chill to run down my back.

"I've lived in this cabin going on sixteen years," he said, "and I never yet knew them dishes to jump themselves down. I'm going to see what it was. If it's a spy I'll string him up, mark my words!"

I was now flat on the pantry floor, and to move would cause quite a noise. What was I to do? It did not become necessary for me to decide the question. The elements did it for me.

For at that moment the schooner gave a fearful lurch, first to the weather side and then over, and an instant later there was a tremendous crash on the deck.

For a moment the three men stood as if paralyzed, then all of them made a bolt for the companionway.

"Something's gone by the board!" I heard the captain exclaim, and then all of them pa.s.sed out of hearing.

As soon as they were gone I sprang to my feet, and pa.s.sing out of the pantry, made my way after them to the deck. None of the men saw me, and I lost no time in going forward.

The storm was now upon us, and, as Tony Dibble had reported, it was a heavy one. The sky was one ma.s.s of black, angry clouds, and the wind blew a perfect gale.

The schooner pitched and tossed to such a degree that I had great difficulty in reaching the forward deck, where I presently saw my sailor friend hard at work clearing away the remains of the boom of the mainmast, which had swung around and snapped off.

"h.e.l.lo, there you are," he sang out. "I was afraid you had gone overboard again."

"Not if I can help it," I replied. "That is, unless it becomes necessary."

"The old man's a fool," went on Dibble. "He has no business to sit in the cabin when there's a storm on. We might all go to the bottom."

"Will we weather it, do you think?"

"We can try," replied the old sailor, as cheerfully as he could.

Meanwhile Captain Hannock was shouting at the top of his voice. But the wind was so great that little could be heard, excepting such expressions as would have been better unuttered. He was now thoroughly awake to the danger that threatened us, and did all in his power to make up for the time he had lost.

Guided by the mate, the sailors were already taking in what little sail was still spread. In the wind this was no easy matter, and some of it was torn to shreds.

"This storm will cost the captain a neat penny," said Dibble, after the work was done.

"I don't know if it will or not," I replied. "He doesn't expect to lose anything on this trip."

"How can he help it?"

"He has a way. Maybe I'll tell you when we are alone."

"Thought the old man acted awfully careless," said Dibble, as he went off.

Instead of abating, the storm increased in violence, until I could hardly keep my feet upon the deck. At first I thought of retiring to the forecastle, but concluded that if anything happened I would rather be on deck, and so remained, and held on tightly to the ropes.

Fortunately a few familiar lights from the sh.o.r.e were still to be seen, or otherwise we would have been driven upon the rocks. But the wheelman kept us in deep water, and just enough sail was carried to keep the schooner head up.

The storm kept on nearly the entire night, and no one on board the Spitfire had a moment's sleep. I remained on deck the entire time, and kept close to Dibble and the other sailors.

I noticed that Crocker had little to say, and concluded that he was thinking over the scheme by which he was to make a thousand dollars. I thought it rather strange that Captain Hannock and Lowell had taken such a man into their confidence, but made up my mind that it was necessary in order to do what they desired.

As I stood upon the bow of the vessel a sudden flash of light revealed to me a sight that made my heart give a bound. It was a wreck not a hundred feet ahead of us, and driving onward at a furious rate!

For an instant I was spellbound; then I gave a wild cry that brought all the sailors to my side.

"What is it?" asked Dibble anxiously. "Are you hurt?"

"No, no. Didn't you see the wreck ahead?"

"No."

"Thought I saw something," said one of the others. "But I wasn't sure."

"What kind of a wreck?" asked the mate peering forward.

I pointed in the direction in which it had disappeared.

"A small sailboat of some kind," I returned. "I didn't see--Look! Look there!"

As I spoke there was another flash of light. For an instant all hands beheld a small sloop with a broken mast, kiting before the wind.