CHAPTER XIV
A BOY SCOUT WITH A “PUNCH”
When Ned saw the conning tower of the submarine drop out of sight he rowed over to the spot where she had gone down and tried to look into the depths of the sea.
The water was fairly clear, and he could see two great bulks below instead of one. He knew then what was taking place.
“The Shark is bent on murder,” he mused. “Perhaps they wouldn’t be so ready to sink the Sea Lion if they knew that the manager of the whole rotten business was a prisoner on her.”
He could not see clearly, of course, but he waited and watched for some moments. Then the Shark crashed with the Sea Lion and fell off, apparently crippled.
“So that’s the reason Frank dropped to the bottom!” thought Ned. “He knew the Shark couldn’t get a good crack at the Sea Lion when she lay on the bottom. Wonder if the Shark is injured seriously?”
He watched until the Shark turned to the east, curving around the point of land which she had passed to the attack, then turned toward the shore. Jack was still there, and he must find him before nightfall.
Much to his surprise, he saw Jack, Hans and the Englishman, Hamblin by name, watching him from the beach. He waved his hat and shouted to them, wondering all the time where Jack had picked up his acquaintances. In five minutes he was on the beach.
“Is this the boy you wanted me to talk with?” asked Hamblin, as Ned drew up his boat and approached the group.
“The same,” laughed Jack, “only you mustn’t call him a boy! He’s a big man in his own country.”
Hamblin eyed Ned critically for a minute and extended his hand. Ned laughed as he took it.
“I’ve met you before!” he said.
“In a cheap lodging house on the Bowery,” said Hamblin. “You were looking for a man who had robbed a bank an’ made a run for it.”
“Exactly,” Ned said.
“An’ the bloomin’ moocher was in the next room to mine, an’ you got him. I was bloody well glad to get the five p’un’ note you tipped me then. Stone broke I was.”
“You earned it,” Ned replied.
“It put me on me legs again,” Hamblin went on. “An’ I took ship an’ come out to this blasted country. I wish I was on the Bowery again, blast me eyes if I don’t.”
“What are you doing here?” asked Ned.
“Runnin’ a bloomin’ store an’ scrappin’ with the Chinks,” was the reply. “It’s a bally bad game, out here.”
“Rotten!” echoed Hans.
Hamblin made a break for the German.
“You thief!” he shouted.
“Hold on,” cried Jack, “let me tell you about it,” and he proceeded to inform the Englishman of the exact situation of affairs.
“I thought he was a bloomin’ moocher,” said Hamblin, in a moment. “He acted like one.”
“Who is he?” asked Ned of Jack, pointing toward Hans, who now sat on the sand with his knees hunched up in his hands.
“That’s Hans,” laughed Jack.
Hans threw out his hand in Boy Scout salute.
“Owl Padrol, Philadelphia!” he said.
“Looks like an Owl, eh?” asked Jack.
“He is an Owl!” roared the Englishman. “He works for me, an’ he wants to sleep all day an’ sit up all the bloomin’ night. He’s an Owl all but the wise look.”
“You loaver!” cried Hans, well knowing that Hamblin would not be permitted to attack him again. “You starf mine pelly! You put bugs to sleep in mine ped! How should the nights get me sleep when the ped is one processions of pugs?”
Jack now called Ned aside and told him of the meeting of the conspirators at the Hamblin store, of the sealed packet, and of the seeming quarrel, as described by Hans. Ned turned to the Englishman.
“They met there by appointment,” he asked, “the man from the Shark and the man who waited for him?”
“Yes, by appointment.”
“It was about papers?”
“Yes, and gold.”
“Where did the man who waited here come from?”
“Some point in China.”
Jack gave a low whistle.
“China!” he cried. “I wouldn’t have believed it.”
“Did you know either of the men who met there–ever see either of them before?” asked Ned, then.
“One of them–a Captain Moore, formerly of the United States Navy,” was the astonishing reply.
“Where had you seen him?” asked Ned, motioning to Jack to remain silent.
“He first came here on a man-of-war about six months ago.”
“Well, the documents were taken back on board the Shark, then?” asked Ned.
“Yes, I think so.”
“You don’t know what the packet contained?”
“Papers, they said.”
“Then it’s all right!” Jack cried. “We can now bunch our hits! The papers and the men we want are on board the Shark. All we’ve got to do is to catch the Shark!”
Just then the Sea Lion rose out of the ocean and they saw Frank and Jimmie waving to them.
“So they’re all right,” Ned said. “A moment ago the Shark was ramming them!”
“Why don’t we go on board, then?” demanded Jack. “If there’s going to be a fight on the bottom I want to be in on it. Bet your sweet life I do! Hurry on board!”
“Look a liddle oudt!” cried Hans at this moment. “They say with their hats unt hands somedings. Look a liddle oudt!”
Ned did “look a liddle oudt” just then, and saw Captain Moore and a dozen or more natives crowding through the thicket, the Captain carrying a revolver in a threatening manner.
“Stand quiet,” the ex-naval officer said. “I don’t intend to harm any of you. Especially you, Mr. Hamblin. I only want to know where my son Arthur is.”
“I haven’t got your son!” blustered Hamblin.
“Make me a search!” cried Hans.
“I’m not talking to you two,” snarled the Captain. “I’m directing my talk to this sneak,” pointing a shaking finger at Ned, whose muscles drew under the insult.
Hans flushed and started forward, but the natives closed about the ex- naval officer.
“Where is my son?” demanded Moore, flourishing his gun nervously.
“Where did you see him last?” asked Ned.
“That is neither here nor there,” the Captain replied. “I want to know what you have done with him.”
“You sent him on a dangerous mission–a mission of murder,” Ned said, presently.
“I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“You sent him to wreck the Sea Lion.”
“That is not true. I have not been on board the Shark.”
“Well, some one sent him. Anyway, he came on board the Sea Lion and got caught. Now, what would you have done under the circumstances? You would have given him a banquet, I presume, if he had tried to murder you and got caught at it.”
“I don’t care what he has done,” stormed the Captain. “I want to know where he is now.”
“He’s at the bottom of the sea!” Jack cut in.
The Captain staggered and turned a white face to the speaker. Ned was about to explain by saying that young Moore was at the bottom of the sea in the Sea Lion when Moore sprang toward him.
“You murdered him!” shouted the enraged Captain. “You murdered him, and I’ll have your life.”
He lifted his pistol and fired, but the bullet went whistling through the air instead of finding the mark intended for it. Hans, seeing the peril Ned was in, had stepped forward and landed a knock-out blow on the Captain’s jaw.
“You loaver!” he shouted, standing over him.
The natives rushed forward as the Captain fell, uttering a jargon which no one understood save the trader. Hamblin saw the danger in the threatening looks of the fellows and sprang for the gun, which had dropped from Moore’s hand.
He reached it not a second too soon, for a brawny native was already snatching at it. The fellow seized the trader’s wrist as he lifted the weapon and uttered a few words in a menacing tone.
This was enough for Hans, who stood close by, rubbing the bruised knuckles of his right hand. He struck out again, throwing the whole weight of his body into the blow. The native went down and the others drew away from the group about him.
“Great clip!” shouted Jack, as the trader threatened the natives with the gun. “You seem to be the White Man’s Hope!”
Hans rubbed the knuckles again and grinned, such a bland grin that both Ned and Jack burst into laughter.
“You sure have a punch!” Jack went on. “Where did you get it?”
“Py the verein just,” was the reply.
“You’re all right, anyhow,” Ned said.
The trader was now addressing the natives in a language–if it was a language–which the boys could not at all understand. They noted the result of the talk with joy, however, for the black-skinned group turned toward the village and soon disappeared in the thicket, taking the knocked out fellow with them.
Captain Moore now opened his eyes and staggered to his feet. His face was deadly pale and his eyes flashed like those of an enraged wolf.
“You shall pay for this!” he shouted.
“Jack did not finish his sentence when he told you that your son was at the bottom of the sea,” Ned said, thinking that the deception had gone far enough. “He should have added that he was safe in the Sea Lion.”
“Then I demand his release!” shouted the other.
“I can’t bring him to you,” Ned said, “but I’ll take you where he is.”
“And if I refuse to go?”
“You’ll go just the same.”
“A prisoner?”
“Certainly–a prisoner charged with piracy on the high seas.”
“You’re a meddling fool!” roared the Captain.
Ned paid no attention to the personal abuse of the angry man, but turned to Hamblin.
“I want to talk with you,” he said, “but I must get this man on board the Sea Lion first. You’ll wait here?”
Before the trader could reply, a shout came over the water from the submarine, and a column of smoke came out of the open hatch.
“I guess you’ve got all the trouble on the Sea Lion you need there,” snarled Moore, “without taking me on board. Your ship’s on fire!”
CHAPTER XV
A DESPERATE PRISONER
Just as the attention of Frank and Jimmie was called to the Captain and the natives advancing upon Ned and Jack from the thicket, they heard a great beating on a door or wall below. There was only one person in the submarine save themselves, and so they knew that it was the captive who was kicking up the row.
“He knows something unusual has been going on,” Jimmie observed, “and wants to turn whatever takes place to his own advantage. Suppose we go below and see what he’s doing.”
“He’s frightened half to death, I take it,” Frank surmised. “The two bumps the Sea Lion got from the Shark must have given him the impression that we had collided with a rock or reef.”
“Serves him right,” Jimmie replied. “He ought to be willing to take a little of his own medicine occasionally. He tried to kill us when he came on board.”
The pounding below continued, and the boys went down to the door of the room where young Moore was held captive. The noise came from within, sure enough.
“What do you want?” demanded Frank, calling loudly so that his voice might penetrate the thick door.
“Let me out!”
“You’ve got your nerve!” answered Jimmie.
“Let me out, please!” continued the prisoner.
“Why?” asked Frank.
“Open the door and you’ll see,” was the reply.
Jimmie sniffed at the air in the larger apartment and pulled Frank by the arm.
“Smell anything?” he asked.
“Something does seem queer,” the latter replied.
In a second there was an unmistakable odor of burning cloth in the room, and the boys began hunting about for the source of it. The pounding on the door continued.
“Open up!” young Moore shouted. “Open up if you don’t want to lose your ship.”
“I’ll bet the fire’s in there,” Jimmie ventured. “I’m goin’ to open the door and find out.”
He turned the key, which was in the lock on the outside, and in a second the door was open. A burst of smoke shot out into the larger apartment.
Through the thick veil of the smoke, in a corner of the room, the boys saw a spurt of flame. It was running along the floor, nipping at the fringe on an expensive rug.
When the door was opened young Moore dashed out, as if desiring to pass the two boys before they got the smoke out of their eyes. Frank caught him by the arm and held him fast.
By this time the large room where the boys stood was well filled with smoke, and Jimmie opened every avenue by which it might travel to the main hatch in the conning tower. In a few moments the interior of the submarine was comparatively free from smoke.
Jimmie took a pail of water from the tap and tossed it on the creeping flame in the little room. It served its purpose and the danger was over. Frank, still holding Moore by the arm, pointed to a chair. The young fellow seemed to have no notion of taking the seat, however, for he made a dash for the hatch, which was wide open.
In order to gain the staircase it was necessary for him to pass the place where Jimmie stood. As he came up to the boy he struck out with all his force and continued his flight–for a second.
When the boy saw him getting by, he dropped to the floor and seized him by the ankles, with the result that both were rolling about in the rich rug in no time.
“Go to it!” shouted Jimmie, as Moore tried to break away from him. “Catch him, Frank!” he continued, as the stronger man pulled away.
It was quite a neat little battle, but in the end numbers won, and Moore was ornamented with the irons once more.
“Why didn’t you say the boat was on fire?” asked Frank. “You might have smothered in there.”
“Wish I had!” gritted Moore.
“Go back and do it over again,” Jimmie suggested. “You can have all the time you want!”
“Why didn’t you let us know at first?” insisted Frank.
“Well, if you must know,” the captive replied, “I was afraid you would extinguish the fire by flooding the room, if I told what the trouble was. Besides, I thought I could get away if you opened the door.”
“Did you set the fire?”
“I was lighting a cigarette, and–“
“That’s enough,” Frank said. “Any one who will smoke cigarettes deserves to be burned alive. Wish we had flooded the room after you got well scorched and left you in it.”
“You may wish so before you have done with me,” threatened the other. “I’ll get you yet–both of you.”
“Well, get back into the den,” Frank commanded. “We have had about all the lip we can stand from you. You tried to murder Lieutenant Scott at Mare Island Navy Yard, you attempted our lives when you came to this boat, and now you set us on fire and attempt to run away. You’ve got a long account to settle, young man.”
“You can bluff now,” Moore retorted, “but that is all you can do. My father is on the lookout for you and that wise guy you call Ned Nestor. When you go back, without the gold, he’ll get you good and plenty. You know it! Now lock me up and go away, for I’m sick of the sight of your impudent faces.”
Jimmie forced the prisoner into his room and closed the door.
“You’ll have to make a supper off that smoke!” he called out through the keyhole. “You’re too fly a guy to take food to.”
“I’ll charge it up to you!” came back from the den.
“Nervy chap!” Frank said, as the two boys hastened back to the conning tower to see what had become of Ned and Jack.
“Cheekiest fellow I ever saw!” Jimmie added. “He really thinks he’s goin’ to give us the slip. He really believes we daren’t do a thing to him. I’ll show him!”
When the boys came in sight of the beach again they saw Captain Moore threatening Ned with a revolver. Then they saw the Captain tumble over on the sand, with the German standing over him.
“Gee!” Jimmie shouted. “Prize fight!”
“Looks like it.”
There was silence in the conning tower for a second, then both boys shouted out their joy as they saw Ned and Jack getting the upper hand of Moore and the natives.
“Now they’ll soon be on board,” Frank observed, “and we’ll find out what they’ve been up to.”
“Bet they didn’t find out any more than I did,” Jimmie cried. “I’ll bet they had a scrap too, and that’s the only thing I wanted that I didn’t get.”
“Wonder who that Dutch-looking fellow is?” Frank mused. “I believe Ned is putting him into the boat!”
“I’ll go a dollar to a doughnut that it’s a Boy Scout!” laughed Jimmie. “Don’t look the part, though, does he?”
“Why do you think it is a Boy Scout?”
“Because we’ve always found one. If we should go to the North Pole, we’d find one there–always busy an’ ready to do a fellow a good turn, too. You know it!”
“And that big fellow, with the paunch and the important look seems familiar to me,” mused Frank. “Don’t you recognize him?”
“Sure,” was the reply. “That is Captain Moore. Don’t you remember the bluff he put up in the Black Bear clubroom before we left little old New York?”
“I believe you are right.”
“Well, we’ll soon know all about it,” said the boy. “Ned is bringin’ the Captain an’ the Dutch guy off to us. Funny you’ll see so many rare specimens when you hain’t got no gun!”
Hans grinned delightedly when he set foot on the conning tower of the submarine and glanced inquisitively into the interior. His round, baby blue eyes protruded in wonder as they fell on the comfortably furnished apartment below.
“Jump down, Dutch!” Jimmie laughed. “There is where they make men out of Dutchmen. Don’t be afraid.”
“Iss dot so?” grunted Hans. “Vell, if mens iss madt dere, vy dondt you go pelow?”
“Good for you, Dutch!” cried Frank. “Hit him again. He’s too fresh, anyway.”
“Where did you get it, Ned?” asked Jimmie. “You’ll have to bake it when we get back to New York.”
“Better look out, lad,” Ned replied, “this boy has the kick of a mule in his left. Let him alone.”
During this short by-play Captain Moore stood scowling on the conning tower, crowded close against the boys, for the platform was a small one. He now faced Ned angrily.
“What is the proposition?” he demanded.
“I have brought you here to see your son,” Ned replied. “If you’ll step down the stairs I’ll show you where he is.”
“He ought to be at the bottom of the sea,” Frank said, “for he tried to fire the boat.”
“I have no doubt that he resents his treatment,” said Moore. “I, myself, would sink your craft this moment if it lay in my power.”
“No doubt of it,” Ned said. “You’ve come to the end of your rope, though. All the mischief you can do now is to yourself.”
Moore snarled out some reply intended to be exasperating, but which made no impression on the boys, and set his feet to the stairs. The boys followed him, but the ex-naval officer reached the floor first, and, with a bound, reached the mechanism which gave forward motion to the submarine, the prow of which was turned toward the beach.
Ned sprang forward, but the boat was already under motion. It was unquestionably the intention of the prisoner to wreck her on the beach, hoping to rescue his son and make his own escape in the confusion.
Moore struck savagely at Ned as he attempted to draw him away from the lever, but missed. In a second Jimmie had his arms about those of the Captain and they went down together.
Ned leaped to the lever and shut off the power. In three minutes more the Sea Lion must have been wrecked on the shelving shore. As it was she stopped within a few yards of the danger line.
“You’re a pair of murderers!” said Ned, coolly, as he seized Moore by the throat and flung him into the room where his son was incarcerated.
Young Moore’s face appeared at the door as his father was forced in, and angry words between the two followed as the door was closed.
“There’ll be a social session in there now,” laughed Ned. “Each one will blame the other for the predicament they are in!”
“Let ’em fight it out,” Jimmie advised, rubbing a bruise on his arm, which had been somewhat injured in the fall.
Hans was now gazing about the boat with something more than curiosity in his eyes. He had observed how quickly the submarine had responded to a touch of the lever, and was actually wondering if he wasn’t on board one of the magic ships he had read of in the nursery.
“Sit down outside this door and see that nothing more happens in the kick line,” Ned directed, thinking to give the uneasy youth something to occupy his mind. “If they get the door open, give them one of those left-hand jolts.”
With another glance about the German sat down contentedly. Then Ned went to the stern and looked out of the glass panel.
“Is the Shark still in sight?” asked Frank. “Look out to the east and you’ll see her if she’s anywhere about.”
“I’m afraid she’s too far away by this time,” Ned replied.
“Then we’d better be moving!” Frank said. “I’ll take the boat and go after Jack, then we’ll be off.”
“Don’t lose any time,” advised Ned.
Frank, accompanied by Jimmie, was off in the rowboat in short order, and before long Jack was on board.
“Hamblin, the trader, wants to talk with you, Ned,” he said as he came down into the cabin.
“He’ll have to wait until we catch the Shark,” Ned said. “I’m afraid we have lost too much time now.”
Jack’s report had shown him that the sealed packet was still on the Shark, and it was his purpose to keep after the submarine until he caught up with her. Just what would take place then he did not know, but he was willing to take great risks in order to get hold of the packet.
He did not know what it contained, but he did know that it was claimed by the enemies of his government, that it held papers which, if brought out, might smash several international treaties. His own belief was that the packet would establish the fair dealing of the Washington officials, but this was only a matter of opinion.
While the Sea Lion was dropping down and getting under way he talked the matter over with Frank. That young man was inclined to be rather pessimistic over the matter.
“If the papers in the packet are of the sort you think they are,” he declared, “they will destroy them before they will permit you to get hold of them.”
“They might do so only for the fact that this is a money-loving world we are living in,” Ned declared, with a smile. “Those papers, whatever they are, are worth a lot of cash to some one, and they will not be destroyed.”
The submarine was soon moving swiftly through the water, only a few yards from the sandy bottom. The general direction was east, toward the harbor of Hongkong.
Just before the night fell Jack, who was on the lookout in front, peering through the glass panel, declared that the Shark, or some other submarine, was in sight.
“She’s crippled, too,” he cried. “She advances a few paces and then stops. They are having all kinds of trouble with her. Just lie still a short time, and you’ll see her mounting to the surface.”
The Sea Lion was brought to a halt, and the boys watched the dark bulk ahead with all their eyes. Their own boat was dark, but directly lights flared out ahead.
“There she goes to the top!” Jimmie cried.
“And there,” exclaimed Frank, “is a signal from Hans which shows that there’s something doing with the prisoners!”
CHAPTER XVI
A BLUFF THAT DIDN’T WORK
Leaving the prow, Ned hastened down a little passage and came out in the room where Hans sat, grinning, before a door behind which there was a great commotion. The pounding was incessant, and the voices of the prisoners came clearly through the solid panels.
“Open!” cried the voice of Captain Moore. “There’s danger ahead for you. Open the door.”
“Little he cares for our hides!” Jimmie commented. “If there was any danger he’d be the last one to warn us.”
“Just a crack,” pleaded Moore. “Just a crack, and I’ll tell you what you are facing.”
Ned opened the door a trifle and saw Moore’s face there, looking almost frantic in the strong light.
“Well?” Ned asked.
“There’s death for us all if you go ahead,” the Captain declared. “Stop where you are.”
“Soh!” grunted the German.
“Oh, I’m not pretending that I care for your rascally lives,” Moore went on, vindictively. “I’d kill you all this moment if it lay in my power to do so. I’m thinking of my own safety.”
“Well?” repeated Ned. “What is it?”
“The boat you are chasing has dynamite on board, and a tube gun. If you go nearer, she’ll blow you out of the water.”
“That’s cheerful,” Jimmie grinned. “Why didn’t she do it before?”
“Probably because she thought to get away. I’ve been watching her through the little port and I know that she is now waiting for you to come up and receive a dynamite ball.”
“It strikes me,” Ned replied, “that she is halting because her running gear is out of whack. She rammed us not long ago and got the worst of it.”
Captain Moore thrust his head close to the little opening between the casing and the door and almost screamed:
“Do you mean that she is crippled so that she can’t get away from you?”
“I said that I thought she had injured herself in trying to destroy the Sea Lion,” was the reply.
“Well, even if she can’t get away,” the Captain went on, with a change of expression, “she can blow you out of the water.”
“We’ll have to take our chances on that,” Ned replied.
After some further talk, the boy entered the room where the prisoners were and closed the door, leaving Hans on guard outside. Captain Moore frowned as he seated himself by the port.
“It is bad enough to be confined here without being obliged to endure your company,” he said.
“What a snake you would have made!” commented Ned. “I never saw a fellow loaded to the guards with venom as you are. Will you answer a few questions?”
“Depends on what they are,” was the reply.
“If they will aid you, you will answer them, eh?”
“Of course.”
“And if they will assist me, you won’t?”
The Captain nodded.
“All right,” laughed Ned. “Suppose the correct answers would help us both? What then?”
“Oh, what’s the use of all this nagging?” demanded the son. “If you have anything to say, say it, and get out.”
“And you’re a pretty good imitation of this other snake,” Ned said, glancing at the young fellow. “If you interfere in the talk again I’ll put you in the dungeon and forget to feed you.”
Captain Moore motioned to his son to remain quiet.
“This cheap Bowery boy has the upper hand now,” he said. “Wait until conditions are reversed.”
“Captain,” began Ned, paying no attention to the venom of the other, “will you tell me what the packet that was rescued from the wreck by the pirates under your command contained?”
“What packet?” demanded the Captain, surprise showing on his drawn features. “What packet do you refer to?”
“The mysterious packet you came to this part of the world to obtain. You know very well what I mean.”
“We came, under contract, for the gold,” was the reply.
“Yet your boat went away and left most of it on the bottom after the packet was discovered.”
“She came to this harbor after supplies.”
“And neglected to secure them!”
“Well, there was trouble with the trader.”
“You met a Shark man, on the island?”
“Of course. I came here to meet him, to receive a report as to the success of the expedition.”
“You received such a report?”
“Yes.”
“You were told that the gold had been found intact?”
“That is not for discussion here.”
“You were astonished when your son did not make his appearance?”
“Frankly, yes.”
“You expected that he would bring you the report?”
“Yes; he was in charge of the Shark.”
“If he had been in charge when the man landed, he would have given you the packet?”
“If he had had a packet, or anything else taken from the wreck, he would have turned it over to me.”
“But the man you met refused to do so?”
“How do you know what took place?”
“That is immaterial, so long as I do know. Tell, me, what was the difficulty at the store–money?”
The Captain did not answer.
“Now,” Ned went on, “you stated a moment ago that you came here under contract to get the gold. Who are your principals?”
No reply was received.
“What will the man now in charge of the Shark do with the packet he refused to deliver to you?” was the next question.
“He will transfer it to me as soon as we meet again.”
“You are sure of that?”
“Reasonably sure.”
“Then what will you do with it?”
“Anything given to me will be turned over to my principals.”
“But, suppose the contents of the packet are not favorable to your side of the case? Suppose they clear the United States Government of suspicion?”
Captain Moore gave a quick start of amazement.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” he said.
“In that case,” Ned went on, “I presume you will destroy the papers? If you can’t entangle the Government that fed you so long in some trouble, you won’t play.”
“You’ve been reading some of the red-covered detective stories, and think you’re a sleuth!” snarled the Captain.
“You may as well tell me all about it,” Ned urged.
“I have told you all I know about the condition of the wreck.”
“And the packet?”
“There was a long envelope, but I did not see what it contained.”
“Yet you came here to make sure that it should not get out of your hands unless it would aid you in your treachery?”
The prisoner was silent.
“Why didn’t you obtain a knowledge of its contents?”
“The man who held it refused to make delivery.”
“In other words, he demanded more money than you were authorized to pay him?”
“I have nothing to say about that.”
“He took the packet back to the Shark?”
“Of course.”
“And made an appointment to meet you at Hongkong?”
“It does not matter to you what our arrangement is.”
“Oh, yes it does, for I’m telling you now that the appointment will never be kept.”
“You don’t know what peril you are in this minute,” snarled the other. “There are bombs under your keel now!”
Ned did not like the tone of satisfaction in which the words were spoken. The Shark had passed slowly over the spot where the Sea Lion now lay, and torpedoes and bombs might have been laid.
“Thank you for the hint,” he finally said. “I’ll go out and see about it.”
“When you want further information,” frowned the Captain, with a scornful laugh, “come in and I’ll give it to you–just as I have on this occasion.”
“No trouble to show goods!” broke in the son.
Ned opened the door and motioned to Hans and Jack, who were just outside, watching and listening to such few words as came through the heavy panels of the door.
“Take this impertinent young murderer to the den,” he said, as Hans and Jack stepped up, “and leave him there in darkness. Don’t feed him until I give the word.”
The young man’s struggles only increased the violence which was used in his removal. The boys would have killed the man who had attempted the lives of all the crew if they had been directed to do so.
Then Ned turned back to the Captain, now foaming with rage and calling to his son to remain docile until his turn should come.
“You pride yourself on having put me off without any information whatever,” the boy said. “You advise me to come again and meet with the same treatment. Now, let me tell you, for your information, that I came in here to get answers to only two questions.”
“Did you get them?”
“Indeed I did,” was the reply.
The Captain looked disgusted.
“What were they?” he asked.
“I wanted to know if the man who landed from the Shark had the packet, and if he took it back on board with him. You gave me the information I sought. You even told me that the packet had not been opened when you saw it.”
The Captain stormed up and down the little room in a towering rage.
“If I could turn a lever now and blow us all into eternity,” he shouted, “I would do it!”
“Your mind seems to run on blowing up somebody.”
Moore gritted his teeth and made no reply.
Ned locked him in again and went out to Frank, who was in charge of the boat.
“Get her over to the west a few yards,” he said. “Our friend the Captain says the Shark is sowing torpedoes along here, and we can’t afford to be blown up just now.”
“The Shark is at the surface now,” Frank said. “Anybody on the bottom?”
“Not so far as I can see, but it is pretty thick down here.”
“Why not go to the surface?” asked Jack.
“Yes; she knows we are here, all right,” Frank added.
“Well, keep to the bottom until you change position, then come to the top and keep dark. Not a light in sight, understand, and the tower up just high enough to keep out the water.”
“What are you going to do?” asked Frank.
“I want to get aboard the Shark,” was the cool reply.
“Yes; I see you doing it,” Frank said.
“I can only try,” was the reply. “The boat is headed for Hongkong, where she is to deliver the packet we want. She is to deliver it to Captain Moore on the payment of a certain sum of money, but if the Captain is not there she will turn it over to whoever has the price. We can’t allow that.”
“Of course not; but how are you going to get on board the Shark? If you don’t watch out you’ll be served as you served young Moore.”
“The minute the Shark strikes Hongkong,” Ned replied, “we will have a thousand places to search for those papers. Before she lands, we have only one.”
“You are always right!” cried Frank. “When are you going to make the attempt?”
“That depends. In the meantime, we must get to the surface and in a position where we cannot be seen. If she thinks we have gone away, so much the better.”
“I guess our little picnic isn’t over with yet!” laughed Frank. “Are you going to take me on board with you?”
“I’ll be lucky if I can take myself on board,” was the reply.
By this time the Sea Lion was some distance from the Shark, and the hatch in the conning tower was open. It was a clear, starlit night, and there would be a moon later on.
There seemed to be great confusion on board the Shark. The boat was brilliantly lighted, and the conning tower stood high above the water. The ports on the side toward the Sea Lion were open, as if to admit the pure, cool air of the night.
“I believe there’s something the matter with her air supply,” Ned said to Frank as the two stood together on the tower. “The ramming she gave us must have done her a lot of mischief. Looks like she was stuck there until help comes.”
“The help she ought to have is right here,” Frank replied. “I’d like to get that crew on board a man-of-war.”
“We have the real criminals,” Ned replied.
The boys watched the Shark for a long time. They could see people moving about on the inside, and occasionally a group assembled on the conning platform, which was much larger than that of the Sea Lion.
“I believe some one is going down in a water suit,” Ned said, presently. “The water chamber is on the other side, but she lists as if a weight was pulling at her.”
“Listen!” Frank cautioned. “There’s the machinery working. That would be the lowering apparatus. Some one is going down, all right. Now, what for?”
Ten minutes passed, and then the waters surged about the Sea Lion, and a great roar and rumble came with the waves which swept into the open hatch. The Shark, too, rocked on the crest of a great wave.
“Dynamite below!” Ned said. “Will there be more than one?”
CHAPTER XVII
BAD FOR THE SEA CREATURES
As Ned spoke there came another upheaval of water, and a louder roar from the sea. The Shark and the Sea Lion both swayed perilously. Ned and Frank closed their hatch and clung to the railing around the conning tower platform.
“Those are torpedoes, all right,” Frank said.
“But I don’t understand–“
Ned cut the sentence short as a third reverberation came from beneath the water.
“They think we are down there yet!” Frank said. “I wonder how the man who went down came to make such a mistake?”
“Cheerful sort of people to fight!” Ned said. “Every man on that boat is a murderer at heart.”
A pounding on the under side of the hatch was now heard, and Jimmie’s face showed when it was lifted.
“Say,” the little fellow said, “Captain Moore wants to speak to you, Ned. These here earthquake shocks have got him goin’. He acts like a crazy man.”
Ned paid no attention to the request.
“He wants to say that he told me so,” Ned said to Jimmie. “Go back and tell him that he ought not to be afraid of his friends on board the Shark.”
“Gee!” the little fellow replied. “If he don’t behave himself, I’ll turn the hose on him. He ought to have a salt water bath, anyway. For a long time he’s been tryin’ to give us one!”
“Let him alone,” Ned ordered.
This second upheaval of the water had swung the Shark around so that the door to the water chamber was in view from the Sea Lion. The boys saw that it was open, probably left in that way for the return of the man who had gone down in the water suit.
The light, shining from the main cabin, filtered through the chamber, which was, of course, under water, only a few inches of the conning tower of the submarine now being above the surface.
“Can they shut that door from the cabin?” Frank asked.
“I presume so,” Ned replied. “They ought to be able to shut the door and empty the room as well.”
“That can’t be done on the Sea Lion,” Frank said.
“No, but that is a detail that was overlooked in the construction of the boat. I was just learning to run the craft, and did not observe the deficiency.”
“Well,” Frank went on, “they are closing the door, but they are not doing a good job at it. Say,” he added, grasping Ned’s arm, “I’ll bet the machinery connecting with the door from the cabin is broken!”
“Then the man who is down below will have to come up and do the opening after he gets up, and after he shuts the outer door and exhausts the water.”
“I don’t believe the outer door can be closed.”
“What I’m interested in just now,” Ned said, “is whether the diver is still alive. If he was anywhere near where the torpedoes exploded he is dead.”
“And the Shark can’t close her water chamber! I see a chance, Ned,” Frank exclaimed. “Suppose I drop out and enter that water chamber?”
“What for?” asked Ned.
“Why, they would think I was the other fellow and let me in.”
“With your line and hose unconnected with the mechanism inside?” asked Ned.
“Never thought of that.”
“The only way for us to get into that boat,” Ned went on, “is to get in from the top.”
“But how?”
“That’s just what I’m trying to study out.”
“I presume the man who went down is there for good,” Frank suggested.
“He probably went down to see why the torpedoes didn’t go off and got caught,” Ned replied.
“Perhaps the Shark will go down to see about it directly,” the other ventured.
“I hardly think she could lift again with that water chamber door open and the chamber full of water,” Ned went on. “It is my opinion that they will remain on top.”
“I should think she’d be afraid of the traps she set for us, anyway. I wish she would get caught in one of them.”
“Not while she has that mysterious packet on board,” smiled Ned. “We have traveled a long way to get that.”
No more submarine explosions came, and the boys sat on the dark conning tower until nearly midnight, watching the people on the Shark flying about, evidently laboring under great excitement.
The diver had not returned. The machinery was evidently out of order and the Shark might as well have tied to the bottom for all the speed she could make.
“I’m afraid some ship friendly to these pirates will come along,” Ned said, after a long silence. “I think I’d better go aboard the Shark and find out what she intends doing.”
“I see you doing it!”
“I can only try.”
“And try only once,” Frank muttered.
“I think they are ready for a compromise by this time.”
“Well, then, I’ll go with you,” Frank decided.
“Get up the boat, then.”
Jack and Jimmie were not inclined to favor the scheme, but they assisted in launching the boat and stood with half-frightened faces while Ned and Frank stepped into her.
Just as they were pushing off, Hans made his appearance on the little platform, his china-blue eyes filled with excitement.
“Mine friendts,” he said, “vot iss if I goes py the poat?”
“No more room,” said Frank.
“Now, you hold on,” Jimmie called out. “You know what sort of a left hand punch this baby has? Well, then, you may need him when you get over to the Shark. See?”
“That might be,” Frank muttered, looking inquiringly at Ned.
“Then let him come along,” the latter said, so Hans entered the boat and took up the oars. “Rows like a steam engine!” Jimmie observed as the boat sped away. “That Dutchman is stronger than a mule.”
It was still and lonely on the Sea Lion after the departure of the boys. The lights of the Shark were in sight, but they did not bring cheerful thoughts. The boys sat on the railing of the conning tower and waited in no little anxiety.
Occasionally the pounding of the prisoners reached their ears, but they paid little attention to it.
“They are suffering the tortures of the lost,” Jack said. “Every minute they think they’re going to the bottom. Let them take their medicine!”
“I wish they were going to the bottom,” Jimmie responded. “When we see snakes like they are we ought never to let them get away from us. If we don’t get bitten, some one else will.”
Jack rested his chin on his palms and regarded the boy quizzically for a moment.
“How do you like it, as far as you’ve got?” he asked, then.
Jimmie looked down into the interior of the submarine, out over the sea, sparkling in the moonlight, then up to the heavens, bright with stars. Presently he answered:
“I don’t like it.”
“Why not?” “We ain’t havin’ any fun. We’ve been down in that old hold for a long time, and haven’t got anywhere. I’d rather take a trip through South America, or through China. I want the ground under my feet part of the time, anyway.”
“It seems to me that it is getting stale and unprofitable,” Jack admitted. “Suppose we get up power and drift up closer to the Shark. Then we can at least see what’s going on.”
“All right, ‘bo!” cried Jimmie, starting down the stairs.
“Well,” called Jack, “don’t be in such a hurry! We want to make sure that Ned has attracted the attention of the Shark people before we move. If they see us moving up on them before Ned gets a chance to talk with them, they may do something rash to the boys.”
“Guess you are right,” Jimmie admitted.
“So far as I can see,” Jack continued, “they are over there now. Do you hear that voice?”
“Ned’s, all right.”
The boys listened, but the voice came no more.
“They’ve pulled him into the boat!” cried Jimmie. “Hurry up and get started!”
When Jack went below to handle the motive power machinery he heard Captain Moore thumping on the door of his prison.
“What do you want?” he demanded.
“Come to the door.”
Jack did as requested, but did not open the door.
“Now, what is it?” he asked.
“Is that Nestor?”
“It’s Jack,” was the reply.
“Well, ask Nestor if he’ll let both of us go if well give up the whole scheme. Will you?”
“And the papers?”
“I’ll help him get the papers.”
“I’ll tell him,” said Jack.
“Send for him at once,” urged the Captain. “If we remain here much longer, we’ll be blown out of water. You heard those explosions?”
“They harmed no one but the sea creatures,” Jack replied. “They were bad for them.”
“Where is Nestor?” was then asked.
“Visiting on the Shark,” was the reply.
“If they’ve got him, he’ll never come back,” gritted the Captain.
“But they haven’t,” said the boy. “We’re going to run the Sea Lion over to the Shark now and help them entertain him.”
“You’re a fool!” roared Moore. “Don’t you tell them that we are on board–my son and myself.”
“Don’t they know it?”
“How should they know it? Don’t you tell them. If you do they will raid your ship and get us.”
“So you’ve been playing some dirty trick on them, have you?” asked Jack. “Well, what about your meeting them at Hongkong?”
“That was a lie.”
“You are out with them?”
“They are out with me. They claim I am keeping them out of a lot of money. Don’t tell them I am here.”
“In all your life”–asked Jack–“in all your life, did you ever do business with any man, woman, or child you didn’t cheat and betray? You ought to be hanged.”
“If Nestor comes back, you send him here and I’ll tell him the whole story if he’ll let us go. And I’ll tell him how to get the papers he is after. Will you see that he comes–if he gets back?”
“I think it would do you more good,” laughed Jack, “to have a talk with the people on the Shark.”
Ignoring the prisoner’s further demands, Jack turned on the power and directed the Sea Lion toward the Shark. In a moment Jimmie called down through the hatchway:
“Slow up, now, unless you want to bunt the other boat.”
Jack, accordingly, shut off the power and went up to the platform. The boat was still drifting ahead a trifle, and the boy went below again and dropped an anchor.
If the advance of the submarine had attracted the attention of those on the Shark’s conning tower they gave no evidence of the fact. The boat Ned had taken lay swinging on the easy sea close to the tower, with Frank and Hans sitting near the stern.
Directly voices came from the other submarine. The first speaker was Ned, then a heavier voice exclaimed, angrily:
“You have no right to suppose anything of the kind. We are here on legitimate business, and must not be interfered with.”
“What did you take from the wreck?” asked Ned.
“What is it to you?” came the stronger voice. “You can’t make any bluff work with me.”
“Then I may as well go back to my ship,” Ned said.
“Go back to your ship!” snapped the other. “Not if I know myself. You have come aboard without leave or license, and you’ll stay until we get good and ready to let you go.”
The boys saw Hans and Frank spring for the platform, and then a shout of triumph came from half a dozen throats. Ned surely was in trouble.
CHAPTER XVIII
“MAKING A GOOD JOB OF IT.”
“I guess they’ve got Ned!” Jimmie cried, as the heavy hatch of the Shark closed with a slam. “If they have, we’ll ram ’em to the bottom.”
“You just wait!” Jack advised. “There’s a good deal of a racket going on over there. I guess Hans is putting his educated left into motion. Look at him!”
There was indeed a great commotion on the platform. Presently the hatch was lifted and one of the contestants disappeared.
“Do you mind that, now!” shouted Jimmie. “Ned has captured the boat for keeps! There! Now he’s tellin’ them where to head in at!”
Through the still night air they heard Ned’s voice:
“You people down there know what I am here for. If the thing I want is destroyed you’ll all be hanged for piracy. Understand?”
Then the hatch was jammed down again, and Ned and Frank stepped into the rowboat, leaving Hans on the platform. Jimmie threw up his cap when the two boys stepped on the Sea Lion’s platform.
“You captured the bunch!” he yelled, “and you stole the boat. You sure made a good job of it.”
“What’s the proposition?” asked Jack.
“I thought I’d tow the old tub into a port where I can communicate with an American man-of-war,” replied Ned.
“This is luck!” Frank exclaimed. “Luck for us, and trouble for the pirates. I wonder if they’ve got much gold on board.”
“If they have,” laughed Ned, “Hans will see that they don’t get away with it. They’re nailed down hard.”
“Talk about the luck of the British army!” roared Jack. “It is blind adversity to the luck of the Boy Scouts! Here we’ve got the pirates bunched! As soon as we communicate with a man-of-war, we’ll turn ’em over to Uncle Sam and go back and get the gold.”
“The Shark,” Frank observed, “was a derelict when we picked her up, wasn’t she? She couldn’t move a foot. Well, then, we’re entitled to salvage. We’ll put in a bill that will eat up the whole business!”
“If we get her into port,” Ned replied. “The old tub is in bad shape owing to the bunting she gave the Sea Lion. I’m afraid she’ll go down before morning.”
“Cripes!” Jimmie broke out. “What will we do, then, with all them bold, bad men? We’ve got our penitentiary full now!”
“And the prisoners are making all kinds of trouble, too,” Jack added. “If the door wasn’t good and strong, it’d be in splinters by this time. That young Moore is the worst.”
“We won’t cross any bridges until we come to them,” Ned remarked. “The Shark may last until we get to Hongkong. Anyway, I’m counting on quite a run before she goes down.”
“How many are there on board?” asked Jack.
“Six, not counting Hans. I think we can accommodate them all on board the Sea Lion, if we have to.”
The Sea Lion towed the Shark all through the night, keeping to an easterly direction with the idea of going to Hongkong, something over 150 miles away. All along the eastern coast of Kwang Tung, from the slender peninsula which separates the Gulf of Tongking from the China Sea to the bay which penetrates almost to Canton, there is a succession of little islands, so the submarine and her prize were always in sight of land.
Just at dawn there came a cry from the platform of the Shark, and Hans was discovered waving his cap excitedly in the air.
“Vater! Vater!” he cried. “Dis iss droubles! Make us off dis durdle–gwick!”
“Sinking?” Ned called back.
Further talk with the German informed Ned that water was seeping into the different compartments of the Shark, and that the inmates were already perched on tables and on the stairs leading to the platform.
The boy attached the towing cable to a windlass on the platform of the Sea Lion, turned on the power, and the sinking craft soon lay alongside. She was indeed in a bad predicament. Another half hour would see the last of her.
“Now,” Ned said, “we don’t know what those fellows will try to do when the hatch is lifted. I’ve known snakes to sting the hand that fed and warmed them. Anyway, we’ll take no chances.”
Following his orders, the boys got out their automatic revolvers and ranged themselves on the platform. Then Ned lowered the rowboat, making a bridge between the two. The hulls of the boats met under water, but the platforms, owing to the bulge, were some little distance apart. The railings of the conning towers were not much above the surface.
His arrangements for securing the prisoners without trouble completed, Ned went over to the Shark and lifted the hatch. He was greeted with a chorus of threats, supplications, and questions.
“You’ll get yours for sinking the Shark!” one shouted.
“For God’s sake let us out; we are drowning!” whined another.
“What’s the matter with the boat?” asked a third.
“Listen,” Ned said. “The Shark may go down in ten minutes, or she may float, under tow, for a long time. Anyway, you are better out of her. I’ll take you all out if you promise to behave yourselves. Come out of the hatch one at a time and be searched for weapons. The man that carries a weapon of any kind on his person will be thrown back, to feed the fish. Do you understand?”
They understood, and not even a penknife was found when search was made. Five of the rescued ones were plain seamen, with little knowledge of submarine work. The other was the captain of the Shark. Under the direction of young Moore he had attempted to make off with everything of value on the wreck, including the papers.
This man was a fair type of marine officer, had, in fact, resigned from the United States service with Captain Moore. He was by no means an ill-looking man, but his snaky eyes and treacherous mouth told Ned to look out for him.
He came out of the hatch last and was stepping onto the rowboat when Ned stopped him with a question:
“Where are the papers?”
“What papers?” snarled the other, Babcock by name.
“The papers you took from the wreck.”
“They are below, soaked with water.”
“Get them!”
“But–“
“Get them! Quick!”
“But they are afloat, and–“
“Get them!”
Babcock went down the staircase with murder in his eyes. He returned, in a moment, with a sealed packet, which was perfectly dry. Ned broke the seal and glanced at the sheets inside.
The one which met his eyes first was headed:
“General instructions, to be opened only when the demand for the coin is made.”
“Now” Ned went on,” where are your sailing orders?”
“Lost!” was the reply.
“Get them!” Ned said, quietly.
“They are–“
“Get them,” came again from the boy’s lips.
Again Babcock went into the submarine, now rapidly filling with water. He returned dripping with sea water, holding in his hand a water-tight tin box which was secured by a brass padlock.
“You now have everything I held concerning the mission of the boat and the disposition of the gold,” he said. “I suppose I may get out of the water now?”
Ned stepped aside and Babcock passed over to the Sea Lion. Ned attached a buoy to the tower of the Shark and cut loose from her.
“We’ll let some of Uncle Sam’s boats pick her up,” he said. “I’m for Hongkong with these papers.”
The five sailors were not locked up, but were given the run of the cabin, the machine room only being closed against them.
“I’m not going to have them mixing things down here,” Jack, who was in charge that day, said.
Babcock, however, was locked up with Captain Moore. When the door closed on the two men the boys heard them both talking at the same time, and their language was not at all complimentary to each other.
“You’re a blackmailer!” Moore yelled.
“You’re a liar!” was the reply.
“Fight it out!” Jimmie shouted from the door.
“Get to going and see who’s to blame for this!”
Then the voices quieted down, and no more words were heard.
“Did you hear what they called each other?” asked Jack. “Well, I’m betting they are both right.”
Ned went to his cabin and opened the tin box. He lingered over what he found there until noon and then called Frank into conference with him.
“There’s a plot which involves officers at Canton,” he said, “and we may as well bag the whole bunch.”
“Of course. We ought to make a good job of it, as Jimmie says.”
Ned examined his map and called Frank over to the table where it was spread out.
“If we go to Canton,” he said, “we’ll have to run into the lake-like mouth of the Si River. Guess that’s its name. It looks dim on the map. Fifty miles to the north the little stream on which Canton is situated runs into the larger stream.
“We can run to that point and leave the Sea Lion while we go to Canton. I guess the prisoners won’t object to a few days more of imprisonment. Anyway, we may meet a ship we can turn them over to.”
“They are objecting, right now, it seems,” cried Frank, opening the door and looking out into the main cabin. “Hans is sitting on one of the sailors and Jack and Jimmie are holding the others back with their automatics.”
Both boys leaped out. The sailors, doubtless alarmed at the arrival of the leaders, sprang for the hatchway. The boys did not fire at them as they passed, and directly splashes in the sea told those on the stairs that the sailors had leaped into the water.
Hans arose, scratching his head, and looked down on the man he had been sitting on. The fellow looked up into the lad’s face with a queer expression in his eyes.
“Vot iss?” demanded Hans. “Go py the odders if you schoose! Py schimminy, dose shark haf one feast!”
“Not on your life!” cried the prisoner. “I’m not anxious to get away. I was shanghaied on the Shark, and it’s glad I am to be out of that bum crowd.”
Jimmie, who had followed the sailors to the platform, now came back with the information that three of them had been picked up by a native canoe which had now disappeared from sight in a group of islands. The other, he said, had gone down.
“How much do those sailors know?” asked Ned of the man Hans had taken prisoner.
“They know a lot,” was the reply. “They were all in together. What one knew, all knew, I guess. It is too bad they got away, for they had a definite plan to operate if there was trouble and any got away. They will lay in wait for you when you land.”
“They’ll have to travel fast if they do!” Frank laughed.
CHAPTER XIX
ON THE EDGE OF DISASTER
The Si River is not a river at all where its waters flow into the China Sea. It is a wide, salt-water inlet, a bay, a great delta, like that of the Amazon. This great bay is miles in width in places and extends at least fifty miles into the interior.
Almost at the end, it is joined by a narrow little stream upon which Canton, the capital city of Kwang Tung, is situated. The city is something less than fifteen miles from the mouth of the river upon which it stands.
It was for Canton that the boys were headed. Some of the papers Ned had found in the private box of Captain Babcock made reference to a place of meeting there which the boy desired to investigate. He was now convinced that the plot against the Government had been a vicious one, backed by people of influence and standing in the world of diplomacy. It would bring the case on which he was working to a very satisfactory finish if he could include in his report the story of a meeting of the conspirators.
While the boy sat alone on the platform of the conning tower that evening the sailor who had remained on board the Sea Lion at the time of the escape of the others came to him. The fellow was an American, and seemed to be honest in his desire to assist Ned.
“The men who escaped,” he said, “will not lose track of the Sea Lion. There are men on shore who will send the news of what has taken place on faster than you can travel. Wherever you go they will be waiting for you, and they are a bad lot.”
“They have plenty of money behind them, I presume?” asked Ned.
“They appear to have,” was the reply.
“Especially with the prospect of the loot from the wreck in mind,” Ned suggested.
“They didn’t get much gold out of the wreck,” explained the other. “They pulled the yellow boys out until they came to the sealed parcel, and then they made off.”
“They knew that we were on the ground, watching them?”
“Oh, yes, but they had a plan for getting rid of you.”
“The plan young Moore attempted to carry out?”
“Yes.”
“That meant murder?”
“Yes.”
Ned was silent for a moment, thinking gratefully of the resourcefulness of the ex-newsboy. To this they all doubtless owed their lives. He promised himself that the lad should be properly remembered when the time of settlement with the Government came.
“Do you know where the conspirators are to meet at Hongkong?” he then asked.
“At Canton, I said,” answered the other, with a twinkle in his eyes. “You thought to trip me?” he asked.
Ned, in turn, smiled quietly. He had indeed been testing the man.
“Well,” he added, “do you know where they are to meet at Canton?”
“Oh, I heard the name of the street, but it sounded more like the clatter of falling crockery than a name, so I don’t remember it.”
“Perhaps a landmark was mentioned?”
“Yes, come to think of it, there was. The place of meeting is in the rear of a curio shop next door to an English chop house. That ought to be easy to find.”
The visit to Canton promised to be a dangerous one, especially as the men who had escaped would send on word of what had taken place on the Shark. The fellows had been picked up by natives in canoes, and were probably at that time on the main land, within reach of a telegraph wire, or some other means of communication with Canton.
While the boy studied over the matter Frank came on the platform and the seaman went below. Ned laid the proposition before the newcomer.
“Well,” Frank said, “you have the papers, you have the private orders of Captain Babcock, of the Shark, and you have the two main rascals, Captain Moore and his precious son. What more do you want?”
“I want the foreigner who put up the job.”
“That does seem worth while,” Frank mused.
“It’s this way,” Ned went on. “The sealed packet doubtless contains instruction to one of the revolutionary leaders regarding the disposition of the money. You see, they were sure the rebels would be on hand to grab the shipment as soon as it left the ship. The loss was to fall on the Chinese government and the revolutionists were to profit by it.
“The instructions make it look mighty bad for our Government, for the gold was drawn directly from the subtreasury the day it was shipped. It looked as if we were plotting against a friendly government.”
“I see.”
“But some one leaked. The story of the shipment got out, and the vessel was rammed one night by a steamer which has never been identified. The idea, of course, was to prevent the revolutionists getting the money, without telling what was known, or bringing the nation which butted into the case into prominence at all.”
“Then some nation friendly to the Emperor of China did that?”
“I don’t know. Anyway, the nation that did it bribed Captain Moore and Captain Babcock to get the gold–and to recover the sealed packet. With this in their hands, they might have made Uncle Sam a great deal of trouble.”
“I understand, and now you want to get the men who conspired with the Moores and Captain Babcock?”
“That’s the idea, not so much in the hope of bringing them to punishment as to locate the source of their inspiration.”
“Then, I reckon well have to go to Canton,” Frank remarked. “We’ll see the town then, anyway.”
The boy remained silent for a moment and then asked:
“What can you do to the chief conspirators if you catch them?”
“Nothing. I can only file my report with the government and drop out of the case.”
“And the Moores and Babcock?”
“I’ll turn them over to the first American man-of-war I meet.”
“And then go back after the gold?”
“That depends on instructions.”
“That’s the difficulty of working on diplomacy cases,” said Frank. “We have to take all manner of risks, and then, sometimes, see the real rascals get off free–on account of international complications. I’d like to work on a real old detective case on the Bowery.”
Ned laughed softly but made no reply.
The Sea Lion made slow time, for the crippled Shark–which still floated–rolled and tumbled heavily–in her wake and the sea was rougher than it had been before for many days. At last, however, she entered the long inlet leading up to Canton and cast anchor.
“Ever been in these waters?” Ned asked of the American sailor.
“Sure,” was the reply. “That is why they shanghaied me in San Francisco.”
“How far can I go up?”
“Clear to the mouth of the river.”
Proceeding leisurely, the Sea Lion passed up the inlet. It was early morning when she came to the mouth of the river. They had passed many vessels on the way, some native, some foreign, but had not been molested, though many curious eyes were turned toward the tow and the odd-shaped craft doing the pulling.
When anchor was cast in a little bay at the mouth–a quiet little stretch of water sheltered by old warehouses which had been erected years before by native traders–Jack came running up the stairs to meet Ned.
“Captain Moore,” he said, “is weeping himself to death for lack of your sweet society. He’s all running out under the door!”
“Jack,” Ned laughed, “if your imagination wasn’t too strong, you’d do well writing fiction. As it is it is so strong that anything you might put on paper would not be believable. Anyway, I’ll go and see what the Captain has on his mind.”
Captain Moore had fear on his mind. Ned saw that the second the door was open. His face was white as paper and his eyes roved about like those of a madman. “You are going on to Canton?” the Captain asked, in a trembling tone of voice.
“I was thinking of it,” Ned answered.
“When?”
“To-night.”
“And leave the submarine here?”
“If I could take her with me,” smiled Ned, “I would do so, but I’m afraid I can’t.”
“This is no joking matter,” snapped Moore.
“I knew you would begin to look at the matter in that light before you had done with it.”
“You are going to the chop house in Canton?”
“I hope to be able to find it.”
“Alone?”
“Of course not.”
“Well,” the Captain added, wiping his dry lips with the back of his hand, “do you know what will happen to the Sea Lion while you are gone?”
“Nothing serious, I hope.”
“She will be blown up, and me with it!” almost screamed the Captain. “The power that is handling this matter would do more than that to get the papers you have secured out of the way, and to get rid of Babcock, my son, and myself.”
“They seek to murder you?”
“I believe it.”
“Why?”
“For two reasons. We know too much, and we failed.”
“You haven’t named the power,” suggested Ned.
“I am unable to do so. I don’t know. I have done all my work with a go-between.”
“I see,” Ned said.
“If you must go to Canton,” the Captain went on, “first turn us over to the authorities here–to the American consul, if you please.”
“That would protect the boat?”
“It would protect us.”
“For the present, yes.”
“And take the papers with you!”
“Why?” laughed Ned, thoroughly amused.
“Because that will draw the search off the boat.”
“Then you believe that I shall be watched and followed?”
“Yes, and killed.”
“You’re a cheerful sort of fellow!” laughed Ned.
Jimmie now came to the door and announced a warship flying an American flag.
“She’s signaling you,” he added.
Ned was pretty glad to see the ship come to a halt lower down the inlet. She was not a large vessel, but she looked as big to Ned as all Manhattan island.
In an hour he was on board the ship, in earnest conversation with the captain, who had been ordered by cable to look the Sea Lion up and report to Ned. In another hour the prisoners were on board the warship, and the Sea Lion was anchored under her guns.
CHAPTER XX
AN ENDING AND A BEGINNING
Captain Harmon, of the warship Union, was a brave and capable officer. He understood at once the necessity for the trip to Canton. The conspirators must be identified. The United States Government must be informed as to the foreign power which had so nosed into her affairs.
“The power that is doing this,” the Captain said, “will resort to other tricks when this one fails. We want to know who she is. On the whole, I think, I’ll go to Canton with you–with your permission, of course.”
“That’s kind of you,” Ned replied, pleased at the offer. “I can leave three of the boys on the Sea Lion and take one with me. I should be lost without that little rascal from the Bowery.”
“And I’ll send a file of marines on board the Sea Lion,” the captain continued. “That will make all safe there. Now, about the papers. You have the packet?”
“Yes, of course.”
“What does it contain?”
“Instructions which show the hand of private parties only. They completely exonerate our Government.”
“And the other parties?”
“I regret that I must not mention names, sir.”
“Very well,” laughed the Captain. “You have performed your mission well. The slanders must now cease. But one thing more remains to be done–the meddling nation must be identified, as I have already said. We must go to Canton.”
And so, leaving the Moores and Babcock safely locked in the den on board the Union and the important papers secure in the Captain’s safe, Ned, accompanied by the Captain and Jimmie, set out for Canton by boat. The way was not long, and they arrived at noon, an early start having been secured.
Ned was entirely at sea in the city, but Captain Harmon had been there a number of times, and the English chop house was soon found. Next door to it was the curio shop mentioned to Ned.
The three lounged about the chop house nearly all the afternoon. The Captain was in plain clothes, and the trio seemed to be foreigners waiting for friends to come. After a long time Ned saw a man pass the chop house and turn into the curio shop who did not seem to be a Chinaman.
“Jimmie,” he said to the little fellow, “suppose you go in there and buy a dragon, or a silk coat, or a tin elephant. Anything to give you a notion as to what is going on in the shop.” The lad was off in a moment, and then the Captain turned to Ned.
“Why did you send the boy?” he asked.
“Because we may both be wanted outside,” was the reply.
“You mean that others may come–others who should be followed and observed?”
“That’s the idea,” Ned replied.
Directly two more men, evidently not Chinamen, passed into the shop, then Jimmie came running out.
“They’re going into a back room,” he said.
Ned strolled into the shop, and in a moment the Captain followed. Jimmie remained at the door.
The two worked gradually back to the door of the rear room, and Ned “accidentally” leaned against it. It was locked. With the impact of the boy’s shoulder against the panels came a scraping of chairs on the floor of the room beyond.
“You’ve stirred them up,” whispered the Captain.
Then some one called from the inside.
“What do you want?”
“A word with you,” Ned replied.
The shopkeeper now drew near and motioned the two away. When they did not obey he motioned toward the street, as if threatening to call assistance.
“Who is it?” was now asked.
“A messenger from Captain Henry Moore and his son,” Ned answered, with a smile at the Captain.
There was a long pause inside.
“Where is he?” was asked.
“A prisoner. He wished me to come here.”
Then the door was opened a trifle and the two saw inside. The shopkeeper, thinking that all was well, went back to the front of the shop.
When the door swung open both Ned and the Captain threw themselves against it. It went back against the wall with a bang, and the two nearly fell to the floor.
When they straightened up again they saw a servant standing between them and the still open doorway. At a round table in the back end of the apartment were three men–all Europeans.
Ned stepped forward to address them, but Captain Harmon drew him back and motioned toward the door.
“What do you want?” one of the three asked, in English. “Why this intrusion?”
Then Ned observed the face of the speaker, for the light was strong upon it. It was a face he had often seen pictured in reports of diplomatic cases. It was the face of one of the keenest diplomats in the world.
“I come from Captain Moore,” Ned said, almost trembling at the thought