We were shoved toward the port-locks at the base of the ship"s hull.
Above the hull bulge I could see the grids of projectors mounted in the dome-side, and the figures of men standing on the deck, peering down at us.
We went through the admission locks into a hull corridor, up an incline pa.s.sage, and reached the lighted deck. Our helmets were taken off. The Martian brigands crowded around us.
CHAPTER XXIX
_On the Brigand Ship_
Anita"s words echoed in my memory: "We must act our best to be convincing." It was not her ability that I doubted as much as my own.
She had played the part of George Prince cleverly, unmasked only by an evil chance.
I steeled myself to face the searching glances of the brigands as they shoved around us. This was a desperate game into which we had plunged!
For all our acting, how easy it would be for some small chance thing abruptly to undo us! I realized it, and now, as I gazed into the peering faces of these men from Mars, I cursed my witless rashness which had brought Anita into this!
The brigands--some ten or fifteen of them here on the deck--stood in a ring around us. They were all big men, nearly of a seven-foot average, dressed in leather jerkins and short leather breeches, with bare knees and flaring leatherboots. Piratical swaggering fellows, knife-blades mingled with small hand-projectors fastened to their belts. Gray, heavy faces, some with scraggling, unshaved beard. They plucked at us, jabbering in Martian.
One of them seemed the leader. I said sharply, "Are you the commander here? I speak not Ilton[4] well. You speak the Earth English?"
[Footnote 4: Ilton, the ruling race and official language of the Martian Union.]
"Yes," he said readily, "I am Commander here." He spoke English with the same freedom and accent of Miko. "Is this George Prince"s sister?"
"Yes. Her name is Anita Prince. Tell your men to take their hands off her."
He waved his men away. They all seemed more interested in Anita than in me. He added:
"I am Set Potan." He addressed Anita. "George Prince"s sister? You are called Anita? I have heard of you. I knew your brother--indeed, you look very much like him."
He swept his plumed hat to the grid with a swaggering gesture of homage. A courtierlike fellow this, debonair as a Venus cavalier!
He accepted us. I realized that Anita"s presence was immensely valuable in making us convincing. Yet there was about this Potan--as with Miko--a disturbing suggestion of irony. I could not make him out.
I decided that we had fooled him. Then I remarked the steely glitter of his eyes as he turned to me.
"You were an officer of the _Planetara_?"
The insignia of my rank was visible on my white jacket-collar which showed beneath the Erentz suit, now that my helmet was off.
"Yes, I was supposed to be. But a year ago I embarked upon this adventure with Miko."
He was leading us to his cabin. "The _Planetara_ wrecked? Miko dead?"
"And Hahn and Coniston. George Prince, too--we are the only survivors."
While we divested ourselves of our Erentz suits at his command, I told him briefly of the _Planetara"s_ fall. All had been killed on board save Anita and me. We had escaped, awaited his coming. The treasure was here; we had located the Grantline camp, and were ready to lead him to it.
Did he believe me? He listened quietly. He seemed not shocked at the death of his comrades. Nor yet pleased: merely imperturbable.
I added with a sly, sidelong glance, "There were too many of us on the _Planetara_. The purser had joined us, and many of the crew. And there was Miko"s sister, the Setta Moa--too many. The treasure divides better among less."
An amused smile played on his thin gray lips. But he nodded. The fear which had leaped in me was allayed by his next words.
"True enough, Haljan. He was a domineering fellow, Miko. A third of it all was for him alone. But now...."
The third would go to this sub-leader, Potan! The implication was obvious.
I said, "Before we go any further--I can trust you for my share?"
"Of course."
I figured that my very boldness in bargaining so prematurely would convince him. I insisted, "And Miss Prince? She will have her brother"s share?"
Clever Anita! She put in swiftly, "I give no information until you promise! We know the location of the Grantline camp, its weapons, its defense, the amount and location of the ore. I warn you, if you do not play us fair...."
He laughed heartily. He seemed to like us. He spread his huge legs as he lounged in his settle, and drank of the bowl which one of his men set before him.
"Little tigress! Fear me not--I play fair!" He pushed two of the bowls across the table. "Drink, Haljan. All is well with us, and I am glad to hear it. Miss Prince, drink my health as your leader."
I waved it away from Anita. "We need all our wits; your strong Martian drinks are dangerous. Look here, I"ll tell you just how the situation stands--"
I plunged into a glib account of our supposed wanderings to find the Grantline camp; its location off in the Mare Imbrium--hidden in a cavern there. Potan, with the drink, and under the gaze of Anita"s eyes, was in a high good humor. He laughed when I told him that we had dared to invade the Grantline camp, had smashed its exit portes, had even gotten up to have a look at where the ore was piled.
"Well done, Haljan! You"re a fellow to my liking!" But his gaze was on Anita. "You dress like a man, or a charming boy."
She still wore the dark clothes of her brother. She said, "I am used to action--man"s garb pleases me. You shall treat me like a man, give me my share of the gold-leaf."
He had already demanded of us the meaning of that signal from the Mare Imbrium. Miko"s signal! It had not come again, though any moment I feared it. I told him that Grantline had doubtless repaired his damaged portes and sallied out to a.s.sail me in reprisal. And seeing the brigand ship landing on Archimedes, had tried to lure it.
I wondered if my explanation were very convincing. It did not sound so. But he was flushed now with the drink. And Anita added:
"Grantline knows the territory near his camp very well. He is equipped only for short-range fighting."
I took it up. "It"s like this, Potan: if he could get you to land unsuspectingly near the mouth of his cavern...."
I pictured how Grantline might have figured on a sudden surprise attack upon the ship. It was his only chance to catch it unprepared.
We were all three in friendly, intimate mood now. Potan said, "We"ll land down there right enough! But I need a few hours for my a.s.sembling."
"He will not dare advance," I said. "For one thing, he can"t leave the treasure."
"He knows we have unmasked his lure," Anita put in smilingly. "Haljan and I joining you--that silenced him. His light went out very promptly, didn"t it?"