Jim scowled at the negro, for such threats vexed him. Then, seeing the broad smile on Tom"s face, he laughed outright.
"Jest like you, Tom, always threatening. I don"t believe you"d actually hurt a fly unless you were forced to. But have a care, my lad; this boat"s over-loaded, and if I hear too much from you I"ll give Ching orders to send you overboard. Get lower, man; your big body meets the wind and keeps us from moving forward."
The mere suggestion that he might be tossed overboard caused the simple-minded Tom to open his big eyes wide in consternation. His huge jaw drooped; then, hearing his young master"s merry laugh, the thick lips split asunder, and a loud guffaw came from the negro.
"Wat dat?" he demanded. "Yo ask dis man here to throw Tom overboard? By de poker, but if dis Chinaboy breathe one little word, me smash um. Tom nasty fellow to deal with when him angry."
But Jim had other matters to attend to rather than to listen to the negro"s sayings. Indeed he had already turned his back upon the two men crouching astern, and was bending over the engine. Fumbling at the lock of a cupboard, he pulled the door open and extracted a heavy object from within. His finger pressed a b.u.t.ton, and instantly a flood of light came from the electric torch he had secured. For five minutes he busied himself with the motor. Carefully adjusting the drips from the lubricator, he set them to give a more liberal supply than was usual.
Then he lifted the board which covered the tail shaft bearing, and squeezed down the grease cup secured there. A finger laid on the top of the bearing a.s.sured him that it was running cool, while the same precaution in regard to the cylinders disclosed the fact that the water pump was working as it should do. In fact, in spite of the tremendous pace at which the motor was revolving, there was as yet no sign of failure, nothing to point to an immediate breakdown, nothing, in fact, to lead him to suppose that the chase would have to be abandoned.
"Then I can begin to take a little interest in those rascals," he thought, "Ah, we"re nearer, we"re overhauling them without a shadow of doubt! I give them a quarter of an hour"s more freedom."
It did indeed seem as though the pursuit was entering upon its last stage, for the black shape ahead was decidedly nearer--so near, in fact, that one could make out the various features of the launch as well as the two fugitives crouching beside their engine. Tongues of flame and broad showers of sparks still belched from the funnel, while at one moment, when she steamed into the dense shadow cast by some tall trees growing upon the tail end of a group of small islands which studded the lagoon, the funnel itself was seen to be glowing hot. Indeed, while the launch herself was blotted out in the darkness, the glowing funnel remained the one conspicuous object.
"I"m going to give "em a shot," called out the Major, casting a glance at Jim over his shoulder. "You see, I don"t know the ins and outs of this lagoon, and those fellows might yet escape us if they happen to have had time to do a little exploration. See here, Tomkins, send a ball a foot or two ahead of them; and if that does not bring them to a stop, put one right through her funnel. You can do it without fear of hitting one of the men."
"Sure! I"d back myself nine times out of ten to bring off a shot like that. I"ll just wait till we"re out of the shadow."
Anxious eyes flitted from the dark shape fleeting through the waters of the lagoon to the long, bony fingers of the policeman. He stepped to the front of the cab, leaned forward with his elbows on the deck, and clicked the bolt of his rifle open. Then he dropped the weapon into position, and there was a tense silence aboard as Tomkins squinted along his sights. A second later the report came, for the policeman was too old a hand with his weapon to hesitate. While he shot the empty cartridge out and slipped in a fresh one all eyes went to the boat ahead, and no doubt the bullet which Tomkins had dispatched had pa.s.sed but a few feet in front of her, conveying a message and a warning; but the effect it had was entirely _nil_. The launch held on her course as though there was no such thing as a pursuing vessel with arms aboard able to reach the miscreants who were escaping.
"Guess they"ve got to have it then," growled Tomkins. "This time I"ll put one through the funnel, and there ain"t a doubt that it"ll send them bobbing."
As cool as an icicle, the man stretched himself out again, half on the deck and half in the cab of the launch. Once more his eyes went down to the sights, and on this occasion the pause he made was long, so long, in fact, that when the rifle belched forth a stream of fire the suddenness of the report startled his comrades. Then they fixed their eyes upon the launch steaming ahead of them.
"Didn"t I tell you! Got it sure, plump through the centre, and a bare foot above their heads," cried Tomkins, dropping his rifle. "See there, the flames tell you what happened."
His finger shot out instantly, and drew the attention of all to the funnel. Flames and sparks were still belching from the opening above, but that was not all, for low down now, but a bare foot above the heads of the two men crouching beside the engine, the sheet-iron tube was punctured, and a thin stream of fire was issuing from the hole. Clank!
The sound of the furnace door being dragged violently open came clearly to the ears of the pursuers, in spite of the hum of their own motor, while that same red glow which had once before enveloped the launch again surrounded her. It was the only answer the rascals aboard made to Tomkins"s shot, that and a dense column of smoke which now shot up, mingling with the flames and smoke from the funnel.
"Their last kick," cried the Major. "That shot tells them that we mean business. Tomkins, my lad, just give "em another. Say, Jim, how"s the motor running?"
"Fine! fine! Couldn"t be doing better. Sing out when you want me to cut her down a little."
To all appearances the end of an exciting chase was already in sight, for there was no doubt that now Jim and his party were running two feet for the one covered by the escaping launch. But they had wily men to deal with, and that fact was impressed upon them within the s.p.a.ce of a few seconds, for hardly had the third shot rung out when the launch in front ran into another long shadow by one of the islands, her form being instantly blotted out by the blackness.
There came the clang of the furnace door as it was kicked into place by one of the rascals, and then all that could be seen was the glowing funnel. Even that did not remain long in evidence, for suddenly it swerved to the right, making off at a sharp angle to the course which the launch had been pursuing. Then it disappeared from sight, as if the vessel had gone beneath the water.
"Steady! Stop her!" commanded the Major, swinging his wheel over. "We"ll run on a little till we"re out of the shadow. Then perhaps we shall be able to see where those fellows have got to. Queer! Seems to me that they know the road. They must have steered direct for the tail end of these islands."
Jim jerked throttle and ignition levers back as the orders came to his ears, and threw his lever into neutral position. But the launch had been ploughing along at a speed of some twenty knots, and the way on her carried her swiftly forward. Dense shadow enveloped her, and for a while there was not one aboard the launch but wondered whether the vessel would dash herself upon a rock, since the course was being followed blindly. The Major had swung his wheel just where he guessed the fugitives had done likewise, and that movement still found the boat in dense shadow. A second or two later she shot out into open water, and once more the moon"s rays flooded her from stem to stern.
"Gone! Not a sign of them! This is the queerest thing I have ever----"
"Stop! I can see them!" shouted Jim, interrupting the Major. "They steamed straight between two of the islands, and there they are beyond.
Push ahead, Major? Our best way is to run right round this island, and so take up their course again. Ain"t that land ahead?"
"Land fo sh.o.r.e! Ma.s.sa Jim right," sang out Sam, who seemed to have the sharpest eyes of the whole party. "Dem villains know de way; dey been here before. Sam say dey heading for anoder opening."
Whatever was the nature of the evolution practised by the fugitives, the Major, as leader of the party, did not hesitate to follow Jim"s advice.
"Forward!" he roared, glancing over his shoulder. "Rocks or no rocks, I"ll chance rounding the island. Send her ahead, Jim. Give her full power again."
Bizz! Gurr! How the motor roared as our hero jerked his levers back into their old position. As for that commanding the gears, it was already in position, while the propeller was churning the water into white foam.
The launch shot ahead as if propelled from a gun, and in a trice was rounding the island on the far side of which the fugitives had taken their course. A minute later she was again in open water, while right across her path stretched a dark, unbroken line, the edge of which was obscured in deep shadow. It was the margin of the lagoon, without a doubt, while it was equally certain that those whom Jim and his party sought to capture had chosen some point along it on which to land.
Either that or their explorations had discovered some exit, for which they were at that very instant racing madly.
"Artful dogs!" cried the Major, wrath in his voice. "They stole a nice march on us by that movement, and gained many yards. Don"t fire, Tomkins. You might hit one of them in this uncertain light, and that would defeat my special object. I want to capture the two alive and strong, or not at all."
"See dat? Ma.s.sa Jim, dere an openin" ober dere. Dose sc.u.m race for um!"
shouted Sam a moment later, stretching one black arm out in front, and pointing eagerly. "Me see de light shinin" on de water ob a stream, and de launch just about to enter. Steady, sah! Not do to dash right in at dis pace. P"raps smash de launch, run ash.o.r.e, or pile her up on a mudbank. S"pose we take it easy."
"Steady! Stop her again!" commanded the Major, his eyes fixed on the retreating launch. "Sam is right. Those gentlemen have discovered a channel leading out of the lagoon, and have made for it at their fastest pace. That shows that they have been there before. Look at them; they have sent their boat in without attempting to slow down. Steady, Jim!
Let her push ahead slowly; those rascals are a long way from making good their escape. I"ll follow them even if it takes me miles into the interior."
Had the Major but known it, there was every prospect of this pursuit carrying him and his party many miles beyond the margin of the lagoon, for the band of ruffians who had so lately attracted his attention, and on the catching of two of which he was now bent, had not confined their thieving attentions to the various settlements along the coast. They had even exploited the peoples of the interior of the unsettled regions lying adjacent to the ca.n.a.l zone. There were wide areas of trackless forest, of jungle, and of swamp, which to this day are unexplored and unknown by the white man. That deadly malarial fever, more than attack by unfriendly natives, has kept the white man at a distance. Only along the immediate line of the coast has trading been done in some of the districts, and even then the results have not been always satisfactory.
"It"s a queer place," said Phineas Barton, when describing the isthmus to our hero. "Here along the ca.n.a.l zone you have civilization. Uncle Sam has come in with his dollars and his men, and has worked with an energy which, one of these days, when the facts are known, will surprise the world. As I tell you, you"ve civilization right here. But jest step out of the ca.n.a.l zone, and what do you find? Savages, sir. Wild men, armed with spears and bows and poisoned arrows. Yes, sir, poisoned arrows that will kill a man inside thirty minutes, even if they only happen to have just broken the skin. And they tell me that "way along in the jungle, where the fever"s that bad that a white man don"t dare to go, there are gangs of tall natives that won"t allow a stranger to put so much as his nose into their territory."
It is all true enough, and is, indeed, one of the curious features of the Isthmus of Panama. There, where one of these days, when America has completed her gigantic task, a mighty ca.n.a.l will stretch from coast to coast, bearing the commerce of the nations to and fro between Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, there lie side by side the modern dwellings and the civilization which an enormous undertaking of this description must inevitably produce, and a condition of savagery unchanged since the Middle Ages. Even Spain, with her huge capacity for conquest, failed to penetrate into many of the wide areas of jungle adjacent to Panama and Colon. Doubtless her gallant sons made the attempt; but history records the fact that the fierce tribes within drove them back, murdering those upon whom they could lay their hands, and showing such courage and ferocity that further attempts were not embarked upon. Moreover, the malarial fever, which haunts these jungles in its most virulent form, was deterrent enough, without thought of the natives.
Still, there were some who had contrived to open up negotiations with the tribes. There are men who will risk anything for a handsome profit, and the gang of rascals we are dealing with had seen in these tribes an opportunity of enriching themselves. They tempted the natives with the offer of guns and powder, and already the bartering of those weapons had given them access to a part which would have brought inevitable destruction, had they entered on any other pretext. Cheap guns and powder were to be obtained, and in return the natives willingly parted with huge quant.i.ties of precious stones and gold. Sam was perfectly right when he suggested that the man aboard the steam launch had visited the lagoon and its surroundings before.
"I"s sure of that," he cried, bending forward and peering into the gloom. "Dem sc.u.m know ebery foot of de way, for dey steam hard ahead for a place dat no one else can see."
"Know it or not, we"re going on after them," growled the Major. "Where they can run we can follow. But steady with her, Jim. This chase is not going to be finished yet awhile, and we shall do better now that there is no longer a chance of catching them on the lagoon. Take it easy.
After all, they can"t go on for ever; some time or other the stream they are making for will fail them, and then they must take to the jungle or fall into our hands. Steady with her! Slow but sure must be our motto."
"Steady it is, sir!" cried Jim. "But say, I can see a line of water running out of the lagoon. Those fellows are steering straight ahead into it."
All eyes aboard followed the movements of the fleeing launch, and watched as she crossed in the gleam of the moonlight the last few yards of open lagoon. They saw her shoot across the dark line which till a moment before had seemed unbroken; she sped on up the stream to which Jim had called their attention, then once again she was lost to sight.
The blackness swallowed her; there was not even a glowing funnel to show her whereabouts.
"Forward!" cried the Major hoa.r.s.ely. "But see here, Jim, send one of your men right up into the bows, for there"s no knowing what may happen.
We may run into a mudbank, and if we have a man forward with a pole we can get pushed off in a twinkling."
The launch heaved and shook as the huge Tom rose to his feet. As agile as a cat, in spite of his size, the ponderous fellow went crawling along, past Jim and his motor, past the Major and his man, and finally established himself right forward in the bows.
"Come a mudbank and Tom push de launch off quick," he called. "But hab no fear. Me able to see much better right away here; dere no mudbanks in dis stream, sah. All open water; plenty room for eberyone."
By now Jim and his friends had reached the very edge of the lagoon, and were able to make out their surroundings more distinctly. The bright moon above helped them wonderfully; thanks to the light it shed, and to the fact that the stream ahead was wide, and branches could not reach across it, they could discern the path which they were to follow. Not a stump, not a single object, broke the shimmering surface of the water. A bright lane stretched before them, with a deep black shadow on either hand.
"Give her steam," commanded the Major, forgetting that the launch which he and the others manned was of the gasolene variety. "Send her ahead, Jim. We"ve a clear road, way up there ahead, and we"ll take it. Boys, be on the lookout for trouble; those rascals are not the only ones we are likely to come across in such an out-of-the-way part."
Jim jerked his levers forward promptly; the motor buzzed and roared, while the propeller bit into the water, and, taking a grip of the fluid, shot the launch forward. She swept on gallantly into the unknown, her commander and crew careless of the consequences and determined to do their duty whatever happened.
CHAPTER X