After closing the porthole Harry started to take off his disguise with a view of revealing himself and having Owen, Hicks and the "pirate"
arrested. Then it occurred to him that he had not heard Owen or Hicks talking and very likely they were not in the room at all.
It was probably a crazy, drunken scheme of the old sailor whom he had tormented. Neither Owen nor Hicks had any suspicion, so far as he knew, that behind the whiskers and eyegla.s.ses was Harry. Owen could have no object in shooting him.
"Can it be that I am jealous of this man Owen?" he wondered. "Polly has been taking his advice against mine lately. What can that mean?"
Peace reigned during the evening while the old liner plunged and rolled past wicked Cape Hatteras. While the pa.s.sengers listened to the sad orchestra in the saloon Harry, still in his whiskered disguise, sent a wireless to a lawyer in New York requesting him to telegraph Pauline at Na.s.sau something that would make her come home. Then he went back to his stateroom and locked the door.
As he stepped in he caught sight of the unbeautiful countenance of Mr.
Boyd squinting wickedly at him from far down the pa.s.sageway.
"Just for that evil grin of yours, Mr. Pirate," thought Harry, "I am not going to let you or your friend shoot me until after daylight." So Harry kept his porthole closed tight that night, sleeping rather restlessly without his accustomed ventilation.
Twice he heard a faint sc.r.a.ping sound on the outside of his cabin, and a dark shadow eclipsed the faint nimbus of light which the foggy night sent through his porthole. On the deck directly over his head three dark figures sat in deck chairs, while a fourth paced the deck, his cigar glowing like the tail lamp of a distant automobile.
The fog began to lift just before dawn, and the stoker, making another trip down his rope, found the porthole open. A hasty inspection of the decks indicated that it was safe to go ahead.
Owen, Hicks and the "pirate" quickly lowered the stoker, sitting in a little swing known on the sea as a "bo"sun"s chair." In his hand he carried a pistol which Hicks had provided. Each of the three conspirators had revolvers, but the racetrack man"s weapon was chosen because he had obtained it from a source to which it could not be traced. Down went the stoker, his bare feet clinging to the gently swaying side of the ship.
The porthole was open, and there in the dim interior of the cabin the light was reflected from a pair of spectacles. There, too, were the whiskers and gray hair. The old man seemed to be asleep in his chair right near the porthole. The stoker c.o.c.ked his revolver and held it ready for instant action.
The steamer"s fog horn blew a blast at the fast thinning fog. This noise was just what the stoker wanted. He quickly plunged his pistol into the porthole and fired it point blank in the very face of the old man. There could be no question of missing. He looked up at the three eager faces and nodded that all was well.
"I"ve got him," he called out, and was about to hurl the pistol into the stateroom when an unpleasant and unexpected thing happened. A brawny fist shot out of the porthole and collided with the stoker"s coal-blackened jaw.
More from surprise than the force of the blow, the stoker fell backward into the sea. The three watchers on deck saw the proceeding, and only one, the "pirate," had presence of mind to hurl a lifebuoy. No alarm was sounded. The steamer went on into the sparkling morning sea, leaving behind her a profane and disgusted stoker. This unfortunate had only a lifebuoy to aid him on a fifteen-mile swim to sh.o.r.e.
"Never mind," said the "pirate" after the conspirators had gotten over their first fright at the dashing of their plans. "I have an idea; it"s a corking idea, and you"ll all like it."
"What is it?" asked Owen nervously. "Here is your drink now; what"s your idea?"
But the "pirate" wouldn"t tell. He objected that it was too startling for them to carry in their timid brains. He would unfold it when the time came, and he promised them that it would be the greatest and most daring project they had ever heard. A murderous glare lit up the faded eyes and he chuckled to himself, but no offers nor threats would induce him to part with his secret.
CHAPTER VII
A FLIRTY BUCCANEER
Arrived at Na.s.sua, the party proceeded to the King Edward House, where Pauline found a telegram from Philip Carpenter, the lawyer, advising her to return as soon as possible to attend the signing of certain important papers. On account of the message all hands made haste to hunt for a small steamer or launch to complete the trip.
Though none of the four saw him, the old man was at the hotel. He lost no time in a.s.suming another and very different disguise, observing to himself that the most valuable part of his college education might prove to be the secrets of "make up" he had learned in his college dramatic club.
Owen, with his usual forethought, had arranged in advance to be put in touch at once with all available boats. As a result a gasoline launch, with a cabin and stateroom, about 100 feet long, which had once been a yacht, was chartered. The "pirate"s" stipulation that no stranger should see his island made it necessary for Pauline to deposit a check for $2,500 for its safe return.
The next morning provisions were brought aboard, the "pirate" declaring that he could run the engine, and all was ready when a difficulty arose. Who was to cook? Pauline volunteered, but Owen objected, and finally the "pirate"s" objections to a stranger were overcome.
A dark-skinned half-breed, with long, black hair, who had earned half a dollar by helping carry things on board, volunteered in a gruff voice.
"I"se fine cook. Best cook on the island. I cook very cheap."
Time was too valuable to investigate the man"s ability, so he was hired. Off went the white launch. Owen steering under instructions from the "pirate," who soon proved he knew gasoline engines. Out of the harbor they went, and then coasted along the beautiful sh.o.r.es of the island. The sea was calm and the cruise uneventful for some time, when the "pirate" called every one"s attention to the fact that it was a long time since breakfast. He went below and addressed the cook, who had shut himself up in his tiny galley, as sailors call a boat"s kitchen.
"What"s your name?" demanded Boyd.
"Filipo."
"Are you a n.i.g.g.e.r?"
"I guess so; I dunno."
"Well, what were your father and mother?"
"I dunno."
"That"s funny; but what I want to know is how soon grub will be ready?"
"Right away, senor."
"All right, Filipo; see that there is plenty of it."
"Dod foul my hawser, if this ain"t what yer might call pleasant,"
declared the "pirate," showing his few teeth in a smile that reminded Pauline of the spiles of an abandoned pier.
Pauline was pacing the deck apart from the others, in a pleasant dreaminess scanning the endless azure of the hashed waters. Her thoughts roamed forward and backward--forward to the vague magic land of adventure, where she was to win treasure and delight, fortune and fame; backward to a big, lovely, splendid house in New York City, where a certain tall young man, with brown, unruly hair and shoulders broad as a sheltering wall, must be pining for her.
Some one began whistling in the cabin. Pauline paid no attention to it at first, but as the tune suddenly shifted to the very latest musical comedy air she became interested. Owen never whistled, and Hicks, she imagined, seldom went to the theatres.
The song shifted from whistle to words:
"I"m a greatly wicked person. If there"s anybody worse on This terrestrial circ.u.mference of guile (Though I very broadly doubt it) I should like to know about it, For I want to be the blackest thing on file.
"I"m a bad-mad-man, my dear, I"m a liar and a flyer and flirty buccaneer. I"ve done everything that"s awful that a human being can.
I"m a bad--ma-a-d man."
"The song from "Polly Peek-a-boo." Harry and I heard it only two weeks ago," mused Pauline.
Moved by a sudden whimsy, she entered the cabin. There was no one there but the cook. In his dingy linen suit he was standing at the table peeling potatoes and whistling. He stopped as Pauline entered, a tall powerful man, though of slouching posture, he bowed deferentially.
"No like me sing--no sing," he suggested.
"On the contrary, I like it very much. You sing very well indeed, Filipo. Would you mind telling me where you heard the song you were just singing?"
"Big American man, up Na.s.sau--he sing"um. Very fine man--big fool daughter," replied Filipo.