CHAPTER XXVII.
A STRANGE RETURN.
"You say Seaman Strong made his way after the men you suspected, andthat was the last you saw of him?"
Rear-Admiral Gibbons, Captain Dunham and several other officers wereseated in a room on the lower floor of the hotel at which the banquetthat had ended so disastrously for the inventor, Varian, had takenplace.
Herc shifted uneasily on his feet. He felt alarmed before thisglittering court of inquiry that had convened as soon as it becameapparent that the absence of Henry Varian, discovered shortly beforemidnight, was no mere accident.
"Yes, sir," he replied to Captain Dunham, who had put the question.
"Can it be possible that the man Strong was in league with themiscreants? The circumstances seem very suspicious," put in therear-admiral.
"I think, sir," said Captain Dunham, "that we shall find, when themysterious affair is sifted, that young Strong acted the part of aUnited States sailor in the matter. I have kept a careful eye on him,and should be loath to believe him anything else than an upright,honest young fellow of uncommon capability."
"Good for you," thought Herc to himself.
"And what were you doing all this time?" inquired one of the officersof the embarrassed witness.
"Picking stickers out of myself, sir."
"What! Be careful, young man; this is no time for levity."
"Well, sir, I guess if you had fallen into a tack-tus bush you'd havebeen picking those vegetable tenpenny nails out of your system fora while, too," replied Herc in an aggrieved tone, while suspicioustwitches appeared about the corners of the mouths of several of theassembly. Rear-Admiral Gibbons got up and gazed out of the window for amoment to conceal his smiles at the naive rejoinder of the red-headedyouth.
Suddenly he turned, with a sharp exclamation.
"Gentlemen," he exclaimed, "here comes the automobile, or one just likeit, that those two precious rascals, the Pulsifers, used. I've seen itbefore. As it was the only one in Guantanamo, I remarked it especially."
The officers crowded to the window, and Herc would have joined them,but a marine barred his way.
"Get back, young feller," he warned, suggestively pointing his bayonet.
"Huh! I guess you never had a friend in trouble," grunted Herc, goingback to his witness chair in high dudgeon.
But the auto, instead of coming up to the hotel, turned off two blocksbelow.
"Possibly I was mistaken," said the admiral. "Those two figures init didn't look like the two scoundrels, but at the distance it isimpossible to tell."
"In any event, sir, they cannot escape from Cuba," spoke up one of theofficers. "Every port has been telegraphed. Their capture is almostcertain."
This was indeed the case. An investigation of the garden had shownclear indications of the struggle that had taken place there thenight before, and servants had been discovered who had seen theinventor issuing into the garden with the unsavory Pulsifers. Theodor of chloroform still clinging to the grass decided the matter, andcompleted the chain of circumstantial evidence. Herc, too, had beenable to supplement the mute testimony by his story of the convict filmand the names of the conspirators. Already a launch full of marines hadbeen sent to Boco del Toros to intercept the yacht Carl and Silas hadmentioned in the lad's hearing.
This much having been done, a code message had been sent to thesecretary of the navy, who had at once ordered every port in Cubawatched, and detailed secret service men in the United States tospecial duty to apprehend the Pulsifers if they attempted to land inAmerica.
The examination of Herc, who was, of course, the principal witness,went on.
At its conclusion an officer of the _Illinois_ begged permission to askone more question.
"My man, did you or your friend talk over this step of his?"
"Not any more than I have told you, sir," rejoined Herc, somewhatpuzzled.
"I submit, sir," remarked the officer, turning to the rear-admiral,"this looks somewhat as if the lad was in league with the Pulsifers.We know now, from what this lad has told us, that other members of thecrew were disaffected; possibly Strong was bribed, too."
"You don't know Ned Strong, sir," spoke up Herc, "or----"
"Silence, sir!" thundered the officer.
"Huh!" grunted Herc, in a low tone, however.
"As I was saying, sir, the whole thing looks, as you said, suspicious.We know that the lad was recently placed in the forward turret ofthe _Manhattan_, and would have had an opportunity to examine thebreechblock of the Varian gun. He might even have made rough drawingsof it."
"What you say is plausible, Captain Stirling," nodded the rear-admiralgravely.
"I don't believe a word of it!" snapped Captain Dunham hotly. "I'llstake a good deal on that youngster's honesty, and----"
"You'll win!" came a crisp voice from the rear of the room.
The officers turned, amazed, and set up a shout of astonishment asthey beheld, framed in the door which they had entered noiselessly,the figures of the inventor, and, standing, cap in hand, by his side,the Dreadnought Boy, the lad to whose pluck and resourcefulness theinventor largely owed his liberty.
"I repeat it, gentlemen," went on the inventor, for it was he who hadvoiced the interruption; "there isn't a finer, more capable or grittierlad in the service to-day than Ned Strong of the _Manhattan_."
"But, but--gentlemen, pray sit down----" began the rear-admiral."Really this is most irregular."
He sat down resignedly as the officers pressed about the inventor andNed. In a few moments order was restored, and the two newly escapedcaptives were telling their story.
"But how did you get back from the Sierra Madre Mountains so quickly?"asked Captain Dunham, who was familiar with Cuba and had recognized thelocation of the Pulsifers' hut from the inventor's description.
"Let Ned Strong tell that," smiled the inventor.
"Why, gentlemen, we--we borrowed Mr. Pulsifer's automobile," explainedthe Dreadnought Boy.
"Good for you!" burst out Herc, who had been dancing about in thebackground, hardly able to keep down his excitement. Of course,discipline did not permit his greeting Ned just then, and he had beenon the point of exploding ever since his chum entered the room.
In the general excitement no one reproved the impulsive youth, whoturned as red as a winter sunset when he realized what a sad breach ofnaval etiquette he had committed.
"Strong, stand forward," ordered Rear-Admiral Gibbons, as the inventortook up and concluded the story of how they had missed their road, butfinally found their way into town, going first to a house occupied bysome friends of Mr. Varian's before proceeding to the hotel. At thehome of the inventor's friends they had got a wash and brush-up whichboth stood sadly in need of. Ned's leg, besides, had required dressing.It turned out to be, as he had guessed, only a flesh wound, but wassufficiently painful, though not dangerous in any way.
In obedience to his superior's command, the young seaman took two pacesto the front and saluted, bringing his heels together with a smartclick, despite the pain his wound gave him as he did so.
"Strong," went on the admiral, "you have done Mr. Varian and theUnited States Navy a great service. Had it not been for your quick,intelligent work, it might have been that the Pulsifers and the othersimplicated in this dastardly affair would have escaped. Mr. Varianmight not have been with us this morning. I congratulate and thank youon behalf of the government and on behalf of the naval department andofficers of this squadron."
Ned's lips moved. Somehow he couldn't speak. Herc's face, bisected by abroad grin, thrust itself forward among the officers till it appeared,like a whimsical moon, between the elbows of Captain Dunham and therear-admiral.
"I shall see, Strong," went on the admiral, "that some signal noticeis taken of your clever, plucky work. You are of the stuff of whichreal seamen are made and we want to encourage men like you in everyway possible. And now, gentlemen, as we are not within hearing ofWashington--or the papers--perhaps it might not be i
nconsistent withthe occasion to give three cheers."
"Oh, those crazy Americanoes!" exclaimed the little yellow-facedCubans, as three long, resounding naval cheers, with a zipping"tiger," rang through the stagnant tropic air and went booming overthe water as far as the grim sea bulldogs of Uncle Sam, lying at anchoroff the town.