Jack had no desire to go into one of these resorts, but he looked aboutin vain for some more respectable place in which to inquire. As is notuncommon in New York, not a policeman was in sight, and the fewpassers-by were too ruffianly-looking to make the boy feel inclined toaccost them.
At last he found himself opposite a small eating place—the WelcomeHome—that appeared to be fairly respectable. A full-rigged ship paintedin red and blue on its front window and the legends displayed in thesame place told him it was an eating house for sailors.
And so he decided to go in. In the front of the place was a glassshowcase filled with cheap cigars. Behind it were gaudily coloredposters of steamship lines.
There was no one behind the counter, and Jack started toward the rear,where three men sat at a table talking rather boisterously.
One of them, a big, hulking fellow with the build of a bull, brought hisfist down on the table with a crash that made the plates and glassesjump, just as Jack came in.
“The kid’s on the _Ajax_,” the lad heard him say in a rough voice, “andif ever I catch him, I——”
He stopped short as he heard Jack’s footfall behind him. The nextinstant he turned a bloated, brutal countenance, suffused with blood,upon the boy.
Up to that instant, Jack had not connected himself with the subject ofconversation. But he did now. With a quick heart-leap he had recognizedthe hulking brute at the table as one of the cronies of Anderson thefireman.
The recognition was mutual. With a roar like that of a stricken bull theman leaped to his feet.
“Mates!” he bellowed, “it’s the kid himself! After him! Keep the doorthere, someone!”
A bottle came whizzing through the air at Jack’s head. He dodged it andit burst in a crimson spatter of ketchup against the wall, spatteringthe boy with its contents.
Like an arrow he darted out of the door. The proprietor, who was justcoming into the place from an errand next door, spread his arms to stophim. Down went Jack’s head, and like a battering ram he butted the fatlandlord, gasping, out of his path.
After him came a shower of plates, glasses and bottles and loud, excitedshouts.
Jack ran as he had never run in his life before. Behind him came theheavy beat of the firemen’s feet. How much mercy he could expect fromthem if they laid hands on him, he knew.
Nobody was in sight. Jack’s safety lay in his own heels, a fact herecognized with a quick gasp of dismay.
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CHAPTER XXVIII.
IN THE HOSPITAL.
As he doubled the nearest corner, like a hare with the hounds close uponit, Jack uttered a wild shout for help. He hoped that somebody mighthear it.
But there was no result from his appeal for aid. Were there no policemenin New York?
The street he had blindly doubled into was lined on each side by tall,dark, silent warehouses. The blank walls echoed back the sound of hisflying feet and the heavy footfalls of those in pursuit.
Jack realized, with a thrill of dismay, that they were gaining on him.He heard the heavy exhalation and intake of the runners’ breaths.
Suddenly one of his pursuers whipped out a revolver and fired.
The audacity of the deed sent Jack’s heart racing faster than before. Aman who would dare to fire a revolver on a New York street, dark anddeserted though it was, would hardly stick at any act of violence.
“If I can’t throw them off, it’s all up with me,” thought the boy.
Bang!
Another report echoed back from the shadowy walls on either side. Thistime the bullet came close, but it was only a random shot, for at thepace they were running nobody could take careful aim.
The effect of the closely singing bullet was to make Jack lose his nerveutterly. Blindly he plunged forward, not hearing the distant screamingof police whistles and the thunder of nightsticks as they were rapped onthe pavements.
The sound of the revolver shots had aroused the police at last. Fromevery direction they came running; but Jack, in a perfect frenzy offear, knew nothing of all this. He did see, though, that he was cominginto a better lighted quarter. A few stores and residences blossomedwith lights, and help lay ahead if he could only make it in time.
Behind him he could hear only one set of footfalls now. Two of hispursuers had dropped out of the chase. The boy put forth a supremeeffort, but in the very act he met with disaster. He had been runningwith his head down, and suddenly, just as he gave a last desperatesprint to gain the lighted quarter, he collided, crashingly, with aniron lamp-post. The boy went down as if he had been struck with a club.Fire blazed before his eyes; his senses swam, and then all became black.
It was just at this moment that a big black auto came whirling throughthe street. In the tonneau sat a stout, prosperous-looking man who, ashe saw the sudden accident, started up and ordered his chauffeur tostop. Master and man got out and went over to the recumbent figure, and,as they did so, a hulking form glided off in the shadowy region towardthe waterfront.
“The kid’s broke his head without botherin’ me to do it for him,” theman muttered as he slunk off.
“Now then, Marshall,” said the prosperous-looking man, “give me a handto pick this boy up. Lucky for him that we were coming this way homefrom Staten Island or he might have lain here all night.”
They stooped over the lad and picked him up. As they did so, the lightof a street lamp fell on the pale face. The owner of the car gave asudden sharp exclamation:
“Gracious goodness! It’s young Ready! How in the world did he comehere?”
“He’s got a precious bad crack on his head, sir, and by the looks of himwon’t be able to answer that question for some time to come. My advice,Mr. Jukes, is to take him to the hospital.”
“You are right, Marshall. I’m afraid the poor lad has a bad injury. Helpme put him in the tonneau and then make a quick run for the nearesthospital.”
By a strange fate it was Mr. Jukes’ car that had approached Jack as hefell senseless to the street. The shipping magnate was returning home,as he had said, from a dinner party on Staten Island. Finding thestreets by the South Ferry torn up, he had ordered his chauffeur toproceed along West Street and then cut through the village to FifthAvenue. Thus it came about that his employer it was who had picked uppoor Jack.
Straight to the Greenwich Hospital drove the chauffeur, and in less thanhalf an hour Jack lay tucked in a private bed, with orders that he wasto be given every care; and Mr. Jukes was speeding uptown, wonderinggreatly how the young wireless operator happened to be in that part ofthe city at that hour of the night.
The next morning Jack awakened in his bed at the hospital with theimpression that a boiler shop had taken up a temporary abode in hishead. For a few minutes he thought he was in his bunk on the _Ajax_,then he shifted to the _Venus_ and at last, as he blinkingly regardedthe ceiling, memory came rushing back in a full flood.
The dark, deserted streets, the rough, brutal men, the mad run for life,and then a sudden crash and darkness. What had happened? Had they struckhim down? Jack put his hand to his throbbing head. It was bandaged. Sothey _had_ struck him. But he was uninjured otherwise seemingly, sosomething must have happened to stop the savage fury of the firemenbefore they had time to wreck their full vengeance on his defenselessbody.
He turned his head and saw a young woman smilingly regarding him. Shewore a blue dress and a neat white apron and cap.
“A nurse,” thought Jack, and then aloud, “is this the hospital?”
“Yes,” was the reply, “but you must not talk till the doctor has seenyou.”
“But what has happened? How did I come here?” persisted Jack.
“If you will promise not to ask any more questions till after the doctorhas been here, I will tell you.”
“Very well. I’ll promise.”
“You were brought here in Mr. Jukes’ automobile.”
/> Jack tried to sit up in bed. What sort of a wild dream was this? Hislast recollection was of a dark street, revolver shots and a stunningblow, and now, suddenly, Mr. Jukes, his employer, was brought into thematter.
“Mr. Jukes!” he exclaimed. “Why, how——”
“Hush! Remember your promise.”
Jack, perforce, lay back to wait, with what patience he could, the visitof the doctor, after which he hoped he might be allowed to talk. It wasall too perplexing. Then, too, he recollected, with a pang of dismay,that the _Ajax_ sailed the next day. What if she sailed without him? Hewould lose his berth. The lad fairly ground his teeth.
“Just one question, ma’am,” he begged; “when can I get out of here?”
“Not for two or three days, at any rate,” was the reply.
Poor Jack groaned aloud and buried his face in his hands.
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CHAPTER XXIX.
JACK HAS VISITORS.
The doctor had come and gone, confirming the verdict that Jack haddreaded to hear. In the meantime, by the kind offices of the hospitalauthorities, a message had been despatched to his uncle informing him ofthe lad’s plight.
The nurse had told the boy all she knew of the matter and added anadmiring eulogy on Mr. Jukes, who, she said, had promised to call thatday and had ordered that no expense was to be spared in caring for Jackin the meantime.
But all this fell on ears that were deaf. The one bitter fact that theboy’s brain drummed over and over to the exclusion of all else was thathis ship would sail without him and his accident might cost him hisberth.
“Isn’t there any way I can be patched up so as to get out to-morrow?” hebegged.
The nurse shook her head.
“The doctor wouldn’t hear of it. You must lie here two days, at least.”
“You might as well make it a year,” moaned Jack.
After a while he dozed off, but was awakened by the nurse, who, in tonesof suppressed excitement, informed him that Mr. Jukes had arrived to seehim. Jack, who had been expecting his uncle, felt disappointed, butstill, he reasoned, Mr. Jukes might be able to throw some light on thedark hours through which Jack had passed.
With Mr. Jukes, when he entered, was a tall, delicate-looking lad ofabout Jack’s age. He shrank rather shyly behind his father as he gazedat the sunbrowned, bandaged lad on the bed.
“Well, my lad, how do you feel this morning?” asked Mr. Jukes in hisbrisk, close-lipped way as he took the chair offered him by the nurse.
“Much better, sir, thank you,” rejoined Jack. “I—I want to rejoin theship, sir.”
“Impossible. They tell me you cannot get out for two days, at least,”was the decisive reply. “But I must say you are a hard lad to kill. Whenyou struck that lamp-post——”
“That lamp-post!” exclaimed Jack.
“Yes, down in Greenwich Village. You were running along like onepossessed. All of a sudden I saw you strike the post like a runawaylocomotive, and then down you came. Now, my boy, it’s up to you toexplain what you were doing in that part of town at that time of night.”
Mr. Jukes compressed his lips and looked rather severe, but as Jacklaunched into his story, the magnate’s brow grew black.
“The rascals! The infernal rascals! I’ll offer a big reward this veryday for their apprehension.”
“I’m afraid there’s not much chance of getting them, sir,” said Jack.“But it was fortunate indeed for me that you arrived on the scene,although I cannot understand how it happened.”
This was soon explained, and then Mr. Jukes, turning to thefrail-looking youth, said:
“This is my son, Tom. Tom, this, as you know, is the lad who saved yoursister from drowning.”
“How d’ye do!” said Jack, gripping the other’s slim white fingers in agrasp that made the lad wince, for, sick as he was, Jack’s grip had lostnone of its strength.
“Tom’s not very strong, but he’s crazy about wireless and the sea. NowI’ve got to be off. Big meeting downtown. Tom, I’ll be back and get youfor lunch. In the meantime, stay here and get young Ready to tell youall he knows about wireless.”
“That won’t take very long,” laughed Jack, which remark brought from Mr.Jukes a repetition of the observation that it would be “hard to kill”the young wireless man.
Mr. Jukes rushed out of the room as if there was not an instant to belost.
“That’s his way,” laughed Tom Jukes, as his father vanished, “always ina rush. But he’s got the best heart in the world. Tell me all about yourtrouble with those firemen and your life on the _Ajax_. I wish dad wouldlet me follow the sea. I’d soon get strong again.”
Jack, in the interest of having someone to talk to, forgot about hisdamaged head. He gave a lively, sketchy account of life on the bigtanker, not forgetting the surgical operation performed by wireless, andwound up with the story of the night raid on the tobacco smugglers andhis encounter of the night before with the revengeful firemen.
When he finished, Tom Jukes sighed.
“Gracious! That’s interesting, though! I wish I had adventures likethat. But they are doing their best to make a regular molly-coddle outof me. The yacht and Bar Harbor in the summer, Florida in the winter anda private tutor and a man-servant! It makes me sick!”
The lad shot out these last words with surprising vehemence. “I know alot of fellows who’d change with you,” said Jack.
“You do! They must be sap-heads,” said the rich man’s son; and thensuddenly, “How would you like to try the life for a time?”
“Me? Oh, I’ve never thought about it,” said Jack.
“Because if you would—but I forgot. I’m not to say anything about that.That’s dad’s plan, and he’ll have to talk to you about it.”
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CHAPTER XXX.
THE REJECTED OFFER.
Jack was much mystified, but Tom adroitly dodged further questioning byturning the subject. He told the young wireless man of his trips toFlorida and California in search of health, and all about his father’sfine yacht, the _Halcyon_, on which he had made many trips.
“But it’s all rot,” he concluded. “If they’d let me live the life anyordinary kid does, I’ll bet I’d be as sound—as sound as you are beforevery long.”
About noon Mr. Jukes came back. He burst into the room with hiscustomary bustle and hurry, and it was plain that he had something onhis mind to deliver in his usual blunt way.
Without any preliminaries he broke out:
“Ready, I’ve decided that you will make an excellent companion for Tom.He needs the companionship of an active, cheery lad of his own age.
“I like you and I know he will. It’s a great chance for you. Stay heretill you feel all right, and then I’ll send you and Tom on a cruise toFlorida on the yacht. Life at sea is a dog’s life at the best. I’ll pickout a different career for you and give you a desk in my office when Tomis on his feet again. Come now, what do you say?”
While the magnate had been volleying out these rapid-fire orders,—forthat is what they amounted to,—Jack’s tired brain had been performing aneccentric whirl. At first he had hardly understood, but now the fullmeaning of it burst upon him.
Mr. Jukes wanted him to leave the sea, to drop his beloved wireless workand take a desk in his office! He was also to act, it seemed, as a sortof companion for Tom. It was a life of ease and offered a future whichfew boys would have had the courage to decline.
Jack knew that every round of the ladder he had elected to climb couldonly be won by stern fighting and keeping the faith like a man. On theother hand, if he chose to give in to Mr. Jukes’ wishes or commands, hewas on the road to a life of ease and luxury and one that was as farfrom the hardships and adventures of the sea as could be imagined.
Mr.
Jukes eyed the boy as he hesitated with rising impatience. He wasnot at all used to having his wishes disobeyed. Men jumped to carry outhis commands; and yet it appeared that this stubborn young sailor lad ofthe ocean wireless wavered.
“What are you hesitating about, Ready?” he asked impatiently.
“I’m not hesitating, sir,” was the astonishing reply, “I’m trying tofind the best way to tell you that I can’t accept your offer.”
Mr. Jukes was as astonished as on the night when Jack had refused hischeck. He flushed red and his cheeks swelled.
“Don’t talk like an idiot, lad,” he exclaimed, choking down his wrathfulamazement. “Of course you can do as I wish. It will be the making of Tomand of you.”
“I’d like to do it if I could, Mr. Jukes,” said Jack, wondering why heseemed to be doomed always to run afoul of this man who appeared bent ondoing him a kindness. “It’s a great offer. Please don’t think I do notappreciate it.”
“Then why in the name of heaven don’t you accept it?” thundered Mr.Jukes with rising wrath.
“Because I cannot, sir,” rejoined Jack bravely; while he thought tohimself, “This means I’ll have to look for another job.”
“Cannot! Why, of all the crass idiocy! What ails you, boy! Cannot,indeed! Why?”
“Because I have chosen my own way of life, sir, and I must follow itout,” replied Jack, as firmly as he could in spite of the bitter feelingthat filled him that he was killing his own chances with the Titan Line.
Tom Jukes tried to interpose, but his father angrily choked him off.