CHAPTER XXVIII
A GRIM DISCOVERY
Frank had some difficulty in getting about the vessel. She was rollingwildly and loose ropes and blocks whipped blindly to and fro, but henoticed that the boat had gone, and the cleanly severed shroudsindicated that her mainmast had been cut loose after it had fallen overthe side. It was evident that the crew had made some attempt to save thevessel before they abandoned her. The mainboom had disappeared, thoughthe broken gaff and part of the sail were still attached to the hull bya mass of tangled gear. Scrambling forward he found the anchor lyingstill hooked to a tackle and half secured with its arms upon the rail,which suggested that the smugglers had sailed in haste and had been kepttoo busy afterward to make it fast. It was reassuring to discover thatthe anchor could be dropped without much trouble if this becamenecessary. Then he came upon a lantern hooked beneath the forecastlescuttle and went back to report to Harry. The latter, who was standingat the wheel, listened to him attentively.
"Well," he said at length, "I can't figure out the thing, and unlesssome of the dope men explain it I don't think we're likely to be muchwiser. As Jake said, it looks as if they had jibed her by accident,which would probably rip out the mainmast, but, although it's easy tobring the mainboom over on a fore-and-aft rigged craft, it's mightyseldom that a capable sailor does it. Then, as there's water in her,they must have bumped her on a reef, though she could only have struckonce or twice before she drove over it. That's as far as I can get, andthe first thing is to find out what water there is below. It's fortunateyou have a lantern."
Frank looked around. There was no doubt that the wind was falling, andthe schooner, having only part of her forward canvas set, steeredeasily. The sloop, which had sheered off a little farther, was sailingabreast of her with lowered peak about a hundred yards away, rising andfalling with the long combers which, however, broke less angrily.
"Jake will stand by for three or four hours," Harry explained. "Afterthat he'll have to haul her up to make the inlet where we were to joinBarclay, but it will be close on daylight by then."
Frank was glad to hear it. There would be some peril in getting on boardthe sloop if that became necessary, but it was comforting to see herclose at hand. In the meanwhile he shrank from going below and made nomove to do so until Harry spoke again.
"I'm anxious about that water and you had better get down," he said. "Goin by the house; there'll probably be a lazaret below it with an openingin the deck."
Frank reluctantly scrambled forward around the house, the door of whichfaced toward the bows, and being out of the wind there he contrived tolight the lantern, though he struck several matches in the attempt. Thehouse, which occupied most of the vessel's quarter, was low so that themainboom could swing over it, and it was evident that the cabin floorwas sunk some feet below the level of the deck. Frank thrust the dooropen and then stood hesitating, holding up the lantern, which did notburn well and only flung a faint light into the obscurity before him. Hecould hear an ominous gurgle of water below when the schooner rolled andmade out three or four steps which seemed to lead down into it. As heplaced his foot on the first of them the vessel lurched wildly and hewent down with a bang, while the lantern flew out of his hand. For novery evident reason, except that he was overstrung, he could haveshouted in alarm as he lay upon the wet flooring in the dark. He hadstruck his knee in his fall and for a moment or two he feared to moveit.
Then he noticed a pale reflection against what he supposed to be thebottom of a seat, and as it was evident that the overturned lantern hadnot quite gone out he crawled toward it. As he did so the splash andgurgle of water seemed much louder than it had done on deck. He couldhear it surge against the sides of the vessel and the hollow soundjarred upon his nerves. He longed to escape from the oppressiveobscurity and get out into the moonlight by his companion's side, but hereflected that it would not be pleasant to tell Harry that he had runaway from the darkness and left the lantern. He determined to secure thelatter, and he was moving toward it on hands and knees when his fingersstruck something that felt like a pistol. He let it lie, however, andstretched out his hand for the lantern, setting it upright. Theflickering flame grew brighter, and standing up he flung the uncertainlight about him. There was undoubtedly a revolver on the uncoveredfloor, which was dripping wet, and he thought it curious that thesmugglers should have left the weapon lying in that position; but eversince he had boarded the schooner he had been troubled by anuncomfortable sense of strangeness. The fact that her crew had abandonedher, apparently without a sufficient reason, suggested a mystery. Thenhe raised his hand so that the radiance touched a little, clamped-downtable, and as it did so he started and came near dropping the lanternagain, for a man sat at the table with his head and shoulders restingupon it as if he had suddenly fallen forward.
Frank afterward confessed that his first impulse was to run toward thedoor, and he was never quite certain why he did not do so, but he stoodstill holding up the lantern, while his heart throbbed painfully and hisflesh seemed to creep. The bent figure was unnaturally still, but whenthe schooner lurched and the table slanted it fell forward a littlefarther, all in one piece--which was how he thought of it--and as aheavy sack would have done. That was too much for Frank, and clamberingup the steps he ran back to Harry in breathless haste.
"You look as if something had scared you," said the latter with a traceof anxiety in his voice.
Frank leaned against the house, and his face showed white and set in themoonlight.
"There's a man lying across the table in the cabin," he panted.
Harry started, but he pulled up his helm a spoke or two.
"She'll come up if I leave her, but that won't matter much," he said."We'll go back together."
Frank felt a little easier now that he had a companion, and he was morecollected when he stood in the cabin holding up the light while Harry,who called first and got no answer, walked cautiously toward the huddledfigure. Then he shrank back a pace or two.
"The man's dead!" he said.
After that neither of them moved for half a minute during which the deckslanted wildly beneath them, and then Frank proceeded very reluctantlytoward the table. Harry followed him, and when they stooped over theshadowy figure Frank caught a partial glimpse of a yellow face and sawthat the man wore a loose blue jacket.
"Turn the light a little," said Harry in a low, hoarse voice, and whenFrank had done so he looked around at him.
"It's the man we got dinner with the day we went up the creek. He's beenshot," he added.
Once more the horror of the thing was almost too much for Frank, butjust then a furious thrashing of loose canvas and clatter of blocksbroke out above them and relieved the tension.
"She's luffing with the sea on her quarter," said Harry. "I must getback to the helm, but we'll wait a moment and look around first. Loweryour lantern. There's something on the floor--no, I don't mean thepistol, though you can pick that up."
He stooped down beside Frank, who held the lantern close to the wetplanking, and saw for the first time a broad wet stain upon it leadingtoward the steps. That was enough for both of them, and saying nothingfurther they scrambled toward the door. They did not stop until theyreached the wheel, and then Harry spent a few moments getting the vesselbefore the wind again.
"We're no wiser about the water yet," he said at length with a strainedlaugh.
"No," said Frank. "I didn't think about it--I only wanted to get out asquick as I could." He broke off, and then added, "What do you make ofit?"
Harry stretched out one hand for the pistol, opened it, and held it upin the moonlight.
"There's a shell still in," he said. "The man it belonged to must havedropped it in a mighty hurry. It's clear that there was a row on boardher either before or after she lost her mast. That Chinaman had a bulletthrough his head and somebody else was hurt, though he got out of thehouse--the stains showed that. I wonder"--and he dropped his voice--"ifwe ought to search the forecastle."
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bsp; "_I'm_ not going down," Frank answered decisively.
"Well," said Harry, "I don't feel like it either. That's the simplefact."
Again there was silence for a while and both were glad that the solidend of the house stood between them and what lay in the cabin. ThenFrank roused himself.
"We've forgotten about the water, but the hatch is smashed," he said. "Iexpect they dropped the boat upon it in heaving her out. I might getdown that way."
"You had better try," said Harry, glancing around and pointing to thesloop, which was now nearer them. "Jake must have edged her in when hesaw the schooner come up with no one at the helm," he added. "It's niceto feel that he's about."
Frank agreed with him. Once more he found the sight of the sloopcuriously reassuring, but he scrambled forward, and, wriggling through ahole in the broken hatch, clambered partly down a beam. There was waterbelow him, but there was less than he expected, and he could not hearany more pouring in, though he recognized that this would have beendifficult on account of the gurgling and splashing that was going on.After listening for a minute or two he went back to Harry.
"There's a good deal of water in her," he said. "Hadn't we better heavesome of it out?"
"I don't think it would be worth while," was Harry's answer. "You couldhardly work the pump alone, and if I left the helm she'd keep running upinto the wind and yawing about. I'd rather shove her along steadilytoward the land."
"Then can't we get the foresail properly set and drive her a littlefaster?" Frank inquired. "She ought to bear it now the wind's dropping."
It was not only the leak that troubled him. He wanted to escape as soonas possible from the horror that seemed to pervade the vessel, and hiscompanion eagerly seized upon the suggestion.
"Why, of course!" replied Harry. "I might have thought of it, but I'vebeen kind of dazed since we got out of the cabin."
They went forward and led the halliards to the winch, but they wouldhave had trouble in setting the partly lowered sail if the schooner hadnot come up into the wind and relieved the strain on it. By degreesthey heaved up the gaff and peaked it, after which they went aft, as thevessel plowed faster over the falling sea.
"Now," said Frank, "the question is, where are we heading for?"
"I've been worrying over that while we set the sail," Harry responded."If we hauled her up right now we might, perhaps, fetch the inlet wherewe arranged to join Barclay, but we'd have to jibe the foresail over,and as I would have to keep the helm while I brought her round and youwouldn't be able to check the sheet alone, it's very likely thatsomething would smash when the boom came across. Besides that, we'd havea strip of rocky coast to lee of us presently, and we mightn't be ableto keep her off it with only the foresail set. On the other hand, so faras I can recollect from looking at the chart, the islands are dead toleeward and we'd only have to keep her running to reach them. There's asound where we'd find smooth water once we sailed her in. That would bethe wiser plan."
Frank, concurring in this, sat down near the helm. He felt that he wouldnot like to go far away, and he remembered that night watch longafterward.
The moon crept on to the westward, getting lower, and now and thenflying clouds obscured the silvery light. The combers still came surgingafter them crested with glittering froth, though they no longer brokeabout the rail, and there was a constant gurgling and splashing of waterinside the lurching vessel. At last Jake jibed the sloop's mainsail overand stood away from them. The moon was very low now and Frank grewsomewhat uneasy as he watched the boat's canvas fade into the creepinggloom. Shortly afterward the moon dipped altogether and it was verydark.
"We can't be far off the land," said Harry. "I don't want to come upwith it before daylight, but with no after canvas on her I don't supposewe could round her up and wait. If we did, I'm not sure we could gether to fall off again--one of the jibs is torn to ribands and theother's split. We'll have to keep her running."
They drove on and presently a faint gray light crept across the water tothe east. A little later, when all the sky was flushed with red andsaffron, a long black smear cut sharply across the glow.
"The first of the islands," announced Harry. "It's right abeam. We mustget some foresail sheet in."
They had difficulty in doing so, though they led the sheet to the winch,but the schooner came up closer afterward, and when the sun had climbedabove a bank of cloud the end of the island was rising before them and astrip of water opening up beyond it. Half an hour later they ran in withthe foresail peak lowered down, and Frank gazed anxiously ahead as theydrove on more slowly up a broad channel. On one hand there were rocksand scrubby pines, with larger trees behind, but he wondered what theresult would be if a reef or a jutting point lay in front of them. Thevessel's speed, however, grew slower still, the water became smoother,and at last Harry looked around at him.
"If you'll unhook the tackle and cut the lashing you ought to get theanchor over," he remarked. "I'll luff her as far as possible and you'llheave the thing off when I drop the foresail."
There followed a clatter of blocks, and a furious rattle of runningchain, which presently stopped. Then as the swinging vessel drew hercable out they toiled desperately at the windlass to heave up more of itfrom below. The task was almost beyond their strength, but somehow theymanaged it and Harry clapped on a chain stopper.
"That should hold her," he said. "There's not much wind now. I'd be gladto leave her if I could get ashore."
This, however, was out of the question, since the canoe had gone, andvery much against their will they waited on board for several hoursuntil at length a trail of smoke arose above the pines. Then a littlesteamer with foam about her bows appeared from behind a point and thehoot of her whistle rang sharply across the water.
"Barclay, sure!" said Harry. "I'm certainly glad to see him."
A few minutes later Mr. Barclay climbed on board and went down into thecabin and all over the vessel with them before he made any remarks. Atlength he turned to the boys as they stood by the rail.
"You have done a very smart thing and I don't think you'll have anyreason for regretting it," he said pointedly. "This is a good set-offagainst the failure at the other end. Jake got in with the message andwe started as soon as I'd had a talk with him. Fortunately, we were ableto creep along through the sounds and it's scarcely likely that any ofthe smugglers can have seen us."
"But what has become of this vessel's crew?" Frank asked.
"I don't know," replied Mr. Barclay. "We'll probably ascertain somethingabout them later."
"Do you expect to corral the rest of them to-night?" Harry broke in.
"It's possible," said Mr. Barclay with a trace of dryness. "The firstthing, however, is to beach this vessel, and then you and Jake must getoff in the sloop. There's a good deal to be done, and I want to run thesteamer back out of sight up the inlet as soon as it can be managed."
He called some of his companions on board, and when Frank and Harry satdown to an excellent meal in the steamer's cabin they heard the menheaving the schooner's anchor.