CHAPTER XVI
DOCTOR MARLEY EXPLAINS
Frank slid down the rope which Mr. Temple, braced in the bow of theboat, held steady for him. Jack and Bob already were at the oars andfending off from the side of the trawler. Fat little Doctor Marleycrouched frightened in the stern.
"Give 'way," cried Matt Murphy, from above.
As he made his way across the thwarts toward the stern, the better totrim the boat, Frank glanced up. Over the rail of the trawler leanedMatt Murphy waving farewell with his uninjured hand, in which wasclutched the revolver taken from Frank.
Frank waved as his chums bent lustily to the oars and the boat began todance across the still water, widening the gap between it and thetrawler. A feeling of regret at parting with Murphy crossed Frank'smind. A strange man, a leader of crooks, was Murphy. Yet Frank had beenquick to sense the finer instincts beneath the surface and companionabletraits which drew him strangely.
From the deck of the trawler there floated to them now a high jabberingof Chinese. They were in sight, and the thwarted Orientals were angry atseeing their prey escape. They ran to the rail and leaned over,jabbering away. One--the man with the revolver--whipped up his arm andfired. The bullet skimmed the water close to the stern, and DoctorMarley whimpered and threw himself flat on the bottom boards.
The next moment they could see Matt Murphy coolly raise his weapon andfire. But not at them. His shot caught the Chinese gunman in the arm,and the latter's revolver fell into the sea as he seized the injuredmember and danced about in shrieking agony.
"Look," cried Frank, "he's driving them back into the forecastle."
Murphy was, indeed, driving the Chinese away from the rail. His voicecame only faintly to the boat, but its occupants could see him kicking,striking with clubbed revolver, forcing the Orientals below. One by onethey disappeared into the forecastle door until the deck was cleared ofthem. Then Murphy turned, a tiny figure now on the deck, and waved oncemore to the boat.
"Lay on your oars now, Jack," advised Bob. "Murphy said to lay hereuntil the Sub Chaser, which had our position, picked us up."
"So Murphy gave you some explanation about things, hey?" asked Frank."I'm all at sea all right, in my mind as well as the boat. What's it allabout? Where did he come from so suddenly? How, with that broken arm,did he get this boat lowered? Why did he drive us off the trawler? Andwhy did we come away, anyhow? We were in a ticklish position, but stillmight have held on until the Sub Chaser arrived. Then we'd have had ourbirds."
Bob glanced around the horizon.
"Not a sign of smoke indicating the Sub Chaser," he said, "unless it'sthat tiny film off there"--pointing to the southwest. "What position didthe Sub Chaser give, Frank, and how far away was it?"
"That's the Chaser, all right," said Frank. "She was southwest from usand about fourteen knots away. Said she'd be up in an hour easy."
He pulled out his watch.
"Why," he declared, "it must have stopped. No"--listening--"it's going allright. But it certainly is hard to believe. Only twenty-five minutessince we left the cabin. I looked at my watch then. And less since Icalled the Chaser. It'll be some time before it comes up."
"Look," cried Jack pointing, "the trawler's belching a thicker smoke.And, yes--she's beginning to steam away from us."
"I suppose," said Mr. Temple, "that Murphy is going to try to escape."He called to Doctor Marley. "Doctor, you were with Murphy and helped himlower this boat. What did he say to you? Why did he help us at all? Didhe tell you?"
The fat little man crouching at Frank's side, still in an attitude offright, looked up for the first time. As he saw the distance between thetrawler and boat steadily widening an expression of relief lit up hisface.
"Chinese frighten me dreadfully," he said, shuddering a little. "I'm soglad I escaped. And that man, 'Black George,' too. I have attended himbefore, and so his men came and got me out of bed the other night whenhe was injured. But I never dreamed of being taken on his boat. Oh, I amso glad I escaped."
"Yes, yes, Doctor," said Mr. Temple. "But tell us what you know,please."
"There isn't much to tell," he said. "I gathered from a hint dropped bythe cook that the Chinese aboard wanted vengeance on you people becauseof the way you had laid out old Wong Ho, their leader. There is somequeer clannishness, some tie, that I don't understand. But it is quitecertain they did thirst for your blood.
"So I went to Engineer MacFinney and warned him the Chinese might try tobreak down his engines, in order to seize the ship before it reached itsdestination and thus get you in their power without interference fromFolwell's land forces. He went below, and presently called me and Ijoined him.
"He had the engines working. The dozen Chinese aboard were busy underhis directions. He took me aside, out of their hearing, and ordered meto go to the Chinese cook--who, for some reason, probably because he wasof another tong or clan, was not on good terms with the rest of thecrew.
"'Tell him,' he ordered me, 'to go into the forecastle and take away allthe revolvers hidden there. He'll know where to find them. These fellowsalways carry their knives, but if they have any revolvers around, we'llappropriate those at least.'
"I was frightened, gentlemen. I am a man of peace. But the burlyengineer overawed me, and drove me forth to do his bidding. The cookfound a number of revolvers and appropriated them, hiding them in hispans. But evidently, he overlooked one revolver or else the manpossessing it carried it with him, for you were shot at several times byone of the Chinese."
"I'll say we were," declared Frank, slangily.
"Then," continued the doctor, "when I returned to the engine room, theChinese all left. Perhaps they suspected some treachery toward them wasgoing on. At any rate, they scampered for the forecastle, and EngineerMacFinney couldn't stop them with his curses and blows.
"A moment or two later, Matt Murphy came into the engine room. Mr.MacFinney was working at his gauges. Murphy beckoned me, and I followedto the deck. He asked me to help him lower a boat and tie it to thestern. He said the Chinese were plotting an attack even then, and thatif I wanted to save my life I must carry out his orders. I obeyed.
"As we worked, I asked whether he was coming, too? 'No,' said he, 'ye'llbe picked up by Uncle Sam's men. Them byes are calling a speedy patrolboat by radio right now. I want to get 'em off an' away quick, so we canescape in the trawler. I don't want to be put in prison the rest o' mylife.'
"'But this trawler is slow,' I protested. 'How can you hope to escapefrom a fast patrol boat?'
"'Fog,' said he. 'I can smell it comin'. After last night's storm, it'sbound to come up. If it only comes in time we can hide in it, an' that'sour chance.'"
"Fog?" cried Frank, alarmed.
So interested had all been in Doctor Marley's narrative they had paid noattention to their surroundings. Now, at Frank's cry, they glancedaround.
"Here it comes, too," Frank added, pointing toward the trawler. Thevessel was more than two miles away, and making fast going. As Frankpointed, a wall of fog sweeping across the water engulfed it. Onemoment, the trawler stood out clear and distinct. The next, it haddisappeared entirely from sight, and the fog was rolling toward them.
"Good heavens," cried Doctor Marley, "we'll be lost in mid-ocean. Howcan the patrol boat find us?"
"Here she comes now," Frank shouted, pointing to the southwest, wherethe sun yet shone.
"Two or three miles away yet," said Jack, anxiously, estimating thedistance to where the speedy little craft was sending up two columns ofwater before her prow.
"Wow, and here's the fog," shouted Bob.
"Frank, you hold the rudder so that we make a small circle, and Bob andJack, do you row easily," called Mr. Temple. "That will be better thanmerely drifting. The Sub Chaser evidently sees us. It must, for it isundoubtedly on the lookout. It ought to be up in fifteen minutes.Presently we'll begin to shout."
His directions were approved and carried out. Some twenty minutes later,in response to their shouts, a muffled hail ca
me across the water. Theboys plied their oars. Hails were repeated back and forth. Soon a darkbulk loomed ahead, they bumped into the Sub Chaser, and then one by oneclambered to the deck.