The Mucker Read online

  CHAPTER IV. PIRACY

  BY DUSK the trim little brigantine was scudding away toward the westbefore a wind that could not have suited her better had it been made toorder at the special behest of the devil himself to speed his minionsupon their devil's work.

  All hands were in the best of humor. The crew had forgotten their recentrancor at not having been permitted shore leave at Honolulu in theexpectancy of adventure in the near future, for there was that inthe atmosphere of the Halfmoon which proclaimed louder than words theproximity of excitement, and the goal toward which they had been sailingsince they left San Francisco.

  Skipper Simms and Divine were elated at the luck which had broughtthem to Honolulu in the nick of time, and at the success of Theriere'smission at that port. They had figured upon a week at least there beforethe second officer of the Halfmoon could ingratiate himself sufficientlyinto the goodwill of the Hardings to learn their plans, and now theywere congratulating themselves upon their acumen in selecting so fit anagent as the Frenchman for the work he had handled so expeditiously andso well.

  Ward was pleased that he had not been forced to prolong the gallingmasquerade of valet to his inferior officer. He was hopeful, too, thatcoming events would bring to the fore an opportunity to satisfy thevengeance he had inwardly sworn against the sailor who had so roughlymanhandled him a few weeks past--Theriere had not been in error in hisestimate of his fellow-officer.

  Billy Byrne, the arduous labor of making sail over for the time, wasdevoting his energies to the task of piecing out from what Theriere hadtold him and what he had overheard outside the skipper's cabin some sortof explanation of the work ahead.

  As he pondered Theriere's proposition he saw the wisdom of it. It wouldgive those interested a larger amount of the booty for their share.Another feature of it was that it was underhanded and that appealedstrongly to the mucker. Now, if he could but devise some scheme fordouble-crossing Theriere the pleasure and profit of the adventure wouldbe tripled.

  It was this proposition that was occupying his attention when he caughtsight of "Bony" Sawyer and "Red" Sanders emerging from the forecastle.Billy Byrne hailed them.

  When the mucker had explained the possibilities of profit that were tobe had by entering the conspiracy aimed at Simms and Ward the two seamenwere enthusiastically for it.

  "Bony" Sawyer suggested that the black cook, Blanco, was about the onlyother member of the crew upon whom they could depend, and at Byrne'srequest "Bony" promised to enlist the cooperation of the giantEthiopian.

  From early morning of the second day out of Honolulu keen eyes scannedthe eastern horizon through powerful glasses, until about two bellsof the afternoon watch a slight smudge became visible about two pointsnorth of east. Immediately the course of the Halfmoon was altered sothat she bore almost directly north by west in an effort to come safelyinto the course of the steamer which was seen rising rapidly above thehorizon.

  The new course of the brigantine was held as long as it seemedreasonably safe without danger of being sighted under full sail by theoncoming vessel, then her head was brought into the wind, and one by oneher sails were lowered and furled, as the keen eyes of Second OfficerTheriere announced that there was no question but that the white hull inthe distance was that of the steam pleasure yacht Lotus.

  Upon the deck of the unsuspecting vessel a merry party laughed andchatted in happy ignorance of the plotters in their path. It was nearlyhalf an hour after the Halfmoon had come to rest, drifting idly underbare poles, that the lookout upon the Lotus sighted her.

  "Sailin' vessel lyin' to, west half south," he shouted, "flyin' distresssignals."

  In an instant guests and crew had hurried to points of vantage wherethey might obtain unobstructed view of the stranger, and take advantageof this break in the monotony of a long sea voyage.

  Anthony Harding was on the bridge with the captain, and both men hadleveled their glasses upon the distant ship.

  "Can you make her out?" asked the owner.

  "She's a brigantine," replied the officer, "and all that I can make outfrom here would indicate that everything was shipshape about her. Hercanvas is neatly furled, and she is evidently well manned, for I can seea number of figures above deck apparently engaged in watching us. I'llalter our course and speak to her--we'll see what's wrong, and give hera hand if we can."

  "That's right," replied Harding; "do anything you can for them."

  A moment later he joined his daughter and their guests to report themeager information he had.

  "How exciting," exclaimed Barbara Harding. "Of course it's not a realshipwreck, but maybe it's the next thing to it. The poor souls may havebeen drifting about here in the center of the Pacific without food orwater for goodness knows how many weeks, and now just think how theymust be lifting their voices in thanks to God for his infinite mercy inguiding us to them."

  "If they've been drifting for any considerable number of weeks withoutfood or water," hazarded Billy Mallory, "about the only things they'llneed'll be what we didn't have the foresight to bring along--anundertaker and a preacher."

  "Don't be horrid, Billy," returned Miss Harding. "You know perfectlywell that I didn't mean weeks--I meant days; and anyway they'll begrateful to us for what we can do for them. I can scarcely wait to heartheir story."

  Billy Mallory was inspecting the stranger through Mr. Harding's glass.Suddenly he gave an exclamation of dismay.

  "By George!" he cried. "It is serious after all. That ship's afire.Look, Mr. Harding," and he passed the glass over to his host.

  And sure enough, as the owner of the Lotus found the brigantine againin the center of his lens he saw a thin column of black smoke risingamidships; but what he did not see was Mr. Ward upon the opposite sideof the Halfmoon's cabin superintending the burning by the black cook ofa bundle of oily rags in an iron boiler.

  "By Jove!" exclaimed Mr. Harding. "This is terrible. The poor devilsare panic-stricken. Look at 'em making for the boats!" and with that hedashed back to the bridge to confer with his captain.

  "Yes," said that officer, "I noticed the smoke about the same time youdid--funny it wasn't apparent before. I've already signaled full speedahead, and I've instructed Mr. Foster to have the boats in readiness tolower away if we find that they're short of boats on the brigantine.

  "What I can't understand," he added after a moment's silence, "is whythey didn't show any signs of excitement about that fire until we camewithin easy sight of them--it looks funny."

  "Well, we'll know in a few minutes more," returned Mr. Harding."The chances are that the fire is just a recent addition to theirpredicament, whatever it may be, and that they have only just discoveredit themselves."

  "Then it can't have gained enough headway," insisted the captain, "tocause them any such immediate terror as would be indicated by the hastewith which the whole ship's crew is tumbling into those boats; but asyou say, sir, we'll have their story out of them in a few minutes now,so it's idle speculating beforehand."

  The officers and men of the Halfmoon, in so far as those on board theLotus could guess, had all entered the boats at last, and were pullingfrantically away from their own ship toward the rapidly nearing yacht;but what they did not guess and could not know was that Mr. Divine pacednervously to and fro in his cabin, while Second Officer Theriere tendedthe smoking rags that Ward and Blanco had resigned to him that theymight take their places in the boats.

  Theriere had been greatly disgusted with the turn events had taken forhe had determined upon a line of action that he felt sure would provehighly remunerative to himself. It had been nothing less than a boldresolve to call Blanco, Byrne, "Bony," and "Red" to his side the momentSimms and Ward revealed the true purpose of their ruse to those on boardthe Lotus, and with his henchmen take sides with the men of the yachtagainst his former companions.

  As he had explained it to Billy Byrne the idea was to permit Mr. Hardingto believe that Theriere and his companions had been duped by SkipperSimms--that they had had no idea of
the work that they were to be calledupon to perform until the last moment and that then they had done theonly thing they could to protect the passengers and crew of the Lotus.

  "And then," Theriere had concluded, "when they think we are a band ofheroes, and the best friends they have on earth we'll just naturally bein a position to grab the whole lot of them, and collect ransoms on tenor fifteen instead of just one."

  "Bully!" exclaimed the mucker. "You sure got some bean, mate."

  As a matter of fact Theriere had had no intention of carrying the matteras far as he had intimated to Billy except as a last resort. He had beenmightily smitten by the face and fortune of Barbara Harding and had seenin the trend of events a possible opportunity of so deeply obligatingher father and herself that when he paid court to her she might fall awilling victim to his wiles. In this case he would be obliged to risknothing, and could make away with his accomplices by explaining toMr. Harding that he had been compelled to concoct this other scheme toobtain their assistance against Simms and Ward; then they could throwthe three into irons and all would be lovely; but now that fool Wardhad upset the whole thing by hitting upon this asinine fire hoax asan excuse for boarding the Lotus in force, and had further dampenedTheriere's pet scheme by suggesting to Skipper Simms the danger ofTheriere being recognized as they were boarding the Lotus and bringingsuspicion upon them all immediately.

  They all knew that a pleasure yacht like the Lotus was well suppliedwith small arms, and that at the first intimation of danger there wouldbe plenty of men aboard to repel assault, and, in all probability, withentire success.

  That there were excellent grounds for Theriere's belief that he couldwin Barbara Harding's hand with such a flying start as his daringplan would have assured him may not be questioned, for the man wascultivated, polished and, in a sinister way, good-looking. The titlethat he had borne upon the occasion of his visit to the yacht, was, allunknown to his accomplices, his by right of birth, so that there wasnothing other than a long-dead scandal in the French Navy that mighthave proved a bar to an affiance such as he dreamed of. And now to bethwarted at the last moment! It was unendurable. That pig of a Ward hadsealed his own death warrant, of that Theriere was convinced.

  The boats were now quite close to the yacht, which had slowed downalmost to a dead stop. In answer to the query of the Lotus' captainSkipper Simms was explaining their trouble.

  "I'm Captain Jones," he shouted, "of the brigantine Clarinda, Friscoto Yokohama with dynamite. We disabled our rudder yesterday, an' thisafternoon fire started in the hold. It's makin' headway fast now, an'llreach the dynamite most any time. You'd better take us aboard, an' getaway from here as quick as you can. 'Tain't safe nowhere within fivehun'erd fathom of her."

  "You'd better make haste, Captain, hadn't you?" suggested Mr. Harding.

  "I don't like the looks of things, sir," replied that officer. "Sheain't flyin' any dynamite flag, an' if she was an' had a hold fullthere wouldn't be any particular danger to us, an' anyone that hasever shipped dynamite would know it, or ought to. It's not fire thatdetonates dynamite, it's concussion. No sir, Mr. Harding, there'ssomething queer here--I don't like the looks of it. Why just take a goodlook at the faces of those men. Did you ever see such an ugly-lookingpack of unhung murderers in your life, sir?"

  "I must admit that they're not an overly prepossessing crowd, Norris,"replied Mr. Harding. "But it's not always either fair or safe to judgestrangers entirely by appearances. I'm afraid that there's nothing elsefor it in the name of common humanity than to take them aboard, Norris.I'm sure your fears are entirely groundless."

  "Then it's your orders, sir, to take them aboard?" asked Captain Norris.

  "Yes, Captain, I think you'd better," said Mr. Harding.

  "Very good, sir," replied the officer, turning to give the necessarycommands.

  The officers and men of the Halfmoon swarmed up the sides of the Lotus,dark-visaged, fierce, and forbidding.

  "Reminds me of a boarding party of pirates," remarked Billy Mallory,as he watched Blanco, the last to throw a leg over the rail, reach thedeck.

  "They're not very pretty, are they?" murmured Barbara Harding,instinctively shrinking closer to her companion.

  "'Pretty' scarcely describes them, Barbara," said Billy; "and do youknow that somehow I am having difficulty in imagining them on theirknees giving up thanks to the Lord for their rescue--that was yourrecent idea of 'em, you will recall."

  "If you have purposely set yourself the task of being more thanordinarily disagreeable today, Billy," said Barbara sweetly, "I'm sureit will please you to know that you are succeeding."

  "I'm glad I'm successful at something then," laughed the man. "I'vecertainly been unsuccessful enough in another matter."

  "What, for example?" asked Barbara, innocently.

  "Why in trying to make myself so agreeable heretofore that you'd finallyconsent to say 'yes' for a change."

  "Now you are going to make it all the worse by being stupid," cried thegirl petulantly. "Why can't you be nice, as you used to be before yougot this silly notion into your head?"

  "I don't think it's a silly notion to be head over heels in love withthe sweetest girl on earth," cried Billy.

  "Hush! Someone will hear you."

  "I don't care if they do. I'd like to advertise it to the whole world.I'm proud of the fact that I love you; and you don't care enough aboutit to realize how really hard I'm hit--why I'd die for you, Barbara, andwelcome the chance; why--My God! What's that?"

  "O Billy! What are those men doing?" cried the girl. "They're shooting.They're shooting at papa! Quick, Billy! Do something. For heaven's sakedo something."

  On the deck below them the "rescued" crew of the "Clarinda" hadsurrounded Mr. Harding, Captain Norris, and most of the crew of theLotus, flashing quick-drawn revolvers from beneath shirts and coats, andfiring at two of the yacht's men who showed fight.

  "Keep quiet," commanded Skipper Simms, "an' there won't none of you gethurted."

  "What do you want of us?" cried Mr. Harding. "If it's money, take whatyou can find aboard us, and go on your way. No one will hinder you."

  Skipper Simms paid no attention to him. His eyes swept aloft to theupper deck. There he saw a wide-eyed girl and a man looking down uponthem. He wondered if she was the one they sought. There were other womenaboard. He could see them, huddled frightened behind Harding and Norris.Some of them were young and beautiful; but there was something aboutthe girl above him that assured him she could be none other than BarbaraHarding. To discover the truth Simms resorted to a ruse, for he knewthat were he to ask Harding outright if the girl were his daughter thechances were more than even that the old man would suspect something ofthe nature of their visit and deny her identity.

  "Who is that woman you have on board here?" he cried in an accusing toneof voice. "That's what we're a-here to find out."

  "Why she's my daughter, man!" blurted Harding. "Who did you--"

  "Thanks," said Skipper Simms, with a self-satisfied grin. "That's whatI wanted to be sure of. Hey, you, Byrne! You're nearest thecompanionway--fetch the girl."

  At the command the mucker turned and leaped up the stairway to the upperdeck. Billy Mallory had overheard the conversation below and Simms'command to Byrne. Disengaging himself from Barbara Harding who in herterror had clutched his arm, he ran forward to the head of the stairway.

  The men of the Lotus looked on in mute and helpless rage. All werecovered by the guns of the boarding party--the still forms of twoof their companions bearing eloquent witness to the slenderness ofprovocation necessary to tighten the trigger fingers of the beastsstanding guard over them.

  Billy Byrne never hesitated in his rush for the upper deck. The sight ofthe man awaiting him above but whetted his appetite for battle. Thetrim flannels, the white shoes, the natty cap, were to the mucker assufficient cause for justifiable homicide as is an orange ribbon incertain portions of the West Side of Chicago on St. Patrick's Day. Aswere "Remember the Alamo," and "Remember th
e Maine" to the fightingmen of the days that they were live things so were the habiliments ofgentility to Billy Byrne at all times.

  Billy Mallory was an older man than the mucker--twenty-four perhaps--andfully as large. For four years he had played right guard on a greateastern team, and for three he had pulled stroke upon the crew. Duringthe two years since his graduation he had prided himself upon themaintenance of the physical supremacy that had made the name of Malloryfamous in collegiate athletics; but in one vital essential he washopelessly handicapped in combat with such as Billy Byrne, for Mallorywas a gentleman.

  As the mucker rushed upward toward him Mallory had all the advantage ofposition and preparedness, and had he done what Billy Byrne would havedone under like circumstances he would have planted a kick in the midstof the mucker's facial beauties with all the power and weight and energyat his command; but Billy Mallory could no more have perpetrated acowardly trick such as this than he could have struck a woman.

  Instead, he waited, and as the mucker came on an even footing with himMallory swung a vicious right for the man's jaw. Byrne ducked beneaththe blow, came up inside Mallory's guard, and struck him three timeswith trip-hammer velocity and pile-driver effectiveness--once upon thejaw and twice--below the belt!

  The girl, clinging to the rail, riveted by the paralysis of fright, sawher champion stagger back and half crumple to the deck. Then she saw himmake a brave and desperate rally, as, though torn with agony, he lurchedforward in an endeavor to clinch with the brute before him. Again themucker struck his victim--quick choppy hooks that rocked Mallory's headfrom side to side, and again the brutal blow below the belt; but withthe tenacity of a bulldog the man fought for a hold upon his foe, and atlast, notwithstanding Byrne's best efforts, he succeeded in closing withthe mucker and dragging him to the deck.

  Here the two men rolled and tumbled, Byrne biting, gouging, and kickingwhile Mallory devoted all of his fast-waning strength to an effort toclose his fingers upon the throat of his antagonist. But the terriblepunishment which the mucker had inflicted upon him overcame him at last,and as Byrne felt the man's efforts weakening he partially disengagedhimself and raising himself upon one arm dealt his now almostunconscious enemy a half-dozen frightful blows upon the face.

  With a shriek Barbara Harding turned from the awful sight as BillyMallory's bloody and swollen eyes rolled up and set, while the muckerthrew the inert form roughly from him. Quick to the girl's memory sprangMallory's recent declaration, which she had thought at the time but theempty, and vainglorious boasting of the man in love--"Why I'd die foryou, Barbara, and welcome the chance!"

  "Poor boy! How soon, and how terribly has the chance come!" moaned thegirl.

  Then a rough hand fell upon her arm.

  "Here, youse," a coarse voice yelled in her ear. "Come out o' detrance," and at the same time she was jerked roughly toward thecompanionway.

  Instinctively the girl held back, and then the mucker, true to histraining, true to himself, gave her arm a sudden twist that wrenched ascream of agony from her white lips.

  "Den come along," growled Billy Byrne, "an' quit dis monkey business, orI'll sure twist yer flipper clean off'n yeh."

  With an oath, Anthony Harding sprang forward to protect his daughter;but the butt of Ward's pistol brought him unconscious to the deck.

  "Go easy there, Byrne," shouted Skipper Simms; "there ain't no call toinjure the hussy--a corpse won't be worth nothing to us."

  In mute terror the girl now permitted herself to be led to the deckbelow. Quickly she was lowered into a waiting boat. Then Skipper Simmsordered Ward to search the yacht and remove all firearms, after whichhe was to engage himself to navigate the vessel with her own crew underarmed guard of half a dozen of the Halfmoon's cutthroats.

  These things attended to, Skipper Simms with the balance of his own crewand six of the crew of the Lotus to take the places upon the brigantineof those left as a prize crew aboard the yacht returned with the girl tothe Halfmoon.

  The sailing vessel's sails were soon hoisted and trimmed, and in halfan hour, followed by the Lotus, she was scudding briskly southward. Forforty-eight hours this course was held until Simms felt assured thatthey were well out of the lane of regular trans-Pacific traffic.

  During this time Barbara Harding had been kept below, locked in a small,untidy cabin. She had seen no one other than a great Negro who broughther meals to her three times daily--meals that she returned scarcelytouched.

  Now the Halfmoon was brought up into the wind where she lay withflapping canvas while Skipper Simms returned to the Lotus with the sixmen of the yacht's crew that he had brought aboard the brigantine withhim two days before, and as many more of his own men.

  Once aboard the Lotus the men were put to work with those already on theyacht. The boat's rudder was unshipped and dropped into the ocean; herfires were put out; her engines were attacked with sledges until theywere little better than so much junk, and to make the slender chances ofpursuit that remained to her entirely nil every ounce of coal upon herwas shoveled into the Pacific. Her extra masts and spare sails followedthe way of the coal and the rudder, so that when Skipper Simms and FirstOfficer Ward left her with their own men that had been aboard her shewas little better than a drifting derelict.

  From her cabin window Barbara Harding had witnessed the wanton wreckingof her father's yacht, and when it was over and the crew of thebrigantine had returned to their own ship she presently felt themovement of the vessel as it got under way, and soon the Lotus droppedto the stern and beyond the range of her tiny port. With a moan ofhopelessness and terror the girl sank prostrate across the hard berththat spanned one end of her prison cell.

  How long she lay there she did not know, but finally she was aroused bythe opening of her cabin door. As she sprang to her feet ready to defendherself against what she felt might easily be some new form of dangerher eyes went wide in astonishment as they rested on the face of the manwho stood framed in the doorway of her cabin.

  "You?" she cried.