CHAPTER VII
THE TIMELY RESCUE
It was no pleasant thought to contemplate the presence of a bold, evendesperate, agent of an enemy government, on board an American transportcarrying approximately two thousand souls.
That he was capable of going any lengths, if necessary, already had beenproved; and the evidence of his evil genius might come in horrible format any instant.
Nevertheless, neither the excitement nor the potential danger of thesituation was sufficient to prevent Jerry and Slim from taking a fulleight hours of much-needed sleep, while Lieutenant Mackinson, Joe andthree other officers whom the captain had taken into his confidence inthe matter, followed out every possible clue in pursuit of a solution ofthe baffling mystery.
The record of every enlisted man and officer on the vessel had been mostcarefully probed, without building up enough suspicion to warrant thesingling out of any individual as the probable offender.
Likewise an investigation of the members of the crew had failed todevelop anything tangible, even directly suspicious. It was a case ofwatch everybody, take every precaution, and be prepared for anything.Only nine men on the vessel, however, including the spy himself, knewanything about it, and the rest were in utter ignorance of the treacherythat might be directed against them at any time.
Refreshed by their sleep, Jerry and Slim arose about four o'clock thatafternoon. Joe, who had rested easily throughout the later excitement ofthe preceding night, was still in the midst of the investigation and wasnot then to be found. Jerry had some letters to write, so Slim went tothe upper deck alone.
Seeing no one that he knew, and his mind weighted anyway with themenacing mystery of the strange happenings of the night before, he satdown on a coil of rope, just in the lee of the forward smokestack, tothink the whole matter over for the twentieth time.
He was thus absorbed when something, at first vague and indefinite, thenclearer and clearer until it was unmistakable, began to impress itselfupon his mind. Like the awakening call that comes to a man in a soundsleep--seemingly as a far-off whisper that gradually gathers volume andstrength until finally the sleeper awakes with a start to find someonestanding directly over him, loudly and insistently calling his name--soSlim came to a realization of the strange series of sounds that werebeing repeated within a few feet of him.
Could it possibly be only the crackling of the steam-pipe that ran alongthe smokestack to the whistle--a crackling merely from the pressurewithin? For a moment Slim thought an over-wrought imagination wasplaying tricks upon him. But he rose hastily and crossed the shortintervening distance.
Clearly and distinctly it came to him then. Someone in another part ofthe vessel was rapping desperately upon that pipe! And in the long andshort dashes of the international code that someone was repeating asingle word--"Help! Help! Help!"
In another instant, using the heavy end of his jackknife as a crudetransmitter, Slim was tapping off the reply:
"Who are you--and where?"
"Lieutenant Mackinson," the message began to come back. "Locked incloset off engine room. Can't make self heard. Can you help?"
"This is Slim," the youth rapped back upon the pipe. "Caught yourmessage on deck. Am coming with help at once."
And he dashed down the deck toward the captain's quarters, almostbowling over the captain's aide as he hurtled into the sanctum of theship's commander unannounced.
"Well?" the captain demanded sternly. "Why all the haste?"
"Lieutenant Mackinson," Slim blurted out; "he's locked in a closet downnear the engine room."
"Locked in a closet!" the captain repeated incredulously. "How do youknow?"
"He gave a telegraphic call for help on the steam-pipe which runsthrough there and connects with the whistle," the lad explained. "I wason deck and heard it. I talked with him over the pipe."
"There is no time to lose, then. Come with me." And the captain himselfhurriedly led the way down through the lower depths of the ship, whereit became hotter and more oppressive with every step they took.
They had taken a route by which they escaped the attention of anyoneelse on the ship.
"It should be right about here somewhere," the captain announced, asthey approached a particularly dark passage. For a few steps they felttheir way along, and then stopped to listen.
There was nothing but the dull and constant hum of the engines and thealmost insufferable heat.
"The other side," said the captain in a lowered voice, as they failed tofind any trace of the imprisoned lieutenant where they were.
They were crossing a short gallery when Slim abruptly signaled a halt.
"I thought I heard something," he said. "It sounded like another call."
They stood silent a moment, and then, faint and indistinct, apparentlyfrom somewhere several feet ahead of them, they both heard repeated thatwhich had made Slim stop. As the letters were tapped off upon the pipethe lad repeated them for the information of the captain.
"S-M-O-T-H-E-R-I-N-G."
"Smothering!" echoed the commander of the ship. "Great Scott! I believeI know now where he is. This way," and he started down the passagewaytoward a narrow stairs leading to a still lower chamber in the vessel.
Three turns--two to the right and one to the left--and the captainstopped again to listen. Seemingly from within the wall, right at theirelbows, there came a feeble knock. The officer whipped out a pocketflashlight. They were directly in front of a heavy wooden door. It waslocked.
"Run get a cold chisel or a heavy screwdriver and hammer," the captainordered, and Slim hastened away, to return two minutes later with allthree tools.
"Stand back as far as you can from the door," said the captain, placinghis lips close to the keyhole. But there was no response from within.
Realizing now that Lieutenant Mackinson must have lost consciousness,and that moments might mean life or death to him, the captain workedwith feverish haste. He drove the heavy chisel into the crack betweenthe door and the jam, and then, standing off to get a wider swing withthe hammer, struck it sidewise.
A panel of the door cracked and loosened. Two more attempts and thepanel fell in strips to the floor. Thus given something for a grip-hold,the captain, who was a massive man, took hold with both hands, put hisright foot against the wall, and, with one tremendous tug, into whichhe threw the whole weight of his body, brought the entire door from itshinges.
The captain went staggering backward from the force of his effort andthe weight of the door.
The unconscious form of Lieutenant Mackinson tumbled out upon the floor.His face was almost blue from suffocation.
The captain sounded three short, sharp blasts upon a whistle which hehad taken from his pocket, and two oilers came running to the spot.
"Help us carry this man to fresh air immediately," he ordered. "He hasbeen overcome."
With one of the oilers carrying the lieutenant by the feet, and theother man and Slim at either shoulder, the unconscious young officer wascarried up flight after flight of steps until, the captain leading theway, they arrived at the promenade deck.
A seaman was dispatched for the ship's surgeon, who arrived a fewminutes later to find the first-aid efforts of the four men justbringing Lieutenant Mackinson back to consciousness.
As the physician forced some aromatic spirits of ammonia between hislips the lieutenant opened his eyes and gazed about vaguely.
"What's the matter?" he asked weakly; but before anyone could answer hehad relapsed again, and there was another wait of several minutes.
But this time the lieutenant's mind was clearing.
"Somebody shoved me--in that closet," he gasped, "and then--slammedand--locked--the door."
He recognized the captain and the doctor. As his eyes closed again headded, in an almost inaudible whisper: "I was getting too close onsomebody's trail."
The captain looked at the ship's doctor significantly and dismissed thetwo oilers with instructions to return to their duties.
"F
ound him locked in a small compartment down near the auxiliary engineroom," the commander said briefly. "Hotter than blazes, and no airwhatever where he was. He made his whereabouts known by tapping amessage on a steam-pipe."
"H'm," said the doctor, whose youthful appearance might not give astranger a proper measure of his long and varied experience. "Nearlysuffocated, too. He couldn't have lasted there much longer. His heartaction is pretty weak even yet. Better have him removed to his bed, andkept there for the rest of the day, at least."
At that moment Jerry came hurrying down the deck. He was visiblyexcited, but, unlike Slim, he did not forget that not only must asoldier never permit his feelings to run away with him, but that he mustbe equally mindful of respect for superiors.
And so, even as two men carried Lieutenant Mackinson away, he remainedstanding at salute, waiting for the captain to recognize him with areturn of the salute.
"And now what?" asked the captain.
Jerry stepped forward, with difficulty repressing his excitement.
"I stepped out of the wireless room for only a few moments," he said."When I returned I found this lying upon the table."
He opened his left hand. In it lay a piece of light chain, both endsbroken.
"Beside it," he continued, "was this note."
From his pocket he extracted a piece of paper, the edges of which wereroughly torn. He handed it to the captain, who read aloud:
"Let this be a warning that no further interference will be of avail."
The captain looked from the note to the chain. There was no further wordon the paper, and no signature.
"I believe, sir," said Jerry, "that this is the rest of the chain whichwas attached to the iron cross torn from the man caught in the batteryroom."
The senior officer of the vessel took from his pocket the cross, withits two bits of chain still dangling from it. He placed the ends to thechain which Jerry had found in the wireless room.
"You are right," he said simply. And there could be no doubt about it.
The captain's face clearly showed the worry on his mind. The ship'sphysician, who had been told all about the affair, immediately afterJoe's discovery of, and battle with, the mysterious stranger, appearedequally anxious.
"A man is discovered at night in the battery room of the wirelessdepartment of this ship, clearly upon an unfriendly mission," said thecaptain, half to himself and half for the benefit of the others, summingup the evidence thus far known to them. "He gives battle to the man whodiscovers him, and finally succeeds in knocking that man out andescaping. But he leaves behind him a portable wireless instrument, anda German iron cross, with two bits of the chain attached.
"A few hours later that same night he returns to the battery room andsucceeds in recovering the portable instrument.
"To-day Lieutenant Mackinson, while pursuing an investigation of theaffair, is shoved into a closet and only escapes death from suffocationby making himself heard as he telegraphs for help over a steam-pipe.
"It must have been while we were rescuing the lieutenant that the sameman again enters the wireless room and leaves there this chain, whichhad been attached to the iron cross, and also this note of warning.
"The impudent effrontery and the cunning treachery of this manconstitute him a menace to every other person aboard this ship. We arenot safe while he is free.
"This German spy must and shall be found."