CHAPTER V.
A SURPRISING SITUATION.
"Sink me!" growled Dick. "Here's a rum go, if anybody asks you. It'sbobs to sovereigns that those Japs are mixed up in this."
"We can very soon convince the captain of the port that he's made amistake," said Matt quietly. "Get your written instructions, Glennie,and we'll go ashore with him. There's something queer about this, andit may be a good thing for us to get to the bottom of it."
"How aboudt Tick und me?" inquired Carl. "Ain'd ve going along mit you?"
"You and Dick and the rest of the crew," Matt answered, "will stayhere and take care of the _Grampus_. Somebody will have to do that,you know, Carl. It's fully as important as going ashore and explainingmatters to the officials."
Glennie told the captain of the port that he and Matt would go ashorewith him and make it plain to everybody that there was a mistake. Theensign's uniform, spick and span and mighty fetching, made a wholesomeimpression upon the captain of the port.
While Glennie was getting his papers, the port official dropped backalongside the torpedo and examined it with considerable interest. Whenthe ensign reappeared on the submarine's deck, the boat was broughtback and Matt and Glennie got aboard. In five minutes they had reachedthe wharf and clambered ashore.
The negroes who had rowed the boat dropped in on each side of the twoyoung Americans, each drawing an old-fashioned pistol that fired with apercussion cap.
"They're bound we're not going to run," laughed Matt.
"I don't know," returned Glennie, "but I'd rather be in front of thoseold relics when they're shot off than behind them. I guess a fellowwould be safer."
The captain of the port led the way to the Casa de la Administracionof the Se?ora Cousi?o. It was built on the crest of a low rise, andafforded a fine view of the bay. A tall, slim man, who looked likea Frenchman, stood on the steps of the casa surveying the _Grampus_through a glass. With an expression of disappointment, he lowered theglass and turned toward the captain of the port as he drew near. Thenthere was French talk and Spanish talk--the tall, slim man using hisnative tongue, which the Chilian evidently understood, and the Chilianusing the Spanish, with which the Frenchman appeared familiar.
Glennie gave strict attention to all that was going on. The finger andwhole-arm movements, the hunching of the shoulders, and the shaking andducking of the heads, accompanied the talk as a sort of pantomime.Matt was highly amused.
A look of astonishment appeared in Glennie's face as he listened.
"By George!" the ensign exclaimed, when the conversation betweenthe Chilian and the Frenchman had died down. "We've jumped into asurprising situation here, Matt, if I've got this thing right."
"What is it, Glennie?" asked Matt.
"Well, the Frenchman says that the submarine isn't the boat he thoughtit was, and that our arrest has been a mistake."
"I'm glad they found that out without putting us to any trouble. Isthere another submarine in these waters? And has it been stolen?"
"That's where the surprising part comes in. I'll have to talk withthese fellows, and ask them a few questions, before I can get thelayout clear in my mind."
French and Spanish had formed a part of Glennie's education atAnnapolis; he reeled off both languages now, first at one and thenat the other of the two men, asking questions and receiving volublereplies.
In five minutes he had the situation straightened out to hissatisfaction, and sat down on one of the stone steps beside Matt.
"The tall man, Matt," said Glennie, "is Captain Pons, of EdouardLavalle et Cie, shipbuilders, of Havre, France. This firm of Lavalle &Co. are builders of submarines, and they recently finished such a craftfor the Chilian navy. The boat was brought over on a tramp freighter,and Captain Pons came along to instruct the Chilian officers and crewin the manner of running the submarine, and also to secure a draft forthe purchase price.
"The submarine was unloaded safely, and was provisioned by Captain Ponsfor a run to Santiago, where she was to be inspected by the secretaryof the navy. Captain Pons was not to get his money from the governmentuntil the submarine reached Santiago. The Chilian crew was to comeover from Coronel yesterday afternoon, but arrived in the morning, agood twelve hours ahead of time. Captain Pons rowed out with them tothe submarine, showed the captain of the crew all over the boat andexplained the machinery to him; then, quite unexpectedly, so far asCaptain Pons was concerned, the crew grabbed the Frenchman, threw himinto the rowboat, closed the hatch of the submarine, and dropped intothe bottom of the bay."
Matt was listening with intense interest.
"The crew that Captain Pons took out to the submarine wasn't the rightone?" he observed.
"No. The real crew arrived in the afternoon, agreeably to schedule, andfound Captain Pons without a submarine and very much up in the air. Ifhe can't recover the submarine from the thieves, his firm may hold himresponsible for the loss of the stolen boat."
"There were torpedoes in the French submarine?"
Matt began to grow excited as the situation cleared before him.
"Two," replied Glennie.
"And the bogus crew--who were they?"
"Instead of coming from Coronel, it was discovered that they camefrom the south--by railroad from Valdivia, on the coast. It has alsobeen discovered that they were Japanese--Japs who had their eyesstraightened. It is supposed that they are from the mysterious steamerthat escaped from Captain Sandoval, below English Reach."
Matt's astonishment almost lifted him off the stone step on which hewas sitting.
"Our old enemies!" he exclaimed. "The Sons of the Rising Sun havesecured a submarine boat, and that means that they can follow uswherever we go."
"Hard luck, Matt, that events should drift into this tangle! ThatFrench submarine had to be here, it seems, at just the right time tohelp out the Japs. The young Samurai must have known about this othercraft. After dodging Captain Sandoval, they managed to reach Valdiviaand came on from there by train. That is how they were able to getahead of us."
"Every mysterious twist is taken out of the situation now, Glennie,"said Matt, almost stunned by the audacity of the Japs and the marvelousway in which circumstances had aided them. "They took possesion ofthe French submarine and started south to meet the _Grampus_. Thenoiseless way in which they hung upon our flanks is easy to understand.The torpedo was launched at us while the French boat was submerged;and when that rope was hurled at me, the boat was just out of thewater--there were no lights about her, and the search light of the_Grampus_ enabled those on the French craft to make that cast with theriata."
Matt's face went pale.
"Glennie," he continued, "the hardest job of our lives is ahead ofus! The Japs have a submarine, and there's not one of them who wouldnot willingly give his life if, by doing so, he could destroy the_Grampus_. As long as our enemies were in a steamboat, and compelled toremain on the surface, it was easy to keep away from them; but now, nomatter where we go, they can follow us."
"I don't know anything about this French boat," returned Glenniethoughtfully, "but I'll bet something handsome she's not half so gooda craft as the _Grampus_. There's a big advantage for us, right at thestart. Then, again, about the only thing we're to fear from the stolensubmarine is the torpedo work. Captain Pons says there were only twotorpedoes in the craft. One of them is accounted for. They have onlyone more--and I guess we can get away from _that_. Besides all this,don't forget that the Japs are green hands with the submarine, and havehad no practical experience in running her. Captain Pons explained tothem the theoretical part of the machinery, but, you take it from me,those wily Orientals are going to get themselves into trouble."
"They manoeuvred the submarine pretty well last night," said Matt. "Idon't see how they could improve much on their work. A Jap, Glennie, isa regular genius in 'catching on' to things. Show him how to do a pieceof work once, and he knows it for all time. They're clever--as cleveras they are wily, and sometimes treacherous."
At this point, Cap
tain Pons put in a few words.
"I see ze torpedo is wiz youar boat, monsieur. You say zat you peekheem out of ze sea, but he is my torpedo, and he is vorth many sousandfrancs. I am to have him, eh?"
Matt looked at Glennie.
"We might need that torpedo, Matt," suggested the ensign, "for the_Grampus_ has only one. If it comes to a fight with the French boatthat extra Whitehead would come in handy. I think we had better keepit."
"So do I," agreed Matt. He turned to Captain Pons. "The torpedo wasfired at us, captain," he went on, "and it was by a happenchance, andat a considerable risk to myself, that I was able to save it and tow itin."
"He is mine, by gar!" cried the Frenchman.
"What good is the torpedo to you without the submarine?"
"Ma foi, I can sell heem. I save zat much."
"Any way you figure it," insisted Matt, "we're entitled to salvage onthe torpedo."
"Nozzing, not one centime!" screeched Captain Pons, jumping up and downand flourishing his arms.
"Suppose I pay you the difference between the salvage and the cost ofthe torpedo?" asked Matt, willing to adjust the matter in any way thatwould secure peace.
"Non! I want ze torpedo, and zis talk of ze salvage is w'at you callboosh; _oui_, zat is all, nozzing but boosh."
There seemed no amicable way of settling the dispute. Matt, feelingthat the Whitehead was of prime importance to the _Grampus_, wasdetermined to stick to his contention.
He and Glennie stood up, and all on the steps of the casa turned theireyes downward to where the _Grampus_ lay on the placid waters of theharbor, the long, black cylinder of the Whitehead some forty or fiftyfeet back of the stern.
While they looked, a most astounding thing happened. The torpedo seemedsuddenly to become imbued with life. It shivered, jerked sidewise likean animated log, whirled around frantically, and then, with one endleaping into the air, it darted downward, out of sight!