CHAPTER VII.
A BAD HALF HOUR.
Matt, Glennie, the two captains, and the negroes were stupefied. Theystood as though rooted to the ground and stared across the water towardthe spot where the _Grampus_ had been anchored.
"_Sacre!_" muttered Captain Pons. "Zat was a torpedo, by gar!"
"It was fired at the _Grampus_!" cried Matt, almost beside himself. "Iwas afraid an attack would be made--and the boys didn't know anythingabout that other submarine, Glennie. If our boat has been destroyed,if--if----"
Matt staggered against the post to which the painter securing therowboat was made fast.
The negroes began talking excitedly between themselves, and Pons andArco likewise began to air their opinions.
"Don't lose your nerve, Matt," said Glennie. "That was a torpedo, allright, and it goes without saying that the Japs discharged it fromthe _Pom_, under water. It hit something, and was discharged, _but itdidn't hit the Grampus_."
"No," answered Matt, his moody eyes resting on the spot where the_Grampus_ had been anchored, "the torpedo didn't hit the _Grampus_, forthe column of water spouted up almost a fathom from the place whereshe was moored; but the boat may have been destroyed by the explosion,for all that. When the geyser dropped, it covered the place where oursubmarine ought to have been. But you can see, Glennie, she isn'tthere."
Motor Matt had gone through many perils and difficulties since he andhis chums had started for "around the Horn" with the _Grampus_, but hehad never been so greatly cast down as he was at that moment. He wasthinking of Carl, of Dick, and of the three brave men, Speake, Gaines,and Clackett, who had stood shoulder to shoulder with him through allthe dangers that had met them since leaving British Honduras.
It was a good thing that Glennie, at that moment, was so hopeful.
"We haven't been able to see the _Grampus_ for several minutes, Matt,"he observed. "In coming down the hill from the casa, the boat washidden from us."
"All the same, Glennie, she was in her berth, whether we saw her ornot. If she hadn't been where we left her, the Japs wouldn't have hadany target, and the torpedo would not have been exploded in that spot.If it comes to that, the fact that we didn't see her goes to show thatshe may have changed her position a little, and have been right wherethe torpedo exploded."
"I don't think that for a minute," averred Glennie stoutly. "The lastwe saw of the _Grampus_ all our friends were on deck. If she had beentorpedoed, we'd certainly see some of the boys in the water. They wereunder hatches when that Whitehead went off; and, if they were underhatches, they may have been safe. I'm inclined to think they were."
"If the bottom plates of the submarine were blown in," proceeded Matt,"she would sink and go down like so much lead. Let's get into the boatand row out, Glennie. We can see a good deal more if we're right overthe spot where the _Grampus_ was anchored than we can from here."
Matt, suiting his action to the word, dropped hastily over the edge ofthe wharf and into the boat. The wharf was in a bad state of repair.The planks had been torn from the piles, and a region of semi-darknessstretched away under the floor.
As Matt dropped into the boat, his face was turned landward and hiseyes rested for a moment on the gloom that lay between the outer pilesand the shore; but, during that moment, he glimpsed something that gavehim a start. Unless he was greatly mistaken, he could make out the dimshape of a human form crouching in the darkness.
"Cast off the painter, Glennie, quick!" he called.
The ensign lifted the loop over the top of the post and flung it intothe boat.
Grabbing the wharf planks, Matt gave a pull that sent the boat inbetween the piles. He could hear shouts of wild suspicion coming fromCaptain Pons and Captain Arco. Unable to figure out what impelled Mattto vanish under the wharf, they jumped to the conclusion that he wasdoing something he ought not to do.
Paying no attention to the frantic voices, or the frenzied trampingon the planks overhead, the young motorist continued to drag the boatonward toward the shore. Several yards back from the edge of the wharf,the bow of the boat struck against a timber that had one end imbeddedin the sand, while the other end rose upward, clear of the water.
The human form Matt had seen was lying upon the timber. The man madeno move to escape, or to protect himself, and Matt was not long indiscovering that he was either dead or unconscious.
For a moment Matt's heart was in his throat. His fears, even againsthis better judgment, made him apprehensive that this form, lyinghelplessly on the timber under the wharf, might be that of one of hisfriends.
Close examination, however, proved his fears groundless. The manwas under medium height and had a tawny skin. He was barefooted,bareheaded, and stripped to his waist. Rolling him into the boat, Mattdrew the light craft back into the daylight at the edge of the wharf.
"What under the canopy are you about, Matt?" called Glennie, from theedge of the wharf. Then, seeing the man in the bottom of the boat, hegave vent to an astonished whistle. "_That's_ what you went under thewharf for, eh? Where was that fellow?"
"He was lying on a timber, just out of the water," answered Matt. "Thequestion is, where did he come from, and what was he doing there?"
"He looks as though he was stripped for swimming."
"And he worked so hard in the water, and in getting ashore, that hegave out and lost consciousness as soon as he pulled himself upon thattimber. The fact that he was under the wharf proves that he didn't wantanybody to find him. He's a Jap, Glennie."
A yell escaped Captain Pons, and he began talking excitedly andpointing his finger at the Jap.
"What does Pons say, Glennie?" Matt asked.
"He says that that fellow was one of the men who stole the _Pom_. Thecaptain is very sure he is not mistaken. There were five in the party."
"Gif the r-r-rascal here!" cried Captain Pons, stretching his armsdownward, "gif heem to me! By gar, he is one of ze t'ieves--ve hafcaptured one of ze t'ieves!"
Matt lifted the unconscious man, and three pairs of hands caught himfrom above and pulled him up on the wharf. Hardly had the Jap touchedthe planks than, with amazing suddenness, he jumped to his feet andtried to run.
"He was shamming!" exclaimed Glennie.
"No," answered Matt, as the two negroes deftly caught the fleeingJap and flung him roughly down on his back, "I'm positive he was notshamming, Glennie. He recovered while we were lifting him to the wharfand thought he could make a bolt and get away."
As the two negroes held the prisoner down on the planks, Captain Ponsstepped to his side, bent over, and shook a fist in his face.
What the captain said was in Spanish, which he probably used for theJap's benefit, and Matt could not follow his words further than to besure that Pons was threatening and reviling the man for the treacherouspart he and his countrymen had played.
The prisoner looked up calmly into the Frenchman's face, seeming totake his capture and his failure to escape as a matter of course.
"We get the torpedo," said he, in good English, the moment Captain Ponsceased talking.
"How did you get the torpedo?" queried Glennie, pushing the captainaside and drawing closer to the prisoner.
"I volunteered," went on the Jap, a note of ringing exultation in hislow voice; "they passed me through the torpedo tube, and I cut thecable that secured the torpedo to the other submarine, and made a ropefast from our boat. It was hard work, all under water. Then I swimashore, but I am weak and faint and try to hide. You have captured me.Do what you will. _Banzai_, Nippon!"
The Chilian could not understand English, and he was consumed withcuriosity. Captain Pons understood, however, and the calmness of theprisoner, during his brief recital, filled him with rage. He tried tostrike the Jap, but Glennie interfered.
"Let him alone, Pons!" cried Glennie. "He thinks he has done right.Anyhow, he's a prisoner, and a prisoner should not be mistreated."
"_Diable!_" ground out the captain. "He make ze brag zat he steal zetorpedo! S-scoundr-r-el! He should
be hang', by gar!"
Glennie turned to Motor Matt.
"You heard, Matt?" he queried. "The Japs passed this fellow out throughthe torpedo tube of the _Pom_ while the boat was under water. He madea line fast, cut the cable securing the torpedo to our submarine, andthen swam ashore. A rare piece of work!"
"Ask him about that torpedo attack on the _Grampus_," said Matt. "Seeif you can find out anything about the intentions of the other Japs."
"You are one of the Sons of the Rising Sun?" queried Glennie, againaddressing the prisoner.
A gleam darted through the Jap's eyes.
"I say nothing," he answered. "I have told about the torpedo. But Itell you nothing more. It is all for Nippon, for my beloved country."
"That's the way with those fellows," said Matt disappointedly. "Hewouldn't speak another word even if he was tortured. I'm surprised thathe said what he did about the torpedo. Turn him over to Pons and thecaptain of the port, Glennie, and let's row out into the bay and see ifwe can learn anything about the fate of the _Grampus_."
Matt's face was haggard with fear and anxiety. He had had a bad halfhour, since the explosion of the torpedo and the disappearance of the_Grampus_, and his face reflected the intensity of his feelings.
Glennie turned away from the prisoner and stepped to the edge of thewharf. He paused there for a moment, rigid as a statue, his eyeswandering over the surface of the bay.
Motor Matt, wondering at his manner, likewise directed his gaze offover the water. As he did so, Glennie recovered his wits abruptly andgave vent to an exultant yell.
"Hurrah!" he roared, jerking off his cap and waving it. "What's thematter with the motor boys, Matt? We've had our worry all for nothing!"