CHAPTER XVI.
A DESPERATE RISK.
"Did you know, Motor Matt," asked the consul, by way of preface, "thatCaptain Nemo, Jr., right there in Belize, had been approached by anagent of the Japanese Government and offered two hundred thousand forsomething he's selling to our government for just half that?"
"No, sir," answered Matt. "But I know the captain well enough to feelsure that he wouldn't sell the _Grampus_ to any other country but theUnited States, not if he was offered a million. He has invented asubmarine that is better than any other craft of its kind that wasever launched, and the captain is patriotic enough to want his owncountry to reap the benefit."
"Exactly. Captain Nemo, Jr., is a man after my own heart, by gad!Well, he refused the offer, and two days later he received a warningsigned simply, 'The Sons of the Rising Sun,' saying that if he did notreconsider the _Grampus_ would be sunk in the bottom of the ocean. Howwas that for audacity? But the captain thought it was all bluff--theJaps have learned a lot from us, my lads, and bluff is not the least oftheir acquirements.
"The captain said nothing to you, Motor Matt, about this warningfrom the Sons of the Rising Sun. He treated it with silent contempt,well knowing that you would do everything possible to safeguard thesubmarine without any unnecessary talk from him.
"Now, from what you lads have told me, we must change our minds aboutthat warning being a bluff. If it was a bluff, then the Japs are tryingto make good. But the Japanese Government knows nothing about this. Ifthe high boys among the Japs in Tokio knew, they would be the firstones to send a warship after these precious Sons of the Rising Sun. TheYoung Samurai are going it on their own hook; they're going to helptheir beloved country whether the country wants them to or not.
"The _Grampus_ is a good thing. The Japs are able to tell a good thingwhen they see it, and that's what makes the Sons of the Rising Sun sohungry either to buy the submarine or send her to the bottom in such away that she can't come up. They're a lot of hotheads, that's what theyare, and they don't care a picayune what happens to them just so theycan get in some wild stroke that, in their overheated estimation, maybenefit Nippon.
"I don't know as we can blame them. It hasn't been so mighty long sincethey broke through their chrysalis of heathendom, and they are drunkwith their success in their late unpleasantness with Russia--Russia, acountry that has been our firm friend ever since the Pilgrims landed onPlymouth Rock.
"Well, you have faced desperate risks, and you may be compelled toface more. I wish I could assure you that there were no more troublesin sight, but the Japs are a persistent race, and whenever youngfirebrands like these Sons of the Rising Sun get started at anythingthey never know when to let go. But," and here the consul brought hisfist emphatically down on the table, "I don't think you can possiblymeet any greater dangers than you have already met and successfullypassed through. Bearing that in mind, I'd be willing to bet everydollar I've got that Motor Matt will make good, and deliver this oldcatamaran at Mare Island, right-side-up with care, and everybodysmiling--except, of course, the Sons of the Rising Sun. I'll back YoungAmerica against Young Japan any day. Catch my drift? That's about all.Come in and eat with me--we have to eat, you know, no matter how hotit is. After dinner we'll look after Mr. Tolo, and I'll give Matt aletter to an agent who will supply him with gasolene, or any otherold thing that happens to be necessary in order to make a submarinego. There won't be any water in the gasolene, either. Come on, now,and let's try and be cheerful. Heaven knows you boys have got enoughahead of you to make your hair stand on end like quills on the fretfulporcupine, but what we're not sure of hadn't ought to trouble us."
Matt and Glennie had a good dinner, and after it was over the consulwent with them to the _Grampus_ and gave the craft a sizing. He wascharmed with the boat, and all the useful odds and ends of machinerywith which she was packed.
Following that, he went to the prison chamber and surveyed Tolo as helay bound and helpless on the floor.
"You're a nice young patriot, I must say!" exclaimed the consul, as helooked down on the quiet, uncomplaining Japanese, "but you met morethan your match when you went up against Motor Matt. Where are the restof your rascally outfit?"
"I speak nothing, honorable sir," replied Tolo, "not because of anydisrespect for you, but out of regard for my dear Nippon."
The consul stared, and then he groaned.
"High-handed outrage stalks the seas," he muttered, "and this poorfool calls it love of country! Well, well! I wonder what CommodorePerry would say if he could hear that? The Japs are our great and goodfriends, all right, but we don't count for much when there's a littlething like a patent boat on the programme. I'll take care of you, mylad," he added to Tolo. "You'll stay in Para until the first UnitedStates warship comes along, and then you'll travel to the States andgive an account of yourself."
A few minutes later the consul left the boat, and, an hour after he wasgone, police officers arrived and carried the misguided Tolo to themunicipal bastile.
That was the last Matt and his friends ever saw of him.
Matt and Glennie refused a pressing invitation to stay all night atthe consul's palatial home. They explained to him that, in view of thevague dangers threatening them and the _Grampus_, they felt as thoughthey ought to stay with the boat.
Mr. Brigham commended their zeal, repeated his encouraging auguries fortheir ultimate success, and warned them again of dangers ahead.
"Desperate risks are what you're to take," said he. "It may be thatyou have clipped the claws of the dragon, and that nothing more willbe heard of the Sons of the Rising Sun. That's the bright side of thepicture, but please don't look at it. In a case of this kind it isbetter to expect the worst; then, if better things come to you, theywill be in the nature of a happy surprise."
On the second day of their stay in Para Dick went ashore and got theirsupplies. It had been on the schedule that the _Grampus_ was to put inat Rio, but Mr. Brigham advised the boys to give that port a wide berth.
"Your itinerary," he explained, "is probably known to these hotheadedJaps. The way to fool them is by dodging the itinerary and putting inat the places where you are not expected."
"We'll have to stop somewhere before we round the Horn," said Matt;"and I believe we'll call at----"
"Don't tell me!" protested the consul. "Don't tell any one in Para,or even talk it over among yourselves until you are well away at sea.Then, when you speak the name of your next port of call, go down to theocean bed and whisper it. Do you think I'm piling it on? Well, perhapsso, but I am only trying to let you understand how necessary it is tokeep your own counsel. I'm mightily interested in you, and in yourultimate success, and what advice I give I give earnestly, and trustyou will take it so. You'll get around the Horn, all right, and you'llget to Mare Island, and the _Grampus_ will become part and parcel ofour country's navy, perhaps with Ensign Glennie in command. That's acinch, my lads; but what you're to go through before you reach 'Friscois a horse of another color. Don't be overconfident. Remember what Isay, and keep your eyes on the dark side of the picture. Good-by, andluck go with you."
On the morning of the third day after their arrival at Para the_Grampus_ slipped down the river toward the open sea. She carriedconfident hearts and determined wills--and, in spite of the factthat all had their eyes on the "dark side of the picture," there wasplenty of hope and also of good cheer in the stout steel hull of thesubmarine. For the king of the motor boys was in command. He hadbrought the _Grampus_ through many perils, and all had faith to believethat he could bring her through many more.
THE END.
THE NEXT NUMBER (19) WILL CONTAIN
Motor Matt's Defiance;
OR,
AROUND THE HORN.
Tell tale Sparks--Clipping the Dragon's-Claws--The Overturned Boat--Gallant Work--The Five Chilians--Treachery--Turning the Tables--The Man-of-war--Aboard the "Salvador"--The Tightening Coil--Dick On His Mettle--Desperate Measures--A Dive for Liberty--English Reach--Sandova
l Explains--Northward Bound.