CHAPTER VI.
TREACHERY.
With a shout to Carl to follow, Matt plunged through the doorway, andwas met with a terrific blow that threw him, half stunned, backwardagainst Carl. Carl tripped over a box, grabbed at Matt to save himself,and both fell sprawling. Before they could get up four Chilians wereupon them, holding them by main strength.
"_Que quiere?_" cried Matt, as he struggled.
One of the Chilians had a rope. None of them answered Matt's question,but proceeded without delay to put lashings on his hands and feet. Carlwas treated in a similar manner, and thus the two chums were renderedabsolutely powerless to do anything for themselves, or for theirfriends. And where were their friends? they asked themselves.
As soon as Matt and Carl were secured, the leader of the treacherousChilians left the torpedo room with one of the others.
"Here iss a fine keddle oof fish?" wheezed Carl. "Der nexdt dime vat vesee some fellers on der pottom oof a poat, py shinks ve vill leaf demvere dey are. Ach, vat a lot oof sgoundrels!"
"Hello, there!" came the voice of Gaines from the tank room. "Did thatbullet do you any damage, Matt?"
"No. Where are you, Gaines?"
"Here, in the tank room, lashed hard and fast. We heard a noise, andSpeake went up to investigate. He didn't come back. Those rascallyChilians have turned on us."
"Who was in the periscope room?"
"Dick."
"Any one else below with you?"
"No. I'm alone."
"You don't know anything about Glennie or Clackett?"
"Not a thing."
Just then Glennie entered the torpedo room. The big Chilian walkedbehind him with a revolver pressed to the back of the ensign's neck.Glennie's hands were bound.
"Here's a go, Matt!" muttered the ensign angrily.
"How did it happen?" asked Matt.
"I ought to have kept awake, I suppose, but I was so deuced tired Idropped off and slept like a log. The big Chilian got my revolver whileI slept, and then the four of them laid hold of me, kept me from givingan alarm, and got ropes on my wrists and ankles. After that they gaggedme. Then one of them went out into the periscope room. Dick was onguard there, and the Chilian asked for a drink--making motions to letDick know what he pretended to want. Dick couldn't tell him how to getthe water, so he started to get it himself. He had hardly turned hisback before the Chilian downed him with a cowardly blow from behind.He was tied and dragged into the steel room by two of the Chilians,the other two staying behind to deal with Speake, who came up to seewhat was going on. Speake was taken by surprise and captured, and thenClackett. Speake and Clackett were hauled neck and heels into the steelroom. I wonder if you can imagine how I felt, lying there on the cot,bound and gagged, and able to look through the door and see what wasgoing on?"
"I can imagine it, Glennie," said Matt. "We're in a fix, all right, butwe're not going to let that discourage us. They've brought you downhere to talk, I suppose, and to let us know what their plans are."
The leader of the Chilians had allowed Glennie to speak with Matt,inferring, no doubt, that he would explain how securely the _Grampus_had passed into the hands of him and his companions. Now, as Glenniefaced him, the man began to speak.
"He says," translated Glennie, "that he and his friends do not intendto go to Sandy Point. They are determined that we shall take them tothe River Plate."
"Meppy he iss," struck in Carl, glaring at the leader of the rascallyChilians, "aber ve're tedermined anodder vay."
"We won't do anything of that kind, Glennie," said Matt, "for thechances are we'd have trouble with that mysterious steamer. I wonder,"he added, as a startling thought flashed through his mind, "if the Sonsof the Rising Sun had anything to do with this?"
Glennie shook his head.
"It can't be possible," he answered. "From the little I have overheardpassing between the Chilians, I believe that they are convicts. There'sa penal settlement at Punta Arenas, and I feel sure the rascals escapedfrom there. That was a tall yarn they gave us--but they had to explaintheir situation on the bottom of that boat and to do it withoutexciting our suspicions."
"Well, ask the leader how he expects to get the _Grampus_ to the RiverPlate."
Glennie put the question.
"He says," the ensign went on, "that he intends to have you and oneother run the boat."
"Ah!" exclaimed Matt. "Unless we run the boat they won't be able tocarry out their plans. I believe I see a chance here to do something.We can at least take the boat to the surface--and when we get her therewe'll not sink her again. If we're on the surface, we may have a chanceto communicate with some vessel passing through the strait. Tell him,Glennie, that there will have to be three of us given our liberty, oneto run the engine, one to run the tanks, and another to steer. I thinkthat Dick, you, and I are the ones. You can steer and Dick will lookafter the tanks. Perhaps the three of us can get the better of thesescoundrels."
"It's my chob to look afder der tanks," put in Carl. "Vy nod led me hafa handt in der scrimmage? I vould like, pedder as I can tell, to hafsome mix-oops mit der sgoundrels."
Matt, however, did not change his plans. Carl was a good man in aset-to, if there should be one, but he was apt to lose his head.
Glennie repeated Matt's words to the Chilian, and the latter's facecleared as if by magic. No doubt he thought that he and his comradeswere to have their own way on the _Grampus_.
"He says all right, Matt," said Glennie, "but he warns us that if wetry to do anything more than obey orders he will shoot. He and hiscomrades are determined to reach the River Plate, and are willing togive up their lives trying to do so."
"If he can take chances," said Matt grimly, "then so can we."
The Chilian gave an order to the three men with him, and the ropes weretaken off the ensign's hands. The three Chilians then led him out ofthe room.
"Count on me to do everything that's possible, Matt," called Glennie.
When they were gone, the leader himself cut the cords that bound Matt.Presenting the revolver, he motioned sternly for Matt to rise andproceed through the door.
Matt did not intend to rebel just then. He was anxious to get the_Grampus_ to the surface; then, after that, he and his two friendscould do whatever they thought best.
The Chilians were playing a desperate game; and the fact that they wereobliged to rely on their prisoners for running the boat made it all themore hazardous.
The young motorist proceeded forthwith to the engine room. Kneelingbehind him, his captor continued to keep him covered with the weapon.
Presently Dick, followed by another Chilian armed with a harpoon thatbelonged on the boat, appeared in the tank room.
"Keep your offing, you loafing longshore scuttler!" cried Dick angrilyas the Chilian touched him with the sharp point of the harpoon. "You'rethe swab I saved from the wreck, and I wish now I had let you go to thesharks. Matt, old ship, what do you think of this?"
"Never mind, Dick, what I think of it," answered Matt. "We'll get the_Grampus_ to the top of the water; then, if they want her sunk again,you'll find there's something wrong with the ballast tanks. There'll bethree of us free, and perhaps we can do something."
"All I want is half a chance," growled Dick savagely.
"The first thing you do," spoke up Gaines, "cut me loose. That willmake four of us--only one apiece."
The leader of the Chilians said something fiercely. Undoubtedly it wasa command for silence.
"Quiet now, fellows!" warned Matt. "Pretend that you are scared todeath and go ahead with your work."
"Hello, Matt!"
It was the voice of Glennie rattling through the speaking tube.
"What is it?" replied Matt.
"I'm at the wheel. Whenever you're ready you can count on me."
"What's the situation up there?"
"Clackett and Speake are locked in the steel room. Two Chilians arewatching me like cats watching a mouse. One of them has the key to theroom."
"
Well," called Matt, "don't do anything until I give the word."
Matt and his chums had the advantage of being able to talk amongthemselves without their captors understanding a word. On the otherhand, Glennie could hear what the Chilians were talking about andcommunicate it to Matt and his chums.
"Empty the tanks, Dick," called Matt, getting the engine to runningpreparatory to switching the power into the propeller.
Dick was a good all-round hand. He had made it his business to learnthe engine so that he could relieve Gaines, and he had also learned howto use the turbines, the compressed air, to load and fire torpedoes,to steer, and everything else connected with the operating of thesubmarine.
The turbines got to work with a splash, and the _Grampus_ beganslowly to rise. The two Chilians watched operations with considerablecuriosity, although they did not fail to give their closest attentionto Matt and Dick.
Presently the boat was at the surface.
"Great Scott!" exclaimed Glennie, through the tube, "we almost came upunder a canoe with----"
Matt did not hear the rest. Just at that instant there was a fierceyell from Carl. Matt whirled just in time to see the Dutch boy flinginghimself on the Chilian with the harpoon.
The Chilian, watching Dick, had his back to the door of the torpedoroom, and this gave Carl his chance to make an attack.