CHAPTER XII.
A STUNNING SURPRISE.
As the overjoyed boys watched the trim little schooner, she camegracefully about, a boat was put over, and four men got into it andstarted for the wreck.
"This is what I call luck!" exclaimed Dick. "One day and two nights onthe derelict, and now we're going to be taken off."
"Aber ve don'd ged some salfage," said Carl, with a note of regret inhis voice, "like vat ve vould do oof ve sailed der terelick indo NewOrleans."
"I don't think we could ever sail her that far, even if we were ableto get a jury rig on her. Her rudder's gone, and to rig a jury rudderwould be too much for us. Besides, her seams have opened badly, andanother storm would be likely to knock her to pieces."
"Den id's pedder dot ve be took off," said Carl.
As the boat was almost halfway between the schooner and the derelict,the boys gave over their talk to watch. They had not kept their gazeon the boat many minutes before they made out a figure on one of thethwarts that caused them to turn upon each other in blank astonishment.
"It can't be dot der feller in der front part oof dot poat iss Sixdy?"murmured Carl. "Haf I got der plind shtaggers or somet'ing?"
"Dowse me, mate," breathed Dick, "it's either the old hunks, or hisdouble."
"I don'd pelieve in toubles like dot. Id vas eider him or id vasn'thim. Vat you t'ink, Tick?"
"I'm a Fiji if it ain't Sixty," declared Dick.
"How could he be dere ven ve left him on der shdeamer?"
"That's a hard one. This is Sixty's old boat, and it's natural heshould be coming back to her again. I tell you, Carl, there's somethingqueer in all this that we can't understand. Belay a bit!"
Without pausing to answer the excited query Carl threw after him, Dickrushed for the hatchway leading into the 'tween-decks. He was out ofsight for several minutes, and when he came up again he had a couple ofthe Krag-Jorgensens, and his pockets were sagging with cartridges.
"Vat you going to do mit dose t'ings?" demanded Carl.
"I'm going to make Sixty keep a good offing until he tells us what hislay is," answered Dick, decidedly.
"Oof dis is his poat den he's got a pedder righdt on her as ve haf."
"Possession is nine points of the law, and we have possession. There'ssomething crooked about this craft. The manifest says nothing aboutfirearms and she carries enough for a regiment. We'll hold that boatoff for a while and make sure of square treatment for ourselves,whatever else we do. Take one of the guns and fill the magazine, Carl.After that, get down behind the rail."
The boat was quite close, by that time, and the boys finished theirpreparations hurriedly and dropped to their knees behind the bulwarks.
"Halt!" shouted Dick. "Stay right where you are till we have a bit of apalaver."
The man in the bow was Captain Sixty. There was now not the least doubtof it. The boys heard him mutter something very much like an oath andsaw him get to his feet. The three men at the oars ceased pulling andheld the boat steady.
"You're the two kids that was with Motor Matt on the _Santa Maria_,"shouted Sixty. "What you doin' on that brig?"
"Trying to get somebody to pick us off," Dick answered.
"Well, we seen your signal and that's what we've come to do, so why inthunder are you pullin' them guns on us?"
"You can't fool me, Old Cut-and-slash!" answered Dick. "That telegramof yours that my mate got in the hotel, by mistake, didn't give theposition of this brig, did it? 'No wind and no drift.' That's whatthe telegram said. But that storm, the other night, blew her quite adistance across the gulf. You didn't take the _Santa Maria_ in order toget close to this wreck and give it a sizing, did you?"
A perfect roar went up from Sixty.
"I knowed you was next to my game all the time," he whooped, irefully."I wish I could have chucked you into the drink along with Motor Matt.Confound that blasted submarine! If she hadn't come snoopin' alongafter us, Motor Matt wouldn't be where he could bother me none."
For a thorough-going scoundrel, Sixty was peculiarly artless inletting out facts of importance. This was the first intimation Carland Dick had had that Sixty was in any way concerned with Matt's goingoverboard. The revelation took them both aback.
"You heaved our old raggie over the rail, did you?" demanded Dick,angrily.
"Yes," shouted Sixty furiously, shaking a fist in the direction of thebrig, "and I have been hoping that storm had cooked your goose. I'vebeen lookin' for the brig in that schooner, following on acrost thegulf in the way the wind must have drove her from the bearin's givenme in that telegram. I allowed you chaps knowed more about my businessthan I wanted you to."
"We know you've got a cargo of arms and ammunition on the brig that'snot down in the manifest."
Sixty yelled a frantic oath.
"Put down them guns," he bellowed. "We're comin' aboard."
"Not while we're able to use these Krag-Jorgensens," threatened Dick.
"We'll see about that." Sixty turned to the sailors. "Pull!" heordered. "They're only makin' a bluff."
The sailors began to pull toward the brig once more. Dick saw there wasnothing else for it but to open fire.
"We've got to scare 'em off, Carl," said he, in a low tone. "I'll dothe shooting, and you lay by and watch."
Bang!
A bullet whistled through the air, zipped its course between two of thesailors and threw up a little spurt of water far beyond the boat. Thesailors, in a panic, stopped their rowing.
Sixty was raving like a wild man. He could say nothing, however, thatwould induce the men with him to come any nearer the brig.
"The next bullet," shouted Dick, "will come closer to you. We've gotplenty of guns and plenty of ammunition, and you'll get your gruel ifyou come on."
Those in the rowboat held a brief consultation. In about two minutesthe boat put about and started back to the schooner.
Carl jumped up on the rail and waved his hat.
"Ve vas too many for you," he taunted, in his characteristic fashion."Goot-py, olt sore-headt! Meppy ve dake dose guns und ammunidions undder resdt oof der druck to New Orleans und make some salfage money. Howyou like dot?"
Carl, when he sprang back to Dick's side, was not so sure that it was agood thing to have the schooner sail away and leave them.
"Vat ve going to do on der terelick oof anodder shtorm hids us?" heasked.
"I don't believe there'll be another storm for a few days, Carl,"answered Dick, his face strangely troubled.
"You don'd vas a Vedder Pureau, Tick. How you know dot?"
"I'm just guessing, that's all."
"Dot schooner must haf peen vaiding for der _Sanda Maria_, somevereoudt in der gulf."
"That's about the way I figure it, Carl. Some one, just in from thegulf, sent that telegram to Sixty giving him the location of thewreck. He got word to some one to have the schooner meet him near thesteamer's track, and he was transferred. This must have been some timeyesterday, after the storm. I'm a juggins, though, if I have any ideawhat the old shell-back's game is."
"He drowed Modor Matt oferpoard, anyvay," growled Carl, savagely,"und dot's pooty goot efitence, Tick, dot der game don'd haf somebleasantness in id for us, hey?"
"Sixty would like to clear us off the slate, if he could. I shouldn'twonder if he was counting on saving this cargo for himself. It's anillegal cargo, if I know one when I see it, and the old shark isplaying a ticklish game."
"Downsent ain'd in id, I bed you. He vouldn't do anyt'ing underhand fornodding. Vy dit dot Sixdy feller lie like vat he dit?"
"He wanted to get us out of New Orleans, I guess, and he thought thatwas the easiest way to do it. What do you think of that girl now,matey?"
"I vas tisabbointed in Miss Harris," acknowledged Carl, regretfully. "Ivould nefer haf t'ought she vas dot kindt. She says t'ings dot vasn'tder trut', like her uncle."
"It was all cut and spliced. We tumbled into the bight of the rope likea lot of swabs, and Sixty pulled his snare tight. If the su
bmarinehadn't been handily by, Matt might have drowned."
"Und oof der wreck hatn't peen close around, ve vould haf done dersame. I dell you, Tick, ve vas all in luck--aldough I ain'd saying butvat der luck mighdt be pedder as vat it iss. I hope no shtorm vill comeundil anodder poat sails py und bicks us oop."
"I can't understand that," muttered Dick, his eyes on the schooner.
"Vat's going on?" asked Carl.
"They've taken Sixty and the three with him aboard and the craft ismaking a slant in this direction. That doesn't look as though she wasgoing to haul away."
"Some fellers are vorking in der bow oof der schooner," observed Carl."Vat are dose fellers aboudt?"
Dick strained his eyes. As the schooner drew nearer, laying a coursethat would take her past the stern of the wreck at less than a cable'slength, Dick suddenly grabbed Carl and rushed him along the deck andinto the after cabin.
"They're unlimbering a bow chaser!" he exclaimed.
"Vat's a pow shacer?"
"A small cannon. Sixty is going to try and shell us out."
Carl gasped. Was it possible the reckless scoundrel would attempt sucha high-handed proceeding?
Even as the boys stood staring at each other, there came a loud report,followed by a crashing _thump_ that made the derelict reel from end toend.
Dick looked out.
"There goes the galley!" he exclaimed, grimly. "Old Sixty seemsdetermined to make the wreck of his boat complete."