CHAPTER VII
I TURN SPY MYSELF
Meeker stood with folded arms and grinned at me as he saw my pistolstaken by the captain; and for the first time since I had seen him hedropped his sanctimonious pose and looked anything but the decrepit oldmissionary which he had always seemed. His shoulders were squared and hishead thrown back, and there was mockery in his eyes.
But it was not so much his insolent and triumphant look which took myattention as the manner in which he stood upon the heaving deck of thesaloon; his knees had that limp sea-bend of the sailor and his out-turnedtoes seemed to grasp the uncertain rise and fall of the carpet beneathhis feet; he was a mariner now, not a preacher, for no landsman couldhold himself so easily in a vessel which pitched and rolled in the longswells of the China Sea.
I looked at him defiantly, and his eyes seemed to dare me to speak outand say the things which were in my mind. He seemed to understand that Iwas trying to frame a denunciation, for I was white to the lips with rageat him.
"You seemed determined to sail in the _Kut Sang_, Mr. Trenholm," he said:"So your insistence to be a passenger was to slay a fellow-man, was it? Iam shocked beyond measure!"
"You hound!" I screamed. "You have played your cards well, you and yourlittle red-headed scoundrel! If you think I am a spy you will find--"
"Tut, tut, Sally Ann!" said Captain Riggs. "We can't have any of that.Hold your tongue, sir, or I'll have you in irons."
"If you'll give me ten minutes privately, captain, I'll tell you who thisdevil--"
"I'm a man of the cloth, and I will not countenance such language!"shrieked Meeker in an attempt to check me; but I could see that I hadcut him deeply, for he whitened and stepped toward me with closed fist."Don't you call me devil! You know nothing of me--tell it if youwill--what do you know? Where did you get that name?"
"Gentlemen! Gentlemen!" said Riggs, still holding one of my pistols inhis hand, and keeping an eye on the bulkhead door for the return of themate.
"He's a Japanese spy," I said. "He's no missionary at all, but a spy, andthe fool believes that I am in the Russian service. He tried to hold mein Manila, and when I would not listen to his lies he has taken this wayto discredit me, probably have me hanged! It's all a plot--"
"That will do," commanded Riggs. "You have not been tried yet, Mr.Trenholm. You can tell all that to the judge. If you go on this way Iwill be compelled to make a prisoner of you. I am not taking that redchap's word for what he says about you, but if you go on like this I willhave to put you in confinement. Otherwise, you will simply be restrictedto your cabin until we reach Hong-Kong. I will have to make sure that youhave no more arms, and if you will promise to remain in your room, thatwill do until this matter is turned over to the courts, and then you maystate your case."
"Are you not going to put this man where he can do no more harm?" askedMeeker. "You can see for yourself that my life will be in danger unlessthis man is made a prisoner. I protest against his being allowed hisliberty--I have no desire to be found in my bed as poor Mr. Trego wasfound here a few minutes ago."
"You will be protected," said the captain. "Mr. Harris, is that you? TakeMr. Trenholm here to his room, and remove all his luggage and see that hehas no more arms, even so much as a pocket-knife. Then lock him in hisroom."
"I protest against such treatment, Captain Riggs. If you will give me tenminutes so that I may tell my story I will willingly obey any order youmay give, even to becoming a prisoner in my room; but I think that itwill be better for you to know the facts about this case, and what I havelearned about this Mr. Meeker in Manila."
"And what is it you have learned?" cried Meeker, advancing on me again ina menacing manner, and plainly surprised at what I had said.
"A few things about you and Petrak that Captain Riggs should know," Iretorted.
"Mr. Harris, take Mr. Trenholm to his room," and the mate took me by thearm and led me down the passage. As I went out Meeker grinned after meand whispered something to Captain Riggs behind his hand.
Harris opened the door and thrust me before him into the dark stateroomand commanded me to light the gimbal-lamp, passing me a match. When I hadthe lamp lit he took a quick glance inside.
"That man Meeker is a spy," I began. "It was for him that Petrak killedTrego, and all day in Manila he and that little fellow were at myheels--"
"Stow that," said Harris. "Take what you need out of yer gear, and handthe rest of it out, and mind that thar's no gun-play about it. I'm wellheeled, and if ye make a move I'll let daylight through yer innards. Looklively now."
I took a pair of pajamas and a few toilet-articles from my bag. Hewould not let me have my razors, or any of the packets of papers or mymoney belt. When he had taken my grip he demanded my clothes, and leftme in my pajamas and locked the door, with a growl of caution aboutmonkey-business.
"We hain't takin' no chances with gents like ye be," he said. "And mindthat ye stick close here, 'cause we've got a watch outside, and the firsttime we ketch ye up to any didoes we'll have ye below with brassbracelets on with yer pal Petrak, where ye belong."
At this he slammed the heavy oak door and turned the key in the lock.
My first emotions were anger and the sense of humiliation. I was beaten,outwitted, captured by Meeker, and by my own stupidity. But I realizedthat the battle had but just begun, and my first task must be to attemptsome defence, some counter move against the old fraud who had drawn hisplot about me for his own mysterious object.
I berated myself for my conceit in imagining that I could play with sucha dangerous man as Meeker proved himself to be, especially since I hadseen through his disguise almost from the first. One of two things inManila would have saved me from my position--either I should have toldMeeker at once that he was mistaken in thinking me a spy and warned himto keep clear of me, or I should have told the police that I was beingannoyed by a suspicious character. I had had grounds enough for making acomplaint against Meeker and Petrak when I found the little red-headedman sneaking outside my door in the hotel, and the supposed missionaryblocking my pursuit on the stairway.
Even if the police had given me no satisfaction, I could have warnedMeeker that I would not submit to his espionage--a hundred ways ofprotecting myself from the fellow came into my mind as I sat there on myberth and reviewed what had taken place in Manila before I ever went onboard the _Kut Sang_.
But that was all past, and it did me no good to go over the mistakes Ihad made. I was bitter at myself for allowing Petrak to bring my bag onboard, for I had thus given him an opportunity to claim me as an ally inthe murder.
The best that I could make of the whole affair was that Meeker took mefor a spy, as I had suspected from the first, and in order to prevent mefrom going to Hong-Kong for some purpose opposed to the plans of hismasters, had done his best to keep me out of the steamer.
Then, when he found that he could not block me in going, he did the nextbest thing and came with me. To further embarrass me and prevent me fromaccomplishing the object of my supposed mission in Hong-Kong, he had gotme involved in a crime from which I knew I would have a great deal ofdifficulty in getting myself free, especially as Petrak seemed willingenough to testify against me even though he should hang for the murder.
It seemed beyond reason that they should kill Trego simply to havesomething of which I might be accused; it seemed to me that my own deathwould have been an easier way to get rid of me.
I began an analysis of every event which entered into the total of themystery, seeking for some key which would aid me in assorting the tangledbits that only needed to be arranged properly to bet the solution, muchas a jig-saw puzzle is worked out. If I had a proper beginning it wouldall be easy enough.
The killing of the boatswain in the Flagship Bar seemed significant,although I could not connect it with Meeker's plot against me, and I hadto lay that episode aside until I saw it in its proper relation to theother parts.
Standing near the lamp, I wrote down on a scrap of paper each
event inits proper order, from my first sight of Meeker that morning as I arrivedat the mole from Saigon. When I had made a note of the delivery of theletter to the Russian consul at the bank, I found Trego and Meekertogether--the spy disguised as a missionary seeking alms, and Tregodriving him out of the room.
It was obvious enough to me that in delivering the letter I had walkedinto some sort of a plot of which I had no knowledge, for Meeker was notonly spying upon me, but he was spying upon Trego or the bank.
The next time that Trego entered the list was when I was introduced tohim in the bank, of little importance in itself, but worth a great dealwhen connected with the fact that Trego left Manila in the _Kut Sang_and in charge of the ship, to the amazement of even Captain Riggs.
"Trego killed." As I put that down it flashed upon me that he had beenstruck down before he had told Captain Riggs why he had papers assupercargo--and a few minutes after he had shown that he was suspiciousof Meeker!
I was baffled and realized that it was a waste of effort to attempt totheorize about the snarled web in which I found myself enmeshed. Onething was apparent enough, and that was Meeker did his best to keep meout of the _Kut Sang_, as he said, and I reached the conclusion that itwas not me so much as the steamer which concerned him when he sought todivert my path from the vessel. If I had taken his broad hints in ManilaI would have cancelled my ticket and probably never seen him again.
There was little comfort in proving that my own blunder had led me intosuch a mess. I threw the pencil down and sat on the edge of the lowerberth. My anger was giving way to alarm. I began to realize that perhapsbeing a prisoner was the safest for me while on the steamer, for ifMeeker had brought about the death of Trego because the supercargosuspected him, why should he not attempt to kill me after what I had saidabout him to Captain Riggs?
I remembered that he had shown concern when I offered to tell Riggs abouthim--he was ready to strike me down on the spot, and his plea that Imight attack him was made more for the purpose of having me put out ofreach of the captain than for his own protection. I was still apassenger, even though confined to my room, and he knew that I might findan opportunity to tell my story to Riggs.
At least I was safe for the night, and I knew nothing could be done inthe way of explaining things to Riggs before morning. I decided that Iwould ask for paper and write a brief account of Meeker and Petrak forhim and let him judge for himself.
I blew out the lamp and opened the port, but hooked it so that the heavybrass-rimmed glass acted as a shield for me as I lay in the upper berth.I had no desire to have a pistol thrust through the port while I wasasleep, and after what had happened I was ready to see danger inanything.
The steamer was well to sea, and there was a stiff breeze blowing, whichmade her pitch and roll heavily. Her beams and joints groaned every timeshe bucked into a sea, and the wash at her freeboard and the spraybreaking on the deck outside made a great racket. Her old engines joltedand jarred and vibrated every inch of the _Kut Sang_, and I could hearthe whir of the propeller as it lifted out of the water when her headplunged into a swell.
But although I tried to put everything out of my mind and get somesleep, my imagination conjured up possible situations for the nextday conferences with Captain Riggs, fights with Meeker, a confessionforced from Petrak that he had lied when he charged me with complicity inthe murder.
I tumbled and tossed in my berth and counted a million sheep jumping afence, worked at the multiplication table, and resorted to other devicesto get into a doze, but every new creak, every groan of the strainingtimbers, kept me wide awake.
One of the most irritating noises was the grating of some object hangingon the bulkhead close to my head. I could not hear it when the vesselpitched, but when she took a long roll to starboard it rattled a secondand then rasped along the board. Locating the sound in the dark, I gropedalong the planks to find the loose object, and my fingers came upon asmall metal rod. I seized it and lifted it from a hook, and with the tipsof my fingers found it to be a key!
Bounding out of my berth, I went to the door with it, certain that itwas a spare key to the stateroom. Cautiously I tried it in the large,old-fashioned lock, and it turned back easily. I tried the knob, and thedoor swung inward.
I closed it again and debated for a minute what I should do, and,deciding that anything could not be worse than lying idle in a cell, madeup my mind to venture out and call upon Captain Riggs if I could findhim, or do a little spying on my own account to learn of any newdevelopment since I had been dismissed from the saloon and imprisoned.
I held the door open a few inches for several minutes and listened forsome suspicious sound in the dark passageway. I remembered that Harrishad said something about a guard at the door, but although I strained myeyes, in the darkness I could see no one. Each end of the passage wascapped by a penumbra of dim light, for although the sky was overcast, theopen air was not so dark as the intensified gloom of the passage.
My courage grew as I stood in the doorway, and I stepped out, closing thedoor silently and not locking it, but knotting the key in the string ofmy pajamas.
I listened for a minute at Meeker's door but heard nothing. His room wasnext to mine, but further aft, with one or more doors between his andwhere the passage gave on the open after-deck, Captain Rigg's room was onthe same side, but away forward, under the end of the bridge, close tothe open ladder which led down to the fore-deck.
In my bare feet I made no noise, and slowly made my way forward to see ifthere was a light in Captain Riggs's room. Before I had gone far Iheard a murmur of voices, and then saw a sliver of light from the jamb ofa door. There was a conversation going on in the captain's room, but Icould not distinguish the voices. I went on to the forward end of thesuperstructure and discovered a port-hole in the captain's cabin partlyopen, and by going up three steps of the bridge-ladder I had a partialview of the room.
Captain Riggs was fully dressed, and sat at a shelf which dropped fromthe wall. He was sorting out papers, and Harris, the mate, was standingover him, talking.
"You must be mistaken, Mr. Harris," I heard the captain say.
"Make me third cook if I be!" exclaimed Harris, who seemed to be in anirritable mood. "I know what I'm talking about, cap'n! I run my thumbnailalong the edges of it."
"Sally Ann's black cat, Mr. Harris!"
"All I ask ye to do, cap'n, is come down and have a look at it foryerself. That's what this is all about I'm tellin' ye! We got somethin'on our hands, I tell ye! We've got to do somethin' about it right awayor we'll have more trouble. What if the crew smells a rat?"
"You got a little too excited about that murder, Mr. Harris. I'd know allabout that. The owners wouldn't send me to sea with such as you say, andsay nothing to me, nor the charter party, either. They'd use a liner andabout forty men for anything like that. I'm crazy enough now, what withthis murder and mess, without getting myself stirred up over anythinglike that. You better get some sleep. We'll find in the morning that youmade a mistake."
"But I had a light on it!" insisted Harris. "It's thar, I tell ye, and Imade sure. I don't come botherin' of ye with no cock-and-bull story likethis unless I know. I held a bull's-eye light on it and it showed plainas Cape Cod Light. One of them chists got sprung, and I thought maybe I'dmade a mistake when I put the light on it, but when I rubbed my thumbnailon it I knew I was right. I know the feel, I tell ye. Every cussed one of'em is the same, too."
"I tell you, Mr. Harris, I've had tomfoolery enough for one night, andI ain't going down in the hold and dig around in cargo and get the crewsuspicious. They are stirred up enough as it is with what's gone onto-night, and I guess that's what ails you."
"Cuss it all, Cap'n Riggs!" exclaimed Harris in exasperation. "Ye oughtto know I don't get gallied for a little blood spilled. I slep' in a bunkall one night in the _Martha Pillsbury_ with a man what didn't have anyhead and never turned a hair. Ye know that old barkentine whaler thatCap'n Peabody sold. Dang it all, cap'n, that is what this man Treg
o comeaboard as he did--that's what he was here fer. It come down at the lastminute and he bossed the job of gettin' it aboard.
"Wouldn't let a man touch it, but had his own chinks from shore-side getit aboard with slings from the davits, and watched 'em stow it in thestoreroom. It ain't in the hold. When I come across the key to the room Imade up my mind I'd have a look at it. Tinned milk! Marked tinned milk! Isay tinned milk hell! I wash my hands o' the whole cussed mess if yedon't look at it and see for yerself.
"I don't want the responsibility, and we've got to take some precaution.That's what the killin' was for, and I'll bet a clipper-ship to adoughnut-hole that writin' chap Trenhum knows about it, and he ain't nowritin' chap, neither. Thar has been bad business, and there'll be morefrom what's below, mark my words. Come below and look at it."
"You looked it over in good shape with a light," said Captain Riggs,evidently in doubt as to what he should do. "It ought to be on themanifest, you know, Mr. Harris."
"Cuss the manifest! It's down as machinery and marked tinned milk. Whatmore ye want? They got things switched somehow, and that's plain asthe nose on yer face. I had my thumb on it, I tell ye."
"Then, if that is true, it explains why Mr. Trego was so mysterious, andwhy he wanted to be a passenger to the others. That's what he was aboardfor, right enough, and like as not he would have told me if he had beenleft alive long enough. It don't strike me reasonable that he'd keepanything like that from me--not with the way things are going these days.The master of the vessel ought to know in a case like that, and ascraped-up crew." Riggs began to button his coat.
"Of course that was what he was so close-jawed for, and that's why theowners was so close-jawed. Like as not they didn't know--charter was forcargo, and they didn't bother their head about that part of it. Some sortof a sneak game about it, of course, but we've got to mind our P's andQ's now.
"The owners nor the charter party can't help us none with it now, say I,and as master ye're got to do as ye see fit. All this monkey-businessto-night comes from it. I don't like the passengers and I don't likethese new whites in the crew. They know one another, I'm tellin' ye. Thelong chap and Buckrow sailed with Petrak. They pretend they don't knowone another--all bosh--thick as fleas when no one is a watchin' of 'em.
"See how Buckrow was so smart handin' over his knife to the red chap whenhe got in a jam? I say, where did we git them three jewels--the writin'chap brought the little red killer, and the parson brought the longfellow and Buckrow. Looks funny to me, cap'n--and we don't want noDevil's Admiral aboard of us."
"Mr. Harris!" exclaimed Captain Riggs getting to his feet, "you are notfool enough to believe stories about the Devil's Admiral, are you? That'sall newspaper talk and water-front gossip."
"I ain't so doggone sure about that, cap'n--bein' gossip. Of course, Idon't suspect nothin' like that aboard here, but from what Chips Akerstold me before he died, after the loss of the _Southern Cross_, I'm notso sure this devil's-admiral talk is all folderol. Chips couldn't tellmuch before he went under, but the _Southern Cross_ was boarded by theDevil's Admiral sure enough--didn't they find a sextant out of her in astore in Shanghai?
"Ships that go down in typhoons don't have their chronometers pop up inShanghai a year later, I'm tellin' ye. There ain't nobody ever saw thishere Devil's Admiral, sure enough, that lived to tell it, but ships don'talways go down in deep water and never a boat got off or a life-preserveror a spar or a door found on the beach.
"Thar's been bloody work in the last three or four years in thesewaters--look at the _Legaspi_; never a man jack out of her, and sailedfrom Manila, as we did, for Hong-Kong, and never heard of. Steamer shewas, too, right in the steamer-lanes. They say the Devil's Admiral gother, and I more'n half believe it."
"Sally Ann! Sally Ann!" said Captain Riggs. "I guess I better go down,Mr. Harris, and look this thing over and get it off yer mind, or ye'llbe fretting yerself and losing sleep with such yarns running wild inyer top-piece. I don't like this night prowling a mite, but take thebull's-eye along, and never a bit of light until we are in the storeroom.
"I don't want the crew hugging our heels on this trip below, 'cause yemay be right about it, at that. Be sure the slide is shut in thatlantern, and call the boy to watch for us. Be sure that glim is doused--Idon't want anybody to know about this."
I slipped off the ladder and clung to the superstructure out of the rangeof the light which spurted from the open door as Harris came out. He wentaft for Rajah, and when he returned in a minute Captain Riggs wasstanding at the head of the fore-deck ladder waiting for them. Harriswhispered something, and I saw the three figures descend to the fore-deckand heard them enter the companionway to the lower deck. I followed them.