CHAPTER X
COMING TO CLOSE, DANGEROUS QUARTERS
"Have any of you gentlemen ever had a good, long look at the 'Victor'?"shouted Captain Tom, leaning down over the starboard bridge rail.
"I have," admitted Mr. Baldwin.
"Then I think you'd better come up here, sir, and take one of theglasses."
"Think you've sighted her?" demanded Baldwin, eagerly, as he raced upthe steps.
"We've sighted some yacht. We've got to cut down a few miles of thedistance between us before we can be sure about the stranger."
Then, while Baldwin held the glasses to his eyes, Dick Davis showing himwhere to look, Halstead snatched up the engine room speaking tube.
"Joe, give us more of that hot-foot, if it's in the old motors. We thinkwe're in chase--but, oh, man, man! How we need speed now!"
"I can't be sure of anything yet," complained Mr. Baldwin, in adepressed tone. "We've got to be nearer, and see the hull of the craftyonder, before I can feel sure about her."
"I'm pretty near sure, now, that it's the 'Victor,'" muttered Halstead,after he had picked up his own marine glass and used it for a fewseconds.
"Why do you say that?" demanded the owner.
"Our masts must be visible to the commander of the other craft. As if hesuspected pursuit, he's crowding on steam. See that big cloud of blacksmoke coming up between the other craft's masts?"
"Yes! You're right."
"Now, unless a captain who is already moving under good speed is tryingto escape something, he doesn't suddenly throw on his furnace drafts inthat fashion," went on Tom, hurriedly. "So, Mr. Baldwin, I think you mayfeel sure that you're speeding along in the wake of the 'Victor.'"
"I'll have to call Jephson up here and show him this," cried the owner,moving to the bridge rail.
"All right, sir. But don't ask any others up. We've got a hard chase inhand, and don't want enough folks up here to interfere with the handlingof the 'Panther.'"
Jephson started quickly forward at the call.
"Have you sighted the runaway craft?" called Mr. Ross, also startingforward.
"We think so," Mr. Baldwin answered. "But don't come up here. CaptainHalstead doesn't want a crowd on the bridge. All the space up here isneeded for handling the yacht."
Mr. Jephson saw what there was to see. He added his belief that theywere in the wake of the "Victor."
"Are you going to be able to overtake her, Captain?" he demanded,eagerly.
"We're going to try," Tom responded, anxiously. "We've only four hoursof daylight, or so, left to us. If we can get close enough, however, weought to hold the 'Victor' after dark with our searchlight."
"You'll overtake her, of course!" declared Joseph Baldwin, abruptly.
"Yet the 'Victor' is said to be a very fast boat, sir."
"So is the 'Panther,'" retorted the owner. "Besides, Captain Halstead,we've _got_ to overtake her!"
Tom Halstead took up the mouth-piece of the engine room speaking tube.
"That you, chief?" he asked. "I think you'd better come to the bridge,watch the chase, and see what you have to beat."
Joe Dawson came immediately to the bridge. Presently he used the tube,calling down very definite instructions to Jed Prentiss, whose trick itwas at the motors.
"Keep a close eye on your helmsman's work, Mr. Davis," the young captaindirected. "See to it that he doesn't waver a hair's breadth in bearingdown on the stranger. Any speed lost in steering would be a uselesswaste."
While Joe remained on the bridge, Halstead soon went to the deck below.Mr. Baldwin followed him.
"If you can make the 'Panther' show all I think there is in her,Captain," commented the owner, "then we should overtake that other craftand have this chase ended in a few hours."
"The 'Panther' is doing, now, sir, all that she is capable of doingunder her motors alone. The result of this race depends mainly on howwell the steam yacht is handled, for she seems very nearly, if notquite, as speedy as your yacht."
"Is the 'Panther' going at absolutely her last quarter of a mile?"
"Chief Engineer Dawson informs me that he might get a little more speedout of the motors, but that he feels it wouldn't be altogether safe totry."
"Wouldn't a hoist of sail help us?"
"Not with the wind from the present quarter," Tom replied,thoughtfully. "I have already been considering that."
"It seems hard to be beaten," sighed Joseph Baldwin. "It is hard, even,not to find ourselves racing right up on the 'Victor.'"
"We haven't been beaten yet, sir," smiled Halstead. "Nor are we beatenas long as we have the other boat in sight."
As Baldwin turned and stepped over to the rail, he saw Skipper Tommoving away.
"Where are you going, Captain?"
"To my cabin, sir, to take a nap."
"Nap?" echoed the owner, in great amazement.
"Yes, sir; I am afraid I shall be up about all night. Just now there's achance for me to store up some sleep."
"But the chase?"
"Mr. Davis will have his orders to call me if we appear to be losingground at all."
Mr. Baldwin looked his astonishment. He did not yet know the Motor BoatClub boys as well as he might have done. Dick Davis was up on thebridge, keen-eyed and alert. Dick knew well enough what to do, and hecould call the young captain at need. Besides, Joe Dawson was up therewith the second officer, watching the relative speeds of the two boats.
When Tom Halstead turned out again he had put two hours of sleep intohis supply of reserve force.
"How do we stand, now, Mr. Davis?" asked the young skipper, reaching forthe speaking tube.
"We've been gaining, sir. We can make out the upper hull, now. Mr.Baldwin is here on the bridge, and declares the stranger is the'Victor.' One of the deputy marshals, who knows the boat well, is alsocertain."
"Is the 'Victor' burning coal as hard as ever?"
"Just as hard, sir."
"And we're gaining? That shows we can overhaul the other craft in time.How's the weather?"
"Slight haze, Captain, but fine weather," reported Dick Davis.
So Captain Tom Halstead felt that he could still safely take his time,for he expected to be all night on duty. He indulged in the luxury of abath, dressed comfortably, drew on his reefer, then leisurely left hiscabin, ascending the stairs to the bridge.
"I've hardly been away from here," announced Mr. Baldwin.
"I doubt if I shall be, to-night, sir," Tom answered.
"You speak of to-night as though you thought the chase would lastthrough the hours of darkness."
"And doesn't it seem likely to you that it will, Mr. Baldwin, unlesssomething happens to the 'Victor'?"
"I fear I was never built for slow, patient work like this," sighed thefinancier. "Gaining one second in every hour would wear me out in time."
Before dark Captain Halstead had the hull clearly in sight. The"Victor," however, was still some five miles in the lead, nor did the"Panther" appear to be gaining, much more than half a mile an hour.
It was Third Officer Costigan's watch on the bridge, by this time. DickDavis, however, did not feel like turning in, and spent much of his timepacing the deck forward, keeping a sharp lookout.
Just before dark the motor yacht's searchlight was turned on. A fewminutes later its thin, bright ribbon of light was kept almostconstantly turned on the craft ahead.
Tom Halstead and Joe spent a comfortable amount of time over theirdinner at table in the captain's cabin.
"I guess Mr. Baldwin wonders that we can take any comfort at this sortof thing," laughed Joe. "I'll wager he doesn't give much time to hissupper to-night."
"Perhaps we wouldn't, either, if we owned considerable stock in theSheepmen's Bank, as Mr. Baldwin does," murmured Halstead. "For him, andfor some of the others aboard, this race is for tremendously heavystakes. I wish, though, that Mr. Baldwin could realize that, even if wedo eat, and even nap, we are straining every nerve to catch up with theother boat."
; Just then the buzzer for the bridge speaking tube sounded. Tom was ableto reach the mouthpiece without leaving the table.
"Captain," reported Mr. Costigan, "the craft ahead seems to be makingsomewhat less speed."
"Does it look like a break-down?" asked the young skipper.
"Can't say, sir. But the 'Victor' must be going two miles an hour slowerthan she was ten minutes ago."
"That's the best news I've heard, Mr. Costigan. Watch your helmsman'swork. Let me know if anything more happens. Anyway, I'll be on thebridge as soon as I've finished dinner."
Joe, who had jumped up while he heard his chum speaking, now lookedastonished.
"Going to finish your dinner, Tom, after hearing such news as that?"
"Yes. Why not? Oh, I'm enthusiastic enough, but it takes gasoline, notenthusiasm, to keep motors going. You might call the news down to JeffRandolph, though, and see whether he thinks he can put on any more spurtwithout danger."
Jeff Randolph reported that the motors were going at top speed.
Chief Steward Parkinson came in to remove the dishes for that course.His face was glowing.
"Mr. Baldwin's up on the bridge, Captain," reported the steward.
"I thought he would be," nodded the young skipper, coolly.
Twenty minutes later, when Captain Tom Halstead had finished the last ofthe meal, he rose, donning his cap, then pulling on his deck ulster.
"Now," he remarked, quietly, "I think I'll go above and have a look."
Joe Dawson followed at his heels. The long beam of the searchlighttrailed out over the water, its further end resting across the stern ofthe "Victor." Mr. Costigan had ordered a sailor to the bridge, whosesole duty was to keep the searchlight trained.
"This race can't last much longer," cried Mr. Baldwin, gleefully.
"The present indications, sir," Tom replied, "are that it will last morethan long enough for you to go below and have your dinner, Mr. Baldwin,if you want it."
"I think I will go," laughed the owner. "Standing up here, watching,watching all the time, my nerves are getting thready. You'll call me, ofcourse, if----"
"When we get near enough to hail the other boat, sir," Tom Halsteadreplied, gravely.
Dinner was not quite over in the main cabin when Skipper Tom uttered asudden exclamation that made Costigan wheel about.
The "Victor" was palpably slowing down.
"What can that mean?" demanded Halstead.
"A crank-pin loose, or some other trouble with the machinery, sir?"suggested the third officer.
Tom Halstead quickly summoned the sailor who was with the quartermasterin the pilot house.
"Go to the main cabin, with my compliments, and tell Mr. Baldwin thatthe other craft is slowing down," ordered Tom.
There was a rush from below. The assistant from the United Statesdistrict attorney's office took but a brief look, then dived below tofind his two deputy marshals. These two officers followed theirsuperior to the deck, stationing themselves in the bow.
"Captain," shouted Mr. Jephson, "will you go up close enough so that Ican hail them?"
"When we overtake the steam yacht," Captain Halstead shouted back, "Ishall run up to starboard of her, and as close as I can without dangerof collision."
"That will do excellently, Captain," assented the district attorney'sassistant.
The "Panther" was now rapidly closing in on the distance that separatedthe two craft. As yet, however, the motor yacht remained almost fairlyastern.
Suddenly, from one of the stern port-holes of the steam yacht there cametwo red flashes. A bullet crashed through the glass in the front windowof the "Panther's" pilot house. Captain Tom was standing with his headsome two feet from the searchlight. The second bullet whizzed betweenhis head and the light.
Almost instantly two more flashes showed ahead.