"Look, look up on the bow!" cried Bill suddenly. "There's a man. He'sseen us."
"He's waving," cried Mr. Smallwood. "Hurrah! Give way, men! There's apoor beggar roasting on that ship."
But the boat's crew needed no urging. In the lee of the burning cattleship the water was smoother and they could make better time. Silhouettedagainst the glare, too, every man of them could see, by a twist of hishead, that solitary marooned figure on the bow of the fire ship.
As the first boat,--Mr. Smallwood's,--ranged in alongside the high steelprow, Jack's quick eye caught sight of a rope dangling from the greatsteel anchor chains. By what impulse he did it he could not haveexplained, but as the boat ranged close alongside he poised for aninstant on the heaving gunwale and then launched his body forward intospace.
"Come back, boy!" shouted Mr. Smallwood. But by the time the words hadleft his mouth, Jack was scrambling up the rope amidst the cheers of themen in the tossing boats now far below him. It was the work of a fewmoments only to gain the anchor chain, and to climb up them was, for alad of Jack's brawn and activity, an easy task.
"Thank heaven you came before it was too late," cried the solitary manon the fore deck, staggering toward the boy with outstretched arms.
"Are you the only man on board?" demanded the boy, deciding to leaveexplanations till later.
"No, Dick Sanders is sick in his bunk below."
"Where, down this hatchway? In the forecastle?" asked Jack quickly.
"Yes, I was too weak to carry him up, heaven help me," muttered theother reeling weakly.
Jack did not stop to listen. He knew that within a few minutes hisshipmates would be on board and would rescue the half-crazed man on thebow. It was his duty to go after the sick man below. Into theill-smelling darkness of the forecastle of the cattle ship he plunged,clawing his way down an iron ladder. At the bottom he struck a match. Asits light flared up he heard a groan, and looking in the direction fromwhich it came he espied the emaciated form of a boy lying in a bunk.
"Have you come to save me?" gasped out the sick lad, who was almost askeleton and whose eyes glowed with unnatural brightness in hisparchment-like face.
"Yes, but you must do exactly what I tell you," instructed Jack.
"I will, oh, I will," choked out the other. "Only save me. I was afraidI was going to be left here to die alone."
"Don't talk about dying now," ordered Jack. "Now clasp your arms roundmy neck and hold on tight. Do you think you can keep your grip till weget to the top of that ladder?"
"Yes--that is, I think so," returned the sick lad, who had been cabinboy on the doomed ship.
"Then, hold on," ordered Jack as, having carried his pitifully lightburden across the forecastle to the foot of the ladder, he prepared toascend the rounds. Once or twice he had to stop on the way up, andholding on with one hand, grasp Dick Sanders with his other arm to allowthe lad to recruit his strength. At last they reached the deck and Jack,who was almost exhausted, laid his frail burden down with a sigh ofrelief.
He looked about for his companions, who he fully expected to see on theforecastle. There was no sign of them.
The lone man who had waved to them from the bow had also vanished. Arope ladder, one end of which was secured inboard, showed the way theyhad gone.
"Queer that they didn't wait for me," muttered Jack. "They must haveknown I was below. I wonder----"
There was a sudden warning shout from somewhere.
"Look out for your life!" came in Mr. Smallwood's voice.
Jack looked up, startled. The burning ship was a flush-decked craft.That is, her forecastle was not raised, but was on a level with the maindeck where the cattle pens were. The terrified creatures, in theirfrenzy of fear, had broken loose from the flimsy timber structure, andnow, urged on by the flames behind them, were charging down in a wildstampede upon Jack and the half-conscious form of the sick boy at hisfeet.
It was not possible to effect a retreat down the forecastle hatch, forhis efforts to support himself on the journey up had been too much forDick Sanders' strength.
Jack looked about him. It was imperative to act with desperateswiftness.
Now, not fifty feet from him was the advance guard of the maddened,fear-crazed steers. In a few seconds, if he did not act swiftly, both heand the lad he had rescued would be pounded by their sharp hoofs into anunrecognizable mass.
Suddenly he formed a resolution. With desperate eagerness he strippedoff his oilskins and kicked off the light deck shoes he had not thoughtto change in the hurry of embarkment. Then, picking up the fragile formof Dick in his arms, he sped for the side of the forecastle.
As the long-horned steers swept down so close to him that he could feeltheir breaths and see the whites of their frenzied eyes, the boy leapedup and outward into the night.
CHAPTER XV.
JACK'S BRAVE LEAP.
What happened after the leap, Jack never knew clearly. He felt a wild,half-suffocating rush through the air and then a sensation of chokingand strangling as a cold, stifling weight of water pressed in on him.Down, down, down he plunged. It seemed as if he would never rise. In hisears was an intolerable drumming. Everything was blood-red before hiseyes.
Then came a sudden blast of blessed air, following a swift upward rush,and he found himself struggling in the wild sea with Dick Sandersclinging desperately to him and almost making him go under again.
Luckily Jack, without conscious thought, had chosen the lee side of theburning ship, where the boats hovered, for his leap for two lives. Ashis head appeared above the surface, the bright glare of the flamesshowed his form clearly to the anxious watchers who had witnessed hisdaring dive.
"There he is! Hurrah!" shouted Bill Raynor, who was the first to seehim. "Hold on, Jack, old boy, we'll be with you in just a second."
"Keep up your heart! We'll get you!" bellowed Mr. Smallwood.
Jack essayed a feeble wave in response, with the result that he was oncemore engulfed. But in a few moments he was safe and a dozen pairs ofstrong arms had drawn him and Dick Sanders into Mr. Smallwood's boat.
"Heavens, lad, what a dive," cried the third mate admiringly, when Jackwas somewhat recovered and Dick lay covered with seamen's coats on thefloor of the boat.
"Gracious, we thought you were a goner!" exclaimed Raynor, "when thecattle made the first charge. I guess you didn't hear it, being below.We all came close to being caught. The man on the forecastle, who wasunconscious by the time we got on board, was reached in time to belowered into one of the boats. In the confusion, we thought you wereamong us. It was not till we reached the boats again that we found ourmistake."
"In the meantime," said Mr. Smallwood, "those poor devils of steers hadreached the rail and not liking the look of the water any better thanthe fire, charged back again. It was just as the second 'wave,' as youmight call it, was coming for you that we saw you weren't with us.Suddenly we sighted you with that poor kid there," he nodded to thebottom of the boat, "right in the line of their charge."
"If it hadn't been for your warning shout, I might not have been herenow," said Jack.
"I saw that and so I yelled with all my power," said the third officer,"but lad," he went on, slapping Jack on the back, "when I saw what youwere going to do, I regretted having warned you."
"It was the only thing to do," said Jack. "We wouldn't have stood achance if we had remained where we were," and he explained that it wasimpossible to find shelter on the flush deck or to retreat back into theforecastle.
"Well, all's well that ends well," said Mr. Smallwood, "but it gave me aturn when I saw you come sky-hottling off that bow. But,--greatChristmas,--look yonder."
He pointed back at the burning ship. By her own light they saw her pitchheavily forward, hesitate an instant and then, without further warning,and amidst a piteous bellowing that sounded like a death-wail, shootdownward to the depths of the ocean. In an instant the light she hadspread across the rough sea had va
nished, and by contrast, the nightappeared to have suddenly solidified about them in velvety blackness. Amoment later a blinding white light groped across the waste of tossingwaters and enveloped them in its glow. It was the searchlight of the_St. Mark_ and it accompanied them with its cheering light till theyreached the ship's side.
They were greeted amid acclamation, and Dick Sanders was at once takencharge of by the ship's doctor and some lady passengers. The man who hadbeen rescued had, by this time, however, sufficiently recovered toaccompany Mr. Smallwood, Bill and Jack to Captain Jameson's cabin, wherethat officer was eagerly waiting to hear the details of the rescue.
The rescued sailor, whose name was Mark Cherry, soon told them the storyof the disaster to the _Buffalonian_, a British cattle ship which hadleft New York for London several days previously. Early that evening thecraft had been overtaken by a German cruiser and ordered to surrender.Every one on board was made prisoner, and some of the cattle taken, whenthe British captain, seized by a sudden fit of anger, struck the Germancommander in the face. He was instantly ironed, as were his officers,Mark Cherry observing all this from under the cover of a boat where hehad been working when the cruiser took the cattle craft, and in which hehad remained hidden.
In revenge, apparently, for the British captain's attack on him, theGerman commander had, on his return to his own ship, ordered the_Buffalonian_ fired upon by the big guns. The hidden sailor crouched interror in his place of concealment while the cannon boomed. He thoughthis last hour had come. The projectiles shrieked through the sternworksof the ship and one, he thought, had struck amidships (which accountedfor the vessel's foundering).
At length, appearing to tire of this, the German cruiser put about andsteamed away. Cherry crept from his hiding place where he had remainedparalyzed with fright throughout the bombardment, and making for thewireless room sent out the only signal he knew, the S. O. S., which hehad learned from a friendly wireless man, in case there ever came a timewhen it would be a matter of life and death to him to use it. Thisexplained why no answer came to Muller's frantic calls after the firstdistress signal.
It was only a few moments after this call that flames burst from theshattered stern, and Cherry knew that unless help came, his hours werenumbered. So confused and terrified was he by his desperate situation,that it was not till Jack's appearance on the scene, he rememberedlittle Dick Sanders, the cabin boy, lying sick in his bunk below. (Itmay be said here that with care and good treatment the lad quicklyrecovered his health, and he and Mark Cherry were put to work with thecrew of the _St. Mark_.) Thus, without further incident, the EnglishChannel was reached and Jack began busily to try to communicate with thefirm's London agents for instructions as to docking orders.
CHAPTER XVI.
AWAITING ORDERS.
While awaiting orders, which the wireless had told the _St. Mark's_captain were not ready for transmission, the big liner stood "off andon" at the mouth of the channel. It was wearing work, and all lookedforward eagerly to the day when their destination would be settled andthey could proceed.
Jack felt the monotony of it no less than anyone else on board, but hespent a good many busy hours perfecting an attachment for a wirelesscoherer which he hoped would prove of great value in the future, andpossibly prove as profitable as the Universal Detector, to whichallusion has already been made in "The Ocean Wireless Boys" and "TheNaval Code." One night, after working for some time at some ratherabstruse calculations in this connection, he decided to abandon the workfor the night and take a stroll on deck before turning in.
Raynor, he knew, was finishing up the last of a series of match games ofcheckers, so he did not bother to look up his friend. Knowing that Billwas busily engaged, Jack was rather surprised when, at his fourth orfifth turn up and down the deck, which was almost deserted, a stewardstepped up to him with a note.
It proved to be from Raynor and read as follows:
"Dear Jack:
"Meet me at once in the stern where we can talk without being spied on. The steward will show you where. I have something important to tell you about Radwig.
"BILL."
"This is very peculiar," mused Jack, and then, turning to the steward heasked:
"Did Mr. Raynor give you this?"
"Yes, sir, and he told me to bring you to where he was waiting, sir,"was the obsequious response.
"All right, lead on," said Jack and then to himself he added: "I can'tin the least make out why old Bill should be so secretive. I might justas well have met him in his cabin. But maybe he is being watched, andthinks the place he has appointed would be better."
The steward led the way aft through a maze of corridors and passages. Atlast they arrived far in the stern of the ship where the unlightedpassages showed no cabins were occupied. The twenty first-classpassengers had all been booked amidships, thus the hundreds of cabinsopening on the stern passages were unoccupied and nobody went near them.
"You've no idea why Mr. Raynor selected this part of the ship to meetme?" said Jack, as he followed the man who lighted the way with anelectric torch.
"No, sir," he replied, with a shake of his head. "I suppose he had hisreasons, sir."
"No doubt, but this is an odd part of the ship to keep an appointment,"said Jack. "We must be far away from the occupied cabins."
"Oh, yes, sir. Almost a tenth of a mile. Wonderful, ain't it, sir, thesize of these big ships? A fellow could yell his lungs out in this partof the vessel, sir, and things, being as they are, and the cabins emptyand all, nobody could hear him."
"I suppose not," said Jack idly. "Are we nearly there?"
"Yes, sir. Just turn down this passage, sir. Right to the left, sir,mind that step and--" Crash!
A great burst of light, as if a sudden explosion had occurred in frontof him blinded Jack, and at the same instant he felt a violent blow onthe back of the head. Then the bright light vanished with a loud reportand he seemed to swim for an instant, in blackness. Everything went out,as if a light had been switched off, and the lad pitched heavily forwardon his face.
"Good, that will settle his hash for a while," muttered a voice, andRadwig, a short, wicked-looking bludgeon in his hand, bent over thesenseless boy. By the German's side was another man, a short, thick-set,clean-shaven fellow with a projecting jaw, known on the passenger listas Mr. Duncan Ewing, of Chicago.
The light of the steward's torch illumined their faces as they stoodabove the recumbent young wireless boy.
"I say, sir," muttered the man, "I know you've paid me well and all,sir, but I didn't bargain for no murdering business, sir. I----"
"Don't be an idiot," snapped Radwig impatiently. "We haven't hurt him.See, he's beginning to stir. Now then, Schultz----"
Radwig bent and took up the limp body by the head while Mr. DuncanEwing, who answered with alacrity to the name of Schultz, laid hold ofpoor Jack by the feet.
"Now, steward," said Radwig, as they carried their burden into an emptycabin, "keep a stiff upper lip till we dock, and then I don't care whathappens. You'll be well taken care of. Don't forget that."
"Yes, sir, I know, sir," said the man, whose hand was trembling as heheld the torch; "but I don't like the business, sir. If it wasn't for mypoor wife being sick and needing the money, and all---"
"That will do. Go get us the lamp you promised. In the meantime we'llrevive this young fellow and show you that he's not dead."
From a carafe of stale water that stood on the washstand, Radwig dasheda liberal application in Jack's face. He loosened the lad's collar andchafed his wrists. Jack moaned, stirred, and opened his eyes. For amoment his swimming senses refused to rally to his call. Then, with aflash, he realized what had happened.
"Radwig, you scoundrel!" he exclaimed, "what is the meaning of thisoutrage?"
"Just a delicate little way of reminding you that it is not well tothwart the wishes of Herr Professo
r Radwig," was the reply. "Schultz, mydear fellow, shut that door. No, wait a moment, here comes our man withthe lamp. That's better."
He took the lamp from the steward, and set it in a frame on the wallprovided for it in case the electric light failed from any cause. Thesteward, still pale and shaky, hurried away after one glance at Jack.
"And now," said Radwig, "we will leave you to your reflections, my youngfriend. It will do you no good to shout. Under present conditions thispart of the ship is uninhabited. No one comes near it. As for trying toforce the door after we have gone, it would be wasted labor. I havetaken the pains to affix bolts to the outside of it. Bread you willfind, and some water, under the bunk. I advise you to be sparing of it,for you will not get any more and now--_auf wiedersehn_."
He opened the door, motioned Schultz out, and turned a malevolent smileon the boy. With a shout, Jack flung himself forward, but the doorslammed in his face.
He heard a laugh from outside, a laugh that made his blood boil and hisfists clench. He fell against the door and wrenched at it furiously. Butalready the bolts outside had been shot into place and the portal heldfirmly.
"Now don't lose your temper," begged Radwig mockingly from without;"it's very bad, very bad for the digestion. I would recommend you tospend your time mediating over the manifest advantages of beingobliging. Good-night."
Jack, listening at the bolted door, heard their footsteps die away downthe deserted passageway.
CHAPTER XVII.
WHAT BEFELL IN THE AFTER CABIN.