CHAPTER XXVII
The horror which greeted the announcement that a man-o'-war had madeits appearance upon the horizon may be better imagined than described.
"By heaven, we have been trapped!" cried MacAndrew, as he ran out ofthe smoking-room in Browne's wake, and gazed out to sea.
They formed a small group in front of the door: Browne, MacAndrew,Maas, Jimmy Foote, the captain, and the chief-engineer. Day wasscarcely born, yet the small black spot upon the horizon could beplainly descried by every one of the party, and was momentarily growinglarger. Without doubt it was a man-o'-war. What was more to thepoint, she was coming up at a good rate of speed. The position was aneminently serious one, and what those on board the yacht had to decidewas what should be done.
"If she's a Russian, we're in no end of a hole," said MacAndrew; "and,when you come to think of it, she's scarcely likely to belong to anyother nationality."
"Let us come into the smoking-room and talk it over," replied Browne;and as he spoke he led the way into the room he mentioned. Onceinside, they seated themselves, and fell to discussing the situation.
"We'll presume, for the sake of argument, that she is Russian," beganBrowne. "Now what is to be done? Mr. M'Cartney," he added, turning tothe chief-engineer, "what was the cause of the breakdown in yourdepartment?"
"A bit of foul play, if I know anything about such things," replied theother. "Early this morning, or last night, somebody removed the maincrosshead-pin of the high-pressure engine."
"With what result?" inquired Browne.
"That we're as helpless as a log, sir," answered the chief-engineer."Until it has been replaced it would be useless for us to attempt toget any steam out of her."
"But surely you have some duplicate pins," said Browne a littletestily. "Why not put one in, and then let us get ahead again withoutfurther loss of time?"
"For the simple reason, sir, that all the duplicates have been takentoo," the old man returned. "Whoever worked the plot must have the runof the ship at his fingers'-ends. I only wish I could lay my handsupon him, that's all. I'd make him smart, or my name's not M'Cartney."
"Surely such an important point can easily be ascertained," remarkedMaas. "Will you leave it to me to make inquiries?"
"Oh, don't you trouble," responded Browne. "I shall sift the mattermyself later on." As he said this he noticed that Jimmy Foote had notentered the smoking-room with them. In an idle sort of a way hewondered at his absence.
"How long will it take you to repair the damage, do you think?" Browneinquired of the chief-engineer.
"Well, sir, it all depends upon circumstances," said that officer. "Ifwe find the duplicate pins we can do it in less than an hour; if wecannot, it may take us twelve hours, and it may take us twenty-four."
"And how long do you think it will be before that boat comes up?" askedBrowne, turning to the captain.
"Oh, a good hour at least, sir," the captain replied. "She has seenus; and I'm afraid it would be of no use our even thinking of trying toget away from her."
"But how do you know that she wants us?" Maas inquired. "Being awareof our own guilt, we naturally presume she knows it too. AsShakespeare says, 'Conscience doth make cowards of us all.'"
"I don't think there can be very much doubt, but that she's after us,"said Browne lugubriously. "Her appearance at such a time is rather toomuch of a coincidence. Well, Mr. M'Cartney, you'd better get to workas soon as possible. In the meantime, Captain Mason, keep your eye onyonder vessel, and let me know how she progresses. We," he continued,turning to MacAndrew and Maas, "must endeavour to find some place inwhich to hide Monsieur Petrovitch, should the commanding officer takeit into his head to send a boat to search the ship."
The captain and the engineer rose and left the room; and, when the doorhad closed behind them, the others sat down to the consideration of theproblem, which Browne had placed before them. It was knotty in morepoints than one. If, as Browne had the best of reasons for supposing,the warship was in search of them, they would hunt the yacht from stemto stern, from truck to keelson, before they would be satisfied thatthe man they wanted was not on board. To allow him to be found wouldbe the most disastrous thing that could possibly happen to all of them.But the question that had to be settled was, where he could be hiddenwith any reasonable chance of safety. They had barely an hour in whichto make up their minds on this point, and to stow the fugitive awaybefore the man-o'-war's boat would arrive. In vain they ransackedtheir brains. Every hiding-place they hit upon seemed to have somedisadvantage.
"The only place I can think of," said Maas, who was lolling in a cornersmoking a cigarette, "would be in one of these lockers. He mightmanage to crouch in it, and they would scarcely think of looking forhim there."
"It would be one of the first they would try," retorted MacAndrewscornfully. "No, Mr. Browne; the only spot I can think of is in thetunnel of the tail shaft. We might squeeze him in there, and I couldgo with him to take care that he makes no noise."
"The very idea," Browne replied. "There's plenty of room, and no onewould ever suspect his presence there. If you will take charge of him,and get him down there at once, I will go off and see Miss Petrovitch,and tell her what has happened, and what we intend to do."
"And is there nothing I can do to help?" Maas inquired, raising himselfto a sitting posture.
"Oh yes," continued Browne. "You can keep your eye on the warship, andwarn us when she gets too close to be pleasant. By the way, I mustconfess I should like to know where Jimmy Foote is. It's not like himto be out of the way, when there's trouble in the wind."
Without waiting for a reply, he ran down the companion-ladder and madehis way along the saloon in the direction of Katherine's cabin. Onreaching it he rapped upon the panel of the door, and bade Katherinedress as quickly as possible, and come to him in the saloon. The girlmust have gathered from his voice that something very serious hadoccurred, for it was not long before she made her appearance with ascared look upon her face.
"What has happened?" she asked. "I can see something is the matter.Please tell me everything."
"Something very unpleasant," Browne replied. "In the first place, someevilly-disposed person has tampered with the engines so that we cannotgo ahead for the present; but, worse than that, aman-o'-war--presumably a Russian--has come up over the horizon, and issteaming towards us."
"A Russian man-o'-war?" she exclaimed, with a look of terror in hereyes. "Do you mean that she has come after us?"
"I cannot speak positively, of course," said Browne, "but since she ishere, it looks very much like it."
"Oh, Jack, Jack," she cried excitedly, "what did I tell you at thebeginning? This is all my fault. I told you I should bring troubleand disgrace upon you. Now my words have come true."
"You have done nothing of the kind," Browne answered. "There istreachery aboard, otherwise this would never have happened."
Afterwards, when he came to think it all over, it struck Browne as aremarkable fact that on this occasion her first thought was not for herfather, as was her usual custom, but for himself. What did this mean?Had she been disappointed in her parent, as he had half-expected shewould be? Her quick womanly intuition must have told her what waspassing in his mind, for her face suddenly flushed scarlet, and,clenching her hands together, she said slowly and deliberately, as ifthe question were being wrung from her, and she were repeatingsomething she had no desire to say:--
"But if it is a Russian man-o'-war, what will become of my poor father?"
"We are going to hide him," returned Browne. "MacAndrew has taken himbelow to a certain place where he will be quite safe. He will remainthere, while the ship is in sight, and rejoin us when she hasdisappeared again. Believe me, dear, they shall not get him, whateverhappens."
There was a little pause, and then Katherine said, as if she werefollowing up the conversation:--
"It would be too cruel if he were to be captured, just as he has gotaway."
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"He shall not be captured; never fear," continued Browne. "And now,dear, you had better go and tell Madame Bernstein all that hashappened. I think you had better both remain in your cabins for thepresent. When the Russian officer arrives, if all turns out as I amvery much afraid it will, I will ask you to dress and come on deck, forthey will ask to be allowed to search your cabins for a certainty."
"I will go to Madame at once," she answered; "but I think----"
She was about to say more when a footstep sounded upon thecompanion-ladder, and a moment later Jimmy Foote, his face surchargedwith excitement, looked down upon them.
"For heaven's sake, Browne," he cried, as he held on to the brasshand-rail, "come up to the smoking-room at once! There is not a momentto lose."
"What on earth has happened?" Browne inquired, as he left Katherine'sside and bounded up the ladder.
"Just what I suspected," said Jimmy. "I never could have believed suchvillainy could be possible."
Having reached the deck, they hastened towards the smoking-room. As hedid so, Browne glanced out to sea, and noticed that the man-o'-war wasnow so close that her hull could plainly be distinguished. At most shecould not be more than eight or nine miles away.