Motor Matt's Close Call; or, The Snare of Don Carlos

by Stanley R. Matthews

  CHAPTER V.

  A MUTINY.

  "What is it, Matt?" asked the muffled voice of Gaines from the otherside of the closed door.

  "Let me out of here!" ordered Matt.

  "Can't do it just yet, Matt," answered Gaines apologetically.

  "What does this mean?"

  "It means that we're going to help out General Mendez with that warningof the don's. You wouldn't take the responsibility, but Speake andClackett and me are willin' to bear it."

  "Do you mean to say," cried Matt hotly, "that you have deliberatelysailed away from Belize without permission from Captain Nemo, Jr., orfrom me?"

  "That's the size of it," was the respectful but decisive answer. "Weknow that the cap'n would tell us to go ahead and help the don. Weain't finding any fault with you for not doing it on your own hook,'cause you're a stickler for what you think's your duty. We feel we'redoin' right, though, and we want you to feel the same way."

  "This is mutiny!" cried Matt.

  "That's a pretty hard name for it, Matt. I've been in ships, man andboy, for thirty years, and this is the first time any one ever accusedme of mutiny. We just think we know what ought to be done and are goin'ahead and doin' it. You'll be able to tell the cap'n, when you nextsee him, that you couldn't help yourself. Speake, Clackett and me arebanking on it that the cap'n'll say we did just right."

  This line of reasoning surprised Matt. For a moment he was silent,turning it over in his mind.

  "I can hardly believe this of you, Gaines," said the young motoristfinally. "How are you running the ship?"

  "We're short-handed, and that's a fact; still, we're making shiftto get along. We're running on the surface, so Clackett don't haveanything to do in the tank room, and he's running the engine."

  "Who's doing the steering?"

  "The don's doing that. He knows the coast, he says, and he seems to beright handy with the wheel. But I'm watchin' to see that he don't makeany flukes."

  "You'll have us on the rocks first thing you know!" cried Matt. "Puther about and go back to Belize."

  "You might just as well understand, Matt," answered Gaines firmly,"that we've started on this business and we're going to see it through.We want your good will--and we think you'll give it to us before we'redone with this cruise. It's a short cruise, anyhow, and we ought to beback at Belize by to-morrow night."

  "If anything happens to the _Grampus_," said Matt, "you'll be heldresponsible."

  "We're willin'. We went into this with our eyes wide open. First thingwe did was to shut both doors of that room and lock 'em; then we heavedup the anchors as quiet as we could, and you and Dick were so soundasleep you didn't hear a thing. It's two in the morning now, and we'rewell down the coast--so far down that we might as well see this thingthrough as to put back. Don't you think so?"

  "It doesn't appear to make much difference what I think," said Mattgrimly.

  "Well, not a terrible sight," went on Gaines, "only, as I said, we'drather have your good will than your bad."

  "How did you work this? How did the don get back?"

  "He stood off and on in the sailboat. As soon as you were asleep,Clackett and I dickered with him and he came aboard."

  "I haven't much of an opinion of Don Ramon Ortega!" exclaimed Matt."Any man who will hire a crew to disobey orders has a crooked strain inhim somewhere."

  "We're doin' this for humanity," asserted Gaines, in a highly virtuoustone.

  "Bosh," scoffed Matt. "You're doing it for five thousand two hundredand fifty dollars--which you won't get."

  "Won't get?" demanded Gaines, in ludicrous alarm.

  "That's my view of it, Gaines. There's something wrong with Don Ramon.After what he's done, I'm positive that he told us a pretty tall yarn.Let me out of here!"

  "Sorry, but it ain't to be thought of--just yet. When you and Dick willpromise to go with us, and not make any trouble, we'll let you out."

  "Looks like we'd have to go with you whether we wanted to or not, youold pirate!" cried Dick.

  "Aren't you with us, Dick?" called Gaines, in a pleading voice. "Wehate to have the two of you against us."

  "With you," whooped Dick, "and against my old raggie, Motor Matt? Well,I should say not! You're a lot of blooming beach combers to act in thisway."

  "But you thought the don's proposition was all right."

  "Vast, there, about what I thought of the don or his proposition--it'swhat Matt thought about it that cuts ice with me. Oh, you're a nice lotof swabs, you are! If you know when you're well off, you'll haul thatdon out of the conning tower and put him in double irons; then you'lllet Matt and me out of here and obey orders. It's not too late yet toundo the trouble you've caused. Just let that bounce around in yourlocker for a while and see what you make of it."

  "We're in this thing now, and we're going to hang to it," was thedogged response.

  Gaines turned away and the two chums could hear him moving off. Mattwent over to his cot and sat down.

  "Great spark plugs!" he exclaimed. "Who'd ever have thought Speake,Gaines and Clackett would take the bit in their teeth like this?"

  "They mean well, matey," said Dick, with a grim laugh. "They are tryingto take the responsibility off your shoulders, Matt. They could seethat you were hungry to go with the don, but that you didn't think youhad the right. They've shouldered that part of it themselves."

  "And they've got the lot of us into trouble," said Matt. "There'ssomething off color about Don Ramon Ortega or he wouldn't have hiredSpeake, Gaines and Clackett to do this directly against my orders."

  "Don Ramon is a pretty high jigger in Belize."

  "He's not what I thought he was."

  "Well, we're in for it," laughed Dick.

  "In more ways than one," said Matt moodily.

  "We're bound for the Izaral again, and will probably save that devotedoutfit of 'breeds commanded by General Mendez."

  "If I can get out of here they'll never put this boat into the RiverIzaral."

  "That's my game old raggie for you!" exclaimed Dick. "But what couldyou do, matey? There are four against us, counting the don--two to one."

  "I'll do my best. As for Gaines, Speake and Clackett, they wouldn'tdare lay hands on me. I can take care of the don, I guess!" and Matt'sgray eyes flashed dangerously.

  "They'll not let us out of here, old ship," said Dick. "Gaines and therest know their business."

  The steel room was as solid as a prison cell. There were smallventilators for admitting fresh air, but these were no larger thanloopholes. Apart from the ventilators there were absolutely no otheropenings in the metal walls except the closed doors.

  Matt laid down on the cot again and continued turning the situationover in his mind.

  The thing that worried him was the possibility of the cruiser_Seminole_ putting in at Belize with orders for the _Grampus_--orderswhich might have something to do with the sale of the boat to theUnited States government.

  Matt, who was in Captain Nemo, Jr.'s, confidence more than any ofthe others, understood that such a sale was the object for which thecaptain was striving--that it was that, and nothing else, which had ledhim to bring the submarine into Central American waters. And now tohave the captain run the risk of losing a sale through the misguidedand utterly unwarranted action of Speake, Clackett and Gaines was ahard thing to bear.

  Yet Matt could see no way out of the difficulty. Gaines and his twoshipmates were determined to help the don, and the boat was well alongtoward the Izaral.

  For three or four hours Matt lay sleeplessly on his cot, listening tothe hum of the motor and rolling back and forth with the rough swayingof the boat.

  Then, suddenly, he was brought up with a start. The steady song of thecylinders had given way to an ineffectual popping, and he knew thatsomething had gone wrong. The propeller ceased its revolutions, and thesubmarine came to a dead stop and rolled helplessly in the swell.

  "Something's busted," remarked Dick, sitting up.

  Muffled voices could be heard
and sounds of movements as though one ofthe crew were going aft to the engine room.

  Sputter, sputter, pop, pop, pop!

  Again and again the noise reached Matt's ears, but the motor would nottake the spark properly.

  After half an hour of this, some one banged a fist sharply against theother side of the door.

  "Matt!" called the voice of Gaines.

  "Well?" answered the young motorist.

  "You'll have to go and fix up the motor. I'll be hanged if I can do it."

  "You're running the boat," said Matt. "Fix it up yourself."

  "I tell you it's too many for me!"

  "You ought to have thought that something like that might happen beforeyou started out. You're in trouble now, so get out of it the best youcan."

  Matt, highly enjoying the situation, settled back on his cot.

  "Something has got to be done quick," cried Gaines, "for we're indanger!"

  "What sort of danger?" Matt had bounded from the cot and was close tothe door as he spoke.

  "There's a line of reefs on the port side, and the current is drawingus that way! Unless we get the propeller to work in less than fifteenminutes the _Grampus_ will be wrecked!"

  "Open the door!" said Matt sharply.

  "You won't make us any trouble?" parried Gaines.

  "Open the door, I tell you!" shouted Matt. "We haven't a minute tolose!"

  Without a promise to bind him as to his future course, Matt was allowedto leave the steel room. Paying no attention to the don, who wasstanding in the periscope chamber, he rushed through another door,dropped down a narrow hatch and crawled aft to the motor room.