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help and he stepped out to the pin-rail and
anchor up. Spritz would be aft on the poop.
selected a wooden belaying-pin—a very
The awning had been furled. To find some
useful weapon.
sort of weapon, then to find the girl and
He slipped back into the alleyway
wait with her until Spritz came—this was
and began to walk aft to the captain’s
Annesty’s plan. But the greatest difficulty
cabin. On either side as he went along the
lay in getting on board without being seen.
curtain-doors of other cabins caused him to
Hugging the schooner’s side, hesitate. Sydney Dick he knew to be on Annesty listened to the clank of the cable
deck, but the steward and perhaps a clerk
as it came over the windlass. This lasted a
might be behind one of these curtains. But
few minutes only—the anchor having been
nobody came out or got in his way, and
hove short before Spritz came aboard. Then
trembling like a leaf, he reached the main
Sydney Dick called aft and Spritz cabin.
answered. There was the sound of men
The table with its fixed chairs was
running along the deck to the halliards, the
in the center and the swinging lamp
Adventure
14
showed that everything had been cleaned
looked about desperately. To break down
away since dinner. Opening off the main
the door would be foolish, even if possible.
cabin were four doors. One was the The broken lock would only serve to warn bathroom, in one Spritz kept his Spritz. And the minutes were passing.
chronometers and charts, in one of the Spritz would be down very soon. Annesty others he slept, and the other was a spare
walked rapidly to the room where Spritz
room. In one of the latter two the girl was
kept his charts. Inside in a rack over the
probably confined.
wash-stand was a bottle of whisky. With
It was less than a minute since trembling hands, Annesty reached for it Annesty had left the water, although he had
and took the drink he needed.
the feeling that much had happened to him.
The swim and the unusual strain
Now, clutching his belaying-pin, he went
had taken a lot out of him. But he wisely
to the door of Spritz’s sleeping-room and
limited himself to the amount he required
knocked lightly.
as a stimulant. He felt better—able to plan.
He thought of boldly taking the whisky out
THERE was no answer, but it seemed that
to the main cabin table, sitting down and
a low undercurrent, of sound suddenly pretending to be drunk. In that event, Spritz ceased. What had that sound been? He had
would never imagine he was there to help
noticed it half-consciously when he first
the girl. It would be difficult for Spritz to
entered the main cabin.
imagine that anyway.
Again
he
tapped
lightly on the
And he knew Spritz’s peculiar
cabin door and then—half a gasp, half a
disposition well enough to know that he
sigh, and wholly terrified—a voice feebly
would treat his presence in the cabin as a
answered, “Yes” and Annesty understood
joke. Yes, if he acted drunk, he would be
that the low sound had been the girl’s safe. But Spritz would throw him out of the sobbing;
main cabin, give him more whisky, and—
“It’s me—Annesty—I want to help
the girl would be lost. Then he heard heavy
you,” he whispered.
footsteps coming down the companion
“Yes,” came back eagerly.
way.
“Are you locked in there?”
Annesty slipped out of the chart-
“Yes, and that big man must have
room and crouched by the side of the
the key.”
companion-way steps. Unless he could stun
Annesty fought with his diseased
Spritz with one blow it would be all over.
nerves. He wanted calm—calm, so he For it was doubtful if even John L.
could think. The situation was exceedingly
Sullivan, then in his prime, would have any
dangerous. Every hand on the schooner chance in a rough-and-tumble with the big would be against him and Spritz would
captain, much less Jim Annesty, who felt
throw him overboard and think nothing like a man about to be hanged, the courage about doing it. And the girl’s position was
that had once made him a great athlete
worse—for after all Annesty had only his
having been drowned in years of alcohol.
life to lose. He had hoped to get into the
It was Spritz coming down the
cabin where the girl was confined—to hide
stairs, and he was alone. Annesty was not
behind the door and strike Spritz down
hidden and if the captain looked his way he
with the belaying-pin when he came.
would see him. But Spritz’s eyes and mind
But what could he do now? He were fixed on something else and he never
Dirty Jim
15
even glanced in Annesty’s direction. As he
so Annesty took her arm almost roughly
reached the deck of the main cabin, the
and led her to where the unconscious Spritz
beachcomber raised himself on his tiptoes
sprawled.
and rifted the belaying-pin.
“Take his other arm. And, look
Then, with all his strength, he here—you’ve got to buck up. Be brave. I brought it down on the captain’s head and
think I can get you out of this all right, but
the big man fell unconscious without as
if I can not I’ll see you get a chance to kill
much as a grunt.
yourself. Here, wait a minute.”
That blow would have killed an
He went into the chart-room again
ordinary man, but Annesty had no and brought out a small glass of whisky.
delusions about Spritz’s vitality. Very
“Here, drink this.”
quickly he went through his pockets and
She refused, shook her head,
found the key of the girl’s cabin, then he
seemed disgusted. But he insisted, told her
went back into the chart-room and picked
to take it like medicine, and at last she
up a hank of spun yarn he had seen lying
swallowed it with a wry face.
there. Coming back, he securely bound
“Now, you’ll be better. Take his
Spritz’s hands behind his back and tied his
arm again and we’ll lock him up where you
ankles together. Then he opened the door
were.”
of the cabin where the girl was confined.
The whisky did its work. A flush
The bunk ran fore and aft against
came to the girl’s cheek. With some
the vessel’s side. Into this Spritz had difficulty they dragged Spritz into the thrown the girl, but she had got out and
cabin, left him on the floor and locked the
was crouched on the leather settee, which
door.
was fixed athwar
tships at the after end of
“You look better.” Annesty put the
the cabin. Her hair fell in a shower to her
key in his pocket.
waist, her clothes were torn, she was white
“I feel better. I’m afraid I’ve been
with terror and she was still crying.
an awful coward.”
But she did not recognize Annesty.
“Not at all—you had a rotten
Indeed, the clean shave and change of shock.”
clothes and the general air of resolution
“Can I help you?”
altered him completely from the
“Certainly. But I don’t quite know
disreputable beach-comber she had tried to
what I’m going to do yet. Will you step
reform. So she gasped when he entered the
into the chart-room—no, somebody might
room, and her astonishment stopped her
go there. Go into that spare room there and
crying.
lock the door on the inside. I’ll find you a
“I’m Annesty,” he anticipated her
pistol soon. Wonder why we took the
question.
trouble to put Spritz in his own room?”
She was too much upset to do more
The girl did not know, but she went
than nod, and she probably saw no help in
into the spare room and locked the door.
Annesty’s presence. She would have faced
Then Annesty considered the worst of his
death bravely enough, but that other... And
job. His destination? He shivered, then
Spritz had carefully removed every sort of
tried to put it out of his mind as being too
weapon from the room.
far off to bother with. Sydney Dick at
“Help me to drag Spritz in here.”
present in charge of the deck and the only
She only looked at him helplessly,
other white man on board? In some way he
Adventure
16
would have to be confined with Spritz.
daylight I’ll run my bluff on the crew. If I
After that Annesty would have to force the
can get the kanaka second mate on my side native crew to do his bidding.
we’ll win out. Don’t use that thing until the
It looked like an impossible task for
last, and keep it hidden.”
any man—for Spritz had his men bound to
She promised, and then annoyed at
him by all sorts of fears. Well, then, the
his carelessness he went into Spritz’s cabin
first thing to do was to get control of all the
and with a handkerchief securely gagged
firearms on the schooner. Annesty went
the captain, who was breathing rather
back into the chart-room, for he had found
heavily but seemed none the worse for the
no gun on the unconscious Spritz, who
blow on the head. For a little while
seldom needed one.
Annesty watched him. He felt he had been
very lucky. Then he realized that Spritz had
OVER the bunk in the chart-room were
given orders that nobody was to enter the
two fine rifles and in the desk a pair of new
main cabin. The steward would have to be
revolvers with several packages of reckoned with. He was a Chinaman and cartridges. Annesty took down the rifles
would have a knife but no gun. It was
and hid them under the mattress; then he
unlikely that Spritz would allow any
turned to look for the key of the room and
member of the crew to own a gun—except
found a double-holstered belt for the Sydney Dick. Therefore Annesty had revolvers behind the door. Attached to the
probably accounted for all the firearms on
belt were two canvas bags for shells. This
the schooner. But he felt very tired and
was luck. The revolvers were not loaded,
sleepy and his nerves were on edge and
so Annesty loaded them and fastened the
getting worse. He went out and locked the
belt ’round his waist.
door, and then eight bells were struck. The
Against the forward bulkhead of the
time, then, had come to tackle Sydney
main cabin were two stands of various Dick. He would be going to his room, rifles and shotguns. These Arinesty also
relieved by the second mate. Annesty went
locked in the chart-room after knocking out
back to the chart-room and took a small
pins and otherwise doing his best to render
drink. He put down the glass, went out
the guns useless. He then went forward to
quickly and picked up the belaying-pin. It
Sydney Dick’s room in the alleyway. The
had occurred to him that the mate might
lamp was lit, but expecting the owner to
come to the chart-room to write up the
interrupt him every moment he searched it
log—a fear born of Annesty’s ignorance,
thoroughly; finding nothing but a small since the mate of a ship keeps his own log derringer which he thought of throwing
in his own cabin. So he waited again by the
overboard. Then he remembered his steps of the companion way. The passage promise to the girl. The pistol was loaded,
was proceeding just as other passages. The
but there were no spare shells. He went
kidnaping of the girl had made no more
back to the spare room and knocked.
disturbance in the ship’s routine than the
“Yes?”
loading of an extra package. Everything
“Open the door—I have something
was quiet, the schooner slipping along
for you.”
about six knots an hour. No one ever went
She came out quickly, looking into the main cabin at night but Spritz, much better, and took the pistol gratefully.
unless it was necessary to call him on
“Keep quiet till I need you. At account of bad weather. Overhead on the
Dirty Jim
17
poop Annesty heard footsteps—the man noticed how the events of the night had relieving the wheel and the second mate
taken away her initiative, how she
relieving Sydney Dick. There were no depended entirely upon him and trusted passengers.
him; and he found something very pleasing
Annesty waited twenty minutes by
and strengthening in her trust.
the cabin clock, then he tiptoed along the
Nevertheless he successfully
alleyway and listened outside the curtain of
removed the whisky from the chart-room
the mate’s room. Regular breathing told
without her seeing him do it and hid it in a
him all he wanted to know. He did not
convenient place. Then he remembered that
relish the idea of hitting a sleeping man,
he had not gagged the mate and went back
blackguard as that man was, but it had to
to do it. He told himself he would have to
be done. He pushed aside the curtain and
stop forgetting things like that.
went in, the belaying-pin poised. He stood
It was a little after five o’clock.
by the side of the bunk, hesitating. Then he
Time enough when light came—about
closed his eyes and brought the weapon
six— to tell the second mate he was in
down—wildly. It missed the mate charge and impress the crew with the need altogether, hitting the edge of the bunk.
of obeying him. But how would they take
Sydney Dick sat up and saw him in the
it? He wanted to take the schooner to
half-light but the intended shout never left
Sydney, but that was many hundred miles
his lips.
away. He would have to sleep. Was the girl
There came to Annesty, nerving able to watch against surprise while he him, the memory of the girl’s struggle with
slept? A lot would depend on the second
Spritz as he carried her into the boat. But
mate. If he were trustworthy and would
he did not hit the mate as hard as he had hit
come on his side half the battle would be
the captain.
over.
Then another problem—and
But it was a lot to expect. It was the
problems were falling all about him like
hour when a man’s courage is at its lowest
flakes in, a heavy snow-storm with a dark
and Jim Annesty saw no comfort ahead.
bank ahead presaging a heavier fall—what
And while he waited, speculating
to do with the unconscious mate? To leave
unhappily, the dawn came.
him in his room would be folly, for he
He heard the steward go forward to the
couldn’t watch him, and some one would
galley. Was Spritz in the habit of having
be sure to find him; and to put him in with
coffee at this hour? But that didn’t matter,
Spritz would be as unwise, for several unless the steward had another key. He reasons. Jim again knocked on the girl’s
examined the revolvers and went up the
door.
companionway. The second mate was
“Sorry to trouble you again, but I
standing aft by the wheel. Annesty
