Adventure, November 1915 — page 174: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

172 expecting Dooin’s voice to hail me at any moment, for I was convinced that the little man would get word to me in the same man- ner he had done before. But time dragged and he did not come. Footfalls passed and repassed above my head. I visioned the little square boxes be- _ ing hoisted from the after compartment. I waited a long while by the door, and finally did hear some persons descending the lad- der and entering the ward-room. I could hear nothing more. I was in a fever of impatience, but I had to wait while two dreary hours dragged out their length. “Are you there, Mac?” It had come at last, a penetrating hiss. I reached the ventilator-opening with a sin- gle bound. “Yes, yes, is that you, Dooin?”’ “Yep. Here, catch!’ The end of a steel bar protruded through _ the off-shoot.pipe. I grasped it and pulled it through. “T have to beat it back, quick,” Dooin’s voice followed the bar. ‘That thing is to jimmy your door open with. The Dutch- man has the key to your room in his pocket, and I can’t get hold of it. Can you spring the lock with that?’ “Yes, easily,” I answered. “T’ll give you my gun,” he added. “T have one—Henderson’s,” I told him. pres I'll probably need my ‘gat’ my- se ei “What is going on outside? Where are we?” I asked. ‘“‘They are transferring the gold. We are lying near the beach in a little bay, and there is a yacht close by. They are sending the gold to her. There is a lighthouse up the line.” “Bodie Island light, sure,” I said, when he added that it was a fixed, white glare. *“‘Wilbur Oates is on board,”’ he continued. “Came on board soon as we stopped. He is holding a confab in the ward-room with Dacy and Farley now, and I am serving them with booze. I got to get back before they miss me.” “But what shall we do next?” I asked. “Am I to break my way through the door at once?” “No. Wait until you get my signal. I’ll rap on the door. There is a chance for us to get to the beach—I am watching for the opportunity to grasp it. The boat that Dacy used to board the Mauresubia is in - Farley,” he interrupted. Adventure the water, by our stern. They are not using her; the yacht’s launch and boats are carry- ing ‘the gold. Can you swim?” ‘““Ves,’’ I said. “Well, my plan is to watch our chance and flop over the side. Then we'll swim to the small boat and beat it for the beach.” “How about Mary? I'll not go without the girl,’”’ I stated. “She is coming. I’ve been talking to her. She knows how things stand. That is why we must reach the boat. You and I could swim for it, but she couldn’t. Say—you made a hit there, Mac! She is some pip- in!’ “What did they do with Henderson?” I asked. “Over the side—Podd, too. They don’t bother much with funerals on this ship. Did you really croak Henderson?” I swiftly recounted my battle with the mate, and its sudden, fatal ending. “Good work!’ was Dooin’s comment. “Pity it wasn’t Farley. Did you notice how Dacy took it? He wasn’t sorry it hap- pened.” I commenced to tell him my nebulous suspicions. “I know—something between Dacy and “Something going on that doesn’t appear on the surface. Well, I have to get back before those sports get thirsty again. You stand by to jimmy open the door in a hurry.” DOOIN’S voice stopped speaking. I heard a soft grunt and then the rustle as the little man wriggled and dragged himself through the pipe on his way back to the storeroom. — The trampling on the deck overhead had ceased. A great quiet was upon the ship, a nerve-racking, sinister silence, to my ex- cited mind. I could plainly hear my watch ticking in my pocket. I examined the bar I held in my hand. It was an ordinary nail-puller that Dooin had probably discovered in the storeroom, a piece of half-inch steel, two feet long, with a curved claw on one end and the other end flattened to a chisel edge—a strong tool and one that would give a powerful lever- age. I tried it upon the door and found that the flat end would easily enter the crack be- tween the door-edge and the jamb, just above the lock. I was confident that a EORMNICMOOOKS (Cc (E()