PIRACY
BY DUSK the trim little brigantine was scudding away toward the west before a wind that could not have suited her better had it been made to order at the special behest of the devil himself to speed his minions upon their devil's work.
All hands were in the best of humor.The crew had forgotten their recent rancor at not having been permitted shore leave at Honolulu in the expectancy of adventure in the near future, for there was that in the atmosphere of the Halfmoon which proclaimed louder than words the proximity of excitement, and the goal toward which they had been sailing since they left San Francisco.
Skipper Simms and Divine were elated at the luck which had brought them to Honolulu in the nick of time, and at the success of Theriere's mission at that port.They had figured upon a week at least there before the second officer of the Halfmoon could ingratiate himself sufficiently into the goodwill of the Hardings to learn their plans, and now they were congratulating themselves upon their acumen in selecting so fit an agent as the Frenchman for the work he had handled so expeditiously and so well.
Ward was pleased that he had not been forced to prolong the galling masquerade of valet to his inferior officer.He was hopeful, too, that coming events would bring to the fore an opportunity to satisfy the vengeance he had inwardly sworn against the sailor who had so roughly manhandled him a few weeks past--Theriere had not been in error in his estimate of his fellow-officer.
Billy Byrne, the arduous labor of making sail over for the time, was devoting his energies to the task of piecing out from what Theriere had told him and what he had overheard outside the skipper's cabin some sort of explanation of the work ahead.
As he pondered Theriere's proposition he saw the wisdom of it.It would give those interested a larger amount of the booty for their share.Another feature of it was that it was underhanded and that appealed strongly to the mucker.Now, if he could but devise some scheme for double-crossing Theriere the pleasure and profit of the adventure would be tripled.
It was this proposition that was occupying his attention when he caught sight of "Bony" Sawyer and "Red" Sanders emerging from the forecastle.Billy Byrne hailed them.
When the mucker had explained the possibilities of profit that were to be had by entering the conspiracy aimed at Simms and Ward the two seamen were enthusiastically for it.
"Bony" Sawyer suggested that the black cook, Blanco, was about the only other member of the crew upon whom they could depend, and at Byrne's request "Bony" promised to enlist the cooperation of the giant Ethiopian.
From early morning of the second day out of Honolulu keen eyes scanned the eastern horizon through powerful glasses, until about two bells of the afternoon watch a slight smudge became visible about two points north of east.Immediately the course of the Halfmoon was altered so that she bore almost directly north by west in an effort to come safely into the course of the steamer which was seen rising rapidly above the horizon.
The new course of the brigantine was held as long as it seemed reasonably safe without danger of being sighted under full sail by the oncoming vessel, then her head was brought into the wind, and one by one her sails were lowered and furled, as the keen eyes of Second Officer Theriere announced that there was no question but that the white hull in the distance was that of the steam pleasure yacht Lotus.
Upon the deck of the unsuspecting vessel a merry party laughed and chatted in happy ignorance of the plotters in their path.It was nearly half an hour after the Halfmoon had come to rest, drifting idly under bare poles, that the lookout upon the Lotus sighted her.
"Sailin' vessel lyin' to, west half south," he shouted, "flyin'
distress signals."
In an instant guests and crew had hurried to points of vantage where they might obtain unobstructed view of the stranger, and take advantage of this break in the monotony of a long sea voyage.
Anthony Harding was on the bridge with the captain, and both men had leveled their glasses upon the distant ship.
"Can you make her out?" asked the owner.
"She's a brigantine," replied the officer, "and all that I can make out from here would indicate that everything was shipshape about her.Her canvas is neatly furled, and she is evidently well manned, for I can see a number of figures above deck apparently engaged in watching us.I'll alter our course and speak to her--we'll see what's wrong, and give her a hand if we can.""That's right," replied Harding; "do anything you can for them."A moment later he joined his daughter and their guests to report the meager information he had.
"How exciting," exclaimed Barbara Harding."Of course it's not a real shipwreck, but maybe it's the next thing to it.The poor souls may have been drifting about here in the center of the Pacific without food or water for goodness knows how many weeks, and now just think how they must be lifting their voices in thanks to God for his infinite mercy in guiding us to them.""If they've been drifting for any considerable number of weeks without food or water," hazarded Billy Mallory, "about the only things they'll need'll be what we didn't have the foresight to bring along--an undertaker and a preacher.""Don't be horrid, Billy," returned Miss Harding."You know perfectly well that I didn't mean weeks--I meant days;and anyway they'll be grateful to us for what we can do for them.I can scarcely wait to hear their story."Billy Mallory was inspecting the stranger through Mr.
Harding's glass.Suddenly he gave an exclamation of dismay.
"By George!" he cried."It is serious after all.That ship's afire.Look, Mr.Harding," and he passed the glass over to his host.
