Speake, holding to one of the wire guys that supported the periscope1 tube, descended2 the rounded deck, until up to his knees in water. Stretching out his hand he caught the fist of the big fellow in the sou’wester. The latter, standing3 on the gunwale of the yawl, gave a leap and landed sprawling4 on the submarine’s deck.
A wave rolled over him, but he managed to clutch the guy rope and hang on. The next moment he rolled over close to the conning5 tower and lay there, face down, apparently6 almost spent.
Clackett, imitating Speake’s maneuver7, was bringing another of the men aboard. One by one the yawl was unloaded, the boy being the last to come.
Bob, climbing out of the conning tower, ordered the rescued men below. Two of them had vanished through the hatch when Bob, bending over the big fellow by the base of the conning tower, asked him who he and his comrades were, and how they happened to be adrift in a small boat.
“Can’t you get up?” asked Bob. “We’ll have to get you below, somehow.”
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Bracing10 himself on the deck, Bob reached downward and pushed his hands under the man’s armpits. At the same moment, the big fellow developed a surprising amount of strength. Both his arms went upward, as he whirled over on his back, and closed about Bob’s waist like the two jaws11 of a vise.
“Now, then, nail ’em, you swabs!” he roared. “I got the boss o’ the gang, an’ you git the rest!”
Not until that moment did Bob Steele suspect treachery. The revelation came to him like a lightning flash.
A wild uproar12 echoed from below, and forward and aft Speake and Clackett were struggling with those they had helped aboard.
The rounded deck of the Grampus, slippery with water and deluged13 again and again by the waves, was a fearsome place for such a struggle. How the combatants ever kept themselves out of the sea was a mystery.
Bob fought as best he could. He recognized the big fellow as Abner Fingal, and knew, as well as though he had been told, that Don Ramon Ortega had engineered a cunning plot for the capture of the submarine.
“What are you trying to do, Fingal?” Bob demanded, as the scoundrel held him helpless in his ironlike grip.
“Trying to even up fer some o’ the things you done a spell ago!” roared Fingal. “Stop yer squirmin’, or——”
With a fierce effort, Bob succeeded in breaking free. He rose to his knees, only to meet the flintlike fist of Fingal. The terrific blow hurled14 him backward, and he slid along the sloping deck against the guy rope that supported the small flagstaff, close to the bow.
Fingal jumped after him, caught him by the collar,148 and pulled him back before he could slip from the support of the rope and drop into the sea. The jerk Fingal gave him hurled Bob headfirst against the iron socket16 in which the base of the staff was secured to the deck. It was a savage17 blow, and Bob straightened out limply and a wave of darkness rolled over him.
When Bob opened his eyes again, he was in the same room where he and Dick had been confined by Gaines, Speake, and Clackett. But there was another prisoner now, for Speake was with Bob and Dick.
Dick, on a stool beside the cot, was rubbing Bob’s temples. Across from them, on the other cot, Speake was sitting, nursing a bruise18 on the side of his face.
“None too good,” answered Bob.
“It wasn’t the blows I received that’s hurting me now, Dick,” Bob went on, “but the fact that we were trapped when we thought we were helping21 a boatload of shipwrecked sailors. Have they captured the boat?”
“Well, I should say! That outfit22 of pirates swarmed23 all over her. I was down in the engine room, you know, and, while I knew by the racket that something was happening that wasn’t down on the bills, yet I didn’t dare leave the motor. After a while the racket died out a little and I called up through the speaking tube to learn what was going on. Some one laughed; then, the next I knew, Fingal came driving Gaines along. A swab trailed after Fingal, and both of ’em had guns. I was ordered up to the periscope room, and Gaines was sent to the motor, the other chap staying with him and keeping the gun aimed at him all the time. Oh, I guess you fellows have got149 enough of helping the don, haven’t you?” and Dick turned to Speake.
“We was a pack of fools,” answered Speake.
“What happened to you, Speake?” inquired Bob.
“The same as happened to all the rest,” was the growling24 response. “That was a husky lot o’ shipwrecked mariners25 we picked up! They didn’t seem hardly able to crawl aboard, but they woke up considerable as soon as they got their feet on the Grampus’ deck. I had it which an’ t’other with a chap for’ard o’ the connin’ tower, and I held my own until Clackett was downed and the man that was goin’ for him came at me. Then, o’ course, I had to give up. Clackett an’ me was sent below at the pistol’s p’int. Clackett’s in the tank room, and Gaines is in the motor room, both with a couple of the thieves holdin’ guns on them an’ makin’ ’em run the boat. The don’s steerin’, and we’re hikin’ right on toward Port Livingstone. Oh, what a howlin’ mess!”
Bob sat up and bowed his head in his hands for a moment. His head ached, and he was trying to think and get at the full extent of the disaster.
“It was all a put-up job,” remarked Dick.
“That’s easy to guess, Dick,” returned Bob, lifting his head. “The boat I saw hull26 down, off on the port side of us, must have been Fingal’s schooner27, the North Star. The schooner was expecting the don along with the Grampus, and was laying to get that crew of rascals28 aboard of us. Dropping the yawl in the water, the schooner left the boat behind. Oh, I see it all now. But I can’t understand this Don Ramon Ortega. This business will open the eyes of a good many people in Belize.”
“But what’s the upshot of it all? What’s the don tryin’ to do?” This from Speake, as he continued to nurse his injury.
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“I can see through him, all right enough,” said Dick. “He’s playing even with us for what we did on the Izaral River, a few days ago.”
“He has captured the Grampus,” added Bob, “and probably intends to turn her over to General Pitou.”
“An’ there wasn’t anythin’ in that story of the don’s?” asked Speake. “It was a pretty good story, an’ sounded to me like it might be straight goods.”
“The don is helping Fingal,” returned Bob, “and the submarine is now in the hands of the five we ‘rescued’ from the yawl, and the don. There are six of our enemies and only five of us. Naturally, we don’t count, being locked up in this steel room; and Gaines and Clackett can’t count for much, either, with revolvers staring them in the face whichever way they turn. This is a hard row of stumps29 for us, pards!”
“An’ all owin’ to Clackett, an’ Gaines, an’ me!” mourned Speake.
“There’s nothing to be gained thinking over that part of it, Speake,” said Bob. “We’ve got to look this thing squarely in the face and do what we can to recapture the submarine.”
“Nothin’ we can do!” grunted30 Speake. “That outfit of roughs have got the whip hand of us, and they’re going to keep it. They was wise to keep Gaines an’ Clackett to attend to the runnin’ of the machinery31, an’ I guess the don can do the steerin’, easy enough.”
“I wonder if there was any truth at all in the don’s story?” ventured Bob.
“Why, about the revolutionists capturing Port Livingstone, and the fort across the river.”
“If part o’ his yarn’s crooked33,” grumbled34 Speake, “then I’ll gamble the whole of it’s crooked. Why, Bob? What difference does that make?”
“Well, if Port Livingstone is in the hands of the151 revolutionists, then we’ll be taken there, and not up the Izaral.”
“Wait!” exclaimed Dick, as a sudden thought came to him. “Don Ramon Ortega is in mighty35 poor business if he’s helping these revolutionists. What a two-faced swab he is! When he talked with us, last evening, he was all against the rebels; now he’s for them. What will the Spanish government say to that sort of work?”
“There’s something about Don Ramon that’s mighty puzzling,” said Bob. “He’s a scheming scoundrel, though, and it’s our business to recapture the Grampus—if we can.”
“How’ll we go to work, Bob?” asked Speake gloomily. “Every man in Fingal’s party is armed. What could five of us do ag’inst six armed men, providin’ we was able to bunch together and face ’em?”
At this point, the door leading into the periscope room opened and the don and Fingal stepped through. Bob, Dick, and Speake all started up on the entrance of the two men, but the latter carried revolvers, and another armed man stood in the doorway36 behind them.
“Don’t get reckless, you fellows!” warned Fingal. “We ain’t particularly anxious to hurt ye, but there’s no tellin’ what’ll happen if you try to climb over us an’ git through that door.” The burly ruffian turned toward his companion. “Fire away, don,” he added, “an tell ’em what you got on your mind.”
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1
periscope
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| n. 潜望镜 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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sprawling
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| adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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conning
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| v.诈骗，哄骗( con的现在分词 )；指挥操舵( conn的现在分词 ) | |
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6
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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maneuver
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| n.策略[pl.]演习；v.(巧妙)控制；用策略 | |
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8
hoarsely
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| adv.嘶哑地 | |
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kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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bracing
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| adj.令人振奋的 | |
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jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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12
uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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13
deluged
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| v.使淹没( deluge的过去式和过去分词 )；淹没；被洪水般涌来的事物所淹没；穷于应付 | |
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14
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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15
fore
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| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
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socket
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| n.窝，穴，孔，插座，插口 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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bruise
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| n.青肿，挫伤；伤痕；vt.打青；挫伤 | |
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ominously
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| adv.恶兆地，不吉利地；预示地 | |
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skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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swarmed
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| 密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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growling
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| n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼 | |
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mariners
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| 海员，水手（mariner的复数形式） | |
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hull
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| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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schooner
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| n.纵帆船 | |
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rascals
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| 流氓( rascal的名词复数 )； 无赖； （开玩笑说法）淘气的人（尤指小孩）； 恶作剧的人 | |
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stumps
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| （被砍下的树的）树桩( stump的名词复数 )； 残肢； （板球三柱门的）柱； 残余部分 | |
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30
grunted
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
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31
machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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grumbled
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| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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