“By heaven, we have been trapped!” cried MacAndrew, as he ran out of the smoking-room in Browne’s wake, and gazed out to sea.
They formed a small group in front of the door: Browne, MacAndrew, Maas, Jimmy Foote, the captain, and the chief-engineer. Day was scarcely born, yet the small black spot upon the horizon could be plainly descried1 by every one of the party, and was momentarily growing larger. Without doubt it was a man-o’-war. What was more to the point, she was coming up at a good rate of speed. The position was an eminently2 serious one, and what those on board the yacht had to decide was what should be done.
“If she’s a Russian, we’re in no end of a hole,” said MacAndrew; “and, when you come to think of it, she’s scarcely likely to belong to any other nationality.”
“Let us come into the smoking-room and talk it over,” replied Browne; and as he spoke3 he led the way into the room he mentioned. Once inside, they seated themselves, and fell to discussing the situation.
“We’ll presume, for the sake of argument, that she is Russian,” began Browne. “Now what is to be done? Mr. M’Cartney,” he added, turning to the chief-engineer, “what was the cause of the breakdown4 in your department?”
“A bit of foul5 play, if I know anything about such things,” replied the other. “Early this morning, or last night, somebody removed the main crosshead-pin of the high-pressure engine.”
“With what result?” inquired Browne.
“That we’re as helpless as a log, sir,” answered the chief-engineer. “Until it has been replaced it would be useless for us to attempt to get any steam out of her.”
“But surely you have some duplicate pins,” said Browne a little testily6. “Why not put one in, and then let us get ahead again without further loss of time?”
“For the simple reason, sir, that all the duplicates have been taken too,” the old man returned. “Whoever worked the plot must have the run of the ship at his fingers’-ends. I only wish I could lay my hands upon him, that’s all. I’d make him smart, or my name’s not M’Cartney.”
“Surely such an important point can easily be ascertained,” remarked Maas. “Will you leave it to me to make inquiries7?”
“Oh, don’t you trouble,” responded Browne. “I shall sift8 the matter myself later on.” As he said this he noticed that Jimmy Foote had not entered the smoking-room with them. In an idle sort of a way he wondered at his absence.
“How long will it take you to repair the damage, do you think?” Browne inquired of the chief-engineer.
“Well, sir, it all depends upon circumstances,” said that officer. “If we find the duplicate pins we can do it in less than an hour; if we cannot, it may take us twelve hours, and it may take us twenty-four.”
“And how long do you think it will be before that boat comes up?” asked Browne, turning to the captain.
“Oh, a good hour at least, sir,” the captain replied. “She has seen us; and I’m afraid it would be of no use our even thinking of trying to get away from her.”
“But how do you know that she wants us?” Maas inquired. “Being aware of our own guilt9, we naturally presume she knows it too. As Shakespeare says, ‘Conscience doth make cowards of us all.’”
“I don’t think there can be very much doubt, but that she’s after us,” said Browne lugubriously10. “Her appearance at such a time is rather too much of a coincidence. Well, Mr. M’Cartney, you’d better get to work as soon as possible. In the meantime, Captain Mason, keep your eye on yonder vessel11, and let me know how she progresses. We,” he continued, turning to MacAndrew and Maas, “must endeavour to find some place in which to hide Monsieur Petrovitch, should the commanding officer take it into his head to send a boat to search the ship.”
The captain and the engineer rose and left the room; and, when the door had closed behind them, the others sat down to the consideration of the problem, which Browne had placed before them. It was knotty12 in more points than one. If, as Browne had the best of reasons for supposing, the warship13 was in search of them, they would hunt the yacht from stem to stern, from truck to keelson, before they would be satisfied that the man they wanted was not on board. To allow him to be found would be the most disastrous14 thing that could possibly happen to all of them. But the question that had to be settled was, where he could be hidden with any reasonable chance of safety. They had barely an hour in which to make up their minds on this point, and to stow the fugitive15 away before the man-o’-war’s boat would arrive. In vain they ransacked16 their brains. Every hiding-place they hit upon seemed to have some disadvantage.
“The only place I can think of,” said Maas, who was lolling in a corner smoking a cigarette, “would be in one of these lockers17. He might manage to crouch18 in it, and they would scarcely think of looking for him there.”
“It would be one of the first they would try,” retorted MacAndrew scornfully. “No, Mr. Browne; the only spot I can think of is in the tunnel of the tail shaft19. We might squeeze him in there, and I could go with him to take care that he makes no noise.”
“The very idea,” Browne replied. “There’s plenty of room, and no one would ever suspect his presence there. If you will take charge of him, and get him down there at once, I will go off and see Miss Petrovitch, and tell her what has happened, and what we intend to do.”
“And is there nothing I can do to help?” Maas inquired, raising himself to a sitting posture20.
“Oh yes,” continued Browne. “You can keep your eye on the warship, and warn us when she gets too close to be pleasant. By the way, I must confess I should like to know where Jimmy Foote is. It’s not like him to be out of the way, when there’s trouble in the wind.”
Without waiting for a reply, he ran down the companion-ladder and made his way along the saloon in the direction of Katherine’s cabin. On reaching it he rapped upon the panel of the door, and bade Katherine dress as quickly as possible, and come to him in the saloon. The girl must have gathered from his voice that something very serious had occurred, for it was not long before she made her appearance with a scared look upon her face.
“What has happened?” she asked. “I can see something is the matter. Please tell me everything.”
“Something very unpleasant,” Browne replied. “In the first place, some evilly-disposed person has tampered21 with the engines so that we cannot go ahead for the present; but, worse than that, a man-o’-war — presumably a Russian — has come up over the horizon, and is steaming towards us.”
“A Russian man-o’-war?” she exclaimed, with a look of terror in her eyes. “Do you mean that she has come after us?”
“I cannot speak positively22, of course,” said Browne, “but since she is here, it looks very much like it.”
“Oh, Jack23, Jack,” she cried excitedly, “what did I tell you at the beginning? This is all my fault. I told you I should bring trouble and disgrace upon you. Now my words have come true.”
“You have done nothing of the kind,” Browne answered. “There is treachery aboard, otherwise this would never have happened.”
Afterwards, when he came to think it all over, it struck Browne as a remarkable24 fact that on this occasion her first thought was not for her father, as was her usual custom, but for himself. What did this mean? Had she been disappointed in her parent, as he had half-expected she would be? Her quick womanly intuition must have told her what was passing in his mind, for her face suddenly flushed scarlet25, and, clenching26 her hands together, she said slowly and deliberately27, as if the question were being wrung28 from her, and she were repeating something she had no desire to say:—
“But if it is a Russian man-o’-war, what will become of my poor father?”
“We are going to hide him,” returned Browne. “MacAndrew has taken him below to a certain place where he will be quite safe. He will remain there, while the ship is in sight, and rejoin us when she has disappeared again. Believe me, dear, they shall not get him, whatever happens.”
There was a little pause, and then Katherine said, as if she were following up the conversation:—
“It would be too cruel if he were to be captured, just as he has got away.”
“He shall not be captured; never fear,” continued Browne. “And now, dear, you had better go and tell Madame Bernstein all that has happened. I think you had better both remain in your cabins for the present. When the Russian officer arrives, if all turns out as I am very much afraid it will, I will ask you to dress and come on deck, for they will ask to be allowed to search your cabins for a certainty.”
“I will go to Madame at once,” she answered; “but I think ——”
She was about to say more when a footstep sounded upon the companion-ladder, and a moment later Jimmy Foote, his face surcharged with excitement, looked down upon them.
“For heaven’s sake, Browne,” he cried, as he held on to the brass29 hand-rail, “come up to the smoking-room at once! There is not a moment to lose.”
“What on earth has happened?” Browne inquired, as he left Katherine’s side and bounded up the ladder.
“Just what I suspected,” said Jimmy. “I never could have believed such villainy could be possible.”
Having reached the deck, they hastened towards the smoking-room. As he did so, Browne glanced out to sea, and noticed that the man-o’-war was now so close that her hull30 could plainly be distinguished31. At most she could not be more than eight or nine miles away.
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1
descried
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| adj.被注意到的，被发现的，被看到的 | |
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eminently
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| adv.突出地；显著地；不寻常地 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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4
breakdown
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| n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌 | |
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5
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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6
testily
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| adv. 易怒地, 暴躁地 | |
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7
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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8
sift
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| v.筛撒，纷落，详察 | |
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9
guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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10
lugubriously
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11
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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knotty
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| adj.有结的，多节的，多瘤的，棘手的 | |
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warship
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| n.军舰，战舰 | |
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14
disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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15
fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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16
ransacked
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| v.彻底搜查( ransack的过去式和过去分词 )；抢劫，掠夺 | |
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17
lockers
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| n.寄物柜( locker的名词复数 ) | |
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18
crouch
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| v.蹲伏，蜷缩，低头弯腰；n.蹲伏 | |
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19
shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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20
posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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21
tampered
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| v.窜改( tamper的过去式 )；篡改；（用不正当手段）影响；瞎摆弄 | |
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22
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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23
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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24
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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26
clenching
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的现在分词 ) | |
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27
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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28
wrung
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| 绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 )； 握紧（尤指别人的手）； 把（湿衣服）拧干； 绞掉（水） | |
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29
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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30
hull
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| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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31
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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