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“Aye, aye, sir,” answered Gaines, keeping his eyes on
the periscope.
“Put about!”
Gaines made no move to shift the wheel.
“You heard what I said, Gaines?” went on Matt, his
voice pitched low but carrying an emphasis that lifted it
above the hum of the motor.
“I heard you, Matt,” replied Gaines.
“Either obey the order or give up the wheel to
Clackett.”’
Brought directly face to face with the issue, Gaines :
hesitated. The sharp eyes of the don noted the effect
the masterful young motorist’s words were haying on
Gaines.
“Don’t you do it, Gaines,” said the don coolly. “Think
of the money you ’re to get. Motor Matt has not the
courage- .
“Don't talk foolish!” growled Gaines. “Matt’s got
more pluck ina minute than any of the rest of us have i in
a year. I know him.” ,
“He hasn’t the courage to go to the Izaral,” growled ,
the don.
“He’s only off’n his course a little about that,’ an-
swered Gaines. :
“Will you obey orders, Gaines, or leave your post?”
asked Matt.
“He'll obey my orders,” flashed the don, “and he’ I
stay right where he is and hold to his present course.’
As the-don spoke he pulled a hand from the-breast of
his coat. The hand gripped a revolver.
“That’s your game, is it?” asked Matt, peering stead-
ily into the snaky orbs of the Spaniard.
“We have come thus far on my mission,”
the don, “and we are going the rest of the way.”
“Put up that gun!” said Gaines angrily. “If you try
any shootin’, we'll throw our hands in the air and put
back to Belize.”
Speake and Clackett moved forward. Matt waved
yeturned
: them aside.
“T’ll manage this,” said he. “Gaines, keep your eyes
on the periscope. A fine fellow, this don of yours. You
men ought to feel proud of the way'you hooked up with
him, and——”
Matt, while he was talking, had kept covert eyes on the
don. At just that moment the Grampus gave a heavy roll.
The don’s stool slid back against the steel wall and the
point of the revolver was thrown, for the fraction of a
‘second, toward the curving deck, overhead. This was
Matt’s opportunity. Quick as a flash he hurled himself
-upon the Spaniard, bore him from the stool and they
: rolled.over and over upon the heaving floor.
The struggle lasted only a few moments, and when
Matt withdrew from the don and got to his feet, he was,
‘holding the revolver.
“T’ll make you answer for this!” cried the don,!in a
: furious temper.
- “You are welcome to try—just as soon as we get back
to Belize,” said Matt. “If this matter is aired, it won't
sound very well when your government hears of it.”
A mocking light crossed the don’s angry face.
‘ “Diable!” he exclaimed. “I’m not afraid of my. gov-
ernment.” :
“Throw it overboard, Speake,” said Matt, handing the
srevolver to Speake. “We don’t need that thing here.
Tf J can’t have obedience on the Grampus without look-
‘ing at her crew over the sights of a gun, I don’t want it.”
Oe I OT
see te oe ' *
MOTOR Siu. oo .
Speake, without a word, took the revolver and went up :
the ladder into the conning tower. . So
“From this on, Don Ramon Ortega,” said Matt, “you
will consider yourself a passenger! I will treat you bet+
ter than your conduct demands, and will not make a pris- .
oner of you unless you attempt to interfere with the man-
agement of the boat. Do you understand that?” .
The don muttered something under his breath.
Before Matt could speak further, a shout came. from
Speake.
esSmall boat off the starboard beam, close in!”
“By
the hood of the periscope. ‘Look here, Matt!”
As Matt turned, an evil, triumphant light flashed in the
don’s eyes. Matt could not see it, and it escaped Clackett.
In the mirror top of the periscope table, clear and dis-
!
tinct, was reflected a ship’s boat, a yawl, heaving help- .
The boat was not over a hundred . |
feet from the submarine, and the periscope showed it with *
lessly on the waves.
startling fidelity to detail,
- Aboard the yawl were five persons—four. men and a
boy. They seemed to be in difficult straits, for the men
were standing erect and waving their hats frantically.
“They’ve. been shipwrecked, “Matt,” said Gaines, “
~ they’ve lost their oars.’
' One of the men was a burly individual, wearing an oil-
skin coat and a sou’wester. All the others were roughly
dressed, the boy wearing a pea-jacket and a stocking cap
pulled well down over his face.
“There’s a sailing’ craft hull down, off to port,” “said
Matt. “It’s a wonder that boat didn’t pick those fellows
up. But that’s unimportant. We'll lay them aboard and
take them off. Clackett!” ,
“Here, Matt!” answered Clackett.
“Take two coils of rope and go aloft.’ Matt turned
to Gaines. “Get as close to the boat as you can, Gaines,”
he added.
Clackett rushed up the conning-tower ladder, and fol-
lowed Speake out onto the curving plates of ‘the deck.
Matt went after the two men to direct operations from
the conning tower. .
Those in the boat—with the exception of the boy—ap-
peared in the last stages of exhaustion. On seeing that
their wild signals were to be answered, they dropped
sprawling over the thwarts.
and
The boy still stood erect and made gestures-stealthy
movements with one hand which puzzled Matt.
“That youngster seems to have stood their hard luck
better’n the men,” remarked Clackett, moving toward
the bow with a coil of rope.
Matt made no answer, but continued to watch the dan-
cing yawl as Gaines brought the’ submarine steadily
nearer.
“Stand by to catch a rope!” shouted Matt presently,
when they were close enough for a cast. “Let ’er 80,
Clackett !”
| The rope left Clackett’s hand, untwined itself sinuously
in the air, and the end of it: was grabbed by the big. fellow
in the sou’wester.
“All fast!” he boomed in a voice that was strangely
strong for one whose actions showed him to be nearly
fagged out.
Speake’s rope was then thrown, and thus, with a double
cable, the yawl was drawn close against the rounded side
‘of the submarine,
Jupiter!” exclaimed Gaines, pushing farther into’
.