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Read Ebook: Captain Calamity Second Edition by Bennett Rolf
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Ebook has 1448 lines and 50193 words, and 29 pages
"Yes, and you'll ask his kind permission to take off your jumpers so's he can cut your throats easier," sneered Skelt.
"No, by God, we won't!" exclaimed someone truculently.
The new note of defiance was taken up. It was one thing to face the terrible skipper in his cabin, but quite another to swear to disobey his orders, when there was no immediate prospect of those orders being given. Their courage went up by leaps and bounds, and they discussed plans for defying the Captain's commands--in whispers.
The ex-boatswain's reminiscence was cut short by the sound of a whistle on deck. Next moment the foc'sle door was flung open and the second-mate put his head in.
"To your stations, every man!" he shouted. "Uncover the guns and stand by for orders!"
There was a rush from the foc'sle, and the first man to take his station and start peeling the tarpaulins off the machine-gun, was the fiery and defiant Jasper Skelt.
THE PRIZE
"What shall I answer, sir?" inquired Mr. Dykes of Calamity.
"You say that when you first saw her she was flying the German flag?" Calamity inquired of Mr. Dykes.
"Yes, sir. I think she must have just passed another German ship, for the ensign was being hauled down when I sighted her."
"H'm, she was German a few minutes ago; now she's British. Signal her to stop, Mr. Dykes."
"Put a shot through her funnel, Mr. Dykes," said Calamity.
"Aim for the chart-room and make a better shot of it," said Calamity.
Bang!
This time the mate had better luck, his second shot smashing through the chart-room and completely wrecking it.
"That ought to bring them to reason," he remarked complacently.
"Don't fire, stopping," read the message.
"I demand to see your papers," bellowed Calamity.
"Blimey!" murmured Smith in an awed tone, "it's a treat to 'ear a bloke handle cuss-words like that."
Even Mr. Dykes, who rather prided himself on his mastery of the refreshing art of invective, was moved to wonder. Indeed, he made a mental note of several vituperative combinations whose force and originality impressed him.
"I'm going to board you!" he shouted. "Make one attempt to hinder me and you go to the bottom."
"Come aboard if you must, but for the love of God don't sink me."
"Fizzled out like a damp squib," muttered Smith.
"And remember," he added, "if you see any sign of trickery put a shot under her water-line amidships."
"Very good, sir," answered the mate.
Calamity cut him short.
"I know perfectly well what I'm doing, or I shouldn't be here. Your papers, Captain."
"Your papers, Captain," interrupted Calamity peremptorily.
"Where the devil are the keys?" he muttered, and, stooping over the box, began to fumble in his pockets.
Suddenly stepping back, he raised his head, and, as he did so, gave a sharp exclamation of mingled rage and fear. He was staring right into the barrel of a nasty-looking automatic pistol which Calamity was pointing directly at him.
"I've seen that game played before," said Calamity with a quiet smile. "Hand me your pistol; butt first, please."
"Thanks," said Calamity as he took it. "Now for those papers, if you'll be so kind."
Without a word, the other unlocked the box and handed over a bundle of documents. Calamity glanced over them hastily and then smiled.
"Your other papers, Captain," he said.
"Other papers! What other papers d'you mean? They're all there."
"I think not. If you wish to avoid trouble, you will fetch out your alternative papers at once. You didn't hoist the German ensign without having something to justify it."
"Don't," broke in Calamity. "I can do all the swearing I want for myself."
"But I can't give you what I haven't got!"
Calamity leant across the table till his face almost touched the other's.
"The papers," he said in a low, menacing voice. "Understand me?"
The other did, apparently, for, with a muttered curse, he unlocked one of the table drawers and took therefrom a second bundle of documents.
"Take them and be damned to you," he said, flinging them on the table.
Calamity picked up the papers, and, as he glanced at them there was a look of grim satisfaction on his face.
He stopped abruptly as he glanced again at the paper he was holding. A look of incredulous astonishment appeared on his face, but it was almost immediately succeeded by one of the keenest satisfaction.
The other made no answer, and for a moment or two Calamity regarded him thoughtfully.
"It's a clever trick and how you managed to obtain these two sets of papers I don't pretend to guess," he went on. "It may interest you, however, to know that the esteemed Mr. Isaac Solomon is a dear--one might almost say, expensive--friend of mine, and no doubt he will let me into the secret later on. What is your cargo, Captain?"
"Sand ballast and Portland cement," growled the other.
"No doubt the cargo you took out was rather more interesting. But what's this?" he added, holding up a document heavily sealed.
"I don't know."
"Still, it would be as well to find out," and without hesitation he calmly broke the seals.
To the astonishment of them both, the document was absolutely blank; to all appearances a virgin sheet of paper.
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