The Pirate Shark Part 14

Four of the Kanakas had stripped and stood on the gangway landing, holding to lines and weights, while the rest of the crew cl.u.s.tered about the rail and Jerry gave them instructions as to depth and bottom and what to look for. Then the men grinned, put their knives between their teeth, and slipped off into the water.

After a minute they reappeared, merely took breath, and vanished again.

This time they were down well over a minute, then shot up to the surface together and piled on to the landing, their brown bodies glistening in the sun. The boys went down the ladder and joined Jerry in getting the reports of the divers.

These all agreed that the yacht lay directly over an old wreck, which was so overgrown that it seemed little more than a huge rock. One of the men had brought up a sliver of wood in proof of the story, however, and at sight of it Jerry nodded, satisfied.

"There she is, lads--eight fathoms down! Mystery o' the sea, lads--mystery o' the sea, and us up above here in the sun!"

The boys kept a sharp lookout for the shark, but he was not to be seen, and the Kanakas declared there was nothing alarming to be seen underneath the surface. Now it was that Jerry had Dailey and Birch bring down the diving outfits to the landing, and he briefly ordered the Kanakas to don them and go down.

To the surprise of all, the Kanakas refused. They looked with some suspicion on the heavy boots and copper helmet, declaring that they felt safer without all these things and were perfectly willing to go down as often as was wished.

At this Jerry carefully explained that such work would not do, that he wanted the wreck explored, and that it was necessary for a man to be down for a long period to do this successfully. The Kanakas still balked, however, and when Jerry grew furious and ordered one of them flatly to get into the diving dress, Bob interposed.

"None o' that, Jerry. The men are right. If you want someone to go down, pick out one of your own men--Birch or Dailey there."

The Scotch engineer, standing up above, burst out laughing. Birch promptly denied all interest in the wreck.

"Not me, sir! I ain't no diver, nor shark fighter neither. If anyone's to go down, let the quartermaster go down, I says!"

"That's right," grinned Mart maliciously. "You climb into one of the suits, Jerry! Mebbe your old friend the Pirate Shark is waiting for you to show up."

Jerry chuckled and wagged his white head in solemn refusal, while those above made fun of him unrestrainedly. Finally Jerry scratched his head and gazed up at the men lining the rail.

"Dailey," he ordered, "see to gettin' out two o' the boats. Yorke, you an' Birch an' Borden come down to the after cabin. I'll learn ye who's master aboard here!"

He chuckled again, and beckoned to the boys to follow, which they did.

Dailey ran to the bridge deck with a squad of Kanakas and as Mart went below he heard the davits creaking, and saw one of the boats descending to the water.

Jerry vouchsafed no explanation of his ordered consultation until the three men in question had come down to the cabin where he and the boys waited. Mart detected something strange in the old man's manner, and the instant the men came down he saw an insolent expression on Birch's face that he did not understand. He was soon to understand it, however, with a good many other things.

"Now, comrades, what had best be done?" asked Jerry. "These here lads don't want us to make the Kanakas go down, and you don't want to go down neither. Our dynamite's gone, so I asks you again, what's to be done?"

Yorke leered with his twisted mouth.

"Take a rope's end to the Kanakas, Shark. Ain't you master aboard here?"

"Aye, that I am, Yorke, but owners is owners."

Jerry chuckled again, which disarmed Bob's anger. Mart was watching the four men anxiously. Their att.i.tude puzzled him, for the seamen were undoubtedly insolent, but Jerry seemed to pay no attention; and the old quartermaster was usually a stickler for sea etiquette.

"Are you sure the Pirate Shark's down there, Jerry?" asked Bob suddenly.

"Don't you think he's gone out to sea--"

"No, no, lad, he lives down there--eight fathom down, in the wreck, with the fish all around and us up above."

"He didn't go after the Kanakas," persisted Bob skeptically.

"You're right, lad, he didn't--'cause why, he knowed better, he did!

He's waitin' till a diver goes down, lads--a real diver wi' the shoes an' helmet, as can't swim about like the Kanakas. I'll go down myself."

"What!"

The cry of surprise broke from men and boys alike, but Jerry nodded, his jaw set and his old face showing a sudden angry determination.

"Yes. I'll go down, wi' some kind o' weapon, and I'll--"

"Take that kris of mine!" shouted Bob eagerly.

"Stow your jaw!" The one-eyed Birch turned on them roughly and threateningly, to Mart's amazement. "Jerry, stop this fooling. What you goin' to do with these kids, eh?"

"Let them go down," broke in Borden, a malicious expression on his wrinkled face. "Let 'em go down, Jerry, to the wreck."

"Shut up!" Jerry straightened up. So swiftly had this dialogue pa.s.sed that the two boys had hardly realized its import, when the old quartermaster shook his fist at Birch. "Shut up, I say! Them boys ain't a-goin' to be hurt, understand? Nor they ain't goin' to hurt us neither; I'll see to that. Borden, you and Yorke go up and lay that engineer in irons in the forehold. Birch, get hold o' Dailey and take a gun to them Kanakas till they agree to go down. This here is business, and I'm boss.

So step lively."

The men obeyed quickly, for Jerry's gentle face was transformed into furious energy. The two boys, however, leaped forward with an angry cry as the meaning of his orders broke on them.

"See here," exclaimed Mart, taking the old man by the shoulder and whirling him around to face them. "What's this mean anyhow?"

"You're crazy with the heat, Jerry," added Bob angrily. "This isn't any pirate--"

Jerry, with unexpected strength, put a hand on each of their chests and flung them back with seeming ease. When they recovered, his blue eyes were blazing and a revolver showed in his hand.

"Now, lads," he said in his soft, penetrating voice, "I like you, I do, and I'm takin' care o' you. You heard what old Borden said, eh? 'Let 'em go down to the wreck,' he said, lads, but not me. No, old Jerry likes you, an' you ain't a-goin' to be hurt."

"Why--why, blame it all, what do you mean?" gasped Mart.

"He's puttin' up a joke on us, Mart," grinned Bob. Jerry chuckled.

"Joke, eh? Look ye here, lads. Up back at the village yonder, the cap'n and Joe Swanson is took care of in a hut. They're safe enough, but they're took care of. That's why I went ash.o.r.e first, to see my friends.

This here yacht belongs to me, lads, until we get up the treasure out o'

the wreck. Then me and the rest, we'll be off all s.h.i.+pshape and Bristol fas.h.i.+on, we will, and no one won't be hurt. Understand that, lads?"

Mart stared. But there was no denying the earnestness of the old man.

Then over both boys flashed the whole thing--the three old men plotting at Waikiki, the different s.n.a.t.c.hes of talk they had heard, everything that pointed to the same end. Jerry and his comrades had seized the _Seamew_.

"You mean you're a gang of pirates?" asked Bob, paralyzed with astonishment.

"That's it, lads," chuckled Jerry calmly. "You ain't to be hurt so long's you keep quiet, lads. Pirates it is--the fish down below and us up here above, lads. But when we've got the treasure out o' the wreck, we'll set the cap'n free and leave you wi' the s.h.i.+p. Fish tell no tales, lads--fish tell no tales!"

And with that Jerry turned and ascended the companion, revolver in hand.

CHAPTER XII

THE ELEPHANT GUN