Fighting Byng Part 12

I looked surprised and glanced about.

"No, they're gone now but they've been working on her most all day. Do you see that plate bolted to the deck aft? They think they're fooling me, but that is a base for mounting a five-inch gun. They put that in place to-day. Now, why do they want a gun on this craft? And rifles were brought aboard. They're here now; want to see 'em?"

"All the English and American cargo and pa.s.senger s.h.i.+ps are mounting guns for defense now," I suggested, but he shook his head negatively.

"This is no cargo boat. She's less than a hundred feet over all. We only take a little freight to fishermen at the Bermudas and bring in hides and sponges. We don't go where there's submarines. No--there's something else and I believe it has a lot to do with this man Canby.

They're bitter against him. The manager and that tub of tallow, with his left hand still in bandage, was aboard this afternoon. I couldn't hear all they said and they talked German, which I don't understand much. I did hear Canby's name and hear 'em swear. I tell you they are up to some deviltry."

We adjusted the gasket, replaced the heavy cylinder head, and began bolting it down, both silent for some minutes.

"Scotty, what else is it that makes you think there is something wrong in the wind?" I asked, thinking hard as we worked.

"Well, why don't I go as usual? Why do they put a Boche in my place and order me to look after repairs on the ocean tug? And why do they want a five-pound gun and rifles? They're going to call at the Tortugas and then cross the Gulf--to Galveston or New Orleans. There's no submarine there. The fat party and two or three others are going.

The cabins were fixed up to-day and a new cook is s.h.i.+pped."

"You couldn't hear what they said about Canby?"

"No, but I'm sure they are watching him; they know what he does every day. He's very slick and either knows too much for 'em or is beating them to something. And 'beer-tub' is a muckle sore about having his hand punctured."

All the unanswered questions Scotty asked struck me between the eyes at once. What did the manager and an executive of Bulow and Company want to see in Canby's warehouse? Was it the beautiful leather, or something else for which they were willing to "break and enter"--committing a felony--to see? Why were they mounting cannon and taking on rifles if their object was lawful and peaceful? And why did they want a crew strictly Boche? Scotty noticed my silence and looked over anxiously.

"Scotty," I asked quietly, "do you know that, outside of gold and a conscience, the Boche needs copper, rubber and cotton, in the order named, more than anything else?"

"That they do."

"Think it over. Copper from Mexico, or any Gulf port in the States.

The same of cotton, and the biggest rubber port, Campeechy, across the straits. It is possible you have overlooked or forgotten something.

Has any of Bulow's s.h.i.+ps, tugs or barges handled anything like that?

And that, just now, might mean a Dutchman's one per cent, besides loyalty to the murder trust, in getting that kind of merchandise into Germany through Sweden?" We both worked swiftly as we talked, running down the nuts on the cylinder-head studs.

Scotty, under his breath, began heaping curses on himself as a bonehead, and tried to take it out on the wrench he was using. I waited till he subsided.

"Scotty, you know the _Deutschland_, a cargo U-boat, has made a few trips to northern ports and that a sister sub they never mentioned is known to have left for this side. Is it possible Bulows have something to do with it? And that everything the Boche fails to say is just as important as what he usually lies about?"

"Yes, but d.a.m.n it, man, it don't come easy for me to go back on them that pay me."

"I know, Scotty, but it ain't treason to fight a German. He lies just as easy as he ruins young girls, or mutilates prisoners and wounded men. Their hearts, throats, teeth, eyes and hands, the very marrow of their bones utter lies perfected for fifteen hundred years. Think it over, Scotty," I said, wiping my hands. "I am going up to the wireless station and will be back in about two hours."

"Don't you think there are some good ones?" he asked, looking injured, evidently shocked by the memory that he had trusted some of them.

"Yes, Scotty, a few who left Germany because they hated it, but to be born and to grow up in Germany adds a virus to the blood that is bad.

It can be neutralized about as easy as black can be made white. You can't expect to rival them in general crookedness in a thousand years'

practice. They're about to hand you something."

He threw down his wrench wrathfully, wiped his hands, and followed me up on the dock.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked, his head hanging.

"If there is another man in the Bulow service you can trust, get me some information, but mind what I have told you about trusting a born German. They revel in deceit and dirty, treacherous lies. When I get back I'll tell you what I want." Instead of Scotty going back to work I saw him go down the wharf where the ocean tug was tied up, but I was not quite sure he was convinced.

I went to the wireless station and the information I got from Was.h.i.+ngton was mainly satisfactory, but a long way from completing a more or less nebulous theory, pointing to something big.

Coming back past the hotel I found a note there from Ike Barry. It read:

"The big money in Bulow is supplied by the Transatlantic Banking Company, New York. The fat party represents them."

When I got back to the dock Scotty was working listlessly. Didn't seem to care if he never got the cutters ready to go out, and looked thoroughly disgusted.

"What have you dug up, Scotty?" I knew I had him. My appeal had sunk in.

"Not a blessed thing. I thought Jim Wheeler, the a.s.sistant engineer on the tug, could tell me something, but he's gone. The crew's all sauerkraut now. I'm sure Wheeler is on the level."

"Well, drop that now and pay close attention. I have a plan. It's a big bet, but I am going to make it if you will help. When does this cutter leave in the morning?"

"Eight o'clock."

"And how long will it take to run to Tortugas?"

"She can do it in two hours easy."

"That will bring her there at ten. Scotty, she must not get there till twelve, or even later. I know what they are doing at Tortugas. How can you fix it?" I asked, giving him a strong eye bracer.

He shrank as if stung. Scotty's inherited fealty to an employer was touched. It was one thing to talk, but his nature balked at acting. He looked down at the cutter as a lover, then across to the ocean tug that had replaced all hands with German born. His eyes finally came back fighting and his hands closed viselike, struggling with himself.

Now was my time to drive in the nail.

"Scotty, there are some kinds of fire you must meet with fire, however much you hate the job. This is one of those cases. If I am right and can pull this off, it will mean millions upon millions for the Stars and Stripes and it's now only a question of days when we will be at war with Germany, too."

"Are you sure of that?"

"Yes, as sure as h.e.l.l! Are you going to help me?" I shot this at him in a rasping whisper.

"I didn't say I wouldn't," he finally blurted, "but I don't know how."

"Give me your hand," I said, grabbing that greasy member and shaking it firmly. When a Scot shakes hands on a bargain he's safe.

"Now, Scotty, have you taken gasoline yet?"

"Yes."

"How much?"

"Three hundred gallons."

"Scotty, don't finish your job on that engine to-night. Let the new engineer adjust and time it after you finish in the morning. Then just before you come off slip this little ounce package in the gasoline tank."

Scotty grinned for the first time. "Will that do it?"

"In about half an hour his trouble will commence. It's a trick I learned in German s.h.i.+pyards."