baron von hiemskirk roared with laughter. “splendid, captain—splendid! to use an american expression, herr captain—we pirates are not always as dumb as we may look. i know all about that warship. it will take her five hours, fast steaming, to reach this ship.”
he turned his back contemptuously on the furious skipper and walked to the rail. a glance overside told him that the launch, crowded to the gunwales with more men from the flying fish was nosing the landing stage below. he again approached the choleric officer.
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“i now take over this ship. order your crew to the forecastle and your officers to their cabins. you and i, my friend, will repair to your quarters. i want to look over your ship’s papers.”
by this time the second boarding party reached the deck, and commands snapped from the baron like reports from a machine gun.
accompanied by an armed seaman from the flying fish, bill and osceola followed the chief commissary steward below. the man had been told off for the duty by the baron, with a promise that if there were any complaints upon their return, he would be shot. on second thought, he had expanded bill’s orders.
“you will attend to the oil and gas,” he said, “and in addition, you will commandeer all stores leaving two days’ crews’ rations for the passengers. break out what men you need and get the supplies to this deck on the port side. and just as quickly as possible, mr. bolton.”
“aye, aye, sir.”
arrived at the chief steward’s office, he was amazed to learn from the man’s lists the vast amount of eatables carried by the liner.
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“gosh, there’s everything here from caviar to oatmeal!”
“well, orders are orders,” said osceola. “while you’re deciding what to take and what to leave, i’ll get hold of the crew and meet you below in the storerooms.”
“right-o! i’ll be with you in a jiffy. i hate to have to do this, but if we don’t make a clean job of it, you and i will finish out this cruise in the well-known brig!”
for the next few hours, both lads worked like beavers superintending the transportation of supplies. leaving osceola in charge below, bill went up to the deck where the boxes, barrels and crates from the storerooms were being stacked by members of the captured liner’s crew. the flying fish, now transformed into her guise of submarine, came along side, a hoist was brought into use and the provisions lowered to her.
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it soon became evident that the underseas boat’s cargo capacity would take but a fraction of the plunder, so bill ordered the orleans’ lifeboats to be lowered. one by one, these were loaded. the first boat to receive its quota of goods was secured to the flying fish by a tow-line, and the bow of each succeeding lifeboat made fast by a line to the stern of the one ahead. when the last load of crates was being lowered overside, bill found osceola at his elbow.
“that tears it, i reckon. good plan that—using the boats. i wondered how you were going to load all that stuff in the flying fish.”
“i hated to do it,” admitted his friend, “but now that the orleans is practically without provisions, she will have to return to new york, and she can make port in less than twenty-four hours. with this fine weather, there’s little or no danger of the passengers needing the boats.”
“what are we to do now?” asked osceola.
“report to herr baron, i reckon.”
bill hailed one of the submarine’s petty officers who was herding the crew back to their quarters.
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“do you know where we’ll find baron von hiemskirk?”
“he is in the main dining salon, sir.”
“come along, osceola,” said bill. “he must be pretty nearly finished with his own particular job. i hope so, anyway. if that cruiser shows up and we’re caught—well, it will take a lot of explaining to justify our part in this. the chances are, i’d be handed my discharge from the navy, if nothing worse.”
osceola nodded gloomily and the two made their way along an almost empty deck to the main companionway.
“i wonder where the passengers have disappeared to,” mused the young seminole, as they descended the broad staircase.
“they’ve probably been sent to their cabins for the time being. if my guess is a good one, the big boy is at present engaged in robbing the entire first class of their valuables.”
“it’s certainly a bad bit of work, bill.”
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“gee, i know it. but some day we may be able to get even with this polite pirate. just now all we can do is to smile and take orders.”
they found the baron seated at the head of the captain’s table. an angry gentleman, his wife and two pretty daughters, under guard of a seaman, stood before him.
“mr. rodney conway and family, of new york.” the baron glanced at a list he held. “i am glad to say that this little interview will conclude my business aboard the orleans.”
“look here!” cut in the passenger. “this whole thing is preposterous! why, your men have ransacked our cabins and stolen nearly everything of value we have with us. if, as you seem to be, you are german citizens, i shall certainly make a complaint in person to the german ambassador, when this ship lands us in england!”
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the baron von hiemskirk smiled, but the smile was not a pleasant one. “i do not recognize the present german government,” he said sneeringly, “and it also may interest you to know that they are quite as keen to apprehend me and put a stop to my business ventures as you are. furthermore, mr. conway, you and your family are not going to england—not by this ship.”
mr. conway started visibly. then he drew himself up: “i do not care for myself—but i must beg of you to spare my wife and daughters—”
the baron put up a restraining hand. “there is no cause for alarm, mr. conway. unless, of course, you prove to be unreasonable. who’s who tells me that you are president of the western hemisphere bank in new york city, and that you are on the board of directors of other important financial institutions. now, there will be a small matter of ransom to go into before we part company. at present, time presses. you and your family will go for a cruise with me—an agreeable one, i trust—until this business of ransom can be attended to. you will go on deck with this seaman now. your cabin baggage has already left the ship. that will be all, i think.” he stood up in dismissal, and bowed.
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“good afternoon,” he beamed, “and bon voyage!”
the conway family, under guard, left the salon. baron von hiemskirk beckoned to bill and osceola who had been silent witnesses of this charming scene.
“i have to report, sir,” said bill at once, “that the supplies have been placed aboard the flying fish and the lifeboats. they are now ready for transport to the amtonia.”
“thank you, mr. bolton, and you, too, chief. i was certain that i could trust you with the job. that was a good idea to use the lifeboats. if a heavy sea had been running the greater part of the stuff must have been left behind.”
“i should think,” said osceola, “that you would have brought up the amtonia and placed the stuff aboard her direct.”
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the baron smiled goodhumoredly. “mr. bolton can you tell him my reason for not doing so? i am not really a blood-thirsty person by nature, chief.”
“baron von hiemskirk does not wish vessels like the orleans to know that the amtonia is in his service, osceola.”
“but what has bloodthirstiness got to do with it, if i may ask?”
bill answered this too. “i suppose the baron feels it would be necessary to sink such vessels whose crews or passengers guess his secret. am i right, sir?”
“quite, mr. bolton. that warship, for instance, will arrive here in an hour or so. all that she can learn from those left aboard this ship is that the flying fish and the orleans boats have departed in such and such a direction—which, of course, will not be the one they will eventually take.”
“but won’t they wireless that news to the stamford just as soon as we leave the ship?” inquired the chief.
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“nobody,” replied the baron gently, “will use the wireless after we leave, for the simple reason that this ship’s wireless will not be in working order. now we will go on deck.”
he led the way up the staircase without speaking further. at the entrance to the companionway, they were met by one of the baron’s men.
“beg to report, sir, that all decks have been cleared. passengers and crew are locked in their cabins. the fires have been drawn and the wireless has been put out of commission.”
“good. we shall shove off at once.”
the officer preceded them toward the gangway where a squad of armed seamen were drawn up.
“by jove!” cried osceola. “what’s become of the flying fish? she’s disappeared. surely she can’t have submerged and carried the boats down with her.”
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“no such luck,” muttered bill sotto voce. “there she is, with her blooming boats in tow, off to the westward. she probably got underway about the time we went below. what’s the matter, osceola? you seem to be in the dumps.”
“well, i hate this work we’ve been doing, that’s all, bill. unless we can act pretty soon—do something to stop this robbing of innocent people, i’ll be so low, i’ll have to reach up to touch bottom!”
“gosh, i’m with you. i could hardly keep quiet when that interview with the conways took place. but tonight, we’ll talk. keep smiling now—here we are at the gangway. gee, we’re swiping the orleans launch! i wondered how we were going to get back to the amtonia.”
“these guys,” said osceola disgustedly, “snatch everything that’s loose. what’s nailed down they pull up and charge the owners for the nails!”
following the baron, who was conversing with an officer, they went down the steps of the gangway, and took seats in the waiting launch.
