“this is not precisely the costume in which i should have preferred to present myself to you, madame,” continued the detective, with a smile. “bathing-suits were necessary, under the circumstances, inasmuch as we were obliged to swim out to the shadow in order to get aboard of her at all. and, in order to relieve your mind, i will tell you how we did it: we came aboard at the moment when your husband—or his brother, for, like yourself, i have no idea which one of the counts of cadillac the gentleman who has just left you happens to be—followed by his men, boarded the aurora. after that we hid beneath the table in the adjoining cabin while you went forward. when you did that, we came in here; and you know the rest.
“now, madame, i dislike exceedingly to inconvenience you, but i must ask you to point out to me which is your own stateroom, and you must go into it, and remain there until the remainder of our work is done. that work, as you no doubt guess, is to capture the captain and crew of this vessel.
“i know that you are not a pirate in your sympathies any more than you are in fact, and i can assure you that you have nothing to dread personally. i overheard your conversation with captain sparkle just now.
[99]
“you cannot answer me, so i will continue as though you had done so.
“we do not wish to be disturbed in the work we have to do, and you must not be permitted to give an alarm. now, there are two ways to prevent you from doing so; one is to force that towel inside your jaws, and so to gag you so that you cannot cry out; but that would be an indignity which i dislike to commit. the other is to accept your word that you will not attempt to cry out, or in any way to communicate an alarm to any person on this vessel while you are inside that room. i am sure if you give your word you will keep it, for i have just heard you state that the honor of your own family is your greatest solicitude. chick, you may take away the towel. now, madame, will you make me the promise i require?”
“i will,” she replied at once, “if you will permit me to go to my room and to lock myself inside.”
“thank you. will you promise me that you will make no effort to leave that room until some other person releases you?”
“yes, monsieur.”
“very good. stand back, chick.”
the woman rose and turned away without a word. they watched her cross the cabin and enter her room, and then heard the click of the lock as she closed the door.
“i am sorry for that woman, carter,” said maxwell kane.
“so am i. she is the victim of circumstances, like[100] many another woman in the world, who meets with censure because of the faults of the man she loves. and now, since there is no doubt that we have sufficient time, for the vessel has not slowed down yet, and, therefore, the captain cannot return here for some time to come, i suggest that we make use of some of the wardrobe possessed by these gentlemen who own this craft, and get out of these wet bathing-suits. come.”
when the three emerged again from the passageway into the cabin there were broad smiles on the faces of maxwell kane and chick when they saw nick carter, and not without reason.
he had directed kane to enter the stateroom into which he had himself first dodged, at the beginning of this last scene, and had selected for his own uses the one which was directly opposite that in which the woman had locked herself.
he believed that to be the room belonging to captain sparkle, and in that he was not mistaken. a short search among the effects of the room discovered to him another complete suit of the favorite costume of the pirate chieftain, blond wig and all, and he lost no time in arraying himself in them. true, there was no mustache and imperial with which to adorn his features, but neither was there need of them, since the red mask was there.
and thus it happened that when he returned to the cabin, where kane and chick were already awaiting him, he looked exactly as captain sparkle had appeared at the time when he so silently boarded the deck of the goalong and looted the yacht.
[101]
“now, nick,” said kane impatiently, “what next?”
“wait,” replied the detective.
“confound it! that is your inevitable reply, carter, whenever i ask a question.”
“well, it is usually the correct one. if captain sparkle returns to this cabin before he docks or anchors the shadow, we will capture him at once, but i don’t think he will do that. hark! the vessel is slowing down already. she has stopped. there! do you feel that tremble through her? she is backing. and now the propeller has stopped. good! there is a slight jar, probably made by the hull coming in contact with piling, or something like it. and there is the scraping noise she makes while she glides along against it. we have arrived, my friends. in a very few moments captain sparkle will be here.”
“good!” said kane. “i, for one, am becoming impatient.”
“oblige me, both of you, by stepping into the passage, behind the portière, and you will not have to wait much longer.”
they did as requested, and nick at once dropped into the chair which the captain of the pirate cruiser had so lately occupied.
and he did not have long to wait.
ten minutes passed, and then the detective heard the sound of approaching steps along the deck of the outer cabin, and a moment later the door was thrown ajar, and captain sparkle stepped into the compartment and closed it behind him.
[102]
he did not perceive nick until he was well inside the room, and then, for an instant, he stood rooted to the spot where he was, as if his powers of motion had suddenly become paralyzed by what he saw before him. but the detective did not move.
he had raised his revolver when the pirate passed through the door, and the first intimation that sparkle had of his presence was when he discovered an image of himself, seated in his own chair, and found that he was covered by a revolver in the grasp of that image.
“what sort of fool’s play is this, hortense?” he demanded, then. and at the same instant he took a step nearer.
it was at once plain that he supposed that the woman, during his short absence, had attempted this masquerade, but he was quickly undeceived.
“i am not hortense,” replied nick calmly. “neither am i captain sparkle, although i do not doubt that i resemble him. stand back, mister pirate, if you value your life! you are my prisoner! chick!” he added. “kane! come here!”
if sparkle had for an instant thought of throwing himself upon this daring intruder, he controlled himself. the sudden appearance of two other men upon the scene convinced him that this was no time for resistance, and he shrugged his shoulders with the utmost nonchalance, apparently, while chick glided between him and the door through which he had entered, and kane backed off to the opposite side of the cabin, and also covered him with a revolver.
[103]
“which of the two counts of cadillac are you—jules, or jean?” asked nick, still retaining his seat in the chair, but removing the mask from his face and holding it in his disengaged hand.
the pirate smiled cynically. he wore no mask, nor was there a sign of a frown upon his handsome face.
“really, monsieur,” he replied, “we are so much alike that we frequently have difficulty in determining the answer to that question ourselves. you do not believe it? no? it is quite true, i assure you. you see, i am jean as often as i am jules, and jules as often as i am jean. what will you have, eh? i am both. i am neither.”
“at all events you are captain sparkle, the pirate.”
“ah, monsieur! am i, indeed? i might say the same of you.”
“how many men have you aboard this craft?”
“since an hour ago, monsieur, i have not counted them. i really do not remember.”
chick was standing behind the pirate, and now nick carter gave him a signal which the assistant perfectly understood. he suddenly stepped forward and seized captain sparkle’s arms, drawing them closely together behind his body, and while he held them there the detective rose from his chair and tossed a coil of small rope toward kane.
“i found it in the stateroom,” he said. “hold him, kane, while chick binds him with it.”
they bound his arms tightly together behind his back. next they seated him in one of the chairs, and tied him there so securely that it was impossible for him to move,[104] and then they drew back and regarded their work with satisfaction. nick left his chair now, and stood in front of the pirate; and the latter, still with the utmost calmness, asked:
“might i be permitted to inquire what disposition you have made of madame cadillac?”
“she is locked in her stateroom,” replied nick. “she has not been harmed.”
for a moment after that the pirate was silent, and then, with the first show of sincerity he had manifested since the beginning of the interview, he said:
“monsieur, i do not know who or what you are, but i suspect that you are in some manner connected with the police. if that is true, i wish to assure you that, no matter how guilty you may find me to be concerning certain events which have happened in this locality, she, madame cadillac, is entirely innocent.”
“i quite believe you,” replied nick.
“thank you, monsieur.”
“and now, will you add to that statement some further information that i desire?” asked the detective.
“no. i will tell you nothing. you seem to be quite competent to manage your own affairs. i do not even ask you how you got here, although i am extremely curious to know; but i suspect that you must have swum aboard while the shadow was——”
“lying across the bows of the aurora. exactly. you have guessed it.”
“it was a daring thing to do, monsieur; and there is still a more daring one ahead of you, for while i have[105] been seated here i have been able to press with my foot an electric button which communicates with an alarm at the forward part of the vessel. its constant ringing has brought my men to me on the run. they are at the door. they are here! in a moment i will be free, and you will be prisoners! ah!”
