HAL AND HIS COMPANION ESCAPE FROM SANTIAGO.
"Hi there! Where are you going? Where are you steering to?" a voice cried from the quay; and then, as the launch sped on into the harbor basin, José d'Arousta was heard calling to the soldiers to open fire.
"Ah, treachery!" he shouted. "Something is wrong; for see, she is running away. I have it; those rascally spies are aboard. Let your men open fire at once, señor."
A single rifle cracked immediately, no doubt fired in order to give the alarm, and almost instantly the searchlight went through the same strange antics as before. Finally it settled on the harbor, and, sweeping slowly across it, lit full upon the launch. In a minute there was a roll of musketry, and a shower of bullets hurtled about her, some piercing her woodwork as if it had been merely paper, but none, fortunately, hitting Hal or Gerald, or any part of the machinery. A minute later they had run into the shadow cast by a long line of shipping, behind which the light failed to reach them. Hal at once thrust his head up through the opening, and then cut off steam.
"They'll expect us to pop out at the other end," he said quietly, "but we'll disappoint them by going about and cutting back by way of the quay. Ready? Then shove the wheel over. There's enough row going on all round to drown any we may make."
And this was the case, for the gyrations of the searchlight and the rattle of musketry had effectually awakened the shipping world. The crews of vessels lying in the harbor came tumbling up on deck, while many of the ships rang their bells, as though a general attack by the enemy in force were imminent. A few who had news of the runaways put off in their boats, and pulled into the open water, their hands shouting loudly for information as to the whereabouts of the escaping prisoners.
"Just keep these ships in line with the searchlight," said Hal, a few moments later, thrusting his head up again. "That will give us a dark patch in which to run, and will carry us almost as far as the exit. That's it. Steady so. I'm going to pile the coal till she's fit to burst."
He dived below again, and, seizing the shovel which had already proved so useful, threw the fuel into the open door of the furnace. By now the dial showed a greater head of steam, but he was not yet satisfied, and kept at the work, even going to the length of tossing an open can of oil into the flames.
As for Gerald, with eyes shifting from right to left, and returning ever and anon to the searchlight, he gripped the wheel and steered the launch in a dead line ahead. Once, a boat suddenly sprang out of the dense darkness directly in front, and he caught sight of the water flashing faintly at the tips of the oars. But he would not alter his course, and went rushing on, only missing the other craft by a foot or two, and leaving it behind in a trice, rocking so violently that it was a wonder that it did not fill and sink at once.
"Where are they? What is all this bother about?" someone cried.
Gerald did not trouble to answer. He kept grimly on till a flash of the broad beam overhead showed him that he was approaching the edge of the harbor. Then, hesitating how to act, he looked down at Hal as if to ask his advice, and saw him stripped to the waist, and standing in the glare of the furnace, into which he was throwing coal as if life itself depended on his exertions—as, indeed, it did.
Round spun the wheel, and the launch swayed to the left, rolling heavily as she did so.
"This is my job," murmured Gerald, unconsciously repeating the words Hal had used when giving him the post of steersman. "I'll see the show through. Now for the channel that leads to the sea."
"Will the searchlight fall upon it just as we enter? Yes—no—perhaps it will not. Ah! it must. It is all up with us!"
The thoughts flashed through his mind, one moment high hope surging through his heart, and the next some movement of the electric beam shattering all thoughts of escape. The light fluttered onto the thin band of water leading out between the steep cliffs to the sea, to safety and friends, and then whisked back to the harbor, flying across every foot of its surface that it was possible to reach, and searching every nook and corner.
Round spun the wheel again.
"In the channel, and now bang straight ahead," murmured Gerald. "If the Dons who man the castle batteries do not spot us we shall be lucky. But how can they fail, when flames like that are pouring from the funnel? They're bound to let fly at us."
He cast an upward glance at the smoke-stack, and longed to be able to smother the flaring streak which poured from it into the night, lighting up the surroundings like a torch. Luck, however, seemed to have followed the runaways, for if anyone noticed them, he made no sign, not thinking that this tiny vessel, rushing so boldly out to sea, could contain any but friends. Perhaps, even, he may have thought it was the officer who had been told off to conduct the search; though then it was strange that he should feed his fires till the funnel was on the point of melting, while the escape steam whistled through the valve with a deafening noise.
Fortunate indeed was it for the fugitives that another part attracted the attention of the Spaniards. From Morro Castle, and from all the defenses, the eyes of the garrison were fixed upon the searchlight. Breathless with excitement, and too occupied to utter as much as a sound, they followed the revolving beam, till at last it fell full upon a launch steaming across the harbor. No doubt it contained José d'Arousta and his men; but the watchers were ignorant of that, and set up a shout of exultation that awoke the echoes. They rushed to their guns and rifles, and would have opened fire had not the workers of the light known more than they, and flashed it elsewhere in search of the escaping prisoners. And all the while Hal and Gerald were speeding, with their most eager efforts, along the narrow track that led to the sea.
"Another half-mile and we shall be away," screamed the latter, looking down at his friend. But the escaping steam smothered his voice, and only the click and scrape of the busy shovel answered him.
Bang! A huge column of water blew up into the night some hundred paces behind, sending a heavy swell rolling along, which caught the launch and caused it to bob sharply.
"A mine!" shouted Hal, who had heard the roar. "I should say that it is about their last. Keep her over to one side, for those infernal machines are usually laid in the center, so as to catch the large ships. A miss is as good as a mile, old boy!"
"We're out now," shouted Gerald, taking a hasty look round, and noticing that the reflection of the flames upon the wet rock on either side had just vanished. "Now where away?"
"Bang straight for the deep blue sea, old chap, and the farther out the better. If we could put a hundred miles between us and the Dons within the next few minutes I should feel all the happier."
To steer directly out was, indeed, the best course they could follow, and neither of the lads relaxed his energies till the tiny launch had plowed a way ten miles out to sea. All was in their favor, for the night, though intensely dark, was beautifully calm, and the surface of the water undisturbed by even a ripple. An hour later, when they had obtained a good offing, Hal left the door of the furnace wide open, and stopped the engines.
"I'm peckish again," he said, climbing to the deck, and wiping the perspiration from his forehead with a piece of oily waste. "Skip along, old man, and see whether you can manage to find some grub and something to drink."
Gerald at once left the wheel, and going to the forward part of the launch, descended into the cabin. He had little difficulty in discerning his surroundings, for by this time the sky had lightened considerably, and dawn was close at hand. But he was unsuccessful, and returned with a very long face.
"Not a crust to be seen," he said dismally. "I say, Hal, what shall we do if there is no food aboard, for we shall starve if we do not fall in with a ship pretty soon?"
"Then that is just exactly what we must do," cried Hal cheerfully, "and we'll have to be precious careful that she is not a Spaniard. Yes, it's rough having nothing to eat, but we must not grumble. Just think of what we have escaped. We have left prison and that fellow José d'Arousta behind, and are safe for the present. I'd rather starve for a week than take my place before a file of soldiers at this hour of the morning."
He shuddered when he thought of what a narrow escape they had had, and what fate would have been theirs, had they still occupied their cell in the Morro Castle.
Then away flew his thoughts to the hacienda. Why? Did they dwell for the space of more than a moment upon Mr. Brindle and any of the hands he knew? No, certainly not! Hal would have flushed very red had you suddenly asked him the question; for, in truth, he was thinking of someone else—of Dora, picturing her as he had seen her many a morning, standing at the top of the steps leading from the veranda, a vision of loveliness in white, with a welcoming smile that showed two rows of dainty pearls, and a glance from a pair of dancing blue eyes that always made him feel happy. That was how he had seen her every morning as he rode in from his work, and those were the happy thoughts which invariably filled his mind during the morning meal.
But the scene suddenly changed, José d'Arousta and the rascally Pedro appearing in his mind's eye in place of his employer's daughter, and they were again threatening the hacienda. At the thought, Hal sprang to his feet, his hands clenched, and a look of excitement spreading over his handsome face.
"Yes," he cried, "it is good indeed to live; for I have work to do. I have escaped from the island, but I must return again at the very first opportunity."
"Why should you? It would be madness!" exclaimed his comrade.
"Why, Gerald? Think of the hacienda, and of José d'Arousta's threat. That is my reason, for real danger threatens your father and Dora."
"Phew! I hadn't thought of that," Gerald answered, and then suddenly lapsed into silence, while a queer and sly little smile stole over his face.
"Oh, it's like that, is it?" he murmured a moment later. "But, I say, what about falling in with a ship? What do you propose?"
"As there is no food on board, and we are both famishing, I vote we turn the steam on again, and get as far away from the island as we possibly can. The chances are that it is blockaded by the American fleet, and, as Santiago is a most important harbor, some of the vessels are bound to be down this way. Naturally they would steam up and down within sight of the coast, running in closer at night. We must keep a bright look-out for them, and must hope for their appearance soon. I fancy that we are safe from the Spanish torpedo boats, for they would scarcely dare to run out so far."
"What's that over there, then?" asked Gerald, suddenly pointing to the west.
A big black cloud was floating on the horizon, and Hal looked at it long and earnestly.
"I believe it's the smoke of a fleet," he said at length. "If it is, I am for chancing the Spaniards, and running down towards that cloud."
Gerald hastily agreed, whereupon Hal dived below again, and having seen to the lubricating of his engine, opened the throttle-valve. Every minute as they ran to the west the cloud became more certainly one of smoke, and within an hour they had made out that six large battleships were bearing down upon them at an easy pace. Then a breeze got up and blew the smoke away, the masts and funnels of the on-coming fleet becoming at once visible, sharply silhouetted against the clear morning sky.
"They're wagging their signals," said Hal, poking his head up above the deck, and taking a long look. "No doubt they have spotted us, and will send at once to find out who we are."
He had scarcely finished speaking, when a long, low hull shot out from behind one of the bigger ships, and came steaming at a great pace towards them.
"A torpedo boat," said Hal. "We'll lie to, and wait for her."
Turning off the steam, he mounted to the deck, and sat down by Gerald's side. A quarter of an hour later the torpedo boat was close at hand, and, surging up beside the launch, rounded to, and circled completely about her, setting the tiny vessel dancing to the swell.
"Hooray! She's flying the Stars and Stripes," shouted Gerald, flinging his cap into the air. "We're safe at last, old boy, and there is a good square meal in sight."
"Aboard there! Who are you?" came the hail across the water. "Where on earth do you come from? and what port are you bound for?"
"We're from Santiago. We left there this morning," Hal shouted back, making a funnel of his hands.
The boat, with its murderous-looking quick-firers, ranged up alongside, and a sailor flung a rope to them.
"Hang on there, and make her fast," shouted an officer standing on a diminutive bridge. "We'll tow you home. You're a prize to the navy of the United States of America."
"Prize indeed!" Hal exclaimed. Then he laughed loudly. "We'll let it rest like that till we get alongside the flagship," he said to Gerald. "Then I fancy there will be some fun, and we shall score off our friend aboard the torpedo boat."
By this time the fleet of warships was only a mile distant, and it took very little time for the powerful destroyer to reach them with the launch in tow. Then, once more, the semaphore wagged confusingly.
"Cast off that rope, and smartly with it," shouted the officer who had hailed Hal before. "Now then, we'll take every one of you aboard to see the admiral. Prize party, make ready to hop on to her, and just knock the fight out of any that are playin' games."
He backed his vessel alongside again, and the launch was rapidly lashed in position, a few fenders being placed between to protect the brittle plates of the torpedo craft.
"Now, who are you anyway?" asked the officer brusquely, boarding the launch with a party of sailors. "One of you looks so black that he might pass for a nigger; and the other,—why,—what's this? It's a boy, a perfect child, and astoundingly like the lads who are to be found right over in the States. Say, who, in the name of all that's curious, are you, youngster?"
"Not your prisoner, at any rate," answered Gerald, with a laugh. "We're Americans. At least, I am; and my friend is a Britisher."
"Britisher! American! That is hard to believe. And what is all this about?" He looked at the decks of the launch, and then at the empty engine-room. "Two lads of our own blood aboard a Spanish craft, and not another soul with them! It is particularly queer!"
"It is, we admit," Hal answered, with a smile; "but you must understand that we had no choice, for we were captured in the town of Santiago in suspicious circumstances, and were thus placed in a cell in Morro Castle, with the cheerful prospect of being shot as spies early this morning. We bolted, and as this launch was lying idle beside one of the wharfs, we just borrowed her, and steamed out to sea. So I fancy that she really belongs to us."
"Borrowed her! I should fancy that was a piece of amizin' cheek," the officer laughed. "And you young fellows got through without so much as a shell whistling loudly in your ears?"
"Not quite. By the merest chance we escaped a mine, which was exploded behind us; and I fancy you will find a few bullet-holes if you care to look round," Hal answered coolly. "But there's one thing very wrong. We're awfully hungry. Have you anything like a meal aboard?"
The officer clapped him on the back. "Come along out of this tub at once," he said. "It's Spanish, and isn't fit for gentlemen. Grub? George, sir! but I've something below in my cabin that will fairly make your mouths water. Leave her there, bo'sun, and signal over to the skipper that all's well, and that the prisoners are busy putting their teeth into the best food we've got, for they are simply famishing."