CHAPTER XI: A FIENDISH PLOT.
Captain Briggs, in a sheepish sort of way, tried to make friends with Jack following the episode on the dock. But Jack had little use for the man and kept on with his own devices, paying little attention to Captain Briggs, except in the line of duty.
On the night before which they were to sail for America again, Jack had been uptown to post some cards and letters and did not return to the ship till about nine o’clock at night. As he made his way to his cabin, he was startled to see what he thought was a human figure gliding among the boats and life-rafts on the deck outside, for the wireless-room of the Cambodian, like most such structures, was perched upon the boat deck.
“Now, who could that be?� thought the boy. “Guess I’ll take a look around. These docks are infested with thieves, and although there’s a watchman on duty, somebody may have sneaked on board.�
But although he made what was quite a thorough search, he could find no trace of the man he thought he had seen dodging among the boats as if seeking a hiding place. He was forced to conclude at length that, in the uncertain light, he must have mistaken the swaying shadow of a rope or part of the rigging, for a human form.
“Well, I guess I’ll turn in,� decided Jack, as he opened his cabin door. “We sail early to-morrow and I’ll have to be on the job.�
He undressed slowly, thinking of many things, among them of Raynor and his fate.
“Somehow I cannot bring myself to believe that he is drowned,� reflected the boy. “I’m just as sure as I am that I am sitting here that he will turn up some day. And yet he should have been picked up by one of the ships I spoke with if he succeeded in keeping afloat. But maybe a sailing craft rescued him. In that case he might have to make a voyage to China before he could communicate with the outside world.�
A slight noise outside made the boy sit up erect and listen intently. He went to the door and looked out. There was nothing out of the ordinary there.
“I must be nervous to-night,� said Jack to himself, in tones of self-reproof. “What’s the matter with me? First I think I see a man and then I think I hear someone snooping about. Guess this climate doesn’t agree with me.�
But Jack was not, as he indignantly assured himself, the victim of nerves. There was a man outside his cabin. A man who was watching him eagerly through a port-hole opening into the wireless room. The man had a yellow, evil face and two glittering black eyes like a snake’s. In his ears hung two hoops of gold. It was Alvarez, the Spanish sailor.
He was there to witness the culmination of a plot he had formed that was to imperil Jack’s life.
While Jack was in the town, the man had sneaked on board with the agility of a monkey, swarming up one of the mooring lines, unnoticed. He had made his way at once to the wireless room. Once inside, from his pocket he had produced wires and pliers.
For half an hour or more he worked feverishly and with a skill in handling his tools that showed he was an expert mechanician. Indeed, the man had once been a skilled electrician, but a crime he had committed had forced him to flee his country and leave his employment and become a common sailor.
Every now and then, as he worked, he would stop and tip-toe to the door of the wireless room. He had no wish to be caught napping for he knew the power of Jack’s fist and the heavy penalty that would be visited upon him were he caught in the fiendish work upon which he was engaged.
Tirelessly he connected wires to terminals and finally he produced from his pocket an oblong black object formed, apparently, of metal. He connected wires to this and then, with a diabolical grin, planted it beneath the wireless table. He had completed his work just in time to dart from the cabin as Jack’s quick, firm step was heard ascending the companion ladder. So that the young wireless lad was not the victim of an illusion when he thought he saw a human figure.
Alvarez slipped in under a canvas boat cover while Jack was making a search. In his place of concealment he chuckled evilly to himself:
“Caramba! What a revenge is mine on this dog of a Yankee boy! Did he think that he could insult and beat a Spaniard without suffering? Todos los Santos, no! A few moments now and my revenge will be complete.�
When Jack reéntered the cabin, the Spaniard had crawled from under the boat cover and taken up a place of vantage at a porthole where he could see into the cabin and watch Jack’s every movement.
“Will he never go near the wireless key!� he exclaimed impatiently to himself as Jack, half-a-dozen times, appeared to be on the point of retiring. The young wireless operator felt strangely restless and disinclined to sleep. At last the wireless apparatus caught his eye.
“Guess I’ll see if everything is in shape,� he murmured to himself. “I won’t have much time to effect repairs after we sail to-morrow.�
Alvarez’s eyes glowed like live coals and his yellow fingers clinched as he watched the lad approach the key.
He was like an evil serpent watching some victim nearing its fangs.
Jack pressed down the key.
There was a deafening explosion.
Amidst a glare of red flame and lurid smoke, the young operator staggered backward and fell unconscious on the floor of the cabin. In his forehead was a jagged gash from which the blood streamed over his white, lifeless face.