He came slowly up to me, moving like a thing on wheels drawn by a cord, and when he was close, he spoke.
I can never recall his voice without an almost physical state of fear. Suppose that you could go with Dante to that gate over which is written, "Abandon hope all ye who enter here." And suppose, as you stood there and listened, you heard a well-known voice far down, saying, "I am tormented in this flame...."
Well, Danjuro's voice was like that.
"During a lull in the storm," he said, as if repeating a lesson, "I went up on the deck of the May Flower for a breath of air. Mr. Van Adams accompanied me. We were looking over the water to the Pirate Ship, when I saw lights flashing up and down through the portholes of the fuselage. It struck me as strange. We wondered what the two men in charge could be doing. As we watched, we were just able to distinguish two men coming up on deck. Then there came a vivid flash of lightning, and I saw everything plainly. The two men were Vargus and Gascoigne, and they were carrying the body of a man in uniform, which they lowered into the water."
Inspector Johnson gave a quick gasp. Danjuro continued:
"Without a moment's delay I got a couple of pistols, and Mr. Van Adams and I jumped into the electric launch, which was moored alongside the May Flower, though on the other side to that which faced the Pirate. There was no time to summon help. We shot out into the pool just as the storm began again with thunder-claps and a deluge of water. We were within a few yards of the ship and making ready to board her, when Mr. Van Adams flashed a powerful electric torch, and I saw Vargus with a knife in his hand hacking at the mooring ropes. At the same time I noticed that the lights in the pilot's cabin had been turned on.
"I took a snap-shot at Vargus and missed him. Almost simultaneously he fired directly at the light of the torch which Mr. Van Adams held. The bullet went through Mr. Van Adams' heart, and he fell back dead in my arms—I was steering the launch. I fired off all the cartridges in my pistol, but the thunder drowned the noise. The Pirate Ship began to move. I saw the lights in her side moving along—and then she lifted and disappeared."
The awful voice ceased, and all of us in that room stood like waxen figures in a show.
* * * * * *