Frank made no reply, and could offer no resistance, as the two mates dragged him out of the cabin along a narrow passageway that led to the hold. They stowed him away among the oil casks and left him to his meditations. This was the way Frank saw the consul at the port of Honolulu.
Having disposed of Frank, the officers made their way back to the cabin, and one of them mounting the companion ladder, called out: "Mr. Gale, tell Lucas that Nelson has got his money, and ask him to come down and get his!"
Lucas came, wondering what arguments the mates had brought to bear upon Frank to work so great a change in his feelings all at once, and when he reached the foot of the ladder he found out what they were—a revolver and a pair of handcuffs. The former held him passive while the irons were slipped on, and then he also was carried to the hold and stowed away, but at such a distance from Frank that the two could hold no conversation. Barton was served in the same manner, and the officers having secured the men of whom they stood the most in fear, breathed freely once more, and told each other that they were still masters of the Tycoon.
The prisoners were kept in the hold almost twelve hours—long enough for the captain to bring his crew of natives on board and get his vessel well out to sea. Then they were released and ordered on deck. Frank was disposed to make the best of his disappointment, knowing that he could not help himself, but Lucas was inclined to smash things. He hunted up his friends as soon as he could—those who had promised to stand by him and Frank through thick and thin—and laid down the law to them in stronger language than we care to quote. "Why, what's the matter?" asked the sailors, as soon as their angry mate gave them a chance to speak. "Where have you been so long?"
"That's what's the matter," replied Lucas, showing his wrists.
"That's where I've been so long," he added, tapping the marks the irons had left. "Sailed the blue water, man and boy for thirty-five years, I have, and never had the darbies on me before. Me and Cap'n Nelson's both been there, and Barton too; and here you chaps stood around like so many bumps on a log, and never lifted a hand to help us!"
"What could we have done, even if we had known that you were in trouble, while the mates were walking around with their pistols strapped to their waists and holding us tight to our work?" asked one of the sailors.
Lucas opened his eyes at this. Did the mates know of the plans that had so often been discussed in the forecastle? It looked like it.
"Somebody's been talking while Calamity was about," said the boatswain's-mate. "Never mind; we've missed one chance, but we'll have better luck next time. The ship's going to Japan, and she'll have another man on her quarter-deck when she comes back."