“Muster the crew, Archie, and divide them into two watches,” said Frank. “Send the port watch below, and then go below yourself and try to get a wink of sleep. Our force is so small that we’ll have to stand watch and watch; and as there are only three men able to manage the wheel, you and I will have to take a hand at it now and then. Do you think you can do it?”
Archie was quite sure he could. He was in new business now, but the way he went about the execution of his cousin’s command showed that he had kept his eyes and ears open. He ordered the foremast hands around like any old mate, and they obeyed as promptly and silently as though they had all been trained sailors. The men belonging to the Stranger’s crew hung their heads, and would not look at him, and Archie, on his part, acted as though he did not recognize them.
“Couldn’t you make her go a little faster, captain?” asked Waters, who kept close at Frank’s side all the while. “We’re working for liberty, you know, and we don’t want to waste no time.”
“You’ll go faster presently,” answered Frank. “The breeze is freshening, and she’s got as much on now as she can stand. You must remember that we have only three men to work the topsails, and I don’t want to run any risks. If you will let me manage matters my own way I will get you along just as fast as I can.”
Waters seemed satisfied with this assurance, and never again offered advice. He kept Frank company during his watch, and although the latter at first would have been very glad to be rid of his presence, he finally became interested in his conversation, and after a little urging induced him to tell how it was that he had been able to escape from the island four different times, and who had first put it into his head to seize the Stranger. The sequel proved that Uncle Dick had not been mistaken when he hinted that gold would control the police. Waters and all his companions who were then on board the Stranger had been tried and transported for the same offence. One of them—the convict who was keeping guard over Archie when Frank awoke, and whom he had heard addressed as Bob—was a ticket-of-leave man, who had made considerable money by hauling goods from Melbourne to the Bendigo mines. Instead of taking care of himself he stood by his friends, and it was his gold that had so often released Waters from the chain-gang, and started him on his way to England and America. It was his gold, too, that had made a friend of the consul’s clerk. The latter knew all about the vessels that were preparing to sail, and when the convicts were ready to make an attempt at escape he would select a ship for them, and assist them in getting on board. Three times Waters and his friends had gone aboard as gentlemen, paid their passage, and messed in the cabin; but twice they had been overtaken and carried back by a war vessel, and once the captain of their ship found out, by some means, who they were; secured them all by stratagem and carried them back where they came from. Their last attempt was made on the Sea Gull. Assisted by Fowler, they shipped on board of her before the mast, and would in all probability have succeeded in reaching their destination, had it not been for the gale which wrecked their vessel, and threw Waters and his three friends into the company of the Stranger’s crew.
It was Waters himself who first conceived the idea of seizing the schooner. He found opportunity to talk to Fowler about it, and the latter was the one who made all the arrangements. Visiting the schooner every day while she was in the dry-docks, he selected three of the sailors whom he thought he could induce to lend their assistance, and the result proved that he had not been mistaken in his men. Every one of them had seen the inside of the strong box, for Walter always called the crew into the cabin when he paid them any money, and they declared that it was full to the brim with English gold pieces.
Up to this time Fowler and Bob, the ticket-of-leave man, had no intention of joining the convicts in their attempt to leave the island. The consul’s clerk held an honorable position which he was in no hurry to throw up, while Bob was coining money at his vocation, and was satisfied to remain where he was, for the present at least. His pardon was only a conditional one, and if detected in an attempt at escape, he would be deprived of his liberty and sent back to the penal settlement again. He did not want to go there; but when he learned through Fowler that there was an opportunity for him to make a fortune without work, he determined to assist the others in seizing the Stranger and take all the chances.
By questioning Frank, the consul’s clerk found out just what Uncle Dick intended to do as soon as the repairs on his vessel were completed, and this information was in due time conveyed to Waters. Preparations were made accordingly; and on the night of the second day after the Stranger entered the river and came to anchor near Mr. Wilbur’s house, Waters and his companions quietly unlocked their irons and betook themselves to the bush. Fowler was already on the ground. He stuck to Frank until he drove him on board the schooner and into his bunk, and then he set to work to clear the way for the convicts, so that they would have little or no trouble in boarding the vessel. He mingled freely with the sailors who were ashore, and by giving them a glowing description of a wonderful horse-race that was to come off that afternoon at a station a few miles distant, he induced them to apply to Mr. Baldwin for liberty until twelve o’clock that night, which was granted. Fowler exerted himself to supply the blue jackets with all the horses they needed, and having seen them fairly started on their wild-goose chase, he turned his attention to the first mate, whom he tried to induce to remain ashore all night. But in this he failed. The officer knew that his place was on board his vessel, and on board his vessel he went as soon as it began to grow dark.
About nine o’clock that evening Waters and his companions arrived, and concealed themselves among the bushes on the bank opposite the spot where the schooner lay at anchor. Fowler visited them shortly afterward to tell them how their plans were working. After listening to his report the ticket-of-leave man stole off into the woods to carry out a particular part of the programme that had been assigned to him, while the other four entered the water and swam silently off to the vessel, which they boarded without opposition. The two mates, and the few foremast hands who remained on board, were quickly mustered on deck and held passive by loaded revolvers, which two of the convicts kept pointed at their heads, while Waters and another proceeded to tie them hand and foot. This being done, they were each gagged to prevent them from raising an alarm, and then one of the boats was lowered, and the helpless men were taken ashore and laid in the bushes. All this work was performed so silently that Frank was not awakened. The convicts saw him asleep in his bunk, and to make sure of finding him there when they wanted him, they quietly locked the door, and fastened him in.
Having concealed their prisoners among the bushes, the convicts returned on board the schooner, and, assisted by the three sailors, proceeded to get her under way. They slipped the anchor, turned her around with the help of the cutter, and when she was fairly under the influence of the current, one of the convicts returned to the shore in the boat to await the appearance of Fowler and the ticket-of-leave man, who had been intrusted with the work of seizing Walter Gaylord. Fortunately for Walter, there was a slight hitch in the proceedings right here, and the wrong man was taken.