“All right,” said Archie. “I don’t see any reason that you should get on a high horse simply because I went down to call the captain. Do you want me to tell you when I want to wink or sneeze? Any man with half an eye can see that the breeze is freshening. Hallo! What’s that over there? Looks like something.”
While this conversation was going on, Frank had thrown back one corner of the tarpaulin so that the light from the cabin lamps could shine through the skylights. He had a dangerous piece of work to perform, and he did not want to operate in the dark. As Bob turned to look at the object which Archie pretended he had discovered off the weather beam, Frank stepped quickly around the corner of the skylights and laid his hand upon his shoulder. The ticket-of-leave man faced about and saw the muzzle of a cocked revolver looking him squarely in the face. He saw more. He saw three figures come out from the shadow of the galley, and range themselves on both sides of him. They were the negro cook, and two of the sailors belonging to the crew of the Stranger. They all carried handspikes, and their presence there indicated that Archie had neglected no precautions to insure the complete success of his undertaking. How he had managed to lay his plans so well when almost every move he made was closely watched by his keeper, was a great mystery to his cousin.
The ticket-of-leave man shrank away from the muzzle of Frank’s revolver, and brought his head in contact with another six-shooter with which Archie had covered him on the opposite side. “Don’t shoot!” he gasped.
“We don’t intend to shoot, unless you make it necessary,” replied Frank. “We have things all our own way now, and if you will quietly submit, we will treat you as well as you have treated us with this exception: we can’t allow you your liberty. Brown, you and the Doctor take hold of his hands. Stevens, go through his pockets, and if you find any weapons there, throw them overboard. Bob will have no further use for them.”
“Where’s Waters?” demanded the ticket-of-leave man, who showed a disposition to resist when he saw Archie put up his revolver and draw a pair of handcuffs from his pocket.
“He’s in the cabin, and in irons, too.”
“I don’t believe it.”
“That doesn’t trouble us any, for we know he is. He sleeps like a log, as you are aware.”
Archie Recaptures the “Stranger.”