Chapter Ten.
The act of “Certain very clever conspirators.”
When, on the following morning, the saloon party on board the Thetis mustered for breakfast beneath the awning which sheltered the top of the deck-house from the too-ardent rays of the sun, they found that their alfresco breakfast-room commanded an uninterrupted and most charming view of the whole of Havana harbour, with the picturesque old town stretching along the waterside on their port hand. It was at that moment a dead calm, for the sea breeze had not yet set in, and the mirrorlike surface of the water reflected a perfect picture of the various craft dotted about the harbour, and of the buildings ashore, already blazing in the dazzling light of the unclouded sun. The business of the day had hardly begun; the ferryboats to Regla were loaded with passengers; boats conveying meat, vegetables, fruit, and fish to the shipping were lazily rippling through the scum that coated the surface of the water; belated fishermen were sweeping their crazy-looking craft out to sea; and a thin column of brown smoke was rising vertically into the motionless air from the funnel of torpedo boat Number 19, which was evidently getting up steam in good time to go in search of the James B. Potter. But for the awning over their heads the party would also have seen that a thin, feathery film of smoke was curling upward from the cream-coloured funnel of their own craft; for although it had been decided not to go to sea until the afternoon, Jack had given instructions to have steam for ten o’clock, so as to be prepared for any emergency.
The party dawdled over breakfast, the ladies in particular finding so much pleasure in their unwonted surroundings that they could scarcely find time to eat because of the many novel incidents that were continually demanding their attention. Moreover, they were in the enviable condition of people who were in no hurry: their preparations were all complete; nothing remained to be done or to worry about; they were embarked upon a pleasure excursion, and part of the pleasure was to sit still and gaze upon the increasing animation of the charming picture that unfolded itself around them. When they were tired of gazing, a word was all that would be necessary to provide them with a change of scene; and meanwhile Jack was entertaining them all with a humorous account of the adventures of himself and Milsom during the small hours of the morning. Milsom, having already broken his fast, had taken the steam pinnace and gone ashore to the custom-house (which had once been a church) in order to procure his clearance papers. By the time that he had finished his business and come off again, breakfast was over, the stewards were clearing away the table and its equipage, and the movements of the torpedo boat’s crew were becoming interesting. A dense cloud of black smoke was by this time pouring from the craft’s funnel and driving over the town with the rapidly increasing sea breeze, and presently a small flicker of steam appeared at the top of her waste pipe, and a minute or two later it was seen that the craft was getting her anchor.
“Ah,” remarked Jack to Señorita Isolda, “the fun is just about to begin!”
And so it was. The anchor, thickly coated with foul, evil-smelling, black mud, rose slowly out of the water; and as the cleansing hose was turned upon it the officer on the bridge was seen to lay his hand upon the engine-room telegraph and push the handle a little way forward.
Don Hermoso, who, despite all Jack’s assurances, felt terribly anxious lest, after all, something should at the last moment go wrong, looked fearfully at the little craft’s stern, expecting every instant to see the foaming whirl of water there which would proclaim that the boat’s propeller was working; but, save for a very slight momentary disturbance of the scummy surface, there was no result, and presently a very excited individual was seen to emerge from the boat’s engine-room hatch and rush up on to the bridge, where he instantly plunged into a violently gesticulatory conversation with the other occupant of the structure. Then the pair left the bridge, hurried aft, and disappeared below. Meanwhile the boat was adrift, and presently, under the influence of the fast-freshening breeze, she drove athwart-hawse of a slashing American schooner, the stout bowsprit of which neatly brought the boat’s funnel down on deck, to the accompaniment of a storm of abuse and imprecations from the American skipper and mate. Then, swinging round and gathering sternway, the boat drifted clear, losing her mast also in the process, after which, somebody on board having recovered his presence of mind, her anchor was let go again, and she swung to the wind.
That this interesting little incident had not passed unnoticed was presently made manifest by the excited flourishings and gesticulations of the semaphore upon the bridge of the cruiser, to which the torpedo boat’s semaphore duly made reply. Then a boat was lowered from the latter craft, and two officers—presumably her commander and her chief engineer—jumped into her stern-sheets and were pulled toward the cruiser. Some ten minutes later the same boat pushed off again and returned to her parent craft, while the semaphore on board the cruiser once more awakened into frenzied activity, its message being this time addressed to the gunboat, as could be deduced from the answering nourishes of that vessel’s instrument. The conversation lasted for quite a considerable time; and long ere it was at an end dense clouds of black smoke were pouring out of the funnel of Jack’s old friend, the Tiburon.
Now, although all these happenings were being watched with the most absorbing interest from the top of the Thetis’s deck-house, it must not be supposed that the watching was conducted in an obtrusive or ostentatious manner; very far from it. The occupants of that “coign of vantage”, to whom Milsom was now added, were, so far as the ordinary observer was concerned, lounging indolently in their several basket chairs, reading, smoking, and chatting together, and apparently giving not a thought to anything that was happening outside the bulwarks of their own ship, save when, now and then, one of them would lift a pair of binoculars and bring them to bear upon some object ashore, ultimately sweeping the entire horizon with them, and pausing for a moment to watch this or that before laying them down again. Nobody, even if watching the party continuously, would, from their actions, have suspected them of taking the smallest interest in the doings of the Spanish Government vessels.
Yet there was not a movement on board either the cruiser or the gunboat—the torpedo boat was hors de combat and of no further interest to them—that was not being intensely watched by Milsom and Jack; and presently the latter turned to Carlos and enquired: