Captain Nelsen then, after informing Nat of the events leading up to his chartering his schooner to a party of "scientists en route to the Marquesas," proceeded to elucidate how he came to be in the dark hold at such a lucky moment for Nat. Doubtless, because they felt he was entirely at their mercy, the invaders of the schooner allowed him to roam around as he would. In this way it had come about that when the captain pleaded sleepiness he had been allowed to retire to his cabin in the stern of the schooner without arousing suspicion in the mind of Morello.
But Captain Nelsen's cabin possessed a feature which, had Morello been aware of it, would have resulted in the skipper's sleeping quarters being changed. This feature was nothing more or less than a trap-door in the floor. This trap-door had formerly led into a specie room; for at one time the "Nettie Nelsen" had plied in Alaskan waters and not infrequently valuable shipments of gold were made on board her.
The specie room had, however, been long disused, and a door fitted in it which led into the upper hold in which Nat was confined. Captain Nelsen therefore no sooner found himself alone in his cabin than he opened this trap-door, having first pulled up the strip of carpet which covered it. This done he lowered himself into the specie room and thence emerged into the hold.
In doing all this he had, as may be imagined, an object. That object was nothing more or less than a daring plan of escape that had formed itself in his brain. Had he not been skipper and owner of the "Nettie Nelsen" he would never have thought of such a plan, for it hinged upon a forgotten feature in the schooner's construction—namely, an unused port situated in the overhang of her stern, and just beneath the main cabin.
This port—an opening some three feet long by four wide, had been made when the "Nettie Nelsen," among her numerous other employments, had plied in the lumber trade. It formed a convenient place to thrust long boards or planks through direct from the dock alongside which she might be lying, thus saving the labor of loading her holds by derricks. When steamships drove the "Nettie Nelsen" and her fellow sailing vessels out of the coasting lumber trade, the port had been closed. Several coats of paint now lay over it on the outside, but inside it was still possible to remove it and leave a big opening by turning some screws.
The captain had been in the act of investigating the port when he had heard Nat's despairing cry, which had alarmed him almost as much as his exclamation had startled Nat.
"Idt vill be dark in a short time now," confided the captain, as he concluded; "ven it is quiet dark I come down again und open der port."
"And then what?" asked Nat, his heart pounding excitedly.
"Und den ve eider get avay oder ve gedt in der soup vorse dan ever," declared the captain.
"But how? We cannot drop through the port and into the sea," exclaimed Nat. "Have you got life belts or something?"