Warren Bain was stretched out on the cabin floor, unconscious. Tom was glaring angrily at the man whom he had knocked down. “He’ll come back, all right. Gimme some blanket strips to tie him fast.”
Charlie scurried to the berth and with his knife ripped one of the blankets into strips and with these Tom began to tie Bain’s arms and legs.
Ann had no time to think; things were happening too fast.
First Tom tied Bain’s ankles together, then used another strip for his wrists, and then tied the two together using a peculiar slip knot that seemed to tie the tighter the more it was strained.
“Now you”—and Tom swung about toward Charlie with a suddenness that so startled Ann that she nearly fell off the ladder—“you rout out them blankets and tear the berth to bits and I’ll take care of the floor. There’s a secret hiding hole in here somewheres and the money is in it.”
Charlie obediently threw the remaining blankets and the mattress and pillow into a pile outside the cabin door and began to wrench and tear at the boards. But apparently he was not convinced of the value of what he was doing. “What makes you so sure the cash is down here?” he snapped.
“Captain Jim had it on him when the men started rioting, up forward,” Tom answered. “He came down here to the cabin to hide it, I reckon. Why else did he come down? And after he was on deck again he went no place but overboard.”
“And he put three good men there, before him,” commented Charlie dryly. He seemed to have a wholesome respect and fear of the captain, even now.
“Any one of ’em was a better man than three of you!” Tom growled. He had taken a short iron from his pocket and now began to pry up big pieces of floor boards.
Jo touched Ann’s shoulder to call her attention to Warren Bain. He was stretched just within the circle of light cast by Tom’s torch and Ann saw at once that he had regained consciousness. Not only that, but as she looked down into his open eyes he stared straight up into hers. He smiled slightly, but instantly his face became expressionless as Tom turned in his work.