“Work quick, Tonio. No tellin’ when them fellers’ll git back. The boat’s right under the quarter.”
The steward’s reply was to gather several packages in his arms and hastily ascend to the deck.
Terry, meanwhile, had been doing what he called “some tall thinking.” He knew that something remarkably shady was in progress. He could not guess what was in the packages, but that it was something valuable he did not doubt. The treacherous steward and watchman were robbing the Calypso’s commander, or her owners.
Quick as a flash, when Antonio had disappeared, Terry darted out from behind the curtain and slammed down the trapdoor, shooting the strong bolt at once into place, thus securing the trap firmly. Big Bill was a prisoner.
The muffled sounds of the watchman’s voice could not reach the deck, but Terry reached it almost at a single bound. Antonio’s figure was faintly visible as he leaned over the rail, tugging at the painter of the small boat, which had become fouled. The packages had been laid on the deck while he was thus engaged.
Terry’s mind worked quickly, and the moment his feet touched the deck he saw his chance for overcoming the second river pirate. He lowered his head and charged across the deck like a bolt from a cannon.
His head caught Antonio just below the waistband, and, although the shock well-nigh dislocated his neck and sent him flat upon the deck, it also drove the light body of the astonished steward flying overboard, where he landed, frog fashion, in the dirty dock water.
He might have come back and easily overpowered the boy and released his companion, but Antonio didn’t know that. Never for an instant doubting that the gigantic Captain Carlton had returned unexpectedly and kicked[Pg 52] him overboard, the steward swam hastily to a neighboring pier and made good his escape.
Not so big Bill, however. Captain Carlton and his two officers found him, almost suffocated, in the secret compartment, while a greatly demoralized boy stood guard above with a boathook almost as heavy as himself.
When Bill had been pulled out of his prison and marched off under a guard of two blue-coated policemen to a much safer place of durance, Captain Carlton turned to young Terry.