But the new skipper of the schooner made no reply.
"On deck, there! Open the slide!" continued the successor of Angy, as he seemed to be.
Dory was entirely willing that he should use his voice to any extent he pleased, and he gave his whole attention to the steering of the vessel. Then some of the others began to yell, and it was evident that the fumes of the beer were producing some effect upon them.
The members of the Nautifelers Club then resorted to feats of strength. They pulled and jerked and wrenched at the slide and the doors. They kicked, thumped, and banged; but the slide and the doors resisted all their efforts,--mainly, perhaps, because they could not get at them so as to apply all their strength. Whatever the reason they failed to force a passage to the deck at this point, they abandoned the attempt after a short time.
Dory could hear them talking together, though he could not distinguish what they said. Of course, they were discussing the situation, and they would soon attempt to get out by the hatchway. The skipper did not expect the fastening of the door between the cabin and the hold would hold out a great while; for, if it did not readily give way, they would break down the door.
The noise in that direction assured Dory that they were already engaged in this work of demolition. A few minutes later the machinist informed him that the prisoners were in the hold. In the steerage they had an opportunity to obtain a better idea of the situation when they found Sang and Wick made fast to the stanchions which supported the berths. They could not fail to deduce from what they found there, the fact that Dory and his associate had taken possession of the vessel. By this time they could not help realizing that they were prisoners themselves. It would have been easy for them to jump, from all these appearances, to the conclusion that their leader had come to grief, and had been put in some secure place. Whether they followed out this course of reasoning, or not, Dory had no means of knowing.
"On deck, there!" shouted Mack, under the hatch.
"Don't answer them," called Dory, in a tone only loud enough for the machinist to hear him.
The call from below was several times repeated, with the same result. The ends of the boards the machinist had put over the opening, rested on the combings of the hatch; but they were not matched so that there were no cracks between them. In some places, there were apertures of an inch or more in width. The sentinel over this possible egress could hear all that was said by the prisoners. Sang and Wick had been released, and he heard them give all the information in their possession to their associates; but they could not tell what had become of the chief of the club.
"They are getting ready for operations," said Mr. Jepson, after some time.