"DEAR FATHER,—This is a request to pay up. Broadmayne and I were rescued from the Ibex, which was burnt at sea. There's no need to worry. We're given every attention and are comfortable. But the captain of the ship we're on is going to detain us till our expenses are paid. This, he states, is One thousand pounds. Sounds a preposterous sum, doesn't it? However, that is the extent of his demand, so I hope you'll settle and let us have our freedom. We're in for a rough time otherwise. The money is to be in five and ten pound notes, payable to the person named below.—Your affectionate Son,
"ROLLO VYSE."
"Is that your usual signature?" asked Captain Cain.
"Certainly."
"Very good," continued the pirate, folding the sheet, putting it in an envelope and placing it carefully between the leaves of a blotter. "I'll see that it's forwarded to its proper destination. You may go."
Vyse went. In the alleyway he gave a grim chuckle. His letter had been carefully composed. Several of the words were underlined. To a casual observer the lines would appear to be the lavish crossing of the letter "t" in the line below. Captain Cain had not spotted it. The underlined words read: "Pay no attention to this preposterous demand." Rollo had no doubt that when his father received the letter, his shrewdness would quickly enable him to read the camouflaged message.
He found Broadmayne pacing the poop. For the present, none of the crew were aft. The Alerte had resumed the features she possessed when she left Falmouth. No outside observer would have recognised her as the vessel that had stopped the Cap Hoorn earlier in the day.
"Gerald, old thing!" exclaimed Rollo, after a brief exchange of their experiences, "we've got to get clear of this craft. If we don't, before very long we stand a hundred to one chance of being sent to Davy Jones's locker. The skipper gave me the impression that he's a hard case. I believe he'd sink her with all hands rather than surrender."
"From what I know of him, he is a hard case," agreed the Sub. "But the question is, how can we part company with this vessel? I'd attempt it like a shot if there were a ghost of a chance. The hands seem to be up to their job. They'll keep a keen eye on us, I fancy. Our only hope, I think, is to enlist the sympathies of some of the men. We'll have to sound them carefully. No doubt we'll find that one or two are fed-up already, and would do almost anything to save their precious necks."
"You mean to say we might be able to bribe them?"
"Hardly," replied Broadmayne. "They seem to be coining money on this game. I believe there's a share-out coming off very soon. No, it won't be the lure of financial reward. We'll have to play on their feelings a bit."