Before Broadmayne could reply—it was quite safe to maintain a cautious conversation, since the uproar on deck would deaden every sound below—a minute shaft of yellow light played upon the Sub's hand. He knew what that meant. The coco-matting had been removed, thus allowing the lamplight to enter the thumbhole in the covering to their place of concealment.
The next instant the trap hatch was thrown wide open. Standing close to the opening was Captain Cain, a revolver in his hand and a sardonic grin on his face. Behind him were four of the Alerte's crew. Silas Porthoustoc, chuckling audibly, was stationed in the narrow doorway, while over his shoulders appeared the grinning faces of Pengelly and Barnard the boatswain.
"Out of the frying-pan, eh?" exclaimed Captain Cain mockingly. "You two have vastly underestimated the intelligence of the Alerte's ship's company. I'll deal faithfully with you for deserting, my lads. Now, out you come."
Dejected and humiliated, Broadmayne and his companion emerged from the loathsome place of concealment. Their clothes had vanished. Clad in nothing but Cap'n Silas's blankets, they beat an ignominious retreat, running the gauntlet of a fire of rude chaff from the Alerte's crew as they hurriedly went below to their berths. In the eyes of the rest of the ship's company they were nothing more or less than skulkers, who took every opportunity of dodging their share of work. And as such they had no sympathy from the piratical crew of the Alerte.
CHAPTER X
BRUTE STRENGTH
BROADMAYNE and Vyse had not been more than five minutes in their bunks in the otherwise deserted crew's quarters, when the bo'sun entered, storming and raging.
"Skulking again!" he shouted. "Here, you son of a horse-marine, show a leg! And you, you limb of Satan, it's the like o' you as gets the likes o' me into trouble. On deck with you, an' if you don't work like blue blazes, there'll be trouble."
It was useless to refuse. Mildly, Vyse protested that their clothes had been taken away and that having to hold a blanket round one is apt to hamper a person's activities.