“You take the first watch while I go for chow. I’ll bring the kids something to eat when I come back, then you can get yours.” The other said something in agreement, and the speaker’s footsteps in the passageway were soon drowned out in the roar of the engines.
Sinking to a seat on the bare springs of a bunk with no mattress, Jerry looked up at Sandy and asked, “What now?”
“I don’t know,” Sandy admitted. “But at least we got away with the flare gun, and we may figure out a way to use it.” He lowered himself to the bare bunk opposite the one Jerry occupied, and surveyed their floating prison.
The cabin offered very little promise of help. There were the two double bunks, both bare of mattresses, four lockers, a sink in one corner and a single porthole. Going to the porthole, Sandy tried to open it, but with no success. The “dogs” that secured it, heavy steel latches, were welded in place, and the glass of the porthole looked too heavy to break. Obviously, the place had been used as a prison before. Outside of the porthole, there was nothing but the sea. Even if the glass could be broken, Sandy didn’t like the idea of dropping down into the black waters below. That seemed as unpromising a position as the one they were in now!
The lockers were the next subject of their exploration but, as they expected, these proved as empty and bare as the cabin itself. The sink, the only remaining thing in the room, was the source of no inspiration.
Settling himself on the bunk once more, Sandy began to roll up his pants leg. “I guess this flare gun is our only hope at that,” he said. “We might as well have it ready.”
He quickly undid the adhesive tape, then stuck the gun in his belt. As he did so, an idea came to him.
“Jerry, I think I have it!” he whispered.
The plan was a simple one—almost too simple to work. But it seemed the only chance they had. Sandy proposed to wait until the guard came with their food, then, threatening him with the flare pistol, they would try to overcome him, tie him up, and make their way to the deck. Once there, they would have to find a way out. It seemed a slim hope, but what else could they do?
Jerry agreed, and whispering quietly, they worked out the best positions to take to make their attack good. Meanwhile, one more stroke of good fortune came to them. Jerry found that he still had the roll of adhesive tape in his pocket, undiscovered in Bull’s quick inspection. It would come in handy for binding and gagging the guards, if they could once overcome them.