Part 4 (1/2)
As he had explained it to Billy Byrne the idea was to per to believe that Theriere and his companions had been duped by Skipper Simms--that they had had no idea of the work that they were to be called upon to perform until the lastthey could to protect the passengers and crew of the Lotus
”And then,” Theriere had concluded, ”when they think we are a band of heroes, and the best friends they have on earth we'll just naturally be in a position to grab the whole lot of them, and collect ransoms on ten or fifteen instead of just one”
”Bully!” exclaiot some bean, mate”
As athe matter as far as he had intihtily s and had seen in the trend of events a possible opportunity of so deeply obligating her father and herself that when he paid court to her shevictied to risk nothing, and couldthat he had been compelled to concoct this other scheainst Simms and Ward; then they could throw the three into irons and all would be lovely; but now that fool Ward had upset the whole thing by hitting upon this asinine fire hoax as an excuse for boarding the Lotus in force, and had further da to Skipper Sinized as they were boarding the Lotus and bringing suspicion upon them all immediately
They all knew that a pleasure yacht like the Lotus ell supplied with ser there would be plenty of men aboard to repel assault, and, in all probability, with entire success
That there were excellent grounds for Theriere's belief that he could win Barbara Harding's hand with such a flying start as his daring plan would have assured him may not be questioned, for the ood-looking The title that he had borne upon the occasion of his visit to the yacht, was, all unknown to his acco other than a long-dead scandal in the French Navy that ht have proved a bar to an affiance such as he dreamed of And now to be thwarted at the lastof a Ward had sealed his own death warrant, of that Theriere was convinced
The boats were now quite close to the yacht, which had slowed down almost to a dead stop In answer to the query of the Lotus' captain Skipper Si their trouble
”I'antine Clarinda, Frisco to Yokohama with dynamite We disabled our rudder yesterday, an' this afternoon fire started in the hold It's makin' headway fast now, an'll reach the dynaet away from here as quick as you can 'Tain't safe nowhere within five hun'erd fathom of her”
”You'd better
”I don't like the looks of things, sir,” replied that officer ”She ain't flyin' any dyna, an' if she was an' had a hold full there wouldn't be any particular danger to us, an' anyone that has ever shi+pped dynaht to It's not fire that detonates dyna queer here--I don't like the looks of it Why just take a good look at the faces of thosemurderers in your life, sir?”
”Icrowd, Norris,”
replied Mr Harding ”But it's not always either fair or safe to judge strangers entirely by appearances I' else for it in the name of common humanity than to take theroundless”
”Then it's your orders, sir, to take them aboard?” asked Captain Norris
”Yes, Captain, I think you'd better,” said Mr Harding
”Very good, sir,” replied the officer, turning to give the necessary commands
The officers and men of the Halfed, fierce, and forbidding
”Re party of pirates,” remarked Billy Mallory, as he watched Blanco, the last to throw a leg over the rail, reach the deck
”They're not very pretty, are they?”closer to her companion
”'Pretty' scarcely describes them, Barbara,” said Billy; ”and do you know that so the up thanks to the Lord for their rescue--that was your recent idea of 'em, you will recall”
”If you have purposely set yourself the task of being reeable today, Billy,” said Barbara sweetly, ”I'”
”I'hed the h in another matter”
”What, for exa to reeable heretofore that you'd finally consent to say 'yes' for a change”
”Now you are going to irl petulantly ”Why can't you be nice, as you used to be before you got this silly notion into your head?”
”I don't think it's a silly notion to be head over heels in love with the sweetest girl on earth,” cried Billy