Part 5 (1/2)
”Den corowled Billy Byrne, ”an' quit dis monkey business, or I'll sure twist yer flipper clean off'n yeh”
With an oath, Anthony Harding sprang forward to protect his daughter; but the butt of Ward's pistol brought him unconscious to the deck
”Go easy there, Byrne,” shouted Skipper Simms; ”there ain't no call to injure the hussy--a corpse won't be worth nothing to us”
In irl now permitted herself to be led to the deck below Quickly she was lowered into a waiting boat Then Skipper Simms ordered Ward to search the yacht and ree hiuard of half a dozen of the Halfs attended to, Skipper Simms with the balance of his own crew and six of the crew of the Lotus to take the places upon the brigantine of those left as a prize crew aboard the yacht returned with the girl to the Half vessel's sails were soon hoisted and trimmed, and in half an hour, followed by the Lotus, she was scudding briskly southward For forty-eight hours this course was held until Siular trans-Pacific traffic
During this ti had been kept below, locked in a sro who brought her meals to her three times daily--meals that she returned scarcely touched
Now the Half canvas while Skipper Simms returned to the Lotus with the six antine with him two days before, and as many more of his own men
Once aboard the Lotus the men were put to ith those already on the yacht The boat's rudder was unshi+pped and dropped into the ocean; her fires were put out; her engines were attacked with sledges until they were little better than so much junk, and to make the slender chances of pursuit that remained to her entirely nil every ounce of coal upon her was shoveled into the Pacific Her extra masts and spare sails followed the way of the coal and the rudder, so that when Skipper Simms and First Officer Ward left her with their own men that had been aboard her she was little better than a drifting derelict
Fro had witnessed the wanton wrecking of her father's yacht, and when it was over and the crew of the brigantine had returned to their own shi+p she presently felt the ot under way, and soon the Lotus dropped to the stern and beyond the range of her tiny port With a irl sank prostrate across the hard berth that spanned one end of her prison cell
How long she lay there she did not know, but finally she was aroused by the opening of her cabin door As she sprang to her feet ready to defend herself against what she felt er her eyes ide in astonishment as they rested on the face of the man who stood framed in the doorway of her cabin
”You?” she cried
CHAPTER V LARRY DIVINE UNMASKED
”YES, Barbara, it is I,” said Mr Divine; ”and thank God that I aainst this band of irl, in evident bewilderment, ”how did you coet here? What are you doing ast such as these?”
”I am a prisoner,” replied theus for ransoed ht before they sailed”
”Where are they going to take us?” she asked
”I do not know,” he replied, ”although froine that they have in mind some distant island far from the beaten track of commerce There are thousands such in the Pacific that are visited by vessels scarce once in a century
There they will hold us until they can proceed with the shi+p to soents in the States When the ransoents they will return for us and land us upon so us where we can divulge the location of our whereabouts to those who pay the ranso intently at Mr Divine during their conversation
”They cannot have treated you very badly, Larry,” she said ”You are as well grooht flush h it aroused no suspicion in her mind
”Oh, no,” he hastened to assure her, ”they have not treated me at all badly--why should they? If I die they can collect no ransom on me It is the same with you, Barbara, so I think you need apprehend no harsh treatht, Larry,” she said, but the hopelessness of her air rather belied any belief that aught but harm could come from captivity with such as those who officered and manned the Halfmoon