Part 30 (2/2)
”I've been thinking about the prisoner in the starboard stateroom,”
announced Joe. ”It's inhuman to leave him there, locked in and handcuffed, in such a gale. He must be enduring fearful torment.”
”Yes,” nodded Tom. ”I've just been thinking that I must go down and set him free as soon as I'm relieved.”
”Go along, then,” proposed young Dawson. ”I have the wheel, and Hepton by me.”
Taking Hank b.u.t.ts with him, Tom Halstead made his way below.
”Dawson was just speaking to me about our prisoner,” began Powell Seaton. ”Dawson thinks he ought to be turned loose--at least while this gale lasts.”
”Yes,” nodded Captain Halstead. ”I'm on my way to do it now.”
”Will it be safe?”
”We can't help whether it is, or not,” Skipper Tom rejoined. ”It's a humane thing to do, and we'll have to do it.”
Powell Seaton did not interpose any further objections. It would have been of little moment if he had, for, on the high seas, the s.h.i.+p's commander is the sole judge of what is to be done.
Even below decks, going through the electric-lighted pa.s.sage and cabin, Tom and Hank made their way with not a little difficulty. They paused, at last, before the starboard stateroom door, and Tom fitted the key in the lock.
Jasper, the man locked within, faced them with affrighted gaze.
”We're going to the bottom?” he demanded, hoa.r.s.ely, tremulously. His very evident terror gave the young skipper a new idea.
”Are you prepared to go to the bottom, Jasper?” demanded Halstead.
”Am I fit to die, do you mean?” asked the man, with a strange, sickly grin. ”No, sir; I'm not. At least, not until I've cleared myself by telling a few truths.”
”Come out into the cabin, man,” ordered Halstead, leading him. ”Now, sit down, and I'll get your handcuffs off.”
The young captain of the ”Restless” unlocked the irons about the fellow's wrists. Jasper stretched his hands, flexing his wrists.
”Now, I can swim, anyway, though I don't believe it will do much good,” he declared.
”No; it won't do much good,” Halstead a.s.sented. ”We're something more than forty miles off the coast. But what do you want to say? What's on your mind? Be quick, man, for we must be on deck again in a jiffy. I don't want to lose my boat while I'm below with a rascal like you.”
”I haven't always been a rascal,” retorted Jasper, hanging his head.
”At least, I have been fairly straight, until the other day.”
”What have you been doing for Dalton and Lemly?” demanded Tom Halstead, fixing his gaze sternly on the frightened fellow.
”Never anything for Dalton,” whined Jasper.
”Well, for Lemly, then?”
”Oh, I've been snooping about a bit, for two years or so, getting tips for Dave Lemly.”
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