Part 19 (1/2)
”Not quite right yet, Rawlins,” chuckled Mr. Pauling. ”It was this way.
A vessel would sail from a West Indian port with a cargo and would drop it overboard at a designated spot. Then the submarine would pick it up.
If they had transferred on the surface they might have been seen and rough weather would have interfered. Moreover, if those on the schooners saw the submarine or knew of her they might have talked. They imagined the things were to be grappled or brought up by divers. The head of this bunch takes no chances.”
”Ah, now I see a light dawning!” exclaimed Rawlins. ”I think that solves several puzzles. You remember those messages you boys heard? Well, they always, or nearly always, included numbers-'thirty-eight fifty, seventy-seven' was one, I believe-and 'good bottom' and similar things.
I often wondered about those, but I'll bet those were the spots where the sub was to find cargoes dumped. Hasn't that Russian Johnny come across with anything more about the high Muck-a-Muck of the bunch and where he hangs out?”
”No, I had another long session with him, but he swears he knows nothing about it and for once I am inclined to think he is telling the truth,”
replied Mr. Pauling. ”He insists that he never visited the place-never saw the chief and does not even know who he is-except that all spoke of him as of a supreme being or a king. His story is that only a few men-just enough to man the submarine-including the fellow who died, went to headquarters. That the others, including himself, were always put ash.o.r.e at a small island in the West Indies where they had a camp and that they walked to the island from the submarine and from the sh.o.r.e to their under-sea craft in diving suits.”
”That's a probable yarn,” a.s.sented Rawlins. ”Did he tell you the name of the island?”
”He says he doesn't know it himself, that there were a few natives there when he first arrived, but that under orders from their superiors they murdered the blacks in cold blood.”
”Dirty swine, I'll say!” exclaimed Rawlins. ”Well, I know the West Indies a lot better than I know New York and if we can squeeze some sort of a description from old pig-eye I'll wager I can locate that hangout.
But now about that other business-those messages-have you got the notes you made of them, boys?”
”Sure,” replied Tom, ”At least, Mr. Henderson has. We gave them all to him.”
”Well, we'll need 'em if Mr. Pauling thinks my proposition all right,”
said Rawlins. ”I hadn't got it quite settled as to details when I came in, but the capture of that sub-if she is the one-has cleared it all up.”
”I can tell you better what I think of any proposal you may have after I have heard it,” said Mr. Pauling.
”All right, here goes,” laughed Rawlins. ”You see from what you told us about that dead fellow's confession, I am pretty sure the big 'I am' of the bunch is hanging out somewhere in the West Indies. You said he was giving you the place and had mentioned three figures of lat.i.tude and longitude when he kicked off. Now I don't know what those figures are, but there are not such an everlasting lot of combinations of figures in the islands-that is, where a man could have a secret hangout-and I know 'em like a book-better than any book in fact-and if I had those figures I'll bet I can locate the old Buckaroo. Not only that, but with my suits and the boys' radio and my submarine chamber-the same as I use for taking under-sea pictures-we could get the loot and everything else if he's got any of it under water.
”I rather figured, from what you said, that might be where he'd hide it, especially as he seems stuck on under-sea work. Why, if the old cove himself had a house under the sea I could find him! If they used this new-fangled radio under water up here you can bet your boots the old guy's using it where he hangs out and if we're any place near we can pick him up and the boys can locate him with that radio compa.s.s business. You see he probably won't be wise to any one else being on to the radio business. I was afraid that sub might get back and give it away, but the chances are that if the men aboard her got ash.o.r.e they either won't dare show up down there and will just fade away or else we can beat 'em to it.
”Taking that sub gave me another idea and a good one. We can fix up the old boat and go scouting for old Stick-in-the-mud in that. If he or any of his gang see her they'll think it's all right and that their gang's still in her. I know a pretty good lot about handling a sub and we can pick up a few good ex-navy men I know. Now don't you think that's a corking good scheme, Mr. Pauling?”
Mr. Pauling hest.i.tated, thinking deeply, before he spoke.
”It has its good points,” he admitted at last, ”but it's rather a wild scheme-just what I should expect from a boy who'll tackle two strangers and a submarine single-handed under water-and there's not one chance in ten thousand that it will succeed. You see, the West Indies are a pretty good-sized place and you'd have to go by guess work a great deal, even with the figures the man gave us. However, I'm willing to aid and abet the scheme, as any chance-no matter how remote-of getting that arch fiend is worth trying. I can get the submarine without trouble and can secure men who can be depended upon, but who's going with you on your wild-goose or wild-man chase?”
”Why, we are!” cried Tom and Frank in unison.
”The d.i.c.kens you are!” exclaimed Mr. Pauling. ”I should say not!”
The boys' faces fell. ”Oh, Dad, please let us go,” begged Tom. ”It will be great-going in a submarine and trying to find that fellow with our radio. Why won't you let us go?”
”Too much risk,” replied his father. ”I've had one fright over you and that's enough.”
”Well, that rather knocks out my plans, too,” declared Rawlins. ”I'd counted on the boys going to work the radio end of it-seems kind of hard on them to let some one else do it after they invented the thing and were responsible for getting the men and the sub. If it hadn't been for them I'd never have got 'em, as it was their hearing Tom yell for help that made 'em surrender, and you'd never have thought of that block and the garage if they hadn't located those messages with their radio compa.s.ses. I don't think there's any danger, Mr. Pauling.”
”I don't agree with you,” declared Mr. Pauling in positive tones. ”If you go after that man there's every danger. You can't tell what force he may use or how an attempt to capture him might turn out.”
”But I had no idea of attempting to get him alone,” replied Rawlins in surprise. ”My plan was to have a trim little destroyer right handy and then, when we'd located Mr. Big Bug, we'd report to the jackies and let them do the dirty work. The boys wouldn't have to be where there was any sc.r.a.pping going on and that old ex-German sub is never going to be my coffin if I can help it, I'll tell the world. No, sir, my idea was just to do the scouting, so to speak-secret service under the sea-and let the boys be in on the preliminary intelligence work running the secret service of the air as you might say.”
”Well, I suppose in that case there would be little risk,” admitted Mr.