Part 53 (1/2)

”Then she must be going up the gutter, because there's not a fathom on the banks. We'll go ahead; there's enough water anywhere for us.”

The launch swung round on a different course when her engines began to clank, and a man sounded now and then as they ran for the shoals. The lieutenant hardly expected to follow the channel; his object was to keep within hearing of the other vessel, and, if he were lucky, his work would be finished before the tide ebbed much. Suddenly a sharp, pulsatory roar came out of the dark.

”It looks as if she were on the ground and carrying plenty steam,” he said, when he had ordered the engines to be stopped. ”As they'll no doubt back her off, we'll wait a while, to give them time to s.h.i.+p their cargo.”

For the next few minutes the crews of launch and gig listened eagerly.

They knew that when the vessel ran aground the steam her stopped engines could not use had blown off. The roar died away, as was to be expected, when the machinery was restarted, hard-astern, but now that the immobility of the stranded craft increased the resistance, the thud of the screw was louder. Presently, it changed to a steady beat that drew away from them; and they knew she had got afloat and was steaming up-channel.

”Easy all, for half an hour!” said the lieutenant, looking at his watch.

The boats lay close together, rolling gently on the languid swell, while the men sat in relaxed att.i.tudes and talked in low voices.

Still, there was a feeling of suppressed excitement and it was a relief when their officer grasped the wheel.

”Let her go at half speed!” he ordered.

The tow-rope tightened as the gig swung into line astern, and they moved steadily toward the land for some time. Then they heard a roar of steam again, louder than before and continuous, and the lieutenant signed to the engineer.

”Full speed! We have her now!”

The water hissed along the planks, the gig lifted her bows on a surging wave, and the wash of the screw ran far astern. A blurred object grew out of the darkness in front of them, and then the officer called to the coastguards:

”Cast off and get to your work! Burn a flare if you want us!”

A rope fell into the water, the engines stopped, and there was a rattle of oars as the gig drove by. They fell with a simultaneous splash, and their regular thud receded as she swept up-channel while the launch's crew waited.

In a few minutes the sound stopped. There were alarmed shouts and hoa.r.s.e orders; while the roar of steam continued. Then the beat of oars began again. The boat came back slowly, with two men pulling, and ran alongside the launch.

”You don't seem to have had much trouble,” the lieutenant remarked.

”We hadn't, sir,” answered a coastguard officer. ”They were busy and didn't hear us until we'd got our boat-hook on her rail. Only one of them drew a pistol and he was knocked down. We'll land them and leave a guard on board when she's moored.'”

”Very well, if we can't take her to Barrow this tide?”

The coastguard laughed.

”So far as I could see, there's a big piece of flounder-net wrapped round her propeller and trailing about her aft. It has an unusually thick head-rope, and some lengths of iron pipe are jambed between the blades and the rudder. The fellow who set the net made a good job.

We'll have trouble in cutting it loose when she dries.”

”Did you find much oil?”

”About a boat-load of heavy drums, which had just been thrown on deck.

We got the boat and I guess our fellows ash.o.r.e have seized another lot. However, here are your two men. I don't think you'll do much with the skipper, but the other seems less obstinate.”

Two handcuffed men were put on board and the boat dropped back as the launch leaped ahead. The water rose about her bows in a white, curling wave, her stern sank down in a hollow ridged with foam, and she shook with the fierce throb of hard-driven machinery. Dark hills slid past to starboard, bold cliffs that stood out from their dim background rolled by, and after a time a flash from a lantern was answered by a gleam of light ahead. Then the blurred outline of a steamer grew into distinct form. In another minute the launch was alongside and the winches strained and clanked as she was hoisted in.

”Everything went as we expected, and I've brought you the two prisoners,” the lieutenant reported to Rankine, who sat in his room before a big chart.

”Send them in, one at a time. And clear the guns and get under way.

The course is west by south.”