The Red Rat's Daughter by Guy Boothby (best books to read for self improvement TXT) 📖

pocket. "If you do not do so then you must be prepared to take the consequences."

Silence fell upon the group for a space, during which a man might perhaps have counted twenty.

"Half a minute," murmured MacAndrew, and Browne's heart beat so violently that it almost choked him.

"Three-quarters of a minute," continued MacAndrew. "Mr. Foote, would you mind giving me the revolver and standing by that door? I am afraid that we shall be driven into a tussle."

Jimmy did as he was requested, and another pause ensued.

"Time's up," said MacAndrew, shutting his watch with a click. "Now we must act. Mr. Browne, take his legs if you please."

They moved towards their victim, who shrank into a corner.

"I give in!" he cried at last, affecting a calmness he was far from feeling. "Since there is no other way out of it, I will do as you desire, provided you will give me your assurance that the stuff is harmless."

"It is quite harmless," replied MacAndrew; and then, with an air of braggadocio that could be easily seen was assumed, Maas tossed off the decoction, and, having done so, seated himself on the settee. A quarter of an hour later he was in his bunk, fast asleep, and Jimmy was sitting by his side in the capacity of sick-nurse.

"You had better bear in mind the fact that he has been ill for the past week," MacAndrew remarked, before he left the cabin. "He caught a chill through falling asleep on deck, and pneumonia has set in. Now I shall retire to join my friend in the tunnel, and leave you to your own devices. Don't forget to let me know, Mr. Browne, as soon as the Russian has bidden you farewell."

"You may depend on me," Browne answered; and, as he spoke, the captain hailed him from the deck above, to inform him that the boat was coming alongside.


CHAPTER XXIX


It would be idle to say that Browne will never forget his feelings, when the hail reached him from the deck, announcing the fact that a boat from the Russian man-o'-war was coming alongside. It was the most desperate moment of his life; and there are times, even now, when only to dream of it is sufficient to bring him wide awake with a cold sweat upon his forehead. As he heard it, he turned to Jimmy, who was leaning over the bunk in which Maas lay, and said anxiously:--

"I suppose I may leave him to you, Jimmy? You will take care that they don't get any information out of him?"

"You may trust me for that," Jimmy replied, and there was a look of determination in his face as he said it, that boded ill for any attempt Maas might make to communicate with the enemy. "I hope for his own sake that he won't wake while they are here. Jack, my son, this is going to be a big deal for all of us. Keep your head while they're aboard, or you'll be in Queer Street."

Thereupon they shook hands solemnly.

"Thank Heaven, I've got you with me, old chap," continued Browne fervently. "You don't know what a relief it is to me to know that. Now I must go and warn Miss Petrovitch and Madame Bernstein."

"Good-bye, old fellow," said Foote. "Good luck go with you."

Browne glanced again at Maas, then he went out, closing the door behind him, and made his way through the saloon in the direction of Katherine's cabin. He had scarcely knocked at the door before she opened it. From the pallor of her face he guessed that she knew something of what was happening. This proved to be so; for Browne afterwards discovered that the cruiser had all the time been plainly visible from her port-hole.

"I have just seen a boat pass," she said. "Have they come to search the yacht?"

"Yes," answered Browne. "You need not be afraid, however; they will not find him. He is hidden in a place where they would never think of looking; and, to make assurance doubly sure, MacAndrew is with him."

"But what was that noise I heard just now? It sounded as if you were struggling with some one, and trying to drag him down into the saloon."

Browne informed her in a few brief words of what had occurred, and bade her, in case she should be questioned, keep up the fiction that Maas was seriously ill. Then, bidding her inform Madame Bernstein of what was going on, he left her and returned to the deck. Simultaneously with his arrival the Russian officer made his appearance at the gangway. He was a tall, handsome man of about thirty years of age. Having reached the deck, he looked about him as if he scarcely knew whom to address; then, seeing that the captain looked to Browne as if for instructions, he saluted him, and said in French:--

"Your pardon, monsieur, but this is the yacht _Lotus Blossom_, is it not?"

"It is," replied Browne, "and I am the owner. What can I have the pleasure of doing for you? You find us in rather a fix. We have had a break-down in the engine-room, and, as you can see for yourself, it has left us in a by no means pleasant position."

"I have to present the compliments of my captain to you, and to request that you will permit me to overhaul your vessel."

"To overhaul my vessel!" cried Browne. "Surely that is a very curious request For what reason do you wish to inspect her?"

"I regret to say that we have heard that an attempt is being made to rescue an escaped convict from the island yonder. From information received, it is believed he is on board your vessel."

"A runaway convict on board my yacht?" exclaimed Browne in a tone that suggested complete surprise. "You must excuse me if I do not understand you. You surely do not suppose that I make it my business to go about the world, assisting convicts to escape from captivity?"

"That is no business of mine," answered the officer. "All I have to do is to obey my instructions. I should, therefore, be glad if you would permit me to inspect your vessel."

"You may do so with pleasure," said Browne. "But let it be understood, before you commence, that I resent the intrusion, and shall, immediately on my return to civilization, place the matter before my Government to act as they think best. You have, of course, considered what the consequences of your action will be?"

"It is not my business to think of the consequences," responded the other. "All I have to do is to obey the orders I receive. May I therefore trouble you to permit me to carry them out? I should be loath to have to signal to my ship for assistance."

"Such a course will not be necessary," rejoined Browne, with all the dignity of which he was master. "If you persist in your absurd demand, I shall raise no further objection. Only, I should be glad if you could do so with as little delay as possible. I have a friend below who is seriously ill, and I am anxious to return to him."

"In that case, it would be as well for us to proceed without further loss of time," continued the officer.

Turning to Captain Mason, who was standing beside him, Browne gave the necessary orders. The Russian officer immediately called up a couple of hands from his boat alongside, and then, escorted by Browne, set off on his tour of inspection. Commencing with the men's quarters forward, he searched every nook and cranny, but without success. Then, little by little, they worked their way aft, exploring the officers' and engineers' quarters as they proceeded. The engine-room and stoke-hole followed next, and it was then that Browne's anxiety commenced. The convict, as he had good reason to know, was the possessor of a hacking cough, and should he give proof of its existence now they were ruined indeed.

"I presume you do not wish to look into the furnaces," ironically remarked the chief-engineer, who had accompanied them during their visit to his own particular portion of the vessel. "Should you desire to do so, I shall be pleased to have them opened for you."

"I have no desire to look into them," answered the officer, who by this time was beginning to feel that he had been sent on a wild-goose chase.

"In that case let us finish our inspection, and be done with it," said Browne. "It is not pleasant for me, and I am sure it cannot be for you." As he spoke he turned to the officer, and signed him to make his way up the steel ladder to the deck above. Just as he himself was about to set foot on it, the sound of a smothered cough came from the spot where the men lay hidden, and at the same instant the officer stopped and looked round. Browne felt his whole body grow cold with terror. Fortunately, however, even if he had heard it, the other failed to place the proper construction upon it, and they left the engine-room without further comment. Then, having explored the smoking-room and deck-house, they made their way aft to the drawing-room by way of the main companion-ladder.

"I have two ladies on board, monsieur," said Browne as they reached the drawing-room and stood for a moment looking about them, "also the sick friend of whom I spoke to you just now. Perhaps you would not mind waiving your right to inspect their cabins."

"Monsieur," returned the officer, "I must see every cabin. There must be no exceptions."

"In that case," replied Browne, "there is no more to be said. Will you be kind enough to accompany me?"

So saying, he led him forward a few paces, and, having shown him the pantry and stewards' quarters, the storerooms, bathrooms, and other domestic offices, took him to the cabin in which Maas was undergoing his involuntary confinement. Browne knocked softly upon the door, and a moment later Jimmy Foote opened it, with his finger on his lips as if to warn them to be silent.

"Hush!" he whispered. "Don't wake him; he has been asleep for nearly half an hour, and it will do him a world of good."

Browne translated this speech to the officer, and, when he had done so, they entered and approached the bedside. The representative of Imperial Russia looked down upon Maas, who was sleeping as placidly as a little child; at the same time his eyes took in the rows of medicine bottles on the table and all the usual paraphernalia of a sick-room. It was plain not only, that he imagined Jimmy Foote to be the doctor in charge, but also that he knew nothing of the identity of the man before him.

"What is the matter with him?" he asked a little suspiciously of Browne.

"Pneumonia, following a severe chill," the other replied. "We want to get him down to Yokohama as quickly as possible in order that we may place him in the hospital there. I