The Rover Boys in Southern Waters: or, The Deserted Steam Yacht

Hans was a trifle suspicious, and yet he saw no direct reason for refusing to comply with Sack Todd's request. He followed the ex-counterfeiter across the deck and down the companionway.

"I want to ask your opinion of this letter," said Sack Todd, as he laid a written sheet on the table. "We can't understand it at all. I know you are a pretty smart boy and maybe you can help us."

Flattered by the compliment paid him, the German youth took up the letter and scanned it by the light of the swinging lamp. As he did so, Sack Todd closed the cabin door and motioned to Gasper Pold and Dan Baxter, who stood behind an angle of the wall.

Almost before he could realize it, poor Hans was a prisoner. His arms were held tightly by someone, while someone else thrust a gag into his mouth and fastened it by means of a cloth running to the back of his neck.

"Sthop! ton't choke me!" he gasped, and that was all he was allowed to utter. Then his arms were fastened, and his feet secured.

"Now, into the stateroom with him!" cried Gasper Pold, and the three evildoers lifted the prisoner up, carried him into one of the staterooms, and threw him on the berth. Then the door was closed and locked.

"That's Number One," declared Sack Todd. "And an easy job, too."

"If you can bag the others as easily, it will be a grand job," was Dan Baxter's comment.

"We must get one of those chaps up from below next," said Gasper Pold. "Baxter, you can go down and tell one of them his brother in the wheelhouse wants to see him. We'll catch him on the stairs."

"All right," said the former bully of Putnam Hall.

He hurried down to the engine room and then to the nearest coal bunker, where Sam was shoveling coal.

"Sam!" he called out, to make himself heard.

"Hullo, Dan Baxter, what do you want?"

"Dick wants you on deck at once."

"What for?"

"I don't know – I think Hans has a fit. That Dutch boy always was a queer stick," muttered Dan Baxter.

"All right, I'll go up," answered the youngest Rover, and dropping his shovel, he hurried through the engine room.

"Sam!" called Tom, warningly, but his brother did not hear him on account of the noise made by the machinery.

All unconscious of the trap laid for him, poor Sam started to go on deck, when he was hurled backward in a dark corner of a passageway. Somebody came down on top of him, a gag was forced into his mouth, and a rope was brought into use.

"Let – let up!" he managed to say. "Help!" And then his wind was completely cut off for the moment until the gag was secured.

But though gagged the youngest Rover was game and did not give up. He squirmed and kicked and landed a blow on Gasper Pold and another on Dan Baxter. In return the former bully of Putnam Hall kicked him in the side, and then the men tied him up, hands and feet.

"Where will you put him?" asked Baxter.

"Put him in another of the staterooms, – for the present," answered Sack Todd. "After we have got them all we can put them somewhere else."

"Shall we search him?" went on Dan Baxter, who was anxious to know what Sam might be carrying.

"Not now – we haven't time."

Poor Sam was placed in a stateroom next to that occupied by Hans, and then the evildoers hurried off to see what they could do in the way of capturing Dick. They expected to take the eldest Rover unawares, but in this they were mistaken.

In the meantime, Tom, full of suspicion from the very start, called up the speaking tube to his brother.

"I say, Dick, what's the mater with Dutchy?"

"Hans? Nothing that I know of," returned Dick. "Why?"

"Dan Baxter was just down here and said you wanted Sam quick – that something was wrong with Hans."

"I didn't send for Sam!" cried Dick, excitedly. He looked around him in the gloom. "Hans isn't here," he went on, down the tube.

"Well, look out – I think something is wrong," shouted back Tom. "Got your pistol handy?"

Dick felt in his pocket, and found the weapon where he had placed it. Then he looked around again, but the deck of the Mermaid appeared to be deserted.

"I'm going to see what has become of Sam!" he shouted down the tube.

"I'll tie the wheel fast."

"Keep out of trouble!" shouted back Tom. "If I don't hear from you pretty quick I'll be up myself," he added.

With his hand on his pistol, Dick left the wheelhouse and walked slowly and cautiously toward the waist of the steam yacht. As he rounded a corner of the cabin he heard a murmur of voices, and the next moment he found himself confronted by Pold, Todd, the mate of the Dogstar, and Dan Baxter.

The evildoers were taken somewhat by surprise and halted in confusion. In the semi-darkness Dick saw that one carried a gag and cloth and the two others ropes.

"There he is!" faltered Dan Baxter, before he had time to think.

"No, you don't!" cried Dick, stepping back several paces. "What were you going to do?" he demanded.

"We want to talk to you," answered Sack Todd, smoothly.

"What do you want? Stand back! I don't want any of you to come closer."

"See here, Mr. Rover, it's all right," came from Gasper Pold. "We ain't going to harm you. We only want to have a little peaceable palaver."

"Where is my brother Sam? And where is Hans Mueller?"

"They are both in the cabin. I was going to ask you to join us, in a general talk," said Sack Todd, catching his cue from Gasper Pold as to how best to proceed.

"We want to find out where you are taking us," put in the mate of the Dogstar.

"You are acting very queerly," said Dick. He had backed up close to one of the small cabin windows, which was open. "Sam! Hans!" he yelled suddenly, and at the top of his lungs.

Of course there was no reply, and satisfied that something was indeed wrong he retreated still further.

"Stop him!" yelled Gasper Pold. "Don't let him get below to where his brother is!"

He meant Tom, and Dick instantly made up his mind that the best thing he could do would be to get to the engine room and warn his fun-loving brother of their peril. He made a turn, sent Sack Todd and Dan Baxter sprawling, and an instant later was diving out of sight down the ladder leading to the machinery.

"Dick! I thought something was wrong and I was coming up!" came from Tom. "What of Sam and Hans?"

"I don't know. They are after me! Have you your pistol?"

"Yes, and I'll use it too, if they bother me," answered Tom, determinedly.

"Stop where you are!" cried Dick, looking up the iron ladder. "My brother and I have pistols and we shall use them if you attempt to follow down here!"

"Look out!" yelled Dan Baxter, in alarm, and tumbled back to a safe place. "They'll shoot sure, I know 'em!"

At these words all at the top of the iron ladder hesitated. In the meantime both Tom and Dick held their pistols up, so that the shining barrels could be dimly seen.

"They are armed, hang the luck!" muttered Sack Todd. "And they tell me they can shoot, too!"

"Look here, we don't want any shooting," said Gasper Pold. "We want this affair conducted peaceable-like."

"I know what you want," said Tom, boldly. "You want to make us prisoners."

"Like as not Sam and Hans are already prisoners," said Dick. "If they were not we'd surely hear something from them."

"They are prisoners," answered Dan Baxter.

"And you might as well give in. It won't do you any good to hold out – we are six to two, remember."

"Baxter, did you plan this?" asked Tom.

"Oh, I'm not saying who planned it. We have simply made up our minds to take command of the steam yacht, that's all."

"The yacht was a derelict," put in Sid Jeffers. "We have as much right to her as you have."

"Not at all – we found her," answered Dick.

"But you couldn't have brought her safely in to port," put in Gasper Pold. "We are going to do that – and get the salvage money," he added, triumphantly.

CHAPTER XXIV

IN THE ENGINE ROOM

After the bold declaration of Gasper Pold there was an awkward pause. Dick and Tom did not know what to do and neither did the party at the top of the engineroom ladder.

"Are you going to give in or not?" demanded Sack Todd, at length.

"Why should we give in?" asked Dick.

"Because if you do, we'll treat you well."

"And if we don't – " came from Tom.

"Then you'll have to take the consequences. As Baxter says, we are six to two, so it is all nonsense for you to think you can hold out against us."

"Supposing we do give in, what are you going to do with us?" asked Dick, curiously but with no present intention of submitting to the evildoers.

"Oh, we'll treat you fairly enough," put in Gasper Pold. "We'll give you all you want to eat and drink and put you off at some safe place along the coast."

"Come, do you submit?" demanded the mate of the Dogstar.

"What do you say, Dick?" whispered Tom, so faintly that the others could not hear.

"I don't want to give in to them."

"Neither do I. But it looks pretty shaky, doesn't it?"

"Yes, they have us cornered."

"We are armed, and if there is to be any shooting we can do our share of it," resumed Sack Todd. "But there is no need to go to such an extreme. Better submit quietly and let that end it. We wish you no harm, but we are bound to have our way."

"Let Sam and Hans come down and we'll talk it over," said Dick, struck by a sudden idea.

"You had better come up, and then you can talk it over in the cabin," said Sack Todd, and whispered something to his companion the Rovers could not hear.

"Not yet," said Dick, firmly.

"All right, suit yourself. But if you won't come up, you can stay there. Throw over the hatch, fellows."

There was a hatch to fit over the opening to the engine room and without further words this was thrown into place and secured from the deck.

"Dick, we are prisoners!" cried Tom.

"It certainly looks like it," answered the eldest Rover, soberly.

"There is another door, – but it is locked from the other side, I think."

They listened and heard the men and Baxter walk away from the hatchway.

Then all became quiet, for Tom had stopped the engine.

For over half an hour the two Rover boys remained in the engine room of the Mermaid doing little but walk around. With the hatch closed it was very hot down there, and Dick, who had his coat on, was glad to discard that garment. They could get little or no fresh air, and both wondered how long they could stand the confinement.

"I wouldn't care so much, if only I knew Sam and Hans were safe," remarked Dick. "But for all we know, they may have been killed."

"Oh, I don't think that," answered his brother. "I don't think Dan Baxter is quite so wicked."

Presently there came a noise above and the hatch was raised. The next instant Sam came tumbling down the iron ladder, followed by Hans.

"Now you fellows can talk it over as long as you like," said Gasper Pold. "When you come to terms let us know by blowing the steam whistle."

And then the hatch was put down and fastened as before.

"Sam, are you all right?" asked Dick and Tom, in a breath.

"Oh, yes, after a fashion," answered the youngest Rover. "But they handled me pretty roughly."

"And you, Hans?"

"I dink I vos peen putty vell hammered alretty. Py chimanatics! I vish I could drow dem all oferpoard, ain't it!"

"We are in a box, in more ways than one," said Tom.

"What did they do to you?" questioned Dick, and then Sam and Hans told their stories, adding that they had been taken from the staterooms but a few minutes before, brought on deck, unbound and ungagged, and sent down the iron ladder as already mentioned.

"I was afraid first they were going to throw us overboard," said Sam.

"I think Sack Todd is equal to it, and that Gasper Pold is about as bad."

The four youths talked the situation over for a good hour, but could reach no satisfactory conclusion. They did not wish to submit to the others and yet they realized that they were "in a box" as Tom said.

"I know one thing – I want a drink of water," said Sam. "I am as dry as a salt fish."

"Yah, I vont me a trink, too," added Hans.

"Well, you'll have to go without," answered Tom. "I am dry myself. I was going to get some fresh water just before the trouble began, but I didn't have the chance."

"I know what they'll do – they'll starve us out," exclaimed Sam. "I see their game plainly."

"I am going to whistle for water," said Tom, with something of his usual grin. "Nothing like being stylish."

He pulled the cord and the whistle gave a loud toot. He repeated this several times, when they heard footsteps and the hatch was raised about a foot.

"Ready to submit?" asked Sack Todd, peering down on them.

"We want some drinking water," answered Tom.

"Oh, pshaw!" said the man, in disgust.

"Will you give us a bucket of fresh water or not?' asked Dick.

"Maybe – I'll see," said Todd, and dropped the hatch into place once more.

"I don't believe he'll give us a thing," was Sam's comment. "He knows if he doesn't we'll have to give up sooner or later."

"Of ve only had apout two dozen policemans here!" sighed the German youth.

In the meanwhile Sack Todd told the others about the water.

"Are you going to give it to them?" questioned Dan Baxter.

"Don't think I will," was the answer.

"You can't let them die of thirst," went on the former bully of Putnam Hall, with some little show of feeling.

"I've got an idea," came from Gasper Pold. "Is there a medicine cabinet on board? Generally such a vessel carries one."

"Yes, there is one in the cabin," answered Sid Jeffers. "What do you want of it?"

"We might put some dope in the drinking water. That will fix 'em."

"What, you wouldn't poison them!" cried Dan Baxter, and gave a little shiver.

"Oh, we'll only put them to sleep," answered Gasper Pold, but with a look on his face that Baxter did not like.

The men went to the cabin and the former bully of Putnam Hall followed. Here the medicine cabinet was found filled with various liquids and powders and Gasper Pold looked them over with care.

"I worked in a drug store when I was a young man," he explained. "And I took a good bit of interest in dopes and poisons."

Dan Baxter heard him say this, and to the credit of the bully it made him shudder. He was no friend to the Rovers, yet he did not wish to see them lose their lives. He paused for a moment, then turned and ran on deck.

Nobody was in sight, for the sailors from the Dogstar were asleep below. He ran for a bucket, filled it with water and took it to the hatchway, which he opened feverishly.

"Hullo there!" he whispered.

"Baxter, is it you?" queried Dick, coming to the ladder.

"Yes. Take this bucket of water, quick. It's clean and good. Don't drink what the others bring you."

"But, Baxter – " began Tom.

"I can't stay. Be careful of what they give you to eat and drink, that's all." And the next moment the bucket was passed to Dick, the hatch closed down, and Baxter fairly ran back to where he had left the men.

"What can this mean?" asked Dick, staring at his companions.

"Dick, be careful," warned Sam. "It may be some plot of Baxter's."

"Maype ve ton't besser trink dot vater," suggested Hans. "I ton't vont to vake up teat in der morning, ain't it!"

"Can the water be poisoned?" asked Tom.

They poured some in a glass and held it close to the light. It looked good and Dick tasted it cautiously.

"Baxter said to beware of what the others gave us to eat and to drink," said Sam. "Evidently something is in the air."

All sniffed of the water and tasted it, yet each was afraid to take a regular drink. While they were deliberating they heard the hatch being raised again. Then Sack Todd and Gasper Pold appeared once more.

CHAPTER XXV

ONE PLOT AND ANOTHER

"We've got the water for you," said Sack Todd. "We don't know as you deserve it, but we don't want to be mean."

As he spoke he and Gasper Pold held down a jug containing not more than two quarts.

"Not a very big supply," grumbled Tom. "We'll want a good deal more down here. This is a regular sweatbox."

"You don't have to stay any longer than you wish," answered the ex-counterfeiter, with a sickly grin.

"Ven do ve git somedings to eat?" asked Hans.

"In the morning."

This was all those above said, and soon the hatch was shut down and fastened and Todd and Pold walked slowly away.

"They didn't seem to care much whether we surrendered or not," remarked Sam.

"That makes me more suspicious than ever," answered Dick. "Boys, Dan Baxter may have been acting on the square after all."

"Catch Dan doing that!" retorted Tom. "Why, it isn't in him, Dick."

"I don't know about that. He is bad, I know, but he may not be as much of a villain as these men are. I am going to examine the contents of this jug."

All gathered around while Dick cleaned out the tumbler and then filled it with the liquid from the jug. The water looked fairly clear, although presently something like oil began to float on top. Dick put his tongue to this and found it sweetish-bitter.

"This has certainly been dosed," said the eldest Rover. "I wouldn't take a drink of it for a good deal."

"Then Baxter must have told the truth," said Sam. "I think I know how the matter stands. Baxter got scared at what the men wanted to do, and so started in to head them off. I believe I'll take a small drink of that other water."

He did so, and the others followed, nobody, however, drinking more than half a tumbler of the liquid. This served to quench the worst of their thirst.

"Later on, if the water doesn't affect us, we can drink more," said Tom. "If Dan Baxter really did mean well it's a great credit to him, no matter how bad he is otherwise."

All sat down and talked in low tones. The night was now well advanced, yet nobody felt like sleeping. Suddenly Dick leaped up, considerably excited.

"I've got it, fellows! Maybe we can outwit them at their own game," he cried.

"How?" asked the others.

"Perhaps that water was drugged and was given to us to put us to sleep. If we pretend to be overcome it may throw them off their guard, and that will give us another chance to gain possession of the vessel. What do you say if we lie down and pretend to be asleep when they open the hatch?"

"All right, I am willing," answered Tom. "There is no excitement in being cooped up in this hot place. Tell you what I'll do, to force matters. You lie down and begin to snore and I'll pull the whistle. Then, when they come, I'll demand to know what is wrong with you and pitch over myself. Then we can see what happens next."

So it was arranged, and half an hour later Sam, Dick, and Hans stretched out on the engineroom floor as if completely dead to the world. Then Tom gave the whistle half a dozen sharp tugs. This brought Todd, Pold, Jeffers, and Dan Baxter to the hatchway in a hurry.

"What's the row?" demanded Gasper Pold, looking down curiously.

"My brothers," came thickly from Tom, as he reeled around. "What did you – you – do to them? My head – like – top! You – must – must – Oh!" And then Tom sank down on a bench, slipped to the floor, and lay beside Sam.

"He's poisoned!" shrieked Dan Baxter, and his face grew as white as a sheet.

"Shut up!" muttered Sack Todd. "The dose won't kill him."

"Reckon they are all laid out," was Gasper Pold's comment, as he peered down the hatchway. "I'll go down and make sure." And he passed down the iron ladder, pistol in hand.

"How about it?" came from the mate of the Dogstar.

"Stiff as corpses," was the brutal answer. "I tell you, that dope did the business."

"Are any of them dead?" asked Dan Baxter, hoarsely.

"I don't think so," was the careless answer. "No, they are all breathing," went on Pold.

Sack Todd came down, followed by the mate of the Dogstar, and all gazed coldly at the four youths lying on the hard floor around the machinery. Dan Baxter remained at the top of the ladder, shaking as if with the palsy.

"How long do you calculate they'll remain in this condition?" asked Todd, turning to Pold.

"Ten or twelve hours at least," was the answer. "And maybe they won't get over it for twenty-four."

"Any bad effects?"

"Well, sometimes that dope paralyzes a man's tongue for six months or a year."

"Phew! That's pretty rough."

"Once in a great while the paralysis doesn't go away at all."

"In that case, these boys will have it in for you, – if they ever get their hands on you," said Sid Jeffers, with a wicked leer.

The men talked among themselves for several minutes and then agreed to take the boys up on deck and place them in two of the staterooms off the cabin.

"They'll have to have more air than here," said Gasper Pold. "Otherwise they'll surely die on our hands."

Dan Baxter was called on to assist, and did so with his knees fairly shaking together. He thought that our friends had surely drank of the dosed water and were in a stupor next to death.

"And if they die, they'll say I was as guilty as the rest!" he groaned to himself. "Oh, I wish I was out of this!"

It was no easy matter to get the three Rovers and Hans on deck and to the staterooms. Here our friends were placed two on a berth, and, for the time being, left to themselves.

"Boys, we have had a narrow escape," whispered Dick, when he at last thought it safe to speak.

"That's the truth," came from Sam. "And we have Dan Baxter to thank for it!" he added. "I can't understand that part of it."

"I think I can," answered Tom. "Baxter is bad enough, but he didn't go in for poisoning us. I am glad to know he isn't quite so heartless as that."

"Dem fellers ought to be all hung, ain't it!" was Hans' comment.

"The question is, What are we to do next?" asked Tom.

"That question is not so easily answered," returned his elder brother.

"I know what I should like to do."

"What, Dick?" asked Sam.

"I'd like to make all of the gang prisoners."

"Exactly!" exclaimed Tom, in a low voice. "But can it be done?"

"I don't know. For the present let us play 'possum and find out."

"Vot kind of a game vos dot possum?" asked Hans innocently. "I ton't dink we got dime to play some games," he added, seriously.

"Dick means to lay low," explained Sam.

"Vot, lay under der peds?"

"No, keep quiet and watch out."

"Oh! All right, I done me dot kvick enough," said Hans, and fell back on the berth and shut his eyes.

"You fellows keep quiet while I investigate," said the eldest Rover. "It is so late some of the crowd may have gone to sleep. If so, we may have a chance to capture the others first."

So it was arranged, and making certain that his pistol was still in his pocket, Dick slid from the berth, tiptoed his way to the stateroom door, and, opening it slowly and cautiously, peered out.

One look into the cabin of the Mermaid told him the apartment was empty. There were two more staterooms, connected, as were those the boys were occupying. With a heart that beat rather violently, Dick stepped to the door of one of these staterooms. From within came a deep and regular snoring.

"Somebody is asleep in there," he mused. "Who can it be?"

With great care he peered into the room. On the berth rested one of the sailors from the Dogstar and on the floor rested the other, both evidently much the worse for liquor.

The door to the second stateroom was wide open and Dick caught sight of a form on the berth in there. It was Dan Baxter. The bully was not asleep but was tossing about, as if in either mental or physical distress. As Dick looked at him he suddenly started up, turned around, and stared.

"Dick Rover!" he screamed. "Are you alive, or is it a – a ghost?"

CHAPTER XXVI

TURNING THE TABLES

"Be quiet, Baxter," said Dick, softly but firmly. "Don't you dare to make another sound."

"I – I thought you were – were – asleep," faltered the former bully of Putnam Hall. "That you – "

"That he had drank the poisoned water, eh?"

"Ye – es."

"We did not. We took your advice and left it alone."

"Then when they brought you up out of the engine room – "