At the Fall of Port Arthur Part 27

"A good idea!"

The door was closed and locked. Larry still lay unconscious and there was no telling how soon he would come to his senses.

They heard the tramping on the deck and the departure of the small boat.

Now those in the boat came back and the search for the missing men came to an end.

With the slyness of a pair of cats, the evildoers crept up the companionway once more. n.o.body was in sight, and they crawled rather than walked to the rail of the schooner. Both were good swimmers and not afraid to trust themselves to reach some other s.h.i.+pping in the harbor.

Yet as an extra precaution each provided himself with a life-preserver.

"Are you ready, Peterson?"

"Yes."

"Then over we go."

A small rope was handy, and lowering this, each slid along it into the waters of the harbor. Then they struck out swiftly but silently; and in a few minutes the fog and darkness hid them completely from view.

It was the best part of an hour before Larry returned to his senses. His head ached as if ready to split open and for several minutes he could not remember where he was or what had occurred.

"Oh, my head!" he groaned. "Oh!" And he turned over and tried to sit up, with the result that he pitched out on the floor of the stateroom. This aroused him and he got up as quickly as he could.

"Those rascals attacked me!" he muttered. "They struck me over the head!

I remember now! Oh, how my head spins,--just as if I was in a merry-go-round! I wonder----"

He dropped on the berth and s.n.a.t.c.hed away the pillow. One glance was sufficient to show him how he had been robbed.

"That's why they attacked me!" he cried. "Wonder where they are now?

Perhaps they ran away from the s.h.i.+p!"

Leaping up again he stepped to the door, and finding it locked, began to pound away l.u.s.tily, at the same time yelling at the top of his lungs. In a few minutes this brought down Captain Ponsberry, followed by Luke, who had been told to come along, the captain fearing that something had gone wrong.

"What's up here?" demanded Captain Ponsberry as he flung open the door.

"Where are they?" came the counter-question from Larry.

"They? Who?"

"Peterson and Shamhaven?"

"Gone--slid away in the fog."

"They have robbed me!"

"You don't say!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the master of the _Columbia_. "You are sure?" he went on.

"Yes. My money belt is gone. They came while I was asleep, and when I woke up both hit me,--and I don't know what happened after that. I just came to my senses and found myself locked in."

"The villains!" burst in Luke. "Those chaps ought to be swung up to a yardarm!"

The captain listened to Larry's story and then was prompted to take a look around the other staterooms. As a result he speedily discovered that the safe had been tampered with and that his own money was gone.

"They are worse rascals than I thought them," said Captain Ponsberry, bitterly. "I am sorry that I did not make an example of them from the start."

There was a good deal of speculation concerning what had become of Shamhaven and Peterson, and another search was inst.i.tuted, lasting until the following day, but not a single trace of the evildoers could be found.

"Well, I am out the whole of my savings," said Larry to Luke.

"It's a shame, lad," replied the Yankee tar. "But if you need ready cash don't fail to draw on me. As long as I have a shot in the locker half on it is yours."

"Thank you, Luke; I know you'd say that. You're the proper kind of a friend to have."

"Avast, Larry, with your compliments. Wouldn't you do the same fer me?"

"Indeed I would!"

"Then it ain't worth talkin' about. Jest the same, I hope we run into them rascals some day; don't you?"

"I do. But more than likely they'll give the _Columbia_ and us a wide berth after this," returned Larry.

CHAPTER XX

LARRY BEFORE ADMIRAL TOGO

As soon as the _Columbia_ could make the proper landing, Captain Ponsberry went ash.o.r.e and reported his arrival to the authorities, and also reported the escape of Shamhaven and Peterson. The authorities had already heard of the capture of the _Columbia_ from the Russians, and said that the schooner would have to remain at Nagasaki until the whole case could be adjusted. The j.a.panese were inclined to favor both the Richmond Importing Company and the owners of the vessel, so it was not likely that our friends would lose much in the end. In the meantime the _Columbia_ could be put in a dry-dock and given the overhauling that she needed.

"We shall do all we can to locate Shamhaven and Peterson and get back your money," said an official of the secret service department. But his hands were so full with other matters of greater importance that little attention was paid to the disappearance of the two rascals.

"Well, this will tie me up at Nagasaki for some time to come," said Captain Ponsberry to Larry, on the third day after arriving at the j.a.panese port.

"Which means, I suppose, that I can join the j.a.panese navy if I wish,"

returned the young second mate, quickly.

"I don't want to force you to leave the s.h.i.+p, lad. But you said----"

"I know, Captain Ponsberry, and I am glad of the chance to get away.

Luke and I have talked it over once more, and yesterday we met a gunner named Steve Colton--he served on the _Brooklyn_ at the time Walter did.

He is now a gun captain on board of Admiral Togo's flags.h.i.+p, and he is almost certain he can get us good positions. He says gunners and gunners' a.s.sistants are just now badly needed."

"Then go by all means, Larry, and make even a bigger record for yourself than your brother Ben is making in the army. Perhaps, when this war is over, you'll come back to the old _Columbia_, eh?"

"More than likely, and I guess Luke Striker will come, too."

What Larry had said about meeting Steve Colton was true. As readers of a story of mine ent.i.tled "Fighting in Cuban Waters" know, Colton had been a gun captain under Commodore Schley, and as such had become fairly well acquainted with Walter Russell and had also heard of Larry, who was at that time serving under Admiral Dewey at Manila.