The Shadow - Death Ship Part 10

They were helped by the list of the s.h.i.+nwi, which made their route downhill. They chose the lower side automatically, for they knew that the torpedo had come from that direction, and that the Barracuda would be waiting there. The deck that they reached was clear, thanks to the a.s.sistance of other accomplices.

Posing as pa.s.sengers, the remaining crooks were adding to the confusion that swept the s.h.i.+nwi. Whenever anyone came toward the strong room, or the deck just outside it, blundering persons seemed to block the way.

Even s.h.i.+p's officers, when they came along, did not guess the reason for the interference.

Rather than be delayed, they took other routes to wherever they were bound.

Soon, blockers were free to help the men inside. There were about sixty boxes weighing in the neighborhood of two hundred pounds apiece, but they were small and stacked easily against the stout rail along the slanted deck. The final test would come when the Barracuda hove alongside to receive the spoils. As yet, the pirate craft had not been sighted by those aboard the s.h.i.+nwi.

Some lights were on again, but most of the illumination came from flashlights. Up in the wireless room, an S O S was crackling away; and that call would soon be answered. There were plenty of navy vessels near the coast, still keeping up the search for the Barracuda.

Of modern construction, the s.h.i.+nwi had a double hull, as well as watertight compartments.

The main force of the explosion had been spent in ripping her outer skin. Her list, though sudden, had ceased before it reached too dangerous an angle.

THE tilt of the s.h.i.+p, however, accounted for the curious position in which The Shadow found himself when he came back to consciousness. He was wedged against what seemed to be a doorway, in darkness that he could not remember. Someone was lying beside him, a man of frail build, who gave a roll when The Shadow pressed heavily against his shoulder.

Events began to replace themselves in The Shadow's memory.

This was the s.h.i.+nwi Maru. He was at the bottom of the big stairway leading to the strong room. The stunned man near him was Is.h.i.+ Soyoto. Those above were crooks in the service of Felix Sergon, busy with the theft of j.a.panese gold.

Where was the Lamprey?

The Shadow was too dazed to calculate her probable position, but he kept thinking of Commander Prew and how surprised he would be when he learned that the Barracuda had tried to sink a j.a.panese s.h.i.+p. Perhaps Prew would realize how far The Shadow had seen ahead, beyond mere surface suspicions.

But that view of the future had not been complete. Certain lapses accounted for The Shadow's present plight. He had not expected that torpedo when it came.

It was not too late to make amends.

Perhaps a few strides upward would have convinced him that he was in no shape for battle.

That discovery, however, was denied him. The last of the gold had been slid out to the deck.

With the completion of the task, one smart thug had decided to take a look down the stairs below the strong room. A powerful flashlight cleaved downward. Into its focus lifted a wavery shape, a thing of blackness, formidable despite its slow movements. That cloaked figure was one that any crook would have recognized. There was a shout from the top of the stairs: "The Shadow!"

Tilting his big automatics upward, The Shadow began to pump bullets toward the men above. They flattened, answering with wild revolver fire. If he had been in good form, The Shadow would have snagged those unwary battlers from spots where they crouched, to bring them toppling down the stairs.

As it happened, his shots were too high-as futile as the excited revolver stabs that crooks dispatched in his direction.

They were pouring down the stair now, and The Shadow, on his knees, was making himself a bulwark to protect Soyoto. Lifting his lone gun, he jabbed a last bullet at something lurching toward him. The thing flopped.

The Shadow had dropped the first comer. It was enough to halt the others, in momentary fear that they had met a snare. Then before they could guess that The Shadow was actually helpless, a wild shout ordered them back up the stairs.

As crooks scrambled, new gunfire reached The Shadow's ears. His wild barrage had attracted attention to the strong room. Armed members of the j.a.panese crew had arrived from an upper deck, to begin a flank attack upon the pirate mobsters that they discovered.

Outnumbered, Sergon's men scrambled out to where the gold was placed, just as a signal flare was given from the rail. Stubbornly, the crooks held off the j.a.panese who were trying to cut through to reach them, while the Barracuda poked her cheese-box conning tower against the sleek side of the listing s.h.i.+nwi.

While battle raged above, The Shadow found Soyoto crawling toward him. Helping the man to his feet, The Shadow sought an outlet other than the stairway. Fleeting through his brain was a vague plan of some flank entry into battle.

Laboriously, they reached a deck, came up through a hatchway. There, in the glare of reddish flare, they saw Felix Sergon, his mask discarded, pointing the last of the gold down into the Barracuda. Guns were peppering from higher decks.

Workers were floundering all about him, but Sergon stood unscathed. As the last box dropped aboard, he motioned two men below; then shoved away three crippled followers for whom he had no more use.

There were howls from the s.h.i.+nwi as the half dome closed above Sergon's head. Men who had worked to steal the gold were begging Sergon not to desert them. Pressed by the j.a.panese, they flung themselves overboard, hoping to go with the Barracuda. Instead of reaching the Z-boat's roundish deck, they landed in the water.

His millions gained, Sergon no longer needed men who would claim a share of the profits.

He had the gold; the j.a.panese could pay those fellows off with bullets.

In triumph, Felix Sergon had abandoned the stricken s.h.i.+nwi Maru; and aboard her, helpless as those who fumed at the pirate's departure, was the only being who could have balked him.

The Shadow!

CHAPTER XVII. ABOARD AND BELOW

THE valiancy of The Shadow's thwarted struggle was proven by what followed it. Mentally numbed, he had brought every ounce of reserve energy into play; all during those last minutes of Sergon's escape, his trigger finger had been tugging at an empty gun.

With the Barracuda gone, The Shadow's effort ended in a natural collapse. He sank to the deck beside the obscure companionway, as inert as Soyoto, who had already given out from exhaustion.

Soaked by the drizzle, The Shadow's next waking sensation was a coldness.

Recollection reached The Shadow vaguely. He visualized a battle that had turned out properly, except for something that had happened afterward. Perhaps Soyoto would remember the details that The Shadow had forgotten.

Turning to the thin-haired j.a.panese, The Shadow lifted Soyoto's head and gradually brought him back to consciousness. Soyoto blinked, then squinted his eyes. He had lost his thick-lensed gla.s.ses and could not make out the face before him.

He tried to speak, to smile, which at least was helpful; but it wearied him. Soyoto closed his eyes and would have let his head thump the deck, if The Shadow had not caught it with his arm.

There was nothing to do, except revive Soyoto further. The Shadow was at that task again, when a long shout came from a j.a.panese lookout. In the dwindling rain, the man had seen searchlights swinging from the horizon, proof that swift destroyers were near. That was not all.

Another shout caused the s.h.i.+nwi to sweep her own searchlight across closer waters. There, like a bobbing cork, floated something very much like the cheese-box conning tower of the Barracuda!

THIS time, The Shadow actually let Soyoto's head drop. The jar was slight; it aroused the thin-haired j.a.p. Sitting up, Soyoto squinted to see The Shadow, hatless, staring at the rail, toward something in the sea.

Again, The Shadow held exclusive knowledge.

The craft that the lookout had spied was not the Barracuda. It was the Lamprey, here for the meeting that The Shadow had ordered with the s.h.i.+nwi Maru. Coming to the surface, Prew intended to cruise along and await developments. He probably had not noticed the list of the s.h.i.+nwi, for the glare of the searchlight blanked the shape of the big liner.

There was no way whereby Prew could have learned of the attack that Sergon had made.

From the s.h.i.+nwi, word was going to the destroyers, telling them the wrong news. As on that earlier cruise, the Lamprey had been mistaken for the Barracuda.

Deep beneath his cloak, The Shadow carried a special flare, in case an emergency signal should be needed. He yanked the flare from his pocket, jabbed its spike into the rail. A few seconds more, he would have the cap away.

Three j.a.panese deckhands pounced upon him, yelling for more to a.s.sist them. Seeing his action with the flare, they wanted to stop the signal. One man introduced a gun into the struggle. That revolver looked like a toy, compared to The Shadow's automatics; but they were empty, this gun was not. s.n.a.t.c.hing the weapon from its owner, The Shadow ripped away from grabbing hands. They clawed his cloak, tearing it from his shoulders, which left him garbed as Cranston, for he had dropped his hat before. But his gestures with the revolver needed no cloak to strengthen them. The three j.a.ps scurried, bent for cover.

Guns began to bark from farther up the deck. Grimly, The Shadow ignored them, while he twisted off the flare cap and gave it a downward swing. A burst of purple light spat from the rail. To Prew, it would mean emergency if he saw it; The Shadow hoped only that the commander would understand that it applied to the Lamprey.

He wanted the Z-boat to dive while she still had time to avoid the destroyers. Afterward, The Shadow could explain matters; but it might take a while, considering the way that bullets were splintering the rail at his elbow.

To stay that fire, The Shadow faked a fall. Out bounced the three deckhands; he came up to grapple with them. Others couldn't fire at the melee, but they were running up to join it.

A steward saw The Shadow's face, recognized it from the description of Lamont Cranston, a man to be watched if on board. The fellow shouted for others to capture the lone battler at any cost.

Shoved against the rail, The Shadow saw the Lamprey, still on the surface. Her conning tower was open; a head was peering from it. The man was Prew, too far away to recognize, but he was trying to make out what was doing aboard the s.h.i.+nwi. Dazzled by the liner's searchlight, Prew was oblivious to those other lights approaching from the horizon.

In that moment, The Shadow resolved upon one long hazard. The risk was worth its possible result. It meant a way out for himself; it would produce safety for Prew.

Even more, it offered a chance to deal with Felix Sergon, for in these minutes of recent mental clarity, The Shadow had found a likely answer to a long-perplexing riddle.

The Shadow took the risk.

GRIPPING the revolver, The Shadow fired rapid shots between the faces that bobbed about him. It took expert work to miss them, and the j.a.ps, with lead searing past their cheeks and ears, did not recognize that The Shadow had ignored them as targets.

They flung themselves away from the fray, giving The Shadow a short respite while others along the deck were taking aim with guns. Vaulting to the rail, The Shadow took a long dive into the black water below.

Revolver crackles came with the bullets that zoomed above the rail. Those shots had missed, and marksmen could not spot The Shadow when they stared over the rail. His dive was long and deep; it was not until the searchlight picked him out that guns could begin anew.

By then, Soyoto was grabbing the hands that held revolvers, explaining that whatever the swimmer's purpose, he must not be molested. That news, unfortunately, could not reach the other decks the moment it was given. There, riflemen were spattering bullets along The Shadow's trail.

The Shadow had not attempted to elude the searchlight's path. He knew that it would swing with him, and he wanted it to stay as it was. That spreading glare ahead was his route to the Lamprey. His mind was centered on the hope that Prew had seen him. Topping a swell, The Shadow spied the commander lowering himself from view. Flinging a long arm from the water, The Shadow gave a last-moment signal. Commander Prew hesitated, caught another lift of a long arm. He beckoned down into the conning tower.

Reaching the Lamprey, The Shadow slipped as he grabbed the smooth surface. Two of the crew bobbed out; forming a human chain, they hauled him aboard. Grabbing Prew, The Shadow pointed to the north. For the first time, the commander saw the spotting light of a vessel other than the s.h.i.+nwi Maru.

Prew shouted an order below. The s.h.i.+p moved with a sudden jar. When The Shadow and Commander Prew reached the control room, the Lamprey was making close to forty knots.

Prew gave an apologetic smile.

"Sorry, Cranston," he said. "There was no help for it this time. We had to get started. We're well ahead"-he was peering through the periscope, to sight lights upon the surface-"so we can dive. But they know our speed."

"Keep to the surface," advised The Shadow, "and head south."

"South? But you said the Barracuda had gone for haven."

"So she has, but to a port that we never suspected. Bring out the chart, commander."

As Prew spread the chart, The Shadow added: "Unfortunately, I had no chance to tell Soyoto about the Lamprey. The destroyers still take us for the Barracuda, and will not give up the chase just because Soyoto says that a friend is on board. His orders counted on the s.h.i.+nwi Maru, but nowhere else; and especially not with vessels of the United States Navy."

Prew nodded, remembering his own distrust of Soyoto.

"So we shall lead the chase," concluded The Shadow. "They want the Barracuda. We can draw them to her."

"We had her signal a while ago," informed Prew, "but it ended. But why do you think she has gone south?"

The commander was spreading the chart as he spoke. The Shadow jabbed a pin into it, to indicate the spot where the s.h.i.+nwi Maru had met the torpedo.

"Straight west of Frisco," declared The Shadow. "You started from there at dusk, commander, the earliest possible time. Yet Sergon arrived an hour sooner. We know, therefore, that he must have had a closer base, well west of the California coast."

Picking up a black pin to signify the Barracuda, The Shadow poised it above an irregular shape that showed in dotted lines on the chart, a location approximately one hundred and fifty miles to the south. Prew's jaw went downward.

"Marac.o.o.n Reef!" he exclaimed. "You're right, Cranston-the Barracuda could reach there before dawn! But that reef is entirely under water!"

"And the Barracuda"-The Shadow's fingers jabbed the pin into the center of the dotted oval-"is underneath the reef!"

CHAPTER XVIII. MARAc.o.o.n REEF

DESTROYERS were still hard upon the trail as the Lamprey neared Marac.o.o.n Reef. The speed of the Z-boat must have chafed the commanders of those trailing vessels, but there was nothing they could do about it, except cling on in pesky fas.h.i.+on.

Thirty miles north of Marac.o.o.n, The Shadow ordered a dive. Prew first provided a burst of speed that made the Lamprey quiver, chuckling as he did so.

Setting the Lamprey at a comfortable subsea speed of twenty-five knots, Prew went to the hidden wireless panel with The Shadow. The glowing light told that the Barracuda was within fifty miles. After approximately ten minutes, the light began to blink. It was Claudette Marchand's signal; she was giving explicit directions, and repeating them in methodical fas.h.i.+on.

She was merely repeating bearings that she had often noticed, along with depth measurements in fathoms. Those would be valuable when the Lamprey took soundings.

There was more to tell, but Claudette suddenly was forced to sign off.

Daylight was on the water when the Lamprey reached the reef. Through the periscope, they saw a shelving rock above the vessel. Soon they were in darkness, using the tanks to raise and lower the s.h.i.+p, while Prew skillfully picked the unseen fissures in the rocks.

"I remember Marac.o.o.n Reef," declared The Shadow, "but from reputation, not by name. An eccentric millionaire once talked of creating an island kingdom by building an unnamed reef off California. He gave up the idea when he learned that the United States would claim it.

"The reef has been thoroughly surveyed. It must have been this reef, and the work unquestionably led to the finding of these channels. Sergon somehow acquired that information, and foresaw its value when he came to steal the Barracuda."

At times, as they probed deeper, the steel beak of the Lamprey sc.r.a.ped rock. Those jolts actually pleased Commander Prew.

SOME channels were wide; others narrow, until they came to the final stage mentioned in Claudette's instructions. There, the Lamprey poised, while Prew let water from the submerging tanks. As the Lamprey reached a fixed position, at a depth of ten fathoms, Prew peered through the periscope.

"Look, Cranston!"

The Shadow looked. Like Prew, he saw something else than water. Though the indicator showed them at a depth of sixty feet, the Lamprey was at the surface! The s.h.i.+p was resting in a low, wide grotto that covered several acres.

Phosph.o.r.escence from the water's surface provided a dim glow throughout the low-vaulted cavern, showing a low hulk moored five hundred feet away.

That hull was the Barracuda!

Only the periscope of the Lamprey was above the water. Prew drew it from sight and anxiously asked what step they should next take. After pondering, The Shadow discussed the matter of the grotto.

"An airtight cavern," he described it. "Whether natural or artificial, it forms a huge diving bell under the reef. Air pressure keeps the sea from reaching its right level, for the chamber is too low to be affected by the tide." "If it were bombed from above," suggested Prew, "it would no longer be a refuge."