The Argosy, Vol. XXV, No. 3 — page 90: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

474 THE ARGOSY. carpenter hard at work upon one of the boxes with a chisel and a hammer. In less than a minute he had the iron binding off, the end open, and the sovereigns, neatly packed, were exposed to view. The mate, who had been superintending this interesting performance, immediately turned to the captain, who was still on the bridge, and shouted out, ‘‘ All right, sir.’’ The old man waved his hand, and even at that dis- tance I saw the horrid grin that spread itself over his ugly face. Then the the mate had the box fastened up again and the whole of the plunder carried below. By this time the boat had been hauled up, to which piece of work I lent ahand. Indeed, willy nilly, I seemed to be doing my best to further my apprenticeship in the piratical trade. There was grim old Hayling laying on to the rope with all his might, and so, perforce, I laid on too, without much thinking ; though it might not have been so hard to guess the reason of the apparent acquiescence of the big Australian. But on once more turning to take another peep at the Chung Tong I was somewhat astonished to see how close we were drawing ; for now that we had plundered the ship there was no necessity to kiss before saying good by. Being entirely unprepared for what was about to follow, I was begin- ning to feel a little curious as to the meaning of the movement, when the gun forward rang out. At first the full significance of the act did not appear obvious; but when it was followed by the utmost consternation aboard the liner, I realized in full the horror of it all. Nor did it need the second shot, which quickly followed the first, to convince me of the fiendish intention of Macshiel. I saw the shell explode low down by the side of the Chung Tong, and by the way her officers crowded to that particular portion of the bulwarks, and looked anxiously over, I knew that she had been badly hit. Turning, Isaw Hayling beside me. White wrath showed up through his dark skin; there was a nasty glitter in his eyes. Yet his voice was calm and icily cold when he spoke. ‘This is a pretty business, Ravensford.”’ ‘They mean to sink her ?”’ ‘*Undoubtedly.’’ ‘But, Hayling, might we not protest? ’’ ‘“We might; but it wouldn’t be of the slightest use. They must sink the Chung Tong if they hope to escape detection. Who, then, is to know how she went down? Indeed, from their point of view, it is the only thing they can do. Protesting is useless. There are quite fifteen men forward, all fully armed.’’ ‘* But, good heavens, we can’t stand by and see this done !’’ ‘We must—unless we want to go down with her. Much better live in the hope of bringing these scoundrels to book. See, she’s under way at last,” and he pointed to the bubbling water just under her counter; ‘‘ but too late, I fear ; too late.”’ Too late, indeed, for just then another shot rang out, and we knew that the helpless vessel had again been badly hit. Hayling’s indifference sud- Eomicbooks (E@)