nora sayers was tall and active, with brilliant yellow hair and very deep violet eyes; a young woman of great energy, who had seen too much bloodshed in the revolutionary fighting around pekin, and who had turned her mission station into a hospital of tortured men. ellen maggs, smaller, very slender and frail in looks, was newer to china, but she, too, had seen so many horrors that the powers above had thought best to send both women away on a sea voyage in company. ellen maggs, however, had more steel beneath her quiet and old-fashioned exterior than men imagined possible.
when they entered the mess saloon at eight bells, noon, they were not surprised to find themselves alone. they had by this time grown used to the peculiar conditions prevailing aboard the sulu queen. the chief had a lurking sense of shame that kept him from their presence. the captain had the bridge. the wireless officer came in, bowed very effusively, and seated himself. he could speak no english, and listened staringly to the laughter and light chatter of the two women. abdullah and his family ate by themselves.
presently jim barnes entered, bathed and shaven and with his usual air of radiating high good-humor. almost at the same moment came vanderhoof, eyes bloodshot, walk unsteady, to seat himself with a grunt and absorb quantities of coffee and rice-curry. he gave barnes a scowling regard across the table.
"der cap'n say for you to take der pridge," he growled.
"not me," said barnes pleasantly. "now that we've open sea ahead, you and he can do a little work, van. everything's galley-west aboard this hooker, and the watches might as well go with the rest."
the yellow steward set an open gin-bottle beside the mate, who poured a tumbler full, then glared at barnes.
"by chiminy," he said, "d'you refuse to opey orders, huh?"
"you bet i do," said jim barnes, his eyes twinkling. "and if you know what's good for your health, van, you'll sober up before you try to give me any. savvy that?"
despite the cheerful accent, something in the steady and level regard of the second mate caused vanderhoof to drink down his gin without making any response. when he had emptied the bottle, he shoved back his chair and left the cabin.
"well, ladies," said barnes, "how do you find yourselves this morning? rather warm last night. did your fan work all right?"
"quite, thanks," and nora sayers smiled. "aren't you just a trifle independent with your superior officers, mr. barnes? i thought all sailors were very polite——"
barnes grinned. "oh, me and van? don't pay any attention to that, miss sayers. he was just trying to show his authority in front of you and miss maggs."
"oh!" nora sayers laughed. "isn't it mutiny to refuse to obey orders?"
"not aboard this packet. the skipper has been hitting the pipe all morning and now he's got us headed slap for borneo. lord knows why; i don't."
ellen maggs smiled shyly.
"you're the most happily irresponsible person i ever met, mr. barnes," she said. "and so is this ship. every voyage in her must be a delightful adventure, if it's like this one! have you been with her long?"
"this is my first and last," said barnes drily. "you can't say that you've enjoyed yourselves so far, can you?"
"i have, every minute of it!" exclaimed ellen maggs, an unwonted sparkle in her eyes.
"and so have i," asserted nora sayers with energy. "look at the queer people we've met! this funny little man down the table, who stares and giggles——"
"he's part idiot," interjected jim barnes. "but who else?"
"all of them! the poor old captain, with his politeness and queer abstractions and——"
"the old man's only forty," and barnes chuckled. "but the hops gets 'em early. so you like the eurasians, do you?"
"i don't like them, no, but they're interesting," stated miss sayers. "and the chief engineer is queer, too, only he won't talk—=="
"i was talking with him early this morning," put in ellen maggs. "he's a dear old man, nora. he was telling me all about his early life in scotland."
"he always does," put in jim barnes, "when he's in the middle of a big spree. oh, don't look shocked! won't do any good. i guess you ladies are disappointed that you didn't find another queer duck in the second officer's shoes, eh? or am i queer, too?"
"you're just human," declared miss sayers promptly. "only you're too busy to be very polite."
"i'm going to be busier yet, right after lunch," said jim barnes. "oh, steward! get me some more of that curry."
"why, what have you found now to keep you occupied?" asked ellen maggs, interested.
jim barnes did not respond until the steward had left the cabin. then he spoke cheerfully, as he sugared his coffee with some care.
"me? i've got to set the ship afire. as soon as they give the alarm, i want you two ladies to come up to the upper bridge-deck, and come quick! i'll be in the chart-house——"
"you mean that little coop up above the bridge, with the awning?" asked nora sayers.
"just that. i'll get there before they discover the blaze."
the two women stared at him, then glanced at each other in perplexed wonder.
"what do you mean, mr. barnes?" demanded ellen maggs, a faint touch of color in her cheeks. "are you joking about getting the ship afire?"
"no," said jim barnes. his tone was unusually crisp, and the look that he gave them was keen and incisive. "no. don't let out a peep before the steward, now! a mutiny is due to start at one o'clock, and, so far as i can see, most of the officers will get wiped out at the first crack. mutiny or piracy, i'm not sure which. i've got to set the hooker afire and keep the men so blamed busy they'll have no time for murder. please pass the butter, miss maggs."
his matter-of-fact manner made the two women at first doubt his words, then believe them with a frightful sense of conviction; ellen maggs stared at him from eyes that slowly widened. glancing up and meeting her gaze, jim barnes was suddenly startled by the intensity of her look, by the revealed womanhood he saw in her face; he had not dreamed that she could look so beautiful.
"i'm sorry i scared you," he said, smilingly. there was an infectious quality to his smile; perhaps because of his direct blue eyes, wrinkled at the corners; perhaps because of his wide and humorous mouth and strong chin. "but the steward's coming now——"
"you're in earnest?" demanded nora sayers, who had gone a little white.
"quite. nobody aboard can use the wireless, unless you ladies can. any chance?"
ellen maggs shook her head.
"no chance," she said, and astonished jim barnes by smiling. "but i have a pistol in my suitcase——"
"fine!" exclaimed barnes heartily. the steward entered with his plate of curry. "you get it. and you girls might as well buckle down to the fact that before we get through there's going to be a large slice of the lower regions laid bare aboard this hooker. is that an engagement ring you're wearing, miss sayers? pardon personalities; i'm asking for a reason."
"yes." nora sayers twisted the ring on her finger. "it's——"
"all right. if you ever want to add a plain gold hoop to it, you remember that there's just one man aboard who can pull you out o' this, and that's me. i don't want any interference, and i do want help. get me?"
"yes!" exclaimed ellen maggs, and her eyes were shining. "just where do you want us to come, please? you spoke about the chart-house——"
"come there, and i'll see you up safe to the awning deck above. a little before two bells. bring with you anything that you value very highly. we may stave off this fuss until night, in which case we'll be all right. well, cheer up and don't worry! see you later."
jim barnes pushed back his chair, produced his pipe, and began to fill it as he left the mess saloon. he stood by the rail a moment, until his pipe was lighted.
"i guess that was laying bare the situation with a rough and brutal hand," he said, and chuckled softly. "had to be done, though. and now i've got to step mighty carefully. most likely those assistant engineers are in on the game; they're eurasians, too, so i can't take chances. if anyone suspects that i know about things, the blow-off will come before two bells—which would spoil everything for me. but lordy! what a pippin that little maggs girl is! she's a regular guy."
from his language, it might be inferred that jim barnes was an american.
puffing at his pipe, he sought the engine-room. the chief blinked up at him from a huge plate of curry. a glance showed barnes that neither of the assistants were about, and he ventured an open word.
"chief, wake up! mutiny is scheduled for two bells, and if you don't want your throat cut you'd better be advised——"
"get oot o' ma engine-room!" ordered the chief with dignity. "ye drunken scut, can ye not bear your liquor like a man? i'll hae no drunken officers cooming doon here to be bawlin' o' mutinies in ma ear! tak' shame to yoursel', sir!"
barnes compressed his lips and turned away. it was useless.
the sulu queen, originally a well-decked tramp, had been fitted up rather shabbily to carry passengers in the island trade, the after portion of the deck-house having been added to for this purpose. carrying all the oily waste he could conceal about his person, jim barnes made his way aft to one of the unoccupied cabins. the two white passengers were not in sight. in the stern, beneath a tattered awning, abdullah sat smoking a water-pipe, his wife and family around him.
"they're safe enough," observed barnes, as he ducked into the cabin he sought. "even if the old packet can't get up enough steam to check the flames, and goes down, they'll be taken care of. so, on with the dance!"
the fact that he was committing various sorts of barratry and felony, did not worry jim barnes in the least.
the storm season being past, the lookout or awning-deck above the pilot-house was fitted up with awning and canvas aprons and some chairs, but remained almost unused. the additional climb of a dozen feet from the chart-and pilot-house was far too much trouble for the captain and others; besides which, the place was no more than a box a dozen feet square, and was hot. a single ladder ascended to it from the bridge deck, which it overlooked completely.
shortly before two bells, jim barnes welcomed ellen maggs and nora sayers, as they came up to the bridge. he was alone there, with li fu and two of the lascars in the chart-house. down in the bows, lim tock, the supercargo, was standing in talk with the steward, and both watches were idling about the deck.
"how do we get upstairs?" asked ellen maggs.
"right this way, ladies!" answered barnes cheerfully. "chairs up there and a couple of old magazines, as well as a breaker of water and some other things. whatever happens, don't worry—and wait for me. here you are!"
as they vanished up the ladder, he re-entered the chart-house and addressed the two lascar seamen.
"run, quick! one of you to the serang, the other to lim tock. say that i smell smoke, and have search made for fire. look at the bunkers, but don't take off the hatches until the last thing. if there's a fire in the forward hold, call me."
a startled glance passed between the two men, and they jumped for the ladder. jim barnes turned to the quartermaster, smiling slightly.
"where is hi john?"
"him look velly sharp, i think."
"we can depend on him?"
li fu nodded.
"all right, then," said barnes. "you go tell him to come up here. then take charge of those lascars and keep 'em out of the after cabins for a while, until the fire shows itself. you savvy? don't be in any hurry to put it out, either. we'll hold this thing off until night if we can."
across the saffron features flitted a look of admiration, for li fu comprehended the plan instantly. then the quartermaster was gone. barnes looked at the chronometer. it lacked five minutes of one.
"two bells won't be struck," he thought, as he swung the wheel.
he grinned at sight of the commotion below. lim tock was yelling orders at those of the black gang whom he could see. gajah, the serang, was whistling at his lascars shrilly. then he remembered the chief engineer, and rang the bell. one of the assistants answered in the tube.
"ship's on fire," said jim barnes, chuckling to himself. "stop your engines and keep up a full head o' steam for the hose."
hi john appeared, gave barnes a brief nod and a grin, and took the wheel. there had never been any fire drill aboard the sulu queen in the memory of man, but barnes blew the whistle nevertheless and added to the confusion. vanderhoof's bellow arose from below, followed by an outburst of yells and shouts from aft.
"they've found it," said barnes.
he went to the bridge rail and glanced aft. a trail of smoke and steam was veering out in the wake of the steamer. barnes listened for a little to the sounds of tumultuous confusion, then rejoined the quartermaster.
"how did you and li fu know so much about this mutiny?" he demanded.
"talkee-talkee," rejoined hi john curtly. "my savvy lascar talk plenty."
"oh! understand malay, do you? good work. what reason have they to mutiny?"
hi john had picked up a good deal of information. he knew that the rich boxes of the merchant abdullah were to be looted, and that there was a large amount of opium down below, to be transferred to a chinese junk and landed somewhere along the bornean coast. undoubtedly, the sulu queen was to be stripped of everything valuable, then quietly sunk in deep water. lim tock was in it, the serang gajah was in it, and the chinese junk was in it; so were some of the officers and all the men aboard.
reluctantly jim barnes became convinced that to strive against the inevitable would be useless. except for these two chinese, he could depend upon no one. had he been alone on the ship, his actions would have been simple and perhaps effectual.
"i'd like to go down there and shoot the supercargo, the serang, and a few of the men, and get the old hooker into port," he said to hi john. "but the safety of those two white women is worth more than this damned old carcass of a boat. i can't risk it."
hi john looked bewildered at this reasoning, which he could not understand. at this instant li fu came up the port ladder, panting, and grinned as he saluted barnes.
"mutiny makee, no matter! i think they wait, same time tonight, mebbeso."
"two bells evening watch?" demanded barnes.
"aye, sir. cap'n say go ahead on course, he makee fire go out."
barnes rang for full speed ahead, then questioned li fu. both the skipper and vanderhoof were in charge, it seemed, and were fighting the fire. vanderhoof was somewhat sobered by the danger; the captain was almost incapacitated and was acting like an old woman, according to li. the quartermaster was highly disgusted. it was the effort of the serang, whose lascars were working hard, that was putting the fire under control.
presently the skipper himself appeared, he was breathing hard and was all in a tremble. he wiped his pallid brow and cursed heartily.
"fire under?" asked barnes.
"yes, yes, or soon will be. no matter at all. very disturbing," panted the captain. "i must obtain some rest, must verify our position. keep her as she is, sir."
he looked around, nervously fingered the chart, then departed. barnes looked after him in contempt, then went to the ladder leading above.
"gone for a few pipes, the swine!" he muttered, then looked up and raised his voice. "come on down, girls. mutiny's postponed until tonight. false alarm and nobody killed yet."
