a few hours before dawn a long, trim, high-powered motor boat cut through the placidly rolling waves. its motor was so muffled that it emitted no more than a low droning sound and could be heard for only a short distance, despite the fact that it had been let out to full speed.
besides the man at the wheel the boat carried six men, three standing fore and three aft. one of the men aft half lounged over the coaming and his broad shoulders and large, amiable face all but filled the stern of the boat. the spray constantly swept over his big, dangling hands and the salt moisture struck at his tanned cheeks but he seemed not to notice. his entire attention, like that of his comrades, was centered on the grayish black horizon; his eyes seemed to miss nothing, yet there was an abstracted look in them that the man at the wheel did not fail to notice.
“whadja hear, big joe?” he asked quietly.
92
the big man nodded his head without moving his body.
“’tis that buoy,” he said absently. “sure and she’s goin’ a great rate for such a calm, me lad. even in pretty bad storms i niver knowed flint’s buoy to be ringin’ like that.”
“flint’s?” queried another of the men, interested.
big joe tully smiled reminiscently.
“and why not? ’tis what most o’ flint’s men called it. ’tis a buoy at the intrance to kennedy’s channel and ’tis a bad spot, if iver there was wan. ye niver know how the tide’s goin’ to act. ’tis like a colleen what can’t make up her mind, and she’s not to be trusted, so nobody goes by that way. besides, ’tis a long way round past the hook. anyways, the ould boss took advantage o’ that place and we used to meet some o’ his best customers there and unload the stuff to thim.”
“not a bad idea takin’ us by there for an eyeful, hey, tully?” suggested the man at the wheel. “long’s you’ve decided on playin’ ball with us, since we squared that case ’gainst you, we might as well take your tips. seems like a wise mug like ol’ flint never made no mistakes. he got rich an’ the law never got him so if he picked out a spot like this buoy, he must ’a’ known what he was doin’. mebbe it’ll be a pretty good spot for our customers too?”
93
they all laughed at this, but big joe tully merely smiled and glanced down at the compass.
“sure and ould flint made his mistakes and plenty,” he said in his soft, deep voice. “he made mistakes whin he didn’t watch out that the coppers didn’t take the scows o’ men what was workin’ for his racket. and he made a mistake whin he stuck toby dare with a piece o’ junk. i guess he thought he’d be puttin’ me on me uppers where i’d be goin’ back and beg him for work.”
“he got knocked off fust, didn’t he, big joe?” laughed the man at the wheel.
“that he did. ’tis too bad he couldn’t ’a’ lived to see how quick i connected with you guys.”
“it’s too bad he couldn’ lived anyways,” said another of the men, “’cause that poor guy dare wouldn’t be in the can then. anyhow i don’t think he knocked him off. i think he’d liked to ’cause flint give him a lousy break, but i believe what he said in court that some other guy beat him to it.”
“i know lots o’ guys what were layin’ for ould flint,” said big joe. “sure he’d been dead a dozen times if iverywan what had it in for him, did what they said they’d like to. that’s why they won’t be holdin’ poor toby.”
94
“all the same, they are holdin’ poor toby,” said the man at the wheel. “he was sentenced late yesterday afternoon for twenty years to life an’ by this time he’s hittin’ the hay in the big house, that’s what.”
“and didn’t ye hear!” said another. “his kid, skippy, ain’t been seen since he had a talk with marty skinner aboard the apollyon. poor kid, he went there to plead for his old man, the paper says, and that hardshell skinner wouldn’t give him a break, i guess. the second mate told a reporter that the kid left the yacht in a rush, hopped in his kicker and beat it for the hook. guess he thought as long as he couldn’t do nothin’ for toby, he’d get away somewhere and try an’ fergit. well, that’s life.”
big joe tully clenched his knotted, hairy fists.
“sufferin’ swordfish!” he said. “poor toby! and that poor kid! ’tis a howlin’ shame, so ’tis.”
“know ’em?” asked the man at the wheel.
95
“i oughta—i worked ’longside o’ toby doin’ flint’s jobs night after night, so i did. a whiter guy than toby niver lived. he ain’t old—thirty-four or so. got married whin he was a kid and his wife died. he’s crazy ’bout that kid o’ his, skippy. ’tis what makes me feel bad.” big joe looked down at the compass once more. “north, northeast,” he said to the man at the wheel. “we oughta be at flint’s buoy in twinty minutes. there’s the light from the hook.”
they watched intently the great sweeping arc of light swinging over the smoothly rolling water. the motor boat plunged north, then northeast and in big joe tully’s eyes was a thoughtful, puzzled expression, the closer they got to the buoy.
“d’ye say there ain’t somethin’ spooky ’bout the way that bell’s ringin’?” he asked his comrades. “did ye iver hear a bell on a buoy ring like that without stoppin’? ’tain’t natural, ’cause....”
just then he caught a glimpse of the little kicker bobbing merrily alongside the buoy.
