Sign of the Green Arrow

by Roy J. Snell

  CHAPTER IX DAVE'S ELECTRIC GUN

  Once again it was night.

  Johnny walked slowly back and forth along the narrow deck. There wasabout him on this night a sense of uneasiness, as if some unusual thingwas about to happen, or possibly a whole succession of things, whichmight change the whole course of his life.... That very evening he hadheard old Samatan making a speech to the native crew--a fiery sort ofspeech, with the men uttering grunts of approval every now and then.

  "I'll take him down in the steel ball tomorrow, if I get the chance,"Johnny assured himself. "That should cool him off!"

  Samatan, however, was not the only cause of his uneasiness. There was thesign of the green arrow, those singers, and the boat mark on thebeach--and Mr. Kennedy's constant talk of spies. All these, he felt, werepart of a strange pattern of events.

  "The whole thing may blow up any time," he told himself. "And thenwhat--" His thoughts were interrupted suddenly. He sprang forward. Hecould swear he had seen something move near the steel ball.

  "No one here now," he murmured, circling the ball, slowly. "Imagined it,I guess. My nerves are jumpy tonight."

  A whole succession of small, dark clouds, high in the heavens, had beenpassing before the moon. One moment the deck was white with moonlight;the next, it was dark as the deep sea.

  Johnny laughed softly, and found it helped steady him. Taking anotherturn 'round the steel ball, he walked past the open top of the tank inwhich the giant, sea-green octopus was kept. As he came alongside, therewas a sudden splash--as if the creature had thrown out a long arm andallowed it to drop. It gave him a real start. Suppose the monster reachedout for him and really made connections. Suppose--

  There was that darting shadow again. Or was it? Just then a big cloud hidthe moon.

  "It's nothing," he assured himself. "Can't be. Crew's all asleep. Nochance of anyone coming on board without being seen. Guess I'll have totake a good, long, drink of cold water."

  Going to the stern he obtained his thermos bottle, uncorked it and drank.

  Then he dropped into a steamer chair to await the reappearance of themoon from behind that big, black cloud.

  The cloud still obscured it when, swift as a shot, he leapt straight intothe air, as from the octopus tank came a shrill, hair-raising scream ofterror.

  "Great Jehosophat!" he exclaimed as he sprinted down the deck.

  One flash of his electric torch showed a hand waving wildly above thesurface of the water. An instant later a head bobbed up. Eyes wild,nostrils dilated, the mouth opened in another unearthly scream as thevictim vanished beneath the water, now thoroughly roiled by the octopus'savage threshing.

  Long slimy arms appeared--here, there--seemingly everywhere. Then again,a man's head broke the surface.

  But now Johnny was on the steel ladder, reaching for the hand that hadfollowed the head above water. Seizing it, and wrapping his left armabout a rung of the ladder, he pulled with all his might. That he wastaking his life in his hands, he well knew. Those scaly arms seemed to befeeling for _him_. If they reached him--

  All the while, Johnny was thinking, "Who is this person and how did heget on board?"

  Thanks to Johnny's good right arm, the man's head remained above thesurface. He was a swarthy individual, with short-cropped, black hair.Spitting out a quantity of water, he whispered hoarsely:

  "Don't let him! Don't let him pull me back under!"

  There came a sudden tug that all but broke Johnny's grip on the man'shand. At the same time, waving above the disturbed surface of the tank, along, slimy arm seemed to feel for the boy on the ladder.

  Then, to Johnny's vast relief, came Dave's voice, calling:

  "Johnny! Johnny Thompson! Where are you?"

  "Here! Here in the tank! Help--and _hurry_!" Johnny shouted, desperately.

  There came the sound of running feet along the deck. At that veryinstant, a scaly tentacle found Johnny's wrist and wrapped itself aboutthe two hands, binding them together as with a band of steel.

  "Wha--what's happened?" Dave threw a flash of light on the fantasticscene. His quick eye took it all in at a glance. "Hang on, Johnny!I--I'll be back in a jiffy!" Then he was gone.

  The tremendous power of that steady pull from the tank, promised towrench Johnny's arm from its socket. The stranger in the pool uttered alow groan. Johnny's mind went into a tailspin, but he hung ondesperately. How would this end? Would Dave _never_ arrive?

  "Now!" came from above, and Dave was back. In one hand he held anautomatic, and in the other, what appeared to be an iron rod.

  "Get ready for an electric shock," he said, quietly. "I think this willfix him."

  He thrust out the rod until it touched one arm of the octopus. Nextinstant, Johnny felt a powerful electric shock that brought his musclesup with a jerk. Again, and yet again came the shock. Johnny could hearthe stranger's teeth chatter. Then he saw the fellow's other hand. It wasfree. At the same time the scaly thing about his wrist began to relax.

  Giving a powerful pull, he lifted the stranger half out of the water.Twenty seconds later they both were free, and tumbled, panting, on thedeck.

  For a full minute Johnny lay motionless. When at last he sat up he saidto Dave:

  "Hang onto that gun. You may need it."

  Turning to the swarthy stranger he demanded:

  "What were you doing on this boat?"

  "I was just a-passin' by, and took a notion to climb aboard," thestranger muttered.

  "You are lying," said Johnny. "You were spying into things! Why?"

  "I wasn't spying! I don't know what you're talking about," said the man.

  "I don't think he's a spy," said Dave. "He's just some native."

  "Native, my eye!" snapped Johnny. He had noted the outline of a longknife, showing through the fellow's wet garments.

  By this time the native crew was swarming up from below, and Doris andthe professor were standing in the shadows.

  "Let the fellow go," Dave whispered to Johnny. "He's just some native whohappened by in a dugout, saw our boat and thought he'd have a look. Hemight have meant to steal something, but you can't prove that. We don'twant to get these natives excited. They might leave us in a body. Thenwhere would we be?"

  "Oh--all right," Johnny agreed, reluctantly. To the man he said: "Comewith me."

  The man's boat was tied to a belaying pin up forward. As they walked inthat direction, Johnny and the intruder were out of sight of the others,for a moment.

  "I'll just take this to remember you by," said Johnny, dragging the man'sknife from its sheath. "If you're a native--you should carry a machete."

  The man favored him with a mocking smile, then bolted over the rail intohis small boat and was gone.

  "Well, that's that!" said Johnny, as he rejoined the others. "Here'shoping he doesn't come back."

  "Johnny," said Dave, "I wonder if you weren't making a whole lot out of avery little."

  "Perhaps I was," Johnny answered quietly. He saw no point in arguing.

  A moment later he said: "Dave--what was that thing you shocked theoctopus with?"

  "That was an electric gun," Dave laughed. "We use it while we'reexploring the sea-bottom on foot. If some big fish, like a shark, getstoo curious--we touch him and pull the trigger. Believe me, they beat it!

  "It's lucky I had it," he added. "Otherwise I'm afraid I should have beenobliged to kill our prize, and that would have been a great loss. By theway, Johnny, how did that fellow get into the tank?"

  "Tumbled in, I suppose. Probably thought he was going down into the holdto prowl around."

  "I wonder why?" said Dave.

  But Johnny didn't see fit to discuss the matter further.

  After the others had retired again, Johnny took the stranger's knife tothe light and examined it closely. Never had he seen such perfectworkmanship. The blade was of hand-forged steel, with a handle of oldivory. Two foreign words were stamped on the blade. Johnny could not readt
hem, but he knew very well this was no native's knife.

  "A spy, beyond a doubt," he muttered. "Wonder how many there will betomorrow night. Dave must let me have a gun!"

  Just then the moon came out from behind a cloud, flooding the deck withwhite light. What a difference that made. All the mystery of the nightseemed to fade.

  Johnny shrugged his shoulders and continued to pace the deck.