Motor Matt's Quest; or Three Chums in Strange Waters
Page 16
CHAPTER XV.
ON THE WAY TO BELIZE.
"What have I got left to live for?" scowled Cassidy, looking up intoMatt's face. "I turned against the best friend I ever had just becausehe had sense enough to put a better head than mine in charge of the_Grampus_."
"You took to drinking," said Matt. "That, I think, was at the bottomof what you did. But I don't harbor any ill will, and I don't believeCaptain Nemo, Jr., will, either."
"He'll never overlook this," muttered Cassidy, shaking his head. "An'it was him that pulled me out of the gutter, up there in Philadelphia,set me on my feet and done everything possible to make a man o' me. Iain't fit to live!"
"When a man's not fit to live," said Matt, tempted to be out ofpatience, "he certainly is not fit to die. Look this thing square inthe face, Cassidy, and live it down."
"But you don't know all I done."
"I guess I do, pretty near."
"No, you don't. I began plannin' to do some underhand work the minuteI heard what the cap'n was going to do for you. Whenever I git adrink in me, I'm ripe for anything. That's why I sampled that brandyI was bringing to the cap'n. I wanted to nerve myself up for what Iwas plannin' to do. I listened to you when you was reading the sealedorders. I heard it all, and I knew I had something then that wasvaluable. As soon as you and Ferral left the _Grampus_, I got away,too. As I stepped out o' the sailboat at the landing, this Cap'n Fingalspoke me. We went into a drinkin' place by the wharf and we spilled acouple of tots of rum down our throats. That was enough to set us bothgoing. I told Fingal what I knowed, and he told me a lot about himself.He said he'd make it right with me if I could get you disabled so'styou couldn't manage the _Grampus_, and would have to be left behind.That, as Fingal and I both figgered, would put me in command. It was tohandle you rough, and land you in a hospital, that we trailed you tothe consulate. When we failed there, we come back to the landing andFingal says for me to jump aboard his schooner with him and then layfor the _Grampus_ up the Izaral. I told Fingal I thought it was theRio Dolce, but he laughed and said if you'd read it that way you wasstringing me.
"I was about ready to quit on the business, after what happened at theconsulate, but Fingal got more rum down me, talked about how I'd beenimposed on, and told what a fine thing it would be if we could make youfail in the work you had come down here to do.
"That kind of pleased me, too. If I could have fixed it so you'd falldown on the job the cap'n had laid out for you, then, I thought, thecap'n would think he had made a mistake in not putting me up as boss ofthe submarine. Funny how a feller's idees will git squeegeed that awayas soon as he gets a little grog under hatches.
"Well, anyway, I went with Fingal. We left the schooner at PortLivingstone, and Fingal told the mate of the schooner to go down toBarrios and stay there till Fingal joined him. Then we stole the motorboat and hustled up the river to that outfit of ragamuffins that'shopin' to grab the country and turn it over to another dictator. Iwas disgusted with the lot of 'em, and with old Pitou more'n any ofthe rest. I wouldn't go near Coleman, and when our information workedout, and Jordan and the half breed was captured, I felt sore enoughat myself; but it was Speake that cut me up the worst. Him and me hadalways been a heap friendly on the _Grampus_, and there I was, afterbetraying him into the hands of his enemies. Oh, I tell you, Matt, Ifelt meechin' enough to go down to the river and jump in. Then, whenold Pitou made up his mind to send the prisoners down the river in thelaunch to another of his hangouts where he thought they'd be safer, andappointed me as one of the guards to go with 'em and see that none of'em got away, I felt about as respectable as a horse thief. Of course,when you bumped us on the bottom with the submarine, I couldn't sinkinto the river and never come up; oh, no, I just naturally had to landright on the deck, without so much as getting my feet wet. I don't knowhow I ever can go back to Belize and look the cap'n in the face. That'shonest."
Cassidy's regret for what he had done was so profound that it made adeep impression on Matt.
"You're not a bad fellow at heart, Cassidy," said the young motorist."Captain Nemo, Jr., knows that, as well as all the rest of us. Besides,it was a little bit rough to jump a fellow like me over the head of anold hand like you, and----"
"It wasn't!" growled Cassidy, "not a bit of it!" He lifted his fierceeyes. "Think I've got the head to do what you done? No, not in athousand years. The cap'n knowed what he was about, and I didn't havesense enough to see it."
"Well, you buck up and go to the captain. You didn't cause any greatharm, anyhow, the way things have come out. The captain will be sopleased over what's been accomplished that he'll overlook a good deal.I'll say a good word for you, Cassidy."
"You will?" demanded the mate incredulously.
"Yes."
"Well, that's a heap more'n I deserve."
"You'll be the mate to help us back to Belize. I'm in charge until weget there, and I order you to go below and go on duty."
"Orders is orders, I reckon," and Cassidy hoisted himself up andfollowed Matt to the tower hatch and down into the periscope room. Theroom was fairly crowded, and a roar of delight went up at the sight ofMatt. It died away suddenly as Cassidy showed himself. A glitter cameinto Speake's eyes as he regarded the mate.
"Better lock Cassidy up somewhere, Matt," suggested Jordan.
"Yes," grunted Speake venomously, "or tie his hands and feet an' throwhim overboard."
"You're wrong in your drift, friends," said Matt quietly. "Cassidy isa good fellow at heart, and Fingal twisted him around his fingers. Ihaven't any fault to find with Cassidy, and he's going back to Belizeas mate of the _Grampus_."
"Avast there, matey!" expostulated Dick. "That's playing it kind ofrough on some of the honest men that stood by the ship, don't youthink?"
"Vat a foolishness, Matt!" exploded Carl. "Dot feller come pooty nearbeing der finish oof you."
"Better think that over a little, Matt," suggested Jordan.
"Him plaanty bad man," said Tirzal, climbing up into the tower in orderto do his steering from the lookout.
"If he stays, mate, I resign!" snapped Speake.
"No, you don't, Speake!" answered Matt. "I'm master of this boat untilwe get back to Belize. Cassidy's mate, and you're in the torpedo room."
"You see how it is, Matt," muttered Cassidy.
"It's as I want it, Cassidy," said Matt firmly, "as far as Belize."
"But, look here," began Speake, disposed to argue the point, "here's aman, holdin' the responsible position of mate, as goes----"
"Forget that for a while, Speake," interrupted Matt, "and remember thenumber of times Cassidy's pluck and friendship have been a help to allof us. Put all the fine things Cassidy has done into one side of thescale, and this one black mark in the other, and there's still morethan enough left to entitle him to our confidence."
"I'm obliged to you, King," said Cassidy. "I'll go on as mate as far asBelize, and then the cap'n can settle the matter as he thinks right.Just now, though, I'm tired and I guess I'll go to the torpedo room andtake a rest."
"All right," said Matt. "You go to the torpedo room, too, Speake," Mattadded.
Speake hesitated, then followed Cassidy out of the room.
"You're a queer jigger, Motor Matt," remarked Jordan.
"But he's right, all the same," said Coleman.
"Oh, yes, Jerry," grinned Jordan, "you stick in your oar. You'resort o' chesty for a chap that's been stowed away in the jungle withrevolutionists for a couple of weeks or more, eating mule meat andmaking all kinds of trouble for the State Department of your nativecountry, ain't you? How'd you get run away with, in the first place?"
"That was too easy, Hays," laughed Coleman. "I came across from thePacific to Port Livingstone, and while I was there the revolutionistsgobbled me."
"I believe you said they'd treated you well?"
"The best they could. I played seven-up and picquet with Pitou, and Ilearned, before I had been two days in the rebel camp, that it wasn'tsafe to beat the general. As
long as I allowed him to beat me, I wastreated to the best he had. Whenever I beat him, my rations--even themule meat--were cut down."
Coleman turned to Ysabel, who had been sitting quietly by.
"I'm mighty glad, little girl," said he, "that you are able to getclear of Pitou and Fingal."
"So am I, Mr. Coleman," answered Ysabel. "If it hadn't been for MotorMatt I'd be still in the camp."
"Motor Matt again!" laughed Coleman.
"Always Motor Matt!" chimed in Jordan, with a quizzical look at theking of the motor boys.
"He iss der feller vat does t'ings, you bed you," declared Carl.
"Let's hear about what happened while Speake, Tirzal and I were awayfrom the boat," suggested Jordan.
"Not now," answered Matt. "I'm hungry, whether the rest of you are ornot. Speake," he called through the tube leading to the torpedo room,"see if you can rustle something in the way of breakfast."
"Aye, aye, sir," answered Speake heartily.
For some time the _Grampus_ had been heaving and tossing in a way thatmade it difficult for those in the periscope room to keep their seats.
Matt took a look into the periscope.
"Ah," said he, "we're out of the river and heading for Belize."
"And glad I'll be to get back there," remarked Jordan, withsatisfaction. "You've made me a lot of trouble, Coleman."
"I seem to have made a lot of you a good deal of trouble," returnedColeman, "and I'm mighty glad I've ceased to figure as an internationalissue."
"We all are, for that matter," said Jordan.