CHAPTER XIV.
MOTOR MATT'S SUCCESS.
The door to the steel chamber, as Matt remembered it, opened directlyoff the end of the narrow passage. The corridor was lighted with acouple of incandescent lamps so that Matt had no trouble in seeing whathe was about.
Just as he laid his hand on the door Carl came into the passage. Mattturned to his chum, laid a finger on his lips in token of silence, andbeckoned him to come close.
Just as Carl drew near Matt pushed open the door. Instantly there wasa rush of feet and the young motorist was thrown heavily back againstthe Dutch boy. They both went down together on the steel floor; and, atthe same moment, the electric lights faded out, leaving the corridor indarkness.
Only one man had rushed from the room at the end of the passage--ofthat Matt was positive. Where he had gone Matt did not know, but assoon as he could extricate himself from his entanglement with his Dutchpard the young motorist pushed on through the darkness and entered thechamber.
"Vere you vas, Matt?" called Carl, stumbling along the corridor. "Itvas so tark I don'd peen aple to see my handt pehind my pack. Vich vaydit you go?"
"This way, Carl," shouted Matt.
"Vere iss der feller vat knocked us down?"
"I don't know, but it's a cinch that he's somewhere in the boat. Hecan't get away without passing through the room where Dick is, and, ifhe tries that----"
Matt broke off his words with an exclamation. He had stumbled oversomething on the floor.
Going down on his knees he groped over the object with his hands anddiscovered that it was the form of a man, as helplessly bound andgagged as were Jurgens and Whistler, in the tent on the island, at thatmoment.
With his hands Matt twisted the gag from the man's lips.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"Cassidy's my name," was the breathless answer; "and who are you?"
"Motor Matt."
"Great hullaballoo!" muttered Cassidy. "How'd you get here?"
"There's too much of it to tell, just now. Where are Burke and Harris,Cassidy?"
"Right here alongside o' me. We've been trussed up like this for a dayan 'two nights, an' my legs an' arms feel like they was paralyzed. IsNemo, Jr., with you, Motor Matt?"
"No--only my two pards, Dick Ferral and Carl Pretzel. Jurgens andWhistler are captured, and we left them tied up, on the island."
"You never!" gasped Cassidy.
"That's the way of it," answered Matt. "How----"
"Well, if I ain't clean beat I don't want a cent. How'd you ever manageto do it?"
"How am I to get the lights turned on, Cassidy? I'd like to see whatI'm doing."
"I could tell you how to turn on the lights, Motor Matt, but you'd besomethin' of a spell finding the place in the dark. Better cut me looseand leave that part of it to me. I'll snap on the lights while you'refreein' Burke and Harris."
This advice seemed sound, and Matt used his knife carefully on theropes that secured Cassidy's wrists and ankles.
He could hear Cassidy getting up, and his exclamation of relief wasloud and hearty.
"Now, by thunder," growled Cassidy, "we're havin' our innings. I reckonJurgens'll find that his high-handed game o' his ain't all one-sided.I'll go turn on the lights, Motor Matt," and Cassidy could be heardleaving the room and passing into the corridor.
Matt and Carl groped about until they had found the other twoprisoners, and while they were freeing them the lights were suddenlyturned on.
"I'm Burke," said one of the men.
"Harris, that's me," said the other.
"How many men did Jurgens have on the submarine with him?" asked Matt.
"The' was four of 'em," replied Harris, standing erect and rubbing hiscramped limbs. "The three that come first an' pulled the wool overCassidy's eyes with that letter, an' then Whistler. That's all of 'em,Motor Matt."
"Jurgens and Whistler have been captured," went on Matt, "and one of myfriends has another in the room below the conning tower. That leavestwo more. Have you any idea where they are?"
This question was answered by a terrific clamor from some point in theforward part of the ship. Above the noise broke the sudden report of arevolver, echoing loudly between the steel decks and bulkheads.
"Here they are, men!" came the voice of Cassidy, husky and breathlessas though he was fighting. "Here's t'other two of 'em in the torpedoroom, tryin' ter get out the bow port."
"The torpedo room!" shouted Burke.
"Hike for the torpedo room!" roared Harris.
The two men flung past Matt and Carl and raced along the corridor.
"I guess there are enough of them to capture the two remaining membersof the gang, Carl," said Matt. "Pick up some of those ropes and we'llgo and put them on the fellow Dick is standing guard over."
"Dot's me!" boomed Carl, gathering up the ropes and hurrying after Matt.
They found that Dick still had his prisoner safely in hand.
"He nearly slipped his hawse, though," said Dick, "when the lightswent out, but I hung to him until the lights were turned on again. Didyou find Cassidy, Burke and Harris, Matt?"
"Yes," answered Matt. "They were in the same room where Holcomb and Iwere put when Jurgens brought us aboard the _Grampus_. We've releasedthe three of them and they are now making prisoners of the two lastmembers of Jurgens' gang. They're fighting in the torpedo room."
"Glory!" cried Ferral. "If any one had told me we could have done this,I wouldn't have believed it. It's the biggest thing we've yet passed toour credit, matey."
"Well, before we congratulate ourselves too much, suppose we make sureof the prisoners we have? Get the ropes on that fellow, Dick, and thenyou and Carl drag him to the room from which we just took Cassidy,Burke and Harris. I'm going to the torpedo room and see how matters areprogressing."
While Carl and Dick were busy with their prisoner, Matt made his wayforward along the passage to the torpedo room. When he opened the doorand stepped into the place he found that the scrimmage was all over.Cassidy, Burke and Harris had captured the two men and were busy makingthem secure. Leaving the work to Burke and Harris, Cassidy arose to hisfeet and stepped close to Matt.
"Your hand, youngster!" said he, cordially, reaching out one of hispaws. "You've turned a big thing--I don't know how big, nor how youdone it, but I reckon all that'll come out afore long. These fellers,"and here Cassidy waved an angry hand toward the two prisoners, "wastwo of the three that breezed up to me on the wharf at the Inlet an'flashed a letter that claimed to be from Nemo, Jr. The letter informedme that the three men had been hired for part o' the crew o' the_Grampus_, an' that they was to come aboard and I was to show 'em theropes. Well, they got me. I ain't overly good at reading writin', but Imanaged to make out what that letter said an' didn't have sense enoughto know it wasn't writ by the cap'n's hand.
"Them three Injuns come aboard. I took one of 'em to show him theropes, Burke took another, and Harris took the third. The same thingthat happened to Harris an' Burke likewise happened to me. When Iwasn't lookin', the gent I was conductin' around an' explainin' thingsto rapped me over the skull from behind. When I come to I was in thetorpedo room, along with Burke an' Harris. Bymby we was took out o'here into the periscope room, an' from there into the foc'sle, whichain't a foc'sle at all in the original meanin' o' the word, but whichwe calls that on account o' it's bein' sleepin' quarters fer the hands.
"A little later the _Grampus_ got under headway, an' then I was waitedon by Whistler an' conducted to the motor at the p'int of a gun an'told to keep the motor goin' and obey orders. There wasn't anythingelse for me to do. The boat was in the hands of the enemy. Jurgens hadgot the best of the old man, an' I knowed what Jurgens' game was.
"One of Jurgens' men watched me handlin' the motor, an' finally madeout to take it hisself. Then, when that happened, I was taken back tothe foc'sle an' the lashings was put onto me again. Bymby, Harris andBurke was brought in an' treated in the same way. Like me, they hadlearned some o' Jurgens' men how to
do the work on the _Grampus_, an'we was sidetracked because we wasn't needed an' couldn't be trusted."
"How did Jurgens come to stop at this island?" Matt asked.
"He seen the white flag an' got curious."
"How did he see the flag if the _Grampus_ was under water?"
"Through the periscope."
"Is that red ball on top of the staff the periscope?"
"It's part of it. Jurgens seen the flag through that, an' bein' of acur'ous disposition he put in to investigate. Three of the gang wasleft to look after Burke, Harris an' me, an' Jurgens an' Whistler wentashore. Now, son, you can open up an' explain how you happened to be onthe island, an' how you managed to capture Jurgens an' Whistler, so----"
"I think you'd better go ashore and get Jurgens and Whistler, Cassidy,"interrupted Matt. "If we left them there too long they might succeed ingetting away. You'll find them in a makeshift tent, by the three palmtrees."
"We'll get 'em, Matt, but fust off we'll carry these two fellers to thefoc'sle. Drag 'em along, Burke, you an' Harris," Cassidy added to hismates.
The men were dragged to the steel chamber and thrown into it to keepFerral's prisoner company. This done, Cassidy, Burke and Harris climbedout of the conning tower, descended the ladder and went ashore.
Motor Matt's Peril; or, Cast Away in the Bahamas Page 15