III
HIGH EXPLOSIVE
Dawn had just broken the following day when Don Winslow sat up on theedge of his berth. There was a light of determination in his eye, and afighting set to his unshaven jaw.
He was going to get up, shave and dress before the ship's doctor had achance to forbid him. He was tired of lying in a berth. Most of all, hewas anxious to see for himself if Mercedes and the others were reallygetting over the effects of the poison gas.
There were some difficulties to be met, of course. In the first place,his head was still woozy, and the deck heaved up and down as if in heavyweather. In the second place, someone had taken away his torn and muddyuniform. If he could get to the locker in the corner, though, he mightfind something to put on.
Groping his way along the bulkhead, Don reached the locker and jerkedopen the door. There, as he had hoped, hung an officer's spare uniform,along with a dress sword, weapon belt and other equipment. A drawerbeneath contained underwear, shaving kit, and towels.
The set-up was complete, including a hot water tap in another corner ofthe cabin. If only Red didn't wake up, or the doctor come in before hewas dressed....
Fifteen minutes later Don was buttoning up his borrowed tunic, when asudden yell and a thump spun him around in alarm.
"Sufferin' sea serpents!" gurgled the voice of Red Pennington.
More muffled groans, grunts and howls for help issued from the tangle ofbedclothes under Red's berth. Don came to the rescue, laughing so hardthat he almost lost his footing.
"Boy! You sure hit the deck in a hurry!" he chuckled, unwinding a sheetfrom around his stocky friend's neck. "What were you dreaming about,anyway, to make you yell like that?"
"A-argh! Umph!" groaned Red, feeling of his chafed neck. "It's nolaughing matter, if you want to know it! I dreamed the Scorpion's menwere hanging me to the yardarm, and you came along just in time to cutme down. What if it _was_ only a sheet instead of a rope? That dream wasreal enough!"
"It probably was," agreed Don Winslow, his grin fading. "I hadnightmares aplenty myself. It must be the effects of that poison wearingoff. You'll feel better if you get up and shave, Red. Unfortunately, Ihave on the only uniform in the cabin...."
"Unfortunately is right,--if you refer to the fit!" cut in the fatlieutenant sourly as he got to his feet. "That tunic you've got on wasbuilt for a man of ample girth. Like me, for instance! And as for thepants--Whee-ew! Don't let the wind catch 'em unfurled, when you gotopside, Commander! That's all I say!"
"And it'll be enough, too, Lieutenant. At least until I get my ownclothes back!" retorted Don, moving over to the open porthole. "Anyhow,this suit covers me better than--Whoa, there! Careful, sailor! Thoseknees of yours are going to buckle right under you!"
Catching Red's arm, Don Winslow steadied him just in time.
"Where were you going to walk to, shipmate?" he asked.
Pennington's reply was shaky, despite his plucky grin.
"Across to that chair and then collapse!" he answered. "Boy, oh,boy--this room's going around! I'm weak as a baby. Hope it'll pass offbefore Doc orders me back to bed."
"Hope so, Red!" replied Don, easing his friend into the chair. "We'lljust sit here and talk for a few minutes. You know, I wish Headquartershadn't ordered us to destroy the Scorpion's base, here. I hate to blowup all the machinery there that's too heavy to move. If only I hadanother month to study those new inventions!"
"Okay, Commander!" chuckled Red Pennington. "Why don't you dig up thewhole underground base and take it along as a souvenir? That'd be justas reasonable as--Say, listen, Skipper! You ought to be more thansatisfied with what you've done already. Wasn't it you that found theScorpion's base, to begin with? And who else but Don Winslow discoveredhow our ships were destroyed, here in the Windward Passage? It was you,more than anybody else, who pulled the last trick of sinking theScorpion's submarine. What more do you want, to be happy?"
Don Winslow turned to gaze out of the porthole at the sunlit waves ofthe cove. Beyond stretched the white sand beach, now swarming withsailors in dungarees.
The _Gatoon's_ launch and two whaleboats were pulled up at the edge ofthe water. Don guessed that they were getting ready to blow up the greatsteel cylinder buried at the jungle's edge. In a few hours, at most, thegunboat would be weighing anchor, bound for the safety of civilizedports.
Which was all as it should be; and yet....
"If the truth has to be told, Red," the young commander said softly,"I'll never be satisfied until I nab the biggest prize of all--theScorpion himself. Anything less than wiping out that menace to worldpeace, falls short of victory. You know how deeply I feel about that!"
"I do; and you're not alone in that feeling!" responded Penningtonearnestly. "But remember, Skipper, the capture of the Scorpion is nearertoday than it was six months ago. Through _your_ efforts his secretorganization is now on the defensive--almost on the run. I may not be aprophet or anything like that, but I'll bet my life that within sixmonths' time you'll have the Scorpion across the table from you--aprisoner!"
For a long moment Don Winslow gazed straight into his friend's eagerface. Red's praise, his confidence, his enthusiasm, were allexaggerated, perhaps. All the same they meant a lot just at this time.The young commander's chest expanded with a sigh of unspoken gratitudeto this loyal friend and shipmate.
"You're sure a grand tonic, Red, old man!" he smiled. "I hope yourprediction comes true, to the letter. But we've got to do something morethan just hope and wish, you know!"
"I do know, Don!" replied the chubby officer soberly. "And I've beendoing a lot of thinking in the last few hours. There's an idea that cameto me last night. Maybe you'll say it's all crazy, but...."
"Crazy ideas are sometimes the best, after all, Red," Don encouraged, asPennington hesitated. "Let's have it, anyhow. We can't afford tooverlook any bets in this man's game, so shoot!"
Red Pennington wriggled uneasily in his chair.
"Well--all right. You asked for it, so don't laugh!" he blurted finally."It's just this: you know enough right now to pass yourself off as oneof the Scorpion's agents. You actually did it, for a short while, thetime we barged in on Shilling and the Shark,--remember? Why couldn't youdo it again, and make it stick?"
Don Winslow took a turn up and down the cabin's narrow space, frowningas he chewed mentally on Red's suggestion. Bringing up before hisfriend's chair, he shook his head smilingly.
"It wouldn't do, shipmate," he stated. "In the first place, we'd have tocapture some member of Scorpia who looked enough like me to make mydisguise and substitution possible. Next, I'd have to find a way to openthat man's mind out flat, and memorize everything he knew. It's all verywell to dream about, but you know yourself such breaks only come once ina lifetime."
"Unless you make 'em, Skipper!" returned the stocky lieutenant, pushinghimself up to his feet. "For instance, you could get yourself kicked outof the Navy--dishonorably discharged--stripped of yourcommission--disgraced publicly before your shipmates. Suppose you didthat, and were determined to get revenge on the Navy for breaking you.Just where, then, would you be most likely to turn for help? Answer me,Don!"
For ten seconds the young commander stood gaping in stark amazement atthe wildness of Red Pennington's scheme. Slowly his expression changedto a boyish grin.
"I get you now, Red!" he said admiringly. "For sheer, crazy daring, youridea takes the cake. It's fantastic, goofy, impossible, and yet--themore I think about it the more it grows on me, sailor! We'll talk itover with Michael Splendor in any case, and see...."
With a sudden leap, Don Winslow cleared the space to the cabin door andyanked it violently open. A crouched figure outside dodged back, duckingaround a corner. The officer sprang after him, only to trip and gosprawling in the "cabin country" just outside.
Ruefully he got to his feet and re-entered the door, closing it afterhim.
"Looks as if that poison gas left my legs kind of
wobbly, too!" hegrumbled, seating himself on his berth. "I almost caught Mr. Snooper atthat. But, Red! You see what this means? _There's at least one Scorpionspy aboard this vessel!_ He probably got an earful of our conversation,too, and...."
"BOO-OOM! BR-ROM-BOOM!"
The heavy explosions came from somewhere inshore. Red Pennington leapedfrom his chair to join Don Winslow at the cabin's porthole. They were intime to see a huge mushroom of earth and water rise high over the jungleat the edge of the little cove.
Closer to the ship, and traveling nearer at appalling speed, rose a lowwall of water--a miniature tidal wave created by the blast. As it struckthe _Gatoon's_ port bow, the decks tilted crazily, like those of a toyboat. After the wave had passed there came a dull roar of water rushinginto a vast crater in the cove's white beach.
"The underground base!" breathed Red, clinging weakly to the porthole."They've blown it up, Don, along with all that machinery the Scorpion'sagents left behind!"
Don Winslow of the Navy Page 3