El Diablo

by Brayton Norton

  CHAPTER VI

  THE LAW OF THE FISHERMEN

  Her decks spouting flame, the _Petrel_ raced on to meet the enemy.Gregory crowded close to the rail and dropped to his knee. The girl wasright about the roll. He shoved the rifle through a cross-stay, sightedcarefully and pulled the trigger.

  "I have the system now," he called.

  She nodded. "That's the stuff. Aim for the engine-house. They'reshooting from the ports."

  "Aim for the engine-house!"]

  The bullets from the alien craft were flying wide. The fusillade fromthe _Petrel_ was evidently interfering with the enemy's marksmanship.

  "No expert riflemen there," Gregory commented.

  Dickie shook her head. "A knife's their long suit," she answered. "Inever saw them shoot much before. Don't believe they----"

  A jingle of breaking glass interrupted her and the starboard side-lamptoppled from the bracket and crashed to the deck.

  "Get down," Gregory commanded. "They're getting the range."

  The girl smiled and wiped away the blood which spurted from a small cutin her cheek. "Just fool luck," she answered, leaning coolly againstthe stays and reloading her rifle. "That was only an accident."

  Gregory was by her side in an instant. Grasping her roughly by the armhe said harshly: "Get down, I tell you."

  She jerked away her arm and started to speak. Then she dropped to thedeck.

  "Maybe you're right at that," she admitted, a smile playing about herlips.

  The firing became brisker as the distance lessened between the twoboats, while the enemy bullets became wilder and more desultory. Dickieceased firing and turned to the man at the wheel.

  "It's Rossi with the _Roma_. He's getting under way."

  She flung out an arm pointing in the direction of the stubby-nosed pointwhich lay across the little bay. "Head for the arch, Tom. We'll cut himoff." Pointing to the fleeing boat she explained to Gregory: "He'salmost in shoal water right now. To get out he's got to follow thechannel. It's dead low tide and he'll have to make a big bend to getout. We'll cut across and head him off. He has the speed of us and aquarter of a mile lead. But he has farther to go. If he opens up he'sliable to pile up on the rocks. It's about an even bet he'll make it forhe's clever. But if he does we'll be right on top of him when he comesout. Then I'll teach him a lesson he won't forget in a hurry."

  The _Petrel_ altered her course while she was speaking and sped off ata tangent. The _Roma_, dashing shoreward, turned and angled sharply,running parallel to her pursuer.

  "He's sure pounding her," the girl observed as she noted the increasingdistance which separated the two boats. "If he holds that clip when hecomes to that figure S channel, he'll never make the turns." She shuther jaw tighter. "Cut in a little closer, Tom," she ordered. "We'll makehim take all the chances there are."

  Gregory climbed to the top of the engine-house and watched the _Roma_dodging among the rocks like a frightened rabbit. Dickie Lang was poisedin the bow like a figurehead, one foot resting on the rail. Her hair,jerked from her cap by the fingers of the dawn-wind, streamed out behindher in a shower of dull red gold. Her eyes were shining with the joy ofthe chase.

  "He's almost at the turn," she called back. "He'll never make it on anoutgoing tide. He's got to slow up. If he does, we've got him. If hedoesn't----"

  She was interrupted by a muffled exclamation from the man at the wheel.The _Roma's_ bow was rising from the water. For an instant she planedlike a high-powered racing-boat. Then, as if exhausted by the chase, shesettled slowly to rest in the white water, her masts angling sharplytoward the beach.

  "High and dry on mussel rocks," Dickie Lang announced. "It's a floodtide to-day and with the big ground swell she hasn't a chance."

  As they neared the wreck they saw the crew of the stranded vesselhuddled together on the sloping deck.

  "Don't go in any closer, Tom," cautioned the girl. "The tide's turning.They can wade ashore and watch her break up."

  As they circled closer to make the turn, Gregory noticed a red-shirtedgiant leap from the wreck of the fishing-boat into the shallow water,waving his arms wildly about his head. But the noise of the _Petrel's_motor drowned the voice of the infuriated fishing captain and histhreats and curses were heard only by his own crew.

  "It isn't Rossi, after all," Dickie observed as she caught sight of thered-shirted figure. "It's Boris, the crazy Russian. I never knew Mascolato trust him with a boat like the _Roma_ before."

  The _Petrel_ turned about and, burying her nose in the big swells, madehaste to leave the dangerous water.

  "Head for the nets," the girl ordered. "I'm not through with Mascolayet. He has my fish on the _Roma_. If I had a dory I'd go in there andget them. But it isn't good enough to risk the _Petrel_."

  As they came nearer the two strings of nets, Dickie explained: "I'mgoing to work the same game on Mascola that the fish commissioner doeswhen he catches them trawling within the three-mile limit. I'm going tosalvage his nets and make him pay for his crooked work to get hisproperty. Lay to, Tom, and we'll pull them aboard with mine."

  The fisherman drew alongside the row of bobbing corks with a grim smileplaying about his lips.

  "Have to rustle," he observed. "You know how Mascola's boats follow up."

  The girl tossed her head.

  "I don't care if his whole fleet comes along. And him with them. I'mgoing to make him pay me for those fish Boris stole from my nets. Ican't take it into court but----"

  She paused in the middle of her sentence as her eyes swept the sea.Focusing the binoculars on a small speck on the horizon, she announced:"Here comes Mascola now in his speed-boat. We'll haul them aboard, boys.Then I'll talk business with the dago. Get his nets first."

  Falling to eagerly, Gregory received his first lesson in pulling thenets. With straining back and smarting fingers he worked by thefisherman's side hauling the heavy webbing to the deck. As they reachedthe middle of the string the weight of the sagging nets increased and anumber of glistening barracuda floundered from the water, gilled by thestrong mesh. The girl observed the fish with darkening brow.

  "The dirty robbers," she exclaimed wrathfully. "Look what they havealready. I'll bet I'd have had a good haul if they had let me alone."

  Gregory noticed as he straightened up that the distant speck on thewater was fast assuming the proportions of a motor-launch. He noticedtoo that the approaching craft was coming at a high rate of speed andwas swerving shoreward. Tugging harder at the nets, he worked doggedlyon, listening to the staccato bark of the speed-craft as Mascola drewclose. They were hauling at the last string when he came within hailingdistance.

  "What's the matter?" he called. "You're pulling my nets."

  "Don't pay any attention to him," admonished Dickie Lang. "I'm not goingto hollow my head off. Keep working and wait until he comes alongside."

  With his motor purring like an angry cat, Mascola whirled his craftabout in a wave-washed circle and drew abreast of the _Petrel_. At thesame instant Gregory and the fisherman lifted the last piece of theItalian's nets to the deck. Gregory straightened his aching back andlooked toward the early morning visitor, but his eyes did not get as faras Mascola. They remained riveted on the launch.

  Never had he seen such a boat. She poised on the waves like a gull,quivering with potential energy, ready for instant flight. From hersharply V-ed bow to her delicately molded stern, every line of the trimcraft spoke eloquently of the plan of a master-designer who fashionedher with a single purpose--speed.

  "What's the matter I say? You're pulling my nets."

  Gregory freed his eyes with an effort from the launch to survey itsowner. Mascola turned angrily on the leather cushion and glared at the_Petrel's_ deck.

  Dickie Lang walked coolly to the rail. "Sure I'm pulling your nets,"she said. "I've got them all aboard. And that's where they're going tostay until you pay me for the fish your outfit took from my nets."

  "I never take your fish. I don't know----"

  "Oh
, yes you do, Mascola. Boris laid around me and robbed my nets.There's my webbing lying right where I put it out. I caught that crazyRussian of yours with the goods and he lost his head and your boat. He'spiled up over there on the beach."

  Mascola rose hastily and followed the direction of her arm. In his angerat beholding Dickie taking his nets from the water he had not noticedthe wreck of the _Roma_. A torrent of Italian words burst from his lips.His cheeks purpled and his eyes grew hot with passion. When hecontrolled himself to speak in English he cried:

  "I'll have you arrested for stealing my nets. I'll get a warrant andsearch your wharf and your house."

  "But you won't find your nets." Dickie Lang supplied the words and wenton: "Listen, you crook, if you and I don't settle this thing up rightnow you won't find a piece of your nets big enough to swear what it is.I'm not trying to rob you like you robbed me. I just want what's comingto me. Not a cent more. If you give me that I'll throw your webbingover. If you don't I'll trail them every inch of the way to Legonia andcut them into ribbons with the propeller. It's up to you, Mascola."

  The Italian flashed a glance to the cove where the _Roma's_ anglingmast appeared against the beach. Then he looked out to sea and his eyesbrightened as the mast of a fishing-boat rounded the point and turnedshoreward. It was Ankovitch with the _Lura_.

  His launch rode high on a capping swell and a puff of wind caused him tolook anxiously at the beach. The tide was beginning to set in strong andthe breeze was freshening. He snapped out his watch and scowled.Whatever was done for the _Roma_ must be done at once.

  "What do you want?" he flashed.

  "Pay for the fish you stole from my nets. From what I saw in your nets Ifigure I had all of a ton." She glanced at the fish lying on the deck."You've got about five hundred here. I'll allow you for that. You pay methe difference at three cents. That will be forty-five dollars."

  Mascola glared. His hand crept slowly to his pocket.

  "None of that."

  The girl's words cut like a knife. The hand which lay in her pocketturned and the coat bulged outward.

  "I was getting my money," Mascola growled.

  "All right. Face about the other way when you get it."

  As the Italian turned, Dickie Lang caught up a rifle and threw itloosely over her shoulder. Mascola turned to look straight into themuzzle and drew back sharply. Then he flourished a roll of bills.

  "Quick," he said. "You have me at a disadvantage this time. I will pay.Here is the money."

  He tossed the bills to the deck.

  "All right, Mascola. That squares us for to-day. I'll dump your netsover right where they are as soon as I check up the money. And the nexttime you try to lay around me I'm going to run through your nets and cutthem to pieces."

  Mascola dropped to the cushioned seat and whirled half about.

  "I will not forget," he said. "To-day you win. Next time----"

  His words were lost in the roar of his motor. The speed-boat shotforward like a horse at the touch of a spur. In a whirl of white waterMascola sped away for the beach.