by John Blaine
Rick looked back at the vintas, rapidly falling astern. The pirates were well beyond gunshot now.
“Victory at Sea,” he proclaimed.“Thanks to the professor’s college education!”
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CHAPTER XI
The Dancing Pirates
The Swift Arrow rode at anchor in the gathering dusk, inside a snug bay formed by a U-shaped island of the Kinapusan Group. The island was very small, and uninhabited. It was surrounded by larger islands that formed a kind of screen.
“Let’s hope we can spend the night undisturbed,” Zircon boomed as he finished the last of his coffee. “I could use a good night’s sleep.”
“We all could,” Rick agreed. He helped himself to more of the stew Scotty had concocted.“Funny about a fight. That one was over in a few minutes, but I feel as thought I’d done a day’s work at hard labor.”
“A perfectly normal reaction,” Zircon replied. “Our minds and bodies are wonderful things. When we face danger our whole system goes into high gear, our endocrines pumping fluids that get our bodies ready for fast action, or for wounds. We operate at top physical efficiency. Then, when the danger is past and our minds signal that it’s time to get back to normal, we show the effects of our over stimulation by a kind of lassitude.”
That was true, Rick knew from his own experience. It seemed that he was always scared stiff before a fight, cool as could be during it, and limp as boiled lettuce when it was over.
Zircon changed the subject. “Scotty, when you first spotted the pirates, from what directionwere they coming?”
The boy thought it over. “From about due south,” he said at last. “But when they spotted us the line shifted to the east, on an interception course. They came from south originally, though.”
“Not from southwest?” Zircon persisted.
“No. If anything, it was a little east of south, not west.
“ Uhuh.That was my impression, but I wanted to be sure. Now, according to the chart, most of the scattered islands of the Tawi Tawi Group lie more westerly than south of here. If the pirates came from due south, it means they swung wide to miss the inhabited islands.”
Chahda asked, “What means this to you, sir?”
“I’m not sure. I think it means we had better search the seas to the eastward of the main Tawi Tawi chain. The pirates would certainly have come from a westerly direction if their headquarters were anywhere near Tawi Tawi .”
The big scientist rose. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m for bed. Who has the first watch?”
“I’m on the eight-to-midnight,” Rick replied. “It’s after eight now, so I’ll stand by. Chahda relieves me at Page 41
twelve, you come on at four, and Scotty finishes the night.”
They had arranged the anchor watches that way because a single guard would be enough while at anchor, and it would allow each of them a good night’s sleep.
Zircon and Chahda retired at once, but Scotty lingered. The two sat on the afterdeck and watched the stars for a few moments.
“How are we doing?” Scotty asked quietly.
Rick knew what he meant. “I’m scared,” he said. “It’s a big ocean, and we could miss easily. Also, I’m thinking about what Chahda said. Even if we find Shan, we won’t get Tony and Shannon back without a fight. There must be hundreds of pirates, if the fleets we’ve seen are a sample.” He was sure that the northern attack had been made by a different group than the one that attacked earlier in the day.
“Do you think they’re still alive?” Scotty asked.
“We have to assume they are. What else can we do?”
“Nothing,” Scotty replied sensibly. “Except say our prayers faithfully.”
“Amen,” Rick said. “Go on to bed. You must be tired.”
“I am. See you in the morning.”
After Scotty had gone below, Rick sat quietly, depending more on ears than eyes to keep watch. Again and again he reviewed every bit of information they had obtained, re-examining it to see if any nugget of value might have been overlooked. At last he decided they had done everything possible. The rest would be persistence, and luck.
His thoughts turned to home, and he wondered what his folks were doing. It was nine o’clock, Manila time. At Spindrift it was eight this morning. The family would be gathering for breakfast, and Barby would be slipping Dismal, the family pup, scraps of bacon under the table.
Rick resolved to send a cable from Tawi Tawi , if they should stop there. He knew the family would be anxious to know how things were going.
The watch ticked away without incident.A few minutes beforemidnightRick woke Chahda and joined the Hindu boy in a glass of cold coke. Then he went to bed and drifted off to sleep immediately.
Some inner instinct awakened him. For a moment helay quietly, his heart pounding, eyes blinking in the darkness. Then he heard the pad of bare feet as Scotty got to his feet.
“What’s up?” Rick whispered.
“Just restless, I guess,” Scotty whispered back.
Rick was wide awake now. He slipped into shoes and trousers while Scotty did the same. A few minutes in the cool air on deck would make him sleepy again, he thought.
“On deck!”Chahda gave a wild yell. “Come quick!” The words were punctuated by gunfire.
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Instantly Zircon leaped to his feet and ran for the door.
Rick emerged into the lesser darkness of the deck in time to see Chahda fire at moving shapes on the water. The Hindu boy’s shot was answered by a dozen rifles, and Rick heard Chahda gasp.
“Pirates!”Chahda yelled. “Where is light?”
For answer, Scotty switched on the boat’s searchlight and swiveled it. Rick shouted. A dozen vintas were closing rapidly, propelled by paddles. Fleet- inglyhe thought that some sound or sense of danger must have awakened him,then he grabbed for Shannon’s bow, realized in the same instant that it would do little good in the darkness, and put it back.
Zircon took the pistol from Chahda while Scotty found his rifle. The two started a steady fire that was returned in ragged volleys as the pirates tried to shoot out the light. They came close, but the light stood undamaged. Rick thanked his guardian angel that they were poor shots.
It was obvious that even pistol and rifle fire could not keep the pirates from boarding. Rick jumped to the controls and started the engines. If they could only slip the anchor, it might be possible to ram through the pirate craft and find safety in the open water. But even as he borrowed Chahda’s kris and started to run to the bow to cut the anchor rope, the first vinta slammed into the torpedo boat.
Dark figures swarmed up the sides with piercing yells. Rick ran to meet them, swinging the kris.
He realized vaguely that the pirate yells had turned somehow to screams that seemed anguished, but his thoughts were occupied only with getting the Moros off the deck. In the faint scattered light at the side of the searchlight beam he saw that they were dancing, wildly, like Indians in a TV horse opera!
Scotty joined him in the wild rush up the deck and the two boys hit the Moros at the same instant. Rick swung the kris like a flail, while the butt of Scotty’s rifle slammed into bodies and heads.
The Moros turned with one accord and went over the side!
Zircon yelled, “Another boat back here!”
But Rick and Scotty had troubles of their own. Moros were pouring onto the deck from the bow, where another vinta had tied up to the anchor rope. They ran to meet the new attack, and were astonished to see the pirates go into the same screaming dance. Then they were fighting again, Rick wielding the kris with deadly effect, too frantic even to wonder why the Moros weren’t fighting more fiercely.
From the stern came a wild yell from Zircon, a great bellow that had overtones of pain. Rick’s breath caught. Had the big scientist gone down?
But the bellowing roar continued and he knew Zircon was still alive. Rick could do nothing at the moment anyway, except to swing the kris until hi
s arm felt as though the muscles were on fire. Next to him, Scotty slammed home a butt stroke that lifted a pirate high off his feet and threw him outward into the water. It was an instant before Rick realized the deck was clear,then he turned and ran to the stern while Scotty reversed his rifle and shot the vinta clear of pirates in the glare from the searchlight. From the corner of his eye Rick could see the Moros from the bow vinta scuttling through the water toward other boats, and toward land.
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At the stern Zircon towered like a mighty champion of mythology. Rick saw him lift a pirate bodily, pluck the barong from his hand, and throw him against two other pirates. At the scientist’s side Chahda fought valiantly with his left hand, his flying barong glittering in the scattered back light of the searchlight.
By the time Rick reached his friends the deck was clear.
Chahda ran and swiveled the searchlight, and Rick saw that the vintas were pulling away, amidst yells of rage from the pirates. Up on the bow, Scotty was shooting as fast as he could aim and pull trigger, with pauses only to slap a fresh clip into the rifle. The return fire continued, but without order or enthusiasm, and in a few moments it stopped altogether.
“They’re gone,” Rick said with relief. “Is anyone hurt?”
“Little bit,” the Hindu boy answered. “When is time, maybe could use bandage.”
Scotty joined the three on the stern. “I’ll get the first-aid kit. Professor, are you hurt?”
“Like fire,” Zircon answered grimly. “I’ll never be the same again.” He sank down on a convenient seat and began to examine his feet. “But let’s get out of here and attend to Chahda when we’re under way.
They may attack again, if they can find shoes.”
The comment baffled Rick, but he didn’t stop to question. He hurried forward to pull in the anchor, and found a vinta still attached to the rope. For a moment he debated about cutting it loose,then realized that it would only be picked up by the pirates and used against them. He untied the vinta line from the anchor rope and temporarily hitched it to a bitt while he hauled in the anchor.
The vinta was light and easy to tow. He hauled it to the stern of the MTB and attached the line to a cleat.
Scotty was already at the wheel.
“Go!” Rick commanded.
Scotty shot the searchlight beam toward the entrance to the harbor and put the engines in gear. The MTB moved with gathering speed, following the clear path indicated by the searchlight. Once the light picked up a vinta, but off to one side. Scotty gave it a wide berth.
As they cleared the bay, Rick got the first-aid kit and took Chahda down into the cabin. The Hindu boy’s shoulder was covered with blood. Rick hurriedly cut way the clothes, afraid of what he might find.
Zircon joined him, watching anxiously.
“Is not bad,” Chahda said.“Just made me stop fighting for a few minutes.”
Rick saw that the boy was right. A bullet had creased his right shoulder, digging a deep furrow from which the blood welled. It was painful, but at least they weren’t faced with the problem of getting the bullet out. He sterilized the wound and bound it tightly with gauze pads. Then he washed Chahda clean of blood and put him to bed with a blanket over him in case of shock.
“How about you, Professor?”Rick asked. “You said something about being wounded, but I don’t see any blood.”
Zircon chuckled grimly. “Not much blood, anyway. How did you happen to be wearing shoes?”
Rick explained that he and Scotty had awakened before the attack and had gotten partially dressed to Page 44
go on deck.
“Then you don’t know,” Zircon said. Suddenly he put his head back and roared with laughter. “Did you ever see anything weirder than those pirates dancing? I thought they’d gone insane in wholesale lots!”
Rick stared at the scientist. “I noticed,” he said. “I wondered about it, too.”
“But you don’t know the reason!” Zircon pointed at Chahda, who grinned weakly from his bunk.
“There’s the cause of it all. He routed the enemy with minimum help from us, even after he was wounded.”
Rick turned to stare at Chahda. “What’s he talking about?”
The Hindu boy shook his head. “I was sleepy, and I afraid maybe fall asleep, which big disgrace. So what I do? I fix things to hurt pirates, but also I hurt Professor Zircon, for which I plenty sorry.”
“But how?”Rick demanded.
“Oh, I remembered that in Jolo I never see Moros wear shoes.Not very many, anyway.”
Zircon had mentioned shoes, too. Rick groaned with impatience. “What have shoes to do with it?”
Chahda grinned. “I borrow the professor’s cannon ammunition. All around edge of deck I sprinkled, so when pirates come, they dance, and soon they have plenty.”
Rick got it then. He sat down and laughed until Scotty had to stick his head in to see what was going on.
Rick pointed at Chahda. “The Hindu wizard!” he roared. “You know what he did? He sprinkled the deck with tacks! No wonder the pirates danced!”
CHAPTER XII
Search theWideSeas
There was an atmosphere of rising excitement on the Swift Arrow. Rick felt it, and knew the others did, too. Little by little they were narrowing the search. With only a few island groups remaining, he felt sure it would not be long before the pirate stronghold was located.
The Swift Arrow had poked its sharp bow into nearly every port in the vast Tawi Tawi Group, and had put into theportof Dungun on the main island to refuel. Since the pirate attack of two nights before, the Spindrifters had practically eliminated the Tawi Tawi islands as possibilities for the pirate hideout.
Hobart Zircon, checking their progress on the chart, called the boys together.
“There’s only one island group remaining in this immediate area,” Zircon pointed out, “and I’m not even sure it’s inPhilippines waters.”
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Rick studied the place on the chart indicated by the big scientist. There were only three tiny islands in the Datu Amman Group.
“They’re pretty far to the southeast,” Rick commented.“Just about on the border ofIndonesiaand the Philippines. Do we head for them next?”
Zircon poked a big finger at the chart. “I think we’d better. Then, if we find nothing, we can head southwest towardSibutuIsland .”
“These Datu Amman islands aren’t very big,” Rick pointed out. “But that’s the general direction from which the pirates have been coming. We have to eliminate every island in this area before going on to Sibutu andBorneo .”
“We’ve got full tanks,” Scotty observed.“Might as well get started.”
“I think this also,” Chahda agreed. “We not miss any islands. Besides, these far out of way, not on ship lanes.Could be good place for pirates.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Zircon stated.“Who has the wheel? . . .Chahda? ...All right. Headsoutheast, and I’ll plot a course.”
“Why not use both engines?” Rick suggested. “Then we can get there before dark. If nothing turns up, we can travel all night from there to Sibutu. It’s all open water.”
“If we use both engines, someone had better keep watch from on top of the pilothouse,” Scotty added.
“Then, if we see vintas, we can throttle down. That way, we won’t have to give up our disguise of being a partial cripple.”
“Good idea,” Zircon approved. “Suppose you start, Scotty? Rick can relieve you later.”
Rick grinned. “That’s what you get for having ideas. Tell you what, I’ll toss you. Heads I take the first watch topside, tails I’ll start making lunch.”
“Sold.”Scotty produced a centavo and they flipped. Rick won and climbed to the top of the pilothouse while Scotty went below to prepare sandwiches.
Rick sat in a canvas chair Zircon handed up to him and watched the sea, now and then sweeping the horizon withShannon ’s long glass. The Swift Arrow cut the water cleanly, with both engines
roaring at three-quarters throttle.
They werecruising theCelebes Sea now, the Sulu Archipelago rapidly falling astern. It was a calm, clear day without even a single whitecap to mar the blue perfection of the sea. Now and then a school of flying fish broke water from under the MTB’s bow, and twice Rick spotted sharks, one of them a hammerhead. There were no vintas in sight.
Zircon handed up sandwiches and coffee,then relieved Chahda at the wheel. The Hindu boy’s shoulder was healing nicely, but it was still a little stiff and he was careful not to move his arm more than necessary for fear of breaking open the wound.
The afternoon wore on without sign of a sail. Scotty relieved Rick, who relaxed on the afterdeck. The Page 46
boy glanced at his watch. They should be picking up the islands soon.
Suddenly Scotty sang out, “Sail ho.”
“How many?”Rick called.
“Just one.On the horizon, off the port bow.”
Rick relieved Chahda at the helm, and the Hindu boy hurried below, saying that he wanted a cold drink before the fight started. Rick watched for the vinta sail, but before the craft was visible from his lower vantage point, Scotty called out again.“Land!Behind the vinta. Looks like a coral atoll. I can see the tips of palms.”
Zircon checked the chart. “It should be the most westerly of the three islands,” the physicist reported.
“Scotty, any more vintas?”
“Just the one.”
“Head for the island,” Zircon instructed Rick. “We’ll want a close look.”
Chahda emerged from the galley with cold cokes for all hands, and they drank while waiting for the boat to get within examination distance of the island. It was clearly visible within a short time. As Scotty had said, it was a coral atoll, the highest point not more than ten feet above sea level.
They passed the vinta at a distance of a hundred yards. There were only three men aboard, and they were fishing. Then Rick cut closer to the island while Scotty kept a sharp lookout for shoal waters and coral heads.
Details were clearly visible now. There were a dozen huts on the island, and only a handful of people were visible. Zircon took the long glass from Scotty and inspected carefully, “Apparently it’s a small fishing community. I see nets, and another three vintas pulled up on shore. There seems to be . . .Wait !”