Great Britain. Army -- Fiction; Military education -- Fiction; Military engineers -- Fiction
Don Sebastian agreed, and they went back to the hotel, and stayed there
until word was sent that the last boat was ready to leave the mole. They
took their places with one or two more passengers, and as they drew near
the steamer Dick looked carefully about. Several shore boats were hanging
on to the warp alongside and a cargo barge lay beside her quarter. It was
obvious that she would not sail immediately, and if Kenwardine saw them
come on board, he would have no trouble in leaving the vessel. If he
landed, he would be in neutral territory, and their hold on him would be
gone. To make things worse, a big electric lamp had been hung over the
gangway so as to light the ladder.
Dick could not see Kenwardine among the passengers on deck, and getting
on board as quietly as possible, they went down the nearest companion
stairs and along an alleyway to the purser's office. A number of rooms
opened on to the passage, and Dick had an uncomfortable feeling that
chance might bring him face to face with Kenwardine. Nobody met them,
however, and they found the purser disengaged.
"If you have a passenger list handy, you might let me see it," Dick said
as he took the tickets.
The purser gave him a list, and he noted Kenwardine's name near the
bottom.
"We may as well be comfortable, although we're not going far," he
resumed. "What berths have you left?"
"You can pick your place," said the purser. "We haven't many passengers
this trip, and there's nobody on the starboard alleyway. However, if you
want a hot bath in the morning, you had better sleep to port. They've
broken a pipe on the other side."
A bath is a luxury in the Caribbean, but white men who have lived any
time in the tropics prefer it warm, and Dick saw why the passengers had
chosen the port alleyway. He decided to take the other, since Kenwardine
would then be on the opposite side of the ship.
"We'll have the starboard rooms," he said. "One can go without a bath for
once, and you'll no doubt reach Kingston to-morrow night."
"I expect so," agreed the purser. "Still, we mayn't be allowed to steam
in until the next morning. They're taking rather troublesome precautions
in the British ports since the commerce-raider got to work."
Dick signed to the others and crossed the after well towards the poop in
a curiously grim mood. He hated the subterfuge he had practised, and
there was something very repugnant in this stealthy tracking down of his
man, but the chase was nearly over and he meant to finish it. Defenseless
merchant seamen could not be allowed to suffer for his squeamishness.
"Don Sebastian and I will wait in the second-class smoking-room until she
starts," he said to Jake. "I want you to lounge about the poop deck and
watch the gangway. Let us know at once if you see Kenwardine and it looks
as if he means to go ashore."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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