The mainsail of the schooner was furled, and casting off the main-sheet
could not have the least effect upon her; but one of them cast it off,
and the other was at the tiller. He did not know what "hard down" meant,
as no one would have known when the schooner was at anchor.
"Which way shall I put the tiller?" asked the one who was at the helm.
"That's right as you have it," replied the machinist, prompted by Dory.
While he was making it fast with the tiller-lines, the other one came
into the waist. Dory turned his back to him, regardless of the law of
politeness. The instructor was a stranger to him; but as he came off in
the schooner's boat, he did not seem to suspect that there was any thing
wrong.
"Have you seen Captain Spickles?" he asked.
"Yes: we saw him on shore, but he was not ready to come on board,"
answered the instructor.
By this time Dory had worked himself to a position in the rear of the
fellow, who was rather diminutive in form; and he did not lose an
instant in resorting to the tactics of Captain Spickles himself. Placing
his hands on the shoulders of his intended victim, he raised his right
knee to the small of his back, and brought him down with very little
effort. He had picked up a piece of line before, with which he tied his
arms behind him, even before the one at the tiller had noticed what was
going on.
"What are you about there?" demanded the other, as soon as he saw what
had been done, and hastened to the waist.
"Throw up your hands!" said the machinist, as he brought his revolver to
bear upon him.
The weapon had its effect, and the fellow promptly obeyed the order.
Dory secured him as he had the first one, and the business was finished
without disaster to any one. The prisoners were astonished, and it was
evident that they were inferior in force to the other three.
CHAPTER XV.
UNDER WAY, OR UNDER WEIGH.
Captain Michael Angelo Spickles was delivered to an officer, who
committed him to a cell in the lock-up. The future must have looked very
dark to him, for he was morally sure of spending the next few years in
the State prison. The Nautifelers Club had come to naught. Only the day
before, he had been blackguarding his former friend for not drinking
beer, and for being correct in his moral ideas. To-day he was in
condition to see the folly of his conduct, even from a merely worldly
point of view.
At the Beech Hill Industrial School, as soon as the principal dismissed
the students, the wharf and the boat-house were scenes of intense
activity. Although Captain Gildrock had not the slightest intention of
exposing them to a possible shot from the burglars, many of the pupils
believed they were going out in search of the companions of the chief
who had been exhibited to their wondering gaze in the schoolroom.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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