The search-light and the whining
Yet it would do no good to stand
shell had struck fear to the hearts of the
and wait for capture and what capture
men. Instinctively one of them put up his
meant. A fight seemed hopeless, but a fight
hands, as if he had been covered with a
would relieve the tension.
revolver. Others trembled, some showed
And always, even in the most
acute nervousness, some growled angrily.
hopeless fight, there is the slim chance that
Sally Wood was behind a mast, the god of battle may prove capricious.
where the light did not strike her. Wild
“Arms! Where are they?” Connor
Norene, still clutching the revolver, turned
asked in a hoarse whisper, without making
and faced the glare of the light. Her face
a move.
expressed no fear, only patient resignation.
One of the men answered him in a
Two men had been below in the
similar manner.
small boat, and now they came scrambling
“We all have ’em—in th’ forecastle,
to the deck to join their fellows.
sir! And th’ cap’n has some! If th’ cap’n
“We’ll be shot—shot!” one of them
was here—”
was mumbling.
“Pay attention!” Connor said.
“Shot by greasers!”
“When I give the word, rush for the
The search-light had startled Jack
forecastle and arm yourselves. Miss
Connor, too. For a moment he had stood
Adams, you go to the companionway;
silent, a tumult of thoughts in his mind. He,
you’d best go below and take Sally Wood
too, knew what it meant.
with you. You, Guerrero, may do as you
Then he thought of Norene and of
blamed please!”
Wild Norene
43
They waited; the boats from the settle with Connor for that beating in the gunboat came nearer.
Astoria resort.
“Now!” Connor shouted.
A chorus of yells and shrieks, a
His shout seemed to rouse them.
volley of shot, a fusillade from the
With cries and curses the men dashed gunboat’s men, and then they were at it across the deck, some of them shielding
hand-to-hand on the deck, in the glaring
their faces from the strong light, many of
illumination of the search-light.
them expecting to hear the crash of a shell.
The men of the Amingo were
Norene darted to the
fighting for liberty and life; the men from
companionway, dragging Sally Wood with
the gunboat were urged on by their officers.
her. Connor and Morgan ran with the men.
Connor found himself in the thick
They gained the forecastle, and revolvers
of it, with faithful Morgan at his side
and knives were torn from bunks and from
fighting like a wild man with his knife.
the wall.
Revolvers cracked in their ears, exploding
It flashed over Connor again that
powder burned their faces.
this was to be a hopeless combat. Even if
Senor Guerrero already was a
they overcame the boarding party, there
prisoner, for Garza had attended to him
was the gunboat ready to sink them. And
first.
the Amingo was anchored.
Amidships they fought, but the men
But the men were frenzied now.
from the gunboat, by the weight of their
Prison or execution stared them in the face,
superior numbers, were driving the
and they were the sort who’d rather die
Amingo’s men aft.
fighting.
Connor saw Morgan slip and fall,
Out on the deck again they grouped
but he was up in an instant. But some of the
near the bowsprit, holding their weapons
ready, trying to keep in the shadows as
friends were denied the advantage of
much as possible.
fighting back to back.
“Wait until they’re on deck, then
A bellow of rage assailed Connor’s
mix!” Connor was shouting. “The gunboat
ears—and he faced Riney.
won’t dare fire then, for fear of hitting her
“Now, my fine buck!” Riney
own men!”
shouted, and followed it with a volley of
The small boats reached the curses.
Amingo’s side. On the gunboat a bugle was
It was a hand-to-hand conflict.
blowing a signal, and some officer was
Connor’s revolver was empty; he had but a
trying to megaphone a warning to the knife. Riney had a revolver at his hip, but boarding party.
he fought with a knife, too, for he was
Then they came over the side, in
handy with the weapon, and he was a man
two places, a swarm of some thirty men,
who liked to see his foe’s blood.
two officers in command. Garza himself
They clashed, parted, clashed again,
was there, intent on taking the filibuster
now slipping on the slippery deck, now
and Guerrero.
fighting toward one rail and now toward
And Connor saw that Riney was
the other, but always going aft.
with him.
Connor found he had no mean
Riney had a score to settle with
antagonist—he knew he was fighting for
Captain Bill Adams—he had a score to
his life.
All-Story Cavalier Weekly
44
Riney’s knife found his side, but the
stricken human being who had saved him.
wound was not deep. In turn he ripped the
It was not Wild Norene Adams, for,
man’s forearm. Save for them, the battle
though she had rushed forward, another
was at an end, and the men of the Amingo
had been before her. It was Sally Wood.
had been vanquished.
The men were still. Riney, still
Some of the Mexicans rushed cursing, walked forward to look at his toward them.
work.
“Back! This is my fight!” Riney
“Some fool woman!” he muttered.
roared at them.
Connor had knelt beside her and
Garza ordered them back. Riney was trying to lift her. Norene stood beside had stipulated that he was to have a chance
him, and the wild girl of the sea had tears
at Connor alone. He knew Connor had
in her eyes. Sally Wood’s eyes had opened;
been shanghaied by Captain Adams, and
she looked up at Connor and smiled.
that was why he had sailed with the
Then she looked at Riney, standing
gunboat.
less than six feet away, the smoking
Riney was the sort that doesn’t revolver still in his hand.
forgive a beating.
“I’ve—found—you!” she gasped.
Again they clashed, fought around
“And this—is my—revenge! Perhaps
and around, both tiring. Connor called forth
you’ll think
—of me—the next time you
his last ounce of strength and forced his
plan to desert a woman and child—or
foe. Again he felt the knife bite into his
rob—an old man.”
side. Again he drew blood on his
The man was staring at her. His
adversary.
revolver dropped to the deck. A look of
Then a lucky stroke came for him,
horror came into his face.
and Riney’s knife flew from his hand and
“You left me—to starve,” she
over the side.
whispered. “Left me—your wife—and
Connor, too weak to follow up his
your baby, too. And you took every cent
advantage, too generous to take the my father had—my old father—who advantage of an unarmed antagonist, suffered from hunger before he died—
perhaps, staggered backward, gasping for
because of what you did. I’ve always said
breath.
I’d find you—and have my revenge. And
But Riney, with a cry of rage, this—is my revenge! Wife-murderer!”
sprang backward, too. His hand dived at his
She screamed the last words at him,
hip; came up holding the revolver.
and the man staggered backward, holding
“Now, curse you!”
his hands before his face.
Two screams rang in Connor’s
The Mexicans, realizing the drama
ears—for behind him, at the mouth of the
they were seeing enacted, stood like
companionway, Norene and Sally Wood
statues, and regarded Riney with scorn and
had been watching the combat.
sudden hatred.
A rush across the deck, a body
Sally Wood looked up at Jack
before his own— The crack of Riney’s
Connor again, and tried to smile.
weapon, and a scream of pain as its hot
“Jack,” she said, so low that he
messenger struck home. Cries of horror
could scarcely hear. “I think—I loved
from more than one throat.
you—a little. But there is— Norene—”
On the deck at Connor’s feet a
And with that she died.
Wild Norene
45
Norene was sobbing as Connor got
“I’ll make him suffer for it!”
slowly to his feet and looked at Riney. The
Captain Bill was shouting. “Mutiny on the
expression in the mate’s face was not pretty
high seas! Make me a lawbreaker, will he?”
to see.
“Calm yourself, Captain Adams,
“Give the cur a knife!” Connor and let us get at the straight of it,” Garza cried to Garza. “Let the wife-murderer ordered.
stand before me again!”
The captain sputtered a bit, as if in
But Garza knew a better way.
rage, and then complied, darting glances of
“The man had committed a murder,
venom at Connor, meanwhile.
and we are in Mexican waters,” he said. He
“I can see now it’s all a put-up job!
stepped up and clapped a hand on Riney’s
“ he said. “In the first place, I’ll admit I’ve
shoulder.
run guns before, but never into Mexico.
“Irons, here!” he commanded, and
Only into little two-by-four countries of
two of his men stepped forward and Central America. I stopped that sort of obeyed.
business some years ago; I’m an honest
skipper handling lumber principally.
“I was loading lumber in Portland
CHAPTER X.
when I was approached by a member of the
When Death Is Faced.
junta. He said his name was Gonzales—
that’s Spanish for Smith, I guess. He made
his little proposition, without saying
THE gunboat was sending a shower of
exactly where the stuff was to be landed,
shells toward the shore, where the and I turned him down flat—told him I was revolutionists had been awaiting the done with that sort of thing.”
landing of the cargo.
Garza
grinned.
On
the
Amingo’s deck another
“I’m telling the truth, as you’ll soon
scene was being enacted. The cases that
have reason to believe. I went on loading
had been lowered to the small boat were on
lumber at Portland. This man, Jack Connor
deck again, guarded by the Mexicans—
by name, came to me one day and said he
Captain Bill Adams had been “caught with
understood I was going to carry lumber to
the goods.”
Mazatlan. He said he was a sailorman, but
They had searched the cabins and
had come into a bit of money and was
had found Captain Bill bound and helpless
buying an interest in a Mexican mine.
in his bunk, cursing at the top of his voice
“He had some machinery he wanted
in an effort to attract attention.
to ship. Part of it was in a lumber camp on
This had puzzled Garza, and now
the Columbia, he said. Would I carry it for
all of them were on deck, and he was trying
him, and land it here—at this place?
to work out a solution to the puzzle.
“I told him yes. Everything seemed
Guerrero and Riney had been sent to the
all right, and we stopped on our way down
gunboat as prisoners. Sally Woods’s body
the river to Astoria and took his stuff
had been carried to one side and covered.
aboard. My papers are all right, and the
Captain Adams, Connor, Wild packing-cases look like machinery to me.
Norene and the men of the crew stood
“I went on to Astoria and tied up, to
under guard, awaiting the pleasure of the
sail a couple of days later after I’d taken on
Mexican officer.
some supplies. There I met Guerrero. He
All-Story Cavalier Weekly
46
wanted passage to Mazatlan, and I told him
the
captain.
“Riney’s wife was a
I didn’t carry passengers. He offered me
stowaway, came aboard expecting to find
big money, because he said he was in a
him and make things hot for him—so that
hurry and didn’t want to go to Frisco and
explains her presence.
wait for a regular steamer. I agreed to take
“We turned in toward the cove last
him.
night, and I went down to the cabin with
“I can see now how they worked it,
Connor for him to pay me for hauling his
and how they made it look. Guerrero hung
stuff. That was the arrangement. He was to
around me, and I suppose you spotted him
go on to Mazatlan, though, then come
and thought I was carrying contraband. My
back. I wanted my freight money before
old mate, that fellow Riney, had a grudge
that cargo was put ashore, of course.
against me, but I kept him because he was a
“When we got to the cabin and I
good man.
was looking for my papers, he knocked m
e
“One day in Astoria, Guerrero told
down, bound me, and tied me in my bunk.
me my mate wasn’t honest. I asked what he
Then he came on deck and brought the
meant. He said you were in Astoria trying
schooner here to anchor, and began getting
to lease a small ship for your government;
the cargo overside. He boasted to me when
that you were the whole thing in Mazatlan
he tied me, that the cargo was arms and
and were a dirty grafter. He said Riney was
ammunition; that he was getting a pretty
to meet you, and the two of you were to
penny for running it in, and that I had been
work up some scheme to libel the Amingo
fooled and was getting just ordinary freight
at Mazatlan, and Riney was to have a share
rates.
of the graft.
“The men obeyed him, of course,
“I think he said the idea was to
for he was the mate, and they didn’t ask
confiscate the schooner and divide the questions because I didn’t come on deck.
money you would have paid out if you’d
Then the gunboat came, and you had the
bought a ship.
row. Connor led the fighting, didn’t he?
“Wait a moment now before you
Because he knew what he was up against!
smile like that. I went to the resort with
And you found me bound in my berth,
Guerrero where Riney was to meet you.
didn’t you?
You began talking, and before you’d got