Stanley R. Matthews

“ What are you going to do, Matt?"
Matt thought for a moment.
"Am I to have my way, captain?" he asked.
"Certainly. I want to see what you can do."
"Speake! Gaines! Clackett!" called Matt. "Come up here, at once."
From the engine room, the torpedo room, and the ballast room came the rest of the submarine's crew. Their faces were gray with anxiety, but they were men of pluck and determination, and could be depended on to fight for life until the very last.
"Men," said Matt, "we have rammed an old hulk that has been lying for centuries in the bottom of St. George's Bay. ”

“ The humming of the cylinders ceased, and the Grampus, anchored broadside on across the Izaral, tugged at her mooring chains.
"Where are we, Matt?" came the voice of Gaines through the motor-room tube. "I thought we were making a run to get away from the revolutionists."
"Hardly, Gaines," answered Matt. "We don't want to run away and leave our friends in the hands of the rebels. Come into the periscope room, all of you, and I'll explain what we are doing and why we are doing it."
"And while you're explaining," said Ysabel quietly but firmly, "I'll take care of your arm. ”

“ Matt, from the captain's manner, had suspected that the gray-haired inventor of the craft had tried to bring out all that was in him. Captain Nemo, Jr., of course, had not been able to forecast the trouble that was to overtake the submarine in the bottom of the bay, but this dangerous experience had served only to show Matt's resourcefulness to better advantage.
"You are cool-headed in time of danger," proceeded the captain, "and, no matter what goes wrong, your ability is always on tap and can be brought to bear instantly upon anything you desire to accomplish." ”

“ The boat was comparatively small, and well loaded. Fingal was in the bow thwarts, with a rifle across his knees; in the stern was Cassidy and a negro soldier, both likewise armed with rifles. Between Fingal, and Cassidy and the negro, were the prisoners. There were four of them—Jordan, Speake, Tirzal and a slender, full-bearded man in a battered solar hat. Cassidy was close to the gasoline engine and was evidently looking after it. Fingal, from the bow, was doing the steering.
"They're all there," said Matt, in a calm, matter-of-fact tone. "Come here, Ysabel." ”

“ A fizzing sputter of firearms awoke echoes in the timber, and scraps of lead could be heard slapping and zipping through the leaves.
"We might be good for three or four," panted Dick, as he stretched his legs along the path, "but we have to knock under when the whole rebel army gets after us."
"Save your breath!" cried Matt. "Run!"
"Where'll we run to? That other pack, with Fingal, is ahead."
"Never mind. The largest force is behind."
The dark-skinned rebels were tearing along like mad. ”

“ Matt gave the order to start the motor, and the popping of the engine soon settled into a low hum of perfectly working cylinders. A forward motion was felt by those in the submarine.
"Not many people have ever had the novel experience of navigating the ocean seventy yards below the surface," remarked the captain, with a slow smile.
"It's a wonderful thing!" exclaimed Matt. "The Grampus seems equal to any task you set for her, captain."
The air of the periscope room was being exhausted by the breathing of Matt, Nemo, Jr., and Cassidy. ”

“ During that time Gaines and Clackett were busy with the rope, hauling the submarine back to the bank, and Matt was listening for more firing.
No more reports came from the timber, however, and when Dick reappeared and handed Matt one of the revolvers, both hurried to the bow of the submarine and sprang ashore.
"Don't forget your orders, Gaines," cautioned Matt.
"You can bank on it that I won't, Matt," answered the motorist. "You and Dick look out for yourselves. Don't make a bad matter worse by letting the revolutionists get a grip on you. If they did, we'd be in hard shape for sure." ”

“ Fortunately the negro had no firearms. He drew his machete, but before he could aim a stroke with it, Matt had leaped forward and struck his arm a fierce blow with the butt of Jordan's revolver.
A yell of pain fell from the negro's lips, his arm dropped at his side and he jumped backward into the woods.
"Quick," shouted Matt to those behind. "There may be others with him and we'll have to make a dash for the Grampus. Run on ahead, Dick, and get the submarine up and close to the bank. I'll follow you with Ysabel." ”

“ Fingal must know the Rio Dolce is not the place. The fact that the schooner bore away to the south proves that some one has correct information. No, Matt, Fingal has learned through Cassidy just why the Grampus put in at Belize; and Cassidy, intoxicated as he is and worked up over a fancied grievance, has cast in his lot with the schooner. The pair of them are off to the south to make trouble for us, take my word for it. What we must do is to get away as close on their heels as possible. ”

“ The girl turned and faced the boys as soon as they reached this primitive camp.
"You are safe, for the present," said she. "I am glad I could do something to help you."
"Strike me lucky!" growled Dick, his keen eyes on the girl's face. "Are you helping us, Ysabel Sixty, or luring us into another trap, like you did up in New Orleans?" ”

“ Tirzal grasped the details with surprising quickness, his little eyes snapping with wonder as they saw the panorama of ocean, shore and shipping on the mirror top of the periscope table.
While these instructions were going forward, Gaines and Dick had gone into the motor room, Clackett and Carl had posted themselves in the place from which the submerging tanks were operated, and Speake had gone forward into the torpedo room.
"We're all ready," said Matt. "Take to the conning tower, Tirzal, and give your signals." ”

“ Matt had been covertly watching, and his anxiety on the captain's account had increased. The captain must be taken ashore as quickly as possible and placed in a doctor's hands.
"Come on, Dick," called Matt, starting up the conning tower ladder.
With his chum at his heels, Matt crawled over the rim of the conning tower hatch and lowered himself to the rounded steel deck.
The port of Belize, nestling in a tropical bower of cocoanut trees, was about a mile distant. Owing to her light draught, the Grampus had been able to come closer to the town than other ships in the harbor. ”

“ By some error, Speake had mixed an overdose of tabasco sauce with the canned beans which he had warmed up on his electric stove.
"Glory!" sputtered Jordan, reaching for water. "Speake must have mixed a Whitehead torpedo in that mess of beans."
"Only a dash of tabasco," replied Coleman. "Haven't you been in Central America long enough to like hot stuff?"
"Not long enough, anyhow, to acquire an asbestos stomach. Talking about a dash of tabasco, though, Motor Matt's raid on the rebels must have been something of that variety. Reel it off, Matt. We're all good listeners." ”

“ The hollow ball and the hollow periscope mast will bring the chug of the motor boat's engine into the submarine. The craft ought to be heard a good distance away. One man will have to be at the periscope all the time, and all the rest of you must be at your stations, ready to carry out orders at a second's notice. You go down to the motor room, Gaines, and Clackett, you go to the tank room. I will stay on the lookout. At midnight, I will have Carl and Dick relieve both of you, but all hands must be on the alert to turn out at a moment's warning. ”

“ This man will lead you to the exact spot—and, as good luck has it, he's a pilot and knows the coast."
"I should think," hazarded Matt, "that the United States government could make a demand on the president of the republic where all this lawless work is going on, and force him to rescue Mr. Coleman."
The consul laughed.
"You don't know Central America, my lad," he answered. "It's as hard for the president of the republic to get at the revolutionists as for anybody else. Meanwhile, Coleman's in danger. We can't wait for a whole lot of useless red-tape proceedings. ”

“ Thereupon Dick waded into past events as he and Matt had experienced them. He slighted his own deeds to give a greater lustre to Matt's, and finally Matt, in self-defense, had to take the telling into his own hands and finish it.
"Well, Jupiter!" exclaimed Jordan, "there's enough tabasco in that run of work to satisfy almost anybody. But, if Motor Matt hadn't come up under that launch like he did, all of us prisoners, my dear friends, would now be tramping through the jungle toward Pitou's new camp." ”

“ Before he stopped to think what the consequence might be—he felt so ugly that he didn't care much—Ned seized the pan full of water, and just as a head made its appearance in the shadowy depths of the garret stairway he let fly pan and all in that direction.
There was an awful spluttering, as if the water had taken the visitor fairly in the face.
Ned turned pale. It wasn't Bridget, after all, but his father.
"Young man," said that worthy person, making his appearance, dripping from head to foot with water, and looking terribly severe, "I want to see you in the wood shed." ”

“ The news will get to them soon, and when that happens Coleman is likely to have trouble. If possible, he must be rescued from the revolutionists ahead of the receipt of this information about Sixty and the lost guns. It's a tremendously hard piece of work, and only a submarine boat with an intrepid crew, to my notion, will stand any show of success. If a small boat from a United States warship was to try to go to the rescue, the revolutionists would learn she was coming and would immediately take to the jungles of the interior with their captive. ”

“ Carl had also come under the influence of the poisonous odor, but it had had no such effect upon him. However, no two persons are exactly alike, and sometimes a thing that will work havoc with one may have no effect upon another.
"His heart action is good, Cassidy," said Matt.
"He's a sick man for all that," replied the mate. "I've noticed for several hours he was nervous like. We'll have to take him ashore at Belize, and you'll have to be the captain while we're doing the work that's to be done." ”

“ The consul started and gave Matt a bored look.
"Going with you?" he drawled. "Why not? It isn't often we have anything exciting, here in Honduras, and I wouldn't miss the chance for a farm. Coleman lives where he never knows what minute is going to be his next, and he's continually guessing as to where the lightning is going to strike, and when. About all I do is lie around in a hammock, fight mosquitoes, take a feed now and then at Government House, and drop in at an English club here every evening for a rubber at whist. ”

“ He takes it hard because Captain Nemo, Jr., placed me in charge, and he came ashore without authority. Who the other fellow is I don't know, but I presume it is some trouble maker the mate picked up."
"Trouble maker is right," went on Jordan. "That describes the rascal to a t, y, ty. I know him. He's Fingal, master of a shady schooner called the North Star, an all around bad one, and the authorities in a dozen ports in Central America will tell you the same. We'll land him in the skookum house. And as for Cassidy, it's against regulations for an officer to attack one who outranks him. ”

“ Do you think the captain's trouble is anything serious?"
"I hope not, Dick, but I'm worried. The sickness came on so suddenly I hardly know what to think."
"Probably he has some of the poison from that idol's head still under his hatches. Main queer, though, that he should be so long getting over it, when Carl cut himself adrift from the same thing so handsomely."
"Things of that kind never affect two people in exactly the same way."
The negroes brought their boat alongside the wharf. As Matt paid for their services, and climbed ashore, Dick called his attention to the Grampus. ”