Captain Carter

“ In submitting Captain Carter's strange manuscript to you in book form, I believe that a few words relative to this remarkable personality will be of interest.
My first recollection of Captain Carter is of the few months he spent at my father's home in Virginia, just prior to the opening of the civil war. I was then a child of but five years, yet I well remember the tall, dark, smooth-faced, athletic man whom I called Uncle Jack. ”

“ Even with everybody counted in, including the two Arnolds, Adil and Jai Singh, the four coolies, himself, and his two assistants, he could muster only eleven.
Captain, the bloodhound, had been left to guard the boat. He would have made the twelfth, and Nick rather regretted he had not brought the faithful animal with him.
“Captain always makes good,” said Patsy Garvan emphatically. “He could lick six of those Bolongu citizens, and then put a crimp in the hide of the Golden Cat, to make it more binding. I’d bet on good old Captain every time.” ”

“ So when the Poietiers ordered him to keep close, and perhaps even follow the war ship for a few days longer, Carter put his thumb to his nose and extended his fingers in a most vulgar manner.
But then, the captain of the Caroline was not a refined man.
He was young, and was a member of a good family, but he had always been a black sheep, and his own friends wondered that he had not turned pirate instead of merchant skipper. ”

“ No,{42} my offer is bona fide, captain; you may rely on it. Indeed, I will do even more. With your acceptance, I will guarantee to exonerate you fully from all the suspicion now directed against you at the fort. And I can do it, too.”
Grail broke his silence. “And the alternative,” he demanded, “if I refuse?”
“The alternative?” The Russian lifted his cigarette to his lips and blew a cloud of smoke toward the ceiling. “Deplorable for you, my dear captain, but inevitable.”
“I shall kill you, Rezonoff,” said Grail, in a low tone. “I shall kill you if ever I have the opportunity.” ”

“ Van Cross, who had been enjoying a quiet cigar, looked down from the bridge, and, in a surly tone, asked what was wanted.
“Line up the whole crew and find out first who it was that went overboard,” growled Captain Lawton.
“I can tell you that,” put in Nick Carter, in his character of Sykes, the boatswain.
“Whoever he is, he got six hundred dollars out of my cabin!” roared the skipper. “I’ll skin him alive when I get my hands on him. Who is he?”
“The passenger you shut up for’ard for trying to steal the property of the passenger you call Mr. Miles,” replied Nick. ”

“ Captain Lawton shook his head with an air of ponderous wisdom that tried Nick Carter’s patience sorely.
“You have my word that he’s a fraud,” the detective reminded him sternly. “I thought that would be enough. If you like, I’ll sign a paper taking all the responsibility. Only, let’s have that boat!”
“Well, all right! Let it go at that!” grumbled the captain; “I guess I’m going to get the worst of it. I always do. ”

“ He pushed aside two or three of the soldiers, and the next minute had his paws on Nick Carter’s shoulders and was licking his face.
It was Captain!
“All right, old man!” exclaimed Nick. “I know you mean well, but keep away from my cheek, will you? Down, Captain!”
The great bloodhound dropped to the sand at once, while the detective patted his head with an affection that Captain understood even better than words.
“Look, chief!” cried Patsy Garvan. “They are setting all the prisoners free!” ”

“ Carter said, lowering his automatic. “If we can’t be friends, then it’s each man for himself, and the Devil catch the hindmost. I’m warning you though—don’t try any tricks either tonight or tomorrow. I’m setting myself up as a ruler, and if you try to interfere, I’ll turn the natives loose on you.”
The captain started to leave. In passing Mr. Livingston, he scrutinized him briefly. ”

“ Everybody outside would wonder what was going on,” objected Nick Carter. “We don’t want to call general attention to this trouble. Eh, captain?”
“Certainly not,” was Douglas’ hurried response.
“I should like to shin up to that window,” put in Patsy.
“Well, you can’t,” said Chick. “I’ll do it, if it were to be done at all. You can’t have all the fun.”
“It’s mighty little fun I’ve had since I’ve been down here,” grumbled Patsy. “It’s the dullest place I ever was in.”
“It wouldn’t be hard to force the door, would it?” asked Paul Clayton. “We can all tackle it together.” ”

“ Captain did not want to hurt the man, but his play was too rough to please the dignified native. He aimed a kick at the dog, but missed him.
“Look out, Chick!” shouted Patsy, standing up in the boat. “Don’t let him hurt Captain.”
It was evident that Baboo Punyah had for the moment forgotten his intention to demand more pay for the boat in his determination to deal with the bloodhound.{13}
Nick Carter had been watching the little comedy with a grave smile. He would have interfered to keep the dog away, only that he felt the Hindu deserved some punishment for his bare-faced effort at extortion. ”

“ The commander had been gazing at the oncoming boat, as well as at the distant shore line, through his binoculars, and, almost mechanically, he gave orders to drop the anchors fore and aft.
“Going to stop, captain?” asked the millionaire ship owner.
“Yes. It will do no harm. And I want to see what these fellows in the boat are after.”
“I’ll come up on the bridge. I guess,” grunted Arnold. “Come on, Carter!”
The sacred bridge of a steamer is not going to be profaned by the feet of an uninvited person unless he happens to be the owner or some one of equal importance. ”

“ Dillon quietly exclaimed, squinting at Nick over the table. “I’m very glad you warned me, or I certainly would have done so.”
“I foresaw it, captain,” smiled Nick. “You have not changed much in the several years since we met. You hold your own like an old war horse. I am pleased to meet you again.”
“That feeling is reciprocated, Mr. Carter, I assure you,” Captain Dillon said quietly. “How long have you been in Washington?”
“Not long,” said Nick. “I am here on important business. I cannot tell when I may leave. That depends.” ”

“ I'm like the others here in one respect: I've got a grudge against the man we've been talking about. I've never been able to make him feel it, because I've always fought mighty shy of him rather than get within his reach; but when I heard that this here movement had [Pg 234] been started going by you, Madge, and the word was passed around among the guns downtown that you wanted a few of us that hated Nick Carter to come to the captain's office and form a little organization, it struck me that it was just about the right thing to do. ”

“ I could see nothing, and I turned about, shivering, the cold in my bones.
“You’re a mighty good sleeper,” one of the men said as I met his eye.
“I was tired.”
“Well, it would be more than I could manage!” he answered cryptically. “Do you think they’ll let him go!”
“Captain Wilmer?”
He nodded. He was a shock-headed man in a frayed hunting shirt, buckskin leggings and mocassins. A greasy ragged unshaven figure of a man.
“No,” I said, “I’m sure they will not. Would you?”
“D—d if I would,” he answered, grinning. “I never let a ’possum go yet that I got a grip of! But you’ve spunk, I’ll say that!” ”

“ Chick was glad of the opportunity of helping the pretty girl into the boat. Soon she was comfortably seated in the stern. Then Nick again took his place at the engine and steering wheel.
“Look after Phillips, Chick! When he seems able to take care of himself, as he will by the morning, I feel sure—you can go home, with Captain, and keep close to the telephone. I may call you up at any time.”
The engine in the launch was a powerful one, and the boat went shooting up the Hudson as if prepared to overhaul any other craft that might come in its way.
“Do you think we shall find Marcos, Mr. Carter?” ”

“ Milmarsh shook hands with me, and said I had not changed since he saw me last, and I handed him back a similar line of talk. You know how men do when they haven’t seen each other for a long time.”
Carter nodded and poured out another cup of coffee for Chick.
“Ha, ha, ha!” laughed Captain Brown jovially. “What humbugs men are! I could see a lot of changes in him, but I did not think he would want me to say so, and, of course, I didn’t.”
“Well, we came up here to learn what really was going on,” observed Nick, after a pause. “What are they doing at Paradise City?” ”

“ Portersham’s cabin?” interrupted Nick, when he saw that the irate captain was likely to keep on airing his woes indefinitely. “Can we see him?”
The skipper glanced at Douglas inquiringly. An almost imperceptible nod reassured him, and he pointed to a doorway which led to the deck cabins—the most expensive on the vessel.
“Look out, chief!” whispered Patsy. “He may be waiting for us. You don’t want to run right into a gun before you know it.”
“I don’t think he would dare to shoot just now,” smiled Nick. “When he is cornered, Rayne knows enough to give in. ”

“ But he may be mighty useful before we get through. You never can tell how you may be able to use a trained bloodhound—especially such a good one as ours.”
Patsy stopped to pat an immense dog who lay stretched out on the hot deck under the awning, too languid to move, except to let his great eyeballs roll lazily in their sockets in appreciation of Patsy Garvan’s caresses.
Meanwhile, Nick Carter, Jefferson Arnold, and Captain Southern were taking the strong, double marine glasses in turn to inspect the boat which was working its way through the surf toward the Marathon. ”

“ The steward was looking critically at the lamp and after a while screwed the light down.—"That's better," he mumbled.—"Good God! What is a fellow to do?" continued Carter, looking at Hassim and Immada who were whispering together and gave him only an absent glance. He rushed on deck and was struck blind instantly by the night that seemed to have been lying in wait for him; he stumbled over something soft, kicked something hard, flung himself on the rail. "Come back," he cried. "Come back. Captain! Mrs. Travers!—or let me come, too." ”

“ They’ll be useful, I dare say.”
“I hope so,” put in Patsy. “How about Mr. Clayton?”
“I should like to go,” announced Paul Clayton. “I have nothing to do here.”
“All right,” agreed Captain Douglas. “There’s room for all of us in the car. Tumble in!”
Douglas took the wheel himself, and in a very short time the car stopped at the main entrance of the palace.
“Do you think there is anything in this that may help us to get that jewelry?” whispered Paul Clayton anxiously, in Nick Carter’s ear.
“It wouldn’t surprise me,” was the guarded reply. “I seem to see Rayne’s hand in this affair, somehow.” ”

“ You know, it's funny, but when I'm out with Carter I feel like such a boob, not daring to eat this or that, or smoke or—or anything." Heresy this, from the three years' captain of L. A. High who had never considered any sacrifice worth a murmur which kept him fit for the real business of life. "Somehow, he's so keen, he makes me wish I had more in my head and—and less in my heels! You know what I mean, Skipper. He does make me look like a simp, doesn't he?"
"No," said Honor, definitely. "Why, Jimsy, [Pg 55] you're a million times bigger person than Carter. Everybody knows that. ”

“ Nick added, in jesting fashion.
Captain Dillon laughed softly and shrugged his shoulders.
“I should hope not,” he replied, with a deprecatory gesture. “All of my party are above suspicion. You know Senator Barclay by sight, of course, and the dark-haired girl is his daughter. That tall, fine-looking chap is Captain Garland, a government engineer in the war department. I really must rejoin them now. Here is my card. If you remain long in town and find it convenient, call and see me. ”

“ He knew, without having to inquire, where he would be most likely to find a tugboat with steam up, at that hour in the morning, for it was then close upon two o’clock, and, without loss of time, he presented himself to the sleepy captain, who was dozing in his pilot-house.
“Say, yew,” he said; and the captain started into wakefulness. “Dew yew happen to know anything about a steamboat named the Oceanic, hey?”
“She ain’t no steamboat,” replied the captain. “She’s a tugboat, same as this, only bigger.”
“More’n ten times es big, ain’t she?” asked Nick. ”

“ On the dead, Carter, I think I am booked for the bug house. Do tell me what you have——”
“Patience,” Nick interrupted. “Sit down and be calm. When I talk with a man I want him to have a level head on his shoulders. That’s right; light a cigarette. It will steady you—temporarily. Where did you go after the opera?”
“To supper with a party of friends.”
“Including whom?”
“Senator Barclay and his daughter, the Baron Esterveldt and his wife, with Miss Warren, whom I mentioned to you this afternoon. Captain Casper Dillon, an ex-army{24} officer, joined us in our box and accompanied us to supper. ”

“ If he becomes too restless—that is, to the point of being threatening—pull the trigger.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to take a look at the infernal machine in the captain’s room.”
“Very well. The door is locked outside, and the captain is gagged and bound on his berth,” remarked Lord Vinton coolly.
CHAPTER XII.
THE INFERNAL MACHINE.
It was just what Nick Carter expected when he entered the stateroom of Captain Latell—the “infernal machine” was fixed in the window, with the sash helping to hold it firm.
“The wireless telephone,” he muttered. “I wonder who is talking.” ”