A Rock in the Baltic Part 25

"Johnson says he can get them," proclaimed Kate with finality.

"Oh, d.a.m.n Johnson! Dorothy, I beg your pardon, but really, this daughter of mine, combined with that Johnson of yours, is just a little more than I can bear."

"Then what are we to do?" demanded his daughter. "Sit here with folded hands?"

"That would be a great deal better than what you propose. You should do something sane. You mustn't involve a pair of friendly countries in war. Of course the United States would utterly disclaim your act, and discredit me if I were lunatic enough to undertake such a wild goose chase, which I'm not; but, on the other hand, if two of our girls undertook such an expedition, no man can predict the public clamor that might arise. Why, when the newspapers get hold of a question, you never know where they will end it. Undoubtedly you two girls should be sent to prison, and, with equal undoubtedness, the American people wouldn't permit it."

"You bet they wouldn't," said Katherine, dropping into slang.

"Well, then, if they wouldn't, there's war."

"One moment, Captain Kempt," said Dorothy, again in her mildest tones, for voices had again begun to run high, "you spoke of doing something sane. You understand the situation. What should you counsel us to do?"

The Captain drew a long breath, and leaned back in his chair.

"There, Dad, it's up to you," said Katherine. "Let us hear your proposal, and then you'll learn how easy it is to criticise."

"Well," said the Captain hesitatingly, "there's our diplomatic service--"

"Utterly useless: one man is a Russian, and the other an Englishman.

Diplomacy not only can do nothing, but won't even try," cried Kate triumphantly.

"Yet," said the Captain, with little confidence, "although the two men are foreigners, the two girls are Americans."

"We don't count: we've no votes," said Kate. "Besides, Dorothy tried the diplomatic service, and could not even get accurate information from it.

Now, father, third time and out."

"Four b.a.l.l.s are out, Kate, and I've only fanned the air twice. Now, girls, I'll tell you what I'd do. You two come with me to Was.h.i.+ngton.

We will seek a private interview with the President. He will get into communication with the Czar, also privately, and outside of all regular channels. The Czar will put machinery in motion that is sure to produce those two young men much more effectually and speedily than any cutthroat expedition on a yacht."

"I think," said Dorothy, "that is an excellent plan."

"Of course it is," cried the Captain enthusiastically. "Don't you see the pull the President will have? Why, they've put an Englishman into 'the jug,' and when the President communicates this fact to the Czar he will be afraid to refuse, knowing that the next appeal may be from America to England, and when you add a couple of American girls to that political mix-up, why, what chance has the Czar?"

"The point you raise, Captain," said Dorothy, "is one I wish to say a few words about. The President cannot get Mr. Drummond released, because the Czar and all his government will be compelled to deny that they know anything of him. Even the President couldn't guarantee that the Englishman would keep silence if he were set at liberty. The Czar would know that, but your plan would undoubtedly produce Prince Ivan Lermontoff. All the president has to do is to tell the Czar that the Prince is engaged to an American girl, and Lermontoff will be allowed to go."

"But," objected the Captain, "as the Prince knows the Englishman is in prison, how could they be sure of John keeping quiet when Drummond is his best friend?"

"He cannot know that, because the Prince was arrested several days before Drummond was.

"They have probably chucked them both into the same cell," said the Captain, but Dorothy shook her head.

"If they had intended to do that, they would doubtless have arrested them together. I am sure that one does not know the fate of the other, therefore the Czar can quite readily let Lermontoff go, and he is certain to do that at a word from the President. Besides this, I am as confident that Jack is not in the Trogzmondoff, as I am sure that Drummond is. Johnson said it was a prison for foreigners."

"Oh, Dorothy," cried the Captain, with a deep sigh, "if we've got back again to Johnson--" He waved his hand and shook his head.

The maid opened the door and said, looking at Dorothy:

"Mr. Paterson and Mr. Johnson."

"Just show them into the morning room," said Dorothy, rising. "Captain Kempt, it is awfully good of you to have listened so patiently to a scheme of which you couldn't possibly approve."

"Patiently!" sniffed the daughter.

"Now I want you to do me another kindness."

She went to the desk and picked up a piece of paper.

"Here is a check I have signed--a blank check. I wish you to buy the yacht 'Walrus' just as she stands, and make the best bargain you can for me. A man is so much better at this kind of negotiation than a woman."

"But surely, my dear Dorothy, you won't persist in buying this yacht?"

"It's her own money, father," put in Katherine.

"Keep quiet," said the Captain, rising, for the first time speaking with real severity, whereupon Katherine, in spite of the fact that she was older than twenty-one, was wise enough to obey.

"Yes, I am quite determined, Captain," said Dorothy sweetly.

"But, my dear woman, don't you see how you've been hoodwinked by this man Johnson? He is shy of a job. He has already swindled you out of twenty thousand dollars."

"No, he asked for ten only, Captain Kempt, and I voluntarily doubled the amount."

"Nevertheless, he has worked you up to believe that these young men are in that rock. He has done this for a very crafty purpose, and his purpose seems likely to succeed. He knows he will be well paid, and you have promised him a bonus besides. If he, with his Captain Kidd crew, gets you on that yacht, you will only step ash.o.r.e by giving him every penny you possess. That's his object. He knows you are starting out to commit a crime--that's the word, Dorothy, there's no use in our mincing matters--you will be perfectly helpless in his hands. Of course, I could not allow my daughter Kate to go on such an expedition."

"I am over twenty-one years old," cried Kate, the light of rebellion in her eyes.

"I do not intend that either of you shall go, Katherine."

"Dorothy, I'll not submit to that," cried Katherine, with a rising tremor of anger in her voice, "I shall not be set aside like a child.

Who has more at stake than I? And as for capturing the rock, I'll dynamite it myself, and bring home as large a specimen of it as the yacht will carry, and set it up on Bedloe's Island beside the G.o.ddess and say, 'There's your statue of Liberty, and there's your statue of Tyranny!'"

"Katherine," chided her father, "I never before believed that a child of mine could talk such driveling nonsense."

"Paternal heredity, father," retorted Kate.

"Your Presidential plan, Captain Kempt," interposed Dorothy, "is excellent so far as Prince Lermontoff is concerned, but it cannot rescue Lieutenant Drummond. Now, there are two things you can do for me that will make me always your debtor, as, indeed, I am already, and the first is to purchase for me the yacht. The second is to form your own judgment of the man Johnson, and if you distrust him, then engage for me one-half the crew, and see that they are picked Americans."

"First sane idea I have heard since I came into this flat," growled the Captain.

"The Americans won't let the Finlander hold me for ransom, you may depend upon that."

It was a woe-begone look the gallant Captain cast on the demure and determined maiden, then, feeling his daughter's eye upon him, he turned toward her.

"I'm going, father," she said, with a firmness quite equal to his own, and he on his part recognized when his daughter had toed the danger line. He indulged in a laugh that had little of mirth in it.

"All I can say is that I am thankful you haven't made up your minds to kidnap the Czar. Of course you are going, Kate, So am I."