Up the Forked River; Or, Adventures in South America Part 29

With all his contempt for this man, Jack Starland had never dreamed of anything like this. The words of Captain Ortega came back to him.

There was a certain shadowy strength in the position of General Yozarro. No flag of truce had been called into use, and the American, after having forcibly captured the boat of the other, had voluntarily placed himself in his power, following the suggestion of General Bambos and his own impulses.

It was Bambos who broke the oppressive hush by saying to him:

"The words of General Yozarro are just; comply with what he demands, and he will be glad to restore you to your friends; am I not correct, General?"

"I suppose so," was the sour response.

"Then my answer is that I'll see the whole gang of you hanged first!

You don't get Martella without the biggest fight of your lives, and you don't keep me on this old tub without a bigger fight; I'm not afraid of the whole pack of jail birds of you!"

CHAPTER x.x.xVII.

"Arrest him!" commanded General Yozarro, speaking directly to Colonel Carlos Del Valle, his chief of staff, standing next to the American; "put him in irons."

The officer addressed reached out his hand to lay on the shoulder of Jack Starland, who, at that instant, recalled the knockout blow he had given Cadet Hillman of the First Cla.s.s, one memorable spring morning at old Fort Putnam, West Point. It was the same lightning-like stroke which crashed into the face of the colonel and sent him staggering and toppling back to the opposite side of the cabin. Then, whipping out his revolver, Starland backed from the cabin, ran down the steps to the bow of the boat, and before any one suspected his purpose, shouted to his own executive officer:

"Captain Winton, I am betrayed! Open fire, and sink this tug!"

Then he wheeled about and with leveled weapon, added:

"I will kill the first man who attempts to lay a finger on me!"

General Yozarro and his officers showed more prompt.i.tude than would have been expected. Seeing that a conflict was inevitable, they set out to win by their own quickness. Their armament was heavier than that of the American yacht,--that is to say, though his pieces carried smaller missiles, he had two of them, while that of the _Warrenia_ was a bra.s.s saluting twelve-pounder.

The port gun was slewed around and pointed at the other craft, now within twenty-five yards, and in a twinkling it bore fairly.

"Fire!" shouted the excited General, too savage to regard the usual preliminaries.

Major Starland shuddered, for he saw the gun seemingly directed true and knew it must do great destruction on his yacht. The gunner snapped the lanyard, but a dull click followed and there was no discharge.

General Yozarro uttered an oath and Captain Ortega called from the pilot house:

"That is the one which was not loaded!"

Jack Starland had forgotten the fact in the flurry of the moment. He smiled and looked across at his own boat. Captain Winton did not throw away a second. He signalled to the engine room, quickly veered, and the bra.s.s twelve-pounder was pointed fairly at the tug. Meantime, by working frantically, the gunners quickly loaded the piece on the Atlamalcan craft and swung it around to bear on the other.

"Look out for the Major!" called Captain Winton; "he is standing at the front."

While the native gunners were awaiting the critical second, there was a white puff, a red belch of flame, and a thunderous report rolled over the river and against the sh.o.r.es. A smas.h.i.+ng sound, the splintering of wood and a number of yells followed, the ball having torn its way through the cabin and splashed into the river beyond.

In this crisis, General Yozarro displayed unexpected coolness. General Bambos hurriedly sagged down behind the pile of wood at the front, as if mortally hurt, but he was merely taking precautions against becoming so.

"Quick!" roared General Yozarro; "sink their boat!"

The haste was unwise, for the gunners were not wholly lacking in skill, but they were fl.u.s.tered by the furious orders of their brutal chief, and fired sooner than they intended. It would have seemed that with so brief a distance separating the combatants a miss was impossible; but the heavy missile only grazed the foremast, dropping somewhere among the trees on the southern sh.o.r.e.

"Hurrah!" shouted the delighted Major, swinging his hat; "let the good work go on! Keep it up! The Stars and Stripes forever!"

Colonel Del Valle had recovered from the fierce blow that sent him spinning across the cabin and was aflame with anger. He, too, had a revolver, and, heedless of the wild turmoil and confusion, in which a half dozen were injured by the flying splinters, he sneaked forward toward the hurrahing American. He raised his hand tremulous with fury, and sighting as well as he could through his watery, b.l.o.o.d.y eyes, let fly.

The crack of the weapon amid the tumult caused Major Starland to turn like a flash. He saw he had forgotten himself, and that in all probability he had a fight on his hands.

"I don't want to kill you, Colonel, but you need a lesson."

The officer was backing away, when at the flash of the other weapon, he uttered a howl and skurried into the cabin with his right arm dangling useless. The American saw his pistol fall, and darting forward, picked it up. He now had two revolvers, and with only a single empty chamber in each. He backed against the pile of wood, to prevent any one getting behind him, and confronted the mob. Moreover, it was necessary that his friends should see where he was in order to avoid harming him.

A gun on each boat had been fired, and it now became a race as to which could reload and fire again. The American won, because of a slight advantage at the start. No attempt was made on the tugboat to bring the second piece into action. The captains of each craft displayed admirable skill. Captain Winton tried to keep out of range of his enemy, but Captain Ortega swung around so as to hold him in direct line all the time.

Starland's mate and one of his seamen were handling the cannon on the yacht. The latter had served at Manila and knew his business. As cool as if taking part in the naval maneuvers, he waited until sure the second shot would do the business. Without giving heed to the crew striving desperately to bring the other gun to bear, he crouched till the gun was pointed exactly right and then blazed away.

He had aimed at the screw of the tugboat and he struck it so fairly that the stem snapped off and the blades dropped to the bottom of the river. This was at the suggestion of the mate, who, not wis.h.i.+ng to kill any one, only sought to put the other craft out of action.

It was done. The tug was as helpless as a log, but not until Captain Ortega called from the pilot house, making known the nature of the disaster, did General Yozarro understand the mortal injury his navy had received.

"Bully!" shouted the Major; "put the next shot through her boiler!

Don't mind me! I can swim and don't care for a little thing like being blown up!"

General Bambos heard the terrifying news and climbed tremblingly to his feet.

"Don't let them fire again! We shall all be killed!"

"Only one thing can save you," replied the Major aglow with the light of triumphant battle; "run up the white flag! The next shot will send you to kingdom come!"

It was General Yozarro, who, catching the panic, whipped out his white silken handkerchief, and standing within arm's length of his prisoner, excitedly fluttered it aloft.

"Cease firing!" commanded Major Starland; "they have surrendered!"

CHAPTER x.x.xVIII.

The notice was in the nick of time. The gun on the yacht was loaded and trained again, and, had it been fired, would have played the mischief on the Atlamalcan boat.

Captain Winton began edging the _Warrenia_ toward the other, with the purpose of running alongside and receiving its submission. Reading his intention, Major Starland called:

"Don't do that! You can't trust these scoundrels! They will board!"

"That's what we want 'em to do!" called back the captain.

"I'd like it too, but we have ladies to look after; send a boat to take off General Yozarro and me."