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The Moving Picture Girls at Sea: A Pictured Shipwreck That Became Real, a novel by Laura Lee Hope |
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Chapter 23. Help At Last |
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_ CHAPTER XXIII. HELP AT LAST Jack Jepson was a brave man. He proved it then by standing unflinchingly in front of the angry captain, when shrinking back might have meant a blow that would have brought about a general fight. Seeing him standing there fearlessly, made Captain Brisco pause. And that gave the others time for action. "What does this mean?" cried Mr. Pertell. "He is trying to start a mutiny as he did once before!" fairly yelled Captain Brisco. "I never started a mutiny before, and I'm not trying to do so now!" retorted Jack, and he seemed to have lost much of his timid simplicity. "I tell you the ship is sinking, and we had best take to the boats while there is time." "And I tell you that you are wrong!" snarled Captain Brisco. "I order you below!" "And I won't go, until I have told these people what is going on here!" retorted Jack Jepson. "If that isn't mutiny, I'd like to know what is," cried the captain. "Well, if that's mutiny, then I'm glad to be a mutineer!" shouted the old salt, "and any court in the land would uphold me, for I am trying to save lives, and you're trying to throw 'em away." "Throw 'em away! What do you mean?" "You know what I mean," replied Jack, and there was significance in his voice. "I won't say anything about putting to sea in a ship that wasn't fit--with masts that were nothin' but dry rot, and with pumps that only half work at best. And I won't say anything about your plot--there isn't time now. But I will say----" "A plot!" cried Alice, who, with Ruth, stood near her father. "Yes, a plot, Miss!" Jack Jepson cried. "I'll tell you about it later. But now we've got to do something. The water's comin' in fast, and if we can't stop it, we'll have to take to the boats." "Look here!" stormed Captain Brisco, and his voice was almost in keeping with the howl of the gale all about them, and almost as raucous as the salty spray that flew over everything. "Look here! Who is captain of this ship?" "You are," replied Jack quietly enough. He looked the angry man full in the eye, and the half-raised fist of the commander fell again. "Then if I'm captain, I'm going to be obeyed!" came next. "I order you below, Jepson. You're no longer mate of this craft. You're deposed! Hen Lacomb, I hereby appoint you first mate until my regular one recovers, and you, Hankinson, you're second mate. Lively now. Jepson, go below, and if he makes any more trouble, Hen, clap him in irons," he added significantly. For a moment there was silence following this announcement--that is, as much quiet as the storm permitted. Then Alice cried out: "Father, won't you say something! Mr. Pertell, you're not going to permit this, are you? I'm sure Jack Jepson is honest and that he is faithfully warning us. Don't let him be put down this way. Ask him what he means by a plot!" "Oh, Alice!" protested her sister. "At a time like this--when we may all be drowned!" "We'll all be drowned worse, maybe, if Jack's advice isn't taken. What is it?" she asked, appealing to the old sailor. "What is the plot you spoke of?" "Ask him?" cried the old salt, pointing an accusing finger at the captain. "Ask him, and if he doesn't tell you, I will. Talk about a mutiny! It wouldn't be half as bad as his plot for getting possession of this vessel." "What's that!" cried Captain Brisco, starting forward. "You dare accuse me----" "Yes, you and Hen Lacomb!" cried Jack, who seemed to have acquired a new boldness. "I charge you with plotting to make a fizzle of the shipwreck these picture people planned. You were going to pretend the vessel was sinking, before the time set for the pictures, and you were going to get them to abandon the schooner. Then you and Lacomb were going to come back to the ship later, take her to some secret port, fit her out again and use her for your own purposes. "That's the plot! That's what I overheard you and Lacomb plannin', and when you suspected I knew, you thought I'd be better off in the sea. That's how I happened to go overboard. I was thrown! That's what I charge you with. Deny it if ye dare!" and he pointed an accusing finger at the two men. "You threw me overboard, Hen Lacomb! And Captain Brisco planned to have you do it!" Captain Brisco appeared to struggle with some emotion. His face went red and white by turns. He seemed unable to speak. But at last he choked out: "What! You dare say that to me. You accuse me----!" "Yes, and I have the proof!" cried Jack. "Here's the agreement you made Lacomb sign. You were afraid to trust to him unless he made a promise in writing, and here it is. I found it in the secret compartment in your cabin. Your cabin that used to be mine in the old _Mary Ellen_. That's how I made sure this ship was the old one I used to serve on, made over. I found this agreement! It's the proof of what I say. Deny it if you can." "Why--why--" stammered the captain. "Do you dare--" but it seemed he could not get any farther. He glanced at Hen Lacomb who stood near him. A meaning look passed between the two men, and Hen started edging around toward Jack Jepson. "Father! Mr. Pertell!" cried Alice. "Let us have this settled! Jack has made charges. They may be true or they may not be. But our lives surely are in danger if this vessel is sinking." "And I say she isn't sinking! She's as sound as a bell below the water line!" cried the captain. "And I say she has a hole stove in her, an' unless it's stopped we'll be at the bottom in a few hours!" cried Jack. "The mast knocked a hole in her and she's takin' water fast. The pumps are no good, but they can be fixed with a little work on 'em." "Keep still!" the captain shouted. "You're under arrest as a mutineer." "No he isn't!" exclaimed Mr. Pertell. "This is my vessel. I'm the chief owner of it, and I here and now depose you as captain, Mr. Brisco, and appoint Jack Jepson in your place!" There was a gasp of baffled rage from the former commander. "Jack, take charge," said Mr. Pertell. "Select as mates whoever you want. We'll go into this matter of the plot later. Just now we must save the ship if we can. Everything must give way to that. Do you accept?" "What! Him captain?" cried Hen Lacomb, who was edging nearer and nearer to Jack all this while. "Why not?" asked Mr. Pertell. "He doesn't know how to navigate. He'll run us aground." "I wish he _would_ run us on der ground!" murmured Mr. Switzer. "I haf hat enough of der ocean. Der ground is goot enough for me." "I can navigate!" cried Jack. "I hold a master's certificate, though I've only filled mates' berths of late." "I--I refuse to serve under him," stormed Captain Brisco. "And when we reach port, I shall lay this matter before the authorities. You can't depose a captain this way!" "Can't I?" asked Mr. Pertell coolly. "I rather think I can. I looked up the law on the rights of owners before I started on this voyage. Jack Jepson is captain." "And I refuse to serve under him." "Very well. Then you can either work your passage, or pay for your passage, I don't care which. But I'm going to save this ship, and the lives of those aboard her, if I can." There was a sudden little scuffle near Jack Jepson, and Hen Lacomb went sprawling on the deck. "No you don't!" drawled Mr. Switzer in his most German comedian voice. "I think you haf fallen. Dit you hurt yourself?" he asked of the prostrate Hen. The latter, with a growl, got to his feet, an angry look on his face. "What happened?" asked Mr. Pertell. "Oh, noddings dit happen," was the reply. "It iss only vat might haf happenet. He vas getting so close by Jack dot Jack might fall ofer board again, und ve don't vant to lose our new captain so soon yet," explained Mr. Switzer cheerfully. He thus made light of the affair, but later it came out that Hen Lacomb had evidently had the intention of at least trying to pitch Jack overboard, as the easiest solution of the trouble of Captain Brisco and his crony. "This is enough!" cried Mr. Pertell. "Jack, you're captain. Do what you like to insure the safety of us and the ship. Captain Brisco is no longer in command of this vessel," the manager went on to a wondering group of sailors. "I call for three cheers for Captain Jack Jepson!" They were given with a will, for evidently Jack was a favorite, and the deposed captain was not. The latter slunk below followed by Hen Lacomb. "We've got to try to stop that leak first of all!" said Jack, as he carefully put in his pocket the paper he had claimed was an agreement between Brisco and his crony. "I appoint Jim West as first mate and Frank Snyder as second!" the new captain went on. "Come below, you two, and we'll see what we can do. We've got to mend the pumps. Keep her about as she is," he ordered the steersman. "Aye, aye, sir!" was the respectful answer. Jack was already developing new qualities as a commander. "This is a distressing state of affairs," said Mr. DeVere. "Not as bad as it might be," Mr. Pertell answered. "There is a chance for us now. I never dreamed that Brisco was such a scoundrel." "Oh, I'm so glad Captain Jack is in charge!" cried Alice. "And I'm so glad he found out about the plot. Maybe this will help to clear him of the other unjust charge," she went on. "Perhaps," agreed Ruth. "But oh, Alice! If we should sink!" "Nonsense! We're not going to sink!" And so it proved--at least the _Mary Ellen_ was not doomed to go to the bottom at once. The storm still raged with seemingly unabated violence, but the sailors, under the direction of Captain Jepson, got a heavy piece of canvas over the worst leak, and then the repaired pumps kept the water in the hold down to a normal level. The failure of the pumps to work, until Jack and the men fixed them was due to criminal negligence on the part of Brisco. He put to sea with this necessary part of a ship in poor condition, not thinking they would be needed. Brisco was a desperate man, and so was Lacomb. They had been involved in more than one shady transaction, and though both may have been aboard with Jack, during the mutiny, they successfully covered their tracks. Brisco and Lacomb sulked below, and, for the time being, no effort was made to bring them up and set them to work, though every hand was needed. Some of the members of the film company turned in and helped. It was thought better not to incite a fight. So the _Mary Ellen_ lurched on through the storm, a mere semblance of the gallant craft she had appeared to be on leaving port. And those aboard labored desperately to keep her afloat. "Talk about a shipwreck!" gasped Mr. Pertell, as a wave drenched him, "this is the most realistic I ever saw. If I could only picture this!" But it was impossible. How the planned drama of the sea would end, no one could tell. "And oh! to think of poor Russ and Mr. Sneed out in this--if they _are_ still out in it," murmured Alice, as she and Ruth clung to one another in their cabin. "The _Ajax_ may have survived," Ruth said, hopefully. And indeed, at that moment, the motorboat was making the best of the bad weather. The sea anchor which Russ had rigged provided the necessary drag and steerage way, and the boat's head was kept to the waves. Her high bow, and covered fore-part, enabled her to ride seas that would have swamped another craft of like size. And her dory-build added to her safety. The bank fishermen know well how to shape a boat to meet heavy seas. "Well, we seem to be doing fairly well," said Russ, as he and his companion settled down in the shelter, to nibble at a bit of hard tack and drink some of the water Jack had put on board. "Yes, I suppose it might be worse," agreed Mr. Sneed. And that, for him, was saying a great deal. So the _Ajax_ drifted on, as the _Mary Ellen_ was driving, before the gale, the occupants of neither craft knowing aught of the others. And the storm still raged. After a while Russ, for want of something better to do, began looking over the motor. Presently he discovered something that made him shout for joy. "What is it?" asked his companion. "Do you see the schooner?" "No, but I can make this boat run. Look, the propeller hasn't dropped off at all! The set screws of the sleeve have become loose and the propeller shaft didn't turn, that was all." If any of you know anything about motor-boats, you know that the shaft which passes through the stuffing box, and to which shaft the propeller is fastened, is joined to the shaft of the engine by a coupling, or sleeve. If you take two lead pencils, and thrust an end of each into each end of a hollow, brass pencil holder, you will get an idea of what I mean. One pencil will represent the shaft to which the propeller is fastened, and the other the engine shaft. The brass holder is the coupling, or sleeve. In order that the shafts will be held rigidly together, turning at the same time, set screws in the sleeve are tightly turned down on the shaft, binding both in the sleeve. It was the set screws on the propeller shaft that had loosed, allowing the sleeve to slip uselessly around, that had caused all the trouble. With a wrench Russ tightened the screws. He tested them, and, finding them firm, started the engine. A moment later the _Ajax_ was moving over the waves under her own power. "Hurray!" cried Mr. Sneed. "This is great!" "And we don't need this any longer," Russ said, hauling in the drag anchor. Then, able to mount the waves, the motorboat was in much better condition for fighting the storm. On and on she rushed. Hour after hour passed, but the gale showed no signs of abating. The two young men were weary and disheartened, when, as there came a little rift in the clouds Russ, who stood up to look about, gave a yell. "What is it now?" asked Mr. Sneed. "More trouble?" "No!" cried Russ. "I see a steamer. Help at last! I'm going straight for her!" _ |
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