American Boys Afloat by Oliver Optic

Louis opened the cabin door, and looked out; but he closed it immediately, for the light in the apartment would enable Captain Velazquez to see that it was open, and cause him to suspect that the prisoners had made their escape. The lamp hanging from the deck beam above was a bracket with three lanterns. Felix climbed upon the table which stood beneath it, and took it down. It was then wrapped up in the tablecloth, and placed under the divan, where it could shed none of its light about the apartment.

The door was then opened again; but it looked as though Diego had seen the light before, and he was hailing the Scotchman very vigorously. Louis had only time to gather up a handful of lanyards and other lines from a box under the seats in the standing-room before he heard the footsteps of Gray in the port gangway. He retreated, closing the door all but a crack.

"What's the matter on board of the steamer? " yelled Diego.

"Nothing is the matter," replied Gray, who had not stopped to look in at the cabin windows as he came aft, for the master of the schooner was yelling at him all the time.

"The cabin door is open, and" --

And Louis heard no more, for at that moment Scott heaved his lasso, and the Scotchman began to dance about the standing-room, swearing like a smuggler as he was. Louis threw the door of the cabin wide open, for concealment was no longer necessary or practicable. He had hastily supplied his companions with the lanyards and lines he had procured. He rushed out followed by the others. The slip-noose of the lasso had already been drawn tight about his neck, and Gray was roaring like a bull, though his voice had become very husky.

He was struggling furiously, with his hands free, trying to release his neck from the pressure of the rope. Louis hesitated, for he realized that a blow from the powerful man would fell any of them to the deck. Scott was tugging at the lasso all the time, pulling and jerking it so that his victim should not escape. Diego, who could not help seeing what had transpired in the stern of the steamer, was still yelling with all his might. Fortunately that was all he could do, and he was permitted to do all he pleased of it.

"Don't go near him, Louis! " called Scott from the hurricane deck -- "not yet, for he can strike an awful hard blow."

The pilot was certainly a prudent young man, and he was not always so; but Louis had anticipated him, and kept out of Gray's reach. The struggle continued, and Scott was vigorously manipulating the lasso so that Gray could not obtain an instant's respite from the strain upon his neck. The pressure was rapidly doing its work upon him, for he was beginning to writhe and struggle for breath. He had ceased to yell and to swear, for he lacked the wind to do or say anything. He had soon weakened so much that the time for more decided action had come; and Scott initiated it.

The lassoer had drawn his victim towards him till he was directly in front of the cabin door. Without announcing his intention to his associates, the pilot threw down his lasso into the standing-room, and then leaped down himself directly upon the head of Gray. In his weakened and gasping condition he could not resist the force of this onslaught, and he sank down upon the deck beneath his persecutor.

"Take one of his arms, and I will take the other, Flix! " called Louis, as he sprang upon the fallen Scotchman, and seized his right arm, while Felix did the same with his left. "Have the lanyards all ready, Morris!"

Scott had seized his victim by the throat, and held his head down upon the deck. Just at this critical moment Francisco, who had heard the yells of Gray, put in an appearance, and, seeing the desperate situation of the smuggler, he was rushing forward to his assistance. Morris threw the lines upon the deck, wheeled about, drew his revolver, and faced the wheelman.

"Back to the pilot-house, or you are a dead man! " said Morris, as he pointed his weapon at the head of the helmsman.

Francisco halted, and looked at the shining revolver, which was a high-cost one his father had bought for him in London. Louis wondered from Morris's words whether or not he had been reading "blood-and-thunder" stories; but the boy was resolute enough for the occasion, and cool enough to remember what Louis had said about shooting in the present affair. The Spaniard could not understand a word that he had spoken.

"_Va a la casa del piloto! _" (Go to the pilot-house! ) shouted Louis with vim enough to show that he was in earnest as well as Morris.

Francisco evidently did not like the situation at all. He had drawn a long _cuchillo_, or knife, and he was certainly a dangerous man.

"Fire, Morris, if he moves on you! " called Louis, as he saw the blade gleaming in the moonlight.

Probably Francisco realized that a ball from the revolver could travel faster than his knife, and perhaps he had less sympathy for the Scotchman than he would have had for one of his other associates, for he backed away from the dangerous vicinity to the barrels of the weapon, and returned to the pilot-house. The steamer had fallen off her course, but she presently came back to it, indicating that the wheelman had returned to his duty.

This affair was only a momentary interruption of the more serious business in progress in the standing-room. Gray was out of breath, and out of strength, and after a vain attempt to release himself from the grip of Scott, he gave up the battle, for he had become absolutely powerless. He was actually suffering, and his gasps and struggles for breath were painful to witness.

"Loosen the line at his throat, Scott! The man is choking to death! " called Louis in a very decided tone, as he and Felix rolled the victim over on his back.