Chapter TWENTY-ONE

For three days the cruiser Farragut steamed steadily forward until the island of Oahu hove in sight. During those three days the constant care, coupled with the restful influence of the voyage, had proved most beneficial to the stranger who had by now practically recovered from the effects of his exposure. The captain of the cruiser had refrained from any attempt to question the man until he was convinced there was no further chance of a relapse. The circumstances surrounding the man’s rescue, together with his statement that he had just come from the pirate’s base, were sufficiently important, the captain thought, to warrant him in taking the man to Honolulu.

On the morning that the Hawaiian capital was practically in sight, the captain decided it was time to ascertain the identity of the stranger. With this purpose in view he had him brought to his cabin, and then asked him who he was.

“Where are you bound?” parried the man, somewhat suspiciously.

“We are going to the Pearl Harbor naval station,” replied the captain, “in fact we’ll be there in a few hours from now.”

“That’s fine,” said the stranger, his face brightening visibly, “I want to thank you very much, captain for your kindness I’ll tell my story to the authorities ashore as soon as we arrive there. Have you been looking for the pirate?”

“I don’t want you to tell me anything you don’t wish to,” resumed the captain, “but don’t you think you ought to tell me who you are so that I can get you to the proper authorities without delay as soon as we arrive?”

“Why yes, Captain, I’ll tell you,” he replied. “My name is Howard Redmond. I was the second officer of the airship Wilbur Wright that was destroyed by the pirate.”

The effect produced by Redmond’s simple statement could not have been more pronounced under any circumstances. It took the captain and the officers who were present in his cabin completely by surprise.

“Good Heavens, man,” exclaimed Captain Moore, “you were reported drowned. How on earth did you get to the pirate’s base?”

“Well, it’s a long story, captain,” replied Redmond, “but it’s a good thing that I did get there, because I’ve got information that we possibly could not have gotten in any other way. How much time have you got before you reach your anchorage?”

“I expect to be there in three hours,” said the captain.

“That will give me time to tell you before you go to the bridge,” began Redmond. “I will tell you how I got to the pirate’s base, captain, but you must excuse me if I keep part of the story for the authorities ashore.”

“Oh, that’s perfectly alright,” said Captain Moore, “but quite naturally we are very much interested in anything that you feel you can tell us. By the way, where is the pirate’s base?”

“You were not very far from it when you picked me up, captain,” replied Redmond. “It’s on a little island known as Patrocinio which is located about 170 East and 28 North. It’s right on the end of the Hawaiian archipelago. You couldn’t have been more than two hundred miles away from it at the time you found me.”

“Good God! why didn’t you tell me that before? I could have gone right there and finished that bird for good,” exclaimed the captain. He was plainly angry at learning how close he had been to the object of his quest without knowing it. His anger grew as he rapidly realized the wonderful chance he had missed to fulfill his mission.

“Wait a minute, captain,” cautioned Redmond quietly, “it’s a good thing I didn’t tell you, otherwise nobody would have known where the base was located.”

“What do you mean?” queried the captain sharply.

“Well, sir, you don’t suppose the pirate, knowing what the result of his capture meant, would pass up any chance to protect himself, do you?” asked Redmond in reply. And without waiting for an answer to his question, continued. “No! Well he hasn’t. He is engaged in a very risky business and he knows it, and he knows the consequences of his capture. He hasn’t passed a single chance up that I know of. That island is completely surrounded by a wide field of submerged mines. If you had gone there, captain, your ship would have been blown sky high before you knew it, and then of what good would that have been?”

The latter question was too much for the captain who simply gasped in his astonishment. The explanation, however, had completely mollified him.

“I would never have thought of that,” he said simply.

“No,” continued Redmond, “I knew you wouldn’t, that’s one of the reasons I didn’t tell you. There’s a lot of other reasons that I can’t tell you about just now. Well, to get on with my story. I’ll tell you how I happened to get to his base. When the pirate attacked the Wilbur Wright I was on the observation platform on top of the envelope. I stayed there watching him while our people were transferring the passengers. I was very much interested in the unusual appearance of his machine and was looking at it through my glasses.

“I stayed there too long.

“When he first came up to us he opened fire with his forward gun, and two of his shots went right through our envelope. One of them penetrated number four ballonet, releasing the helium gas, and the other struck the stairway running between the navigating room and the observation post, carrying part of the stairway away. When I started to go down I discovered this. Without trying to climb down the wreckage, I went back to the observation post and walked along the promenade deck on top of the balloon to the passenger elevator shaft. I thought it would be easier to walk down the stairs around the shaft. I was doomed to disappointment again, because I soon found that the shaft had been injured by the second shot.

“It looked as thought I would have a tough time getting down. I went back to the observation post and started down the accommodation stairway there. After considerable difficulty I managed to get down over the wreckage. Of course this took considerable time because I had to go down practically hand over hand. I had to do it slowly and carefully, by sense of touch, as all the lights inside the ship had gone out. A slip would have meant a ninety foot drop inside the envelope.

“By the time I reached the navigating cabin all our passengers and crew had left and were in the lifeboats. They had pulled away from the airship some considerable distance. I saw the pirate’s airplane on the surface near one of the boats, and presently I saw someone step over from the boat to the airplane. I found out later that it was Miss Ingleton.

“In the meantime I was in a pretty bad predicament. There was not a boat left on the airship, and our lifeboats were too far off for me to swim over to them. I didn’t know what to do. I was not certain how long the buoyancy of the remaining helium gas would keep the airship afloat, and then I remembered that the report we had received by wireless had stated the pirate sank the airship Langley after the passengers had left that ship. I was afraid he might do the same thing with the Wilbur Wright before I could find some means of getting off.

“While I was still undecided what to do the pirate’s airplane began to move away from the lifeboats. I watched it a few moments, and then saw that it was coming toward the airship. I went aft to the baggage room and watched through one of the small portholes there. The airplane came right up alongside the Wilbur Wright with its wings folded up. Three men got off and came aboard the airship.

“After a little while I saw two of them return to the place where the airplane was holding on and pass some packages out. I immediately jumped to the conclusion that they were picking out the valuable parts of our cargo and putting them aboard the airplane.

“While I was watching this I suddenly heard a noise in the baggage room. I was standing behind some large trunks and couldn’t be seen from the doorway. I looked around the edge of one of the trunks and saw one of the men from the airplane moving about inside the room. He was still attired in his heavy flying suit and wore a helmet, with a chamois face mask. His goggles were pushed back on his forehead. He walked slowly over to where I was standing, looking the baggage over carefully as he came.

“I did not dare to move. Looking down I saw a piece of metal pipe at my feet. I stooped down carefully and picked it up for use in case I was attacked. Then suddenly an idea occurred to me which I thought might give me a chance to get off the ship. I figured out quickly that I was doomed to die like a rat in a trap if the pirate opened fire and sank the airship after he had finished rifling the cargo. I decided that if anyone was to be lost it should be one of his crew instead of me.

“I waited as patiently as I could, watching for my opportunity. The man in the flying suit came gradually over to the place where I was standing. Soon he was passing in front of the trunks behind which I was hiding. As he passed on the other side I sprang forward and struck him on the head with the pipe I held.

“He went down like a log, without making a sound.

“I didn’t like the job at all, but I eased my conscience by arguing with myself that it was a case of his life or mine, and that he was a dangerous criminal who had taken part in jeopardizing the lives of women and children. The deed was done now, and it was no time for idle regrets. I set to work and stripped the flying suit, helmet and face mask off him. Fortunately for me he was about the same size and build as myself. As soon as I had got the clothes off him, I put them on myself. I picked up a piece of baggage that I thought contained some valuables, and walked along to the place where the airplane was moored.

“It was now that my supreme test came, because I knew the slightest false move would betray me. I didn’t know a thing about the pirate’s airplane, and it would be an easy thing for them to detect me. Fortunately, however, another man from the airplane crew was still on board, and I found him making his way to the airplane just as I came along. I fell in behind him and decided to do just what he did.

“At the door of the cabin of the airplane a man was standing. Afterwards I found out that he was the actual pirate. He was very impatient, and as we came along he said:

“‘What the devil’s the matter with you, fellows. Do you think I want to stay here all day, till the government ships come along? Get inside quick.’

“The fellow in front of me muttered some sour remark, and I did the same in a low tone. I really believe the pirate’s impatience saved me. He was so anxious to get away that he didn’t pay any attention to us. I followed the other fellow into the cabin. He went into the rear of it and stowed away a piece of cargo that he was carrying, and I did the same with my piece. Then he sat down on a seat that ran lengthwise along the side of the cabin.

“There was another man sitting on the opposite seat, and alongside him was a woman. I looked at her in astonishment, and then it suddenly dawned upon me that it was Miss Ingleton from our ship. She was looking very pale and somewhat frightened. I didn’t dare move or say anything, I just waited and watched. They had given her a leather coat to put on, and she held a flying helmet in her hands.

“The pirate had now sat down at the controls, and the fourth man was tinkering about with some apparatus that proved to be the power plant. Before I could take in my surroundings more completely, the propellers began to revolve and in an incredibly short time we were in the air. I looked at the air speed indicator and saw that it was registering 250 miles an hour, despite the fact that we were climbing. There wasn’t a sound from the engine, in fact the only noise I could hear was the whirr of the propellers. The man next to Miss Ingleton leaned over and said something to her. She then put on the helmet and mask.

“I had been wondering why the pirate and his crew wore such heavy flying clothes and face masks, especially as they were in a cabin plane. I soon found out. We were climbing very rapidly. I watched the altimeter, and to my astonishment found that forty minutes after we had left the surface of the ocean we were at an altitude of thirty-five thousand feet. It was bitterly cold. I could feel it even through the flying clothes which were fur lined. The funniest thing to me, though, was the fact that we experienced no difficulty in breathing. We had no oxygen apparatus, and yet we were breathing as easily as though we were at sea level, despite the rarified air in which we were flying. I couldn’t understand it at all. Neither could I understand his reason for flying at such high altitudes, unless it was that he had discovered a trade wind that aided him in his speed, or that he wished to avoid meeting government aircraft.

“After we had been going for a couple of hours, the two men in the cabin in which we were sitting got up and walked over to the forward part of the machine. I saw them take up some flasks that looked like vacuum bottles. And then they began working near the power plant.

“I seized this opportunity and moved toward Miss Ingleton. I put my finger to my mouth to caution her not to move or say anything. Then leaning close to her I said:

“‘I’m Redmond, the second officer of the Wilbur Wright. Don’t give me away. I’ll try to take care of you.’

“Before she could say anything, I went back to my place on the other side and stretched myself along the seat, feigning sleep. I thought this would be the best thing to do because I might be expected to perform some routine duty about the ship that I didn’t know anything about. I figured that if there was something that I should be doing, they would try to wake me up and tell me to do it, and that would give me an idea what it was that I was expected to do.

“Although I was pretending to be asleep, I kept the corners of my eyes open. After a little while the two men came back to their seats. As they passed me they both looked at me. One of them said.

“‘There’s that lazy devil Harrison asleep again.’

“That was a fine cue for me. I now knew what my name was supposed to be, and fortunately I was keeping up the reputation of the man I had killed.

“After two more hours of flying I experienced the slight sensation that told me we were descending and I figured that we must be coming to the pirate’s base. The other two fellows had gone to the forward part of the cabin again, and the pirate was very busy at his controls. All of the other three were looking out of the windows at the ground below.

“Very cautiously I edged over a little toward Miss Ingleton. As soon as I was near her I whispered loud enough for her to hear:

“‘As soon as we land, I’m going to try and hide myself somewhere. I want you to keep me informed of what is happening and to keep some food for me if possible. I’ll come and see you whenever I get a chance, if I’m successful in getting away.’

“She nodded that she had heard me, and I moved back to my original position, still pretending to be asleep. It was not many minutes before we landed on the water, inside a small coral reef that made a natural harbor on the eastern side of the island. It could not have been better designed for the purpose of the pirate.

“As the airplane came to a stop near a ledge of rock one of the men came over and gave me a light poke in the ribs with his elbows and yelled: ‘Get up you, lazy devil, we’re home. Take some of this stuff ashore.’

“I was all keyed up for the test that now confronted me. I went over to where the packages were stowed, picked up as many as I could carry and leisurely walked ashore with them. One of the other men was in front of me with some of the packages. I followed him into a crude hut that had been erected about a hundred yards inshore and there deposited the packages.

“The other fellow began to pull off his heavy flying clothes and helmet, as they were terribly hot in that climate. I was almost fainting with the heat myself, but I did not dare take mine off. I muttered some excuse about what I wanted to do and went out. As soon as I got outside, I took a quick glance at my surroundings. The island was apparently of volcanic origin and was very rocky. I began to walk over as slowly as I could in my excited state to a rock that was not more than fifty yards away. There was a level patch of gravel beach facing the little bay, and on this were two buildings, in addition to the hut, that had been erected by the pirate and his crew.

“As soon as I got behind the shelter of the rock I paused again to take in my surroundings. Some distance to the westward there was rough hilly country rising to about five hundred feet. I peered around the rock toward the beach and saw the pirate assisting Miss Ingleton ashore. Two of the crew were making the airplane fast to a ringbolt in the rock. The third man I had followed ashore was now returning to the airplane in his ordinary clothes.

“It was an excellent opportunity for me, I thought. I hurriedly shed the heavy flying clothes and began to run toward the hilly country, carrying the clothes with me. I thought they might come handy if the nights were at all chilly in the higher parts of the island. I continued running for some time, glancing back now and then to see whether my absence had been noticed.

“In the rough part of the island I was soon out of sight of the beach. Then I slackened down in my speed and began to look around for a suitable hiding place as temporary quarters until I could survey the island thoroughly. I wanted to find a place where I could remain safely without detection in case they began to look for me.

“On the southeastern side of the island I ran into some rather thick tropical growth upon the hillside. I penetrated this, and after a short walk I found a small depression in the side of the hill that was well screened by the vegetation about it. There were a number of cocoanut palms in this section and lots of banana plants. As soon as I had prepared my hiding place I gathered some bananas and ate them ravenously. I had not eaten since the airship was attacked about six hours before, so I was very hungry. After I had finished eating I fixed up my hiding place for the night.

“A short distance from the place that I had selected I found a small spring which trickled away into a tiny stream to the sea. It looked as though this would be as good a place as any I could possibly find on the island. It was well sheltered, and there were food and water close to it. Only by the closest search could it be located. It gave me a great feeling of security, and I turned in for a good sleep.

“That’s the story of how I got to the pirate’s base. I certainly was very lucky. Although I was missed that night, they didn’t make any search for me until the next day, and then it was not a very careful one. I heard them shouting, ‘Oh, Harrison, where are you?’, as they looked around for a while, but they soon gave it up.

“I waited a couple of days before I ventured out of my hiding place. During that time I lived on the fruit around me and the water from the spring. On the third day I went out very cautiously and gradually worked my way to the rock where I had first taken off my flying clothes. From that point I made a more careful observation of the pirate’s nest along the bay. For the first time I noticed the schooner Hilo beached in a narrow inlet on the western side of the bay. I subsequently found that she had been scuttled there.

“As I looked I saw the pirate and his crew at work on the flying boat. They were apparently making some repairs. I was glad to see all four of them busy because then I knew that they could not be looking for me. It was then that I made a surprising discovery.

“I told you previously that I had observed two buildings along the shore that had been erected by the pirate. Well, one of them resembled a long rambling cowshed. While I was watching this particular day I noticed a peculiar wisp of bluish smoke coming out of a chimney at the end of the building. This attracted my attention immediately because I could see no reason for a fire in that latitude. While I looked a couple of men came out of the building and walked down to the airplane. It was the first time that I knew the pirate had anyone else on the island besides his crew, and I was really frightened because it increased the chances of my detection, and I knew that others could be put to work to look for me.

“While I was thinking the situation over I saw Miss Ingleton come out of the other house. She stood still for a few moments, looking over the bay, then she turned around and looked toward the center of the island. I waited for the first opportunity and stepping outside the shelter of the rock, I waved my arm, motioning her to come to me. She saw me almost immediately, and I ducked behind the rock. She turned back and looked toward the bay again, and seeing that everything was going on as usual, started toward me, walking very slowly.

“I saw she had a book in her hand. As soon as she got within hearing I said to her:

“‘Sit down on the other side of the rock where they can see you, Miss Ingleton, and pretend you are reading.’

“She did this. Then I asked her how they were treating her. When she answered me I could tell she was almost crying by the sound of her voice.

“‘Oh!’ she said, ‘I live in constant fear. They are treating me alright, but I feel uneasy. This pirate is a man I knew in Washington who once proposed to me and I refused him. I am really afraid of him, although he has acted perfectly so far.’

“‘His name is Levanter--Joseph D. Levanter’, she replied. ‘He was an officer in the aviation service in Washington. He left the service when I refused to marry him, and we wondered where he had gone. When I refused him he told me that he had just done something wonderful and that I would regret my action very much. At the time I didn’t pay much attention to his threat but now it seems that he took me off the airship to carry out that threat. I didn’t know who he was until we got to this island and he took his helmet off. Then I recognized him and he laughed at me.’

“‘What did he say?’ I asked.

“‘He didn’t say a thing. He just looked at me and smiled in a funny way. I asked him what he intended to do with me. He said: ‘Do you remember the last time we were together and what I told you?’ I was so frightened I couldn’t look at him. I asked him again what he was going to do with me. ‘Don’t worry, no one is going to hurt you,’ he said. Then he left me and went away to the airplane to do some work.’

“I could readily see that the situation was very distressing to her, although I could not see her because she was sitting on the other side of the rock. Therefore I decided to change the topic, especially as I was anxious to find how I stood and what the possibilities of any search for me might be. I asked her.

“‘When did they find out I was missing?’

“‘It wasn’t until they got through with their work. Then they asked one another if anybody had seen Harrison. That’s the name of the man you killed on the airship.’

“‘What did they do then?’ I asked.

“‘One of them said: ‘Oh, that lazy devil has gone off somewhere. He’ll come back.’ The next day they went out to look for you, but they didn’t seem to be very much concerned.’

“This allayed my fears a great deal. Undoubtedly the man Harrison had a very unreliable reputation, and it was a good thing for me. Later I found out that they would have gotten rid of him before, but they were afraid he might give their secret away.

“I discussed the general situation with Miss Ingleton, and we made arrangements to meet at the rock every day at a certain hour in the morning whenever possible, so that she could tell me what was happening and anything that she might overhear. I promised to take care of her to the best of my ability. I was on the island over two months, and it was during that time that we made plans at our meetings for me to get away from the island. During the two months I learned everything possible about the pirate’s machine and plans with Miss Ingleton’s assistance.

“While he was away on his flights I went over and examined the schooner Hilo. It was impossible to use her, as she had been completely scuttled. This was done evidently to prevent the Kanaka crew from leaving the island. It was the Kanakas I had seen working in the long building.

“I did find that the lifeboat of the Hilo could be easily patched up and made seaworthy, so I made up my mind to try it. I did this while the pirate was away on his flights. Miss Ingleton helped me by secreting tools that she obtained from the toolbox whenever possible. She also carried food to the place every time she got a chance, so that I would have supplies for my voyage. It was in this way that I made arrangements to leave the island and bring the information I had gathered to the authorities.

“It took quite a considerable time to repair the boat, particularly as the time I had to work on it was very limited. I finally succeeded, however, and got away in the middle of a night about ten days before you picked me up. I hadn’t been able to get a compass or any other navigating instrument, and through the first night I steered by the stars alone. After that I steered by the Sun, and just let the boat drift during the night. I was trying to make Midway Island, figuring that once I got there I could get a schooner to take me to Honolulu. I must have drifted way off the course during the night because I had been going for ten days when you picked me up. It was lucky when you came along when you did because I was about all in.

“The time I chose to leave the island was when I knew the pirate would have to spend about a week repairing and overhauling his airplane. I was afraid that if by any chance they discovered the boat was missing from the old schooner----”

At this moment a quartermaster tapped on the captain’s door and entering, said:

“Mr. Jones’ compliments, sir, we are now off the harbor.”

The interruption cut Redmond’s narrative short as the captain was compelled to go to the bridge and give the necessary navigating orders to bring his ship into harbor. Half an hour later the Farragut was at anchor in Pearl Harbor.