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Updated: June 16, 2025
"Baron von Kerber told us at Marseilles," said Dick, wondering what new development had chased from the girl's face the smiling interest of a moment ago. "'Us'?" she demanded, almost sharply. "I should have said Captain Stump, Mr. Tagg, and myself." "What did he tell you?"
Listen to him," for another wail reached them from the disconsolate warship. "He's fixed there as though, he was glued to it. He'll have to jettison all his bunker an' a gun or two afore he gets off. They tell me Cigno means 'swan. I wonder wot's the I-talian for 'goose. Go an' tell Tagg. Tell him to tumble up quick, if on'y for the sake of ole times."
Dick had no intention of saying "Jack Robinson," but he moderated his pace, and helped Tagg over the ground by grasping his arm. They soon saw that two men had pulled the driver off the box, and were holding him down indeed, tying him hand and foot. Royson prevented the success of this operation by a running kick and an upper cut which placed two Marseillais out of action.
"There was a rather one-sided fight, because Tagg and I took them by surprise, but the Baron escaped uninjured, or nearly so." "Did they rob him, then?" "I meant that he sustained a couple of slight cuts, and therein you have another valid reason for his anxiety that the affair should not reach your ears."
"No," he said, when some chance remark from Royson had elicited this curious fact, "she's a stranger to me. Me an' Tagg Tagg is my first mate, you see had just left the Chirria when she was sold to the Germans out of the East Indian trade, an' we was lookin' about for wot might turn up when the man who chartered the Aphrodite put us on to this job.
"You must have seen our supply of firearms and cartridges, yes?" "Twenty rifles, twenty-five revolvers, an' enough ammunition to fight a small war." Stamp ticked off each item slowly and looked at Tagg as though he expected him to cry "Tally!" "Ah! That is well put, yes? If we are called on to fight a small war, as you say, have we got the right sort of men on board? I had to trust to chance.
Kerber was unable to withstand any further strain. The man was bearing up gallantly, yet he had reached the limit of endurance, and the trouble, whatever it was, seemed to be wearing his very soul. "Neither Captain Stump nor Mr. Tagg knows that you are wounded, sir," said Dick. "Perhaps it would, be advisable to defer our talk until the morning." Von Kerber shaded his face with his hands.
A superficial wound on the neck, and a somewhat deeper cut on the right forearm, were the only injuries; the contents of a medicine chest, applied under von Kerber's directions, soon staunched the flow of blood. "I do not wish anything to be said about this affair," began the Baron, when Royson would have left him. "Tagg must have given the captain full details already," said Dick.
Tagg, being lame, preferred to swing himself to the main deck, whence he hopped into the small cabin where the officers ate their meals. He came back instantly. "Wot's the game?" he inquired sympathetically. "You've eaten nothin'. Feelin' bad?" "No. Oh, no," Royson laughed and reddened. "Then wot's wrong? Didn't you fancy the corfee an' bacon, after the high livin' ashore?"
They winked at him evilly, and his tongue tripped: "I cannot tell you how sorry I am," he murmured thickly, Irene dropped her hands. "Unless you are able to squint, you didn't look at my wrists at all," she exclaimed. A gong pealed loudly from the cabin, and she ran off. Dick made for the chart-room, in front of which Tagg was leaning on the rail and gazing ahead.
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