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They crammed cotton into the Tampico's holds, and later at Savannah they put pine-tar and pitch and other naval supplies aboard; thereby increasing Dan's responsibilities a hundredfold. But business was business, as Mr. Howland had said; and Dan had but to accept his worries and keep them from the party, which had fared well at the hands of friends in the two ports.
Yet the craft was bearing toward them, not a hundred yards away, silently as a ship of the dead. Dan cried again, rising on his rolling perch. But the hail died on his lips. He could see now. It was a ship of the dead. It was the derelict they had viewed from the fancied security of the Tampico's deck, a few short hours before. An imprecation trembled upon Dan's lips.
Here, Captain, tell them they know very well what ship this is and and wait!" as Dan raised the megaphone to his lips. "Don't waste time talking to the villains. Tell them tell them to go well, you know what to tell them." And Dan demonstrated that he did so vigorously, so eloquently that the answer came in the shape of a blank shot across the Tampico's bows. Dan looked gravely at the owner.
Swinging on a tactical semi-circle, the trim little flag-ship flew like a white ghost, tearing the waters, curling them up on deck until they ran out of the scuppers. She unlimbered another gun and the leaden hail swept away the Tampico's port lifeboat, crumpling the stanchions and davits like thin wire. "Their marksmanship is bad, as usual," said Mr.
Howland, and high officers of the Government sat on a long dais at the head of the room; the other guests, including the Tampico's party, were at round tables with red-shaded lamps. It was a pleasing picture, and Dan, for the first few courses, was glad he had come.
Each was glad of a chance to "talk with a human" and to get the news. The latest concerning the price of wool, the Bull-and-Bear fiasco, and, above all, the monster Bear that had killed Tampico's sheep, afforded topics of talk. "Ah, a Bear devill de hell-brute a Gringo Bear pardon, my amigo, I mean a very terroar."
It led him to a settler's flimsy shack, the house of Tampico's parents, and as the big Bear reached it two human beings scrambled out of the rear door. "My husband," shrieked the woman, "pray! Let us pray to the saints for help!" "Where is my pistol?" cried the husband. "Trust in the saints," said the frightened woman.
Once only the hunters saw the pair a momentary Glimpse of a Bear so huge they half believed Tampico's tale, and a Bear of lesser size in fur that rolled and rippled in the sun with brown and silver lights. "Oh, ain't that just the beautifulest thing that ever walked!" and both the hunters gazed as she strode from view in the chaparral.
There came another six-pounder shell, this time cutting cleanly through the Tampico's bow. But that was the last. On, on like an avenging sea-monster swept the Tampico, sullen, silent, with the potential energy of dynamite lurking in the force of her momentum. And straight, inexorable, Captain Merrithew stood on the bridge with his hands on the wheel spokes.
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