Top-Notch Magazine/Volume 57/Number 5/Hatching a Volcano/Chapter 5

NY number of important developments had come to pass since the night Captain Korry, after sighting the yacht Flamingo, had docked his craft and gone to his quarters ashore. The result of his failure, although not uncommon, bothered him; and the talk he held with certain mysterious agents, who furnished him with cargoes, did not serve to brighten his gloomy spirits.

Two nights later, accompanied by Meech, with ten Chinamen packed into the cabin of his launch, Korry essayed another excursion in the direction of American shores. At dawn the Federal cutter loomed up forbiddingly out of the early mists. As his engines began to misbehave when he crowded them, and Meech was unable to correct the trouble, Korry was forced to turn back. He saved his cargo on that occasion, but that afforded him little consolation.

Forty-eight hours later, with his engines repaired, Korry again set forth, only to meet with disaster when the Florida keys were within wading distance. A new type of revenue cutter, evidently of shallow draft and no mean speed, raced out from behind an island where doubtless it had lain in wait for Korry's appearance. Korry, after recovering from the shock, greeted the newcomer with a flood of choice Castilian, American, and Conch imprecations that won Meech's instant admiration and wholesome respect.

It took the angry but crafty Korry most of the day to outwit his nimble and tireless pursuer. He managed to shake off the Federal bulldog, owing to keener seamanship, a knowledge of the uncharted waters, and a sudden storm that descended upon pursued and pursuer at a most opportune moment.

Darkness followed the breaking of the storm. Korry, aware that his gas tanks were low, and that his agent ashore would not then be found at the appointed rendezvous, was once more compelled to return to the safe refuge of Havana harbor.

The taste of defeat, the second within four days, soured Korry's temper and digestion. It had never happened before. He suspected the reason and lay awake the greater part of the following night, considering schemes to overcome it.

The next morning at breakfast, when an item in the Havana Post caught his eye and held his undivided attention, an astounding plan flashed into his mind. Without delay he sent Meech down to where the Flamingo was docked, with instructions to invite Captain Pruett for luncheon at a certain quiet café. Korry had excellent reasons for not going in person. what not to do was as essential in his code as what to do.

Pruett appeared shortly before noon—a tall, sickly looking man past middle age, with faded blue eyes and mustache. He greeted Korry with genuine delight, and the two sea rovers seated themselves at a table in a secluded part of the side-street café.

Korry, taking time to study his companion whom he had not seen for a year, made a few cautions inquiries before getting to the business that had brought them together. He learned from Pruett, who seemed talkative enough, that the Flamingo had come to Havana to pick up the daughter of its owner, Wilda Newberry. The young lady preferred her father's small but comfortable yacht in her journey back to Tampa to returning by the regular steamer. Newberry, himself, was in the North, where Miss was to join him later.

“You come all this way just to bring back the girl?” Korry inquired, meditating upon the time and trouble and expense required to satisfy the whim of one passenger.

“Just that,” Pruett answered. “Come near backing down and telling Newberry to find another skipper, too,” he added indignantly. “I'm a sick man. No business to be chasing around in this weather. I was ready to go to the mountains when this fool thing come up.”

“We got mountains right here in Cuba,” Korry remarked, his eyes intent upon the other's pinched cheeks and rounded shoulders. “Do you a lot of good if you went among 'em.”

“I'm putting out of here in a couple of days,” Pruett returned, as if to brush aside the suggestion. “Only waiting for Miss Wilda to say the word.”

“Suppose you was took sick? Real sick, I mean. What then?”

“Have to lay over, I guess.”

“The Flamingo wouldn't sail without you?”

Pruett looked his surprise. “Of course not! I come down with only three men—new hands I had to pick up for the trip. About as worthless as you could find. Two of them's already deserted.”

Korry smiled in a manner to suggest that the Flamingo's predicament—and the skipper's frame of mind—were in keeping with his anticipated program. He kept silent, however, until the meal was served and eaten. A well-fed man was more easily persuaded.

After the cocktails, a steaming platter of arroz con pollo, and a chilled ensalada of aguacate and alcachojas followed, topped off with dulces en almibar, and washed down with sparkling vino blanco.

Pruett ate heartily and with evident enjoyment. with the black coffee and cigars, the Flamingo skipper leaned back in his chair. “You're looking fit, Jud,” he observed, perhaps a trifle enviously, “In the—the same business, are you?”

Korry nodded. He was not ashamed of his trade. His friends knew—always had; most of them admired him for it. “You've been a fool,” he told Pruett bluntly. “Two years ago I tried to get you”

“Yes; I know,” the other broke in, anticipating the substance of Korry's remark. “Guess I'm too much of a coward. Besides, I ain't strong enough to stand up under the strain. It takes a lot besides nerve.”

“Huh! You stuck to your soft skipper berth because it was easy and safe. Drawing down a measly wage and taking orders from a toad like Newberry. And what you got for it? Money? I'll bet not! Nor health. You're at the end of your rope, and Newberry'll be kicking you out soon for a younger man.”

“I guess so. I ain't worth much now. An old hulk like me”

“What'll become of you?”

“Hard to tell. I got a little saved.”

“How much?”

“A couple o' thousand,” Pruett answered.

Korry broke into a harsh laugh. “That all? After working seven or eight years? I'm making twice that—in forty-eight hours.”

“We can't all be so lucky.”

“Lucky?” Korry scoffed. “You had the same chance. You got the same chance right now, Pruett.” He leaned across the table. “How'd you like to double your savings in a day? without lifting a hand yourself? No danger or risk. Make your pot four thousand.”

Pruett started. “What you driving at, Jud?”

“You fix it for me to take command of the Flamingo on the trip north,” Korry explained. “That's all. You can be took sick—bad; stay here or back in the mountains.”

“I—I don't understand,” Pruett wavered.

“I'll take your boat up to Tampa and pay you a couple o' thousand for the privilege. Where's the harm in it—for you? Wake up, Pruett! Better double your nest egg while you got a chance, you don't owe nothing to Newberry; and before next season he'll be setting you adrift.”

The astounding significance of what Korry proposed to do gradually dawned upon the amazed Flamingo skipper. His cheeks flushed. “You—you mean to run up some monkeys?” he gasped.

“Of course!” Korry answered, smiling at the other's agitated countenance. “Twenty at least. I'll make it pay big.”

“But—but” Pruett stammered.

“Hold on now!” Korry admonished. “Don't throw a fit. It'll be the simplest thing in the world. No one'll suspect the Flamingo, least of all the immigration hounds. She's known in these waters”

“So are you,” Pruett managed to break in.

“But we won't advertise the fact that I'm her skipper. I'll pull out early in the morning, and along in the evening I'll land my cargo. Got the place in mind. Have a shore agent on the job to run the chinks up through Caxambos and Marco. Then we'll go on to Tampa. Newberry ain't there; and besides if he was where's the harm? You was too sick to bring the beat up. I'm a registered pilot, and you turned the Flamingo over to me. That's all there's to it. I come back here, and you bank your share of the profits.”

Pruett listened with undisguised amazement to his companion's glib recital. The proposition revealed was astounding. The honest Flamingo skipper was stunned at first; but presently, when his mind became normal and he reviewed the situation, he was shrewd enough to realize that the project, barring a few details, was not wholly impractical. Conniving with law-breakers never had been an issue with him before, and he had decided scruples against such practices, although the majority of his friends were inclined to scoff at his attitude.

“How about Miss Wilda?” he ventured at length.

“Well, what about her?” Korry queried.

“She'll have to go aboard. The yacht can't sail without her; and she wouldn't stand for—for this thing.”

“She won't need to know anything about it,” replied Korry. “The chinks will be stored away in the crew's quarters. I'll put 'em on board the night before; and when it comes to landing 'em, we can wait till the girl goes to bed. I'll fix that all right enough,” he added confidently.

Pruett shook his head dubiously. “She's smart. You can't fool her as easy as you think.”

“I've been fooling smart people for a long time,” Korry returned.

“Yes; I know,” answered Pruett; “but it's different among men. You can handle them if it comes to a pinch. You'd have to promise me one thing, Jud,” he went on. “No harm's to come to her. I wouldn't stand for that—not for a second. I got no love for the old man; but Miss Wilda's always treated me white. She's the finest girl you ever met.”

“Don't worry on that score!” Korry spoke reassuringly. “She'll be as safe with me as she'd be with you. I wouldn't put her to a mite of danger. Not for all the profits of the trip. I'm rough and hard-hearted in my dealings with men,” he added; “but no one can ever say I've harmed a woman. How about it now? Is it a bargain?”

Pruett still hesitated. “I—don't know, Jud,” he said. “Better let me think it over a while.”

“No time for that. It'll take a couple of days for me to make my arrangements; besides, you may get sailing orders any minute. It's two thousand in your pocket, Pruett—half when my cargo's aboard, and the balance when I return. And you're not concerned in it at all. The law couldn't touch you, even if I was to get caught. You didn't know I was running contraband.”

“What's the matter with your own boat?” the other inquired at length. “Broke down?”

“No. Spotted; that's all. It's watched all the time. The minute I leave port some sneaking government agent gets off a wireless to them Federal cutters, and they lay for me. Two times I been queered and had to put back without landing my cargo. I'll fool 'em this time, however,” Korry asserted grimly. “It's the boat that's watched, not me; and so long's it's tied up here they'll think I'm ashore. I'll be up to Tampa and back again before they get wise.”

“I guess you could, all right,” agreed Pruett. “How about me getting sick and fixing it for you to take the Flamingo?” he asked, apparently satisfied with everything up to that point.

“Easy enough,” replied Korry. “You leave that to me. All you got to do, Pruett, is crawl into bed. I've a doctor who'll sit in the game with us for a liberal fee. He'll have you within a couple of inches of the grave before night, all for Miss Wilda's benefit—and mine.”

Pruett drew in a long breath. The picture Korry had painted so graphically was distinctly alluring. A fortune—to him—tossed into his lap, and no risk attached. wrong, of course; but it seemed that all the better things life had to offer always were labeled “Hands Off!” At best, his days were short, and he might as well make them comfortable.

“You're making it mighty attractive, Jud,” he admitted, his voice a bit shaky. “Looks like it's heads we win and tails we can't lose. But you know what you're doing. I'll help all I can.”

“You'll never regret it,” Korry declared, beckoning to the waiter to bring another bottle.

The wily skipper, congratulating himself at the remarkable easy victory over the Flamingo captain, lost no time in attending to the many details necessary to bring about a successful and highly remunerative performance.

Before dusk, Captain Pruett had taken a bad turn and was put to bed in a room of a modest lodging house where Korry himself had quarters. The attending doctor, after a few words with the chief conspirator, seemed quite disturbed over his patient's condition.

Upon that carefully set stage, with the actors properly cued and the business of the scene rehearsed, Wilda Newberry was introduced. The physician explained that his patient was in a critical condition, that absolute rest and quiet were essential for his welfare, and that in no circumstances could he be moved before thirty days—or perhaps longer.

It was in the sick room that Jud Korry, freshly shaven, dressed in clean linen, and looking as honest and decorous as it was possible for him to look, was introduced to the young lady and highly recommended by Pruett himself as a trustworthy and capable substitute skipper for the Flamingo.

Miss Newberry was genuinely distressed at the situation, insisted upon engaging a nurse and paying all expenses incurred. Had it not been for meeting her father in the North, the girl explained, she gladly would have postponed her sailing. As it was she must leave within the next forty-eight hours. She accepted Pruett's understudy without a moment of hesitation.

Korry gallantly escorted the young lady back to her hotel, promised to find the extra men for the crew, and assured her of his readiness to start North with half a day's notice.

Thus, without a hitch of any kind in the program of his own making, and elated at the glowing prospects ahead of him, Korry doffed his Panama, murmured a gracious buenas noches, and betook himself from the hotel.

He was blissfully unaware that a man near the desk watched him with amazed eyes; unaware, also, that, when he had departed, the man hailed Miss Newberry familiarly, led her into the quiet of a reception room and insisted upon learning certain astounding facts.