CHAPTER XXXII
NEW PERILS
The street was dark and deserted except where the two persons so strangely met stood staring at each other.
Will’s first impulse was to fly under the influence of the old terror he felt of Captain Morris.
The latter, however, recovering partly from his surprise, suddenly seized him by the arm.
“Come with me,” was all he said, in a choked, unnatural tone.
“I won’t!”
Will struggled to get free, but Morris held him in a tight clasp.
“You keep quiet if you’re wise,” said Morris, menacingly. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“What do you want of me?”
“To talk to you.”
“I don’t want to talk with you. Let me go, Captain Morris.”
But Morris held tightly to him and almost dragged him along.
At a retired spot on the confines of the village was a tavern.
Will knew of it as a place of unsavory reputation, it being a low-drinking den.
“I won’t go to that place with you,” he appealed, holding back.
“Well, you will.”
Will struggled and shouted for help, but the Captain only laughed at him.
“They are my friends yonder,” he said, “and your obstinacy won’t help you.”
Will was compelled to accompany him through the narrow entrance to the living rooms of the tavern.
A man, evidently the landlord, came to the door, but at a glance from Morris retired.
The latter entered a room that was dark, except where the light showed from a transom looking into an adjoining room.
From that apartment sounds of drinking and dispute arose.
The air was foul with tobacco smoke and the fumes of liquor.
Captain Morris flung Will into a chair and confronted him.
“Now then,” he said, “I have a few questions to ask you.”
Will was silent.
“And I expect you to answer them,” he supplemented.
“And then I can go?”
“Yes.”
“Very well. What is it?”
“How did you escape from drowning on the Golden Moose?”
“After you left us to sink—” began Will, but the captain interrupted him, impatiently.
“After I left you to sink?”
“Yes.”
“I did nothing of the kind.”
“You certainly put off in the longboat.”
“The waves carried us away from the ship.”
“Oh, that was it?” remarked Will, incredulously.
“Exactly. We tried to get back to the ship and couldn’t do it.”
“Well,” resumed Will, “when we found the boat gone, Jack and Tom and I—”
Captain Morris started.
“Oh, Jack escaped, too.”
“Yes, we floated away on a grating and were rescued by a raft.”
“And where is Jack now?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did he come back with you?”
“No.”
Captain Morris looked mystified.
Will was determined not to tell what he knew concerning the remainder of his adventures.
“Where did you separate with Jack?” Morris asked.
“Oh, that was after we reached land.”
“Where?”
“Up around Barnell’s Point.”
At hearing these words Captain Morris sprang to his feet.
“What!” he almost shrieked out.
“Around Barnell’s Point.”
His hand trembled as he seized Will’s arm in a fierce grasp.
“See here, boy,” he quavered, “what are you hiding from me?”
“What should I hide?”
“What do you know about Barnell’s Point?”
“All. I was there.”
“With Jack?”
“Yes.”
“How did you get there?”
“We were wrecked.”
“And how did you leave there?”
“Part of the way on a sled.”
“A sled?”
“Yes, Captain Morris, a sled made of part of the timbers of the Albatross.”
As Will uttered these words Captain Morris fell to a chair.
A groan of apprehension passed his lips.
In hoarse, stricken tones Will heard him murmur:
“They have discovered all! I am lost—ruined!”
Comments