“What’s the next move on the program, Jack?” asked Amos, as he hurried over to the side of his chum, while the pounding on the hatch kept up furiously.
“I’ve given the course to the man at the wheel, and told him we will shoot at the first sign of treachery,” replied the other.
“That sounds good to me!” Amos declared. “Do you think we can keep on into the night, and come slap up against any of those war vessels?”
“I know the points of the compass,” he was told. “I’ve also got a chart of this sea, as well as the Dardanelles, so I don’t see why we shouldn’t be able to keep up a straight course. We know about where we’re headed, and I’m in hopes of picking up the searchlight of some battleship that is on the move to keep from being torpedoed.”
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“I’m willing to trust everything to you, Jack. How about those chaps below decks? If they should ever break loose there will be trouble right away!”
“It’s a part of our business to make sure they don’t break loose then,” the other remarked, firmly. “I’m going to tell Captain Zenos something. He’s got common-sense, I reckon, even if he is a fire-eater.”
“All I’m afraid of is that he may take a crazy notion to strike a match and blow up the boat rather than surrender it,” said Amos, uneasily.
Even that prospect did not seem to alarm steady-going Jack.
“Don’t worry,” he told his companion. “Few men ever deliberately sacrifice themselves in order to bring about the downfall of others. In forty-nine cases out of fifty a would-be assassin of royalty takes precious good care to look out for a safe getaway. That is what defeats their plans so often.”
“I guess you’re right about that, Jack,” admitted Amos. “I’ve read so along the same line.
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 They say that if a man is firmly decided to give up his own life to the cause, all the precautions in the wide world couldn’t prevent any ruler from getting his finish.”
“Remember what we had last spring in our history class about that general besieging ancient Rome, and who had a young Roman brought before him, caught in the camp. The youth told him he was one of a hundred who had sworn to take the life of the vandal general; and to show his fearless nature, thrust his hand into a fire and held it there until it was consumed.”
“Sure, I remember that,” said Amos, “and the general, knowing that he was a doomed man if he stayed around there much longer, with ninety-nine other young Romans after his life, all built on the same fearless model, soon found it convenient to call off the siege and go home.”
“Well, after I’ve explained to Captain Zenos that he will surely be given his liberty later on, any intention of blowing up the boat he may be entertaining will have passed away. Bold man that he is, all the same he can believe that ‘he who
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 fights and runs away may live to fight another day.’ Now, you stand here and watch our pilot every second of the time, while I speak to the skipper.”
Jack bent down when he reached the hatch. The pounding continued, and was supplemented by loud cries from the men below.
With a monkey-wrench he had picked up on the way, Jack started to himself give a few powerful blows upon the hatch. Immediately the noise below ceased.
“Hello! Captain Zenos!” the boy called out, knowing that the other could speak English as well as his own native tongue, for he was a man who had traveled over pretty much all the world.
“Who is that speaking?” he heard a grumbling voice say.
“It is one of your passengers,” answered Jack. “We have captured your vessel and part of your crew has been left behind, having landed on the island. The rest is below with you.”
“But who are you, and what does this mean?” demanded the bewildered captain.
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“Just what we told you we are, two American boys who are looking for some one who is with the Allies at the Dardanelles,” Jack explained.
“Why have you done this?” continued the prisoner of the hold.
“Because we believed you meant us harm, and we decided to strike first. So I made the smudge below in order to cause the crew to leap overboard and abandon the craft. But you were too brave a man to be frightened, and we had to shut you down below or lose the game. I want to make a bargain with you, Captain.”
The man waited some little time before replying. Evidently he was trying to get a firm grip on the conditions by which he was surrounded, so that he could play his best card. Then he called out again as though in anger.
“Do you know what I have a good mind to do, boy? I have matches with me here, and the powder can be easily reached. One match would be enough to finish us all, and we could go into glory together.”
“I understand that, Captain,” said Jack, coolly,
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 as though not a bit afraid the other would put his threat into execution. “We are willing to take our chances. You would be a fool to end your life that way when you can live to enjoy other exploits.”
“But if I fall into the hands of the British they will surely shoot me!” urged the man below.
“I give you my word of honor that they will let you and your men go free, on condition that you do nothing to injure the boat or the cargo. Is it a bargain, Captain Zenos? We are both armed, and will hesitate at nothing, even should you succeed in breaking loose, which we do not mean to have happen. Be reasonable, and, after all, you will lose only your boat. There are other craft to be had for money, but no one can get a second life, you know, if he loses the one he has.”
Jack heard the man actually laugh harshly. He believed he had gone about it the right way to get results.
“You are certainly a boy after my own heart, and since there does not seem to be any other thing to do, I agree to your terms,” the captain
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 called out. “Only I trust you will not deceive us. If I thought I might be held as a prisoner of war, or stood up to be shot, nothing would keep me from striking a match and ending it all now.”
“I have given you my word of honor, Captain; that is all I can do,” Jack told him, a little anxious still, for he knew the man was a reckless blade, and after all he might act on a sudden whim.
“Well, let it be a bargain then,” called the skipper; “but I hope you will not keep us many hours down in this hot hold. We would smother, I fear.”
“Inside of a couple of hours we hope to run across some war vessel, when you will be released and allowed to enter the small boat to make for the shore just as you please.”
Satisfied that he had accomplished the purpose he had in view, Jack turned away. He knew that those below could hardly break out of their confinement within a certain length of time, at least, and, while he did not mean to forget them, he wished to turn his attention to another quarter.
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It was getting dark. The twilight had fled, and it was no longer possible to see for any distance over the heaving surface of the sea. The island where the men had landed was far astern, and looked like a dark blot amidst the gathering gloom.
Glancing aloft, Jack could see the first stars beginning to appear. He took his bearings in this way, and as long as those heavenly lanterns remained in sight there would be no fear of their going astray. He had tramped many a time across trackless wastes of land with only a star to guide him; he felt the same confidence when upon the sea.
“We must first of all see to the lights,” he told Amos as he joined him. “With all these dangers hanging over our heads it would be silly to think of keeping in the dark.”
“Let me look after them,” said Amos. “I watched the man who did the job last night, and I think I’ve got it all down pat.”
“After you’ve finished with the lights, Amos, it might be as well to rummage around and stir
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 up something to eat. I’m as hungry as a wolf. There must be food aboard, of course.”
“Trust me for knowing where it’s kept,” chuckled the other. “I never mean to be starved to death if keeping my eyes wide open will prevent it. Sure, there’s plenty of grub close by. Watch me rustle it out when the time comes.”
He soon had the lanterns lighted; one hung to show the figure of the helmsman as he stood there at the wheel and guided the boat; and two others, the one red and the other green, on either side of the boat, so that they might not be run down in the gloom of night.
After this had all been attended to, Amos, true to his promise, washed his hands in the tin basin so as to free them from the kerosene odor, and then proceeded to produce all manner of food from the cook’s little galley.
They made no attempt to cook anything, for the conditions would not allow of their going to such trouble. Hungry boys are as a rule not at all particular about the quality of their food, so long as the quantity is right; and not a single
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 complaint was made regarding that supper, though it was crude in its appointments, and eaten under strange surroundings.
Even the man at the wheel was remembered, and thankfully received a portion of the simple spread, which he proceeded to devour as though he might be no longer troubling himself about the immediate future.
“Now for a long and weary watch,” said Amos, after only half an hour or more had elapsed since the capture of the powerboat.
“It may not be as long as you think,” remarked Jack.
“Why do you say that, Jack? Is it just on general principles, or have you some idea?”
“Well, we are making all of ten miles an hour, it strikes me,” was the answer; “and when twice that time has passed you can see we ought to be somewhere near that battleship we heard firing. Besides, I soon expect to catch sight of their searchlights playing every-which-way.”
“That’s so, Jack,” admitted Amos, immediately convinced. “When warships are in a dangerous
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 locality, and there’s danger all the time of torpedoes, as well as floating mines, I reckon they do keep their searchlights busy all the night in order to discover any creeping enemy.”
“They know these Turks to be clever schemers,” added Jack, “and bold in the bargain, so they keep on the lookout all the time.”
“Then, if we’re discovered, what’s our program going to be, Jack?”
“We want to get busy right away and run up a white flag, to show that we mean to make no resistance. Then they’ll likely send a boat, and board as we lie to. We can surrender the cargo to the officer in charge, first of all asking him to make good our word to Captain Zenos and his crew.”
“Perhaps, to make doubly sure, we might let them take to the small boat and skip out before we surrender the vessel,” suggested Amos.
“Now that isn’t a bad scheme, if it can be worked,” admitted Jack. “The Allies might want to hold these men and I’d hate to have my promise broken.”
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They sat there for a long time, now and then exchanging a few sentences or going about to make sure there was no danger of the hatch being pried up, thus allowing the prisoners of the hold to escape and make trouble.
Then what Jack had long been expecting came about. A white shaft of light suddenly shot out of the darkness and began to move along, swiftly covering considerable space, and revealing the choppy waves as though in broad daylight. It was the powerful searchlight on board some war-vessel, possibly a battleship of the Allied fleet.