Part 22

"Go on, Scotty," said he; "I'll stay by the ship. No drink for me until we get clear of this foul river. The stinks would spoil the taste of any kind of poison you'd put aboard ye."

"Weel, have a bit of a care, an' don't let them Dagoes get scuffling on the lower deck. There's a bit o' powder up there in them boxes," and McDuff went his way up the levee.

Sengali, the foreman of the gang, stood upon the string-piece of the wharf and glowered at the small ship. He was not a sailor, but he knew she would be a dirty and lively vessel in a blow. He had brought his wife with him, and together they surveyed the scene.

"We will go aboard and look--see," said he to his stout spouse, and they forthwith stepped upon the ship's deck. As nearly everybody had gone ashore as soon as McDuff's back had been seen upon the levee, they met no one and wandered over the _Enos_ at will. Finally Sengali sat upon the boxes of powder and, lighting his pipe, began to smoke placidly. He was aware of the contents of the cases, but being an old hand at the handling of dynamite, he had developed that serenity and carelessness which is one of their distinguishing qualities. He feared not either fire or shock.

Mrs. Sengali wandered over the apparently deserted ship and finally found her way into McDuff's room in the rear of the pilot-house. Here she made herself comfortable.

It happened that Cellini, a young and amorous Dago, saw her. He had been drinking heavily, and as the coast appeared clear he made his way to the forward part of the ship, hoping to entertain the stout and rosy Mrs. Sengali in a manner common to drunken Dagoes. He saw no one forward and made his way to the captain's room. Then he quickly entered and swiftly closed the door.

Sengali, smoking and pondering upon the future to be had in the world at Panama, was aroused from pleasant dreams by the shrill screams of his wife. He sprang up the companionway and rushed for the vicinity of the noise. The cries seemed to come from the captain's room, and he hesitated. It was a terrible crime to assault a captain upon his own ship. But his wife. She was in terrible danger, her shrieks were now being half muffled, showing that the person who had caused them was stifling them as best he could. The Dago waited no longer; he crashed against the door.

It gave way with the impact and Sengali landed in the room. Cellini was holding his wife, but let her go instantly, and drawing a revolver, fired at Sengali. The latter raced for the companionway, hoping to gain his bundle, in which reposed his trusty knife. The bundle was lying where he had sat smoking upon the cases of dynamite, and he tore it apart, seized his weapon and turned to mete out a just revenge upon his assailant.

"I keel you now," he roared and rushed at Cellini, who had come floundering down the stairs after him, but who, being drunk, had tripped and had thus lost valuable time.

Cellini, lying upon one elbow, took deliberate aim at the enraged husband. A fireman, who had seen the fracas, fled up the levee shouting for the police, and James, who had been drowsing in his room, rolled out of his bunk and went to the scene of the trouble, intending to quell it, as a mate should. Cellini's first shot from his position where he had fallen tore through Sengali's uplifted hand. He gave a yell and drew it down, staggering and flinging the blood about. Then he rushed again at his prostrate enemy, his knife upraised, ready for the finishing stroke.

James gained the vicinity just as Cellini raised his weapon for the last shot. Drunk and furious at the interruption of Sengali, he appeared not to care for the retribution the husband was going to wreak upon him. He aimed carefully at the foreman's head and pulled the trigger. Just then James kicked the pistol aside and it exploded.

A man on the levee at some distance vouched for this much of the final act. He saw James kick the weapon, saw it explode. The next instant the forward part of the _Enos_ disappeared in a mass of flame.

Men came running from all directions at the sound of the detonating thunder. The rolling roar reverberated along the river-front for miles. People at a distance saw a huge waterspout rise from where the ship had been a moment before. Splinters, ironwork, rigging, spars and a piece of her smoke-pipe rose to an appalling height. Then the scene settled itself under a pall of dust and smoke.

The levee was destroyed for a distance of fifty fathoms. The dock had melted into the surrounding air. Trees, fences, and houses, everything at a distance of a quarter of a mile was razed flat. Men were knocked stunned and senseless who had been within this radius and the whole place seemed to have been shaved as with a mighty razor. Only a bit of the ship's stern, a tiny piece of her turtle-back, floated awash to show that there had ever been anything like a ship in the vicinity. The _Enos_, loaded with dynamite, had blown up with all on board and had almost totally disappeared.

A few hours later McDuff came lurching down to his ship. He was comfortably drunk and was in high good humour.

"I'll trim Meester James--ah, yes, I'll trim him guid an' fine before we gie th' dock at Colon. 'Tis a fine thing to be th' boss---- What, am I drunk, or has the knave run away wid me ship? He has run away--yes, yes, he has run away. Ah, weel, what'll I do-- The rascal has stolen me ship," said McDuff, looking about him and seeing nothing to indicate the whereabouts of the _Enos_. "Ah, weel, it was not my ship--but I will have the police after him. I will have him in th' calaboose. I'm fair drunk, I'm fair drunk--but na sa drunk I canna see a ship."

Mr. Booker read the cable despatch and handed it to his partner.

"That man James was certainly a genius," said he. "I'm half sorry for him. I guess he must have been too zealous--'twasn't like him, yet he must have been too anxious to please me."

"He'll turn up in time," quoth his partner, the amiable Mr. Benson. "The fact that he was aboard of her does seem a bit out of the ordinary, but there's probably some mistake about it. It'll straighten itself out later. He'll be here to see you, or I'm clean disappointed in him."

"I reckon we might as well attend to the underwriters without waiting for any complications," suggested Mr. Booker.

"Oh, yes, get the insurance. We've had a bit of luck--that's all."

THE END.