CHAPTER XX.

THE HIDDEN MINE.

About midnight, Jack awakened with a start and a vague feeling that all was not well. The _Barley Rig_ was still tossing violently and for a few moments after he opened his eyes, the lad who had slept on the outside of the bunk felt dazed.

Then he became aware that Captain Hoeseason was standing near to him, feeling about under the mattress.

"He's trying to rob us," thought Jack. "What shall I do?"

The thought flashed across him that he had no weapon, and that Hoeseason was probably armed. He was undecided whether to feign sleep or not, for the captain of the _Barley Rig_ was apparently not yet aware that the boy was awake, when he was saved the trouble of making a decision.

He was grasped roughly by the shoulder and violently shaken. The giant captain, with an evil look in his eyes, stood above him, a huge seaman's knife glimmering in his hand under the light of the guttering lamp.

"Now, younker," he said, in his hoarse tones, with a ferocious look, "I ain't goin' ter beat about the bush. I've come after that money of yourn."

"What money?" demanded Jack, deeming it wisest to "spar for time," and see if he could not devise some way out of the dilemma.

"Now, don't play foxey, Mister Yankee kid," snarled the huge fisherman; "you know as well as I do. The money in that belt I heard you talking to your chum about."

"I know nothing about it," declared Jack. "When I paid you I gave you almost all the money I had. I am looking to get fresh funds in Antwerp."

The man tightened his grip on the boy's shoulder and fairly yanked him out of the bunk. He placed his knife between his teeth and compelling Jack to hold his arms above his head he searched him. Jack's heart sank. He knew the money belt was in the bunk under the pillow. Beyond doubt this desperate ruffian would search the sleeping place before very long and discover its hiding place.

"So it ain't on you," snarled Hoeseason, when he had finished his search, "but I'll bet a guinea it ain't far away. Stand where you are and don't move as you value your life while I overhaul the bunk."

A moment later an exclamation of savage delight burst from his bearded lips.

"Ah! Here it is. See, younker, I was bound to find it and---- What the----?"

As the giant of a man stood half-facing him, Jack gathered himself for a crouching leap. He sprang straight at the man's legs and, catching him entirely by surprise, brought him to the floor with a crash that could be heard above the raging of the storm.

"Bill! Bill!" he shouted.

There was a stir in the bunk above.

"Help me, quick. He'll be too much for me alone."

"What in the world, Jack Ready----?"

"Don't ask questions. Come, quick!"

Bill clambered out of his bunk with alacrity as soon as he saw what was going forward. Hoeseason, who had been, luckily for Jack, slightly stunned by the fall, lay still. In his fall the knife had flown from his hand and lay half-way across the cabin.

"The knife, Bill," panted Jack, "the knife before he comes to. I dare not take chances with him."

Bill quickly fetched the weapon.

"So he did try to rob us after all," he said. "The precious ruffian, I didn't like his looks from the start."

"Never mind about that now, Bill, but hustle and get some rope. We must tie him, for when he comes out of this he'll be a match for the two of us."

There were plenty of odd bits of rope lying about the cabin on lockers that ran down one side of it. Bill procured several lengths, and in a few moments, the semi-conscious giant was bound hand and foot.

In the meantime, Jack fastened the money belt round his waist once more.

"I wish we had pistols," he said, as they stood watching the slow return of consciousness to the bound captain's face.

"Why, this fellow is harmless now," rejoined Bill.

"Yes, but you have forgotten the rest of the crew, haven't you?"

"Great Scott, I had for a moment. Do you think they are in league with him?"

"I don't know, but they are bound to find out his plight sooner or later and we shall have to reckon with them. We're in a tight place, Bill."

Captain Hoeseason began to stir. He rolled his eyes uneasily, and the next moment discovered that he was tied fast.

"You young imps," he roared in stentorian tones, "cut me loose instantly, or when I do get free I'll have such a vengeance on you as will----"

"It won't do you any good to rave like that, captain," declared Jack, "and, moreover, we----"

The sentence was never finished. The fabric of the _Barley Rig_ seemed to heave suddenly upwards and then rush apart. There was a burst of blinding flame, and a report that drove the ear drums in. The next instant, as it seemed to them, there was an inrush of water on the tide of which the boys were swept out into the darkness of the raging seas.

The trawler vanished almost as quickly as the terrific flash of flame from the mine that she had struck, and which had ended her career for all time.