The passengers began to get a little hysterical. Women sobbed; men blustered.
The young man took a silver whistle from his pocket and fingered it; his companions leant against the rail.
'My instructions are these. When my whistle sounds, you get a shell which, if properly aimed, removes the existence of your rudder and one at least of your screws. Before you have time to attack us-and, mind you, we have each two revolvers on us-we shall have vaulted over the side; we are all good swimmers, and our motor boat will pick us up. Then, we shall play with you until you pray for mercy. Far better save your ship, captain.'
'What do you want?'
'What do you think? Everything of value. If you agree I shall signal for more men and we shall go through your first-class passengers as quickly and delicately as possible.'
His quick eye detected Lady Tittle surreptitiously placing a diamond necklace in her stocking.
'It won't do, madam. I have a female searcher in the boat below (of course I should not be so ungallant as to go over a lady myself). We mean business; it's all got to go.'
'I guess I wish we had that lady who saved the ship and the five hundred passengers,' murmured Mr. Silverwood.
Herr Kunst reflected on the happiness of his friend Schmidt's dog, and wished he was that animal.
Miss Jepps, who had just rearranged her toilet, had come on deck.
Her appearance obviously impressed the young man, and he bowed.
'Surely, captain,' he said, 'you are not going to permit me to send so fair a flower as that to Davy Jones. Come, man, I'll only give you five minutes.'
Herr Kunst stepped forward.
'Gentlemen and ladies, der passengers,' he said, 'is it that ve all to dead put are, or that ve sacrifice some little of zis vorldly vealth and to Europe alive go, ain't it?'
The captain, hectic with rage, turned to the swaying crowd.
'You are quite powerless,' said the young man, politely. 'Ah, would you!' He had detected an angular Yankee in the act of covering him with a revolver. Without a second's hesitation he whipped his hand from behind his back, and fired. The man's arm fell limply.
Consternation gripped the passengers. It was apparent to them that the pirates were quite determined.
The moments ticked on.
The young man remained unmoved, watch in hand, while the captain canvassed the passengers.
At the end of the fifth minute he blew his whistle shrilly. Simultaneously a jet of flame leapt from his ship and a missile screamed through the air.
The great liner quivered under the impact. It was obvious that the rudder had been struck, fair and square, by a dead shell. These pirates knew something about shooting.
'Well,' said the young man, 'you see it's useless. I can sink you whenever I like. Give it up, and save your passengers.'
A general groan went up, and the captain gave in.
More rattling of chains, and three more motor boats slapped into the water, and in a few minutes were alongside the Mesopotamia.
More pirates, now some seventy in all, were on the liner.
'You have committed an act which the laws of God and man will avenge,' the captain hissed, 'but I am in your power. Do your worst.'
The 'worst' was short of accomplishment. Sparing the second-class passengers and the steerage, the pirates, all young men with 'gentlemen by birth' unmistakably stamped all over them, went through the saloon passengers.
The young man remained by the gangway, and chatted affably with Miss Jepps, who seemed quite reconciled to the worst. The captain stood by, in gloomy silence. The young man graciously spared the captain his mails- but, when the Majority of the pirates had returned, and Herr Kunst, reflecting that he had a considerable amount of diamonds in the rough still on him, was almost reduced to hysteria-the young man (we will refer to him anonymously throughout) made a proposition.
He was a pirate, he admitted, but he did not wish to become a real nuisance to civilisation. If any of the first-class passengers on the RMS Mesopotamia would also like to be pirates, they were welcome to join his ship, and their valuables would not be taken from them. He would not guarantee them restoration to their proper sphere of life for upwards of two years, but he did not think he should place them in any immediate danger of the gallows.
He limited the number to twelve.
Nearly all the nice young men, all wearing motor coats, were now returned from their exploration of the ship. Heavy boxes were being lowered into the boats.
The Mesopotamia sagged, rudderless, in the swell, and the passengers were very nervous.
'Well,' said the young man, 'will twelve of you forsake a life of dull decorum and become pirates? I make no stipulation about sex.'
Herr Kunst was the first to step forward.
'If it is that my valuables so safe are, I am with you,' he said, hastily adding, by way of qualification, 'I have in der illicit diamond buying business been; also it is that I have in prison been, ain't it?'
'Just our man,' said the young man.
'Well, after all, piracy isn't any worse than bridge, and it seems more profitable,' said Lady Tittle; 'come, Honoria. My name is Lady Tittle, of Clouds Court.'
'Exactly,' said the young man; 'I was expelled from Eton the same term as your son. Delighted, Lady Tittle, and your charming daughter.'
Miss Jepps made the fourth, and was received with open eyes by the motor-coated young men.
A number of passengers, their confidence bolstered by the example of others, now came forward, but the young man exercised his discretion.
Mr. Moss Hell was picked, and his friend, Mr. Hannibal McGregor.
Half the dozen was thus accounted for, while the captain fumed and looked in vain for the searchlights of the manoeuvring fleet.
Mr. Silverwood explained his position, and was accepted at once. It was the ivory gleam of Miss Jepps's neck did him.
Lord Reggie Cameron produced a visiting card in a delicate manner.
'Ah, yes,' said the young man, 'you were at Harrow. Do you remember Lords in '93? You know you never could play leg breaks.'
'Good God, man, it's-'
'Sh, sh, sh, captain Kidd, or any other name does for me here. Welcome, Lord Reggie; we can't give you much cricket, but if you shoot as you used, you won't be dull, and the tarpon fishing round our little home is extra.'
The lights of the Deutschland swam out of the mist like a great hotel on the waves. Captain James gave a great shout.
'It's quite useless, captain,' said the young man, very quietly. 'I could sink her, too, if I wanted to; but one's enough this trip. You get your steering gear repaired and get home. With luck, you'll get your mails in in time, and you'll save salvage. It comes stiff with a big liner, you know, and I shan't worry you again. I'm not working the Atlantic for years to come. Now, then, four more.'
The Sisters Lovett, twin divinities of the music-hall stage, were accepted at once, and Billy Neale, the English comedian, proved a certain starter.
The twelfth was a flapper friend of Hony Tittle's, a sweet little brunette, with legs which almost rivalled those of Miss Jepps.
'Make it a baker's dozen, guvnor,' said a very large young woman.
'Righto,' and they took Madge.
Madge was stewardess on the Mesopotamia.
A Scotch woman, she was shrewd and good-looking beyond most of her countryfolk. She rather tumbled to the fact that the pirate ship would be more genial than the old Mesopotamia. Besides, she was a virgin, and had some time since begun to wish she wasn't. Some of these aristocratic young pirates looked promising.
When the selected baker's dozen had finally collected their impedimenta, they were conducted into the boats.
Lady Tittle muffled herself into her sables, and, with a feeling of amused curiosity, watched the young man as he switched on the ignition, and the motor launch thrilled into life.