“You mean the death of Luther Ralgood? That’s still a mystery, captain. The police don’t know who did it.”
“Not Luther Ralgood, I mean James Shurrick. That was the one I read about.”
“Ralgood and Shurrick were both friends of my uncle. That’s why they were murdered. What is more, captain, they were men who owned pieces of the ribbon. The third man was named Hungerfeld; he’s still alive. Mallikan found out about the ribbons, though. That’s why I’m here.”
JUND grunted, only half convinced. Callard was quick to add other vital facts.
“They weren’t due to meet until the fifth of December,” he explained, “but the murders forced the issue. That’s why I’m here early. That’s plain, isn’t it, captain?”
“Sounds mixed; but it’s logical. Where’s Mallikan? Why didn’t he come with you?”
“He had to sail for Bermuda. After all, captain, he was only the intermediary. This matter concerns me alone. That is, as far as I know.”
Captain Jund took up the lantern. He beckoned to his visitor and led the way along the deck. He was heading for the hatchway that he had used before, using the light to pick the way. As Dave Callard paced beside him, Jund spoke.
“It’s irregular,” remarked the skipper, “but it sounds right enough. I never saw Mallikan and I never saw you. But if anybody was trying to bluff me, they’d come here as Mallikan, not as Dave Callard.
“So I’m taking your word for it. You look like Dave Callard ought to look. Something like your uncle, when I see your side face. Come on below. We’ll talk when we reach the strong room.”
The two passed from view. All was silent on the deck. Jessup, strolling to the port rail, looked along the line of the ghost fleet. The camp fire was still glowing; but only a few vagabonds were visible.
Jessup strolled to starboard; he saw that Jund and Callard had left that side of the vessel. Jessup decided to raise the rope ladder.
Just as the seaman reached the rail, a figure came over the top. Sinewy hands gripped Jessup’s throat.
The sailor sank to the deck, struggling. The lantern slipped from his grip, but its fall was only a few inches. It did not break; it only rolled about.
Two more attackers had arrived. They flattened Jessup, stopping the man’s outcry. Another arrival pounced upon the lantern and sidled away, swinging it, while his companions bound and gagged Jessup.
That done, the attackers rolled the prisoner beneath the bridge and rejoined the man with the lantern.
Another seaman came around the corner of the deck. He was carrying a lantern; he thought the swinging light belonged to Jessup. He approached; instantly, lurkers were upon him. He, too, was bound and gagged. His captors rolled him in with Jessup.
A third seaman was on deck. Coming from the stern, he spied a moving lantern and called to Jessup. The lantern stopped, as if in answer. The seaman advanced; the ready horde pounced on him in the darkness.
They stifled this third victim and tied him up with the others.
Other members of the skeleton crew were below. Thugs of the night had no further opportunities for the present. The lantern moved toward the bow; its handler hung it there beside the rail. He joined the others lurking in the dark.
This horde from the night had done its work. Stealthily, the visible members of Jund’s crew had been conquered. The Xerxes was in the hands of pirates who had followed Dave Callard from the shore.
CHAPTER XIX. ENEMIES MEET
CAPTAIN JUND had unlocked the door of his strong room. He had turned on the light within; he was opening the grilled inner door while Dave Callard waited beside him.
The inner door came loose. Jund motioned Dave into the special cabin. They approached the safe; there the captain of the Xerxes paused. It was plain that he had something that must first be said.
“Young fellow,” announced the portly skipper, “I’m going to tell you how all this came about. I became the owner of this ship about the time that you were brigged in the Chinese yamen. No, come to think of it, I’d had the Xerxes before that. It wasn’t long after you were jugged that I dropped anchor in New York harbor. I was sick of the sea.”
Dave nodded. He could tell by Jund’s manner that the portly skipper was looking toward a life of leisure on shore.
“I had a sock saved up,” stated Jund, “but it wasn’t enough to suit me. I figgered that if I could sell the Xerxes, life would be sweet. But nobody seemed to want this old tub. I advertised the ship as good as I could. I offered it cheap; I told my story to newspaper reporters. Somehow, the buyers kept away.
“Until one day your uncle showed up. Came aboard and went with me to my cabin. Wanted to know if I had a strong room aboard. I showed him this place that I’d outfitted, just on account of the pirates in Chinese waters.
“He told me what he wanted to do. He was to buy the Xerxes at my price; but I was to keep the vessel. All I was to do was stay aboard ship. I was to tell shipping men that I thought the merchant marine was due for a comeback; that I was keeping the Xerxes.”
Jund paused to chuckle as he remembered the talk that his decision had created.
“They thought I’d gone dippy,” recalled the skipper. “Everybody did, that had ever heard of the Xerxes. When I brought the ship up here to the ghost fleet, they all thought that was to be the end of her. Well, they had it right. But they missed a guess when they figgered why I was staying aboard.
“I had this strong room to look out for. Your uncle put what he wanted in that safe. I was to keep it there until called for. He took an old sailor’s hat and cut up the ribbon. Sliced it into three pieces, two letters on each, and told me that friends of his would get them. I’d hear the rest through Mallikan.”
“One moment,” interposed Dave. “You say my uncle came aboard. Yet it must have been after he had talked with Mallikan, about my being jailed in Canton.”
“It was,” nodded Jund, pausing to fill his antique pipe with tobacco. “Your uncle mentioned something about your trouble over there.”
“But my uncle had been quite ill. He was confined to his home at the time he communicated with Mallikan.”
“He’d gotten better for a time. But he looked mighty white about the gills the day he came aboard the ship. Jessup and a couple of the men had to help him ashore.”
“My uncle visited you alone?”
“Yes, sir. And I was to tell nobody about it.”
“Basslett was not with him?”
“Basslett? Who was he?”
“My uncle’s secretary.”
JUND shook his head. Dave Callard repressed a grin. He did not mention that Basslett had been slain with Luther Ralgood. Jund had indicated previously that he had failed to read of the first murders.
“Now, young fellow,” assured Jund, as he completed the lighting of his pipe, “there’s a couple of things you’ve got to make straight. I’ve been waiting until after the fifth of December. I’d kind of expected to see Mallikan. But I’m still wondering why you’re early.”
“I’ve explained that, captain—”
“Yes. But you haven’t explained why your uncle picked December fifth. That was something that bothered me. I’m making no secret about what’s in that iron box.” Jund motioned with his pipe toward the strong-room safe. “There’s wealth in there and your uncle trusted me with it.”
Dave Callard nodded. A shrewd gleam had appeared upon his rugged face.
“Suppose, captain,” he suggested, “that I tell you why my uncle chose the fifth of December as the date for the delivery of the ribbons. Why he also chose Roger Mallikan as the intermediary. Would those facts satisfy you?”
“Let’s hear them,” responded Jund, bluntly.