VAGABOND VOYAGE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 June 1938, Page 10

VAGABOND VOYAGE

PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

COPYRIGHT

BY

ALROY WEST

(Author of “Stratosphere Express”)

CHAPTER X. “I don’t think Wicks has a gun,” Peter said thoughtfully. “Don’t you think we’d better go ahead?” “I expect so. It would certainly be wiser to find out rather than hang about in ignorance.” They pressed forward and at .last reached a further belt of sand dunes. Peter hurried to the flat sand of the beach and gave a gasp of relief as he saw the trawler. The beach, however, was not deserted. The dinghy was drawn up on it and some of the crew were crouching behind it. Nearer to the dunes were a few Arabs, keeping up a continuous fire with their rifles. It was being answered by two men from the boat.

Peter raced back to Alla and they hurried onwards as fast as they could go. At last they came to a spot from which the Arabs were in range of the rifle. Peter lay down in the sand and piled up a small mound. Alla remained by the dunes in order to give him warning of any attack from the rear.

Peter took careful aim and fired at the Arab who was in the most prominent position. The Arab spun round, flung up his hands and dropped face downwards. Another, surprised at what had happened, exposed his body to the fire from the boat and was wounded in the arm. His gun fell and he tried to crawl away. Peter took a slight risk by moving forward. A bullet sang past his head. He returned the fire and had the satisfaction of seeing the man who had fired at him crumple up. From the boat came another fusilade which resulted in one more Arab being killed. Peter, back at the small pile of sand, fired again. He missed his mark, but managed to scare the three remaining Arabs who realized that they were too exposed on the flank. Acccordingly they followed the example of the wounded man- and tried to slip away. One of them was hit in making his retreat. He staggered for a few steps and then fell to the ground. Peter called to Alla, and made his way along the beach. He saw Wicks spring out and run across to a fallen Arab. Taking the man’s rifle he fired at the wounded Arab who was just creeping to shelter round the dune. The man dropped flat and Wicks rushed forward again, closely followed by the engineer, whose tactics were equally brutal. He came upon one of the Arabs who had not been killed outright. Peter saw him raise the man’s gun in the air and swing it down club-wise.

The two Arabs who had escaped were out of sight, but Wicks and Gallop hurried up the slope of the nearest dune and opened fire on them. Crockett and Gordon emerged from the shelter of the boat and hurried forward to meet Peter and the girl. They broke into excited explanations of what had taken place. Returning with the Captain the previous night they could not discover the dinghy and had to swim to the ship. Gallop presented quite a problem. He turned up just as they had made up their minds to swim across.

“There was a tidy row between them,” Gordon cut in, referring to Wicks and Gallop. ‘‘The engineer shouldn’t have left the ship,” Crockett explained. “He was at liberty to do whatever he wanted,” Gordon countered. Alla smiled and nudged Peter. He knew what she was thinking. The ship was being divided into two camps. Crockett was for the captain, and Gordon for the engineer. “Suppose you get on with the story,” Peter suggested. Gordon took up the tale where he had interrupted it. They managed to get Gallop over to the ship by means of a rope. He retired to his cabin at once. “I've never seen a man so angry,” Gordon said, a hint of admiration in his voice. “There wasn’t nothing for him to get mad at,” said Crockett aggrievedly. “Carry on," Peter prompted. As soon as day broke Wicks had them all ashore in order to find the dinghy. He had an idea that it had been sunk. Once they discovered it they managed to drag it out of the water and beach it. No sooner had they done this, aided by Gallop who came ashore with the help of the rope line, than they were taken by surprise. Somebody started to take pot shots at them from the dunes. Wicks made the men crouch behind the boat and swam back to the trawler. He obtained two revolvers and sent them back along the rope, having made it into a loop, it was dangerous work, with the Arabs shooting, but they were too far away for the sho.ts to have any effect. After a time, they became bolder and advanced on the boat. Wicks had swum ashore again, and he took the one revolver, giving the other to Gallop. They waited until the Arabs were close and .then started to shoot at them. Not one shot took effect, but the fusilade made the Arabs become more careful. They lay down in the sand and scooped up little mounds to protect themselves. It was shortly after this that Peter had launched his attack from the flank. “That settled it in less than no time,” Crockett said with a grin. Alla moved over to look at one of the Arabs and then came back to Peter’s side. He gave her an inquiring glance, and she nodded her head. “I recognized him,” she said. Evidently they were trying to find us. How mapy are there here, I wonder.” Peter made a rapid calculation.

“I think there are five lying here,” he said. “I’m not sure because of that slight hummock.. There may be one more hiding behind it. Two ran away. That makes seven.” “There were ten in the party who were taking me away,” the girl said. “One was killed last night, and they probably left one man behind. Two, if only five have been killed here.” Peter gave a grim smile. “That should teach them a lesson,” he said, “But we shall have to be quick about things. I don’t know whether the sound of.the firing would carry as far as the main body. It might. Anyway, here comes the captain. I’ll have a word with him about it.” Wicks was speedily acquainted with the position. He looked at Alla and then smiled. “Glad to be of service,” he said. “My mate did‘quite right in following you. But we must waste time. We may be having other callers pretty quickly.” Gallop sauntered over to Peter. “You fooled me all right,” he admittd. “I think I rather admire the way you did it. You got us out of a tight corner, so we might as well regard it as quits.” “I’m willing,” Peter said. As he was collecting the rifles which had dropped from the dead hands of the Arabs, Wicks hurried to his side. “Did you tell that girl what I was doing?” he demanded. Peter realized that it would be dangerous for Alla if he revealed that he had told her everything. “There wasn’t time,” he said. “We were running away from the Arabs, you know.” Wicks seemed satisfied. “We’ll get on board as quickly as we can,”he declared. ‘ “I’m having rough plugs put in the dinghy.” While they were collecting ammunition from the bodies of the Arabs slain in the flight, Peter had the opportunity of telling Alla what he had said to the captain. “You were wise,” she said. “I think you would be wiser still if you forget that I was captain. He should not know that, your Captain Wicks. Then we shall be able to take him by surprise and outwit him.” There was no opportunity for further talk. Crockett had returned to the trawler and he shouted a warning, pointing northwards along the sands. “The Arabs-are coming!” Peter snapped. They raced towards the boat. (To Be Continued)