Northward Ho!
IT was later, much later, when all was quiet on board the submarine and the work of rescue was over. Men lounged in the narrow bunks in the hull, tired from the tremendous strain of the night.
Up toward the bow, in the torpedo room, two prisoners sat disconsolately against the bulkhead and glowered at each other. Hastily improvised irons were about their ankles and wrists, and with the added precaution of the guard at the door, it was certain that the doom of the Mercer brothers had been sealed. They would go north, into the hands of the courts. If they managed to be acquitted on the charges of murder, the best they could look forward to would be a lifetime spent behind bars.
Further along the passageway were ten brass-bound, glinting chests which held several fortunes in gold bullion, and a nation’s ransom in emeralds.
Aft of these, two diesel engines were pounding along at their best speed, safe in the care of the Stingaree’s chief engineer.
In the conning tower, a sailor stood at the wheel and looked down into the binnacle which read North. From time to time he looked up through the hatch to the open bridge above, whence came the pleasant murmur of voices.
From the open bridge it was possible to look out across the water to the east, where the clouds were catching up the rays of the coming sun, relaying their light to the dark ocean, promising a new day.
But neither Vick nor Hawk Ridley was paying much attention to the sea. They stood close together at the rail, finding it enough just to look at one another. Gregory, on the far end of the bridge, glanced at them from time to time with friendly, amused eyes.
The light in the east became so brilliant that it could no longer pass unnoticed, and Vick spoke, her voice hushed by the beauty of the scene.
“It’s the most glorious dawn I’ve ever seen,” she said.
Hawk gave the horizon an appreciative glance.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a finer one myself. But it might be better, Vick.”
She looked at him, puzzled. “What do you mean?”
“I might as well tell you now, while we have beauty to temper the hurt. I want to know one thing. Are you married?”
“Why? What makes you think—?”
“You came aboard in a wedding dress. I’ve been worried ever since you came aboard.”
Vick laughed softly. “And if I really am married,” she said, “would it make so much difference?”
“You know it would!” Hawk cried, so fervently that Gregory almost dropped his field glasses.
Vick looked out across the water.
“I’m not married, Hawk. I never have been. But I didn’t want to tell you until—until all this was straightened out. But I can tell you now. I hope it won’t make any difference.”
“How could anything make any difference?”
She drew back a little before she spoke.
“On the night you sailed, I was about to be married to Al Mercer, Hawk.”
“That runt!” he exclaimed.
“Yes. I couldn’t do anything else. I had to—for Dad’s sake. Dad, you see, is the financial backer of Ocean Salvage.”
“I knew that,” Hawk said.
“And Chuck Mercer told Dad that if I didn’t consent to marrying his brother, he would expose some of Dad’s deals. He said that Dad had gone outside the law in backing a certain ship salvage Chuck had handled. Dad laughed, but Chuck and Al had some clever lawyer prove that they were right—some technical point. I went to another lawyer, but I didn’t think it would do any good. They’re so slick, Chuck and Al.”
She paused for an instant, giving Hawk’s tense face a brief, troubled glance before she went on.
“And so, on the night I was supposed to marry Al Mercer, everything was in readiness. All the guests, the minister, Dad—everybody was there. I was dressed, waiting to go downstairs, trying to get up courage for the ordeal. I guess I’d do anything for Dad. And then—well, my lawyer telephoned me and explained that Dad had been right, and that the Mercers had nothing real to go on. I called Dad, but he was upset and afraid of Chuck and Al. He said I had to go through with it. He said it would mean the end of things for both of us if I didn’t.
“I waited until he had gone back to the guests, then I ran away. I went down the back way and out into the street. I had no money, and no place I could go. I didn’t even have any clothes but the wedding things I was wearing. Then I remembered that you were sailing. I’d read about it, and I had heard Al say that he had been unable to get some charts you had. And so—well, I knew from your reputation that you were decent, and—well, here I am.”
He kissed her.
“You bet you’re here!” Hawk said, holding her in strong protective arms. “And you’re going to stay right here, too. When we get back to New York—you’ll marry me, Vick?”
“Yes,” she said.
“And we’re going to pave the church steps with emeralds and have the altar made out of gold! How does that suit you?”
“Hawk, I’d marry you in a diving suit and at the bottom of the sea!” And to confirm the statement, she gave him a kiss as rich with promise as the scarlet light of dawn.