Travel Scholarships

11. Masters on Board

{ 285 m a s t e r s o n B o a r d crew to begin getting underway. The men were sleeping, and nobody answered him. He headed toward their quarters. Will Mitz, who was closely following his movements, saw him disappear down the hatch. It was now or never! It was better to not come to blows with Harry Markel when such a fight would perhaps be heard throughout the ship. All the men could be imprisoned below deck where they would be kept from escaping before arriving back in the Antilles. If the trade winds held true, in thirty-six hours they would be in the vicinity of Barbados. Will Mitz jumped up onto the deck. The young men followed him, after tying up the rowboat which still contained Mr. Patterson, and they all crept forward in such a way as to be neither seen nor heard. In a few seconds, they had arrived at the hatch leading to the crew’s quarters, whose cover could be locked from the outside. A thick tarred tarpaulin , which protected the hatch in bad weather, was also fastened over it, and its edges were nailed down with heavy spars. Now all the crew, including Harry Markel, were prisoners below deck! All they needed to do was to guard these criminals until the time when they could turn them over, either to another vessel encountered along their route or to the first port in the Antilles reached by the Alert. The day was becoming brighter. The clouds of mist were lifting. The horizon was gleaming with the first light of morning. At the same time, the wind was freshening slightly, but without any consistent direction. The sails, as they were currently set, served only to keep the threemaster stationary. So Will Mitz’s strategy has succeeded! He and his young comrades were now masters of the Alert! As for the other ship on which they had sought refuge, it was already five or six miles to the east and soon disappeared from sight. Masters on Board Such was the turnaround due to the courage and boldness of Will Mitz. Fortune now seemed to be on the side of the honest people, and bad luck on the side of the criminals. Their final crime— getting rid of the passengers and Will Mitz on the following night— they were now powerless to commit. Rather, it was they who would now be punished for their misdeeds, 11 P a r t i i 286 } turned over to the police as soon as the Alert arrived in some port in the Antilles or America. Provided, of course, that they failed to take back control of the ship for a second time . . . But would they? They were ten, locked down in their quarters, ten strong men against whom Will Mitz and his companions would have no chance if it came to a fight. After breaking down the bulkheads that separated the crew quarters from the hold, wouldn’t they then be able to return to the bridge through the hold’s hatches that led to it? Surely, they would do everything possible to regain their freedom.1 Will Mitz first thanked God, praying to him to continue to protect them. The young men joined their prayers to his.2 A man of faith and piety, this honest seaman was not dealing with the ungrateful or unbelievers , and they offered him, from the heart, a sincere outpouring of gratitude. As for Mr. Patterson, they helped him back on deck, but he was still in a semi-unconscious state. Believing he was in the middle of a bad dream, he went back to his cabin. Five minutes later, he was in a deep sleep. The day was growing lighter, and the sun soon rose behind a thick band of clouds that stretched from the northeast to the southeast. Will Mitz would have preferred a clear horizon. He feared that the wind would not be steady in the direction they wished to go; even worse, as his sailor’s instincts confirmed, the sky seemed to give some indications that there might be strong winds coming from the opposite direction. The entire question was this: if the trade winds prevailed, they would move the Alert rapidly on a westerly course toward the Antilles. But before getting underway, they had to wait until the breeze decided which way it was going to blow. Until now, it had been intermittent , and...