Cargo of Coffins (Stories From the Golden Age) by Hubbard L. Ron

Author:Hubbard, L. Ron [Hubbard, L. Ron]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sea Adventures, Action & Adventure, Genre Fiction, Thrillers, Men's Adventure, sea adventure, Mystery, Adventure, Education & Reference, Hard-Boiled, Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, Words; Language & Grammar, Literature & Fiction, thriller
ISBN: 9781592123520
Amazon: 159212352X
Goodreads: 6456148
Publisher: Galaxy Press
Published: 2009-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

Paco’s Contraband

THE Canary Islands lay low on the horizon, far to starboard. The bows of the Valiant rose regularly to knife back into the easy swell. The throbbing Diesels drove tirelessly. All was well, to all appearances, aboard the yacht.

And yet, day by day, Lars Marlin’s tension had grown. He had no slightest inkling of the contents of those mysterious coffins and Paco had volunteered no information to anyone about them. The contents were gold and jewels. The ship believed that. But just because Paco said so, Lars did not.

Lars stayed with his bridge. He was plainly persona non grata on the lower deck. Silence fell whenever he went down—and he had soon stopped going.

Only young Ralph, with his dreams of adventure, came to pass any time. A deep, dark past added to Lars Marlin’s attractions as far as Ralph was concerned.

Lars was standing a watch, looking toward the Canary group to check his bearings, when Ralph came up that afternoon.

“Captain,” said Ralph complainingly, “there’s a sneak thief on board this ship. How do I go about catching him?”

Lars turned slowly. “A sneak thief? What’s gone?”

“Well, I’ve had an idea for a long time I was going to go to Africa and shoot me a couple lions and I’ve been collecting guns.”

“Guns?” And from Lars the word sounded like an exploding cartridge.

“Sure. I had three good rifles. A twenty-five-twenty. A Scho, a 9-mm Mannlicher and a couple automatics and some shells. Sis didn’t know I’d been buying them here and there, so I don’t dare tell her about it. You know how women are. Aunt Agatha wouldn’t like it either. But I had them hidden away and now they’ve disappeared.”

“How long has it been since you saw them?”

“That’s it. Just this morning. And when I went back just now to clean up my Schoenauer, the locker was empty. Every bandolier was gone!”

“I’ll take care of this,” said Lars. “Do me a favor, Ralph, and don’t say a word to anybody about this.”

“Sure, but . . .”

“Our lives may depend upon your silence.”

This statement sent Ralph back off the bridge, gaping and blinking. It sounded harsh and real, as though something was going to happen very shortly.

But nothing happened for the rest of the watch or during the eight-to-midnight. And then Paco stepped out of his cabin with a swift glance about him.

Far down the moonlit deck, Lars was standing in the shadow of a lifeboat. He had been there for three hours, certain that Paco would come forth sooner or later. And now that Paco had appeared, Lars knew there was something wrong.

Paco walked down the deck, passing from shadow to shadow, away from Lars, continually on the watch.

No one appeared to block Paco’s furtive way. Lars waited until Paco had rounded a bulkhead and then started forward with swift stride to overtake him.

When Lars reached the corner, Paco had vanished into the emptiness of the forward well. But a companionway was open, the only possible place Paco could have gone in so short a space of time.

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