vas shake, the big Hollander
called Barry and Gordon.

"Come, friends," he said, "here is work for us all, and in particular
for you."

They boarded the launch, and she swung out of the cove and headed out
across the schooner's course. As they shot into sight, a cry of alarm
pealed out from the _Padang's_ quarterdeck, and an order halted work on
the anchor. Vandersee replied with a sharper order that was punctuated
by a rifle shot, and on the bank abreast appeared a file of sailors
with rifles aimed at the schooner. The anchor was let go in a hurry, and
the launch stormed alongside a hurriedly flung ladder, Vandersee
starting to climb the moment his foot could reach a rung.

"Come up, Barry," he called, and the skipper followed, with Gordon and
eight naval seamen after him. The schooner's crew, but a half of her
full complement, stood in attitudes of bewilderment. They had expected a
very simple, cut-and-dried halt, getaway, and reward; instead, here were
intruders who forced obedience by mysteriously produced riflemen on the
river shores. The Dutch sailors were businesslike in their acts now, and
before the alarm had subsided, the schooner's men were lightly hand-tied
and passed down to the launch. In their places remained the eight naval
seamen, and Vandersee said, as he prepared to leave with his new
prisoners:

"You are in command, Captain Barry. I shall remain alongside until you
can get the anchor off the ground again, in order to give you a shove
over near the creek. Then all I expect you to do is to make sure that
once Leyden comes into our trap he does not get out by way of this
schooner. Apart from that, you have little to do beyond comforting and
reassuring two ladies whom I see aft."

Barry looked up from the waist, where they stood, and saw Miss Sheldon
at the quarterdeck rail; and as he looked, Mrs. Goring joined her,
winking with the sudden transition from the cabins into the vivid
morning light. The seamen were already taking up the slack cable, and
Barry stared at the big Hollander and Gordon, helpless for the moment
from the shock they gave him. It was shock after shock for Barry. Here
was Vandersee, smiling cherubically, taking Mrs. Goring into his great
arms. He gently pressed her head back and kissed her warmly full on the
lips, and she responded to his caress with glad submission. And there
stood Gordon, looking on with no trace of jealousy; smiling rather, as
if he enjoyed the spectacle of a