eemed suddenly charged with
portent. The wrecked _Barang_ lay close by like a stranded, decayed
monster on a desolate shore. She was black and jagged with burned stumps
of timbers down to the water line; on her upper part, where decks had
been, and houses, half-consumed beams supported planks that were
charcoal rather than wood; part of the poop remained, with one side of
the deckhouse-companion, and down under them, where they had fallen
under their own weight through the burned planks, lay two great iron
tanks that had contained the spare fresh-water supply, and it was their
contents, discharged when they fell, that had quenched that part of the
fire. Besides these trifles of salvage, the vessel was swept bare of all
semblance to a ship, and the black, pointed stumps of masts and
stanchions stuck up in awful desolation.

Into this black horror Vandersee waved six seamen, armed with rifles. He
then gave some instructions to Houten, and the launch shoved off and
entered the head of the creek, taking cover behind a great mass of
charred weed and moss, whose dampness had prevented their utter
incineration. Vandersee himself stood for a moment gazing down the river
from the top of the remaining part of the deckhouse, then he turned to
the _Padang_, waved a hand cheerily, and vanished inside the blackened
shell of debris. Barry stared in surprise for an instant, for
Vandersee's disappearance reminded him that six men were also there,
hidden somewhere. All had vanished as utterly as if the ship were
complete and built for purposes of concealment.

But looking in the direction in which Vandersee had waved, Barry saw
farther down the main river yet another big steam pinnace, full of
uniformed seamen. He just caught sight of her as she swept alongside the
near bank, and a party of men poured out of her and started to double
towards the creek. They too dipped out of sight the moment they left the
bank, and the steamer backed off, turned, and followed the general
example of concealment.

"Why, a rat couldn't get through this net!" exclaimed the skipper,
addressing Natalie, who appeared not in the least surprised. And Gordon
replied for her and for himself.

"That's the right word, Barry. Rat he is. We know all his evil cunning,
and most of us have seen the rattish, yellow streak that runs clear
through him. But you know what a rat will do? Well, you can expect this
rat to try his best to run; but let him once see the ring com