The Motor Boat Club at Nantucket: or, The Mystery of the Dunstan Heir
TekstCHAPTER IX – TED HURLS A THUNDERBOLT
The youngest of the Dunstans was sittingwhere Pedro had been seated only ashort time before. Ted held a book inhis hands, his gaze fixed on one of the pages.
“He’s playing crafty,” thought Tom. “He’swaiting until he’s sure that black man is sound, sound asleep. Then he’ll make his dash forfreedom. Oh, if he only knew how close afriend is!”
“Whirr-ugh!” Pedro’s snore smote heavilyon the air.
“He’ll sleep now, as only a colored man cansleep,” thought Tom jubilantly. “There’s onlyjust one time to do this thing, and that’s now!Here goes to let Ted Dunstan know that help isright at hand.”
Yet Tom’s teeth were threatening so persistentlyto chatter that he had to hold his jawsfirmly together for a moment before he daredattempt a slight signal.
“Pss-sst!” It was a low signal indeed. TedDunstan half raised his gaze from the printedpage, then glanced down again.
“Whirr-rr-ugh!” came the noisy safety-signalfrom Pedro.
Tom ventured to raise his head a trifle higherabove the port gunwale.
“Pss-sst! pss-sst!” he hissed desperately.
Ted Dunstan looked up now, his glance travelingswiftly astern. Then he caught sight ofthe eager face of the “Meteor’s” young skipper.At sight of the peeper’s face the Dunstanheir’s face was a study in amazement. Atfirst he just stared, as though suddenly in adaze.
“Come here!” whispered Tom ever so softly.
Ted laid his book down, shot a swift, uncertainglance at the cubby in which Pedro lay, thenrose uncertainly. Tom hauled himself up, perchinghimself on the gunwale.
“Be quick and silent about it,” whisperedTom, as Ted reached him and stood staring withall his might. “Can you swim?”
“Why?” demanded Ted curtly, and not exactlyin a whisper, either.
“If you can we’ll be ashore in a jiffy,” Halsteadresponded eagerly.
“Ashore?” demanded Ted.
“Why, of course. I’ve come to rescue you.There’s nothing to fear if you’re quick about it.But be lively. If you can’t swim, then justslip down into the water and trust yourself tome. I’ll manage it for both of us. Be quickabout it, though, for every minute counts.”
“There’s some mistake, somewhere,” pronouncedTed, a decided coldness in his tone.
“Mistake?” echoed Halstead, as though theother had struck him. “What do you mean,Ted? Don’t you remember me? I’m in chargeof your father’s motor boat. I’ve been lookingfor you for days, and now you can escape.”
“But I don’t want to escape,” declared MasterTed coolly, almost sneeringly. “Besides, there’s nothing to escape from.”
“Nothing to escape from?” echoed Tomaghast. “Why, Ted Dunstan, you simply can’tknow what you’re saying. Look how this crowdhave used you.”
“Well, then, how have they used me?” Tedchallenged coolly. “I am having the time ofmy life.”
“The time of your – Say, Ted Dunstan, have you any idea how nearly crazy your fatheris over your absence?”
“That’s strange,” mocked the Dunstan heir.“My father knows perfectly well where I am, and just why, too.”
This was uttered so candidly that Halsteadwondered if he had taken leave of his ownsenses. There could be no doubt at all thatyoung Dunstan believed every word he was uttering.
“Your father knows you’re here?” Tom insistedquestioningly.
“Of course he does. It’s by his orders thatI am here and that I am keeping quiet. Andnow, clear out. I’ve talked to you more than isright. I know what you and your chum are – apair of slippery eels!”
“You say your father knows – You say heordered you – ” Tom went on vaguely. “TedDunstan, do you think you’re telling the truthor anything like it? And who on earth shouldyou – ”
“Clear out of this,” ordered the Dunstanheir firmly. “I don’t like to see you get intoany trouble, but I’m not going to listen to youany longer. My father can tell you about this,if he has a mind to. I’ve no right to talk aboutit and I won’t. Now if you can swim as well asyou say you can, prove it and reach shore onthe double-quick. Pedro! Pedro! Wake up!Now you git, Halstead!”
“But Ted – ” persisted the dumfoundedyoung skipper.
“Well, stay, then, and let Pedro get his handson you,” defied the Dunstan heir. “Pedro!Aren’t you going to wake up?”
“Coming, chile,” sounded a drowsy voice, followedby the noise of heavy movements.
Dazed, thunderstruck, his mind wholly befuddledby this astounding turn to the mystery,Tom Halstead did not linger. He knew too wellwhat was likely to happen to him if he fell intoPedro’s hands.
Slipping over the side, Tom cast off from therope, striking out strongly, swiftly for the shorewhich was distant not more than one hundredand fifty feet.
“That’s him!” cried Ted Dunstan, pointing, and forgetting his grammar in his excitement.“That’s one of those slippery boys. He had thecheek to say he had come to rescue me.”
“He did, hey? Huh! I’se gwine fix him!”uttered the black man savagely. “Jest yo’ wait, chile, twell I’se bring out dat shotgun.”
“Oh, no, no, Pedro! Not that!” pleaded Tedin sudden dismay and terror.
But Pedro dived back into the forward cubby.All this conversation the young motor boat captainhad heard, for it passed in no low tones.Just as Pedro reached the cubby Tom scrambledup on the beach. Before him were the deepwoods. In among the trees he plunged. Theinstant he was satisfied that he was out of sightof the launch, he turned at right angles, speedingswiftly for some hundred and fifty yards.Then he halted to listen.
“Where he done gone?” demanded Pedro, reappearing on deck, gripping a double-barreledshotgun.
“I’m not going to tell you,” retorted Tedsulkily. “Shooting is not in the game.”
Tom heard the murmur of the voices – nothingmore. A minute later he heard the steadychug! chug! of the launch’s steam engine asthat craft started. Then the noise ceased as thecraft got smoothly under way. But Halsteadwas up a tree, now, where he could watch.
“Heading out to sea, are you?” he chuckled, despite his great anxiety. “And in a six-mileboat. Hm! I think the ‘Meteor’ can overtakeyou and at least keep you in sight. For thatmatter, three boys can fight better than one!”
Tom didn’t linger up the tree to think all that.Ere he had finished speaking to himself he wasdown on the ground, making speedily for wherehe judged the road to be. As he came in sightof the road he heard another chug! chug! thatmade his heart bound with delighted hope.
“Hi, there! Stop there, please!” shouted theyoung motor boat captain, waving his arms ashe sighted a touring car headed toward the village.
There was only the chauffeur on the front seatand an elderly man in the tonneau. The chauffeurglanced back at this other man, then sloweddown the auto.
“If you’re going into Wood’s Hole, take mewith you?” begged Tom so earnestly that theolder man swung open the door, saying crisply:“Jump in!”
Nor did Halstead lose a second. He plumpeddown into the seat by the door and the car wasoff again, going at some twenty miles an hour.
“I hope you won’t mind my wet clothes inyour car,” hinted Tom apologetically. “I gota big drenching in the ocean and there wasneither chance nor time to make a change.”
“You’re in a hurry to get to the village, eh?”smiled the elderly man.
“In as big a hurry as I ever was to get anywhere,”breathed Halstead fervently. Theelderly man smiled, though he evidently wasnot curious, for he asked no further questions.Halstead sat there delightedly watching the distancefade. Even to his anxious mind the tripseemed a brief, speedy one. As the car ran inby the railway station Halstead saw thelate afternoon train slowly backing down thetrack. It had been in, then, for three or fourminutes.
“Thank you, thank you!” breathed Tom fervently,as he threw open the door to leap out, then closing it behind him. “You haven’t anyidea what a huge favor you’ve done me.”
“I’m glad I’ve been able to be of some usein the world to-day,” laughed the old gentlemanpleasantly.
But Tom, bounding across the tracks and overthe ground, hardly heard him. The young skipperhad but one thought at this moment – to getaboard and have his craft under way at theearliest possible second.
As Halstead neared the pier he saw Joe andJed seated on the deckhouse, while Mr. Crane, the Dunstan lawyer, arrived on the train, waswalking along over the boards.
“Joe, get the engine started on a hustle!”bellowed Tom, using both hands to form atrumpet. “Jed, on the pier with you and standby the stern-line, ready to cast off!”
Both boys leaped to obey such crisp commands.Lawyer Crane, having reached theboat, turned on the pier to look inquiringly atthe racing young skipper.
“Get aboard, sir, as quickly as you can, if youplease,” requested the young skipper all butbreathlessly.
“May I inquire – ” began the lawyerslowly.
“Yes, sir; when we’re under way. But wehaven’t a second to lose in starting. Get aboard, sir, if you please.”
In his eagerness Tom almost shoved the legalgentleman over the side. Mr. Crane, not a littleastonished at the hasty procedure, looked asthough about to resent such treatment, but fortunatelychanged his mind.
Tom himself seized the bowline and threw off.He and Jed sprang aboard, fore and aft, atabout the same instant. The “Meteor’s” enginewas already chugging merrily.
“Slow speed ahead, Joe,” bellowed downCaptain Tom, and the “Meteor” swung gracefullyout. “Now work her up to good speed,”he called, a few moments later. “We’re on thegrand old chase!”
CHAPTER X – OVERHAULING THE MYSTERY
“And now,” demanded Lawyer Crane, inhis calm, heavy voice, “may I askwhat all this chaos and confusion isabout?”
“In just a minute or two, sir, I’ll be hugelydelighted to have you listen,” Halstead answered.“But I want to get out of this coveand clear of coast shoals and ledges first.”
Joe had already begun to make the engine“kick” somewhat, and the boat was movingfast, leaving behind her a graceful swirl ofwater. Jed, after coiling the stern-line, hadcome forward, and, though he asked no questions, that youth was whistling a ditty of fastmovement, the surest sign of all that he sharedin the unknown excitement.
“There she is!” cried Halstead, suddenly, taking his right hand from the wheel to pointout over the water.
“She?” repeated Mr. Crane. “Who?”
“That boat! Don’t you see the steam launchwith the yellow hull?”
The launch was some two or more miles away, heading over the waters in a direction thatwould carry her past the northern end ofMartha’s Vineyard. Mr. Crane adjusted hisglasses, staring hard. At last he made out thelow-lying hull.
“I see some sort of a craft out there,” he repliedslowly. “But I must congratulate youon having very good eyes, Captain Halstead,if you can make out the fact that she is paintedyellow. However, what have we to do with thatboat?”
“We’re going after her,” responded Tom, briefly. He was wondering just how to beginthe wonderful story of his late adventure.
“Going after her?” repeated Mr. Crane, inslow astonishment. “Why, I was under theimpression that your present task related tocarrying me over to Mr. Dunstan’s home.”
“That comes next,” replied Tom. “Mr.Crane, hardly twenty minutes ago I was aboardyonder boat, and was talking with Master TedDunstan.”
The lawyer gasped, then rejoined, slowly:
“That’s a most remarkable statement, to saythe least.”
But Joe Dawson and Jed Prentiss, who knewHalstead better, were staring at him with eyeswide open and mouths almost agape.
“I saw Ted Dunstan,” repeated Tom, firmly.“Moreover, he gave me the jolt of my life.”
“Did he incidentally throw you overboard?”asked the lawyer, eyeing Tom’s wet garments.The sun and wind had dried the first greatsurplus of water out of them, but they werestill undeniably more than damp.
“That was all part of the experience,” Halsteadanswered, annoyed by the impressionthat the lawyer thought him trying to spin amere sailor’s yarn. “Do you care to hear whathappened, sir?”
“Why, yes, assuredly, captain.”
Tom reeled the story off rapidly. The lawyergasped once or twice, but certainly the youngskipper’s wet clothing gave much of an appearanceof truth to the “yarn.”
“And now, sir, what do you think of MasterTed’s claim that he was having the time of hislife, and was hiding by his father’s orders?”Tom wound up, inquiringly.
“Really, I shall have to think it all over,”replied the lawyer cautiously. “And I shallbe much interested in hearing what Mr. Dunstanhas to say about it all.”
“Say, that’s queer,” broke in Joe, suddenly, staring hard at the launch, now not much morethan half a mile distant.
“What is?” asked Halstead, who had kepthis mind on what he was telling the lawyer.
“That launch is following an almost straightcourse. Yet I don’t see a soul at the wheel, nor a sign of a human being aboard,” Joe replied.
“Say, there isn’t anyone in sight, is there?”demanded Jed, stopping his whistling and staringthe harder.
“It will certainly complicate the adventure,”commented Lawyer Crane, “if we overhaul acraft navigated by unseen hands.”
Halstead didn’t say any more. He didn’tlike the half-skepticism of the legal gentleman.The young skipper held straight on until theywere astern of the yellow-hulled launch andcoming up on the windward quarter.
“Get out on the deck forward, Jed,” directed,Halstead. “Stand up as straight as you can, and get the best look possible as I run upclose. See if you can spot anyone hiding inthe boat.”
“Look out,” cautioned Joe Dawson, dryly,as Jed Prentiss started to obey. “Someone onthe other craft may open fire.”
Jed halted, rather uneasily, at that sinistersuggestion. Then, meeting Tom’s firm glance, the boy got well forward and stood up, whileJoe dropped down into the engine room to meetany order that might come about stoppingspeed.
“I hardly fancy anyone aboard that boatwould dare threaten us with firearms,” saidthe lawyer, slowly. “There are too many witnesseshere to risk such a serious breach of thelaw.”
“Mm!” chuckled Captain Tom grimly, tohimself. “I wonder if this learned gentlemanimagines that everyone has the wholesome respectfor the law that possesses him?”
He leaned forward, to reach the bell-grip, steering, after the “Meteor’s” headway hadbeen all but stopped, so that they would passwithin a dozen feet of this mysterious craft.
“Say,” hailed back Jed, “I don’t believethere’s a soul on board that craft. I can seethe bottom of the inside of the boat.”
“Get the boat-hook, then,” ordered Halstead.“We’ll lay alongside and make sure that she’sdeserted.”
Jed jumped down nimbly. Apparently hewas glad to provide himself with so handy aweapon as the boat-hook. With this he steppedout forward again. Tom ran the Meteor inuntil the two craft almost bumped.
“Ugh!” grunted Jed. “It looks almost uncannyto see that engine pumping right alongwith no sign of human care.”
Gradually he drew the bow of the movinglaunch closer.
“Go aboard,” directed Tom.
Jed stood up high on his toes, to take a lastcareful look. Then he leaped to the other craft, bounding down into her cockpit. There hestood still for a few moments, tightly grippingthe boat-hook in an exaggerated attitude of defence.
“Are you afraid?” hailed Halstead.
“Well,” admitted Jed, candidly, “I’ve nonotion for being pounced on or shot from ambush.”
“That would have happened already, if itwas going to,” Tom rejoined with a smile.“Stop the engine, and then we’ll make fastand all come on board.”
That Jed accomplished with one hand, whileJoe did the same with the “Meteor’s” engine.Then Prentiss reached over with the boat-hook, gradually hauling the smaller craft up to the“Meteor.”
Leaving Joe behind on deck, the young skipperfollowed into the launch. A quick searchmade it plain that there was no human being ineither the forward or after cubby.
“The wheel was spiked,” discovered Tom.“You see, the boat was started on her courseand then her spiked wheel held her rather closeto it. Whoever was aboard, after having fixedwheel and engine, got off. This was done tofool us, and we’ve had a fine old chase.”
Lawyer Crane, on the deck of the “Meteor,”opened his mouth. He was about to offer anopinion, but thought better of it and closedhis lips.
“Mr. Crane,” asked Tom, after a few moments,“what are our rights? We can takethis abandoned boat in tow, can’t we, and takeher over to Mr. Dunstan’s pier?”
“Clearly,” assented the lawyer, slowly.“And there’s a right to salvage if theowner of this derelict appears and claimsthe boat.”
Tom clambered back aboard the “Meteor,”and, going aft, threw a line to Jed, whomade fast around a butt at the bow of thelaunch. Then Jed came back.
“Now, Mr. Crane,” smiled Captain Tom, “weare again at your orders. Unless you think ofsomething better, we can keep on to Nantucket.”
“Decidedly,” replied the lawyer. “We mustacquaint Mr. Dunstan with this whole prepos – unaccountablestory.”
As soon as the “Meteor” was well underway, on her homeward course, Halstead calleddown:
“Joe, I’ve stood this drenched clothing aslong as I think is good for me in this sea wind.Take the wheel, please, and I’ll go below andget a rub and some dry clothing.”
“I’m going down with you,” broke in Jed.“There’s hot water, and you ought to have somecoffee.”
Jed even helped vigorously in the rub-down.Tom’s teeth were chattering at the outset, butthe friction warmed his blood. He put on dryclothing, of which he had enough aboard. Andnow Jed came out of the galley with a cup ofsteaming coffee.
“Say, Jed, what made you look so skittishwhen you boarded that other boat?” asked theyoung skipper, smiling. “Were you reallyafraid?”
“Afraid?” repeated Jed, looking sheepish.“Well, Tom, I’ll tell you how it is. Whenthere’s no danger near, and I’m thinking overbrave deeds, I’m a regular hero, and no mistake.But when I get right down where I thinksome one may be a going to open on me withboth barrels of a shotgun, then I get – well, Iwon’t say afraid, but tormentingly nervous!”
Halstead laughed heartily.
“I guess that’s the way with the whole humanrace, Jed. The man who lugs off the reputationfor being brave is the man who won’t run, because he is ashamed to let anyone see howmortally afraid he is.”
“But what do you make of Ted Dunstan’squeer talk?” asked Jed Prentiss. “Do you believehis father really did give him orders togo off with that crowd?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Halstead answered.“Mr. Dunstan is our employer.”
“But young Ted always has been a mightytruthful boy,” pursued Jed, wonderingly. “Oh,it’s all mighty queer, whatever’s the truth.”
“I guess we’d better let it go at that laststatement,” proposed Tom; “at least, untilwe’ve heard what Mr. Dunstan has to say.”
With three or four caps of coffee down, Halsteadfelt so much warmer that he returnedto deck to take the wheel. The “Meteor” wasnecessarily going much more slowly than usual, with her tow astern. The trip was bound tobe such a long one that Jed started things inthe galley, then went back through the passagewayto the cabin, where he set the folding tablewith a white cloth. When Lawyer Craneseated himself at supper he was astonished tofind how excellent a meal could be preparedin short time aboard this craft.
It was nearing dark when Captain Halsteadguided the “Meteor” in toward the Dunstanpier.
While the boat was being made fast by Joeand Jed, Mr. Crane stepped hurriedly ashore.
“Come along, Captain Halstead,” said theman of law. “Mr. Dunstan must hear yourremarkable story without a moment’s delay.”
CHAPTER XI – WHERE THE WATER TRAIL ENDED
Horace Dunstan, pausing in his excitedwalk in his library, stopped andstared in amazement when Tom cameto one point of his strange recital.
“Ted said I gave him instructions to go withthat crowd?” he demanded.
“He made that point extremely plain to me, sir,” Halstead insisted.
“But I – I never gave him any such instructions,”cried Mr. Dunstan, rumpling his hair.
“It seemed unbelievable, sir. And yet yourson struck me as a truthful boy.”
“He is; he always was,” retorted the father.“Ted hated a lie or a liar, and yet this statementis wholly outside of the truth. I assureyou – ”
“If you’ll permit me, sir,” broke in the lawyer, who had been listening silently up to thispoint, “I’ll indicate one or two points at whichyoung Halstead’s most remarkable – ”
“Crane,” broke in the master of the house, with unlooked-for sternness, “if you’re aboutto throw any doubt around Tom Halstead’sstory, I may as well tell you plainly that you’regoing a little too far. Halstead has been mostthoroughly vouched for to me. If you haveany notion in your mind that he has been yarningto us, I beg you to let the idea remain inyour mind. I don’t want to hear it.”
“Hm!” said the lawyer, and subsided.
“Captain Halstead,” went on Ted’s father,“my son’s statement is so extraordinary that Idon’t pretend to fathom it. But I give youmy word, as a man of honor, that I am as muchat sea in this matter as anyone could be. ButI must get in touch with Wood’s Hole at once.”
There was a telephone instrument in theroom that speedily put the distracted father incommunication with one of his detectives overon the mainland. A long talk followed, theupshot of it being that the detective in chargeof the search asked that the “Meteor” be sentover to Wood’s Hole at once, that she mightbe ready for any sea-going following-up of cluesthat might be necessary.
“For, of course, we’ve got to find that cabinsloop,” finished Detective Musgrave. “If thesloop isn’t at sea, then the chase undoubtedlymust be followed on the mainland. If we havethe ‘Meteor’ here we can do quickly anythingthat may appear necessary.”
So Tom received his instant sailing orders.As he hurried from the house, down throughthe grounds, the young skipper felt relieved atone point. With his belief in Ted’s honesty hehad been inclined to suspect that Horace Dunstan, for some unknown reasons of his own, such, for instance, as a distaste for having hisson go into the Army, might have brought abouta pretended disappearance.
“But now I know,” muttered Tom, “thatMr. Dunstan is just as honest in his declarationsas Ted appeared to be in saying the opposite.If Horace Dunstan has been lying to mejust now, I’d have very little further faith inhuman honesty.”
The “Meteor” was speedily on her way.First Joe, and then Tom, was served in the littlegalley, Jed getting in his mouthfuls as besthe could before the motor boat was tied up atWood’s Hole.
Before Tom had time to land a keen-eyed, smooth-faced man of thirty-five, broad-shoulderedand a little above medium height, steppedforward out of the darkness and over the rail.
“Do you know me, Captain Halstead?” heasked, in a low voice.
“Yes, I think so,” Tom answered. “You’reMr. Musgrave, one of the detectives sent downfrom New York at Mr. Dunstan’s request.”
“I am in charge of the case at this point,”said Musgrave. “Lead me below.”
Tom conducted his caller down into the engine-room, thence through the passageway intothe cabin.
“Now, tell me all you can of this affair, andtalk as quickly as you can,” directed the detective.
Tom told his brief but potent narrative withoutpausing for breath.
“I have telegraphed or telephoned men fromour agency, so that many points are coveredfor some distance north along the coast,” murmuredMr. Musgrave. “We are also havingthe islands watched as far around as BlockIsland. But, since the launch was found runningwild and the cabin sloop was not sighted,I am inclined to believe that the trail runs somewhereon the mainland. If you’ll take yourfriend, Joe Dawson, along with you, I’ll sendalso one of the Wood’s Hole constables, a mannamed Jennison. If you run into any of thatcrew, Jennison has power to make arrests, andhe’s the sort of man who wouldn’t back downbefore a cannon. I have an automobile ready, and Jennison knows what’s expected of him.You’re to search up along the coast, to see ifyou can find any trace of that cabin sloop.”
“Do you think Jed Prentiss will be sufficientguard to leave with the boat?” questioned Halstead.“The Alvarez crowd would like nothingbetter than to disable this fine craft if theygot a chance to sneak aboard.”
“I’ll send down one of the hotel employés tokeep Prentiss company, then. Now come along,Halstead. Jennison and the automobile arewaiting.”
Two minutes later Tom and Joe found themselvesspeeding along a road that led up alongthe coast.
“There’s no use stopping the first mile or so,”explained Constable Jennison, a slight but wiry-lookingman of rustic type. “We’ve been overthe near ground already. But we’ll go fortymiles or more before we give up the search forthe home berth of that sloop.”
Just below Falmouth the auto-car turnedfrom the road to run down to a cove whereseveral sailing craft and two launches were atanchor. The owner was found. He did notown or know of any such sloop as Halstead described.
On again they went. There was a chauffeuron the front seat The constable and the boyswere in the tonneau. Two more boat-letting resortswere visited, but without success. The constable, however, far from being depressed, becamejovial.
“Are you armed, Halstead?” he inquired, atwinkle in his eyes.
“No; I have no use for boys that carryguns,” replied Tom.
“You’re sensible enough,” responded theconstable seriously. Then, resuming his banteringtone, he went on:
“But you ought to be ready for anything to-night.Here, put this in your pocket.”
“What’s this thing supposed to be good for?”Tom demanded dryly, as he took from the officera cheap little bronze toy pistol. It was modeledafter a business-like revolver, but a glanceshowed that it was meant only to explode papercaps.
“It belongs to my five-year-old boy,” laughedJennison. “He knows that I often carry apistol and he doesn’t know the difference betweena real one and his Fourth of July toy.So to-night, when I was leaving the house, heinsisted on my taking his pistol and I had toin order to keep him quiet.”
“It looks dangerous enough in the dark,” remarkedJoe, bending over and taking the“weapon” with a laugh. He looked it over, then returned it to Tom, who, in turn, offeredit to the officer.
“Drop it in your pocket,” said the latter. “Itought to make you feel braver to feel such athing next to your body.”
With a laugh Tom did as urged. The automobilesoon made another stop at a boatyard.Here, again, the search was useless, so they kepton. A fourth was visited with no better result.They were now ten miles from Wood’s Hole, butthey kept on. A mile further on the car descendeda low hill, toward the water, then turnedalmost at right angles. Just as they roundedthis bend in the road Halstead leaned suddenlyforward.
“Stop!” he called to the chauffeur.
“What’s the matter?” asked Jennison, as thecar halted.
“As we came around the bend the searchlightthrew a ray between the trees, and I’m sureI saw a cabin sloop down in the offing,” Tomexplained.
“I didn’t see it.”
“And I got only a brief glimpse,” Halsteadrejoined. “But don’t you think it’s worth ourwhile to get out and go down to the water’sedge?”
“Of course,” nodded the constable. Thethree piled out of the tonneau, leaving the chauffeuralone. Tom led the way, going straightbetween the trees down to the water.
“That’s the very sloop, I’d almost swear,”whispered Tom, pointing to a craft at anchora hundred yards or so from shore. A smallboat lay hauled up on the beach. Not far fromwhere the three stood was a ramshackle littleshanty from which no light shone.
“We’ll give our attention to the house, first,”declared the constable. Accordingly theystepped up to the door, Jennison knockingloudly. From inside came a snore. The summonshad to be repeated before a voice insidedemanded:
“Who’s there? What’s wanted?”
“A traveler who wants to speak with you,”replied the officer.
There were sounds inside. Then the dooropened. They were confronted by a white-hairedold man, partly dressed and holding alighted lantern. He made a venerable pictureas he stood there in the doorway.
“Well?” he asked.
“That’s your sloop out in the offing?” Jennisonasked.
“Yes.”
“Did you use her to-day?”
“No; I rented her to a stranger, who wantedto go fishing. I didn’t know he had returned.Said he might be out most of the night, and thesloop wasn’t back when I turned in at dark.”
“Wasn’t, eh?” asked the constable, with quickinterest. “Now will you tell me what thestranger looked like?”
“Why, he was about forty-five, I guess.Rather heavily built. His skin was well-bronzed – ”
“That’s the man, French,” whispered Tom, nudging the officer. “His face had been staineda good bronze color.”
“Did the stranger give any word about comingback at some other time?” asked Jennison.
“No; he paid me for the afternoon and theevening,” replied the old man. It was plainthat he had told all he knew about the stranger.The old man stated that he himself was a fisherman, but that in summer he often made moremoney taking out parties of summer boarders.
Joe, in the meantime, had gone down to thebeach to watch the sloop. There appeared tobe no one stirring aboard the craft, but, as aprecaution, Jennison and the boys rowed out, thus making sure that the sloop was deserted.They hurriedly returned to shore. Jennisonnow displayed his badge, asking permission tolook into the shanty. The old man readily gavethe permission, adding, somewhat shakily:
“I’m not used to having my house suspected, but I’m glad to give the law’s officer any privilegeshe may want here.”
The search was unavailing. Jennison and hisyoung companions hastened back to the automobilewhere they stood deliberating.
“That sloop has come in since dark,” observedHalstead. “That old man looks asthough he could be thoroughly believed. Yetthat’s the very sloop. I’m positive about that.So the rascals can’t have had much the start ofus.”
“They’re a needle in the haystack, now, anyway,”sighed Constable Jennison. “We’re atthe end of the water trail and we know wherethey landed.”
“But we also know that they’re on the mainland;at least it looks mighty certain,” suggestedTom Halstead.
“That’s true,” nodded the officer. “Well,Mr. Musgrave must know of this at once. Thenext village is less than three miles away. I’mgoing there in the auto as fast as I can andtelephone him.”
“You’ll come back this way?” hinted Tom.
“Yes, without a doubt.”
“Then leave us here. We’ll hunt for anysigns we can find of them while you’re gone.”