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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/12112-0.txt b/12112-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f67c30b --- /dev/null +++ b/12112-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6409 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12112 *** + +THE BOY SCOUTS OF THE EAGLE PATROL + + +By + +Lieut. Howard Payson + + + + +CONTENTS + + I SCOUTS ON THE TRAIL + II A CRUISE TO THE ISLAND + III BOY SCOUTS TO THE RESCUE + IV SAM IN DIRE STRAITS + V THE BULLY SPRINGS A SURPRISE + VI AN ISLAND MYSTERY + VII SOME STRANGE DOINGS + VIII THE STOLEN UNIFORMS + IX THE HYDROPLANE QUEERLY RECOVERED + X WINNING THE CONTEST + XI A FORTUNATE DISCOVERY + XII JACK FORMS A PLOT + XIII THE "FLYING FISH" ON HER METTLE + XIV THE EAGLES IN CAMP + XV THE CHUMS IN PERIL + XVI LOST IN THE STORM + XVII ALMOST RUN DOWN + XVIII JOE DIGBY MISSING + XIX SAM REBELS + XX THE HUNT FOR TENDERFOOT JOE + XXI SAVED BY "SMOKE MORSE" + XXII THE ESCAPE OF THE BULLY + XXIII SCOUTS IN NEED ARE FRIENDS INDEED + XXIV A MEETING IN THE FOG--CONCLUSION + + + + +CHAPTER I + +SCOUTS ON THE TRAIL + + +The dark growth of scrub oak and pine parted suddenly and the lithe +figure of a boy of about seventeen emerged suddenly into the little +clearing. The lad who had so abruptly materialized from the +close-growing vegetation peculiar to the region about the little town +of Hampton, on the south shore of Long Island, wore a well-fitting +uniform of brown khaki, canvas leggings of the same hue and a soft hat +of the campaign variety, turned up at one side. To the front of his +headpiece was fastened a metal badge, resembling the three-pointed +arrow head utilized on old maps to indicate the north. On a metal +scroll beneath it were embossed the words: "Be Prepared." + +The manner of the badge's attachment would have indicated at once, to +any one familiar with the organization, that the lad wearing it was the +patrol leader of the local band of Boy Scouts. + +Gazing keenly about him on all sides of the little clearing in the +midst of which he stood, the boy's eyes lighted with a gleam of +satisfaction on a largish rock. He lifted this up, adjusted it to his +satisfaction and then picked up a smaller stone. This he placed on the +top of the first and then listened intently. After a moment of this he +then placed beneath the large underlying rock and at its left side a +small stone. + +Suddenly he started and gazed back. From the distance, borne faintly +to his ears, came far off boyish shouts and cries. + +They rose like the baying of a pack in full cry. Now high, now low on +the hush of the midsummer afternoon. + +"They picked the trail all right," he remarked to himself, with a +smile, "maybe I'd better leave another sign." + +Stooping he snapped off a small low-growing branch and broke it near +the end so that its top hung limply down. + +"Two signs now that this is the trail," he resumed as he stuck it in +the ground beside the stone sign. "Now I'd better be off, for they are +picking my tracks up, fast." + +He darted off into the undergrowth on the opposite side of the +clearing, vanishing as suddenly and noiselessly as he had appeared. + +A few seconds later the deserted clearing was invaded by a scouting +party of ten lads ranging in years from twelve to sixteen. They were +all attired in similar uniforms to the leader, whom they were tracing, +with but one exception they wore their "Be Prepared" badges on the left +arm above the elbow. Some of them were only entitled to affix the +motto part of the badge the scroll inscribed with the motto. These +latter were the second-class scouts of the Eagle Patrol. The exception +to the badge-bearers was a tall, well-knit lad with a sunny face and +wavy, brown hair. His badge was worn on the left arm, as were the +others, but it had a strip of white braid sewn beneath it. This +indicated that the bearer was the corporal of the patrol. + +As the group of flushed, panting lads emerged into the sandy space the +corporal looked sharply about him. Almost at once his eye encountered +the "spoor" left by the preceding lad. + +"Here's the trail, boys," he shouted, "and to judge by the fresh look +of the break in this branch it can't have been placed here very long. +The small stone by the large one means to the left. We'll run Rob Blake +down before long for all his skill if we have good luck." + +"Say, Corporal Merritt," exclaimed a perspiring lad, whose "too, too +solid flesh" seemed to be melting and running off his face in the form +of streaming moisture, "don't we get a rest?" + +A general laugh greeted poor Bob or Tubby Hopkins' remark. + +"I always told you, Tubby, you were too fat to make a good scout," +laughed Corporal Merritt Crawford, "this is the sort of thing that will +make you want to take some of that tubbiness off you." + +"Say, Tubby, you look like a roll of butter at an August picnic," +laughed Simon Jeffords, one of the second-class scouts. + +"All right, Sim," testily rejoined the aggrieved fat one, "I notice at +that, though, that I am a regular scout while you are only a rookie." + +"Come on, cut out the conversation," exclaimed Corporal Crawford +hastily, "while we are fussing about here, Rob Blake must be halfway +home." + +With a groan of comical despair from poor Tubby, the Boy Scouts darted +forward once more. On and on they pushed across country, skillfully +tracking their leader by the various signs they had been taught to know +and of which the present scouting expedition was a test. + +Their young leader evidently intended them to use their eyes to the +utmost for, beside the stone signs, he used blaze-marks, cut on the +trees with his hunting knife. For instance, at one place they would +find a square bit of bark removed, with a long slice to the left of it. +This indicated that their quarry had doubled to the left. The slice to +the right of the square blaze indicated the reverse. + +Suddenly Corporal Crawford held up his hand as a signal for silence. +The scouts came to an abrupt stop. + +From what seemed to be only a short distance in front of them they +could hear a voice upraised apparently in anger. Replying to it were +the tones of their leader. + +"Seems to be trouble ahead of some kind," exclaimed Crawford. "Come on, +boys." + +They all advanced close on his heels--guided by the sound of the angry +voice, which did not diminish in tone but apparently waxed more and +more furious as they drew nearer. Presently the woodland thinned and +the ground became dotted with stumps of felled timber and in a few +paces more they emerged on a small peach orchard at the edge of which +stood Rob Blake and a larger and older boy. As Crawford and his +followers came upon the scene the elder lad, who seemed beside himself +with rage, picked up a large rock and was about to hurl it with all his +might at Rob when the young corporal dashed forward and held his hand +up to stay him. + +"Here, what's all this trouble?" he demanded. + +"You just keep out of it, Merritt Crawford," said the elder lad, a +hulking, thick-set youth with a mean look on his heavy features. "I'm +just reading this kid here a lesson. This orchard is my father's and +mine and you'll keep out of it in future or suffer the consequences, +understand?" + +"Why, we aren't doing any harm," protested Rob Blake heatedly. + +"I don't care what you are doing or not doing," retorted the other, +"this is my father's orchard and you'll keep off it. You and the rest +of you tin soldiers. I don't want you stealing our peaches." + +"I guess you are sore, Jack Curtiss, because you couldn't get a boy +scout patrol of your own! I guess that's what the trouble is," +remarked Tubby Hopkins softly, but with a meaning look at the big lad. + +"You impudent little whipper-snapper," roared Jack Curtiss, "if you +weren't such a shrimp I'd lick you for that remark, but you're all +beneath my notice. All I want to say to you is keep away from my +orchard or I'll give you a trimming." + +"Suppose you start now," said Rob Blake quietly, "if you are so anxious +to show what a scrapper you are." + +"Bah, I don't want anything to do with you, I tell you," rejoined +Curtiss, turning away, with a rather troubled expression, however, for +while he was a bully the big lad had no particular liking for a fight +unless he was pretty sure that all the advantage lay on his side. + +"It was too bad you didn't get that patrol of yours, Jack," called the +irrepressible Tubby after him as the big youth strode off across the +orchard toward the old-fashioned farmhouse in which he lived with his +father, a well-to-do farmer. "Never mind; better luck next time," he +went on, "or maybe we'll let you into ours some time." + +"You just wait," roared the retreating bully, shaking his fist at the +lads, "I'll make trouble for you yet." + +"Well," remarked Rob Blake, as Jack Curtiss strode off, "I guess the +run is over for to-day. Too bad we should have come out on his land. +Of course he feels sore at us; and I shouldn't wonder but he will +really try to do us some mischief if he gets a chance." + +As it was growing late and there did not seem much chance of restarting +the "Follow the Trail" practice, that day at least, the boys strolled +back through the woodland and soon emerged on a country road about +three miles from Hampton Inlet, where they lived. + +While they are covering the distance perhaps the reader may care to +know something about the cause of the enmity which Jack Curtiss +entertained toward the lads of the Eagle Patrol. It had its beginning +several months before when the boys of Hampton Inlet began to discuss +forming a patrol of boy scouts. They all attended the Hampton Academy, +and naturally the news that Rob Blake was going to try to organize a +patrol soon spread through the school. + +Jack Curtiss, as soon as he heard what Rob--whom he considered more or +less a rival of his--intended doing he also forwarded an application to +the headquarters of the organization in New York. As Rob Blake's had +been received first, however, and on investigation he was shown to be a +likely lad for the leader, he was appointed and at once began the +enrollment of his scouts. + +The bully was furious when he realized that he would be unable to +secure an authorized patrol, and he and his cronies, two lads about his +own age named Bill Bender and Sam Redding, had been busy ever since +devising schemes to "get even" as they called it. None of these, +however, had been effective and the encounter of that day was the first +chance Jack had had to work off any of his rancor on Rob Blake's patrol. + +Young Blake was the only son of Mr. Albert Blake, the president of the +local bank. His corporal, Merritt Crawford, was the eldest of the +numerous family of Jared Crawford, the blacksmith and wheelwright of +the little town, and Tubby Hopkins was the offspring of Mrs. Hopkins--a +widow in comfortable circumstances. The other lads of the Patrol whom +we shall meet as the story of their doings and adventures progresses +were all natives of the town, which was situated on the south shore of +Long Island--as has been said--and on an inlet which led out to the +Atlantic itself. + +The scouts trudged back into Hampton just at twilight and made their +way at once to their armory--as they called it--which was situated In a +large room above the bank of which Rob's father was president. At one +side of it was a row of lockers and each lad--after changing his +uniform for street clothes--placed his "regimentals" in these +receptacles. + +This done the lads broke up and started for their various homes. Rob +and his young corporal left the armory together, after locking the door +and descending the stairs which led onto a side street. + +"I wonder if that fellow Curtiss means to carry out his threat of +getting even?" said Crawford as they made their way down the street arm +in arm, for their homes were not far apart and both on Main Street. + +"He's mean enough to attempt anything," rejoined Rob, "but I don't +think he's got nerve enough to carry out any of his schemes. Hullo!" +he broke off suddenly, "there he is now across the street by the post +office, talking to Bill Bender and Sam Redding. I'll bet they are +hatching up some sort of mischief. Just look at them looking at us. +I'll bet a doughnut they were talking about us." + +"Shouldn't wonder," agreed his companion. "By the way, I've got to go +and see if there is any mail. Come on over." + +The two lads crossed the street and as they entered the post office, +although neither of them had much use for either of the bullies' two +chums, they nodded to them pleasantly. + +"You kids think you're pretty fine with your Eagle Patrol or whatever +you call it, don't you," sneered Bill Bender, as they walked by. "I'll +bet the smell of a little real powder would make your whole regiment +run to cover." + +"Don't pay any attention to him," whispered the young corporal to Rob, +who doubled up his fists and flushed angrily at the sneering tone Jack +Curtiss' friend had adopted. + +Rob restrained his anger with an effort, and by the time they emerged +from the post office the trio of worthies--who, as Rob had rightly +guessed, had been discussing them--had moved on up the street. + +"I had trouble with those kids myself this afternoon," remarked Jack +Curtiss with a scowl, as they wended their way toward a shed in the +rear of Bill Bender's home, which had been fitted tip as a sort of +clubroom. + +"What did they do to you?" incautiously inquired Sam Redding, a youth +as big as the other two, but not so powerful. In fact he was used more +or less as a tool by them. + +"Do to me," roared the bully, "what did I do to them, you mean." + +"Well what did you do to them then?" asked Bill Bender, as they entered +the clubroom before referred to and he produced some cigarettes, which +all three had been strictly forbidden to smoke. + +"Chased them off my land," rejoined the other, lighting a paper roll +and blowing out a cloud of smoke, "you should have seen them run. If +they want to play their fool games they've got to do it on the property +of folks who'll let them. They can't come on my land." + +"You mean your father's, don't you?" put in the unlucky Sam Redding. + +"Sam, you've got a head like a billiard ball," retorted the bully, +turning on the other, "it'll be mine some day, won't it? Therefore it's +as good as mine now." + +Although he didn't quite see the logic of the foregoing, Sam Redding +gave a sage nod and agreed that his leader was right. + +"Yes, those kids need a good lesson from somebody," chimed in Bill +Bender. + +"I think we had better be the 'somebodies' to give it to them," +rejoined Jack Curtiss. "They are getting insufferable. They actually +twitted me this afternoon with being sore at them because I didn't get +my patrol--as if I really wanted one. That Blake kid is the worst of +the bunch. Just because his father has a little money he gives himself +all kinds of airs. My father is as rich as his, even if he isn't a +banker." + +"I've been thinking of a good trick we can put up on them, but it will +take some nerve to carry it out," announced Bill Bender, after some +more discussion of the lads of the Eagle Patrol. + +"Out with it, then," urged the bully, "what is it?" + +In a lowered tone Bill Bender sketched out his scheme in detail, while +Jack and Sam nodded their approval. At length he ceased talking and +the other two broke out into a delighted laugh, in which malice as much +as merriment prevailed. + +"It's the very thing," exclaimed Jack. "Bill, you're a genius. We'll +do it as soon as possible. If that doesn't take some starch out of +those tin soldiers nothing will." + +Half an hour later the three cronies parted for the night. Sam went to +his home near the waterfront, for his father was a boat builder, and +Jack started to walk the three miles to his father's farm in the +moonlight. His way took him by the bank. As he passed it he gazed up +at the windows of the armory on which was lettered in gilt: "Eagle +Patrol of the Boy Scouts of America." + +"That's a slick idea of Bill's," said the bully to himself, "I can +hardly wait till we get a chance to carry it out." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A CRUISE TO THE ISLAND + + +"Whatever are you doing, Rob?" + +It was the morning after the consultation of Jack Curtiss and his +cronies, and Corporal Crawford was looking over the fence into his +leader's yard. + +Rob was bending over a curious-looking apparatus, consisting of a bent +stick held in a bow-shape by a taut leather thong. The appliance was +twisted about an upright piece of wood sharpened at one end--which was +rotated as the lad ran the bow back and forth across it. + +Presently smoke began to rise from the flat piece of timber into which +the point of the upright stick had been boring and depositing sawdust, +and Rob, by industriously blowing at the accumulation, presently caused +it to burst into flame. + +"There I've done it," he exclaimed triumphantly, arising with a flushed +face from his labors. + +"Done what?" inquired young Crawford interestedly. + +"Made fire in the Indian way," replied Rob triumphantly. + +"I thought they made it by rubbing two sticks together." + +"Only book Indians do that," replied Rob, "I'll tell you it took me a +time to get the hang of it, but I've got it now." + +"It's quite a stunt, all right," commented the corporal admiringly. + +"You bet, and it's useful, too," replied Rob. "I'll put the bow and +drill in my pocket, and then any time we get stuck for matches we'll +have no trouble in making a signal smoke or lighting cooking fires." + +"Say, I've got some news for you," went on young Crawford, "did you +know that Sam Redding has entered that freak motor boat he's been +building in the yacht club regatta? He's out for the club trophy." + +"No, is he, though?" exclaimed Rob, keenly interested. "Then the crew +and skipper of the Flying Fish will have to look alive. I know that +Sam's father helped him out with that boat and put a lot of new +wrinkles in it. I didn't think, though, he'd have it ready in time for +the races." + +The boys referred to the coming motor-boat races which were to take +place shortly on the inlet at Hampton. Like most of the other lads in +the seashore town, Merritt and Rob had a lot of experience on the water +and some time before had built a speedy motor boat from knock-down +frames. The Flying Fish, as they called her, was entered for the main +event referred to, the prize for which was a silver cup, donated by the +merchants of the town. There were several other entries in the race, +but Rob and his crew, consisting of Merritt and Tubby Hopkins, +confidently expected the Flying Fish to easily lead them all. + +"I wonder if the Sam Redding can show her stern to the Flying Fish?" +mused Rob. "I'd like to lake a good look at her." + +"Let's go down to Redding's boat yard," suggested Merritt; "she's lying +there on the ways. I don't suppose any one would object to our sizing +her up." + +Rob hailed the suggestion as a good one. + +"We can call in for Tubby on the way," he said, as he darted into the +house after his hat. + +The boys dropped in at Tubby's house on their way to the water-front, +and received from the stout youth some additional details regarding +Sam's boat. + +"She's a hydroplane," volunteered Tubby, "and Tom Jennings, down at the +yard, says she's as fast as a race horse." + +"A hydroplane?--that's one of those craft that cut along the top of the +water like a skimming dish, isn't it?" asked Merritt. + +"That's the idea," responded Rob. "They're supposed to be as speedy as +anything afloat in smooth water." + +Thus conversing they reached the boat-building yard of Sam Redding's +father and were greeted by Tom Jennings, a big good-natured ship +carpenter. "Hullo, Tom! Can we see that new boat of Sam's?" inquired +Rob. + +"Sure, I guess there's no objection," grinned Tom, "come right this +way. There she is, over there by that big winch." + +Report had not erred apparently as to the novel qualities of Sam +Redding's speed craft. She was about twenty-five feet long, narrow and +painted black. She was perfectly flat-bottomed, her underside being +deeply notched at frequent intervals. On the edge of those notches she +was supposed to glide over the water when driven at top speed. + +"She certainly looks like a winner," commented Rob, as he gazed at her +clean, slender lines and sharp bow. + +"She's got wonderful speed," Tom Jennings confided. "We tried her out +the other night when no one was around. But I don't think that in +rough water she'll be much good." + +"No, I'd prefer the Flying Fish for the waters hereabouts," agreed Rob, +"it's liable to come on rough in a hurry and then a chap who was out in +a dry-goods box, like that thing, would be in trouble." + +"What are you calling a dry-goods box?" demanded an indignant voice +behind them, and turning, the lads saw Sam Redding with a menacing look +on his face. A little way behind him stood Bill Bender and Jack +Curtiss. + +"Oh, I beg your pardon, Sam," said Rob. "I really admire your +hydroplane very much, and I think it will give us a tussle for the +trophy, all right; but I don't think she'd be much good in any kind of +a sea-way." + +"That's my business, you interfering little runt," snapped Sam, who, +with Bill Bender and Jack Curtiss to back him, felt very brave; though +ordinarily he would have avoided trouble with the young scouts. "What +are you doing spying around the yard here, anyhow?" he went on +insolently. + +"We are not spying," indignantly burst out Merritt. "We asked Tom +Jennings if we couldn't look at your hydroplane, as we were naturally +interested in her, and he gave us permission." + +"Well, he had no business to," growled Sam; "he ought to be attending +to his work instead of showing a lot of nosy young cubs my new boat." + +"They are capable of stealing your ideas," chimed in Jack Curtiss, "and +putting them on their own boat." + +"That's ridiculous," laughed Rob, "as I said I wouldn't want to have +anything to do with such a contrivance except on a lake or a river." + +"Well, you keep your advice and your ideas to yourself, and get out of +this yard!" roared Sam, waxing bolder and bolder, and mistaking Rob's +conciliatory manner for cowardice. "I've a good mind to punch your +head." + +"Better come on and try it," retorted Rob, preparing for the immediate +onslaught which it seemed reasonable from Sam's manner to expect. + +But it didn't come. + +Muttering something about "young cubs," and "keeping the boat-yard gate +locked," Sam turned to his chums and invited them to come and try out +his new motor in the shop. + +As the three chums had no desire to "mix it up with Sam on his own +place," as Tubby put it, they left the yard promptly, and walked on +down the water-front to the wharf at which lay the Flying Fish, the +fastest craft in the Hampton Motor Boat Club. Rob's boat was, to tell +the truth, rather broad of beam for a racer and drew quite a little +water. She had a powerful motor and clean lines, however, and while +not primarily designed solely for "mug-hunting," had beaten everything +she had raced with during the few months since the boys had completed +her. The money for her motor had been given to Rob by his father, who +was quite indulgent to Rob in money matters, having noticed that the +lad always expended the sums given him wisely. + +"Let's take a spin," suddenly suggested Tubby. + +"Nothing to prevent us," answered Rob; "we've got plenty of time before +dinner. Come on, boys." + +The lads were soon on board and examining the gasoline tank, to see how +much fuel they had on hand, and oiling up the engine. The fuel +receptacle proved to be almost full, so after filling the lubricant +cups and attending to the batteries, they started up the engine--a +powerful, three cylindered, twelve-horse affair capable of driving the +twenty-two foot Flying Fish through the water at twelve miles an hour +or better. + +Just as Rob was casting off the head-line there came a hail from the +wharf above them. + +"Ahoy, there, shipmates! Where are yer bound fer this fine, sunny day?" + +The lads looked up to see the weather-beaten countenance of Captain Job +Hudgins, one of the characters of the vicinity. He was a former +whaler, and lived on a small island some distance from Hampton. On his +little territory he fished and grew a few vegetables, "trading in" his +produce at the Hampton grocery stores for his simple wants. He, +however, had a pension, and was supposed to have a "snug little +fortune" laid by. His only companion in his island solitude was it big +Newfoundland dog named "Skipper." + +The animal stood beside its master on the dock and wagged its tail at +the sight of the boys, whom it knew quite well from their frequent +visits to the captain's little island. + +"Hullo, captain!" shouted Rob, as the veteran saluted his three young +friends. "Where's your boat?" + +"Oh, her engine went--busted, and I had to leave her at the yard below +fer repairs," explained the captain. "I wonder if yer boys can give me +a lift back if yer goin' near Topsail Island?" + +"Surest thing you know," rejoined Rob hastily. "Come right aboard. +But how are you going to get off your island again if your motor is +laid up here to be fixed?" + +"Oh, I'll use my rowboat," responded the old mariner, clambering down +into the Flying Fish. "Say, this is quite a right smart contraption, +ain't she?" + +"We think she is a pretty good little boat," modestly replied Rob, +taking his place at the wheel. "Now, then, Merritt, start up that +engine." + +"Hold on a minute!" shouted Tubby. "We forgot the dog." + +Sure enough, Skipper was dashing up and down the wharf in great +distress at the prospect of being deserted. + +"Put yer boat alongside that landin' stage at the end of the wharf," +suggested his master. "Skipper can get aboard from there, I reckon." + +Rob steered the Flying Fish round to the floating landing, to which an +inclined runway led from the wharf. Skipper dashed down it as soon as +he saw what was happening, and was waiting, ready to embark, when the +Flying Fish came alongside. + +"Poor old Skipper, I reckon yer thought we was goin' ter maroon yer," +said Captain Job, as the animal jumped on board with a bark of "thanks" +for his rescue. "I tell yer, boys, I wouldn't lose that dog fer all +the money in Rob's father's bank. He keeps good watch out an the +Island, I'll tell yer." + +"I didn't think any one much came there, except us," said Rob, as the +Flying Fish headed away from the wharf and began to cut through the +waters of the inlet. + +"Oh, yes; there's others," responded the old man. "That Jack Curtiss +lad and his two chums are out there quite often." + +"Bill Bender and Sam Redding, I suppose you mean," said Tubby. + +"Those their names?" asked the captain. "Well, I don't know any good +uv any uv 'em. Old Skipper here chased 'em away from my melon patch +the other day. I reckon they thought Old Scratch was after them, the +way they run; but they got away with some melons, just the same." + +The old man laughed aloud at the recollection of the marauders' +precipitous flight. + +That Jack Curtiss and his two cronies had made a rendezvous of the +island was news to the boys, and not agreeable news, either. They had +been planning a patrol camp there later on in the summer, and the bully +and his two chums were not regarded by them as desirable neighbors. +However, they said nothing, as they could not claim sole right to use +the island, which was property that had been so long in litigation that +It had come to be known as "No Man's Land" as well as by its proper +name. The captain was only a squatter there, but no one cared to +disturb him, and he had led the existence of a semi-hermit there for +many years. + +The Flying Fish rapidly covered the calm waters of the inlet and was +soon dancing over the swells outside. + +"I'm going to let her out a bit," said Rob suddenly; "look out for +spray." + +"Spray don't bother a brine-pickled old salt like me," laughed the +captain. "Let her go." + +The Flying Fish seemed fairly to leap forward as Merritt gave her the +full power of her engine. As Rob had said, it did indeed behoove her +occupants to look out for spray. The sparkling spume came flying back +in sheets as she cut through the waves, but the boys didn't mind that +any more than did their weather-beaten companion. As for Skipper, he +barked aloud in sheer joy as the Flying Fish slid along as if she were +trying to live up to her name to her utmost ability. + +"This is a good little sea boat," remarked the captain, as they plunged +onward. "She's as seaworthy as she is speedy, I guess." + +"She'll stand a lot of knocking about, and that's a fact," agreed Rob. + +"Well," remarked the old man, gazing about him, "it's a good thing that +she is, fer, if I'm not mistaken--and I'm not often off as regards the +weather--we are goin' ter have quite a little blow before yer boys get +back home." + +"A storm?" asked Tubby, somewhat alarmed. + +"Oh, no; not what yer might call a storm," laughed the captain; "but +just what we used to term a 'capful uv wind.'" + +"Well, so long as it isn't a really bad blow, it won't trouble the +Flying Fish," Rob assured him. + +"Hullo!" exclaimed the old man suddenly. "What queer kind uv craft is +that?" + +He pointed back to the mouth of the now distant inlet, from which a +curious-looking black craft was emerging at what seemed to be great +speed. + +"It's that hydroplane of Sam Redding's, for a bet!" cried Rob. "Here, +Tubby, take the wheel a minute, while I put the glasses on her." + +The lad stood up in the heaving motor craft, steadying himself against +the bulwarks by his knees, and peered through his marine-glasses. + +"It's the hydroplane, sure enough," he said. "By ginger, but she can +go, all right! Sam and Jack and Bill are all in her. They seem to be +heading right out to sea, too." + +"Say!" exclaimed Tubby suddenly, "if it comes on to blow, as the +captain said it would, they'll be in a bad fix, won't they?" + +"In that ther shoe-box thing," scornfully exclaimed the old captain, +who had also been looking through the glasses, "why, I wouldn't give a +confederate dollar bill with a hole in it fer their lives." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +BOY SCOUTS TO THE RESCUE + + +"Hadn't we better put back and warn them?" suggested Merritt rather +anxiously, for he was alarmed by the confident manner in which the old +seaman prophesied certain disaster to the hydroplane if the weather +freshened. + +"No; see, she's heading toward us. I guess they want a race," cried +Rob. "We'll slow down a bit and let them catch up." + +In a few moments the hydroplane was alongside. The yellow hood over +her powerful engines glistened with the wet of the great bow-wave her +speed had occasioned, and her powerful motor was exhausting with a roar +like a battery of machine guns. + +Crouched aft of the engine hood was Sam Redding, who held the wheel. +Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender were in the stern. They sat tandem-wise +in the narrow racing shell. + +"Want a tow rope for that old stone dray of yours?" jeered Jack +Curtiss, as the speedy little racer ranged alongside. + +He did not know that the Flying Fish was slowed down, and that although +the hydroplane appeared to be capable of tremendous speed, she was not +actually so very much faster than Rob's boat. + +"Say, you fellows," warned Rob, making a trumpet of his hands, "the +captain says it's coming on to blow before long. You'd better get back +into the inlet with that craft of yours." + +"Save your breath to cool your coffee," shouted Sam Redding back at +him, across the fifty feet or so of water that lay between the two +boats. "We know what we are about." + +"But you're risking your lives," shouted Merritt. "That thing wouldn't +live ten minutes in any kind of a sea." + +"Well, we're not such a bunch of old women as to be scared of a little +wetting," jeered Jack Curtiss. "So long! We've got no time to wait +for that old tub of yours." + +Before the boys could voice any more warnings, the hydroplane, which +had been slowed down, dashed off once more. + +"I don't know what we are to do," spoke up Merritt. "We can't compel +them to go in, and, after all, the captain may be mistaken." + +"No, I'm not, my son," rejoined the veteran. "I can smell wind--and +see them 'mare's tails' in the sky over yonder. They're as fall uv +wind as a preacher is uv texts." + +"Well, we've done our best to warn them," concluded Rob. "If they are +so foolhardy as to keep on, we can't help it." + +In half an hour more the boys had landed the captain at the little pier +he had built on his island, and to which his rowboat was attached, and +were ready to start back, good-bys having been said. + +"Hark!" exclaimed the captain, as Rob prepared to give the order to "Go +ahead." + +The boys listened, and heard a low, distant moaning sound, something +like the deepest rumbling notes of a church organ. + +"That's the wind comin'," warned the captain. "Yer'd better be +hurryin' back." + +With more hasty good-bys, the lads got under way at once. As they +emerged from the lee of the island they could see that seaward the +ocean was being rapidly lashed into choppy, white-crested waves by the +advancing storm, and that the wind was freshening into a really stiff +breeze. + +"Those fellows must be wishing they took our advice now if they are +fools enough to have kept out," said Merritt, as he slowed down the +engine so as to permit the Flying Fish to ride the rising seas more +easily. + +"Yes, I guess they're doing some tall thinking," agreed Tubby, as a +wave caught the little Flying Fish "quartering" on her port bow, and +sent a white smother of spray swirling back over her occupants. + +"That's the time we got it," laughed Rob, from the wheel, peering +straight ahead. Suddenly he uttered a shout and pointed seaward. + +"Look there!" he shouted at the top of his voice. "There are those +three fellows, and they're in trouble, from the looks of it." + +The others looked, and beheld, half a mile or so away, on the +roughening waters, the hull of the hydroplane. She was tossing up and +down like a cork, and apparently was drifting helplessly, with her +motor broken down, in the heavy sea. Her occupants seemed to be +bailing her; but as they caught sight of the Flying Fish they stood up +and waved frantically. + +"Yes, they're in trouble, all right," agreed Tubby. "And I suppose +we've got to go and get them out of it." + +Rob had already put the Flying Fish about and headed her for the +distressed craft. As they drew near, Sam Redding began shouting: + +"Help, help! We're sinking, we're sinking!" + +Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender, drenched to the skin with spray and white +with fright, said nothing, but a look of great relief came over their +faces as the chums' boat ranged alongside. + +"I don't want to risk ramming my boat by coming right alongside," +shouted Rob. "You'll have to jump for it. Don't be scared. We'll pull +you aboard." + +The three youths on the water-logged hydroplane looked somewhat alarmed +at the prospect, but Rob knew that Jack and Bill could swim. He was +not sure of Sam, but assumed, from the fact that he had lived by the +sea all his life, that he was equally at home in the water. + +The hesitation of Jack Curtiss and his chum was over in a minute, as +the hydroplane gave a plunge that seemed as if it would be her last. +Lightly dressed as they were, in canvas trousers, sleeveless jerseys +and yachting shoes, it was no trick at all for them to swim the few +feet to the Flying Fish. As they leaped overboard, Sam lingered. + +"Come on, Sam," shouted Jack, as the boys lugged the two dripping, +sputtering castaways on board. + +"I--I can't swim. You'll have to come alongside for me," stuttered the +badly-scared Sam. + +"All right. Hold on, and we'll do what we can," hailed Rob, starting +to carry out the risky maneuver of getting alongside the plunging +hydroplane in the heavy sea. + +In some never-to-be-explained manner, however, the frightened Sam +suddenly lost his balance in the tossing racing boat, and, clawing +desperately at her bulwarks to save himself, shot over the side. + +"He'll drown!" shouted Jack Curtiss. "He can't swim, and he'll drown." + +"If you knew that, why didn't you stand by him?" truculently growled +Tubby. + +Without an instant's hesitation, Merritt threw off the jacket he had +put on when it started to blow, and slipped off his shoes. He was +overboard and striking out for the drowning boy before those in the +Flying Fish even realized his purpose. + +With swift, powerful strokes he got alongside Sam just as the owner of +the hydroplane was going down for the third time. + +As the brave boy seized the struggling, frightened youth he felt +himself gripped by the panic-stricken Sam in a frenzied hold of +desperate intensity. His arms were pinioned by the drowning wretch, +and they both vanished beneath the waves. + +As they went under, however, Merritt managed to get one hand free, and +recalling what he had read of what to do under such conditions, struck +the other boy a terrific blow between the eyes. It stunned Sam +completely, and, to his great relief, Merritt felt the imprisoning grip +relax. He could then handle Sam easily, and as they shot to the +surface he saw the Flying Fish bearing down on them, with four white, +strained faces searching the tumbling waters. + +In a few moments the unconscious lad and his rescuer were hauled on +board, and Rob, after congratulations, headed the Flying Fish for the +mouth of the inlet, which was still some distance off. + +Tubby and Bill Bender laid Sam on his stomach, across a thwart, and +started to try to get some of the salt water, of which he had swallowed +great quantities, out of him. He soon gave signs of returning +consciousness, and opened his eyes just as Jack Curtiss was demanding +to know if the Boy Scouts weren't going to take the hydroplane in tow. + +"Not much we're not," responded Rob. "I'm sorry to have to leave her; +but this sea is getting up nastier every minute, and there's no way of +getting a line to her without running more risk than I want to take. +We've had one near-drowning and we don't want another." + +"If this was my boat, I'd pick Sam's boat up," sullenly replied the +bully. + +"You ought to be mighty glad we came along when we did," indignantly +spoke up Tubby. "You'd have been in a bad fix if we hadn't. Instead +of being thankful for it, all you can do is to kick about leaving the +hydroplane." + +An angry reply was on the other's lips, but Bill Bender checked it by +looking up and saying: "I guess the kid's right, Jack. Let it go at +that." + +The bully glowered. He felt his pride much wounded at having been +compelled to seek the aid of the boys whom he despised and hated. + +"I suppose you'll go and blab it all over town about how you saved us," +he sneered, as the Flying Fish threaded her way through the tumbling +waters at the mouth of the inlet and began making her way up it. + +"I don't think we shall," replied Rob quietly. "I mean to recommend +Merritt, though, to headquarters for his Red Honor." + +"Oh, you mean that cheap, bronze medal thing on a bit of red ribbon!" +sneered Jack. "Why, that isn't worth much. You couldn't sell it for +anything but old junk. Why don't they make them of gold?" + +"That 'bronze medal thing,' as you call it, is worth a whole lot to a +Boy Scout," rejoined Rob in the same even tone. "More than you can +understand." + +On their arrival at the yacht-club pier the boys were overwhelmed with +questions, and a doctor was summoned for Sam, who, as soon as he found +himself safe, began to groan and show most alarming symptoms of being +seriously affected by his immersion. + +The boys were not able to conceal the fact that they had accomplished a +brave rescue, and were overwhelmed with congratulations. Merritt +especially came in for warm praise and commendation. + +"You will certainly be granted your Red Honor," declared Mr. Wingate, +who, besides being commodore of the Yacht Club, was one of the +gentlemen whom Rob had persuaded to act as Scout Master for the new +patrol. + +Merritt escaped from the crowd of admiring motor-boat men and boys as +soon as he could, and hastened home for a change of clothes. On the +arrival of Dr. Telfair, the village physician, he pronounced that there +was nothing whatever the matter with Sam but a bad fright, and +prescribed dry garments and hot lemonade. + +"Don't I need any medicine?" groaned Sam, determined to make the most +out of his temporary notoriety. + +"No, you don't," growled the doctor; "unless," he added to himself, +"they put up 'courage' in bottles." + +"I suppose those boys will be more stuck up than ever now," said Jack +to Bill Bender, as, having perfunctorily thanked their rescuers, they +started for home with the almost weeping Sam. + +"Sure to be," rejoined Bill. "It's all your fault, Sam, for taking us +out in that fool hydroplane." + +"My fault! Well, I like that," stuttered out Sam. "You asked me to +come, and you know I wanted to come back when the boys told us it might +come on to blow; but you called me a 'sissy,' and said I was too timid +to own a boat." + +"Um--er--well," rejoined Bill, somewhat confused, "that's so. But +anyhow, to return to what we were talking about, it's given those kids +a great chance to set up as heroes." + +"Well, we can work that scheme we were talking about last night on them +just as soon as you're ready," suddenly remarked Jack. "That will give +them something else to think about." + +"Oh, say, Jack, cut it out, won't you?" pleaded Sam. "I don't like the +kids any better than you do, but one of them saved my life to-day, and +I'm not going into anything that will harm them." + +"Hear him rave!" sneered Jack. "Why last night, when we talked it +over, you thought it would be a prime joke. It isn't as if it would +hurt them. It'll just give them something to study up, that's all. +They think they're such fine trailers and tracers that it would be a +shame not to give them a chance to show what they can do." + +"That's right, Sam," cut in Bill; "it's more of a joke than anything +else." + +"Well," agreed Sam weakly, "if you put it in that way, I suppose it's +all right; but I tell you I don't like it." + +"Why, you'll have the laugh of your young life after we've pulled the +stunt off," remarked Bill. "When will we do it, Jack?" + +"Not to-night, that's certain," responded the other. "I've had enough +excitement for one day." + +"What's the matter with to-morrow night, then?" + +"I'm agreeable. How about you, Sam?" + +"I wish you fellows would leave me out of it," rejoined the bully's +timid chum. + +"Like they left you out of their patrol, eh?" sneered Bill, knowing +that he was touching the other on a tender spot. + +"All right, to-morrow night suits me," snapped Sam, flushing angrily at +Bill's remark--as that worthy had intended he should. "Here's my house. +We'll meet at Bill's 'boudoir."' + +"Right you are," chuckled Jack. "Oh, say, it's going to be the joke of +the century!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +SAM IN DIRE STRAITS + + +"Kree-ee-ee!" + +Merritt paused the next morning in front of Tubby's home, and gave the +"call" of the Eagle Patrol with a not uncreditable resemblance to the +scream of a real eagle. + +The cry was instantly echoed--though in a rather thicker way--from +inside the house, and in a minute Tubby, who knew that some one of the +patrol must have uttered the call, appeared at his door, munching a +large slice of bread and jam, although it was not more than an hour +since breakfast. + +"Say, you, did you ever hear an eagle scream with his mouth full of +bread and jam?" demanded Merritt, as the stout youth appeared. + +"Eagles don't eat bread and jam," rejoined Tubby, defending his +position. "Have some?" + +"Having had breakfast not more than an hour ago, I'm not hungry yet, +thank you," politely rejoined the corporal; "besides, I'm afraid I'd +get fat." + +Dodging the stout youth's blow, the corporal went on: + +"Heard the news?" + +"No--what news?" eagerly demanded the other, finishing his light repast. + +"Why, the Dolphin--you know, that fishing boat--picked up Sam's +hydroplane at sea and towed it in. It's in pretty good shape, I hear, +although the engine is out of commission and it was half full of water." + +"He's a lucky fellow to get it back." + +"I should say so," replied Merritt; "but it will cost him a whole lot +to reclaim it. The captain of the Dolphin says he wants fifty dollars +for it as salvage." + +"Gee! Do you think Sam's father will give him that much?" said Tubby, +with round eyes. + +"I don't know. He can afford it all right. He's made a lot of money +out of that boat-building shop, my father says; but he's so stingy that +I doubt very much if he will give Sam such a sum." + +"Why, here's Sam coming down the street now," exclaimed the +good-natured Tubby. "I wonder if he's heard about it. Hullo, Sam! +Get all the water out of your system?" + +"I'm all right this morning, if that is what you mean," rejoined the +other, with dignity. + +"Heard the news about your boat?" asked Merritt suddenly. + +"No; what about her? Is she safe? Who picked her up?" + +"Wait a minute. One question at a time," laughed Merritt. "She's safe, +all right. The Dolphin picked her up at sea. But it will cost you +fifty dollars to get her." + +"Fifty dollars!" gasped Sam, turning pale. + +"That's what the skipper of the Dolphin says. He had a lot of trouble +getting a line fast to her, he says, and he means to have the money or +keep the boat." + +"Oh, well, I'll get it from my father easily enough," said Sam +confidently, preparing to swagger off down the street. "I've got to +get my boat back and beat Rob's Flying Fish, and that hydroplane can do +it." + +"Can you match that?" exclaimed Merritt to the fat youth, as Sam +strolled away. "Here he was saved from drowning by the Flying Fish +only yesterday, and all he can think of this morning is to promise to +beat her. What makes him so mean, I wonder?" + +"Just born that way, I guess," rejoined the stout youth; "and as for +the Flying Fish saving him, if it hadn't been for a certain Corporal +Crawford, he--" + +"Here, stow that," protested Merritt, coloring up. "I heard enough of +that yesterday afternoon." + +As the boys had surmised, Sam's father was not at all pleased when he +learned that his son wanted fifty dollars. In fact, he refused point +blank to let him have it at all. + +"That boat of yours has cost enough already, and I'm not going to spend +any more on it," he said angrily, as he turned to his work. + +"But I can't get the hydroplane back if I don't pay it," urged Sam. +"I've seen the captain of the Dolphin, and he refuses absolutely to let +me have her unless I pay him for his trouble in towing her in." + +"I can't help that," snapped the elder Redding. "What have I got to do +with your boat? Look here!" he exclaimed, turning angrily and +producing a small memorandum book from his pocket and rapidly turning +the leaves. "Do you know how much I've given you in the last two +months?" + +"N-n-no," stammered Sam, looking very much embarrassed, and shuffling +about from one foot to the other. + +"Then I'll tell you, young man; it's exactly--let me see--ten, twenty, +five, three, fifteen and eight. That's just sixty-one dollars. Do you +think that money grows on gooseberry bushes? Then there'll be your +college expenses to pay. No, I can't let you have a cent." + +"That means that I will lose my boat and the chance of winning the race +at the regatta!" urged Sam gloomily. + +"Well, you should have had more sense than to take that fool hydroplane +out into a rough sea. I told you she wouldn't stand it. There, go on +about your own affairs. I'm far too busy to loaf about, arguing with +you." + +And with this the hard-featured old boat builder--who had made his +money literally by the sweat of his brow--turned once more to his task +of figuring out the blue prints of a racing sloop. + +Sam saw that it was no use to argue further with his father, and left +the shop with no very pleasant expression on his countenance. + +"I'll have to see if I can't borrow it somewhere," he mused. "If only +I was on better terms with Rob Blake, I could get it from him, I guess. +His father is a banker and he must have plenty. I wonder--I wonder if +Mr. Blake himself wouldn't lend it to me. I could give him a note for +it, and in three months' time I'd be sure to be able to take it up." + +With this end in view, the lad started for the Hampton Bank. It +required some courage for a youth of his disposition to make up his +mind to beard the lion in his den--or, in other words, to approach Mr. +Blake in his office. For Sam, while bold enough when his two hulking +cronies were about, had no real backbone of his own. + +After making two or three turns in front of the bank, he finally +screwed his courage to the sticking point, and timidly asked an +attendant if he could see the banker. + +"I think so. I'll see," was the reply. + +In a few seconds the man reappeared, and said that Mr. Blake could +spare a few minutes. Hat in hand, Sam entered the ground-glass door +which bore on it in imposing gilt letters the word "President." + +The interview was brief, and to Sam most unsatisfactory. The banker +pointed out to him that he was a minor, and as such that his note would +be no good; and also that, without the permission of his father, he +would not think of lending the youth such a sum. Much crestfallen, Sam +shuffled his way out toward the main door of the bank, when suddenly a +voice he recognized caused him to look up. + +"A hundred and twenty-five dollars. That's right, all shipshape and +above board!" + +It was the old captain of Topsail Island, counting over in his gnarled +paw one hundred and twenty-five dollars in crisp bills which he had +just received from the paying teller. + +"You must be going to be married, captain," Sam heard the teller remark +jocularly. + +"Not yet a while," the captain laughed back. "That ther motor uv mine +that I left ter be fixed up is goin' ter cost me fifty dollars, and the +other seventy-five I'm calculating ter keep on hand in my safe fer a +while. I'm kind uv figgerin' on gettin' a new dinghy--my old one is +just plum full uv holes. I rowed over frum the island this mornin', +and I declar' ter goodness, once or twice I thought I'd swamp." + +Sam slipped out of the bank without speaking to the captain, whom, +indeed, since the episode of the melon patch, he had no great desire to +encounter. + +As he made his way toward his home in no very amiable mood, he was +hailed from the opposite side of the street by Jack Curtiss and Bill +Bender. + +"Any news of the boat?" demanded Jack, as he and Bill crossed over and +slapped their crony on the back with great assumed heartiness. + +"Yes, and mighty bad news, too, in one way. She's safe enough. The +Dolphin--that fishing boat--found her and towed her in. But--here's the +tough part of it--it's going to cost fifty dollars for salvage to get +her from the Dolphin's captain, the old shark!" + +"Phew!" whistled Jack Curtiss. "Pretty steep. But I suppose your old +man will fork over, eh?" + +"That's just it," grumbled Sam; "he won't come across with a cent. I +suppose, if I don't pay for the hydroplane's recovery pretty soon, she +will be sold at auction." + +"That's the usual process," observed Bill. + +"Isn't there any way you can raise the wind?" + +"No, I've tried every one I can think of. I don't suppose either of +you fellows could--" + +"Nothing doing here," hastily cried Jack, not giving the other time to +finish. + +"I'm cleaned out, too," Bill also hurriedly assured the unfortunate Sam. + +"It looks like everybody but us has coin," complained that worthy +bitterly. "While I was in the bank trying to get old man Blake to take +up a note of mine for the sum I need, who should I see in there but +that old fossil of a captain from Topsail Island." + +"Who grows such fine, juicy melons and keeps such a nice, amiable pet +dog," laughed Jack, roaring at the recollection of the piratical +expedition of which the island dweller had told the boys. + +"Ha, ha, ha!" shouted Bill in chorus. "We'll have to give him another +visit soon." + +"But what about the old land crab, Sam?" demanded Jack the next minute. +"What was he doing in the bank?" + +"Why, drawing one hundred and twenty-five dollars. Just think of it, +and we always figured it out that he was poor." + +"A hundred and twenty-five dollars! I wonder what he's going to do +with it?" wondered Jack, with whom money and its spending was always an +absorbing topic. + +"Why, I overheard that, too, as I passed by," rejoined Sam. "He's going +to spend some of it for the repairing of his motor, which broke down +yesterday, and the rest he's going to keep by him." + +"Keep it on the island, you mean?" demanded Jack, becoming suddenly +much interested. + +"That's what he said--keep it in his safe," replied Sam. "But what +good does that do us?" + +"A whole lot, maybe," was the enigmatic reply. "See here, Sam, you can +win that race if you get your hydroplane?" + +"I'm sure of it." + +"You are going to bet on yourself, of course." + +"Sure. I've got to raise some money somehow." + +"Well, I've thought of a way you can borrow the money to get your boat +back, and when you win the race you can return it. Come on, lees go to +Bill's den, and we'll have a smoke and talk it over." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE BULLY SPRINGS A SURPRISE + + +That afternoon, in reply to a notice sent round by a runner, the lads +of the Eagle Patrol assembled at their armory, and on Leader Rob's +orders "fell in" to hear the official announcement of the coming +camping trip. As a matter of fact, they had discussed little else for +several days, but the first "regimental" notification, as it were, was +to be made now. + +The first duty to be performed was the calling of the roll after +"assembly" had been sounded--somewhat quaveringly--by little Andy +Bowles, the company bugler. + +Beside Rob Merritt, Tubby and Andy, there were Hiram Nelson, a tall, +lanky youth, whose hands were stained with much fussing with chemicals, +for he was a wireless experimenter; Ernest Thompson, a big-eyed, +serious-looking lad, whose specialty in the little regiment was that of +bicycle scout, as the spoked wheel on his arm denoted; Simon Jeffords, +a second-class scout, but who, under Rob's tutelage, was becoming the +expert "wig-wagger" of the organization; Paul Perkins, another +second-class boy, but a hard worker and a devotee of aeronautics; +Martin Green, one of the smallest of the Eagle Patrol, a tenderfoot; +Walter Lonsdale, also a recruit, and Joe Digby, who, as the last to +join the Patrol, was the tenderest of the tenderfeet. + +Rob's announcement of the program for the eight days they were to spend +on the island was greeted with cheers. The news that turns were to be +taken by two scouts daily at washing dishes and cooking did not awaken +quite so much enthusiasm. Everybody cheered up again, however, when +Rob announced that the Flying Fish would be at the disposal of the boys +of the patrol. + +Corporal Merritt took Rob's place as orator then, and announced that +each boy would be assessed one dollar for the expenses of the camp, the +remainder of the money necessary for the providing of tents and the +provisioning of the camp having been donated by Rob's father, Mr. +Wingate, of the yacht club, and the other representative citizens of +Hampton who composed the local scout council. + +Further excitement was caused by the announcement that following the +camp the local committee would pass upon the applications for +promotions and honors for the lads of the Patrol, and that it was +likely that another patrol would be formed in the village, as several +boys had expressed themselves as anxious to form one. The gentlemen +having charge of the local scout movement, however, had decided that it +would be wiser to wait and see the result of one patrol's training +before forming a second one. + +"I'm going to try for an aviator's badge," announced Paul Perkins, as +Rob declared the official business at an end. + +"Say, Rob, what's the matter with our fixing up a wireless in the camp? +I'm pretty sure I can make one that will catch anything in a +hundred-mile radius." + +"That's a good idea," assented Rob; "if you can do it we can get a lot +of good out of it, I don't doubt." + +"What's the good of wireless when we've got wig-wagging and the +semaphore code," spoke up Simon Jeffords, who was inclined to doubt the +use of any other form of telegraphy but that in which he had perfected +himself. + +As for Martin Green, Walter Lonsdale and Joe Digby, they contented +themselves with hoping that they might receive their badges as +second-class scouts when the camp was over. + +"I can take the whole tests except cooking the meat and potatoes in the +'Billy,'" bemoaned young Green, a small chap of about thirteen. +"Somehow, they always seem to burn, or else they don't cook at all." + +"Well, cheer up, Martin," laughed Rob. "You'll learn to do it in camp. +We'll make you cook for the whole time we're out there, if you +like--that will give you plenty of practice." + +"No, thank you," chimed in Andy Bowles. "I've seen some of Mart's +cooking, and I think the farther you keep him from the cook fire, the +better for the general health of the Eagle Patrol." + +At this moment there came a rap on the door. + +"Come in!" shouted Rob. + +In reply to this invitation, the door opened and a lad of about fifteen +entered. His face was flushed and he bore in his hand a long sheet of +green paper. + +"Hello, Frank Farnham," exclaimed Rob glancing at the boy's flushed, +excited face. "What's troubling you?" + +"Oh, hello, Rob. Excuse me for butting in on your ceremonies, but I +was told Paul Perkins was here." + +"Sure he is, Frank," exclaimed Paul, coming forward. "What's the +matter? It's much too warm to be flying around the way you seem to +have been. Come in under this fan." + +He indicated an electrically driven ventilator that was whirring in a +corner of the room. + +"Quit your fooling, Paul," remonstrated Frank, "and read this circular. +Here." + +He thrust the green "dodger" he carried into the other's hand. + +"What do you think of that, eh?" demanded Frank, as Paul skimmed it +with delighted eyes. + +The circular contained the announcement of a lecture on aeronautics by +a well-known authority on the subject who had once been a resident of +Hampton. To stimulate interest in the subject, the paper stated that a +first prize of fifty dollars, a second prize of twenty-five, and a +third prize of ten dollars would be given to the three lads of the town +making and flying the most successful models of aeroplanes in a public +competition. To win the first prize it would be necessary for the model +to fly more than two hundred feet, and not lower, except at the start +and end of the flight, than fifty feet above the ground. The second +prize was for the next best flight, and the third for the model +approaching the nearest to the winner of the second money. + +"Now, Paul, you are an aeronautic fiend," went on Frank, "So am I, and +Hiram has the fever in a mild way. What's the matter with you two +fellows forming a team to represent the Boy Scouts, and I'll get up a +team of village boys, to compete for the prizes." + +"That's a good idea," assented Hiram Nelson. "I've got a model almost +completed. It only needs the rubber bands and a little testing and it +will be O.K., or at least I hope so. How about you, Paul?" + +"Oh, I've got two models that I have got good results from," replied +the boy addressed. "One is a biplane. She's not so speedy, but very +steady; and then I have a model of a Bleriot. I'm willing to enter +either of them or both." + +"And I've got a model of an Antoinette, and one of a design of my own. +I don't know just how well it will work," concluded Frank modestly, +"but I have great hopes of carrying off that prize." + +"Let's see who else there is," pondered Hiram. + +"There's Tom Maloney. He'll go in, I know; and Ed Rivers and two or +three others, and then, by the way, I almost forgot it, I met Sam +Redding, Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender, reading a notice of the +competition, just before I came up. Of course, as there is a chance of +winning fifty dollars, Jack is going to enter one, and Bill Bender said +he would put one in, too." + +"What do they know about aeroplanes?" demanded Paul. + +"Not a whole lot, I guess; but Jack said he was going to get a book +that tells how to make one, and Bill said he'd do the same." + +"How about Sam?" inquired Rob. + +"Oh, I guess he's got troubles enough with his hydroplane," responded +Rob, whose father had told him at dinner that day of Sam's vain visit +to the bank. + +"It would be just like those fellows to put up something crooked on +us," remarked Paul, who had had much the same experiences with the +bully and his chums as his schoolmates generally. + +"Oh, there'll be no chance of that," Frank assured him. "A local +committee of business men is to be appointed to see fair play, and I +don't fancy that even Jack or Bill will be slick enough to get away +with any crooked work." + +"How long have we got to get ready?" asked Hiram suddenly. + +"Just a week." + +"Wow! that isn't much time." + +"No; my father told me that Professor Charlton, whom he knows, would +have given a longer time for preparation but that he has to attend a +flying meet in Europe, and only decided to lecture at his native town +at the last moment. Lucky thing that most of us have got our models +almost ready." + +"Yes, especially as this notice says," added Paul, who had been reading +it, "that all models must be the sole work of the contestants." + +"If it wasn't for that it would be easy," remarked Hiram. "You can buy +dandy models in New York. I've seen them advertised in the papers." + +"Well, come on over now and put your name down, as a contestant. The +blanks are in the office of the Hampton News," urged Frank. + +"I guess we're all through up here, Rob, aren't we?" asked Hiram. + +"Yes," rejoined the young leader; "but you study up on your woodcraft, +Hiram, and devote more time to your signaling. You are such a bug on +wireless that you forget the rest of the stuff." + +"All right, Rob," promised Hiram contritely. "By the time we go +camping I'll know a cat track from a squirrel's, or never put a +detector on my head again." + +Piloted by Frank, the two young scouts made their way to the office of +the local paper, which had already placed a large bulletin announcing +the aeroplane model competition in its window. Quite a crowd was +gathered, reading the details, as the three boys entered. + +They applied for their application blanks and walked over to a desk to +fill them out. As they were hard at work at this, Jack Curtiss and his +two chums entered the office. + +"You going into this, too?" asked the proprietor of the paper, Ephraim +Parkhurst, as Jack loudly demanded two blanks. + +"Sure," responded Jack confidently, "and we are going to win it, too. +Hullo," he exclaimed, as his eyes fell on the younger lads, "those kids +are after the prize, too. Why, what would they do with fifty dollars +if they had it? However, there's not much chance of your winning +anything," he added, coming up close to the boys, with a sneer on his +face. "I think that I've got it cinched." + +"I didn't know that you knew anything about aeroplanes," responded Paul +quietly. "Have you got a model built yet?" + +"I know about a whole lot of things I don't go blabbing round to +everybody about," responded the elder lad, with a sneer, "and as for +having a model built, I'm going to get right to work on one at once. +It'll be a model of a Bleriot monoplane, and a large one, too. I +notice that there is nothing said in the rules about the size of the +machines." + +Soon after this the three chums left the newspaper office together. + +"Say," remarked Paul, in a rather worried tone, "I don't believe that +there is anything said about the size of the models. Bill may build a +great big one and beat us all out." + +"I suppose that the big machines would be handicapped according to +their power and speed," rejoined Frank. "However, don't you worry +about that. I don't believe that Jack Curtiss knows enough about the +subject to build an aeroplane in a week, and anyhow, I think it's all +empty bluff on his part." + +"I hope so," replied Paul, as they reached his front gate. "Will you +be over to-night, Hiram, to talk things over? Bring your models with +you, too, will you?" + +"Sure," replied Hiram; "but I've got to do a few things at home after +supper. I'll be over about eight o'clock or half-past." + +"All right. I'll be ready for you," responded Paul, as the lads said +good-by. + +A few minutes later Jack Curtiss and his chums emerged from the +newspaper office, the former and Bill Bender having made out their +applications. Sam seemed more dejected than ever, but there was a grin +of satisfaction on Jack Curtiss' face. + +"Well, we sent the note, all right," he laughed under his breath, to +his two chums. "He'll have got it by this time, and will be in town by +dark. You know your part of the program, Sam. Don't fail to carry it +out, or I'll see that you get into trouble." + +"There's no need to worry about me, Jack," rejoined Sam, with an angry +flush. "I'll get the boat as soon as he lands, and keep it out of +sight till you've done the trick. + +"Nothing like killing two birds with one stone," grinned Bill Bender. +"My! what a time there'll be in the morning, when they find out that +there's been a regular double cross." + +"Hush! Here come those three kids now," warned Sam, as Rob, Merritt +and Tubby came down the street. After what had passed they did not +feel called upon to give the bully and his companions more than a cold +nod. + +"Well, be as stuck up as you like to this after-noon!" sneered Jack, +after they had gone by, taking good care, however, that his voice would +not carry. "I guess the laugh will be on you and your old friend of +the island to-morrow." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +AN ISLAND MYSTERY + + +"Hullo, Hiram; where are you bound for?" + +It was Rob who spoke, as Hiram hastened by his house in the early +darkness. + +"Oh, hullo, Rob," responded the other. "I was wondering who that was +hanging over the gate. Why, I'm going to Paul's house. I'm going to +talk over that aeroplane model contest with him. I think that we stand +a chance to win if Jack Curtiss doesn't make good his boast." + +"What was that?" inquired Rob. + +"Oh, he says that he is going to build an aeroplane that will beat us +all." + +"And have it ready in a week?" was Rob's astonished query. + +"That's what he says," responded Hiram. "It all looks kind of +suspicious to me. Fifty dollars is a large enough sum to tempt Jack to +do almost anything. Well, so long. I've got to hurry along. I'm late +now." + +And the lad hastened away to keep his appointment. + +Rob was about to go into the house and get a book, when his attention +was arrested by a figure coming up the street at a smart pace whose +outlines somehow seemed familiar to him. The next minute his guess was +confirmed, when a hearty voice hailed him: + +"Waal, here I am, lad--all shipshape and in first-class trim. Now, what +is it? What do yer want? Yer didn't explain in the note, but old +Captain job Hudgins'll always stand by a shipmate in distress." + +"Why, whatever do you mean, captain?" exclaimed Rob, amazed, and +thinking that the captain must have taken leave of his wits. "Who do +you mean is in distress?" + +"Mean?" echoed the captain, in his turn, it seemed, surprised. "Why, +that note yer sent me. Here it is--all written on one uv them +new-fangled machines." + +Rob took the crumpled paper the old seaman drew out of his coat and +scanned it hastily by the light of the street lamp. The following note +met his puzzled gaze. + +"DEAR CAPTAIN: Please come over and see me at once. Something serious +has happened at the bank. I need your aid and advice. + +"Yours, + +"ROB BLAKE." + +"Hum! The signature is typewritten, too," mused Rob. "What kind of a +joke is this? I don't know, but I'll bet anything that Jack Curtiss is +at the bottom of it." + +"Well," demanded the captain, "what is it, a bit of gammon? I'll +keel-haul the man as did it if I can find him." + +"It looks like a hoax of some sort," admitted Rob, sorely puzzled; "but +I can't for the life of me see the object of it. Come into the house a +minute, captain, and we'll try to figure it out." + +Seated beneath the lamp in the library of his home, Rob scrutinized the +letter closely, but could find absolutely no indication about it to +betray who could have typewritten it. + +"How did you come to receive it?" he asked suddenly. + +"Why, old Hank Handcraft come out in that crazy launch uv his and guv +it ter me," rejoined the captain. "I ought ter hev told yer that in +the first place, but I was all took aback and canvas a-shiver when yer +tole me yer never wrote it." + +"Hank Handcraft," repeated Rob. "He's that queer old fellow that lives +in a hut away down the beach?" + +"Yes, and a bad character, too," replied the captain. "He used ter be +a smuggler, and done a term in jail fer it." + +"Well, it's pretty certain that he didn't write this," said Rob. "He +couldn't get hold of a typewriter, even if he could use one. What did +he tell you about it? Did he say who gave it to, him?" + +"No, he just handed it ter me, and says: 'A young party in Hampton says +ter give yer this and hurry.' I was just gettin' my supper when I +heard his hail of 'Island, ahoy!' I hurried out, and there he was in +that old teakettle uv his, at the end uv my wharf." + +"And he left before you read the note?" + +"I should say. He hurried right off ag'in." + +"Well, I don't see any way to get at the bottom of this mystery but to +go and see old Hank himself," mused Rob, after a period of thought. +"What do you think, captain?" + +"That's the tack ter go about on, youngster," agreed the man of Topsail +Island; "but if yer are goin' down ter his place at this hour uv night, +we'd better take somebody else along. He's a bad character, and I'm +only a feeble old man and yer are a lad." + +"I'll go round by Merritt Crawford's house," proposed Rob; "then we'll +pick up Tubby Hopkins. I guess we can handle any trouble that Hank +wants to make, with that force on hand." + +"I guess so," agreed the old man. "I must say I'd like ter get ter the +bottom uv this here mystery. 'All fair and above board' is my motto. +I don't like these secret craft." + +The two young scouts were both at home, and after brief explanations +the four started off at a lively pace for Hank Handcraft's hut, which +was situated about two miles along the beach. As they hastened along, +Rob explained to the others in more detail the nature of their mission, +but though they were as much mystified by the sudden summons of Captain +Hudgins as Rob and the captain himself, they could hit upon no +plausible explanation for it. + +It was a little over half an hour before they reached the dilapidated +hut where old Handcraft, a beach-comber, made his dwelling place. A +short distance off the shore they could see by the moon, which had now +risen, that his crazy old motor boat lay at anchor. This was a sign +that Hank was at home. Lest it be wondered that such a character could +have owned a motor boat, it may be explained here that the engine of +Hank's old oyster skiff had been given him by a summer resident who +despaired of making it work. Hank, however, who was quite handy with +tools, had fixed it up and managed to make it drive his patched old +craft at quite a fair speed--sometimes. When it broke down, as it +frequently did, Hank, who was a philosopher in his way, simply got out +his oars and rowed his heavy craft. + +As an additional indication that the hut was occupied, light shone +through several of its numerous chinks and crannies, and a knock at the +door brought forth a low growl of: "Who's there?" + +"We want to see you," said Rob. + +"This is no time of night to call on a gentleman; come to-morrow and +leave your cards," rumbled the gruff voice from inside the hut. + +"This is serious business," urged Rob. "Come on, open that door, Hank. +This is Rob Blake, the banker's son." + +"Oh, it is, is it?" grumbled the voice, as the clank of the door-chains +being taken off was heard from within. "Well, I ain't had much +business deals with your father lately, my private fortune being +somewhat shrunk." + +With a muffled chuckle from the speaker, the door slowly opened, and +Hank, a ragged figure, with an immense matted beard, long tangled hair +and dim blue eyes, that blinked like a rat's, stood revealed. + +"Come in, come in, gentlemen," he bowed, with mock politeness. "I'm +glad to see such a numerous and representative party. Now, what kin I +do you for?" + +He chuckled once more at his little jest, and the boys involuntarily +shrank from him. + +There was nothing to do, however, but enter the hut, and Hank +accommodated his guests with a cracker box apiece as chairs. On a +table, roughly built out of similar boxes, a battered old stable lamp +smoked and flared. A more miserable human habitation could not be +imagined. + +"Hank," began the captain, "speak me fair and above board, mate--who +give yer that letter ter bring ter me ter-night?" + +"What letter?" blankly responded Hank, a look of vacancy in his shifty +eyes. + +"Oh, yer know well enough; that letter yer give me at supper time." + +"Captain, I'll give you my davy I don't know what you're talking +about," returned the beachcomber. + +"What!" roared the captain: rising to his feet and advancing +threateningly. "Yer mean ter tell me, yer rapscallion, that yer don't +recall landin' at Topsail Island earlier ter-night and givin' me a note +which says ter come urgent and immediate ter see young Rob Blake here?" + +"Why, captain," calmly returned Hank, with an indulgent grin, "I really +think you must be gettin' childish in your old age. You must be seeing +things. I hope you ain't drinking." + +"You--you scoundrel, you!" roared the old captain, almost beside +himself with rage, and dancing with clenched fists toward Hank. + +The beach-comber's filthy hand slipped into his rags in a minute, and +the next instant he was squatting back on his haunches in the corner of +the hut, like a wildcat about to spring. In his hand there glistened, +in the yellow rays of the lamp, a blued-steel revolver. + +"Don't get angry, captain. It's bad for the digestion," grinned the +castaway. "Now," he went on, "I'm going to tell you flat that if you +say I came to your island to-night, you're dreaming. It must have been +some one else. + +"Come on, boys," directed the captain, with an angry shrug. "There's no +use wastin' time on the critter. I'm inclined ter think now that +there's somethin' more than ordinary in the wind," he added, as they +left the hut, with the half-idiotic chuckles of its occupant ringing in +their ears. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +SOME STRANGE DOINGS + + +It was not far from midnight when the boys, sorely perplexed, once more +reached Hampton. The main street had been deserted long since, and +every one in the village had returned to rest. + +The boys left the captain by the water-front, while they headed up the +Main Street for their respective homes. Rob remained up, pondering +over the events of the evening for some time, without arriving at any +solution of them. He was just about to extinguish his light when he +was startled by a loud: + +"His--s--st!" + +The noise came from directly below his open window, which faced onto +the garden. + +He put out his head, and saw a dark figure standing in the yard. + +"Who is it?" he demanded. + +"It's me, the captain, Rob," rejoined the well-known voice. "I +wouldn't have bothered yer but that I saw a light in yer window." + +"What's the trouble, captain?" asked the boy, noting a troubled +inflection in the old man's voice. + +"My boat's gone!" was the startling reply. + +"Gone! Are you sure?" + +"No doubt about it. I left her tied ter the L wharf when I come up +from the island, and now there ain't hide nor hair uv her there." + +"I'll bet anything that that fellow Curtiss is at the bottom of all +this," cried Rob. "I remember now I heard some time ago that he was +thick with that Hank Handcraft." + +"I don't know what ter do about it at this time uv ther night," went on +the distressed captain, "an' I can't go round waking folks up ter get +another boat." + +"Of course not," agreed Rob. "There's only one thing for you to do, +captain, and that is to put up here to-night, and in the morning we'll +see what we can do." + +"That's mighty fair, square, and above board uv yer, lad," said the +captain gratefully. "Punk me anywhere. I'm an old sailor, and can +aways find the softest plank in the deck." + +"You won't have to do that," said Rob, who had slipped downstairs by +this time and opened the door; "we've got a spare room you can bunk in +to-night. I'll explain it all to father in the morning. Perhaps he can +help us out." + +"Gee whiz! almost twelve o'clock," exclaimed Hiram Nelson, looking up +at the clock from the dining-room table in Paul Perkins' house. The +chamber was strewn with text books on model aeroplane construction and +littered with figures and plans of the boys' own devising. "How time +flies when you're on a subject that interests you." + +"Yes, it's a good thing it's vacation time," agreed Paul. "We wouldn't +be in much shape to work at our books to-morrow, eh?" + +"I should say not!" rejoined Hiram with conviction. "Well, so long, +Paul. I guess we've got it all figured out now, and all that is left +to do is to go ahead." + +"That's the idea," responded Paul. "We'll get the prize for the glory +of the Eagle Patrol, or--or--" + +"Bust!" Hiram finished for him. + +Hiram's way home lay past the bank, and as he walked down the moonlit +street he thought for a minute that he perceived a light in the windows +of the armory. + +Almost as he fancied he glimpsed it, however, it vanished, and the lad +was convinced that he must have been mistaken, or else seen a +reflection of the moonlight on the windows. + +"Queer, though," he mused. "I could almost have sworn it was a light." + +Another curious thing presently attracted his attention. As he neared +the bank a dark figure seemed to vanish into the black shadows round +the corner. Something familiar about it struck Hiram, and the next +moment he realized why. + +"If that wasn't Bill Bender, I'm a Dutchman," he muttered, his heart +beating a little faster. "But what can he be doing round here at this +time of night?" + +As he put the question to himself, Bill Bender, walking rapidly, as if +he had come from some distance, and had not dodged round the corner a +moment before, suddenly appeared from round the angle of the bank +building. + +"Good evening, Bill," said Hiram, wondering if his eyes were not +playing him some queer tricks; "wasn't that you just went round the +corner?" + +"Who, me?" blustered Bill. "You need to visit an oculist, young man. +I've just come from a visit to my aunt's. It was her birthday, and we +had a bully time. Sat up a little too late, though. Good night." + +And with a great assumption of easiness, the crony of Jack Curtiss +walked rapidly off up the street. + +"I guess he's right," mused Hiram, as he hurried on home. "But if that +wasn't Bill Bender who walked round that corner it was his ghost, and +all the ghosts I ever read about don't wear squeaky boots." + +If Hiram had remained he would have had further cause to be suspicious +and speculative. + +The lad's footsteps had hardly died out down the street before Bill +Bender cautiously retraced his way, and, going round to the side +street, upon which the steps leading to the armory opened, gave a +cautious whistle. In reply a sack was lowered from a window to him by +some person invisible above. + +Although there was some little light on the Main Street by reason of +the moon and the few scattering lamps along the thoroughfare, the spot +in which Bill now stood was as black as the proverbial pocket. + +"Is the coast all clear?" came down a voice from the window above. + +"Yes; but if I hadn't spotted young Hiram Nelson coming down the street +and warned you to put out that light, it wouldn't have been," responded +Bill in the same cautious tone. + +"Well, we're safe enough now," came back the voice above, which any of +his acquaintances would have recognized as Jack Curtiss'. "I've got the +rest of them in this other sack. Here, take this one when I drop it." + +Bill made a bungling effort to catch the heavy receptacle that fell +following Jack's warning, but in the darkness he failed, and it crashed +down with quite a clatter. + +"Look out!" warned Jack anxiously, "some one might hear that." + +"Not in this peaceful community. You seem to forget that eleven +o'clock is the very latest bedtime in Hampton." + +After a brief interval Jack Curtiss himself slipped out of the side +door of the armory and joined his friend on the dark sidewalk. + +"Well, what's the next move on the program?" asked Bill. + +"We'll sneak down Bailey's Lane--there are no lights there--to Hank's +place. Sam will be waiting off there with the boat," rejoined Jack. + +"Yes, if he hasn't lost his nerve," was Bill's rejoinder as they +shouldered their sacks and slipped off into the deep blackness +shrouding the side streets. + +"Well, if he has lost it, he'll come near losing his head, too," grated +out Jack, "but don't you fear, he wants that fifty too badly to go back +on us." + +Silently as two cats the cronies made their way down the tree-bordered +thoroughfare known as Bailey's Lane and after a few minutes gained the +beach. + +"Say, that's an awful hike down to Hank's gilded palace," grumbled +Bill, "why didn't you have Sam wait for us off here?" + +"Yes, and have old man Hudgins discover him when he finds his boat is +gone," sneered Jack, "you'd have made a fine botch of this if it hadn't +been for me." + +The two exchanged no further words on the weary tramp along the soft +beach. They plodded along steadily with the silence only broken by a +muttered remark emanating from Bill Bender from time to time. + +"Thank heaven, there's the place at last," exclaimed Bill, with a sigh +of relief, as they came in sight of the miserable hut, "I began to +think that Hank must have moved." + +Jack gave a peculiar whistle and the next instant the same light the +boys had seen earlier in the evening shone through the chinks of the +hovel. + +"Well, he's awake, at any rate," remarked Jack with a grin, "now to +find out where the boat is." + +As the wretched figure of the beach-comber appeared Jack hailed him +roughly. + +"Where's that boat, Hank?" + +"Been cruising off and on here since eleven o'clock," rejoined the +other sullenly, "ah! there she is now off to the sou'west." + +He pointed and the boys saw a red light flash twice seaward as if some +one had passed their hands across it. + +"All right, give him the answer," ordered Jack. "We've got to hurry if +we're to be back before the captain and those brats of boys get after +our trail." + +Hank at Jack's order dived into the hut and now reappeared with the +smoky lantern. He waved it four times from side to side like a +brakeman and in a short time a steady "put-put!" told the watchers that +a motor boat was approaching. + +"Now for your dinghy, Hank," urged Jack, "hurry up. You move like a +man a hundred and ninety years old, with the rheumatism." + +"Well, come on, then," retorted Hank, "here's the boat," pointing to a +cobbled dinghy lying hauled up above the water line, "give me a hand +and we'll shove off." + +The united strength of the three soon had the boat in the water and +with Hank at the oars they moved steadily toward the chugging motor +boat. + +"Well, Sam, you're on the job, I see," remarked Jack as the two craft +ranged alongside and Sam cut off the engine. + +"Oh, I'm on the job all right," rejoined Sam, feeling much braver now +that the other two had arrived, "have you got them all right?" + +"Right here in this bag, and some more in this, my bucko," chuckled +Jack as he handed the two sacks over to Sam. + +"Ha! ha! ha!" chortled Bill under his breath as he climbed out of the +cobble into the motor boat, "won't there be a fine row in the morning." + +"Well, come on; start up, Sam. We've no time to lose," ordered Jack as +he and Bill got aboard, "good night there, Hank." + +"Good night," rejoined Hank quietly enough, as the motor boat moved +swiftly off over the moonlit sea. He added to himself, "It won't be a +very 'good night' for you, my lad, if you don't pay me as handsomely as +you promised." + +And chuckling to himself till his shoulders shook, Hank resumed his +oars and rowed back to the miserable shanty he called home. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE STOLEN UNIFORMS + + +Rob and his old friend lost no time the next morning in getting down to +the water-front to make inquiries about the captain's missing boat. To +their astonishment, however, almost the first craft that caught their +eyes as they arrived at the L wharf to begin their search was the old +sailor's motor dory, to all appearances in exactly the same position +she had occupied the preceding night when the captain moored her. + +"Have I clapped deadlights on my optics, or am I gone plumb locoed?" +bellowed the amazed captain, as he saw the little craft dancing lightly +on the sunny waters. + +"You are certainly not mistaken in supposing that is your boat. I'd +know her among a thousand," Rob assured him. "Are you quite certain +that she was not here last night, captain?" + +"Just as sure as I am that yer and me is standin' here," rejoined the +bewildered captain. "I've sailed the seven seas in my day, and man and +boy seen many queer things; but if this don't beat cock fightin', I'm +an inky Senegambian!" + +The captain's voice had risen to a perfect roar as he uttered the last +words, and a sort of jack-of-all-trades about the wharf, whose name was +Hi Higgins, came shuffling up, asking what was the trouble. + +"Trouble," roared the hermit of Topsail Island. "Trouble enough fer +all hands and some left over fer the cat! Say, shipmate, yer hangs +about this here L wharf a lot. Did yer see any piratical humans +monkeyin' around my boat last night?" + +"Why, what d'yer mean, cap'n," sniffled Hi Higgins. "I seen yer tie up +here, and there yer boat is now. What d'yer mean by pira-pirawell, +them parties yer mentioned? Yer mean some one took it?" + +"Took it--yes, yer hornswoggled longshore lubber!" bellowed the +captain. "I thought yer was hired as a sort uv watchman on this wharf. +A find watchman yer are!" + +"Well, yer see, cap'n," returned Hi Higgins, really alarmed at the +captain's truculent tone, "I ain't here much after nine at night or +before five in the morning." + +"Well, was my boat here at five this mornin'?" demanded the captain. + +"Sure it was," rejoined Hi Higgins, with a sniffle; "the fust boat I +seen." + +"Rob, my boy, I'm goin' crazy in my old age!" gasped the captain. "I'm +as certain as I can be that the boat wasn't here when I came down to +the wharf last midnight, but the pre-pon-der-ance of evidence is +against me." + +The captain shook his head gravely as he spoke. It was evident that he +was sorely puzzled and half inclined to doubt the evidence of his own +senses. + +"Douse my toplights," he kept muttering, "if this don't beat a flying +Dutchman on wheels and with whiskers!" + +"I certainly don't believe that your eyes deceived you, captain," put +in Rob, in the midst of the captain's rumbling outbursts. "It looks to +me as if somebody really did borrow your boat last night, and that the +decoy note supposed to be from me had something to do with it." + +"By the great horn spoon, yer've got it, my boy!" roared the captain. +"And now yer come ter speak uv it, my mind misgives me that all ain 't +right at the island. I didn't tell yer, but I left a tidy sum uv money +in that old iron safe off the Sarah Jane, the last ship I commanded, +and all this what's puzzled us so may be part uv some thievish scheme. + +"I'm going ter hurry over ter the island and make certain sure," he +went on the next minute. "The more I think uv it, the more signs uv +foul weather I see. Good-by, my lad, and good luck. Will yer be out +ter see me soon? The bluefish are running fine." + +"We may be out this afternoon, captain," responded Rob. "I am curious +myself to see if any mischief has been done on your island. If there +has been," he added earnestly, "you can count on the Eagle Patrol to +help you out." + +"Thanks, my boy!" exclaimed the old man, who was bending over his +gasoline tank. "Hullo!" he shouted suddenly. "I wasn't crazy! This +boat was took out last night. See here!" + +He held up the gasoline measuring stick which he had grabbed up and +plunged into the tank. The instrument was almost dry. The receptacle +for fuel was nearly empty. + +"And I filled her before I started out!" thundered the captain. +"Whoever took my boat must have run her a long ways." + +Fresh fuel was soon obtained, and the captain, after more shouted +farewells, started for the island to try to obtain some clue to the +mysterious happenings of the night. + +Rob, after watching him for a few moments, as he sped down the blue +waters of the sunlit inlet, turned away to return to his home, just +recollecting that, in their eagerness to search for the boat, both he +and the captain had entirely forgotten about breakfast. He was in the +middle of the meal, and eagerly explaining to his interested parents +the strange incidents of the missing boat and the decoy note, when +Merritt Crawford burst into the room unannounced. + +"Oh, I beg your pardon!" he apologized, abashed. "I didn't know you +were at breakfast. But, Mr. Blake--Rob--something has happened that I +just had to come and tell you about at once." + +"Good gracious! More mysteries," Mr. Blake was beginning in a jocular +way, when the serious look on the boy's face checked him. "What is it? +What has happened, Merritt?" he asked soberly, while Rob regarded the +spectacle of his usually placid corporal's excitement with round eyes. + +"The uniforms are all gone!" burst out Merritt. + +"What uniforms?" + +"Ours--the Eagle Patrols'." + +"What! Stolen?" + +"That's right," hurried on Merritt. "I met old Mrs. Jones in a +terrible state of mind. You know, Mr. Blake, she's the old woman who +scrubs out the place in the morning. I asked what was the matter, and +she told me that when she went to the armory early to-day, she found +the lock forced and all the lockers broken open and the uniforms gone!" + +"Have you seen the place?" asked Mr. Blake. + +"Yes, I followed her up. The room was turned upside down. The locks +had been ripped right off and the lockers rifled of everything. Who +can have done it?" + +"I'll bet anything Jack Curtiss and his gang had something to do with +it, just as I believe they put up some crooked job on the captain!" +burst out Rob, greatly excited and his breakfast entirely forgotten. + +"Be careful how you make such a grave accusation," warned his father. + +"I know it's a tough thing to say," admitted Rob; "but you don't know +that bunch like we do. They'd--" + +He was about to explain more of the characteristics of the bully and +his cronies when a fresh interruption occurred. This time it was Hiram +Nelson. He was almost as abashed as Merritt had been when he found +that his excitement had carried him into what seemed a family +conference. + +"It's all right, Hiram. Come right in," said Mr. Blake cheerfully. +"Come on out with your news, for I can see you can hardly keep it to +yourself." + +"It's going round the town like wildfire!" responded the panting boy. +The others nodded. "I see you know it already," he went on. "Well, I +think I've got a clue." + +"You have! Come on, let's hear it quick," cried Rob. + +"Well, I was up late with Paul Perkins last night, talking over the +aeroplane model competition, and didn't start home till about midnight. +As I was approaching the armory I thought I saw a light in one of the +windows. I couldn't be certain, however, and I put it down to a trick +that my eyes had played me." + +"Well, that's all right as far as it goes," burst out Rob. "It +probably was a light. I wish you'd investigated." + +"Wait a minute, Rob," said his father, noting Hiram's anxious face. +"There's more to come, isn't there, Hiram?" + +"You bet! The most exciting part of it--the most important, I mean," +went on young Hiram, with an important air. + +"Oh, well, get down to it," urged the impatient Rob. "What was it?" + +"Why, right after I'd seen the light," went on Hiram, "I thought I saw +a dark figure slip around the corner into that dark street." + +"A dark figure! Hum! Sounds like one of those old yellow--back +novels," remarked Mr. Blake, with a smile. + +"But this was a figure I recognized, sir," exclaimed Hiram. "It was +Bill Bender!" + +"Jack Curtiss' chum! They're as thick as two thieves," burst out +Merritt. + +"And I believe they are two thieves," solemnly put in Rob. + +"Well," went on Hiram, "the next minute Bill Bender came walking round +the corner as fast as if he were coming from somewhere in a great +hurry, and was hastening home. He told me he had been to a birthday +party at his aunt's." + +"At his aunt's," echoed Mr. Blake. "Well, that's an important point, +for I happen to know that his aunt, Mrs. Graves, is out of town. She +visited the bank yesterday morning and drew some money for her +traveling expenses. She informed me that she expected to be gone a +week or more." + +"I knew it, I knew it!" shouted Rob. "That fellow ought to be in jail. +He'll land there yet." + +"Softly, softly, my boy," said Mr. Blake. "This is a grave affair, and +we cannot jump at conclusions." + +"I'd jump him," declared Rob, "if I only knew for certain that he was +the thief!" + +"I will inform the police myself and have an investigation made," Mr. +Blake promised. "We will leave no stone unturned to find out who has +been guilty of such an outrage." + +"And in the meantime the Eagle Patrol will carry on an investigation of +its own," declared Rob sturdily. "What do you say, boys?" + +"I'll bet every boy in the corps is with you on that," rejoined Merritt +heartily. + +"Same here," chimed in Hiram. + +"The first step is to take a run to Topsail Island and see if all the +queer things that happened last night have not some connecting link +between them," suggested Mr. Blake. "I am inclined, after what you +boys have told me, to think that they have." + +"I am sure of it," echoed Rob. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE HYDROPLANE QUEERLY RECOVERED + + +Seldom had the Flying Fish been urged to greater speed than she was a +short time after the discovery of the looting of the scouts' armory. +She fairly flew across the smooth waters of the inlet and out on to the +Atlantic swells, leaving a clean, sweeping bow-wave as she cut her way +along. Her four young occupants, for Tubby had been called on and +notified of the occurrences of the night, were, however, wrapped in +slickers borrowed from the yacht club, so that the showers of spray +which fell about them had little effect on them. + +The run to Topsail Island was made in record time, and as they drew +near the little hummock of tree and shrub-covered land the boys could +perceive that something unusual had happened. A figure which even at a +distance they recognized as that of Captain job Hudgins was down on the +little wharf, and had apparently been on the lookout there for some +time. A closer view revealed the captain waving frantically. + +"Something's up, all right," remarked Tubby, above the roar of the +motor-boat's engine. + +The others said nothing, but kept their gaze riveted on the captain's +figure. With the skill of a veteran boatman, Rob brought the Flying +Fish round in a graceful curve and ran her cleanly up to the wharf +without the slightest jolt or jar. + +"Ahoy, lads, I'm glad yer've come!" exclaimed the captain, as he caught +the painter line thrown out to him by Merritt, and skillfully made the +boat fast. + +"Why, what has happened?" demanded Rob, as he sprang on to the wharf, +followed by the others. + +"Happened?" repeated the captain. "Well, in a manner of speakin', +about twenty things has happened at once. Lads, my spirits and +emotions are in a fair Chinese tornado--every which way at once. In +the first place, I'm seventy-five dollars poorer than I was last night; +in the second, poor old Skipper's been given some kind av poison that's +made him so sick I doubt he'll get over it." + +"You've been robbed?" gasped Merritt. + +"That's it, my lad. That's the word. My poor old safe's been scuttled +and her hold overhauled. But I don't mind that so much--it's poor old +Skipper I'm worried about. But come on up ter the house, lads, and see +fer yerselves." + +Followed by the sympathetic four, the old man hobbled up from his +little wharf to a small eminence on which stood his neatly whitewashed +hut. He opened the door and invited them in. A first glance +discovered nothing much the matter, but a second look showed the boys +poor old Skipper lying on the floor in front of the open fireplace +which was filled with fresh green boughs--and evidently a very sick dog +indeed. He gave the boys a pathetic glance of recognition as they came +in, and with a feeble wag or two of his tail tried to show them he was +glad to see them; but this done, he seemed to be completely exhausted, +and once more laid his head between his forepaws and seemed to doze. + +"Poor old dog," said the captain, shaking his head. "I doubt if he'll +ever get about again." + +The safe now engaged the boys' attention. It is true that it was a +rickety old contrivance which might well have been forced open with an +ordinary poker, but to the captain, up to this day, it had been a +repository as safe and secure as a big Wall Street trust company's +vaults. + +"Look at that, boys!" cried the captain, with tragic emphasis, pointing +to the door, which had been forced clear off its rusty hinges. "Just +busted open like yer'd taken the crust off'n a pie! Ah, if I could lay +my hands on the fellers that done this, I'd run 'em tip ter the yardarm +afore a foc'sle hand could say 'Hard tack'!" + +"Why, we think that--" began Tubby, when Rob checked him. The captain, +who had been bending over his dog, didn't hear the remark, and Rob +hastily whispered to Tubby: + +"Don't breathe a word to anyone of our suspicions. Our only chance to +get hold of the real culprits is to not give them any idea that we +suspect them." + +After a little more time spent on the island, the boys took their +leave, promising to come back soon again. First, however, Rob and his +corporal made a brief expedition to see if they could make out the +tracks of the marauders of the previous evening. Whoever they had been, +however--and the boys, as we know, had a shrewd guess at their +identity--they had been too cunning to take the path, but had +apparently, judging from the absence of all footmarks, made their way +to the house through the coarse grass that grew on each side of the way. + +"Well, what are we going to do about it?" Tubby inquired, as they +speeded back toward home. + +"Just what I said," rejoined Rob. "Keep quiet and not let Jack or his +chums know that we suspect a thing. Give them enough rope, and we'll +get them in time. I'm certain of it." + +How true his words were to prove, Rob at that time little imagined, +although he felt the wisdom of the course he had advised. + +As they neared the inlet, Rob, who was at the wheel and scanning the +channel pretty closely, for the tide was now running out, gave a sudden +shout and pointed ahead. As the others raised their eyes and gazed in +the direction their leader indicated they, too, uttered a cry of +astonishment. From the mouth of the inlet there had stolen a long, +low, black craft, gliding through the water at tremendous speed. + +In the strange craft the boy scouts had little difficulty in +recognizing Sam Redding's hydroplane. + +"So he's got her back," exclaimed Merritt, recovering from his first +astonishment. + +"Yes, and she seems little the worse for her experience," remarked +Tubby. "It doesn't appear, though, that they are going to profit by +their lesson of the other day, for there they go out to sea again." + +"Probably consulted the glass this time," remarked Rob. "It read 'set +fair' when we started out." + +"Well, that's the only kind of weather for them," commented Merritt; +"though as both Jack and Bill can swim, I wouldn't mind seeing them get +a good ducking." + +"I suppose the coincidence has struck you fellows, too?" remarked Rob +suddenly, as he skillfully twisted and turned the dancing Flying Fish +through the devious ways of the channel at low water. + +"What on earth are you talking about?" demanded Merritt. + +"Why, that it seems rather queer that Sam, who was round town +desperately trying to raise money with which to get his boat out of +pawn suddenly manages to redeem her, and that on the very day after the +robbery of Captain Hudgins hut." + +"By hookey, that's right!" shouted Tubby. "I'll bet your guess was +correct, Rob--that gang of Jack's robbed the old captain." + +"And stole our uniforms," put in Merritt. + +"Yes; but how are we going to prove it?" was Rob's "cold water" comment +which silenced further speculation for the time being. Each boy, +however, determined then and there to do his share in running down the +persons responsible for the vandalism. + +By the time they got back to Hampton the news had spread among the +entire Eagle Patrol, and an indignation meeting was called in the +devastated armory. Mr. Blake entered in the midst of it, and offered, +in conjunction with the rest of the local council, to furnish new +uniforms. On the matter being put to a vote, however, the lads all +agreed that it would be better not to accept such an offer till they +had made a determined effort to run down the plunderers. + +"Very well," said Mr. Blake; "your spirit does you great credit, and if +you need any help, don't fail to call upon me at any time." + +"Three cheers for Mr. Blake and the members of the council!" shouted +Merritt, jumping on a chair. + +They were given with such roof-raising effect, that people outside in +the street, many of whom knew of the robbery, began to think that the +uniforms must have been recovered. + +As the lads surged out of the armory, all talking at once about the +robbery and its likely results, whom should they encounter on the +street but Jack Curtiss and his two chums, evidently, from the fact +that they carried waterproof garments over their arms, just back from +their trip in Sam's newly-recovered hydroplane. + +It might have been fancy, but as the eyes of the Boy Scouts met those +of the three lads who would have so much liked to belong to the +organization, Rob thought that a look of embarrassment spread over Jack +Curtiss' heavy features, and that even Bill Bender's brazen face took +on a shade of pallor. If this were so, however, it could have been +only momentary, for the next minute Jack, with what seemed very much +overdone cordiality, came forward with: + +"Why, hullo, boys. I just heard about your loss. Any news?" + +"No, not a word," chirped little Joe Digby, one of the few lads in the +Eagle Patrol who had never run afoul of the bully. + +"Well," went on Jack, affecting not to notice the silence with which +his advances had been greeted, "I hope you find the fellows who did it, +whoever they were." + +"Same here," chimed in Bill Bender, now quite at his ease, "although, +at that, I guess it was only a joke, and you'll get 'em back again +before long." + +"Do you think so, Bill?" asked Merritt, looking the bully's crony +steadily in the eye. "I hope so, I'm sure. By the way, Hiram Nelson +here says that he saw you hurrying up Main Street at just about the +time the robbery must have taken place. You didn't hear any unusual +sounds or see anything out of the way, did you?" + +"I--why, no--I--you see, I was on my way home from my aunt's home," +stuttered Bill, seemingly taken off his guard. + +"Yes; your aunt, who left home yesterday afternoon to be gone a week," +shot out Merritt. + +"Queer that she should have changed her mind and come home in such a +hurry." + +"Oh, come on, Bill," stuck in Sam, seeing that things were getting very +unpleasant. "We've got to hurry up if we're to get out to Jack's in +time." + +Without another word, the three hurried off, seemingly not at all +unrelieved to escape from what Merritt was pretty sure were +embarrassing questions. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +WINNING THE CONTEST + + +The day which was to witness the tests of the aeroplane models for the +prizes offered by the professor of aeronautics dawned still and fair. +It followed several days of storm, in which the boys had been unable to +make any excursions in their motor boat, or into the country, or, +indeed, even to devote any time to the engrossing subject of tracing +the theft of the uniforms to its source. + +Early in the morning a small field in the rear of Mr. Blake's house was +well filled with boys of all ages and sizes, watching the contestants +in the model contest trying out their craft. The models were of all +sorts and sizes. Some were freak craft that had been constructed in a +hurry from pictures, without any attention being paid to scale or +proportions, while others were carefully made bits of mechanism. + +Among the latter class were Paul Perkins' monoplane--Silver Arrow, he +called it,--Hiram Nelson's two models, the monoplane of Tom Maloney, a +lad of about sixteen, and Ed River's little duplicate of a Curtiss +biplane. The contest was to take place on the Main Street of the town, +in front of the bank, and in the middle of the course two poles had +been erected, one on each side of the street, between which a brightly +colored tape had then been strung, forming a sort of aerial hurdle. +The tape was fifty feet above the ground, and to qualify at all it +would be necessary for the contesting models to clear it. + +The lecture which took place in the village hall came first and was +well attended, most of the young folks of Hampton being there. If the +truth must be told, however, while the lecturer was expounding his +subject, illustrating it on the blackboard with chalk drawings, the +majority of his young hearers were wishing that it was over and the +contest really begun. + +Especially was this true of the boys of the Eagle Patrol, who were +every one of them anxious to see what kind of aeroplanes Jack Curtiss +and Bill Bender would have produced. The lecture, however, at last +came to an end, and the gentlemen on the platform shook hands with the +professor and the professor shook hands with them, and somebody called +for three cheers for "Hampton's distinguished son." + +Everybody then lost no time in filing out into the afternoon sunlight, +where they found quite a crowd already on the streets, and a small +wooden grand stand, which had been erected near what was expected to be +the finishing line, seating several guests. The committee and the +professor, led by the Hampton brass band, blaring away at patriotic +airs, made their way to the front seats in the structure, and everybody +was requested to line up on each side of the street, so as to make a +clear lane for the models to fly in. + +The starting line was about a hundred yards from the red tape, and the +contestants were compelled to stand back of this. Mr. Wingate, the +president of the yacht club and member of the Boy Scout Council, had +already shuffled the numbers of the contestants in a hat, and they were +to fly their models in the order in which they drew their figures. + +Up to this time there had been no sign of Jack Curtiss or Bill Bender, +but the boys now saw them hastening up to a member of the committee and +whispering to him. A moment later a man, with a megaphone boomed out +from the grand stand: + +"William Bender announces that he has withdrawn from the contest." + +"Aha! I'll bet Jack's got cold feet, too," whispered Hiram, nudging +Paul, who was kneeling down and winding up the long rubber bands which +drove the propellers of the Silver Arrow, an Antoinette model. + +But a short interval showed him to be mistaken, for Jack, with his +usual confident air, repaired to the buggy in which he had driven into +town from his father's farm, and speedily produced a model that caused +loud sighs of "Ohs!" and "Ahs!" to circulate through the juvenile +portion of the crowd. + +However he had managed to accomplish it, the bully had certainly +produced a beautiful model. It was of the Bleriot type, and finished +perfectly down to the minutest detail. Every wire and brace on it was +silvered with aluminum paint, and it even bore a small figure at its +steering wheel. Beside it the other models looked almost clumsy. + +The faces of the Boy Scouts fell. + +"If that machine can fly as well as she looks," said Rob to Merritt, +"she wins the first prize." + +"Not a doubt of it," was Merritt's reply. + +"Oh, well," put in Tubby, for the three inseparables were standing +together, "if he can win the prize fairly, don't knock him. He +certainly has built a beautiful machine. You've got to give him credit +for that." + +And now, as Jack, with a triumphant smile at the glances of admiration +his model excited, strode to the starting point, elbowing small boys +aside, and drew from the hat, the man with the megaphone once more +arose. He held in his hand the result of the drawing and the order in +which the models would fly. + +"The f-i-r-s-t model to com-pete for the big p-r-ize," he bellowed, +"will be that of Thomas Maloney--a Bler-i-ot!" + +Poor Tom might have called his machine a Bleriot, but it is doubtful if +the designer of the original machine of that name would have recognized +the model as having any more than a distant relationship to the famous +type of monoplane. It was provided with a large tin propeller, +however, and seemed capable of at least accomplishing a flight. In +fact, at the trials in the morning it had flown well, and by some of +the lads was regarded as a sort of "dark horse." As Tom was on the +village team, as opposed to the Boy Scout contingent, he was greeted +with loud cheers and whistles by his friends as he stepped to the +starting line, and, holding his already wound up machine in his hand, +made ready to launch it. + +"Crack!" went the pistol. + +At the same instant Tom, with a thrusting motion, released his model; +but, alas! instead of darting forward like the Sparrow Hawk it was +named after, the craft ingloriously wobbled about eccentrically, and +finally alighted on an old lady's bonnet, causing her to exclaim as the +propeller whizzed round and entangled itself in her hair: + +"No good'll ever come of teaching lads to meddle with these here +contraptions." + +The model having finally been extricated, amid much laughter, and poor +Tom having offered mortified apologies, the announcer made known that +Hiram Nelson's Doodlebug monoplane would essay a flight. + +As the pistol sounded, Hiram launched his craft, and amid cheers from +the crowd it soared up, and, just clearing the red tape, settled +gracefully down a few feet the other side of the two hundred foot line. + +"Good for you, Hiram!" exclaimed Ernest Thompson, the bike scout, who +was acting as a patrol on the course. "Whose turn next?" + +"You kids wait till I get my Bleriot started," sneered Jack. Several +small boys near him, who were mortally afraid of the big fellow and +rather admired him as being "manly," set up a cheer at this. + +"Wait for Jack's dandy model to fly!" they cried. + +"Edward Rivers--model of a Curtiss biplane!" came the next announcement +through, the megaphone. + +Another cheer greeted this, as young Rivers was also on the "town team." + +The little Curtiss darted into the air at the pistol crack and flew +straight as an arrow for the red tape. It cleared it easily and +skimmed on down past the grand stand, and alighted, fluttering like a +tired butterfly, beyond Hiram's model. + +"Three hundred feet!" cried the announcer, amid a buzz of approval, +after the measurers of the course had done their work. + +"Paul Perkins--Bleriot!" was the next announcement. + +A hum of excitement went through the crowds that lined the track. It +began to look as if the record of Ed Rivers' machine would be hard to +beat, but from the determined look on his face and his gritted teeth it +was evident that Paul meant to try hard. + +Before the report of the pistol had died out, the yellow-winged +Dragonfly soared upward from Paul's hand and darted like a streak +across the red tape, clearing it at the highest altitude yet achieved +by any of the models. + +"Hurrah!" yelled the crowd. + +On and on sped the little Bleriot, while Paul watched it with +pride-flushed cheeks. It was evident that it was going to out-distance +the record made by Ed Rivers' machine. The Boy Scouts set up their +Patrol cry: + +"Kr-ee-ee-ee-ee!" + +As the little machine settled to the ground, far beyond the grand +stand, the officials ran out with their tapes, and presently the +announcement came blaring down the packed ranks of the onlookers: + +"Three hundred and fifty feet!" + +What a cheer went up then. + +"I guess you've got it won. Congratulations!" said Ed Rivers, pressing +forward to Paul's side. + +"Thanks, Ed," returned the other; "but 'there's many a slip,' you know, +and there are several others to be flown yet." + +Now came in rapid succession several of the smaller models and freak +designs. Some of these wobbled through the air and landed in the +crowd. Others sailed blithely up toward the red tape and just fell +short of clearing it. Another landed right on the tape and hung there, +the target of irreverent remarks from the crowd. + +While this was going on, Bill Bender, Jack Curtiss and Sam were in +close consultation. + +"Remember, you promised that if you won the prize you'd give that money +back," Sam whispered to Jack, "and for goodness' sake, don't forget it. +I half believe that those boys suspect us already." + +"Nonsense," returned the bully. "And what if they do? We covered up +our tracks too well for them to have anything on us. They can't prove +anything, can they?" + +"I--I--I don't know," stammered Sam, and was about to say more, but the +clarion voice of the announcer was heard informing the crowd that: + +"John Curtiss' Bleriot model will now make a flight for the great +prize." + +With a confident smile on his face, Jack stepped forward and held his +model ready. The murmur of admiration that had greeted its first +appearance was repeated as he held it high in the sunlight and the +afternoon rays glinted and shimmered on its fittings and wings. + +"That's the model for my money," remarked a man in the crowd. + +"It's going to win, too," said Jack confidently. + +Just at that moment the pistol cracked, and Jack released his +much-admired air craft. + +Its flight showed that it was as capable of making as beautiful a +soaring excursion as its graceful outlines and careful finish seemed to +indicate. In a long, sweeping glide, it arose and cleared the red tape +by a greater margin than had Paul Perkins' model. + +"Jack Curtiss wins!" yelled the crowd, as the machine soared right on +and did not begin its downward swoop for some distance. After it had +alighted and the measurers had laid their tapes on the course, the +announcer megaphoned, amid a perfect tornado of roars and cheers: + +"The last flight, ladies and gentlemen--and apparently the winning +one--accomplished the remarkable distance of four hundred and fifty +feet--four hundred and fifty feet." + +"Three cheers for Jack Curtiss!" shouted Bill Bender, slapping Jack +heartily on the back and giving most of the cheers himself. + +"I guess those cubs won't be quite so stuck up now," commented Sam, +shaking Jack's hand warmly. + +"I was pretty sure I'd win," modestly remarked the bully, as he began +shouldering his way through the press toward the judges' stand. He was +closely followed by the boys, as it looked as if Paul Perkins might +have won the second prize and Ed Rivers the third. + +Urged by Bill Bender, the band began puffing away at "See, the +Conquering Hero Comes," and Jack, nothing averse to appearing in such a +role, bowed gracefully right and left to the admiring throngs. + +The professor shook hands warmly with the victorious Jack, and remarked: + +"You are to be congratulated, young man. I have rarely seen a better +model, and your skill does you great credit. Are you thinking of +taking up aeronautics seriously?" + +The bully, his face very red, stammered that he had entertained some +such thoughts. + +The professor was about to reply, when there came a sudden sound of +confusion among that portion of the crowd which had surrounded the +delegates deputed to pick up the aeroplanes and bring them to the +stand. This was in order that they might be exhibited as each prize +was awarded. A small boy with a very excited face was seen struggling +to get through the mass, and he finally gained the judges' stand. As +he faced the congratulatory professor he stuttered out: + +"Please, sir, there's something wrong about Jack Curtiss' machine." + +"What do you mean, you impudent young shaver!" shouted the bully, +turning white, nevertheless. + +"Let the lad speak," said Mr. Blake, who as one of the committee was +standing beside the professor. "What is it, my boy? Let me see. +You're Joe Digby, of the Eagle Patrol, aren't you." + +"Yes, sir; and I live out on a farm near Jack Curtiss. I was watching +him fly his machine this morning, from behind a hedge, and I heard them +saying something about 'their store-made machine beating any country +boy's model.'" + +"He's a young liar! Pay no attention to him," stammered Jack, licking +his dry lips. + +"Silence, sir!" said Mr. Blake gravely. "Let us listen to what this +boy has to say. If he is not speaking the truth, you can easily +disprove it. Go on, my boy." + +"Well, I guess that's about all I know about it: but I thought I ought +to tell you, sir," confusedly concluded the small lad. + +"You young runt, I'll half kill you if I catch you alone!" breathed +Jack, under his breath, as the lad sped off to join his companions. + +"Of course, you are not going to pay any attention to that kid's--I +mean boy's--story," demanded Jack, addressing the professor. "It's +made out of whole cloth, I assure you." + +In the meantime the machines had been brought to the grand stand and +were being examined. Naturally, after young Digby's statement, Jack's +was one of the first to be scrutinized. The committee turned it over +and over, and were about to pass on it, when Mr. Wingate, who had been +bending attentively over the bully's model, gave a sudden exclamation. + +"Look here, gentlemen," he cried, pointing to a small tag which Jack +had evidently forgotten to remove, "I think this is conclusive +evidence. Here is the label of the 'Manhattan Model Works' pasted +right under this wing." + +"Somebody must have put it there. It's a job those Boy Scouts put up +on me," protested Tack. "I made that model every bit myself." + +"I regret to say that we must regard the price tag as conclusive +evidence that this machine comes from a store," said the professor +sternly, handing Jack his unlucky model. "You are disqualified for +entering a machine not of your own workmanship. + +"Stand back, please," he went on, as Jack tried to protest. "I want to +say," he went on in a loud tone, holding up his hand to command +attention, "that there has been a grave mistake made. The machine which +actually flew the longest distance is disqualified, as it was made at a +New York model factory. The first prize of fifty dollars, therefore, +goes to Paul Perkins, of the Boy Scouts, the second to Edward Rivers, +of Hampton, and the third to Hiram Green, also of the Boy Scouts. + +"Hold on one minute," he shouted, as the crowd began to cheer and hoot. +"There is an additional announcement to be made. The committee has +decided to offer a further reward of five dollars to Thomas Maloney, +whose model shows evidence of praiseworthy and painstaking work." + +As the cheers broke loose once more, Jack Curtiss and his cronies slunk +off through the crowd, and having placed the rejected model in the +buggy, drove off into the country in no very amiable or enviable frame +of mind. + +"Well, you made a fine mess of it," grumbled Bill Bender savagely. "I +told you to look carefully and see that all the tags were off it." + +"It's no more my fault than yours," grated out Jack, lashing the horse +savagely, to work off some of his rage. "It's all the fault of those +young cubs of Rob Blake's. Let them look out, though, for I'll get +even with them before long, and in a way that will make them sit up and +take notice." + +"Don't forget that young mischief maker, Joe Digby," suggested Bill +Bender. "It was all his fault--the young spy!" + +"Oh, I'll attend to him," Jack assured his chum, with a grating laugh +that boded no good for the youngest member of the Eagle Patrol. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A FORTUNATE DISCOVERY + + +"Want to go fishing?" Rob inquired over the telephone of Merritt +Crawford a few days later. + +"Sure," was the response. + +"We can run into Topsail Island and get a site for the camp picked at +the same time," suggested Rob. + +"Bully! I'll meet you at the wharf. Going to bring Tubby?" + +"You bet! We'll be there in ten minutes." + +"All right. Good-by." + +At the time set the three boys met on the wharf of the yacht club, and +were speedily ready to start on their trip. Rob brought along bluefish +squids and lines, and Tubby--never at a loss to scare up a hurried +lunch--had a basket full of good things to eat. + +The run to the island was made without incident, and the boys were glad +to see that, contrary to the captain's fears, his dog Skipper was all +right again, for the animal came bounding and barking down the wharf as +they drew near, in token of his gladness to see them. + +Attracted by his dog's barking, the old captain, who was at work in a +small potato patch he cultivated, came hobbling to meet the boys as +they tied up and disembarked. + +"Well, well, boys; come ter stay?" he cheerily remarked, as the three +lads shook hands. + +"No, we're off after 'blues,"' said Rob; "but we thought we'd drop in +and see how things are coming along with you, and if you have heard any +news yet concerning the robbery." + +"Not a thing, boys, not a thing," said the old man. "In fact, I +haven't left the island since my old safe was busted open. Skipper, as +yer see, got over his sickness. It's my belief that them fellers fed +him poisoned meat or something." + +"I shouldn't wonder," remarked Rob dryly. "It would be quite in their +line." + +"By the way," exclaimed the old man suddenly, "a queer thing happened +the other day. Skipper had been a-skirmishin' round the other side uv +the island after rabbits and critters, and he brought home this-- Wait +a minute and I'll show it to yer." + +After some fumbling in his pocket, the old man produced a torn strip of +yellow material with a brass button attached to it. + +"I wonder where that come from," he remarked, as he handed the fragment +to Rob for his inspection. + +"Why, it's khaki," exclaimed Rob, as he felt it. "And, by hokey!" he +ejaculated the next instant, "it's a piece of a Boy Scout uniform!" + +Old Skipper was jumping about in great excitement, and endeavoring to +sniff the bit of torn material as Rob examined it, and a sudden idea +struck the boy. + +"I wonder if Skipper could pilot us to where he found this bit of +material." + +"Are you sure it's a bit of uniform?" asked Tubby doubtfully. + +"Certain of it. No one else wears khaki in these parts. Hey, Skipper, +hey, good dog! Sic 'em, sic 'em!" cried Rob, holding up the khaki for +the intelligent creature to see. + +The animal seemed to be greatly excited and gave short, quick barks as +he danced about the boys. + +"Well, we might try and see if he will lead us anywhere." remarked +Merritt somewhat dubiously. "At any rate, there's no harm done, except +wasting a little time; and if we can get on the track of our uniforms, +it's not such a much of a waste, after all." + +"He sure wants ter be off somewhere," observed the old captain, +watching the antics of his dog, whom he regarded in the light of a +human being. "He never acts nor talks that way unless he's got suthin' +on his mind. Yer boys follow him, and I'll bet he'll lead yer ter +suthin'. It may be nothin' more than a dead rabbit, and it may be what +ye think. I'll stay here an' dig my pertaters, fer my rheumatiz is +powerful bad today." + +"Very well, captain. We shan't be long," rejoined Rob, calling to the +dog. "Hey, Skipper, hey, old boy! After 'em, Skipper--after 'em!" + +The dog bounded on ahead of the three boys, occasionally looking back +to see if they were following and then plunging on again. + +"As the Captain said, he 'sure has got suthin' on his mind'!" laughed +Merritt. + +After traversing about a mile of beach, the dog suddenly bounded into a +thicket overhanging the shore and began barking furiously. + +"He's treed something, all right," remarked Rob, pushing the branches +aside. + +The next minute he gave a loud shout of triumph. + +"Look there, boys! Old Skipper sure did 'have suthin' on his mind'!" + +Peering over Rob's shoulder, the other two were able to make out two +hidden sacks, the mouth of one of which had been torn open, evidently +by the investigating Skipper. + +From the aperture appeared the torn sleeve of a Boy Scout's uniform, +and a brief searching of the sacks after they had been lugged out on +the beach revealed the entire stolen equipment. + +"Bones for you, Skipper, for the rest of your life!" promised Tubby, as +the dog, evidently well pleased with the petting he received and the +admiration showered upon him, pranced about on the beach and indulged +in a hundred antics. + +The only one of the uniforms damaged was the one that Skipper had torn. +The others were all intact, but badly crumpled, having been hastily +thrust into the sacks, and, as it appeared, tamped down to make them +fit more compactly. + +"Well, what do you know about that?" was Merritt's astonished +exclamation, as one by one Rob drew forth the regimentals and laid them +on the beach. + +"You mean what does Jack Curtiss and Company know about that," +seriously returned Rob. + +"However, we found them--that's one thing to be enthusiastic over," +observed Tubby sagely. + +"I'd like just as well almost to find out exactly who hid them there," +was Merritt's reply. + +"The same folks that stole the old captain's seventy-five dollars, I +guess," returned Rob, thrusting the garments back into the sacks +preparatory to carrying them to the boat. "Here, Tubby, you carry this +one--it'll take some of that fat off you to do a hike along the beach +with it. I'll shoulder this one." + +"Well, boys, yer certainly made a haul, thanks ter old Skipper here," +declared Captain Job, after the delighted boys had made known their +discovery. "He's a smart one, I tell yer. No better dog ever lived." + +"That's what we think," agreed Merritt warmly, patting old Skipper's +black and white head. + +The recovery of the uniforms had quite put all thoughts of blue or any +other fishing out of the boys' heads, and after bidding farewell to the +captain, who promised to point out to them a good site for a camp on +their next visit, they made their best speed back to Hampton. On their +way to the armory they spread the news of their discovery broadcast, so +that in a short time the town was buzzing with the information that the +Boy Scouts' lost uniforms had been found under most surprising +circumstances; and the editor of the Hampton News, who was just going +to press, held his paper up till he could get in an item about it. + +It was this item that caught Jack Curtiss' eye, the next morning as he +and Bill Bender and Sam were seated in Bill's "club room." + +"Confound those brats, they seem always to be putting a spike in our +schemes!" muttered Jack, as he handed the paper to Bill for that +worthy's perusal. "Which reminds me," he went on, "that we haven't +attended to the case of that young Digby yet." + +"I wish you'd leave those kids alone for a while, Jack," objected Sam, +in his usual whining tones. "You've had your fun with them. They've +had to do without their uniforms for a long time. Now let up on them, +won't you?" + +"Oh, you're feeling friendly toward 'em, now, are you?" sneered Jack. + +"Oh, no, it isn't that," Sam hastened to assure him; "nothing of the +kind. What I mean is that we are liable to get into serious trouble if +we keep on this way. I saw Hank Handcraft the other day, and I can +tell you he's in no very amiable mood. He wants his money for the +other night, he says, and he intimated that if he didn't get it he'd +make things hot for us." + +"He'd better not," glowered Bill Bender, looking up from his paper. +"We know a few things about friend Hank." + +"Yes, and he knows a good deal about us that wouldn't look well in +print," retorted Sam gloomily. "I wish I'd never gone into that thing +the other night." + +"Pshaw, it was just borrowing a little money from the old man, wasn't +it?" snorted Jack. "We'll pay it back some time." + +"When we get it," rejoined Sam more gloomily than ever; "and I don't +see much immediate chance of that." + +"Oh, well, cheer up; we'll get it all right somehow," Jack assured him. +"And in connection with that I've got a scheme. Why shouldn't we three +fellows go camping after the motor-boat races?" + +"Go camping--where?" asked Bill, looking up surprised. + +"Well, I would have suggested Topsail Island, but those pestiferous +kids are going there, I hear. However, there are plenty of other +islands right inside the Upper Inlet. What's the matter with our +taking possession of one of those?" + +The Upper Inlet was a sort of narrow and shallow bay a short distance +above Topsail Island, and was well known to both Bill and Jack, who had +been there in the winter on frequent ducking expeditions. + +"We might as well do something like that before school opens," said +Sam. "I think that Jack's suggestion is a pretty good one." + +"I don't know that it's so bad myself," patronizingly admitted Bill; +"but what connection has that with your scheme for getting money, Jack?" + +"A whole lot," replied the bully. "I'm going to get even with that +young Digby if it takes me a year. He cost me the fifty-dollar prize, +and, beside that, all the kids in the village now call me 'cheater,' +and hardly anybody will have anything to do with me." + +"Well, how do you propose to get even by going camping?" inquired Bill. + +"I plan to take that Digby kid with me," rejoined Jack calmly. + +"You're crazy!" exclaimed Bill. "Why, we'd have the whole country +after us for kidnapping." + +"Oh, I've got a better plan than that," laughed Jack coolly, "and we +won't need to be mixed up in it at all. It'll all come back on Hank +Handcraft, I owe him a grudge for bothering me about money, anyhow, the +old beach-combing nuisance!" + +"But where do we come in to get any benefit out of it?" demanded Sam. + +"I'll explain that to you later," said Jack grandiloquently. "I +haven't quite worked out all the details yet; but if you'll meet me +here this evening I'll have them all hot and smoking for you." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +JACK FORMS A PLOT + + +The next morning Jack lost no time in making his way toward Hank +Handcraft's tumble-down abode. He found its owner in, and likewise +disposed to be quarrelsome. + +"'Oh, here you are at last!" exclaimed the hairy and unkempt outcast, +as the bully approached heavily through the yielding sand. "I'd about +given you up, and was seriously contemplating making a visit to your +home--" + +"If you ever did," breathed Jack threateningly. + +"Well," grinned Hank impudently, with his most malicious chuckle, "if I +did, what then?" + +"I'd have you thrown out of the house," calmly replied Jack, seating +himself on a big log of driftwood, once the rib of a schooner that went +ashore on the dangerous shoals off Hampton and pounded herself to +pieces. + +"Oh, no; you wouldn't have me thrown out!" chuckled Hank, resuming his +task of scaling a mackerel. "Cause if you did, I'd go to the chief of +police and tell him something about the robbery of the armory and the +cracking of old man Hudgins' safe." + +"You wouldn't dare to do that!" sneered Jack. "You are implicated in +that as badly as we are." + +"That's a matter of opinion," rejoined Hank, industriously scraping +away at his fish, and showing no trace of any emotion in his pale eyes. +"Anyhow, what I want right now is some cash. You agreed to pay me well +for what I did the other night, and I haven't seen the money yet." + +"Be a little patient, can't you?" irritably retorted the other. "Money +doesn't grow on trees. Now listen, Hank. How would you like to get a +nice little sum of money--more than I could give you--for camping out +on Kidd's Island, in the Upper Inlet, for a few days?" + +Hank's fishy eyes showed some trace of feeling at this. + +"What do you mean?" he asked. "Is this a new joke you're putting up on +me?" + +"No, I am perfectly serious. You can make a good sum by following our +directions, and I'll see that you get into no trouble over it." + +"Well, if you can do that, I'll keep my mouth shut," chuckled Hank in +his mirthless way; "but if I don't get some money pretty quick, I'm +going to make trouble fer somebody, I tell you!" + +"Haven't you got some place where we can talk that is less exposed than +this?" said Jack, looking about him apprehensively. + +"Sure, there's my mansion," grinned Hank, pointing over his shoulder +with a fishy thumb. + +"That's the place," said Jack, "although I wish you'd clean it out +occasionally. Now listen, Hank, here's the plan--" + +Still talking, the ill-assorted pair entered the ruinous shack. + + * * * * * * + +Motor-boat engines were popping everywhere. The club house was dressed +in bright-colored bunting from veranda rail to ridge pole. Ladies +strolled about beneath their parasols with correctly dressed yachtsmen, +asking all sorts of absurd questions about the various boats that lay +ready to take part in the various events. It was the day of the +Hampton Yacht Club's regatta. + +Among the throng the Boy Scouts threaded their way, watching with +interest the events as they were run off, one after the other. But +their minds were centered on the race for the trophy which, although +there were several other entries, had been practically conceded to Sam +Redding's hydroplane. + +"She's a wonder," said one of the onlookers, pointing from the porch to +the float, where Jack Curtiss, Bill Bender and Sam were leaning over +their speedy craft, stripping her of every bit of weight not absolutely +necessary. On the opposite side of the float the crew of the Flying +Fish, the Snark, the Bonita and the Albacore were equally busy over +their craft. + +"Douse the engine with oil," directed Rob, as Merritt gave the piece +of machinery a final inspection; "and how about that extra set of +batteries?" + +"They're aboard," rejoined Tubby, who was perspiringly removing +cushions and other surplus gear from the fleet boat. + +"That's right; if it comes to an emergency, we may need them," said +Rob. "Nothing like being prepared." + +"Do you think we have any show?" asked Tubby, who was to be a sort of +general utility man in the crew. Rob was to steer. + +"I don't see why not," rejoined the other, wiping his oily hands on a +bit of waste. "The race is a handicap one, and we get an allowance on +account of our engine not being as powerful as the hydroplane's." + +The course to be run was a sort of elongated, or isosceles triangle. +The turning point was at the head of the inlet, a buoy with a big red +ball on it being placed just inside the rough waters of the bar. It +made a course of about five miles. The race for the Hampton Motor Boat +Club's cup, for which the boys and the others were entered, was twice +round. + +The waters about the club house were so dotted with motor craft which +darted about in every direction that Commodore Wingate of the club and +the other regatta officials had a hard time keeping the course clear +for the contestants. On the threat, however, that the races would be +called off if a clear course was not kept, order was finally obtained. + +The boys were too busy to pay much attention to the results of the +other races, but a member of the club who had won the Blake trophy for +the cabin cruiser boats, warned the boys to beware of the turn above +the far buoy. + +"It's choppy as the dickens there," he said, as he made his way to the +club house, "and you want to take the turn easily. Don't 'bank' it, or +you'll lose more than you gain." + +The boys thanked him for his advice, and laid it to heart to be used +when the race was on. + +Sam's boat having been tuned up to the last notch of readiness, Jack +Curtiss strolled consequentially about on the float, making bets freely +on the hydroplane's chance of winning. + +"I'll bet you twenty-five to any odds you like that the hydroplane wins +the race," he said, addressing Colin Maxwell, the son of a well-to-do +merchant from a neighboring town. Young Maxwell had heard nothing of +Jack's mean trick in the aeroplane contest, and therefore didn't mind +talking to him. + +"I like the look of the Flying Fish pretty well," was the response, +"and I'll take you up. You'll have to give me odds, though." + +"Oh, certainly," responded the bully, with a confident grin; +"twenty-five to thirty, say." + +"Make it thirty-five." + +"All right; done," said Jack. "You know me, of course; no necessity of +putting up the money." + +"Oh, not the least," rejoined the other politely, though had he known +the state of Jack's finances he might have thought differently. + +The bully went about making several bets at similar odds, until finally +Bill Bender came up behind him and in a low voice warned him to be +careful. + +"What are you going to do if we lose?" he breathed. "You haven't got a +cent to pay with." + +"Oh, it's like taking gum from a busted slot machine," rejoined the +bully, with a laugh. "They can't win. We know what their boat can do, +and the race is practically conceded to us. Besides--" he placed his +hand close to Bill's ear and whispered a few minutes. "I guess that's +a bad scheme, eh?" he resumed in a louder tone, though his voice was +still pitched too low for those about to hear him. "If it's done +right, we'll ram them and it'll never be noticed." + +"Hum, I'm not so sure," grunted Bill. "However, if we really perceive +we are losing, I don't see what else we are to do. Are you going to +steer?" + +"Sure. Sam lost his nerve at the last moment--like him, eh? It's a +good thing, though, I'm to be at the wheel, because I don't think Sam +would have had the courage to carry out my plan." + +"Not he," said Bill, with a shrug. "He's got the backbone of a snail." + +More of this interesting conversation was cut short by the "bang" of +the pistol which warned the contestants of the racing boats to get +ready. + +"The race for the Hampton Yacht Club's trophy will take place in five +minutes!" cried the announcer. + +The five contestants cast off from the float and slowly chugged out to +a position in the rear of the starting line and behind the committee +boat. Then came the nervous work of awaiting the starting gun. The +boys had all donned slickers, and the crew of the hydroplane wore +rubber coats which covered them completely. A sort of spray hood had +been erected over the hydroplane's engines. + +"That means she's going to do her best," remarked Rob, pointing to this +indication that great speed was expected. "That's what we want to do, +too, isn't it?" + +At last came the gun that started off the Snark, the Bonita and the +Albacore, which were all of about the same speed. + +"Our turn next," said Rob, who had previously received his instructions +from the committee. + +"Well, I'm all ready," said Merritt, nervously twisting a grease cup. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE "FLYING FISH" ON HER METTLE + + +"Bang!" + +With a nervous twitch, Rob threw in the first speed clutch, for the +engine had been kept running on her neutral speed, and was able to take +up way as soon as the propeller began to "bite." + +Rapidly the boy increased the speed up to the third "forward," and the +Flying Fish darted through the water like a pickerel after a fat frog. + +"Bang!" came behind them once more, as the sound of the cheers which +greeted them as they shot across the line grew faint. + +"Crouch low!" shouted Rob back to his crew. "We'll need every inch of +advantage we can get." + +The white spray shot in a perfect fountain from the sharp bow of the +Flying Fish, and her every frame and plank quivered under the vibration +of her powerful engine. + +"She's doing better than she ever did!" shouted Merritt to Tubby, who +crouched in the center of the boat, ready to take any part in an +emergency. + +The other nodded and kept his eyes ahead on the white wake of the other +three craft. + +Suddenly the Albacore began to fall back. As the Flying Fish roared by +her, Rob heard a shout of something about "missing fire." + +A steady downpour of spray was drenching the occupants of the racer, +but they paid scant heed to it. Rob dived in his pockets and put on a +pair of goggles. The spray was blinding him. He waved to Tubby to go +further astern and keep the rear part of the boat well down when they +made the sharp turn at the red buoy. + +In an incredibly short time, it seemed, the turning buoy faced them. +Rob set his wheel over and spun the Flying Fish through the rougher +water at the mouth of the inlet at as sharp an angle as he dared. In a +few seconds more they had passed the Snark and the Bonita, which were +racing bow and bow. The crew of the Flying Fish, though, knew that +both boats had a time allowance over them, so that the mere passing +didn't mean much, unless they could increase the lead. + +Faster and faster the boy's craft forged ahead. A thrill shot through +Rob's frame. The Flying Fish was showing what she was made of. + +But as he turned his head swiftly he saw that the hydroplane had +rounded the stake and was coming down the straight stretch of water +like an express train. A great wave of water shot out on either side +of her bow. So low in the water had her powerful engines dragged her +that she seemed to be barely on the surface, and yet, as the boys knew, +she was actually "coasting" over the surface. + +Try as he would, Rob could not get an ounce more speed out of the +Flying Fish, and as the speedy hydroplane roared by them they heard a +mocking shout from her crew. + +Rob, more determined than ever to stick it out, sent the Flying Fish +plunging at top speed through the wash of the speedy craft, hoping to +keep up the distance between them at least equal. But as he saw the +hydroplane gradually drawing away and heard the great roar that went up +from the thrilled spectators as she shot by the club house, his heart +sank. + +It looked as if the Plying Fish was beaten. And now the club house +loomed near once more. + +"Go on, Plying Fish, go on!" + +"You've got a time allowance on her!" + +"Push along, Rob!" + +"Kr-ee-ee-ee-ee!" + +A tumult of other shouts roared in Rob's ears as they tore past the +crowded porch. + +"Kr-ee-ee-ee-ee!" screamed back Merritt and Tubby, with waves of the +hand to the brown uniformed figures they could see perched on every +point of vantage. + +Suddenly the Flying Fish began to creep up on the hydroplane, which had +slowed down for some reason. + +"Hurrah! We've got'em now!" shouted Merritt, as he saw, far ahead, +Jack and the other two occupants of the seeming winner leaning over the +craft's engine, the hood having been raised. + +Rob said nothing, but with burning eyes clung to the wheel and shot the +Flying Fish straight ahead on her course. + +As they thundered past the hydroplane, the slender craft lay almost +motionless on the water, with a great cloud of blue smoke tumbling out +of her exhausts. + +"Looks like they've flooded her cylinder," said Merritt, observing +these signs. + +"Kr-ee-ee-ee-ee!" + +It was Tubby giving utterance triumphantly to the Eagle scream. + +Jack Curtiss straightened up angrily as he heard, his face black and +greasy from his researches into the engine. He shook a menacing fist +at the others as they tore by. The next minute, however, a quick look +back by Rob showed that the hydroplane was coming ahead again, and that +the engine trouble, whatever it was, had been adjusted. + +As they neared the turning point, Rob saw, to his dismay, that the +hydroplane was creeping up faster and faster. It was the last lap, and +if Sam Redding's boat passed them at the stake the race was as good as +over. + +"Come on, Flying Fish! Come on!" shouted Rob, as the hydroplane crept +ever nearer and nearer to his boat's stern. + +Rob noticed, as he swung a trifle wide of the stake raft, that it +seemed to be the intention of Jack Curtiss, who was at the wheel, to +swing the hydroplane round the sharp angle of the course inside of the +Flying Fish. Guessing that this would mean disaster to her ill-advised +occupants, he waved his hand at them to keep out. + +"When we need your advice we'll send for it. This is the time we've +got you!" yelled Jack Curtiss, bending low over his wheel, as he grazed +by the Flying Fish's stern to take the inside course. + +At the same instant, so quickly that the boys did not even get a mental +picture of it, the hydroplane overturned. + +Taking the curve at such a speed and at such a sharp angle had, as Jack +had surmised, proved too much for her stability. Her occupants were +pitched struggling into the water. + +"Shall we pick them up?" yelled Merritt. + +"No," shouted Rob; "they've all got life belts on. A launch from the +club will get them." + +Indeed, as he spoke a launch was seen putting off to the rescue. The +accident had been witnessed from the club, and as the water was warm, +the boys were satisfied that no harm would come to the three from their +immersion. + +But the delay almost proved fatal to the Flying Fish's chance of +winning. Close behind her now came creeping up the speedy Albacore. + +But a few hundred feet before the finish the Flying Fish darted ahead +once more, and shook off her opponent amid a great roar of yells and +whoops and cheers. An instant later she shot across the line--a winner. + +"Bang!" went the gun, in token that the race was finished. + +"I congratulate you," said Commodore Wingate, as the boys brought their +craft up to the float. "It was a well-fought race." + +And now came the captains of the Albacore, Snark and Bonita. + +"You won the race fairly and squarely," said the former, shaking Rob's +hand. "I presume, commodore, the time was taken?" + +"It has been," replied that official. "The Flying Fish wins by one +minute and four and seven hundredths seconds." + +More cheers greeted this announcement, mingled with laughter and some +sympathy, as the club launch, towing the capsized hydroplane, puffed up +to the float. From the launch emerged three crestfallen figures with +dripping garments. But wet as he was, Jack Curtiss was not going to +surrender the race without a protest. + +"A foul! We claim a foul! The Flying Fish fouled us!" he shouted. + +"My dear young man," calmly replied the commodore, "I was watching you +every foot of the way through binoculars, and I should rather say that +you fouled the Flying Fish. Anyhow, you should have better sense than +to try to shave round that turn so closely." + +More mortified, and angrier than ever, Jack strode off to put on dry +clothes, followed by his equally chagrined companions, who, however, +had sense enough now not to make any protests. They knew well enough +that Jack, in his hurry to grab the prize, had attempted a foolish and +dangerous thing which had cost them the race. + +"A great race, a great race," said Mr. Blake, as the boys, followed by +the crowd, entered the club house, where the awards were to be +distributed. "You boys certainly covered yourselves with glory," he +went on. + +"Yes, and here is your reward. I hope it will stimulate you to put up +a fine defense for it next year," said Commodore Wingate, handing to +the elated boys a fine engraved silver cup, the trophy of the Hampton +Yacht Club. + +"Get up and make a speech!" shouted some one. + +The boys felt inclined to run for it. + +"Go ahead! Make some sort of a talk," urged Rob, helping Tubby on to +the platform from which the prizes had been handed out. + +"Ladies and gentlemen," puffed the stout youth, "we want to thank you +for your congratulations and thank the club for the fine cup. +Er--er--er--we thank you." + +And having made what was perhaps quite as good a speech as some of his +elders', Tubby stepped down amid loud and prolonged cheering. + +Up in the dressing room Jack and his cronies, changing into other, +garments, heard the sounds of applause. + +"It's high time something was done," said Bill, as he gazed from a +window at several of the yacht club attendants bailing out the unlucky +hydroplane. "Those young beggars will be owning the town next." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE EAGLES IN CAMP + + +The next few days were full of excitement and preparation for the Boy +Scouts. Their headquarters resounded all day to the tramp of feet, and +the Manual of Instructions was consulted day and night. The official +tents had arrived, and every boy in the Patrol was eager for the time +to arrive to put them up. So much so that two or three confessed that +they could hardly sleep at night in their impatience for the hour when +the embarkation for Topsail Island was to take place. + +Besides the tents, there was much other equipment to be overhauled and +set in order, for, before their departure, the boys were to be reviewed +by their scout master and a field secretary from New York. There were +haversack straps to be replaced, laces mended, axes sharpened, "Billys" +polished and made to shine like new tin, and a hundred and one things +to be done. At last, however--although it seemed that it would never +come--the eventful Monday arrived, as eventful days of all kinds have a +habit of doing; and the Eagle Patrol, spick and span and shining from +tan boots to campaign hats, fell in line behind the band. Proudly they +paraded up the street, with their green and black Eagle Patrol sign +fluttering gallantly in the van. + +The "reviewing stand" was the post-office steps, around which most of +the citizens of Hampton and the proud parents and relatives of the +young scouts were assembled. + +Plenty of applause greeted them, as, in response to Rob's orders, given +in the sharp, military manner, they drew up in line and gave the Boy +Scout's salute. This done, the young scouts went through a smart drill +with the staffs they carried. Then, after saluting once more, and +being warmly complimented on their appearance by the field secretary, +they marched off to the wharf where they were to embark for their camp. + +The day before Merritt, Hiram Nelson, Paul Perkins and the three +"tender feet"--Martin Green, Walter Lonsdale and Joe Digby--had been +told off by Rob as on "pioneer service"; that is to say, that they had +gone down to the island in the Flying Fish. Arrived there, they +selected a good spot for the camp, aided by Commodore Wingate's and +Captain Hudgins' suggestions, and set up the tents and made the other +necessary preparations. The camp was therefore practically ready, for +the "army" to move into. + +At Tubby's special request, a list of the rations for the week's camp +had been made out by Rob and affixed to the bulletin board in the +headquarters of the Eagles. As perhaps some of my young readers may +care to know what to take on a similar expedition, is the list, +exclusive of meat, which was to be brought from the mainland, and fish, +which they expected to catch themselves: + + Oatmeal, 8 lbs.; + rice, 4 lbs.; + crackers, 35 lbs.; + chocolate, 1 1-2 lbs.; + tea, 3 lbs; + coffee, 1 lb.; + lard, 6 lbs.; + sugar, 8 lbs.; + condensed milk, 10 cans; + butter, 4 lbs.; + eggs, 12 dozen; + bacon, 20 lbs.; + preserves, 14 jars; + prunes, 8 lbs.; + maple syrup and molasses, 4 quarts; + potatoes, 1 bushel; + white beans, 6 quarts; + canned corn, 6 tins; + canned tomatoes, 6 tins; + flour, 35 lbs.; + baking powder, 2 lbs.; + salt, 4 lbs.; + pepper, 2 ounces. + +"Well," Tubby had remarked, as he gazed attentively at the list, "we +won't starve, anyhow." + +"I should say not," laughed Rob; "and besides all that, I've got lots +of lines and squids, and the blues and mackerel are running good." + +"Can't I take along my twenty-two rifle--that island's just swarming +with rabbits, and I think I heard some quail when we were there the +other day," pleaded Merritt. + +"Not in season," answered Rob laconically. "Laws not up on them till +November." + +"Oh, bother the law!" blurted out Merritt. "However, I suppose if +there wasn't one there wouldn't be any rabbits left." + +"I guess you're right," agreed Tubby. "Still, it does seem hard to +have to look at them skip about and not be able to take a shot at them." + +"Maybe we can set a springle and snare some," hopefully suggested +Tubby, as a way out of the difficulty; "that wouldn't be as bad as +shooting them, you know, and I can build a springle that will strangle +them instantaneously." + +"No fair, Tubby," laughed Rob. "You know, a boy scout promises to obey +the law, and the game law is as much a law as any other." + +Arrived at the L wharf, the boys found the Flying Fish and Captain +Hudgins' Barracuda waiting for them. With much laughter they piled +in--their light-heartedness and constant joking reminding such +onlookers, as had ever seen the spectacle, of a band of real soldiers +going to the front or embarking for foreign stations. + +With three ear-splitting cheers and a final yell of, "Kr-ee-ee-ee-ee!" +the little flotilla got under way. + +They arrived at the camping ground at the northeast end of the island +before noon, and found that the "pioneers" appointed by Rob had done +their work well. Each tent was placed securely on a level patch of +sandy ground, cleared from brush and stamped flat. The pegs were driven +extra deep in anticipation of a gale, and an open cook tent, with flaps +that could be fastened down in bad weather, stood to one side. + +A small spring had been excavated by the pioneers, and an old barrel +sunk in place, which had filled in the night and now presented +sparkling depths of cool, clear water. + +"I suppose that water is all right, captain?" inquired Leader Rob, with +a true officer's regard for his troops. + +"Sweet as a butternut, son," rejoined the old man. "Makes the sick +strong and the strong stronger, as the medicine advertisements say." + +For the present, the cooking was to be done on a regular camp fire +which was built between two green logs laid lengthwise and converging +toward the end. The tops of these had, under Commodore Wingate's +directions, been slightly flattened with an axe. At each end a forked +branch had been set upright in the ground, with a green limb laid +between them. From this limb hung "cooking hooks," consisting of green +branches with hooked ends at one extremity to hang over the long +timber, and a nail driven in the other from which to hang the pots. + +"That's the best form of camp fire, boys," said Commodore--or perhaps +we would better call him scout master now--Wingate, who had accompanied +the boys to see them settled. "Now, then, the next thing to do is to +run up the Stars and Stripes and plant the Eagle flag. Then you'll be +all O.K." + +Little Andy Bowles made the woods behind them echo with the stirring +call of "assembly," and halliards were reeved on a previously cut pole, +about fifteen feet in height. The Stars and Stripes were attached, and +while the whole company stood at attention and gave the scout salute, +Scout Master Wingate raised the colors. Three loud, shrill cheers +greeted Old Glory as it blew bravely out against the cloudless blue. + +"That's a pretty sight now, shiver my timbers if it ain't," observed +old Captain Hudgins, who had stood, hat in hand, during the ceremony. +"I've seen Old Glory in many a foreign port, and felt like takin' off +my hat and givin' three cheers fer the old flag; but I never seen her +look better or finer than she does a-streakin' out from that there bit +of timber." + +"Now, Patrol cooks," was Scout Master Wingate's next command, "it's +only an hour to dinner time, and we want the first mess to be right. +Come on, and we'll get the pot boiling." + +Cook duty fell that day to Hiram Nelson and Walter Lonsdale, and under +the scout master's directions they soon had potatoes peeled, beans in +water, and a big piece of stew meat chopped up with vegetables in a +capacious pot. + +After every errand to the store tent, Walter was anxious to know if it +was not yet time to light the fire. + +"Never be in a hurry to light your fire when you are in the woods," +rejoined the scout master; "otherwise you will be so busy tending the +fire you won't be able to prepare your food for cooking. Now we're all +ready for the fire, though, and you can bring me some dry bark and +small sticks from that pile of wood the pioneers laid in yesterday." + +This was promptly done, and the lads watched the next step with +interest. They saw the scout master take a tiny pile of the sticks and +then light a roll of bark and thrust it into them. + +"I thought you piled them up all criss-cross," remarked Hiram. + +"No woodsman does that, my boy," was the rejoinder. "Now get me some +larger timber from that pile, and I'll show you how to go about it like +regular trappers." + +The fire builder shoved the ends of the sticks into the blaze and then +the bean pot was hung in place. + +"We won't put the potatoes on now, as they take less time," he +remarked; "those beans will take the longest." + +Soon the heat was leaping up about the pots, and the cheerful crackle +and incense of the camp fire filled the air. As the sticks burned down +the scout master shoved the ends farther into the blaze, instead of +throwing them on top of it. + +"Now, then, boys, you've had your first lesson in camp fire making and +cooking," he announced. "Now go ahead, and let's see what kind of a +dinner you can produce. I'm going for a tour of exploration of the +island." + +Among the other things the pioneers had accomplished was the building +of a table large enough to seat the entire Patrol, with planks set on +logs as seats. Hiram put Walter to setting this, while he burned his +fingers and smudged his face over his cookery. Long before the beans +seemed any nearer to what experience taught the young cook they ought +to be, Walter announced that the table was all set, with its tin cups +and dishes and steel knives and forks. + +Suddenly, while Hiram was considering putting the potatoes on their +hook, there came from the rear of the store tent the most appalling +succession of squeals and screams the boy had ever heard. Springing to +his feet, he dashed to the scene of the conflict--for such it seemed to +be though not without a heart that beat rather faster than usual. He +bad no idea what the creatures could be that were producing all the +uproar, and for all he knew they might have been bears. + +Behind him came Walter, rather pale, but determined to do his best as a +Boy Scout to fight off any wild beasts that might be attacking the +camp. As he dashed behind the tent, however, Hiram was impelled to +give a loud laugh. The contestants--for he had rightly judged they +were in high dispute--were two small black pigs which had looted a bag +of oatmeal from under the flap of the store tent and were busily +engaged in fighting over their spoils. + +"Get out, you brutes! Scat!" shouted the boy, bringing down a +long-handled spoon he carried over the backs of the disputants. + +The spoon, being almost red-hot, the clamor of the porkers redoubled, +and with indignant squeals and grumblings they dashed off into the +dense growth of scrub oak and pine that covered the island in its +interior. At the same moment the captain, who had been taking a snooze +under some small bushes, awoke with a start. + +"Eh--eh--eh! What's all that?" he exclaimed, hearing the yells. "Why, +it's that plagued Betsy and Jane, my two young sows," he cried the next +moment. "Consarn and keelhaul the critters, they're breakin' out all +the time. I reckon they're headed fer home now," he added, when Hiram +related how he had scared them. + +"I'm glad that they were nothing but pigs, captain," said Hiram, going +back with flushed cheeks to his cookery. "I was afraid for a minute +they were I hardly know what. We'll have to fix that store tent more +snugly in future." + +"And I'll have ter take a double reef in my pig Pen," chuckled the +captain. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE CHUMS IN PERIL + + +Even the epicurean Tubby Hopkins voted dinner that day a great success, +and Hiram, with becoming modesty, took his congratulations blushingly. +In mid-afternoon, after seeing that the camp was in good working order, +the scout masters started for the home shore in Captain Hudgins's boat, +which was also to bring back some additional supplies for the next day. + +After dinner Rob had assigned Merritt and Tubby to form a "fishing +squad," to range seaward in the Flying Fish and "halt and detain" all +the bluefish they could apprehend. The others were given the afternoon +to range the island and practice up their woodcraft and landmark work, +while Rob busied himself in his tent, which was equipped with a small +folding camp table, in filling out his pink blank reports which were to +be forwarded to Commodore Wingate and dispatched by him to the +headquarters of the Boy Scouts in New York. + +Merritt and Tubby were both ardent fishermen, and in response to +Hiram's pleadings, they allowed him to accompany them on their +expedition. The fish were running well, and the boys cast and pulled +in some time without particularly noticing how far out to sea they had +gone. + +Suddenly the stout youth, who was fishing with an unusually heavy line +and hook, felt a hard tug on his apparatus, so powerful a tweak, in +fact, that it almost pulled him overboard. He tried to haul in, but +the resistance on the other end of his line was so great that he was +compelled to twist it about a cleat in order to avoid either letting go +or being dragged into the sea. + +"What in the name of Sam Hill have you hooked?" gasped Merritt, as the +Flying Fish began to move through the water faster than even her engine +could propel her. + +"I've not the least idea," remarked Tubby placidly, "but I rather think +it must be a whale." + +"Whale nothing!" exclaimed Merritt scornfully and with superior wisdom. +"Whales sound, don't they?" + +"Well, there's not been a sound out of this one so far," truthfully +observed Hiram. + +"What kind of a sound do they make, corporal?" + +"Oh, you chump," responded Merritt good-naturedly, "you've lived by the +sea all your life, and you don't know how a whale sounds. Sound means +when a whale blows, spouts, sends up a big fountain of water." + +"Oh, I see," responded Hiram, much enlightened. "But see here, +Merritt, whatever we are fast to is beginning to pick up speed pretty +rapidly. Don't you think we'd better cut the line or try to haul in?" + +"Haul in! Not much!" exclaimed Tubby indignantly. "We'll just hang on +till we tire him out, that's what we'll do, and then haul in." + +"But we're getting a good way out from shore," objected Hiram, who, +however much at home he was at the key of a wireless apparatus, had no +great relish for blue water in a small motor boat. + +"Don't you worry, sonny," put in Merritt patronizingly. "We'll be all +right. My, that was a plunge!" + +As he spoke the bow of the Flying Fish dipped till she shipped a few +gallons of green water. + +"I'll pay out some more line," said the unperturbed Tubby. "I guess +whatever we're onto begins to believe that he has swallowed something +pretty indigestible." + +Faster and faster the Flying Fish began to cut through the sea. The +water sprayed out from both sides of her cutwater in a steady stream. + +"She's doing as well as she did the day of the race," said Merritt, +with a laugh, gazing at Hiram's rather pale face. The wireless youth +was casting longing glances at the shore. + +"Well, I wish Mr. Whale, or whatever he is, would come up and let us +have a look at him!" exclaimed Tubby suddenly. "This is getting pretty +monotonous." + +As he spoke the boy paid nut a little more line. He had only just time +to belay it round the cleat to avoid its being jerked out of his hand, +so fast was the creature they had hooked now traveling. + +"Say, Tubby," spoke Merritt at length, "I'm beginning to think myself +that it might not be a bad idea to put back. Those clouds over there +on the horizon look as if they meant trouble." + +"Oh, let's keep it on a little while longer pleaded Tubby; cutting +through the water like this, without any expenditure of gasoline or +power, is the real luxurious way of ocean traveling. It beats the +Mauretania. Just think if liners could hitch a whole team of things +like whatever has got hold of us to their bows! Why, the Atlantic would +be crossed in four days." + +For some time longer the boat shot along over the waves, towed by its +invisible force. The boys, with the exception of Tubby, began to get +anxious. The shores of the mainland were dim in the distance behind +them, and Topsail Island itself only showed as a dark blue dot. + +Suddenly the motion ceased. + +"He's free of the line!" shouted Hiram, inwardly much relieved to think +they had got rid of what to him was an alarming situation. + +"No, he's not," replied Tubby, bending over the line. "He's still fast +to us. The line's as tight as a fiddle string." + +He was standing up as he spoke, and as the Flying Fish gave a sudden, +crazy jerk forward, he was almost thrown overboard. In fact, he would +have toppled into the sea if Merritt had not bounded forward and +grabbed the fleshy lad just as he was losing his balance. + +"We're off again!" exclaimed Hiram, as the Flying Fish once more began +to move through the water. + +But now the creature that had seized Tubby's big hook started to move +in circles. Round and round the Flying Fish was towed in dizzy swings +that made the heads of her young occupants swim. + +"Start the engine on the reverse, and see if that will do any good," +said Tubby, bending anxiously over his line. + +Merritt brought the reverse gear to "neutral," and then started it up, +gradually bringing back the lever governing the reversing wheel till +the Flying Fish was going second speed astern, and finally at her full +gait backward. + +The tug thus exercised seemed to have no effect on the monster that had +caught Tubby's bait, however. With the exception that the speed was +diminished a trifle, the Flying Fish was still powerless to shake off +her opponent. + +Suddenly, and without the slightest warning, a huge, shiny, wet body +shot out of the water almost directly in front of the amazed and +startled boys, and settled back with a mighty splash that sent the +spray flying in a salt-water shower bath over their heads. + +"Whatever was it?" gasped Hiram in awed tones. + +"A shark," replied Merritt, "and a whopper, too. What are we going to +do, Tubby--keep on or cut loose?" + +"Just a little longer," pleaded the other. "He must be tiring by this +time. If we can only wear him out, we can tow him ashore and make a +little money out of him. You know shark skin is valuable." + +"I'd rather have a whole skin of my own," quavered Hiram, who had been +considerably alarmed by the momentary glimpse he had had of Tubby's +quarry. + +"He's off again!" shouted Merritt, as the sea tiger started straight +ahead once more. + +Suddenly the line slackened again. + +"Look out!" Tubby had just time to shriek the warning before a mighty +shock threw them all off their feet in a heap on the bottom of the boat. + +"Zan-g-g-g!" + +The line twanged and snapped under the sudden strain, and a great rush +seaward showed the boys, as soon as they recovered their senses, that +they had lost their shark. + +"And a good line," moaned Tubby. + +"What are you kicking about?" demanded Merritt. "It's a lucky thing +the beast didn't start some plank of the boat when it charged; but as +far as I can see, the Flying Fish stood the shock all right." + +"It felt like an earthquake," murmured Hiram, whose face was white and +eyes frightened. + +"Well, I suppose we'd better head for home," said Tubby at length. +"Those bluefish will go fine for supper." + +"Spoken like a Tubby," laughed Merritt. "All right, I'll start up. +Hullo--" he looked up with a puzzled face from the reverse lever. "I +can't get her on the forward speed." + +"What's the matter?" gasped Hiram. + +"I don't know. Something's stuck. Shut off that engine, will you, +Tubby, while I see?" + +Tubby promptly shut down the motor, and Merritt struggled with the +refractory lever. It was all in vain, however; he could not get it on +the forward speed. + +"I've got to investigate," puffed the perspiring corporal; "something +must be wrong with the reversible propeller." + +"Well, whatever you are going to do, hurry up about it," spoke Tubby, +with unwonted sharpness in his tones. + +"Why, what's the--" began Merritt. + +Tubby checked him with a finger on his lips. + +"Don't scare the kid," he whispered, leaning forward, "but we're in for +a storm." + +He pointed seaward. + +Rolling toward them was a spreading wall of heavy clouds traveling at +seemingly great speed, while below the wrack the water darkened +ominously and became flecked with "white horses." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +LOST IN THE STORM + + +"The trouble's in the reversible propeller. I always told Rob he was +foolish not to have a regular reverse gear on the shaft itself and a +solid wheel," said Merritt. + +"Well, never mind that now," urged Tubby anxiously. "I'll shift all +the cushions and stuff up in the bow, and Hiram and I will get as far +forward as we can. That will raise the stern and you can hang over and +reach the wheel." + +When the stout lad had done as he suggested there was quite a +perceptible tilt forward to the Flying Fish, and Merritt, hanging over +the stern, could feel about the propeller better. + +"Just as I thought," he shouted presently. "That shark when he came +astern fouled that heavy line on the propeller." + +He got out his knife, and in a few minutes succeeded in cutting the +entangling line free. + +It was not any too soon. From far off there came a low sound, +something like the moaning of a large animal in pain. It grew louder +and closer, and with it came an advancing wall of water crested with +white foam. The sky, too, grew black, and air filled with a sort of +sulphurous smell. + +"It's a thunder squall," shouted Tubby, as Merritt shoved over the +lever and started the engine. + +As he spoke there came a low growl of thunder and the sky was illumined +with a livid glare. + +"Here she comes!" yelled Merritt; "better get out those slickers or +we'll be soaked." + +Tubby opened a locker and produced the yellow waterproof coats. The +boys had hardly thrust their arms into them before the big sea struck +them. Thanks to Tubby's steering, however, the Flying Fish met it +without shipping more than a few cupfuls of water. + +The next minute the full fury of the storm enveloped the Boy Scouts and +the Flying Fish was laboring in a heaving wilderness of lashed and +tumbling water. + +"Keep her head up!" roared Merritt, above the screaming of the wind and +the now almost continuous roar and rattle of the thunder. It grew +almost dark, so overcast was the sky, and under the somber, driving +cloud wrack the white wave crests gleamed like savage teeth. + +Hiram crouched on the bottom of the boat, too terrified to speak, while +Tubby and Merritt strove desperately to keep the little craft from +"broaching to," in which case she would have shipped more water than +would have been at all convenient, not to say safe. + +As if it were some vindictive live thing, seized with a sudden spite +against the boat and its occupants, the storm roared about the dazed +boys. + +The Flying Fish, however, rode the sweeping seas gallantly, breasting +even the biggest combers bravely and buoyantly. + +"It's getting worse," shouted Tubby, gazing back at Merritt, who was +bending over the laboring motor. + +"Yes, you bet it is!" roared back the engineer; "and I'm afraid of a +short circuit if this rain keeps up." + +"Cover up the engine with that spare slicker," suggested Tubby. + +"That's a good idea," responded the other, rummaging in a stern locker +and producing the garment in question. In another moment he had it over +the engine, protecting the spark plugs and the high-tension wires from +the rain and spray. But the wind was too high to permit of the +covering remaining unfastened, and with a ball of marlin the young +engineer lashed the improvised motor cover firmly in place. + +Hiram, with a white face, now crawled up from the bottom of the boat. +In addition to being scared, he was seasick from the eccentric motions +of the storm-tossed craft. + +"Do you think we'll ever get ashore again?" he asked, crawling to +Merritt's side. + +"Sure," responded the corporal confidently. "'Come on, buck up, Hiram! +You know, a Boy Scout never says die. We'll be back in camp in three +hours' time, when this squall blows itself out." + +"I--I don't want you to think me a coward, Merritt," quavered Hiram, +"but--but you know this is enough to scare any fellow." + +Indeed, he seemed right. The Flying Fish appeared no more than a tiny +chip on the immense rollers the storm had blown up. Time and again it +looked as if she would never be able to climb the huge walls of green +water that towered above her; but every time she did, and, as the storm +raged on, the confidence of the boys began to grow. + +"She'll ride it out, Tubby!" yelled Merritt, dousing the engine with +more oil. + +"Sure she will!" yelled back Tubby, with a confidence that was, +however, largely assumed. The stout youth had just been assailed by an +alarming thought that flashed across his mind. + +"Would the gasoline hold out?" + +There was no opportunity on the plunging, bucking craft to examine the +tank, and all the boy could do was to make a rapid mental calculation, +based on what he knew of the consumption of the engine. The tank, he +knew, had been half full when they came out, and that, under ordinary +conditions, would have sufficed to drive the Flying Fish for five or +six hours. + +But they were not ordinary conditions under which she was now laboring. +Tubby knew that Merritt was piling in every ounce of gasoline the +carburetor could take care of. + +Suddenly, while the stout youth's mind was busied with these thoughts, +and without the slightest warning, there came a sort of wheezing gasp +from the motor. + +Merritt leaned over it in alarm. He seized the timing lever and shoved +it over and opened the gasoline cock full tilt. + +But there was no response from the motor. + +It gasped out a cough a couple of times and turned over in a dying +fashion for a few revolutions and then stopped dead. + +The boys were adrift in the teeth of the storm in a crippled boat. + +"What's the matter?" roared back Tubby from the wheel. "She's lost +steerage way!" + +"Motor's gone dead," howled back Merritt laconically. + +"Great Scott, we are in for it now! What's the matter?" + +"No gasolene," yelled Merritt. + +"Sosh-osh-soh!" + +A huge green wave climbed on to the Flying Fish's bow, shaking her from +stem to stern like a terrier shakes a rat. + +"We've got to do something quick, or we'll be swamped!" roared Merritt. + +"The cockpit cover, quick!" shouted Tubby, steadying himself in the +bucking craft by a tight grasp on the bulwarks. + +"That's it. Now the oars. Hurry up. Here, you Hiram, grab that can and +bail for all you're worth!" + +The fat youth seemed transformed by the sudden emergency into the most +active of beings. + +"What are you going to do?" yelled Merritt, framing his mouth with his +hands. + +"Make a spray hood. Come forward here and give me a hand." + +With the oars the two boys made a sort of arched framework, secured +with ropes, and over it spread the canvas cockpit cover, lashing it +down to the forward and side cleats. This work was not unattended with +danger and difficulty. Time and again as they worked the boys had to +lie flat on their stomachs and hang on while the Flying Fish leaped a +wave like a horse taking a barrier. At last, however, their task was +completed, and the improvised spray hood served to some extent to break +the waves that now threatened momentarily to engulf the laboring craft. + +"Now to get out a sea anchor!" shouted the indefatigable Tubby. + +He seized up an old bait tub, a boat hook and a "swabbing-out" broom, +and lashed them all together in a sort of bridle. Then he attached the +Flying Fish's mooring cable to the contrivance and paid it out for a +hundred feet or more, while the storm-battered craft drifted steadily +backward. Instead, however, of lying beam on to the big sea, she now +headed up into them, the "drag," as it is sometimes called, serving to +keep her bow swung up to the threatening combers. + +"There, she'll ride for a while, anyhow," breathed Tubby, when this was +done. + +"What's to be done now?" shouted Merritt in his car. + +"Nothing," was the response; "we've got to lie here till this thing +blows over." + +"It's breaking a little to the south now," exclaimed Merritt, pointing +to where a rift began to appear in the solid cloud curtain. + +This was cheering news, and even the seasick but plucky Hiram, who had +been bailing for all he was worth, despite his misery, began to cheer +up. + +"Hurrah! I guess the worst of our troubles are over," cried Tubby. +"It certainly looks as if the sea was beginning to go down, and the +wind has dropped, I'm sure." + +That this was the case became apparent shortly. There was a noticeable +decrease in the size and height of the waves and the wind abated in +proportion. In half an hour after the rift had been first noticed by +Merritt, the black squall had passed, and the late afternoon sun began +to shine in a pallid way through the driving cloud masses. + +The lads, however, were still in a serious fix. They had been driven +so far out to sea that the land was blotted out altogether. All about +them was only the still heaving Atlantic. The sun, too, was westering +fast, and it would not be long before darkness fell. + +Without gasoline and with no sail, they had no means of making land. +Worse still, they were in the track of the in and out-bound steamers to +and from New York--according to Tubby's reckoning--and they had no +lights. + +"Well, we seem to have got out of the frying pan into the fire," said +Merritt in a troubled voice. "It's the last time I'll ever come out +without lights and a mast and sail." + +"That's what they all say," observed Tubby grimly. "The thing to do +now is to get back to shore somehow. Maybe we can rig up a sail with +the cockpit cover and the oars. We've got to try it, anyhow." + +After hauling in the sea anchor, the lads set to work to rig up and +lash the oars into an A shape. The canvas was lashed to each of the +arms of the A, and the contrivance then set up and secured to the fore +and aft cleats by the mooring line they had utilized for the sea anchor. + +"Well," remarked Tubby, as he surveyed his handiwork with some +satisfaction and pride, "we can go before the wind now, anyhow--even if +we do look like a lost, strayed or stolen Chinese junk." + +"Say, I'm so hungry I could eat one of those fish raw!" exclaimed +Hiram, now quite recovered, as the Flying Fish, under her clumsy sail, +began to stagger along in the direction in which Tubby believed the +land lay, the wind fortunately being dead aft. + +"Great Scott, the kid's right!" exclaimed Merritt. "We forgot all +about eating in the gloom but now I believe I could almost follow +Hiram's lead and eat some of those fellows as they are." + +"Well, that's about all you'll get to eat for a long time," remarked +Tubby, grimly casting an anxious eye aloft at the filling "sail." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +ALMOST RUN DOWN + + +It grew dark rapidly and the night fell on three lonely, wet, hungry +boys, rolling along in a disabled boat under what was surely one of the +queerest rigs ever devised. It answered its purpose, though, and under +her "jury mast" the Flying Fish actually made some headway through the +water. + +None of the boys said much, and Tubby, under the cover of the darkness, +tightened his capacious belt. It spoke volumes for his Boy Scout +training that, though he probably felt the pangs of hunger as much or +even more keenly than the others, he made no complaint. Hiram, the +second-class scout, complained a bit at first, but soon quieted down +under Merritt's stern looks; as for the latter, as corporal of the +Eagle Patrol, it was his duty to try to keep as cheerful as possible; +which, under the circumstances, was about as hard a task as could well +be imagined. + +The eyes of all three were kept strained ahead for some sign of a +light, for they had been so tossed about in the squall that all sense +of direction had been lost, and they had no compass aboard, which in +itself was a piece of carelessness. + +Suddenly, after about an hour of "going it blind" in this fashion, +young Hiram gave a shout. + +"A light, a light!" + +"Where?" demanded Tubby and Merritt sharply. + +"Off there," cried the lad, pointing to the left, over the port side of +the boat. + +Both the elder lads gazed sharply. + +"That's not the direction in which land would lie," mused Tubby. + +"The light's pretty high up, too, isn't it?" suggested Merritt. "It +might be a lighthouse. We may have been blown farther than we thought." + +Tubby offered no opinion for a few seconds, but his ordinarily round +and smiling face grew grave. A sudden apprehension had flashed into +his mind. + +"Tell me, Merritt," he said, "can you see any other lights?" + +"No," replied Merritt, after peering with half closed eyes at the white +light. + +"I can," suddenly shouted young Hiram. + +"You can?" + +"Yes; some distance below the white light I can see a green one to the +right and a red one on the left." + +"Shades of Father Neptune!" groaned Tubby. "It's just as I thought, +Merritt--that light yonder is a steamer's mast lantern, and the fact +that Hiram can see both her port and starboard lamps beneath shows that +she's coming right for us." + +This was alarming enough. Without lanterns, without the means of +making any noise sufficiently loud to attract the attention of those on +the approaching vessel, the occupants of the Plying Fish were in about +as serious a predicament as one could imagine. To make matters worse, +the wind began to drop and come in puffs which only urged the Flying +Fish ahead slowly. Tubby made a rapid mental calculation, and decided +that hardly anything short of a miracle could save them from being run +down, unless the steamer saw them and changed her course. + +"Can't we shout and make them hear us?" asked Hiram in an alarmed +voice. He saw from the troubled faces of both the elder lads that +something serious indeed was the matter. + +"We might try it," responded Tubby, with a bitter shrug. "But it's +about as much use as a mouth organ in a symphony orchestra would be. +Better get on the life belts." + +With hands that trembled with the sense of impending disaster, the +three boys strapped on the cork jackets. + +"Now all shout together," said Merritt, when this was done. + +Standing erect, the three young castaways placed their hands +funnel-wise to their mouths and roared out together: + +"Ship ahoy! St-eam-er a-hoy!" + +They were alarmed and not ashamed to admit it. + +"No good," said Tubby, after they had roared themselves hoarse. "When +she strikes us, jump over the starboard bow and dive as deep as you +can. If you don't, the propellers are liable to catch us." + +It was a grim prospect, and no wonder the boys grew white and their +faces strained as the impending peril bore down on them. + +They could now see that she was a large vessel--a liner, to judge from +the rows of lighted portholes on her steep black sides. Her bow lights +gleamed like the eye of some monster intent on devouring the Flying +Fish and her occupants. On and on she came. The air trembled with the +vibration of her mighty engines, and a great white "'bone" foamed up at +her sharp prow. + +Not one of the boys spoke as the vessel came nearer and nearer, +although it speedily grew evident that unless a wind sprang up or the +lookout saw them, it was inevitable that they would be cut in two +amidships. + +"Remember what I said," warned Tubby, in a strange, strained voice. +"Dive deep and stay tinder as long as you can." + +And now the great vessel seemed scarcely more than two or three boat +lengths from the tiny cockleshell on which she was bearing down. As a +matter of fact, though, her towering bulk made her appear much nearer +than she actually was. + +"Can't we do anything, Merritt?" gasped Hiram, with chattering teeth. +"We might try shouting once more," suggested Tubby in a voice that +quivered in spite of his efforts to keep it steady. + +"All together now--come on!" + +"Ship ahoy! You'll run us down! St-eam-er a-hoy!" + +Suddenly there were signs of confusion on the bow of the big vessel. +Men could be seen running about and waving their arms. + +"By hookey, they've seen us!" breathed Merritt, hardly daring to +believe it, however. + +The others were speechless with suspense. + +Suddenly from the bow of the oncoming steamer a great fan-shaped ray of +dazzling light shot out and enveloped the boys and their boat in its +bewildering radiance. + +"Hard over, hard over!" the boys could hear the lookout roaring, and +the command rang hoarsely back along the decks to the wheelhouse. + +Slowly, very slowly, as if reluctant to give up her prey, the bow of +the mighty liner swung off, and the boys were safe. + +"Look out for the wash," warned Merritt, as the great black bulk, +pierced with hundreds of glowing portholes, ploughed regally by them, +her deck crowded with curious passengers. A voice shouted down from +the bridge: + +"What in blazing sea serpents are you doing out here in that marine oil +stove?" + +The boys made no attempt to reply. They had all they could do to hang +on, as the Flying Fish danced about like a drifting cork in the wash of +the great vessel. They could see, however, that several of her +passengers were clustered at her stern rail, gazing wonderingly down at +them in great perplexity, no doubt, as to what manner of craft it was +that they had so narrowly escaped sending to the bottom. For had the +vessel even grazed the Flying Fish, the small boat would have been +annihilated without those on board the liner even feeling a tremor. It +would have been just such a tragedy as happens frequently to the +fishing dories on the foggy Newfoundland banks. + +"Wh-ew!" gasped Merritt, sinking down on a locker. "That was a narrow +escape if you like it!" + +"I don't like it," remarked Tubby sententiously, mopping his forehead, +on which beads of cold perspiration had stood out while their +destruction had seemed inevitable. So thoroughly unnerved were the +lads, in fact, by their experience that it was some time before they +could do anything more than sit limply on the lockers while the Flying +Fish rolled aimlessly with an uncontrolled helm. + +"Come on," said Tubby at length; "we've got to rouse ourselves. In the +first place, I've got an idea," he went on briskly. "I've been +thinking over that gasoline stoppage, and the more I think of it the +more I am inclined to believe that there's something queer about it. +It's worth looking into, anyhow." + +"You mean you think there may be some fuel in the tank, after all?" +asked Merritt, looking up. + +"It's possible. Have you tried the little valve forward of the +carburetor?" + +"Why, no," rejoined Merritt; "but I hardly think--" + +"It wouldn't be the first time a carburetor had fouled, particularly +after what we went through in that squall," remarked Tubby. "It's +worth trying, anyhow." + +He bent over the valve he had referred to, which was in the gasoline +feed pipe, just forward of the carburetor, and placed there primarily +for draining the tank when it was necessary. + +"Look here!" he yelled, with a sudden shout of excitement. "No," he +cried the next moment, "I don't want to waste it--but when I opened the +valve a stream of gasoline came out. There's plenty of it. That +stoppage is in the carburetor. Oh, what a bunch of idiots we've been!" + +"Better sound the tank," suggested Merritt; "what came out of the valve +might just be an accumulation in the pipe." + +"Not much," rejoined the other, "it came out with too much force for +that, I tell you. It was flowing from the tank, all right." + +"We'll soon find out," proclaimed Merritt. "Give me the sounding stick +out of that locker, Hiram." + +Armed with the stick, Merritt rapidly unscrewed the cap of the fuel +tank and plunged the sounder into it. + +"There's quite a lot of gasoline in there yet," he exclaimed, with +sparkling eyes, as he withdrew and felt the wet end of the instrument. + +The carburetor was rapidly adjusted. The rough tossing about the +Flying Fish had received had jammed the needle valve, but that was all. +Presently all was in readiness to get under way once more with the +little boat's proper motive power. The "jury rig" was speedily +dismantled Merritt swung the flywheel over two or three times, and a +welcome "chug, chug!" responded. + +"Hurray! she's working," cried Hiram. + +"As well as ever," responded Merritt. "Now for the shore. By the +way," he broke off in a dismayed tone, "where is the shore?" + +"I know now," rejoined Tubby in a confident tone. "Off there to the +right. You see, that steamer was hugging the coast preparatory to +heading seaward--at least, I'm pretty sure she was, and that would put +the shore on her port side, or on our starboard." + +They chugged off in the direction Tubby indicated, and before long a +joyful cry from Hiram announced the sudden appearance of lights. + +"What are they?" asked Merritt. + +"Don't know--they look like bonfires," rejoined the other lad. "I +wonder if we have been lucky enough to pick up Topsail Island?" + +As they drew nearer the lads soon saw that it was the island that they +were approaching, and that the lights they had seen were campfires +ignited by order of the anxious young Patrol leader to guide them back. + +In a short time they had anchored the Flying Fish opposite the camp, +and jumped into the dinghy left at her moorings when they embarked. + +"A fine scare you've given us," cried Rob, as they landed and flung +down their afternoon's catch. "We were afraid for a time that you were +lost in that black squall--it blew two of our tents down, and we were +mighty anxious about you, I can tell you." + +"You did not alarm our folks?" asked Hiram anxiously. + +"No, I thought that it would be best to wait. Somehow, I thought you'd +turn up safe. Where on earth have you been and what has happened? You +look as pale as three ghosts." + +"Towed to sea by a shark--caught in a squall--almost run down by a +liner--and so hungry we can't talk now," sputtered out Tubby +comprehensively. + +"All right; come on up to the fire and get dried out and pitch into the +grub." + +After such a meal as it may be imagined the young scouts indulged in, +they told their whole yarn of their adventures to the listening Patrol. +A short time after they concluded--so long had it taken to relate +everything and answer all questions--the mournful call of "Taps" +sounded and it was time to turn in. Little Digby alone, who was to do +sentry service, remained on duty. + +Merritt's dreams were a strange jumble. It seemed to him that he was +being towed to sea on the back of a huge shark, by a big liner with a +row of blazing portholes that winked at him like facetious eyes. +Suddenly, just as it seem he was about to slip off the marine monster's +slippery back, he thought he heard a loud cry of "Help, scouts!" + +So vivid was the dream and so real the cry that he awoke trembling, and +listened intently while peering out through the tent flap. + +There was no sound, however, but the ripple of the waves on the beach +and the "hoot hoot" of an owl somewhere back in the woods on the island. + +"Funny," mused the boy, as he turned over and dozed off again, "that +certainly sounded loud enough to have been a real, sure enough call for +help." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +JOE DIGBY MISSING + + +"Merritt! Merritt, wake up!" + +The boy sleepily opened his eyes and saw bending over him the pale +features of Rob, whose voice quivered with suppressed excitement as he +shook the other's shoulder. + +"I didn't hear reveille blow yet. What's up? Have I overslept?" +murmured the young corporal. + +"No, it's not six-thirty yet--barely after half past four, in fact. +But young Digby--he had the night watch, you know--and was to have been +relieved at three o'clock. Well, Ernest Thompson, his relief, roused +out at that hour, but not a trace of Digby was to be found!" + +"What!" The sleepy boy was drowsy no longer. "Digby gone?" + +"Hush! We don't know yet. Don't wake any of the others. Thompson and +I have skirmished around ever since it began to get light, and we have +not been able to find a trace of him." + +Merritt was out of his cot while his leader was still speaking, and ten +minutes later, during which time the boys exchanged excited questions +and answers, he was in his uniform and outside the tent. + +The sun was just poking his rim above the western horizon and the +chilly damp of early dawn lay over the island. The sea, as calm almost +as a lake, lay sullen and gray, scarcely heaving. Behind the sleeping +camp a few shreds of mist--the ghosts of the vapors of the night were +arising like smoke among the dim trees. At the further end of the +assemblage of tents, and beyond the smoldering fire, stood a silent +figure, that of Ernest Thompson. + +"Have you explored the island thoroughly?" asked Merritt under his +breath. Somehow the dim hour and the situation seemed to preclude the +idea of loud talking. + +"Of course not. Not yet," breathed the other in the same tones. "We +will break the news to the rest of the Patrol after breakfast. It's no +use alarming them yet." + +"It isn't possible that he went off on an early fishing expedition?" + +For answer, Rob waved his hand toward the water, where the Flying Fish +lay rocking gently at her anchor. Ashore the dingy lay as Merritt and +his companions had left it the night before. + +"But what can have happened to him?" burst out Merritt, as they made +their way over to Ernest Thompson's side. + +"I cannot think. It is absolutely mystifying. I am going to start for +the captain's place now. He may be able to throw some light on the +affair." + +Merritt shook his head. + +"Hardly likely. If there is no trace of Joe Digby on this side of the +island, it is improbable that Captain Hudgins knows anything about him." + +"Well," rejoined Rob in a troubled voice, "we've got to try everything. +I am responsible for his safe keeping while he is in camp. I blame +myself for allowing the kid to go on sentry duty at all." + +"No use doing that," comforted Merritt; "there's one thing sure, he +can't have melted away. He must be somewhere on the island. There are +no wild beasts or anything like that here to carry him off, so if we +keep up the search we must come upon him sooner or later." + +"That's what makes the whole affair the more mystifying," rejoined Rob. +"What can have become of him?" + +"Well, if he's on the island, we'll find him," he continued; "and if he +isn't--" + +"We'll find him anyway," declared Merritt in a determined voice. + +"That's the stuff!" warmly exclaimed the other. "And now I'm going to +take a cruise round to the other side of the island, and see if I can +find out anything there." + +A few seconds later he was in the dinghy and sculling out over the +water to the speedy Flying Fish. In a short time he was off. + +As the "chug chug" of the motor grew fainter, Merritt turned to young +Thompson. + +"Don't breathe a word of this to the others till we know for certain +that Digby has vanished," he said. + +The other boy nodded. + +"I understand," he said, and the look with which he accompanied the +words rendered Merritt perfectly confident that he would be obeyed. + +"And now let's rouse out Andy Bowles and get him busy with that tin +horn of his," cheerfully went on Merritt, walking toward Andy's tent. + +That youth was much surprised to find that it was morning, but tumbled +out of his cot in double-quick time, and soon the cheerful notes of +reveille were ringing out over the camp, on which the sun's rays were +now streaming down in that luminary's cheerful morning way. + +The soldier who immortalized himself by sing the words: "We can't get +'em up, We can't get 'em up, We can't get 'em up in the morning--, We +can't get 'em up, We can't get 'em up, We can't get'em up at +a-a-l-l-l!" to the stirring notes of the army's morning call had never +been in a camp of Boy Scouts. If he had he wouldn't have written them, +for before the last notes had died away the camp was alive and astir, +with hurrying lads filling tin washbasins and cleaning up. + +The cook and "cookee" for the day--Jim Jeffords and Martin Green--soon +had their cooking fire going, and presently the appetizing aroma of +coffee and fried ham and eggs filled the camp. + +"Give the breakfast call, Andy," ordered Merritt, as the proud if +flush-faced cooks announced their labors complete, and with a clatter +and bang of tin dishes and cups the Boy Scouts sat down to breakfast. + +"Where's Rob and Digby?" demanded Andy Bowles, as he dug his spoon into +an island of oatmeal completely surrounded by an ocean of condensed +milk thinned down with warm water. + +The moment that Merritt had dreaded had arrived. + +"Why, he and Rob went off early to see the captain," he said. "I guess +they'll be back soon." + +"Pretty early for paying social calls," commented Andy, too busy with +his breakfast, however, to give the matter more attention, for which +Merritt was duly thankful. + +After breakfast Merritt ordered a general airing of bedding, and the +side walls of the tents were raised to let the fresh air blow through +them. Still there was no sign of Rob. Merritt grew so anxious that he +could hardly keep from pacing up and down to conceal his nervous state +of mind. However, he stuck to his duties and oversaw the first routine +of the morning without betraying his anxiety to any of the lads under +his charge. At last there came the awaited chug chug of the returning +boat, for which he had been so eagerly listening, and Rob appeared +rounding the little point below the camp. In the craft was another +figure, that of the captain himself. + +Merritt's first hope when he saw the two persons in the boat--namely, +that one of them might be the missing boy--was promptly dashed, and he +instinctively guessed by Rob's silence as he dropped the anchor and he +and the captain tumbled into the dinghy that there had been no news. + +"No," said Rob, shaking his head dejectedly as they reached the shore, +"there isn't anything to tell. The captain is as much in the dark as +we." + +"Well, you'd better have some breakfast," said Merritt, after he and +the captain had exchanged greetings, "then we can go ahead and notify +the others and institute a thorough search." + +"That's the stuff, my boy," agreed the veteran. "Overhaul ship from +bilge ter royals, and if not found, then take a cruise in search uv." + +Rob ate his meal with small appetite, but the captain, urging on his +young companion the necessity of "filling his hold," devoured +prodigious quantities of food, and then, arising, suggested that the +time had come to "pipe all hands aft and read orders." + +The boys had been so busy about their morning tasks that fortunately +none of them, except Tubby, whom Merritt had told of the disappearance, +had found time to notice Rob's return or ask questions; so that when he +announced to them that Joe Digby was missing it came as a stunning +shock. + +"Now, boys," said Rob, after he had communicated the full details, so +far as he knew them, of the circumstances of the disappearance, "there +is only one thing to do, and that is turn this island inside out. It +won't take long, but I want it done thoroughly. Don't leave a stone +unturned. If after a painstaking search we find nothing on the island, +we'll know we have to look elsewhere. You are all fairly good woodsmen +by this time, and can trail by signs as effectively as first-class +scouts. Use your eyes, and good luck." + +Merritt at once assigned searching parties, he and Rob and Tubby taking +the center of the island and the others being detailed to search along +the shores in two separate squads for any trace of their missing +comrade. + +"Call me a lubber if this ain't the most mystifyin' thing I've run my +bow into since the Two Janes, uv Boston, brig, lost her bearings in a +fog and fetched up off Iceland," declared the captain, who had elected +to accompany the three leaders of the Patrol. "But drown or swim, sail +or sink, we'll find that kid if he's on deck." + +The searching parties construed this speech as a sort of valedictory to +them as, indeed, the captain intended it--and greeted it with a cheer. + +"The first scout that finds a trace of Joe is to light the four +'smokes', meaning come to council," was Rob's last order. "Light them +on as prominent a place as you can find and we will all meet in camp to +hear the news." + +The searching parties at once separated, one striking off to the right, +the other to the left and the three young leaders and their grizzled +friend making a dead set for the center of the island. + +If Joe Digby was to be found, the look of determination on the face of +each scout showed that it would not be the fault of his young comrades +if he were not. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +SAM REBELS + + +In the meantime on a small island in the Upper Inlet a strange +conference was taking place. Three youths whom our readers will +recognize as Jack Curtiss, Bill Bender and Sam Redding; were in earnest +consultation with the unkempt and unsavory individual whom we know as +Hank Handcraft, the beach-comber. + +"Well, the job's put through, all right," Hank was saying, as the three +sat outside a small tent in front of which was a smoldering fire, about +which the remnants of a meal were scattered. + +"Yes, but now we've got to tackle the hardest part of it," said Jack, +knitting his brows. "I've got the letter written and here it is." As +he spoke he drew from his pocket a sheet of paper. "The question is who +to send for the money when the time comes." + +"Oh, Hank is the man," said Ben, without an instant's hesitation. "We +must not appear in this at all." + +"Oh, I am the man, am?" put in Hank, with no very gratified inflexion +in his voice; "and what if I am caught? I'm to go to prison, I +suppose, while you fellows get off scot-free." + +"As for me," said Sam Redding, who was pale and looked scared, and +whose eyes, too, were red-rimmed and heavy as if from lack of sleep, +"you can count me out. I want nothing to do with it. You've gone too +far, Jack, in your schemes against the boys. I'm through with the +whole thing." + +"Well, if you're that chicken-hearted, we don't want you in it at all," +sneered Jack, although he looked somewhat troubled at his follower's +defection. "All we want you to promise is not to split on us." + +"Oh, I won't peach," promised Sam readily. + +"It will be better for you not to," warned Bill Bender; "and now let's +figure this thing out, and quickly, too. We haven't got any too much +time. They'll have discovered the kid has gone by this time and the +alarm will be spread broadcast." + +"I thought, when he yelled like that last night, we were goners sure," +remarked Jack, scowling at the recollection. "It's a good thing those +kids sleep as hard as they do, or we'd have been in a tight fix." + +"Oh, well, no good going back to that now," dissented Bill. "How was +the young cub when you left him, Hank?" he asked abruptly. + +"Oh, he'd got through crying, and was lying nice and quiet on his +bunk," remarked Hank, with an amiable chuckle, as though he had just +performed some praiseworthy act, instead of having left little Joe +Digby locked in a deserted bungalow on an island some little distance +from the one on which the conversation related above was taking place. + +"Well, that's good," said Bill; "although crying, or yelling, either, +won't do him much good on that island. He could yell for a week and no +one would hear him." + +"No; the water's too shallow for any motor boats to get up there," +agreed Hank. "I had a hard job getting through the channel in the +rowboat, even at high water." + +"Is the house good and tight?" was Jack's next question. + +"Tight--tight as the Tombs," was Hank's answer, the simile being an apt +one for him to use. "The door has that big bolt on the outside that I +put on, besides the lock, of which I carried away the key, and the +shutters are all nailed up. No danger of his getting away till we want +him to!" + +"Couldn't be better," grinned Jack approvingly. "Now, here's the +letter. Tell me what you think of it?" + +Opening the sheet of paper, the bully read aloud as follows: + +"MR. AND MRS. DIGBY: + +"Your son is safe and in good hands. I alone know where the men who +stole him have taken him. But I am a poor man, and think that the +information should be worth something to you. Suppose you place two +hundred dollars under the signpost at the Montauk crossroads to-night. +I will call and get it if you will mark the spot at which you place it +with a rock. Look under the same rock in the morning and you will find +directions how to get your boy back. + +CAPTAIN NEMO." + +"What do you think of that?" inquired Jack complacently, as he +concluded the reading of his epistle. + +"A bee-yoo-tiful piece of composition," said Hank approvingly, with one +of his throaty chuckles; "the only thing is--who is Captain Nemo?" + +"Why, so far as delivering the letter and getting the money is +concerned, you are," said Jack decisively. "Eh, Bill?" + +"Oh, by all means," assented Bill. + +Sam was not included in the conversation, and gazed sullenly straight +in front of him as he lay where he had thrown himself on the fine white +sand. + +"Oh, by no means," echoed Hank derisively. "Say, what do you fellows +take me for, the late lamented Mr. Easy Mark? If you do you have +another think coming." + +"Now look here, Hank," argued Jack, "what's the objection? All you've +got to do is to take this note ashore, give it to some boy to deliver, +and then go to the crossroads at whatever time to-night you see fit and +get the money." + +"Of course," Bill hastened to put in, "you've got to bring it to us for +proper division." + +"Oh, I have, have I?" chuckled Hank. "Well, what do you think of that? +I'm to do all the work and you fellows are to get the bacon! That's a +fine idea--not! Four into two hundred doesn't go very many times, you +know." + +"Not four," corrected Jack, "three. Sam is out of this. He's too much +of a coward to have anything to do with it," he added, mimicking Sam's +tone. + +The boat-builder's son reddened, but said nothing in reply to the +bully's taunt. + +"Well, three, then," went on Hank; "that's not percentage enough for +me. If I'm to have anything to do with this here job, I want half the +money. You fellows can split the rest between you!" + +Jack and Bill exchanged blank looks. + +"Now, look here, Hank, be reasonable," began Jack in a tone meant to be +conciliatory. + +"Now, look here, Jack, be sensible," echoed Hank mockingly. "You seem +to forget that you owe me something for the job we did on those +uniforms the other night, and that other little errand you performed on +the island. You've got a very convenient memory, you have. Why, I +daresay those kids would have given me a nice little wad of tobacco +money to have told just who took their Sunday-go-to-meetin' suits, but +did I peach? No, you know I didn't; but," he added, with rising +emphasis, "if I don't get what's coming to me pretty soon, I will." + +"Well, you idiot," began Jack truculently; "haven't you got your chance +now?" + +"If I choose to take it--yes," was the rejoinder; "but I don't know as +I will. It seems to me I hold all the trumps and you are at my mercy." + +"Why, you insolent dog!" bellowed Jack, rising to his feet from the +position in which he had been squatting. "For two cents I'd knock your +bewhiskered head off!" + +He advanced threateningly, but Bill, seeing the turn matters were +taking, and realizing that more was to be gained by peaceful methods, +intervened. + +"Now, Jack, shut up. Stow that nonsense," he ordered sharply. "Look +here, Hank, we'll accept your terms. Half to you if you carry it out +successfully." + +"And if I don't?" + +"Then we'll all have to shift for ourselves. This part of the country +will be too hot to hold us. I mean to go out West. I've got a cousin +who has a ranch, and I think I could get along all right there if the +worst comes to the worst." + +"See here, I don't agree with your way of dividing the money," began +Jack, an angry light in his eyes. "Look--" + +"Look here, Jack," cut in Bill sharply, "if you don't like it, it +doesn't do you any good. If you object to it, keep out. Hank and I +form a majority. You chump" he added, quickly, under his breath, as +Hank turned away and began to "skip" flat stones over the water, "don't +you see he takes all the responsibility? It's a cinch for us to get +away if anything goes wrong." + +"Yes, it's a cinch we get cheated out of our share of the money," +argued Jack, with an angry glare in the direction of the unconscious +Hank. + +"Beggars can't be choosers," argued Bill. "You know, as well as I do, +that if we are implicated in this affair it means serious trouble. Our +parents wouldn't stand for it, and we should be disgraced. By doing it +this way we get some of the proceeds--I admit not our fair share but +what's to be done?" + +"Well, I guess you are right, Bill," assented Jack, with a shrug. "It's +go ahead now; we've gone too far to draw back." + +"That's the line of talk," grinned Bill, "and when we've each got fifty +dollars in our pockets, silenced Hank with a golden gag and had our +revenge on those kids, we'll be able to talk over future plans. I'm +sick of school. I hate the idea of going back there. I've half a mind +to strike out for the West anyway." + +"Do you think I could get a job on your cousin's ranch?" asked Jack. + +"I don't doubt it a bit," rejoined Bill. "You're a good, husky chap, +and brawn and muscle is what they need in the West." + +"Yes, I'm husky, all right," conceded Jack modestly. "Sometimes I +think that I don't get full opportunities to expand here in this +wretched country hole." + +"No, the West is the place," agreed Bill, with an inward smile, "as the +newspapers say--one can expand with the country out there." + +Their conversation was broken in upon by Sam, who demanded in no very +gentle tones: + +"Well, who's going ashore? I'm off." + +"No hurry, Sam," said Jack in a more amiable tone than he had yet used +that morning. "Let's sit around here a while and enjoy the sun--we +might take a swim after a while." + +"If you don't come now you'll have to swim ashore," grunted Sam, +arising and brushing the sand from himself. "I'm going back to +Hampton. I'm tired of camping out here." + +He walked toward the beach and prepared to shove off the dinghy, +preparatory to sculling out to the hydroplane, which lay a few rods off +shore in the channel. + +"Hold on, Sam," cried Bill; "we're coming. Don't go away sore." + +"I'm not sore," rejoined Sam, in a tone which belied his words, "but I +don't think you fellows are doing the right thing when you maroon a kid +like Joe Digby on a lone island, in a deserted bungalow in which you'd +be scared to stop yourselves." + +"Why, what's got into you, Sam?" protested Jack. "It's more a lark +than anything else." + +"Fine lark," grunted Sam, "scaring a kid half to death and then writing +notes for money. It's dangerously near to kidnapping--that's what I +call it, and I'm glad I'm not in it." + +Both the others looked rather uncomfortable at this presentation of the +matter, but Jack affected to laugh it off. + +"Pshaw!" he exclaimed, "it's a little bit rough, I know, but such +things do a kid good. Teach him to be self-reliant and--and all that." + +"Sure," agreed Bill, "you don't look at these things in the right +light, Sam--does he, Hank?" + +Hank, who had shuffled toward the dinghy at the conclusion of these +edifying remarks, agreed with a chuckle that Sam had no sense of humor, +after which they all got into the dinghy and we sculled off to the +unlucky hydroplane. + +It didn't take long to get under way, and the little craft was soon +scudding through the water at a good pace, towing the dinghy behind her. + +"Better put us ashore before we get into Hampton," suggested Bill. "We +don't want to be seen about there more than can be helped." + +"That's where you are wrong," objected Jack. "We'll put Hank ashore up +the coast, but the more we are seen about the place the better. It +won't look as if we had anything to do with the Digby kid--in case +things do go wrong." + +So it was agreed that Hank was to be landed in a small cove a few miles +farther down the coast, from which it was a short cut across country to +the neighborhood of the Digby farm. + +Then he was to waylay the first likely-looking messenger and entrust +the note which Jack had read to him for delivery. After that he was to +spend the time as best he could in suitable seclusion, and after dark +conceal himself near the sign-post. He was not to make any attempt to +secure the money if any one hovered about the place, but if the coast +was clear he was to go boldly in and take it. + +Hank was landed at the spot agreed upon, a short time later, and the +other three then resumed their journey for the hydroplane's home port. +As they turned seaward Jack pointed mockingly to Topsail Island, which +lay a short distance on their port bow. + +"I'll bet there's plenty going on there right now," he grinned. + +"Right you are," assented Bill. + +"Hullo," he added hastily the next moment; "what's that?" + +He pointed toward the island, and the occupants of the homing +hydroplane saw, slowly rising from it in the still air, four straight +columns of blue smoke. + +"Looks like a signal of some kind," suggested Jack after a scrutiny. + +"It's coming from about the place where we grabbed the kid," added +Bill, a note of apprehension in his voice. + +"I wonder what it signifies?" demanded Jack, whose face began to bear a +somewhat troubled look. + +"I can tell you," said Sam shortly, turning round from the wheel. + +"You can?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, hurry up, then--what does it mean?" Jack spoke sharply at Sam's +deliberation. + +"It means," said Sam slowly, as if he wanted every word to sink in, +"that the Boy Scouts have picked up your trail." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE HUNT FOR TENDERFOOT JOE + + +Rob, Merritt, Tubby Hopkins and Captain Hudgins rested, perspiring +under the noon-day heat, on a group of flat rocks at the highest point +of the island. Their search had been fruitless, and their downcast +faces showed it. + +"How ever are we going to break the news to his parents?" + +Merritt it was who voiced the question that had been troubling all of +them. + +Before any one had time to frame a reply the captain, whose keen eyes +had been gazing about him, gave a sudden shout: + +"There's that smoke yonder yer boys were lookin' fer," he exclaimed, +pointing. + +"Four columns of it," shouted Rob, "hurray, boys, that means news! +It's 'Come to counsel.' Come on, don't let's lose any time in getting +back." + +Rapidly the boys stumbled and ran forward over the rocks and pushed on +among the dense growth that covered the hillside they had climbed. +They hardly noticed the obstacles, however, so keenly were they bent on +getting back to camp and learning the news which they knew must be +awaiting them. They covered the distance in half the time it had taken +them to ascend the hillside and were met in the camp by the body of +searchers--Andy Bowles, Sim Jeffords and Ernest Thompson--who had swung +off to the left or mainland side of the island. + +"Well, boys, what news?" breathlessly exclaimed Rob, "we saw the +counsel smoke and hurried down at top speed." + +"Well, there's not very much, I'm afraid, Rob," began Andy, "but we +found something that may give us a clue. About half a mile down the +beach there's the distinct mark of a boat keel where it was drawn up on +the hard sand and the marks of three separate pairs of feet." + +"Good," exclaimed Rob, "that's something and half confirms my +suspicion. Go on, Andy, what else?" + +"Well, we examined the marks carefully and found that two pairs of feet +wore good shoes and the third a very broken, disreputable pair." + +"Yes," exclaimed Rob, while the others listened breathlessly. + +"Of course that indicated to us that three persons must have carried +Joe off--for I don't think there's much doubt now that he was carried +off, do you?" + +"I don't," said Rob sadly, "but for what possible motive?" + +"I have it," suddenly exclaimed Tubby Hopkins, snapping his fingers, +"you remember the day of the aeroplane model contest?" + +"Yes, but what--" began Rob. + +"Has that to do with it," finished Tubby for him. "Everything. It was +Joe who first told the committee that Jack's model was a bought one and +so lost him the fifty-dollar prize." + +"By cracky, that's right!" assented Rob, "and you think that Jack and +his gang have carried him off in revenge for it?" + +"Looks that way to me," nodded the stout youth. + +"Why, they wouldn't dare," began Andy Bowles. + +"Oh, yes, they would," amended Rob bitterly, "they'd dare anything to +get even on us for their fancied wrongs. But whose could have been the +broken ragged shoes?" he asked, suddenly taking up another train of +thought. + +"Hank Handcrafts, the beach-comber's," suggested Tubby. + +"Gee Whillikens! I'll bet a cracker that's the solution," cried Andy, +"and now I come to think of it I heard, before we left, that Jack and +his gang had gone camping." + +"Where?" + +"Up around the Upper Inlet somewhere. You know that's full of islands +and as there's no drinking water there few people ever think of +frequenting the place. If they wanted to do anything like carrying off +Joe that is where they would have been likely to go." + +"You may be right, Andy. It's worth looking into, anyway," declared +Rob. "I'll leave a note here for the others and we'll take a run over +there in the Flying Fish. If Joe is there we'll get him out." + +"And in jig time, too," chimed in Ernest Thompson. + +"Come on, boys, get some gasoline, hop in the dinghy and let's get +aboard. We've got to move fast if we're to accomplish anything. You +get the boat, Andy, while I write a line to tell the others what we've +gone after." + +The young leader hastily ran into his tent and sitting down at the +table dashed off these lines: + +"Boys, we think we have a clue to Joe's whereabouts. Have gone after +him. Keep camp in regular way while we are gone. Hiram Nelson is +leader, and Paul Perkins corporal, in our absence. + +"ROB BLAKE, Leader, + +"Eagle Patrol, B. S. of A." + +With a piece of chalk the boy marked a rough square and an arrow on a +tree--the arrow pointing to a spot in the sand in which he buried the +letter. + +"Now, then, come on," he shouted, dashing toward the boat, "shove off, +boys, and if Joe's in the Upper Inlet we'll find him." + +"Hurray," cheered the others, much heartened by the prospect of any +trace of the missing boy, however slight. + +"Give way, boys," bellowed the captain, who had insisted on coming +along armed with a huge horse pistol of ancient pattern which he had +strapped on himself in the morning when the news of Joe Digby's +disappearance reached him. "This reminds me uv the time when I was A. +B. on the Bonnie Bess and we smoked out a fine mess of pirates in the +Caribees." + +"Regular pirates?" inquired Andy as Rob and Merritt bent to the oars. + +"Reg'lar piratical pirates, my boy," responded the old salt, "we +decorated the trees with 'em and they looked a lot handsomer there than +they did a-sailin' the blue main." + +Further reminiscences of the captain's were cut short by their arrival +at the Flying Fish's side. They had hastily thrown two cases of +gasoline into the dinghy before they shoved off so that all that +remained to be done was to fill the fast craft's tank and she was ready +to be off. + +"Hold on," warned Rob, as Tubby Hopkins was about to secure the dinghy +to the mooring buoy, "we'll tow her along. We may need her. There's +lots of shoal water in that Upper Inlet." + +"Right yer are, my boy; there's nothin' like bein' forehanded," +remarked the captain as Merritt bent over the flywheel and Rob threw in +the spark and turned on the gasoline. After a few revolutions an +explosion resulted and the Flying Fish was off on the mission which +might mean so much or so little to the anxious hearts on board her. + +"Do you know the channel," asked Merritt as Rob with his eyes glued on +the coast sent the Flying Fish through the waves, or rather wavelets, +for the sea was almost like a sheet of glass. + +"I've been up here once or twice after duck," rejoined Rob, "but it's a +tricky sort of a place to get through. However, I guess we'll make it." + +As they drew nearer the shores the boys made out an opening which Rob +said was the Upper Inlet channel. + +"Say, Tubby, get out the lead line and let's see how much water we +have," directed Rob as the color of the ocean began to change from dark +blue to a sort of greenish tinge, lightening in spots, where the shoals +were near to the surface, to a sandy yellow. + +The stout lad took a position in the bow and swinging the lead about +his head cast it suddenly ahead of the Flying Fish's bow. + +"Slow down," ordered Rob, and Merritt cut down the motor to not more +than two hundred revolutions a minute. + +The lead line, tagged with different colored bits of flannel at each +fathom length, sang through the stout lad's fingers. + +"By-a-quarter-three," he called out the next instant. + +This meant that three fathoms and a quarter or eighteen feet three +inches of water was under the keel of the little craft. + +"Nough fer a man-uv-war," grinned old Captain Hodgins. + +Slowly the Flying Fish forged ahead till right under her bow lay a +patch of the yellow water. + +"By-a-half-two," came a sharp hail from the fat youth, who had once +more heaved the lead. + +"Cut her down some more," sharply ordered Rob, without turning his +head, "we draw only three feet so I guess we'll do nicely for a while." + +"Great hop-toads, there's regular shark's teeth ahead," commented +Captain Hudgins, pointing to the still shallower water indicated by the +lightening tint of the channel. + +"By-one-by-a-quarter-one!" came sharply from Tubby, as the Flying Fish +seemed hardly to crawl along the water. + +"By-a-half!" came an instant later, meaning that only three feet of +water lay right ahead. + +"Stop her," roared out Rob. + +But he was too late. Instantly, almost as Merritt's hand had flown to +the lever, the nose of the Flying Fish poked into the sandbank and her +motor with a gentle sigh came to a stop. + +"Hard a-ground!" roared the captain, "too bad and with a fallin' tide, +too." + +"Full speed astern," came the next order. + +The propeller churned up the water aft into a white turmoil. The Flying +Fish trembled in her every timber, and began to slide slowly backward +from the treacherous shoal. + +"Safe, by the great horn spoon!" roared the captain, fetching Andy +Bowles a slap on the back that almost toppled the small bugler into the +water. + +"For a time," said Rob quietly, "come ahead a bit, Merritt." + +Slowly the little vessel slid ahead once more. Rob seemed fairly to +feel his way through the narrow channel he had picked out and finally +the Flying Fish, after as much coaxing as is usually bestowed on a +balky horse, floated in the deep water beyond the sandy bar. + +Eagerly the boys looked about them as they "opened up," as sailors call +it, the narrow stretch of water known as the Upper Inlet. It did not +take them long to spy the island with the tent on it in which the +conversation between Jack and his cronies, and the mutineer to his +plans, had taken place. + +"There's their camp!" shouted Rob, eagerly sending the Flying Fish +ahead at full speed, "now we'll find out something." + +"And, maybe, use this." The captain, as he spoke, grimly produced his +formidable weapon and flourished it about. + +"No, none of that," sternly rejoined Rob, "the Boy Scouts can take care +of those fellows--without using firearms." + +"You bet," rejoined Merritt, grimly "muscling up," "we'll show 'em if +it comes to a fight." + +But bitter disappointment awaited the boys. As we know, the camp was +deserted and no trace or clue of the whereabouts of its occupants was +to be found. In the tent, however, lay a piece of blotting paper with +ink-marks on it. It was the material with which Jack had dried his +letter. + +"Anybody got a mirror?" asked Rob. "This blotter may help some if we +can read what's on it." + +"I've got a pocket one," said Andy Bowles, who was somewhat particular +about his person and always carried a small toilet case. + +"That will do; let's have it." + +Rob seized the bit of looking glass and held the blotter to it. + +"Just as I thought," he exclaimed a minute later, with a cry of +triumph. "It's Jack Curtiss' writing, though he has tried to disguise +it, and they've got Joe hidden somewhere. Look here, they want $200 +for his return." + +"Yes, but what good does it do us to know that," objected Merritt, when +the sensation this announcement caused had subsided. "They evidently +had him here overnight and then deserted the camp for fear we'd pick up +their trail. They've taken Joe with them." + +"By the great sea-serpent, that's right," grunted the captain, "it's a +blind trail, boys!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +SAVED BY "SMOKE MORSE" + + +Each member of the party regarded the other blankly. + +The captain was right. The deserted camp was only a blind trail and +they had all their work to do over again. + +"The first people to communicate with are Joe's parents," mused Rob. +"That note will be delivered very shortly, as the longer they delay the +more dangerous it will be for them." + +"That's right," agreed Merritt, "Jack and his gang will not let the +grass grow under their feet now that they know the chase must be on. +What can they have done with Joe?" + +Rob had been looking about him with the instinct of the Boy Scout. He +was anxious to ascertain if there were not something tangible, some +clue on which they could base a search for the missing member of the +Patrol. Suddenly something remarkable struck him about the tracks that +lay about the tent. + +They were all four those, of persons of larger growth than Joe Digby +and mingling with them unmistakably was the broken-shoed track of Hank, +the beach-comber. + +"Boys," announced Rob suddenly, "Joe has not been here at all." + +"Not been here at all," echoed Merritt, amazedly. + +"I mean what I say. Look at these tracks. There is not a footmark +here that could by any chance be his." + +The others scrutinized the maze of foot-prints with the same care as +had Rob and were forced to come to the same conclusion. There was no +question about it--they would have to seek elsewhere for a trace of the +lad. + +But where? + +They gazed about them at the stretch of lone bay or inlet, the sparse +scrub grass and vegetation fringing it on the shore side and wheeling +sea-gulls swooping and soaring above the shoal waters. + +Then Rob's gaze rested carelessly on a closed and seemingly deserted +bungalow, occupying the island above them. As his eyes fell on it they +suddenly became riveted and then grew wide with surprise. + +A stream of smoke was issuing from the fieldstone chimney roughly +constructed at one end of the apparently deserted dwelling. + +"There's some one living in that bungalow," he exclaimed, as he made +the discovery, "maybe whoever it is can give us some clue to where Joe +Digby is." + +They all gazed intently at the weather-beaten old house from which the +paint was scaling, adding to the note of desertion sounded by its +closed shutters and forlorn-looking yard. + +As they looked, astonished at the idea that the barren structure should +actually house a human being, a sudden thought struck Merritt. + +"Suppose Jack Curtiss and his gang are there?" he said. + +"Hardly likely," rejoined Rob, "however, we'll get over there and find +out just who is making that smoke." + +Suddenly the old captain, who had been watching the smoke closely, gave +an astonished snort. + +"What's the matter, captain?" asked Rob, who was about to walk to the +water's edge and get ready to shove off the dinghy. + +"Why, there's somethin' queer about that thar smoke," responded the old +salt. + +"Queer--how do you mean?" + +"Well, watch it a minute--there--see! now stops--now it starts +ag'in--then it stops--wha, do yer suppose is happenin' to it?" + +Rob knitted his brows and watched the phenomenon to which the captain +had called attention with narrowed eyes. + +There was no question about it the smoke was certainly behaving +"queerly" as the captain put it. + +The blue vapor emerged from the chimney now in a copious puff and then, +for a space, would cease, only to roll forth once more in larger +volume. The boys watched it in some astonishment. + +"What can they be doing, do you suppose?" Merritt asked. + +"I have no idea. It's past me to say," responded Rob, "it comes out in +puffs like--like--by hookey! I've got it!" he broke off with a shout, +"like the Morse code!" + +"Somebody signaling?" stammered Merritt. + +"That's it--watch!" + +The smoke, which had not been visible for some seconds, now emerged +from the stone chimney once more and the boys, fascinated, watched it +closely with burning eyes. There was no doubt whatever about it now. +It was signaling. + +Four short puffs. + +"Four dots--that's H," exclaimed Rob, trembling with excitement. + +The smoke ceased. + +"Here comes some more," shouted Merritt. + +One short puff from the chimney. + +"E, one dot, that's E sure enough," translated Rob. + +The others stood like figures carved in stone as their leader read off +the strange signals. + +Puff! A longer period of smoking by the chimney--then two sharp puffs. + +"That's L," interpreted the leader of the Eagles. Before they could +say a word the chimney took up its message once more. + +Puff--a long puff--another long one, and then a short one. + +"Dot--dash--dash--dot," exclaimed Rob. + +"That's the letter P," put in Merritt. + +"That's right, old man," shouted Rob, slapping him on the back, "and +we've found Joe Digby. That smoke signal spelled Help in the Morse +code." + +"You're right," shouted Merritt, "come on, Cap, come on, boys, we've +got to get a move on and get it on quick!" + +They dashed toward the dinghy and a few seconds later had once more +embarked and were speeding toward the desolate and forsaken bungalow. +Somehow they managed to get ashore in the dinghy without anyone being +spilled over the side in their desperate hurry and a minute later were +pounding at the door. + +"Joe--Joe Digby," shouted Rob in a strange, strained voice. + +"Here," came back the answer in a feeble tone, "oh, boys, I'm glad +you've come." + +Furiously Rob shook the door. + +"It's locked," came the voice from inside, "I tried to break it down. +Too weak, I guess. Try the shutters." + +At each window in turn the Boy Scouts sought to effect an entrance, but +in vain. The owner of the place had screwed up the window coverings +too tightly for them to be opened without tools. + +The rescue party came to a momentary halt. + +"I've got it," shouted the captain suddenly, "we'll have him out uv +there in two shakes uv a drake's tail." + +He produced his formidable old pistol and waved it grimly. + +"Come on, boys," he yelled, darting round to the front of the +house--the side on which the door was. + +"What are you going to do?" demanded Rob, as much mystified as the rest +at the old eccentric actions. + +"Watch me," grinned the captain as he gained the door. + +"Stand clear!" he bawled at the top of his lungs, "stand clear uv the +door inside there, Joe!" + +"All right," came back the reply, "I'm in a corner." + +"Now, stand by ter receive boarders!" roared the veteran as he placed +the muzzle weapon at the lock and pulled the trigger. + +"Bang!" + +There was a roaring explosion from the wide mouthed weapon and a cloud +of smoke filled the air. But simultaneously there came a sound of +ripping, tearing and splintering and the lock of the door, shot clean +out by the heavy charge, clattered down to the floor on the inside of +the room. + +An instant later Joe Digby, pale and trembling from privation, surprise +and happiness all mingled in one, was in the midst of his friends and +fellow scouts. + +"I don't know what made me think of it," he explained in answer to +eager questions about the smoke telegraph message. "It was what the +books call an inspiration, I guess. There were plenty of loose +boards--fragments of old packing cases lying about, and luckily they +had not taken my matches. I built a blaze and then, while it was still +smoldering, I covered it with an old strip of sacking that I wetted +with some water out of the bottle they left me." + +"It made about as good a signal, as one could want," responded Rob +warmly, "but now tell us about your capture, Joe, how did it happen?" + +"Why, you see," exclaimed the lad, his voice growing stronger as he +proceeded, "I was just thinking it was about time to wake my relief +when I heard a rustling noise in the bushes back of the camp. I walked +up there to investigate, for I thought it might be some animals--maybe +the captain's pigs." + +"Keel haul them lubberly swine," from the captain. + +"But, as you shall hear, I was mistaken. Hardly had I reached the edge +of the dark shadows than I was seized and a hand put over my mouth. I +had only time to let out one yell for help." + +"The one that woke me," put in Merritt, in parenthesis. + +"That was it; I guess," went on the small lad, "well, I was picked up +and carried some little distance to where they had a boat, and thrown +into it. Then the three men who were in the boat rowed to an island +with a tent on it and there two of them got out. The other, a fellow +with a big beard and very dirty, then rowed over to this place with me +and, after putting some bread and a bottle of water inside the door, +closed and locked it. + +"I carried on like a baby, I guess. I cried for a long time and +shouted, but no one came. Then I grew quieter and tried to find some +way of escape but the shutters were all fastened and the door was too +strong for me. I tried to clamber up the chimney once but I had to +give it up. Then suddenly the thought of making a smoke came to me and +then I improved on that idea and used the Morse code that Rob has been +drumming into me. I never thought that I might be able to use it to +save my life maybe--or at least a lot of hunger and misery." + +"Could you recognize the men who took you if you saw them again?" asked +Rob earnestly. + +"I'm not sure," responded the small lad, "one of them I would know--the +one with the beard. The other two wore masks. But I think their +voices sounded like Bill's and Jack's. I'm sure of the man with the +beard though." + +"Hank Handcraft," exclaimed Merritt. + +"Oh, that's who it was," cried the small lad, "I thought somehow the +voice and something about the man seemed familiar. He's that old beach +comber who lives outside Hampton." + +"That's the son uv a sea-swab," roared the captain, "oh, if I could +only get my hands on him, I'd--" + +The fate the captain had reserved for Hank was doomed not to be known, +for as he was speaking Paul Perkins gave a sudden shout: + +"Look--look there!" he cried, pointing. + +Sneaking up to the tented island was the familiar outline of Sam +Redding's hydroplane. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE ESCAPE OF THE BULLY + + +The group standing about the newly rescued lad on the veranda of the +deserted bungalow galvanized into instant action. + +"Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender are in her!" shouted Rob, "come on, +scouts, we'll get after them while we can." + +With a shout the Boy Scouts ran for the boat and speedily pulled out to +the Flying Fish. Hastily as they executed this move, however, the two +in the other boat had had time to head her about and start at top speed +for the mouth of the inlet. + +"Clap on more sail, my hearties," roared the captain, almost beside +himself with excitement, "I want ter get my hands on them two piratical +craft." + +Rob, with a look of grim determination on his usually pleasant face, +held the Flying Fish true on her course, but, heavily laden as she was, +she could not make her usual speed and the hydroplane soon distanced +her. Jack Curtiss stood in her stern and waved a mocking hand at the +Boy Scouts as the light-draft craft shot over the shoals and shallows +with case while the Flying Fish had to lose much time and way by +threading in and out seeking the deeper water. + +"Douse my toplights, I can't stand that," bellowed the irate Captain +Hudgins. "I'll put a shot in that jackanapes' locker." + +With these words, and before any of the boys could stop him, he rose to +his feet and sent a bullet from his ponderous revolver flying in the +direction of the fleeing motor boat. It missed and hit the water near +by, sending up a little fountain of spray. + +Even at the distance they were the occupants of the Flying Fish could +see the fear which this warlike move inspired in the bully and his +companion. They threw themselves flat in their boat till only the +hands of Bill, who was steering, were visible. + +They need not have feared, however. The captain's hasty move brought +down on his head Rob's wrath, though the young leader could not find it +in his heart to be really angry with the old man who had been irritated +past endurance by the bully's mocking defiance. + +"Shiver my garboard strake," he exclaimed contritely, when Rob pointed +out to him that he might have killed one of the occupants of the +hydroplane, "shiver my garboard strake, lad, I saw red fer a minute +just like I did that time the Chinese pirates boarded the Sarah Jane +Butts in the Yellow River." + +Although there was not much hope of catching the two, Rob stuck to the +chase even when he realized the scouts were outdistanced, and in fact +kept his attention so closely riveted on the other craft that when +there came a sudden jar and jolt and the Flying Fish stopped with a +grunt and a wheeze, he realized with a start that he had not been +watching the treacherous channel and was once more fast on a sand bar. + +With a last shout and a yell of defiance the bully and his companion, +who had by now got over their fright, shot out on to the ocean and +rapidly vanished. + +"There goes our hope of catching those two crooks," cried Tubby +angrily, while the engine of the Flying Fish was set at reverse. "It's +all off now. They know that we have rescued Joe and they'll fly the +coop for some other part of the country." + +"I suppose they came down here to get their tent, not realizing we'd be +here so soon," observed Andy, which indeed was the fact. + +Fortunately the Flying Fish was not very hard aground and a little +manipulation got her off into deep water once more. + +"I guess those two chaps are almost in Hampton by this time and getting +ready to leave town," observed Rob as the motor boat forged ahead, once +more. + +"This will be the safest thing for them to do," exclaimed Merritt, +"they are in a serious position this time. Kidnapping is a dire +offense." + +"I wonder what they came back for?" said Tubby suddenly. + +"No doubt to get their tent and the few things they had left on the +island," vouchsafed Rob, skillfully dodging a shoal as he spoke, +"maybe, too, they intended to see how Joe was making out." + +"I wasn't making out at all," said the small lad, with a shudder at the +recollection of his imprisonment. + +"Never mind, Joe, that's all over now," put in Merritt. + +"I'm glad it is," answered the small lad, "and just think, if I hadn't +been a Boy Scout and understood that code I might have been there yet." + +"That's true enough," said Rob, "for we had about made up our minds +that the bungalow was deserted, and were not going to bother +investigating it, till we saw the smoke." + +About an hour later the boys landed once more in camp, where their +reception by the others may be well imagined by my young readers. + +"And now comes the final chapter in the career of Messrs. Jack Curtiss +and Bill Bender," said Rob decisively, "I'm going to take a run up to +Hampton. Joe, you'll come along, and you, Merritt, and Tubby. If that +letter was delivered, as I imagine it was, Joe's parents must be in a +terrible state of anxiety by now and we must hurry up and see them at +once." + +"Right," agreed Merritt, and a few moments later, having left the +captain and the others ashore, the Boy Scouts and their young leader +were speeding toward Hampton. With the craft lightened as she was, +they made good time and arrived at the yacht club pier speedily. + +News of the events which had transpired at the island had evidently +reached the town, for Mr. Wingate himself, with Mr. Blake and Merritt's +father were at the landing as the Flying Fish glided up to it. + +The three elders were almost as enthusiastic as the boys had been over +the safe recovery of Joe, the details attendant on which Rob rapidly +sketched to them. He had hardly concluded and had not had time to ask +how they knew of the kidnapping when a wild-eyed man in faded old farm +clothes, accompanied by an equally distracted woman, came rushing down +to the wharf. + +"Where's them Boy Scouts? I allers knew no good would come of my son +joining 'em," the man shouted. "I'll give a hundred dollars fer a boat +that'll take me ter Topsail Island in ten minutes." + +"'No need of that, Mr. Digby," said Rob quietly stepping forward with +his hand on Joe's shoulder, "here is Joe safe and sound." + +"Great hopping watermelons!" yelled the farmer, rushing at his son +followed by his wife. Together the worthy souls almost squashed the +small lad like a butterfly under a harrow. But at last the first +greetings were over and the farmer turned to the somewhat amused group +of boys and men who were looking on. + +"My, what a fright we had," exclaimed Mrs. Digby, a motherly-looking +woman, dabbing at her eyes with capacious pocket handkerchief, "we gets +a letter tellin' us that our boy be kidnapped." + +"Yes we know all about that, Mrs. Digby," put in Mr. Blake, "you +recollect your husband telephoned to the chief of police here about it, +and expecting news from the island, we came down here." + +"So he did, so he did," cried Mrs. Digby, "oh, dear me, Mr. Blake, I'm +in such a takin! I hardly know what I'm sayin'." + +"Consarn them Boy Scouts," sputtered the farmer, returning to his +original grievance, "if Joe hadn't a joined them none of this would +have happened." + +"Oh, yes it would and worse in fact," said Mr. Blake quietly, "from +what I have learned of the affair it was your lad's knowledge of the +Morse code, which every Boy Scout must know, that saved him when he was +confined on the island." + +"That's right, pop," piped up the lad himself. + +"Wall, I don't know nothin' about Horses, codes," grunted Mr. Digby, +somewhat mollified, "but if it saved Joe here it must be all right." + +"Then your animosity toward the Boy Scouts is somewhat modified," +smiled Mr. Blake, "let me tell you just what happened. As a matter of +fact the whole trouble dates back to the day your son exposed the +contemptible trick by which Jack Curtiss hoped to win the aeroplane +model prize contest." + +The banker drew the farmer aside and related to him the story that had +been previously narrated by Rob. + +"I want ter shake yer hand, boy," exclaimed the fanner, darting at Rob +at the conclusion, "I want ter shake all yer hands," he yelled in his +enthusiasm. + +"Bless my soul," exclaimed Commodore Wingate suddenly, "we are clean +forgetting about those two young rascals who tried to extort the money +from Mr. Digby. We must get after them at once and their accomplice +who, I suppose, is, the man delegated to take the money from under the +rock." + +"What do you suggest?" asked Mr. Blake. + +"That we hasten to the office of the chief of police and then get into +my car and ferret them out if possible," said the commodore briskly, +"they must be made to suffer for this." + +"I don't believe that Sam Redding had any hand in it," put in Rob as +Merritt mentioned the name of the boat-builder's son. "You know that +all our investigation only pointed to two persons, Jack and Bill, and +their assistant, Hank Handcraft." + +A short time later Merritt, Tubby and the Digbys being left behind on +the landing, a high powered car, containing Rob, his father, Commodore +Wingate and the chief of police of Hampton shot out on to the road +leading to the farm owned by Jack Curtiss' father. Inquiry at the +Bender home had already developed the fact that Jack and Bill had left +there hurriedly a short time before, saying they were going out to the +Curtiss place. The party was doomed to disappointment, however, so far +as the hope of catching Jack or his accomplices at the farm was +concerned. Old Mr. Curtiss informed them that his son had taken the +family buggy and driven furiously off down the road with Bill Bender a +short time before. + +"He got a hundred dollars from me," explained the old man simply, "he +told me he was goin' ter invest it in some rich mining stock his friend +Bender had promoted but--what's the matter, gentlemen," he broke off, +noticing the half-pitying look on the faces of the men in the +automobile. Mr. Blake hurriedly explained the attempted extortion of +which Jack had been guilty. + +"What, Jack--my son!" exclaimed the old man in half daze at the +stunning intelligence, "my boy Jack do a thing like that? Why, it +can't be true. I don't believe it." + +"I'm afraid, nevertheless, it is," rejoined Mr. Blake, but the old man +only shook his head. + +"I'll not believe it," he kept repeating. + +"I wish that so good a father had a worthy son," remarked Mr. Blake as +the car shot out of the farm and out upon the highroad in the hope of +overtaking the buggy. + +At the Digby farm the machine was turned off to take the cross roads +and at this spot they encountered a buggy coming toward them driven by +a farmer friend of Mr. Blake's. + +"Seen a rig with Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender in it?" shouted the +banker as the car was slowed up by Commodore Wingate. + +"Down the road a piece driving like the Mischief," responded the rustic +pointing back with his whip, "but you're wrong 'bout ther' bein' only +two of them; that no-good beach-comber, Hank Handcraft, was in there +with them." + +With a shouted word of thanks the car dashed forward once more. It was +evident that, realizing that their game was up, Jack and Bill had +picked up Hank, and, with a sense of loyalty for which Rob certainly +would not have given them credit, were trying to save him too. + +"Where can they be headed for?" wondered Mr. Blake as the car dashed +forward. + +"I can hazard a guess," exclaimed Commodore Wingate, "for the Sunnyside +railroad station. If they make a train they may escape us yet." + +"Je-rus-a-lem," exclaimed the chief of police, a man named Applegate, +pulling out a huge old-fashioned silver watch, "there's a train due in +a few minutes now; if we don't make it, they'll slip through our +fingers!" + +Faster and faster the car roared forward and suddenly as it shot round +a curve the little station of Sunnyside came in sight. Tied outside it +was the buggy and horse of farmer Curtiss and on the platform stood +three figures that the party in the auto made out at once as Jack +Curtiss, Bill Bender and their unsavory ally. + +The road took a long curve at this point and while they could see the +station the pursuers had the mortification of knowing that it would be +some minutes before they could reach it. As the car bounded forward, +swaying like a rocking ship over the rough roads, there came a sudden +sound that made Rob's heart bound. + +The long whistle of an approaching train. + +Faster the machine shot onward roaring like a battery of machine guns +going into action. Its occupants leaned forward with eyes glued on the +group on the platform. + +The trio of whom the autoists were in pursuit had by this time realized +that they were the objects of the chase and were nervously staring up +the track down which was fast approaching the train by which they hoped +to escape. + +The auto was still a good two hundred yards from the station when the +train rolled in and, hardly stopping, started to move out again. + +"Stop! stop!" yelled Chief Applegate, at the top of his lungs, and the +others waved their hands frantically. The engineer looked back at them +with a grin. + +"Some more idiots missed their train, Jim," he remarked to the fireman, +"I might have waited for them but we're five minutes behind schedule +time now." + +The fireman nodded understandingly and as the auto, in a cloud of dust, +dashed up to the little depot the train, with a screech that sounded +like the last defiance of the bully, shot round a curve and vanished +with a cloud of black smoke. + +"Beaten!" gasped the chief. + +"We can telegraph ahead and have them arrested in New York," suggested +Rob. + +"No, perhaps it is all for the best," counseled Mr. Blake, "the parents +of both those boys are respected citizens, and it would be a cruel +grievance to them were their boys to be publicly disgraced. Let them +work out their own salvation." + +And so Jack Curtiss, Bill Bender and Hank Handcraft vanish for a time +from the ken of the Boy Scouts, leaving behind them no regrets, except +it be those of their parents who were for many months bowed down with +the grief and humiliation of their boys' misdoings. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +SCOUTS IN NEED ARE FRIENDS INDEED + + +"Ta-ra-ta-ra-ta! Ta-ra-ta-ra-ta! Ta-ra-ta-rata! Ta-ra-ta-a-a!" + +Andy's bugle briskly announced the last morning of the Boy Scouts' camp +on Topsail Island. Already the first breath of autumn had begun to +tint the leaves of the earlier fading trees, and the chill of the early +dawn was noticeable. + +During their stay in camp the lads had profited in every way. The scout +program as sent out for camps by headquarters had been gone, through +with some modifications, and Sim Jeffords had qualified as a +first-class scout while Martin Green, Walter Lonsdale and Joe Digby, +once more as merry as ever, were all fitted for their second-class +scout diplomas. The prospect of another patrol in Hampton had been +discussed and the outlook for one seemed favorable. + +As the last notes of Andy's call--to turn to the subject of the opening +of this chapter--rang out the tousle-headed, sleepy-eyed scouts +appeared from their tents and found themselves enveloped in a fleecy +mist--such a light fog as is common on that part of the Atlantic coast +at this season of the year. + +"Pretty thick!" was Rob's comment as he doused his face in his tin +basin. + +"Hull-o-o-o!" suddenly hailed a voice from the water, "got any +breakfast fer an old shipmate?" + +Through the fog the boys could make out the dim outline of the +captain's motor boat even if it's apoplectic cough had not already told +them it was there. + +"Sure, come ashore," hailed Merritt. + +A few moments later the hearty old seaman was sitting down with the +lads and performing miracles of eating. + +"It's a good thing we haven't all got your capacity," remarked Rob, +laughing, "or that provision tent wouldn't have held out very long." + +"Wall, boys," observed the captain, drawing out a black pipe and +ramming some equally black tobacco into it with a horny thumb, "a full +hold makes fair sailin', that's my motto and 'Be Prepared' is yers. A +man can be no better prepared than with a good meal under his belt. +Give me a well-fed crew and I'll navigate a raft to Hindustan, but a +pack uv slab-sided lime juicers couldn't work a full-rigged ship uv the +finest from here to Ban-gor." + +Having delivered himself of this bit of philosophy, the captain passed +on to another subject. + +"Hear'n anything uv them varmints what slipped their moorings on the +train?" he asked. + +"We heard that they had gone West," rejoined Merritt, "but to just what +part I don't know." + +"That thar Sam Reddin' boy clar'd himself uv all suspicion, did he?" +went on the old man. + +"Yes, after he had admitted that Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender and +himself stole our uniforms and robbed you--" + +"Consarn him," interrupted the captain. + +"You needn't grumble, his father paid you back all that was taken," +observed Merritt. + +"That don't lessen the crime," grunted the captain, "heave ahead with +yer yarn, my boy; yer was sayin' that that Reddin' boy admitted +everythin'." + +"Well," continued Rob, "in consideration of his confession, it was +agreed not to prosecute him and he seems to be a reformed character. +He absolutely denied, though, having had anything to do with the +kidnapping of Joe Digby here, and I believe he is telling the truth." + +"The truth ain't in any uv them fellers, that's my belief," snorted the +captain, "and if ever I get my hands on that thar Jack Curtiss or Bill +Bender I'll lay onto 'em with a rope's end." + +"Oh, we'll never see them again," laughed Rob. + +It may be said here, however, that in this he was very much mistaken. +Rob and his friends did meet the bully again and under strange +circumstances, in scenes far removed from the peaceful surroundings of +Hampton. + +"Fog's thickenin'," observed the captain squinting seaward. + +As he remarked, the mist was indeed increasing in density, shrouding +the surroundings of the camp completely and covering the trees and +bushes with condensed moisture, which dripped in a slow, melancholy +sort of way from their limbs. + +"Bad weather for ships," observed Merritt. + +"Yer may well say that, my lad, and this is a powerful bad part uv the +coast ter be navigatin' on in a fog. I've heard it said that there's a +lot uv iron in the Long Island shoals and that this deflects the +compasses uv ships that stay too near in shore in a fog. I don't know +how that maybe, I don't place a lot uv stock in it myself, but I do +know that steamers and vessels uv al kinds go ashore here more than +seems ter be natural." + +As he finished speaking there came, the fog a sound that fitted in so +well with subject of his conversation that it almost an accompaniment +to it. + +"Who-oo-oo-oo!" + +"A steamer's siren," exclaimed Rob. + +"That's what it is, lad," assented the old sailor, as the sound came +again, booming through the fog with a melancholy cadence. + +"Who-o-o-o-o-o!" roared the siren once more. + +"I'll bet the feller who's on the bridge uv that ship is havin' his own +troubles just about now," remarked the captain, "hark at that!" + +The whistle was now roaring like a wounded bull, sending distinct +vibrations of sound through the increasing fog billows. + +"Thick as pea soup," commented the captain, refilling his pipe, "reckon +I'll have ter stay here till she lifts a bit. Wind's hauled to the +sou'west too. Bad quarter means more fog and smother." + +"Who-o-o-o-o!" boomed the siren of the hidden vessel once more, and +this time it was answered by another whistle somewhere further off in +the fog. + +"Two uv 'em now. Stand by fer a collision," shouted the captain, while +the scouts, intensely interested in the development of this hidden +drama of the fog, clustered about him. + +"Who-o-o-o-o! Who-o-o-o-o! Who-o-o-o-o!" came the nearest siren. + +"She's standin' in shore," shouted the captain, "boys, she's in grave +danger." + +"What's she coming in for?" asked Merritt. + +"I suppose her skipper thinks he's got plenty uv water under his keel +and wants ter give a wide berth ter the other vessel," explained the +captain. "Boys, if only we had a big bell or a steam whistle we could +warn them poor fellows uv their peril." + +"It does seem hard to hear them blundering in and not be able to warn +them," agreed Rob, "there should have been a lighthouse put on these +shoals long ago." + +"Right yer are, boy, but the government is a slow movin' vessel and +hard ter get under way." + +The boys had to laugh at this odd way of expressing the difficulty of +getting new lights erected, but they knew as well almost as their +companion the dangers of the ocean off this part of Long Island. + +The whistle boomed out its wailing note again. + +"Closer and closer," lamented the captain, "what's the matter with +those lubbers? Yer'd think they'd have a leadsman out." + +All at once the catastrophe for which they had been more or less +prepared happened. So quickly did it come that they had not time to +speak. + +The echoes of the last note of the siren had hardly died out when there +came a loud explosion. + +"Bang!" + +"A signal gun," roared the captain. + +"They are calling for help?" asked Rob. + +"That's it, my boy. They've struck, just as I thought they would." + +The distress gun sounded again. + +"They're in a bad mess by the sound uv that," said the captain. + +"It doesn't sound as if they were more than half a mile or so out," +remarked Rob. + +"I guess they're not. Hark at that! They must be scared ter death." + +The gun was fired three times in rapid succession. + +"They'll never hear that at Lone Hill life savin' station," grimly +commented the captain, "and this fog's too thick fer them ter see her." + +"Do you imagine she is badly damaged, captain?" asked Rob anxiously. +The idea of the stranded ship lost in the dense fog affected him +strangely. + +"Can't tell," the captain replied to his question, "may have stove a +hole in herself and be sinking now." + +"Can't we do something to help them?" asked Merritt eagerly. + +"Only one thing we can do, boy, and that's full uv danger." + +"What is it?" demanded Rob, ignoring the last part of the captain's +speech. + +"Get in ther boat and go out thar to 'em. If they're sinkin' we can +help 'em a whole lot, and--" + +The captain stopped short in amazement. + +Rob, Merritt and Tubby had already started for the beach and Hiram, +"the wireless scout", was close on their heels. + +"Well, douse my toplights," exclaimed the captain, rising to his feet +and lumbering after them, "Yer can't beat the Boy Scouts." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +A MEETING IN THE FOG--CONCLUSION + + +"Can you make her out?" + +Five pairs of eyes peered through the mist that hung like a white pall +an every side of the Flying Fish. + +"Stop that motor a minute, while I listen!" + +In compliance with Rob's order Merritt shut down the panting engine. + +"What's that noise off there?" asked Hiram suddenly. + +"That sort of throbbing sound?" rejoined Tubby Hopkins. + +"That's it, sounds like a big heart beating," put in Rob. + +"I guess that's their engine. They're tryin' ter back her off," +suggested the captain. + +"Give them a blast on that fog-horn and see if they answer," said Rob +suddenly. + +Hiram took up the big brass fish-horn, used as a fog signal on the +Flying Fish, and blew a loud, long call. + +After an interval of waiting, from out of the mist came the wail of the +stranded ship's siren once more. + +"There she is, right in there," declared the captain, pointing seaward +into the mist. "Steer right on that tack, Rob, and we'll pick her up +pretty soon." + +The motor was started up once more and the Flying Fish forged ahead +through the smother. Suddenly Rob, with a sharp cry of: + +"Stop her!" swung his wheel over sharp and the Flying Fish headed about. + +The gleaming black rampart of a large vessel's side had suddenly loomed +up dead ahead of him. + +"Ahoy! aboard the steamer," roared the captain, framing his mouth with +his hands, "what ship is that?" + +"The El Paso from London to New York," came back a hail from somewhere +above them in a somewhat surprised tone, "who are you?" + +"The Flying Fish of Hampton, Long Island," responded Rob, with a laugh. + +"Never heard of her," responded the voice, "we're hard aground on one +of your Long Island shoals it seems." + +"That's what yer are," exclaimed the captain, "how come yer ter be +huggin' the shore so hard?" + +"Trying to avoid a collision with another vessel." + +"Are yer all right?" bellowed the captain. + +"Seem to be. So far as we can find out there's not a plate started, +but if you're from the land we've got a couple of passengers we'd be +thankful if you'd take ashore. Will you come on board?" + +"Sure, if yer'll drop a Jacob's ladder," bellowed the captain at the +invisible speaker. + +"In a minute." + +The conversation had been carried on without either of the parties to +it being able to see one another, but the captain of the vessel--for he +had been the boy's interlocutor--now came off the bridge and with some +of the crew watched two sailors lower a Jacob's ladder and make it fast +to the rail. + +"Now we go aboard," said Captain Hudgins, clambering up the swaying +contrivance as nimbly as an athlete, "make our painter fast ter the +ladder, Rob." + +This being done, the boys followed the veteran on board. The steamer, +when they gained her deck, puzzled them a good deal and it was not till +her captain, a genial blond-bearded Britisher, explained to them that +she was a cattle ship that they understood the utility of the wooden +structures with which her decks were obstructed. + +The captain explained that these were pens for the cattle she expected +to take back to England, from which country she was returning after +having taken over a large consignment of steers. + +"Which," went on the captain, "brings us to my passengers. They are +Mr. Frank Harkness and his son, of Lariat, a small cattle town in the +West, where Mr. Harkness has a large ranch. They were his cattle that +we took over and as he had difficulty in engaging a berth on a liner at +this time of year, when the passenger ships are crowded, he decided to +return with us. Here is Mr. Harkness now," he added, as a tall, +bronzed man, with a long coat draped over a pair of broad shoulders, +and a wide-brimmed sombrero above keen eyes, approached. + +"Visitors from the shore, captain?" he inquired, a pleasant smile +illuminating his clean-shaven, sun-browned face. + +"That's what they are," rejoined the captain, "just dropped in on us, +don't you know." + +"You mean we dropped in on them," amended the other with a laugh, "come +here, Harry," he called, raising his voice, "we've got some company out +of the fog." + +In response to his call a lad about the age of Rob appeared from the +after-end of the ship, where the cabins were, and greeted the boys with +a smile and a nod. He, like his father, wore a sombrero and was quite +as sunburned. For the rest he was well-knit and athletic looking and +had evidently lived an out-door life. + +"Well, we are getting plenty of experiences away from the ranch, eh, +Harry?" observed his father, after the boys and the captain had +introduced themselves and there had been a great and ceremonious +hand-shaking all round. + +"We just naturally are," responded the rancher's son. "Say, captain," +he went on, "when do you expect to get off?" + +"If we are not too badly hung up we ought to get off at high-water," +rejoined the Britisher. + +"That won't be till late to-night," observed Rob. + +"If I could only get a tug we might do better," observed the captain, +"in fact, since I've had the engines going I don't think we can back +off under our own power." + +"Have you got a wireless?" asked Hiram, his pet subject uppermost. + +"Yes, but our operator went ashore in London and I guess he had too +good a time; anyhow he never showed up so we had to cross without one." + +"Is she working?" asked Hiram interestedly. + +"Sure, there's plenty of 'juice' as the operators, call it. I tried to +work it coming over," laughed Harry, "but outside of getting a proper +shock, I didn't do much." + +"I'll send out a signal for a tug," said Hiram quietly, "there's a +station at Island. They'll pick up the message and transmit it." + +"What--you can work a wireless?" + +"A little bit," said the lad modestly. + +"Come on, I'll show you the way," said the delighted captain, starting +off with Hiram, and followed by the others. + +"Say, don't think it personal of me, will you?" remarked Harry Harkness +to Rob as they followed, "but would you mind telling me what you all +are wearing those uniforms for?" + +"Why, we're Boy Scouts," rejoined Rob proudly, and went on to explain +just what the organization is. + +"Say, that's great," exclaimed Harry enthusiastically, "I'd like to +form a patrol out at Lariat. Do you reckon I could?" + +"I don't doubt it," rejoined Rob, smiling the Western enthusiasm. + +"By cracky, I'll do it," went on Harry Harkness, "I'll make it a +mounted patrol and if we don't get old 'Silver Tip' then, besides all +the other sport we'll have, call me a coyote." + +"Who or what is old Silver Tip?" asked Rob, somewhat interested in his +breezy new acquaintance. + +"Silver Tip is a grizzly," explained Harry, "a grizzly bear you know. +Dad says he's the biggest he's ever seen and he seems to bear--excuse +the pun, please--he seems to bear a charmed life. All the boys on the +ranch are crazy to get a shot at him, but they've never been able to." + +"Say, that sounds bully," agreed Rob, "I wish I could get out West for +a while." + +"It's a great country," said Harry sagely, as they entered the wireless +room, where Hiram was already bending over the instrument sending out a +message for aid, while the blue spark leaped and crackled across its +gap. The others gazed on admiringly as Hiram, having completed his +message, adjusted the detector on his head and awaited an answer. + +It soon came. Tugs would be dispatched as soon as the fog lifted, the +operator at Fire Island announced. + +"That's a weight off my mind," breathed the captain, while Harry +hastily confided to his father that the lads who had boarded the vessel +out of the mist were Boy Scouts. + +"The fog is lifting," announced Rob, as they streamed out of the +wireless room. + +"Yes, the wind has shifted," remarked Captain Hudgins. "I guess it was +that sou'west breeze that brought the mist. She's hauled ter the +nor'west now, and in an hour's time it will be clear." + +"I wonder if you boys can put us ashore," said Mr. Harkness, as the +group walked aft to the captain's cabin; "I would be very grateful if +you could. It seems that it will be some time before the steamer is +cleared, and I am anxious to make a train for the West." + +The boys agreed to land the ranchman and his son as soon as the fog +cleared off, which, as the captain had prophesied, it did in about an +hour's time. The boys had spent the interim in exploring the ship and +listening to Harry Harkness' tales of the ranch and the marvelous +exploits of Silver Tip, the huge grizzly, who derived his name, it +appeared, from a spot of white fur on his breast. In fact, so fast did +they get on, that by the time Harry and his father were called by +Captain Hudgins to embark in the Flying Fish, the boys had become fast +friends. + +The run to the shore was made quickly and by landing the two travelers +at a point above Hampton they were enabled to make a train that would +land them in the city in time for dinner. Mr. Harkness whiled away the +trip by plying the boys with all sorts of questions about the Boy +Scouts and seemed greatly interested in their answers. Altogether the +boys felt quite sorry when it came time to part at the wharf at +Farmingdale, the place where the rancher and his son were put ashore. + +"Well, good-bye, boys," said Mr. Harkness, holding out a big hand to +Rob, who took it and was amazed to find a twenty dollar gold piece +slipped into his palm by the ranchman. + +"Oh, I couldn't think of taking that," he said, insisting on handing it +back despite the ranchman's protests, "I appreciate your motive, but I +couldn't think of taking any money for an ordinary courtesy." + +"By Sam Hooker, you're right, boy," cried the ranchman heartily, "and +it's a privilege to meet such a bunch of fine lads. I thought all you +Easterners were a bunch of stuck-up tenderfeet, but I find I'm +wrong--anyhow so far as the Boy Scouts are concerned." + +A few minutes later the rancher and his son were hastening to the +railroad station, followed by the boys' eyes. As they entered the +depot, just in time to catch the New York train--they waved a hearty +farewell and the boys waved and shouted in return. + +"We've only known them a few hours, but I feel as if I'd just said +good-bye to two friends," said Rob as they turned away and prepared to +go back to the island in their boat and break camp. + +"So do I!" said Tubby; "I wonder if we'll ever see them again." + +"No, I guess they're kind of ships that pass in the night,"' laughed +Merritt, "however, I'm glad we did them a good turn." + +The boys, however, were destined to meet the ranchers again and to have +many strange and exciting adventures, among which the ultimate downfall +of Silver Tip was to be one. Could they have looked into the future, +too, they would have seen that in the Far West they were to face +dangers and difficulties of which they had as yet never dreamed and +were to be the victims of the malicious contrivings of Bill Bender and +our old, acquaintance, Jack Curtiss. + +A few weeks after the events related above there was great excitement +in Hampton over the announcement that Merritt's courageous act of +life-saving and the achievements of the other young scouts of the Eagle +Patrol were to receive official recognition. A field secretary of the +organization arrived at the village one evening and was met at the +depot by the Patrol in full uniform, and with the village band drawn up +at their head. Proudly, under the Eagle standard, they marched to the +Town Hall, which had been illuminated in a style the villagers would +never have believed possible and were greeted by the local committee +headed by Commodore Wingate and Mr. Blake. + +"Three cheers for the Boy Scouts!" came from a voice in the back of the +crowded hall after the honors had been distributed and the advances in +rank announced. + +The shout that went up cracked the plaster on the ceiling of the +venerable building. + +"Speech, speech," shouted one of those individuals who always do raise +that cry on the slightest excuse. + +Rob Blake, very red and protesting, was hustled to the front of the +stage on which the Scouts had been drawn up. + +"I can't make a speech," he began. + +"Hear! Hear!" shouted the crowd, most of whom couldn't. + +"But on behalf of the Boy Scouts I want to thank you all and--and--" + +The rest was drowned by the band which, having been quiescent for ten +whole minutes, could maintain silence no longer and blared out into +that favorite of all village bands, "Hail to the Chief." + +"Come on, let's get out of here," whispered Rob to Merritt, whose +breast was decorated with the coveted bronze cross and red ribbon, +which is the highest honor a scout can attain. + +As they slipped out upon the darkened street a boy came up to them with +an outstretched hand. + +"I want to tell you I'm sorry for the part I played in the mean tricks +Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender put up on you fellows," he said +contritely, "will you shake hands?" + +"Sure we will, Sam Redding," responded Merritt, extending his palm, +while Rob did likewise. + +"At that," added Merritt, "I guess we win." + +And here, with their former enemy become a remorseful friend, we will, +for the present, leave the Boy Scouts to renew our acquaintance with +them in the next volume of this series which will be called: "The Boy +Scouts on the Range." + + + +THE END + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Boy Scouts of the Eagle Patrol, by +Howard Payson + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12112 *** diff --git a/12112-h/12112-h.htm b/12112-h/12112-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..03bc71e --- /dev/null +++ b/12112-h/12112-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9852 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of The Boy Scouts of the Eagle Patrol, +by Howard Payson +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12112 ***</div> + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +THE BOY SCOUTS OF THE EAGLE PATROL +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +By +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +Lieut. Howard Payson +</H2> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAPTER</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">SCOUTS ON THE TRAIL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">A CRUISE TO THE ISLAND</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">BOY SCOUTS TO THE RESCUE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">SAM IN DIRE STRAITS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">THE BULLY SPRINGS A SURPRISE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">AN ISLAND MYSTERY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">SOME STRANGE DOINGS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">THE STOLEN UNIFORMS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">THE HYDROPLANE QUEERLY RECOVERED</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">WINNING THE CONTEST</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">A FORTUNATE DISCOVERY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">JACK FORMS A PLOT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">THE "FLYING FISH" ON HER METTLE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">THE EAGLES IN CAMP</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">THE CHUMS IN PERIL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">LOST IN THE STORM</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">ALMOST RUN DOWN</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18">JOE DIGBY MISSING</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap19">SAM REBELS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap20">THE HUNT FOR TENDERFOOT JOE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap21">SAVED BY "SMOKE MORSE"</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap22">THE ESCAPE OF THE BULLY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap23">SCOUTS IN NEED ARE FRIENDS INDEED</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap24">A MEETING IN THE FOG—CONCLUSION</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SCOUTS ON THE TRAIL +</H3> + +<P> +The dark growth of scrub oak and pine parted suddenly and the lithe +figure of a boy of about seventeen emerged suddenly into the little +clearing. The lad who had so abruptly materialized from the +close-growing vegetation peculiar to the region about the little town +of Hampton, on the south shore of Long Island, wore a well-fitting +uniform of brown khaki, canvas leggings of the same hue and a soft hat +of the campaign variety, turned up at one side. To the front of his +headpiece was fastened a metal badge, resembling the three-pointed +arrow head utilized on old maps to indicate the north. On a metal +scroll beneath it were embossed the words: "Be Prepared." +</P> + +<P> +The manner of the badge's attachment would have indicated at once, to +any one familiar with the organization, that the lad wearing it was the +patrol leader of the local band of Boy Scouts. +</P> + +<P> +Gazing keenly about him on all sides of the little clearing in the +midst of which he stood, the boy's eyes lighted with a gleam of +satisfaction on a largish rock. He lifted this up, adjusted it to his +satisfaction and then picked up a smaller stone. This he placed on the +top of the first and then listened intently. After a moment of this he +then placed beneath the large underlying rock and at its left side a +small stone. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly he started and gazed back. From the distance, borne faintly +to his ears, came far off boyish shouts and cries. +</P> + +<P> +They rose like the baying of a pack in full cry. Now high, now low on +the hush of the midsummer afternoon. +</P> + +<P> +"They picked the trail all right," he remarked to himself, with a +smile, "maybe I'd better leave another sign." +</P> + +<P> +Stooping he snapped off a small low-growing branch and broke it near +the end so that its top hung limply down. +</P> + +<P> +"Two signs now that this is the trail," he resumed as he stuck it in +the ground beside the stone sign. "Now I'd better be off, for they are +picking my tracks up, fast." +</P> + +<P> +He darted off into the undergrowth on the opposite side of the +clearing, vanishing as suddenly and noiselessly as he had appeared. +</P> + +<P> +A few seconds later the deserted clearing was invaded by a scouting +party of ten lads ranging in years from twelve to sixteen. They were +all attired in similar uniforms to the leader, whom they were tracing, +with but one exception they wore their "Be Prepared" badges on the left +arm above the elbow. Some of them were only entitled to affix the +motto part of the badge the scroll inscribed with the motto. These +latter were the second-class scouts of the Eagle Patrol. The exception +to the badge-bearers was a tall, well-knit lad with a sunny face and +wavy, brown hair. His badge was worn on the left arm, as were the +others, but it had a strip of white braid sewn beneath it. This +indicated that the bearer was the corporal of the patrol. +</P> + +<P> +As the group of flushed, panting lads emerged into the sandy space the +corporal looked sharply about him. Almost at once his eye encountered +the "spoor" left by the preceding lad. +</P> + +<P> +"Here's the trail, boys," he shouted, "and to judge by the fresh look +of the break in this branch it can't have been placed here very long. +The small stone by the large one means to the left. We'll run Rob Blake +down before long for all his skill if we have good luck." +</P> + +<P> +"Say, Corporal Merritt," exclaimed a perspiring lad, whose "too, too +solid flesh" seemed to be melting and running off his face in the form +of streaming moisture, "don't we get a rest?" +</P> + +<P> +A general laugh greeted poor Bob or Tubby Hopkins' remark. +</P> + +<P> +"I always told you, Tubby, you were too fat to make a good scout," +laughed Corporal Merritt Crawford, "this is the sort of thing that will +make you want to take some of that tubbiness off you." +</P> + +<P> +"Say, Tubby, you look like a roll of butter at an August picnic," +laughed Simon Jeffords, one of the second-class scouts. +</P> + +<P> +"All right, Sim," testily rejoined the aggrieved fat one, "I notice at +that, though, that I am a regular scout while you are only a rookie." +</P> + +<P> +"Come on, cut out the conversation," exclaimed Corporal Crawford +hastily, "while we are fussing about here, Rob Blake must be halfway +home." +</P> + +<P> +With a groan of comical despair from poor Tubby, the Boy Scouts darted +forward once more. On and on they pushed across country, skillfully +tracking their leader by the various signs they had been taught to know +and of which the present scouting expedition was a test. +</P> + +<P> +Their young leader evidently intended them to use their eyes to the +utmost for, beside the stone signs, he used blaze-marks, cut on the +trees with his hunting knife. For instance, at one place they would +find a square bit of bark removed, with a long slice to the left of it. +This indicated that their quarry had doubled to the left. The slice to +the right of the square blaze indicated the reverse. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly Corporal Crawford held up his hand as a signal for silence. +The scouts came to an abrupt stop. +</P> + +<P> +From what seemed to be only a short distance in front of them they +could hear a voice upraised apparently in anger. Replying to it were +the tones of their leader. +</P> + +<P> +"Seems to be trouble ahead of some kind," exclaimed Crawford. "Come on, +boys." +</P> + +<P> +They all advanced close on his heels—guided by the sound of the angry +voice, which did not diminish in tone but apparently waxed more and +more furious as they drew nearer. Presently the woodland thinned and +the ground became dotted with stumps of felled timber and in a few +paces more they emerged on a small peach orchard at the edge of which +stood Rob Blake and a larger and older boy. As Crawford and his +followers came upon the scene the elder lad, who seemed beside himself +with rage, picked up a large rock and was about to hurl it with all his +might at Rob when the young corporal dashed forward and held his hand +up to stay him. +</P> + +<P> +"Here, what's all this trouble?" he demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"You just keep out of it, Merritt Crawford," said the elder lad, a +hulking, thick-set youth with a mean look on his heavy features. "I'm +just reading this kid here a lesson. This orchard is my father's and +mine and you'll keep out of it in future or suffer the consequences, +understand?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, we aren't doing any harm," protested Rob Blake heatedly. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't care what you are doing or not doing," retorted the other, +"this is my father's orchard and you'll keep off it. You and the rest +of you tin soldiers. I don't want you stealing our peaches." +</P> + +<P> +"I guess you are sore, Jack Curtiss, because you couldn't get a boy +scout patrol of your own! I guess that's what the trouble is," +remarked Tubby Hopkins softly, but with a meaning look at the big lad. +</P> + +<P> +"You impudent little whipper-snapper," roared Jack Curtiss, "if you +weren't such a shrimp I'd lick you for that remark, but you're all +beneath my notice. All I want to say to you is keep away from my +orchard or I'll give you a trimming." +</P> + +<P> +"Suppose you start now," said Rob Blake quietly, "if you are so anxious +to show what a scrapper you are." +</P> + +<P> +"Bah, I don't want anything to do with you, I tell you," rejoined +Curtiss, turning away, with a rather troubled expression, however, for +while he was a bully the big lad had no particular liking for a fight +unless he was pretty sure that all the advantage lay on his side. +</P> + +<P> +"It was too bad you didn't get that patrol of yours, Jack," called the +irrepressible Tubby after him as the big youth strode off across the +orchard toward the old-fashioned farmhouse in which he lived with his +father, a well-to-do farmer. "Never mind; better luck next time," he +went on, "or maybe we'll let you into ours some time." +</P> + +<P> +"You just wait," roared the retreating bully, shaking his fist at the +lads, "I'll make trouble for you yet." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," remarked Rob Blake, as Jack Curtiss strode off, "I guess the +run is over for to-day. Too bad we should have come out on his land. +Of course he feels sore at us; and I shouldn't wonder but he will +really try to do us some mischief if he gets a chance." +</P> + +<P> +As it was growing late and there did not seem much chance of restarting +the "Follow the Trail" practice, that day at least, the boys strolled +back through the woodland and soon emerged on a country road about +three miles from Hampton Inlet, where they lived. +</P> + +<P> +While they are covering the distance perhaps the reader may care to +know something about the cause of the enmity which Jack Curtiss +entertained toward the lads of the Eagle Patrol. It had its beginning +several months before when the boys of Hampton Inlet began to discuss +forming a patrol of boy scouts. They all attended the Hampton Academy, +and naturally the news that Rob Blake was going to try to organize a +patrol soon spread through the school. +</P> + +<P> +Jack Curtiss, as soon as he heard what Rob—whom he considered more or +less a rival of his—intended doing he also forwarded an application to +the headquarters of the organization in New York. As Rob Blake's had +been received first, however, and on investigation he was shown to be a +likely lad for the leader, he was appointed and at once began the +enrollment of his scouts. +</P> + +<P> +The bully was furious when he realized that he would be unable to +secure an authorized patrol, and he and his cronies, two lads about his +own age named Bill Bender and Sam Redding, had been busy ever since +devising schemes to "get even" as they called it. None of these, +however, had been effective and the encounter of that day was the first +chance Jack had had to work off any of his rancor on Rob Blake's patrol. +</P> + +<P> +Young Blake was the only son of Mr. Albert Blake, the president of the +local bank. His corporal, Merritt Crawford, was the eldest of the +numerous family of Jared Crawford, the blacksmith and wheelwright of +the little town, and Tubby Hopkins was the offspring of Mrs. Hopkins—a +widow in comfortable circumstances. The other lads of the Patrol whom +we shall meet as the story of their doings and adventures progresses +were all natives of the town, which was situated on the south shore of +Long Island—as has been said—and on an inlet which led out to the +Atlantic itself. +</P> + +<P> +The scouts trudged back into Hampton just at twilight and made their +way at once to their armory—as they called it—which was situated In a +large room above the bank of which Rob's father was president. At one +side of it was a row of lockers and each lad—after changing his +uniform for street clothes—placed his "regimentals" in these +receptacles. +</P> + +<P> +This done the lads broke up and started for their various homes. Rob +and his young corporal left the armory together, after locking the door +and descending the stairs which led onto a side street. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder if that fellow Curtiss means to carry out his threat of +getting even?" said Crawford as they made their way down the street arm +in arm, for their homes were not far apart and both on Main Street. +</P> + +<P> +"He's mean enough to attempt anything," rejoined Rob, "but I don't +think he's got nerve enough to carry out any of his schemes. Hullo!" +he broke off suddenly, "there he is now across the street by the post +office, talking to Bill Bender and Sam Redding. I'll bet they are +hatching up some sort of mischief. Just look at them looking at us. +I'll bet a doughnut they were talking about us." +</P> + +<P> +"Shouldn't wonder," agreed his companion. "By the way, I've got to go +and see if there is any mail. Come on over." +</P> + +<P> +The two lads crossed the street and as they entered the post office, +although neither of them had much use for either of the bullies' two +chums, they nodded to them pleasantly. +</P> + +<P> +"You kids think you're pretty fine with your Eagle Patrol or whatever +you call it, don't you," sneered Bill Bender, as they walked by. "I'll +bet the smell of a little real powder would make your whole regiment +run to cover." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't pay any attention to him," whispered the young corporal to Rob, +who doubled up his fists and flushed angrily at the sneering tone Jack +Curtiss' friend had adopted. +</P> + +<P> +Rob restrained his anger with an effort, and by the time they emerged +from the post office the trio of worthies—who, as Rob had rightly +guessed, had been discussing them—had moved on up the street. +</P> + +<P> +"I had trouble with those kids myself this afternoon," remarked Jack +Curtiss with a scowl, as they wended their way toward a shed in the +rear of Bill Bender's home, which had been fitted tip as a sort of +clubroom. +</P> + +<P> +"What did they do to you?" incautiously inquired Sam Redding, a youth +as big as the other two, but not so powerful. In fact he was used more +or less as a tool by them. +</P> + +<P> +"Do to me," roared the bully, "what did I do to them, you mean." +</P> + +<P> +"Well what did you do to them then?" asked Bill Bender, as they entered +the clubroom before referred to and he produced some cigarettes, which +all three had been strictly forbidden to smoke. +</P> + +<P> +"Chased them off my land," rejoined the other, lighting a paper roll +and blowing out a cloud of smoke, "you should have seen them run. If +they want to play their fool games they've got to do it on the property +of folks who'll let them. They can't come on my land." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean your father's, don't you?" put in the unlucky Sam Redding. +</P> + +<P> +"Sam, you've got a head like a billiard ball," retorted the bully, +turning on the other, "it'll be mine some day, won't it? Therefore it's +as good as mine now." +</P> + +<P> +Although he didn't quite see the logic of the foregoing, Sam Redding +gave a sage nod and agreed that his leader was right. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, those kids need a good lesson from somebody," chimed in Bill +Bender. +</P> + +<P> +"I think we had better be the 'somebodies' to give it to them," +rejoined Jack Curtiss. "They are getting insufferable. They actually +twitted me this afternoon with being sore at them because I didn't get +my patrol—as if I really wanted one. That Blake kid is the worst of +the bunch. Just because his father has a little money he gives himself +all kinds of airs. My father is as rich as his, even if he isn't a +banker." +</P> + +<P> +"I've been thinking of a good trick we can put up on them, but it will +take some nerve to carry it out," announced Bill Bender, after some +more discussion of the lads of the Eagle Patrol. +</P> + +<P> +"Out with it, then," urged the bully, "what is it?" +</P> + +<P> +In a lowered tone Bill Bender sketched out his scheme in detail, while +Jack and Sam nodded their approval. At length he ceased talking and +the other two broke out into a delighted laugh, in which malice as much +as merriment prevailed. +</P> + +<P> +"It's the very thing," exclaimed Jack. "Bill, you're a genius. We'll +do it as soon as possible. If that doesn't take some starch out of +those tin soldiers nothing will." +</P> + +<P> +Half an hour later the three cronies parted for the night. Sam went to +his home near the waterfront, for his father was a boat builder, and +Jack started to walk the three miles to his father's farm in the +moonlight. His way took him by the bank. As he passed it he gazed up +at the windows of the armory on which was lettered in gilt: "Eagle +Patrol of the Boy Scouts of America." +</P> + +<P> +"That's a slick idea of Bill's," said the bully to himself, "I can +hardly wait till we get a chance to carry it out." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A CRUISE TO THE ISLAND +</H3> + +<P> +"Whatever are you doing, Rob?" +</P> + +<P> +It was the morning after the consultation of Jack Curtiss and his +cronies, and Corporal Crawford was looking over the fence into his +leader's yard. +</P> + +<P> +Rob was bending over a curious-looking apparatus, consisting of a bent +stick held in a bow-shape by a taut leather thong. The appliance was +twisted about an upright piece of wood sharpened at one end—which was +rotated as the lad ran the bow back and forth across it. +</P> + +<P> +Presently smoke began to rise from the flat piece of timber into which +the point of the upright stick had been boring and depositing sawdust, +and Rob, by industriously blowing at the accumulation, presently caused +it to burst into flame. +</P> + +<P> +"There I've done it," he exclaimed triumphantly, arising with a flushed +face from his labors. +</P> + +<P> +"Done what?" inquired young Crawford interestedly. +</P> + +<P> +"Made fire in the Indian way," replied Rob triumphantly. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought they made it by rubbing two sticks together." +</P> + +<P> +"Only book Indians do that," replied Rob, "I'll tell you it took me a +time to get the hang of it, but I've got it now." +</P> + +<P> +"It's quite a stunt, all right," commented the corporal admiringly. +</P> + +<P> +"You bet, and it's useful, too," replied Rob. "I'll put the bow and +drill in my pocket, and then any time we get stuck for matches we'll +have no trouble in making a signal smoke or lighting cooking fires." +</P> + +<P> +"Say, I've got some news for you," went on young Crawford, "did you +know that Sam Redding has entered that freak motor boat he's been +building in the yacht club regatta? He's out for the club trophy." +</P> + +<P> +"No, is he, though?" exclaimed Rob, keenly interested. "Then the crew +and skipper of the Flying Fish will have to look alive. I know that +Sam's father helped him out with that boat and put a lot of new +wrinkles in it. I didn't think, though, he'd have it ready in time for +the races." +</P> + +<P> +The boys referred to the coming motor-boat races which were to take +place shortly on the inlet at Hampton. Like most of the other lads in +the seashore town, Merritt and Rob had a lot of experience on the water +and some time before had built a speedy motor boat from knock-down +frames. The Flying Fish, as they called her, was entered for the main +event referred to, the prize for which was a silver cup, donated by the +merchants of the town. There were several other entries in the race, +but Rob and his crew, consisting of Merritt and Tubby Hopkins, +confidently expected the Flying Fish to easily lead them all. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder if the Sam Redding can show her stern to the Flying Fish?" +mused Rob. "I'd like to lake a good look at her." +</P> + +<P> +"Let's go down to Redding's boat yard," suggested Merritt; "she's lying +there on the ways. I don't suppose any one would object to our sizing +her up." +</P> + +<P> +Rob hailed the suggestion as a good one. +</P> + +<P> +"We can call in for Tubby on the way," he said, as he darted into the +house after his hat. +</P> + +<P> +The boys dropped in at Tubby's house on their way to the water-front, +and received from the stout youth some additional details regarding +Sam's boat. +</P> + +<P> +"She's a hydroplane," volunteered Tubby, "and Tom Jennings, down at the +yard, says she's as fast as a race horse." +</P> + +<P> +"A hydroplane?—that's one of those craft that cut along the top of the +water like a skimming dish, isn't it?" asked Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the idea," responded Rob. "They're supposed to be as speedy as +anything afloat in smooth water." +</P> + +<P> +Thus conversing they reached the boat-building yard of Sam Redding's +father and were greeted by Tom Jennings, a big good-natured ship +carpenter. "Hullo, Tom! Can we see that new boat of Sam's?" inquired +Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure, I guess there's no objection," grinned Tom, "come right this +way. There she is, over there by that big winch." +</P> + +<P> +Report had not erred apparently as to the novel qualities of Sam +Redding's speed craft. She was about twenty-five feet long, narrow and +painted black. She was perfectly flat-bottomed, her underside being +deeply notched at frequent intervals. On the edge of those notches she +was supposed to glide over the water when driven at top speed. +</P> + +<P> +"She certainly looks like a winner," commented Rob, as he gazed at her +clean, slender lines and sharp bow. +</P> + +<P> +"She's got wonderful speed," Tom Jennings confided. "We tried her out +the other night when no one was around. But I don't think that in +rough water she'll be much good." +</P> + +<P> +"No, I'd prefer the Flying Fish for the waters hereabouts," agreed Rob, +"it's liable to come on rough in a hurry and then a chap who was out in +a dry-goods box, like that thing, would be in trouble." +</P> + +<P> +"What are you calling a dry-goods box?" demanded an indignant voice +behind them, and turning, the lads saw Sam Redding with a menacing look +on his face. A little way behind him stood Bill Bender and Jack +Curtiss. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I beg your pardon, Sam," said Rob. "I really admire your +hydroplane very much, and I think it will give us a tussle for the +trophy, all right; but I don't think she'd be much good in any kind of +a sea-way." +</P> + +<P> +"That's my business, you interfering little runt," snapped Sam, who, +with Bill Bender and Jack Curtiss to back him, felt very brave; though +ordinarily he would have avoided trouble with the young scouts. "What +are you doing spying around the yard here, anyhow?" he went on +insolently. +</P> + +<P> +"We are not spying," indignantly burst out Merritt. "We asked Tom +Jennings if we couldn't look at your hydroplane, as we were naturally +interested in her, and he gave us permission." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, he had no business to," growled Sam; "he ought to be attending +to his work instead of showing a lot of nosy young cubs my new boat." +</P> + +<P> +"They are capable of stealing your ideas," chimed in Jack Curtiss, "and +putting them on their own boat." +</P> + +<P> +"That's ridiculous," laughed Rob, "as I said I wouldn't want to have +anything to do with such a contrivance except on a lake or a river." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you keep your advice and your ideas to yourself, and get out of +this yard!" roared Sam, waxing bolder and bolder, and mistaking Rob's +conciliatory manner for cowardice. "I've a good mind to punch your +head." +</P> + +<P> +"Better come on and try it," retorted Rob, preparing for the immediate +onslaught which it seemed reasonable from Sam's manner to expect. +</P> + +<P> +But it didn't come. +</P> + +<P> +Muttering something about "young cubs," and "keeping the boat-yard gate +locked," Sam turned to his chums and invited them to come and try out +his new motor in the shop. +</P> + +<P> +As the three chums had no desire to "mix it up with Sam on his own +place," as Tubby put it, they left the yard promptly, and walked on +down the water-front to the wharf at which lay the Flying Fish, the +fastest craft in the Hampton Motor Boat Club. Rob's boat was, to tell +the truth, rather broad of beam for a racer and drew quite a little +water. She had a powerful motor and clean lines, however, and while +not primarily designed solely for "mug-hunting," had beaten everything +she had raced with during the few months since the boys had completed +her. The money for her motor had been given to Rob by his father, who +was quite indulgent to Rob in money matters, having noticed that the +lad always expended the sums given him wisely. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's take a spin," suddenly suggested Tubby. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing to prevent us," answered Rob; "we've got plenty of time before +dinner. Come on, boys." +</P> + +<P> +The lads were soon on board and examining the gasoline tank, to see how +much fuel they had on hand, and oiling up the engine. The fuel +receptacle proved to be almost full, so after filling the lubricant +cups and attending to the batteries, they started up the engine—a +powerful, three cylindered, twelve-horse affair capable of driving the +twenty-two foot Flying Fish through the water at twelve miles an hour +or better. +</P> + +<P> +Just as Rob was casting off the head-line there came a hail from the +wharf above them. +</P> + +<P> +"Ahoy, there, shipmates! Where are yer bound fer this fine, sunny day?" +</P> + +<P> +The lads looked up to see the weather-beaten countenance of Captain Job +Hudgins, one of the characters of the vicinity. He was a former +whaler, and lived on a small island some distance from Hampton. On his +little territory he fished and grew a few vegetables, "trading in" his +produce at the Hampton grocery stores for his simple wants. He, +however, had a pension, and was supposed to have a "snug little +fortune" laid by. His only companion in his island solitude was it big +Newfoundland dog named "Skipper." +</P> + +<P> +The animal stood beside its master on the dock and wagged its tail at +the sight of the boys, whom it knew quite well from their frequent +visits to the captain's little island. +</P> + +<P> +"Hullo, captain!" shouted Rob, as the veteran saluted his three young +friends. "Where's your boat?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, her engine went—busted, and I had to leave her at the yard below +fer repairs," explained the captain. "I wonder if yer boys can give me +a lift back if yer goin' near Topsail Island?" +</P> + +<P> +"Surest thing you know," rejoined Rob hastily. "Come right aboard. +But how are you going to get off your island again if your motor is +laid up here to be fixed?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I'll use my rowboat," responded the old mariner, clambering down +into the Flying Fish. "Say, this is quite a right smart contraption, +ain't she?" +</P> + +<P> +"We think she is a pretty good little boat," modestly replied Rob, +taking his place at the wheel. "Now, then, Merritt, start up that +engine." +</P> + +<P> +"Hold on a minute!" shouted Tubby. "We forgot the dog." +</P> + +<P> +Sure enough, Skipper was dashing up and down the wharf in great +distress at the prospect of being deserted. +</P> + +<P> +"Put yer boat alongside that landin' stage at the end of the wharf," +suggested his master. "Skipper can get aboard from there, I reckon." +</P> + +<P> +Rob steered the Flying Fish round to the floating landing, to which an +inclined runway led from the wharf. Skipper dashed down it as soon as +he saw what was happening, and was waiting, ready to embark, when the +Flying Fish came alongside. +</P> + +<P> +"Poor old Skipper, I reckon yer thought we was goin' ter maroon yer," +said Captain Job, as the animal jumped on board with a bark of "thanks" +for his rescue. "I tell yer, boys, I wouldn't lose that dog fer all +the money in Rob's father's bank. He keeps good watch out an the +Island, I'll tell yer." +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't think any one much came there, except us," said Rob, as the +Flying Fish headed away from the wharf and began to cut through the +waters of the inlet. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes; there's others," responded the old man. "That Jack Curtiss +lad and his two chums are out there quite often." +</P> + +<P> +"Bill Bender and Sam Redding, I suppose you mean," said Tubby. +</P> + +<P> +"Those their names?" asked the captain. "Well, I don't know any good +uv any uv 'em. Old Skipper here chased 'em away from my melon patch +the other day. I reckon they thought Old Scratch was after them, the +way they run; but they got away with some melons, just the same." +</P> + +<P> +The old man laughed aloud at the recollection of the marauders' +precipitous flight. +</P> + +<P> +That Jack Curtiss and his two cronies had made a rendezvous of the +island was news to the boys, and not agreeable news, either. They had +been planning a patrol camp there later on in the summer, and the bully +and his two chums were not regarded by them as desirable neighbors. +However, they said nothing, as they could not claim sole right to use +the island, which was property that had been so long in litigation that +It had come to be known as "No Man's Land" as well as by its proper +name. The captain was only a squatter there, but no one cared to +disturb him, and he had led the existence of a semi-hermit there for +many years. +</P> + +<P> +The Flying Fish rapidly covered the calm waters of the inlet and was +soon dancing over the swells outside. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going to let her out a bit," said Rob suddenly; "look out for +spray." +</P> + +<P> +"Spray don't bother a brine-pickled old salt like me," laughed the +captain. "Let her go." +</P> + +<P> +The Flying Fish seemed fairly to leap forward as Merritt gave her the +full power of her engine. As Rob had said, it did indeed behoove her +occupants to look out for spray. The sparkling spume came flying back +in sheets as she cut through the waves, but the boys didn't mind that +any more than did their weather-beaten companion. As for Skipper, he +barked aloud in sheer joy as the Flying Fish slid along as if she were +trying to live up to her name to her utmost ability. +</P> + +<P> +"This is a good little sea boat," remarked the captain, as they plunged +onward. "She's as seaworthy as she is speedy, I guess." +</P> + +<P> +"She'll stand a lot of knocking about, and that's a fact," agreed Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," remarked the old man, gazing about him, "it's a good thing that +she is, fer, if I'm not mistaken—and I'm not often off as regards the +weather—we are goin' ter have quite a little blow before yer boys get +back home." +</P> + +<P> +"A storm?" asked Tubby, somewhat alarmed. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no; not what yer might call a storm," laughed the captain; "but +just what we used to term a 'capful uv wind.'" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, so long as it isn't a really bad blow, it won't trouble the +Flying Fish," Rob assured him. +</P> + +<P> +"Hullo!" exclaimed the old man suddenly. "What queer kind uv craft is +that?" +</P> + +<P> +He pointed back to the mouth of the now distant inlet, from which a +curious-looking black craft was emerging at what seemed to be great +speed. +</P> + +<P> +"It's that hydroplane of Sam Redding's, for a bet!" cried Rob. "Here, +Tubby, take the wheel a minute, while I put the glasses on her." +</P> + +<P> +The lad stood up in the heaving motor craft, steadying himself against +the bulwarks by his knees, and peered through his marine-glasses. +</P> + +<P> +"It's the hydroplane, sure enough," he said. "By ginger, but she can +go, all right! Sam and Jack and Bill are all in her. They seem to be +heading right out to sea, too." +</P> + +<P> +"Say!" exclaimed Tubby suddenly, "if it comes on to blow, as the +captain said it would, they'll be in a bad fix, won't they?" +</P> + +<P> +"In that ther shoe-box thing," scornfully exclaimed the old captain, +who had also been looking through the glasses, "why, I wouldn't give a +confederate dollar bill with a hole in it fer their lives." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BOY SCOUTS TO THE RESCUE +</H3> + +<P> +"Hadn't we better put back and warn them?" suggested Merritt rather +anxiously, for he was alarmed by the confident manner in which the old +seaman prophesied certain disaster to the hydroplane if the weather +freshened. +</P> + +<P> +"No; see, she's heading toward us. I guess they want a race," cried +Rob. "We'll slow down a bit and let them catch up." +</P> + +<P> +In a few moments the hydroplane was alongside. The yellow hood over +her powerful engines glistened with the wet of the great bow-wave her +speed had occasioned, and her powerful motor was exhausting with a roar +like a battery of machine guns. +</P> + +<P> +Crouched aft of the engine hood was Sam Redding, who held the wheel. +Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender were in the stern. They sat tandem-wise +in the narrow racing shell. +</P> + +<P> +"Want a tow rope for that old stone dray of yours?" jeered Jack +Curtiss, as the speedy little racer ranged alongside. +</P> + +<P> +He did not know that the Flying Fish was slowed down, and that although +the hydroplane appeared to be capable of tremendous speed, she was not +actually so very much faster than Rob's boat. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, you fellows," warned Rob, making a trumpet of his hands, "the +captain says it's coming on to blow before long. You'd better get back +into the inlet with that craft of yours." +</P> + +<P> +"Save your breath to cool your coffee," shouted Sam Redding back at +him, across the fifty feet or so of water that lay between the two +boats. "We know what we are about." +</P> + +<P> +"But you're risking your lives," shouted Merritt. "That thing wouldn't +live ten minutes in any kind of a sea." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we're not such a bunch of old women as to be scared of a little +wetting," jeered Jack Curtiss. "So long! We've got no time to wait +for that old tub of yours." +</P> + +<P> +Before the boys could voice any more warnings, the hydroplane, which +had been slowed down, dashed off once more. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know what we are to do," spoke up Merritt. "We can't compel +them to go in, and, after all, the captain may be mistaken." +</P> + +<P> +"No, I'm not, my son," rejoined the veteran. "I can smell wind—and +see them 'mare's tails' in the sky over yonder. They're as fall uv +wind as a preacher is uv texts." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we've done our best to warn them," concluded Rob. "If they are +so foolhardy as to keep on, we can't help it." +</P> + +<P> +In half an hour more the boys had landed the captain at the little pier +he had built on his island, and to which his rowboat was attached, and +were ready to start back, good-bys having been said. +</P> + +<P> +"Hark!" exclaimed the captain, as Rob prepared to give the order to "Go +ahead." +</P> + +<P> +The boys listened, and heard a low, distant moaning sound, something +like the deepest rumbling notes of a church organ. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the wind comin'," warned the captain. "Yer'd better be +hurryin' back." +</P> + +<P> +With more hasty good-bys, the lads got under way at once. As they +emerged from the lee of the island they could see that seaward the +ocean was being rapidly lashed into choppy, white-crested waves by the +advancing storm, and that the wind was freshening into a really stiff +breeze. +</P> + +<P> +"Those fellows must be wishing they took our advice now if they are +fools enough to have kept out," said Merritt, as he slowed down the +engine so as to permit the Flying Fish to ride the rising seas more +easily. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I guess they're doing some tall thinking," agreed Tubby, as a +wave caught the little Flying Fish "quartering" on her port bow, and +sent a white smother of spray swirling back over her occupants. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the time we got it," laughed Rob, from the wheel, peering +straight ahead. Suddenly he uttered a shout and pointed seaward. +</P> + +<P> +"Look there!" he shouted at the top of his voice. "There are those +three fellows, and they're in trouble, from the looks of it." +</P> + +<P> +The others looked, and beheld, half a mile or so away, on the +roughening waters, the hull of the hydroplane. She was tossing up and +down like a cork, and apparently was drifting helplessly, with her +motor broken down, in the heavy sea. Her occupants seemed to be +bailing her; but as they caught sight of the Flying Fish they stood up +and waved frantically. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, they're in trouble, all right," agreed Tubby. "And I suppose +we've got to go and get them out of it." +</P> + +<P> +Rob had already put the Flying Fish about and headed her for the +distressed craft. As they drew near, Sam Redding began shouting: +</P> + +<P> +"Help, help! We're sinking, we're sinking!" +</P> + +<P> +Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender, drenched to the skin with spray and white +with fright, said nothing, but a look of great relief came over their +faces as the chums' boat ranged alongside. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't want to risk ramming my boat by coming right alongside," +shouted Rob. "You'll have to jump for it. Don't be scared. We'll pull +you aboard." +</P> + +<P> +The three youths on the water-logged hydroplane looked somewhat alarmed +at the prospect, but Rob knew that Jack and Bill could swim. He was +not sure of Sam, but assumed, from the fact that he had lived by the +sea all his life, that he was equally at home in the water. +</P> + +<P> +The hesitation of Jack Curtiss and his chum was over in a minute, as +the hydroplane gave a plunge that seemed as if it would be her last. +Lightly dressed as they were, in canvas trousers, sleeveless jerseys +and yachting shoes, it was no trick at all for them to swim the few +feet to the Flying Fish. As they leaped overboard, Sam lingered. +</P> + +<P> +"Come on, Sam," shouted Jack, as the boys lugged the two dripping, +sputtering castaways on board. +</P> + +<P> +"I—I can't swim. You'll have to come alongside for me," stuttered the +badly-scared Sam. +</P> + +<P> +"All right. Hold on, and we'll do what we can," hailed Rob, starting +to carry out the risky maneuver of getting alongside the plunging +hydroplane in the heavy sea. +</P> + +<P> +In some never-to-be-explained manner, however, the frightened Sam +suddenly lost his balance in the tossing racing boat, and, clawing +desperately at her bulwarks to save himself, shot over the side. +</P> + +<P> +"He'll drown!" shouted Jack Curtiss. "He can't swim, and he'll drown." +</P> + +<P> +"If you knew that, why didn't you stand by him?" truculently growled +Tubby. +</P> + +<P> +Without an instant's hesitation, Merritt threw off the jacket he had +put on when it started to blow, and slipped off his shoes. He was +overboard and striking out for the drowning boy before those in the +Flying Fish even realized his purpose. +</P> + +<P> +With swift, powerful strokes he got alongside Sam just as the owner of +the hydroplane was going down for the third time. +</P> + +<P> +As the brave boy seized the struggling, frightened youth he felt +himself gripped by the panic-stricken Sam in a frenzied hold of +desperate intensity. His arms were pinioned by the drowning wretch, +and they both vanished beneath the waves. +</P> + +<P> +As they went under, however, Merritt managed to get one hand free, and +recalling what he had read of what to do under such conditions, struck +the other boy a terrific blow between the eyes. It stunned Sam +completely, and, to his great relief, Merritt felt the imprisoning grip +relax. He could then handle Sam easily, and as they shot to the +surface he saw the Flying Fish bearing down on them, with four white, +strained faces searching the tumbling waters. +</P> + +<P> +In a few moments the unconscious lad and his rescuer were hauled on +board, and Rob, after congratulations, headed the Flying Fish for the +mouth of the inlet, which was still some distance off. +</P> + +<P> +Tubby and Bill Bender laid Sam on his stomach, across a thwart, and +started to try to get some of the salt water, of which he had swallowed +great quantities, out of him. He soon gave signs of returning +consciousness, and opened his eyes just as Jack Curtiss was demanding +to know if the Boy Scouts weren't going to take the hydroplane in tow. +</P> + +<P> +"Not much we're not," responded Rob. "I'm sorry to have to leave her; +but this sea is getting up nastier every minute, and there's no way of +getting a line to her without running more risk than I want to take. +We've had one near-drowning and we don't want another." +</P> + +<P> +"If this was my boat, I'd pick Sam's boat up," sullenly replied the +bully. +</P> + +<P> +"You ought to be mighty glad we came along when we did," indignantly +spoke up Tubby. "You'd have been in a bad fix if we hadn't. Instead +of being thankful for it, all you can do is to kick about leaving the +hydroplane." +</P> + +<P> +An angry reply was on the other's lips, but Bill Bender checked it by +looking up and saying: "I guess the kid's right, Jack. Let it go at +that." +</P> + +<P> +The bully glowered. He felt his pride much wounded at having been +compelled to seek the aid of the boys whom he despised and hated. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose you'll go and blab it all over town about how you saved us," +he sneered, as the Flying Fish threaded her way through the tumbling +waters at the mouth of the inlet and began making her way up it. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think we shall," replied Rob quietly. "I mean to recommend +Merritt, though, to headquarters for his Red Honor." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you mean that cheap, bronze medal thing on a bit of red ribbon!" +sneered Jack. "Why, that isn't worth much. You couldn't sell it for +anything but old junk. Why don't they make them of gold?" +</P> + +<P> +"That 'bronze medal thing,' as you call it, is worth a whole lot to a +Boy Scout," rejoined Rob in the same even tone. "More than you can +understand." +</P> + +<P> +On their arrival at the yacht-club pier the boys were overwhelmed with +questions, and a doctor was summoned for Sam, who, as soon as he found +himself safe, began to groan and show most alarming symptoms of being +seriously affected by his immersion. +</P> + +<P> +The boys were not able to conceal the fact that they had accomplished a +brave rescue, and were overwhelmed with congratulations. Merritt +especially came in for warm praise and commendation. +</P> + +<P> +"You will certainly be granted your Red Honor," declared Mr. Wingate, +who, besides being commodore of the Yacht Club, was one of the +gentlemen whom Rob had persuaded to act as Scout Master for the new +patrol. +</P> + +<P> +Merritt escaped from the crowd of admiring motor-boat men and boys as +soon as he could, and hastened home for a change of clothes. On the +arrival of Dr. Telfair, the village physician, he pronounced that there +was nothing whatever the matter with Sam but a bad fright, and +prescribed dry garments and hot lemonade. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't I need any medicine?" groaned Sam, determined to make the most +out of his temporary notoriety. +</P> + +<P> +"No, you don't," growled the doctor; "unless," he added to himself, +"they put up 'courage' in bottles." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose those boys will be more stuck up than ever now," said Jack +to Bill Bender, as, having perfunctorily thanked their rescuers, they +started for home with the almost weeping Sam. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure to be," rejoined Bill. "It's all your fault, Sam, for taking us +out in that fool hydroplane." +</P> + +<P> +"My fault! Well, I like that," stuttered out Sam. "You asked me to +come, and you know I wanted to come back when the boys told us it might +come on to blow; but you called me a 'sissy,' and said I was too timid +to own a boat." +</P> + +<P> +"Um—er—well," rejoined Bill, somewhat confused, "that's so. But +anyhow, to return to what we were talking about, it's given those kids +a great chance to set up as heroes." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we can work that scheme we were talking about last night on them +just as soon as you're ready," suddenly remarked Jack. "That will give +them something else to think about." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, say, Jack, cut it out, won't you?" pleaded Sam. "I don't like the +kids any better than you do, but one of them saved my life to-day, and +I'm not going into anything that will harm them." +</P> + +<P> +"Hear him rave!" sneered Jack. "Why last night, when we talked it +over, you thought it would be a prime joke. It isn't as if it would +hurt them. It'll just give them something to study up, that's all. +They think they're such fine trailers and tracers that it would be a +shame not to give them a chance to show what they can do." +</P> + +<P> +"That's right, Sam," cut in Bill; "it's more of a joke than anything +else." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," agreed Sam weakly, "if you put it in that way, I suppose it's +all right; but I tell you I don't like it." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, you'll have the laugh of your young life after we've pulled the +stunt off," remarked Bill. "When will we do it, Jack?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not to-night, that's certain," responded the other. "I've had enough +excitement for one day." +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter with to-morrow night, then?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm agreeable. How about you, Sam?" +</P> + +<P> +"I wish you fellows would leave me out of it," rejoined the bully's +timid chum. +</P> + +<P> +"Like they left you out of their patrol, eh?" sneered Bill, knowing +that he was touching the other on a tender spot. +</P> + +<P> +"All right, to-morrow night suits me," snapped Sam, flushing angrily at +Bill's remark—as that worthy had intended he should. "Here's my house. +We'll meet at Bill's 'boudoir."' +</P> + +<P> +"Right you are," chuckled Jack. "Oh, say, it's going to be the joke of +the century!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SAM IN DIRE STRAITS +</H3> + +<P> +"Kree-ee-ee!" +</P> + +<P> +Merritt paused the next morning in front of Tubby's home, and gave the +"call" of the Eagle Patrol with a not uncreditable resemblance to the +scream of a real eagle. +</P> + +<P> +The cry was instantly echoed—though in a rather thicker way—from +inside the house, and in a minute Tubby, who knew that some one of the +patrol must have uttered the call, appeared at his door, munching a +large slice of bread and jam, although it was not more than an hour +since breakfast. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, you, did you ever hear an eagle scream with his mouth full of +bread and jam?" demanded Merritt, as the stout youth appeared. +</P> + +<P> +"Eagles don't eat bread and jam," rejoined Tubby, defending his +position. "Have some?" +</P> + +<P> +"Having had breakfast not more than an hour ago, I'm not hungry yet, +thank you," politely rejoined the corporal; "besides, I'm afraid I'd +get fat." +</P> + +<P> +Dodging the stout youth's blow, the corporal went on: +</P> + +<P> +"Heard the news?" +</P> + +<P> +"No—what news?" eagerly demanded the other, finishing his light repast. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, the Dolphin—you know, that fishing boat—picked up Sam's +hydroplane at sea and towed it in. It's in pretty good shape, I hear, +although the engine is out of commission and it was half full of water." +</P> + +<P> +"He's a lucky fellow to get it back." +</P> + +<P> +"I should say so," replied Merritt; "but it will cost him a whole lot +to reclaim it. The captain of the Dolphin says he wants fifty dollars +for it as salvage." +</P> + +<P> +"Gee! Do you think Sam's father will give him that much?" said Tubby, +with round eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know. He can afford it all right. He's made a lot of money +out of that boat-building shop, my father says; but he's so stingy that +I doubt very much if he will give Sam such a sum." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, here's Sam coming down the street now," exclaimed the +good-natured Tubby. "I wonder if he's heard about it. Hullo, Sam! +Get all the water out of your system?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm all right this morning, if that is what you mean," rejoined the +other, with dignity. +</P> + +<P> +"Heard the news about your boat?" asked Merritt suddenly. +</P> + +<P> +"No; what about her? Is she safe? Who picked her up?" +</P> + +<P> +"Wait a minute. One question at a time," laughed Merritt. "She's safe, +all right. The Dolphin picked her up at sea. But it will cost you +fifty dollars to get her." +</P> + +<P> +"Fifty dollars!" gasped Sam, turning pale. +</P> + +<P> +"That's what the skipper of the Dolphin says. He had a lot of trouble +getting a line fast to her, he says, and he means to have the money or +keep the boat." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, well, I'll get it from my father easily enough," said Sam +confidently, preparing to swagger off down the street. "I've got to +get my boat back and beat Rob's Flying Fish, and that hydroplane can do +it." +</P> + +<P> +"Can you match that?" exclaimed Merritt to the fat youth, as Sam +strolled away. "Here he was saved from drowning by the Flying Fish +only yesterday, and all he can think of this morning is to promise to +beat her. What makes him so mean, I wonder?" +</P> + +<P> +"Just born that way, I guess," rejoined the stout youth; "and as for +the Flying Fish saving him, if it hadn't been for a certain Corporal +Crawford, he—" +</P> + +<P> +"Here, stow that," protested Merritt, coloring up. "I heard enough of +that yesterday afternoon." +</P> + +<P> +As the boys had surmised, Sam's father was not at all pleased when he +learned that his son wanted fifty dollars. In fact, he refused point +blank to let him have it at all. +</P> + +<P> +"That boat of yours has cost enough already, and I'm not going to spend +any more on it," he said angrily, as he turned to his work. +</P> + +<P> +"But I can't get the hydroplane back if I don't pay it," urged Sam. +"I've seen the captain of the Dolphin, and he refuses absolutely to let +me have her unless I pay him for his trouble in towing her in." +</P> + +<P> +"I can't help that," snapped the elder Redding. "What have I got to do +with your boat? Look here!" he exclaimed, turning angrily and +producing a small memorandum book from his pocket and rapidly turning +the leaves. "Do you know how much I've given you in the last two +months?" +</P> + +<P> +"N-n-no," stammered Sam, looking very much embarrassed, and shuffling +about from one foot to the other. +</P> + +<P> +"Then I'll tell you, young man; it's exactly—let me see—ten, twenty, +five, three, fifteen and eight. That's just sixty-one dollars. Do you +think that money grows on gooseberry bushes? Then there'll be your +college expenses to pay. No, I can't let you have a cent." +</P> + +<P> +"That means that I will lose my boat and the chance of winning the race +at the regatta!" urged Sam gloomily. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you should have had more sense than to take that fool hydroplane +out into a rough sea. I told you she wouldn't stand it. There, go on +about your own affairs. I'm far too busy to loaf about, arguing with +you." +</P> + +<P> +And with this the hard-featured old boat builder—who had made his +money literally by the sweat of his brow—turned once more to his task +of figuring out the blue prints of a racing sloop. +</P> + +<P> +Sam saw that it was no use to argue further with his father, and left +the shop with no very pleasant expression on his countenance. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll have to see if I can't borrow it somewhere," he mused. "If only +I was on better terms with Rob Blake, I could get it from him, I guess. +His father is a banker and he must have plenty. I wonder—I wonder if +Mr. Blake himself wouldn't lend it to me. I could give him a note for +it, and in three months' time I'd be sure to be able to take it up." +</P> + +<P> +With this end in view, the lad started for the Hampton Bank. It +required some courage for a youth of his disposition to make up his +mind to beard the lion in his den—or, in other words, to approach Mr. +Blake in his office. For Sam, while bold enough when his two hulking +cronies were about, had no real backbone of his own. +</P> + +<P> +After making two or three turns in front of the bank, he finally +screwed his courage to the sticking point, and timidly asked an +attendant if he could see the banker. +</P> + +<P> +"I think so. I'll see," was the reply. +</P> + +<P> +In a few seconds the man reappeared, and said that Mr. Blake could +spare a few minutes. Hat in hand, Sam entered the ground-glass door +which bore on it in imposing gilt letters the word "President." +</P> + +<P> +The interview was brief, and to Sam most unsatisfactory. The banker +pointed out to him that he was a minor, and as such that his note would +be no good; and also that, without the permission of his father, he +would not think of lending the youth such a sum. Much crestfallen, Sam +shuffled his way out toward the main door of the bank, when suddenly a +voice he recognized caused him to look up. +</P> + +<P> +"A hundred and twenty-five dollars. That's right, all shipshape and +above board!" +</P> + +<P> +It was the old captain of Topsail Island, counting over in his gnarled +paw one hundred and twenty-five dollars in crisp bills which he had +just received from the paying teller. +</P> + +<P> +"You must be going to be married, captain," Sam heard the teller remark +jocularly. +</P> + +<P> +"Not yet a while," the captain laughed back. "That ther motor uv mine +that I left ter be fixed up is goin' ter cost me fifty dollars, and the +other seventy-five I'm calculating ter keep on hand in my safe fer a +while. I'm kind uv figgerin' on gettin' a new dinghy—my old one is +just plum full uv holes. I rowed over frum the island this mornin', +and I declar' ter goodness, once or twice I thought I'd swamp." +</P> + +<P> +Sam slipped out of the bank without speaking to the captain, whom, +indeed, since the episode of the melon patch, he had no great desire to +encounter. +</P> + +<P> +As he made his way toward his home in no very amiable mood, he was +hailed from the opposite side of the street by Jack Curtiss and Bill +Bender. +</P> + +<P> +"Any news of the boat?" demanded Jack, as he and Bill crossed over and +slapped their crony on the back with great assumed heartiness. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and mighty bad news, too, in one way. She's safe enough. The +Dolphin—that fishing boat—found her and towed her in. But—here's the +tough part of it—it's going to cost fifty dollars for salvage to get +her from the Dolphin's captain, the old shark!" +</P> + +<P> +"Phew!" whistled Jack Curtiss. "Pretty steep. But I suppose your old +man will fork over, eh?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's just it," grumbled Sam; "he won't come across with a cent. I +suppose, if I don't pay for the hydroplane's recovery pretty soon, she +will be sold at auction." +</P> + +<P> +"That's the usual process," observed Bill. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't there any way you can raise the wind?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I've tried every one I can think of. I don't suppose either of +you fellows could—" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing doing here," hastily cried Jack, not giving the other time to +finish. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm cleaned out, too," Bill also hurriedly assured the unfortunate Sam. +</P> + +<P> +"It looks like everybody but us has coin," complained that worthy +bitterly. "While I was in the bank trying to get old man Blake to take +up a note of mine for the sum I need, who should I see in there but +that old fossil of a captain from Topsail Island." +</P> + +<P> +"Who grows such fine, juicy melons and keeps such a nice, amiable pet +dog," laughed Jack, roaring at the recollection of the piratical +expedition of which the island dweller had told the boys. +</P> + +<P> +"Ha, ha, ha!" shouted Bill in chorus. "We'll have to give him another +visit soon." +</P> + +<P> +"But what about the old land crab, Sam?" demanded Jack the next minute. +"What was he doing in the bank?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, drawing one hundred and twenty-five dollars. Just think of it, +and we always figured it out that he was poor." +</P> + +<P> +"A hundred and twenty-five dollars! I wonder what he's going to do +with it?" wondered Jack, with whom money and its spending was always an +absorbing topic. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, I overheard that, too, as I passed by," rejoined Sam. "He's going +to spend some of it for the repairing of his motor, which broke down +yesterday, and the rest he's going to keep by him." +</P> + +<P> +"Keep it on the island, you mean?" demanded Jack, becoming suddenly +much interested. +</P> + +<P> +"That's what he said—keep it in his safe," replied Sam. "But what +good does that do us?" +</P> + +<P> +"A whole lot, maybe," was the enigmatic reply. "See here, Sam, you can +win that race if you get your hydroplane?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sure of it." +</P> + +<P> +"You are going to bet on yourself, of course." +</P> + +<P> +"Sure. I've got to raise some money somehow." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I've thought of a way you can borrow the money to get your boat +back, and when you win the race you can return it. Come on, lees go to +Bill's den, and we'll have a smoke and talk it over." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE BULLY SPRINGS A SURPRISE +</H3> + +<P> +That afternoon, in reply to a notice sent round by a runner, the lads +of the Eagle Patrol assembled at their armory, and on Leader Rob's +orders "fell in" to hear the official announcement of the coming +camping trip. As a matter of fact, they had discussed little else for +several days, but the first "regimental" notification, as it were, was +to be made now. +</P> + +<P> +The first duty to be performed was the calling of the roll after +"assembly" had been sounded—somewhat quaveringly—by little Andy +Bowles, the company bugler. +</P> + +<P> +Beside Rob Merritt, Tubby and Andy, there were Hiram Nelson, a tall, +lanky youth, whose hands were stained with much fussing with chemicals, +for he was a wireless experimenter; Ernest Thompson, a big-eyed, +serious-looking lad, whose specialty in the little regiment was that of +bicycle scout, as the spoked wheel on his arm denoted; Simon Jeffords, +a second-class scout, but who, under Rob's tutelage, was becoming the +expert "wig-wagger" of the organization; Paul Perkins, another +second-class boy, but a hard worker and a devotee of aeronautics; +Martin Green, one of the smallest of the Eagle Patrol, a tenderfoot; +Walter Lonsdale, also a recruit, and Joe Digby, who, as the last to +join the Patrol, was the tenderest of the tenderfeet. +</P> + +<P> +Rob's announcement of the program for the eight days they were to spend +on the island was greeted with cheers. The news that turns were to be +taken by two scouts daily at washing dishes and cooking did not awaken +quite so much enthusiasm. Everybody cheered up again, however, when +Rob announced that the Flying Fish would be at the disposal of the boys +of the patrol. +</P> + +<P> +Corporal Merritt took Rob's place as orator then, and announced that +each boy would be assessed one dollar for the expenses of the camp, the +remainder of the money necessary for the providing of tents and the +provisioning of the camp having been donated by Rob's father, Mr. +Wingate, of the yacht club, and the other representative citizens of +Hampton who composed the local scout council. +</P> + +<P> +Further excitement was caused by the announcement that following the +camp the local committee would pass upon the applications for +promotions and honors for the lads of the Patrol, and that it was +likely that another patrol would be formed in the village, as several +boys had expressed themselves as anxious to form one. The gentlemen +having charge of the local scout movement, however, had decided that it +would be wiser to wait and see the result of one patrol's training +before forming a second one. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going to try for an aviator's badge," announced Paul Perkins, as +Rob declared the official business at an end. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, Rob, what's the matter with our fixing up a wireless in the camp? +I'm pretty sure I can make one that will catch anything in a +hundred-mile radius." +</P> + +<P> +"That's a good idea," assented Rob; "if you can do it we can get a lot +of good out of it, I don't doubt." +</P> + +<P> +"What's the good of wireless when we've got wig-wagging and the +semaphore code," spoke up Simon Jeffords, who was inclined to doubt the +use of any other form of telegraphy but that in which he had perfected +himself. +</P> + +<P> +As for Martin Green, Walter Lonsdale and Joe Digby, they contented +themselves with hoping that they might receive their badges as +second-class scouts when the camp was over. +</P> + +<P> +"I can take the whole tests except cooking the meat and potatoes in the +'Billy,'" bemoaned young Green, a small chap of about thirteen. +"Somehow, they always seem to burn, or else they don't cook at all." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, cheer up, Martin," laughed Rob. "You'll learn to do it in camp. +We'll make you cook for the whole time we're out there, if you +like—that will give you plenty of practice." +</P> + +<P> +"No, thank you," chimed in Andy Bowles. "I've seen some of Mart's +cooking, and I think the farther you keep him from the cook fire, the +better for the general health of the Eagle Patrol." +</P> + +<P> +At this moment there came a rap on the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Come in!" shouted Rob. +</P> + +<P> +In reply to this invitation, the door opened and a lad of about fifteen +entered. His face was flushed and he bore in his hand a long sheet of +green paper. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Frank Farnham," exclaimed Rob glancing at the boy's flushed, +excited face. "What's troubling you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, hello, Rob. Excuse me for butting in on your ceremonies, but I +was told Paul Perkins was here." +</P> + +<P> +"Sure he is, Frank," exclaimed Paul, coming forward. "What's the +matter? It's much too warm to be flying around the way you seem to +have been. Come in under this fan." +</P> + +<P> +He indicated an electrically driven ventilator that was whirring in a +corner of the room. +</P> + +<P> +"Quit your fooling, Paul," remonstrated Frank, "and read this circular. +Here." +</P> + +<P> +He thrust the green "dodger" he carried into the other's hand. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you think of that, eh?" demanded Frank, as Paul skimmed it +with delighted eyes. +</P> + +<P> +The circular contained the announcement of a lecture on aeronautics by +a well-known authority on the subject who had once been a resident of +Hampton. To stimulate interest in the subject, the paper stated that a +first prize of fifty dollars, a second prize of twenty-five, and a +third prize of ten dollars would be given to the three lads of the town +making and flying the most successful models of aeroplanes in a public +competition. To win the first prize it would be necessary for the model +to fly more than two hundred feet, and not lower, except at the start +and end of the flight, than fifty feet above the ground. The second +prize was for the next best flight, and the third for the model +approaching the nearest to the winner of the second money. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Paul, you are an aeronautic fiend," went on Frank, "So am I, and +Hiram has the fever in a mild way. What's the matter with you two +fellows forming a team to represent the Boy Scouts, and I'll get up a +team of village boys, to compete for the prizes." +</P> + +<P> +"That's a good idea," assented Hiram Nelson. "I've got a model almost +completed. It only needs the rubber bands and a little testing and it +will be O.K., or at least I hope so. How about you, Paul?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I've got two models that I have got good results from," replied +the boy addressed. "One is a biplane. She's not so speedy, but very +steady; and then I have a model of a Bleriot. I'm willing to enter +either of them or both." +</P> + +<P> +"And I've got a model of an Antoinette, and one of a design of my own. +I don't know just how well it will work," concluded Frank modestly, +"but I have great hopes of carrying off that prize." +</P> + +<P> +"Let's see who else there is," pondered Hiram. +</P> + +<P> +"There's Tom Maloney. He'll go in, I know; and Ed Rivers and two or +three others, and then, by the way, I almost forgot it, I met Sam +Redding, Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender, reading a notice of the +competition, just before I came up. Of course, as there is a chance of +winning fifty dollars, Jack is going to enter one, and Bill Bender said +he would put one in, too." +</P> + +<P> +"What do they know about aeroplanes?" demanded Paul. +</P> + +<P> +"Not a whole lot, I guess; but Jack said he was going to get a book +that tells how to make one, and Bill said he'd do the same." +</P> + +<P> +"How about Sam?" inquired Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I guess he's got troubles enough with his hydroplane," responded +Rob, whose father had told him at dinner that day of Sam's vain visit +to the bank. +</P> + +<P> +"It would be just like those fellows to put up something crooked on +us," remarked Paul, who had had much the same experiences with the +bully and his chums as his schoolmates generally. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, there'll be no chance of that," Frank assured him. "A local +committee of business men is to be appointed to see fair play, and I +don't fancy that even Jack or Bill will be slick enough to get away +with any crooked work." +</P> + +<P> +"How long have we got to get ready?" asked Hiram suddenly. +</P> + +<P> +"Just a week." +</P> + +<P> +"Wow! that isn't much time." +</P> + +<P> +"No; my father told me that Professor Charlton, whom he knows, would +have given a longer time for preparation but that he has to attend a +flying meet in Europe, and only decided to lecture at his native town +at the last moment. Lucky thing that most of us have got our models +almost ready." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, especially as this notice says," added Paul, who had been reading +it, "that all models must be the sole work of the contestants." +</P> + +<P> +"If it wasn't for that it would be easy," remarked Hiram. "You can buy +dandy models in New York. I've seen them advertised in the papers." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, come on over now and put your name down, as a contestant. The +blanks are in the office of the Hampton News," urged Frank. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess we're all through up here, Rob, aren't we?" asked Hiram. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," rejoined the young leader; "but you study up on your woodcraft, +Hiram, and devote more time to your signaling. You are such a bug on +wireless that you forget the rest of the stuff." +</P> + +<P> +"All right, Rob," promised Hiram contritely. "By the time we go +camping I'll know a cat track from a squirrel's, or never put a +detector on my head again." +</P> + +<P> +Piloted by Frank, the two young scouts made their way to the office of +the local paper, which had already placed a large bulletin announcing +the aeroplane model competition in its window. Quite a crowd was +gathered, reading the details, as the three boys entered. +</P> + +<P> +They applied for their application blanks and walked over to a desk to +fill them out. As they were hard at work at this, Jack Curtiss and his +two chums entered the office. +</P> + +<P> +"You going into this, too?" asked the proprietor of the paper, Ephraim +Parkhurst, as Jack loudly demanded two blanks. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure," responded Jack confidently, "and we are going to win it, too. +Hullo," he exclaimed, as his eyes fell on the younger lads, "those kids +are after the prize, too. Why, what would they do with fifty dollars +if they had it? However, there's not much chance of your winning +anything," he added, coming up close to the boys, with a sneer on his +face. "I think that I've got it cinched." +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't know that you knew anything about aeroplanes," responded Paul +quietly. "Have you got a model built yet?" +</P> + +<P> +"I know about a whole lot of things I don't go blabbing round to +everybody about," responded the elder lad, with a sneer, "and as for +having a model built, I'm going to get right to work on one at once. +It'll be a model of a Bleriot monoplane, and a large one, too. I +notice that there is nothing said in the rules about the size of the +machines." +</P> + +<P> +Soon after this the three chums left the newspaper office together. +</P> + +<P> +"Say," remarked Paul, in a rather worried tone, "I don't believe that +there is anything said about the size of the models. Bill may build a +great big one and beat us all out." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose that the big machines would be handicapped according to +their power and speed," rejoined Frank. "However, don't you worry +about that. I don't believe that Jack Curtiss knows enough about the +subject to build an aeroplane in a week, and anyhow, I think it's all +empty bluff on his part." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope so," replied Paul, as they reached his front gate. "Will you +be over to-night, Hiram, to talk things over? Bring your models with +you, too, will you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure," replied Hiram; "but I've got to do a few things at home after +supper. I'll be over about eight o'clock or half-past." +</P> + +<P> +"All right. I'll be ready for you," responded Paul, as the lads said +good-by. +</P> + +<P> +A few minutes later Jack Curtiss and his chums emerged from the +newspaper office, the former and Bill Bender having made out their +applications. Sam seemed more dejected than ever, but there was a grin +of satisfaction on Jack Curtiss' face. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we sent the note, all right," he laughed under his breath, to +his two chums. "He'll have got it by this time, and will be in town by +dark. You know your part of the program, Sam. Don't fail to carry it +out, or I'll see that you get into trouble." +</P> + +<P> +"There's no need to worry about me, Jack," rejoined Sam, with an angry +flush. "I'll get the boat as soon as he lands, and keep it out of +sight till you've done the trick. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing like killing two birds with one stone," grinned Bill Bender. +"My! what a time there'll be in the morning, when they find out that +there's been a regular double cross." +</P> + +<P> +"Hush! Here come those three kids now," warned Sam, as Rob, Merritt +and Tubby came down the street. After what had passed they did not +feel called upon to give the bully and his companions more than a cold +nod. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, be as stuck up as you like to this after-noon!" sneered Jack, +after they had gone by, taking good care, however, that his voice would +not carry. "I guess the laugh will be on you and your old friend of +the island to-morrow." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AN ISLAND MYSTERY +</H3> + +<P> +"Hullo, Hiram; where are you bound for?" +</P> + +<P> +It was Rob who spoke, as Hiram hastened by his house in the early +darkness. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, hullo, Rob," responded the other. "I was wondering who that was +hanging over the gate. Why, I'm going to Paul's house. I'm going to +talk over that aeroplane model contest with him. I think that we stand +a chance to win if Jack Curtiss doesn't make good his boast." +</P> + +<P> +"What was that?" inquired Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, he says that he is going to build an aeroplane that will beat us +all." +</P> + +<P> +"And have it ready in a week?" was Rob's astonished query. +</P> + +<P> +"That's what he says," responded Hiram. "It all looks kind of +suspicious to me. Fifty dollars is a large enough sum to tempt Jack to +do almost anything. Well, so long. I've got to hurry along. I'm late +now." +</P> + +<P> +And the lad hastened away to keep his appointment. +</P> + +<P> +Rob was about to go into the house and get a book, when his attention +was arrested by a figure coming up the street at a smart pace whose +outlines somehow seemed familiar to him. The next minute his guess was +confirmed, when a hearty voice hailed him: +</P> + +<P> +"Waal, here I am, lad—all shipshape and in first-class trim. Now, what +is it? What do yer want? Yer didn't explain in the note, but old +Captain job Hudgins'll always stand by a shipmate in distress." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, whatever do you mean, captain?" exclaimed Rob, amazed, and +thinking that the captain must have taken leave of his wits. "Who do +you mean is in distress?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mean?" echoed the captain, in his turn, it seemed, surprised. "Why, +that note yer sent me. Here it is—all written on one uv them +new-fangled machines." +</P> + +<P> +Rob took the crumpled paper the old seaman drew out of his coat and +scanned it hastily by the light of the street lamp. The following note +met his puzzled gaze. +</P> + +<P> +"DEAR CAPTAIN: Please come over and see me at once. Something serious +has happened at the bank. I need your aid and advice. +</P> + +<P> +"Yours, +</P> + +<P> +"ROB BLAKE." +</P> + +<P> +"Hum! The signature is typewritten, too," mused Rob. "What kind of a +joke is this? I don't know, but I'll bet anything that Jack Curtiss is +at the bottom of it." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," demanded the captain, "what is it, a bit of gammon? I'll +keel-haul the man as did it if I can find him." +</P> + +<P> +"It looks like a hoax of some sort," admitted Rob, sorely puzzled; "but +I can't for the life of me see the object of it. Come into the house a +minute, captain, and we'll try to figure it out." +</P> + +<P> +Seated beneath the lamp in the library of his home, Rob scrutinized the +letter closely, but could find absolutely no indication about it to +betray who could have typewritten it. +</P> + +<P> +"How did you come to receive it?" he asked suddenly. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, old Hank Handcraft come out in that crazy launch uv his and guv +it ter me," rejoined the captain. "I ought ter hev told yer that in +the first place, but I was all took aback and canvas a-shiver when yer +tole me yer never wrote it." +</P> + +<P> +"Hank Handcraft," repeated Rob. "He's that queer old fellow that lives +in a hut away down the beach?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and a bad character, too," replied the captain. "He used ter be +a smuggler, and done a term in jail fer it." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it's pretty certain that he didn't write this," said Rob. "He +couldn't get hold of a typewriter, even if he could use one. What did +he tell you about it? Did he say who gave it to, him?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, he just handed it ter me, and says: 'A young party in Hampton says +ter give yer this and hurry.' I was just gettin' my supper when I +heard his hail of 'Island, ahoy!' I hurried out, and there he was in +that old teakettle uv his, at the end uv my wharf." +</P> + +<P> +"And he left before you read the note?" +</P> + +<P> +"I should say. He hurried right off ag'in." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I don't see any way to get at the bottom of this mystery but to +go and see old Hank himself," mused Rob, after a period of thought. +"What do you think, captain?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's the tack ter go about on, youngster," agreed the man of Topsail +Island; "but if yer are goin' down ter his place at this hour uv night, +we'd better take somebody else along. He's a bad character, and I'm +only a feeble old man and yer are a lad." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll go round by Merritt Crawford's house," proposed Rob; "then we'll +pick up Tubby Hopkins. I guess we can handle any trouble that Hank +wants to make, with that force on hand." +</P> + +<P> +"I guess so," agreed the old man. "I must say I'd like ter get ter the +bottom uv this here mystery. 'All fair and above board' is my motto. +I don't like these secret craft." +</P> + +<P> +The two young scouts were both at home, and after brief explanations +the four started off at a lively pace for Hank Handcraft's hut, which +was situated about two miles along the beach. As they hastened along, +Rob explained to the others in more detail the nature of their mission, +but though they were as much mystified by the sudden summons of Captain +Hudgins as Rob and the captain himself, they could hit upon no +plausible explanation for it. +</P> + +<P> +It was a little over half an hour before they reached the dilapidated +hut where old Handcraft, a beach-comber, made his dwelling place. A +short distance off the shore they could see by the moon, which had now +risen, that his crazy old motor boat lay at anchor. This was a sign +that Hank was at home. Lest it be wondered that such a character could +have owned a motor boat, it may be explained here that the engine of +Hank's old oyster skiff had been given him by a summer resident who +despaired of making it work. Hank, however, who was quite handy with +tools, had fixed it up and managed to make it drive his patched old +craft at quite a fair speed—sometimes. When it broke down, as it +frequently did, Hank, who was a philosopher in his way, simply got out +his oars and rowed his heavy craft. +</P> + +<P> +As an additional indication that the hut was occupied, light shone +through several of its numerous chinks and crannies, and a knock at the +door brought forth a low growl of: "Who's there?" +</P> + +<P> +"We want to see you," said Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"This is no time of night to call on a gentleman; come to-morrow and +leave your cards," rumbled the gruff voice from inside the hut. +</P> + +<P> +"This is serious business," urged Rob. "Come on, open that door, Hank. +This is Rob Blake, the banker's son." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it is, is it?" grumbled the voice, as the clank of the door-chains +being taken off was heard from within. "Well, I ain't had much +business deals with your father lately, my private fortune being +somewhat shrunk." +</P> + +<P> +With a muffled chuckle from the speaker, the door slowly opened, and +Hank, a ragged figure, with an immense matted beard, long tangled hair +and dim blue eyes, that blinked like a rat's, stood revealed. +</P> + +<P> +"Come in, come in, gentlemen," he bowed, with mock politeness. "I'm +glad to see such a numerous and representative party. Now, what kin I +do you for?" +</P> + +<P> +He chuckled once more at his little jest, and the boys involuntarily +shrank from him. +</P> + +<P> +There was nothing to do, however, but enter the hut, and Hank +accommodated his guests with a cracker box apiece as chairs. On a +table, roughly built out of similar boxes, a battered old stable lamp +smoked and flared. A more miserable human habitation could not be +imagined. +</P> + +<P> +"Hank," began the captain, "speak me fair and above board, mate—who +give yer that letter ter bring ter me ter-night?" +</P> + +<P> +"What letter?" blankly responded Hank, a look of vacancy in his shifty +eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yer know well enough; that letter yer give me at supper time." +</P> + +<P> +"Captain, I'll give you my davy I don't know what you're talking +about," returned the beachcomber. +</P> + +<P> +"What!" roared the captain: rising to his feet and advancing +threateningly. "Yer mean ter tell me, yer rapscallion, that yer don't +recall landin' at Topsail Island earlier ter-night and givin' me a note +which says ter come urgent and immediate ter see young Rob Blake here?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, captain," calmly returned Hank, with an indulgent grin, "I really +think you must be gettin' childish in your old age. You must be seeing +things. I hope you ain't drinking." +</P> + +<P> +"You—you scoundrel, you!" roared the old captain, almost beside +himself with rage, and dancing with clenched fists toward Hank. +</P> + +<P> +The beach-comber's filthy hand slipped into his rags in a minute, and +the next instant he was squatting back on his haunches in the corner of +the hut, like a wildcat about to spring. In his hand there glistened, +in the yellow rays of the lamp, a blued-steel revolver. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't get angry, captain. It's bad for the digestion," grinned the +castaway. "Now," he went on, "I'm going to tell you flat that if you +say I came to your island to-night, you're dreaming. It must have been +some one else. +</P> + +<P> +"Come on, boys," directed the captain, with an angry shrug. "There's no +use wastin' time on the critter. I'm inclined ter think now that +there's somethin' more than ordinary in the wind," he added, as they +left the hut, with the half-idiotic chuckles of its occupant ringing in +their ears. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SOME STRANGE DOINGS +</H3> + +<P> +It was not far from midnight when the boys, sorely perplexed, once more +reached Hampton. The main street had been deserted long since, and +every one in the village had returned to rest. +</P> + +<P> +The boys left the captain by the water-front, while they headed up the +Main Street for their respective homes. Rob remained up, pondering +over the events of the evening for some time, without arriving at any +solution of them. He was just about to extinguish his light when he +was startled by a loud: +</P> + +<P> +"His—s—st!" +</P> + +<P> +The noise came from directly below his open window, which faced onto +the garden. +</P> + +<P> +He put out his head, and saw a dark figure standing in the yard. +</P> + +<P> +"Who is it?" he demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"It's me, the captain, Rob," rejoined the well-known voice. "I +wouldn't have bothered yer but that I saw a light in yer window." +</P> + +<P> +"What's the trouble, captain?" asked the boy, noting a troubled +inflection in the old man's voice. +</P> + +<P> +"My boat's gone!" was the startling reply. +</P> + +<P> +"Gone! Are you sure?" +</P> + +<P> +"No doubt about it. I left her tied ter the L wharf when I come up +from the island, and now there ain't hide nor hair uv her there." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll bet anything that that fellow Curtiss is at the bottom of all +this," cried Rob. "I remember now I heard some time ago that he was +thick with that Hank Handcraft." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know what ter do about it at this time uv ther night," went on +the distressed captain, "an' I can't go round waking folks up ter get +another boat." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course not," agreed Rob. "There's only one thing for you to do, +captain, and that is to put up here to-night, and in the morning we'll +see what we can do." +</P> + +<P> +"That's mighty fair, square, and above board uv yer, lad," said the +captain gratefully. "Punk me anywhere. I'm an old sailor, and can +aways find the softest plank in the deck." +</P> + +<P> +"You won't have to do that," said Rob, who had slipped downstairs by +this time and opened the door; "we've got a spare room you can bunk in +to-night. I'll explain it all to father in the morning. Perhaps he can +help us out." +</P> + +<P> +"Gee whiz! almost twelve o'clock," exclaimed Hiram Nelson, looking up +at the clock from the dining-room table in Paul Perkins' house. The +chamber was strewn with text books on model aeroplane construction and +littered with figures and plans of the boys' own devising. "How time +flies when you're on a subject that interests you." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it's a good thing it's vacation time," agreed Paul. "We wouldn't +be in much shape to work at our books to-morrow, eh?" +</P> + +<P> +"I should say not!" rejoined Hiram with conviction. "Well, so long, +Paul. I guess we've got it all figured out now, and all that is left +to do is to go ahead." +</P> + +<P> +"That's the idea," responded Paul. "We'll get the prize for the glory +of the Eagle Patrol, or—or—" +</P> + +<P> +"Bust!" Hiram finished for him. +</P> + +<P> +Hiram's way home lay past the bank, and as he walked down the moonlit +street he thought for a minute that he perceived a light in the windows +of the armory. +</P> + +<P> +Almost as he fancied he glimpsed it, however, it vanished, and the lad +was convinced that he must have been mistaken, or else seen a +reflection of the moonlight on the windows. +</P> + +<P> +"Queer, though," he mused. "I could almost have sworn it was a light." +</P> + +<P> +Another curious thing presently attracted his attention. As he neared +the bank a dark figure seemed to vanish into the black shadows round +the corner. Something familiar about it struck Hiram, and the next +moment he realized why. +</P> + +<P> +"If that wasn't Bill Bender, I'm a Dutchman," he muttered, his heart +beating a little faster. "But what can he be doing round here at this +time of night?" +</P> + +<P> +As he put the question to himself, Bill Bender, walking rapidly, as if +he had come from some distance, and had not dodged round the corner a +moment before, suddenly appeared from round the angle of the bank +building. +</P> + +<P> +"Good evening, Bill," said Hiram, wondering if his eyes were not +playing him some queer tricks; "wasn't that you just went round the +corner?" +</P> + +<P> +"Who, me?" blustered Bill. "You need to visit an oculist, young man. +I've just come from a visit to my aunt's. It was her birthday, and we +had a bully time. Sat up a little too late, though. Good night." +</P> + +<P> +And with a great assumption of easiness, the crony of Jack Curtiss +walked rapidly off up the street. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess he's right," mused Hiram, as he hurried on home. "But if that +wasn't Bill Bender who walked round that corner it was his ghost, and +all the ghosts I ever read about don't wear squeaky boots." +</P> + +<P> +If Hiram had remained he would have had further cause to be suspicious +and speculative. +</P> + +<P> +The lad's footsteps had hardly died out down the street before Bill +Bender cautiously retraced his way, and, going round to the side +street, upon which the steps leading to the armory opened, gave a +cautious whistle. In reply a sack was lowered from a window to him by +some person invisible above. +</P> + +<P> +Although there was some little light on the Main Street by reason of +the moon and the few scattering lamps along the thoroughfare, the spot +in which Bill now stood was as black as the proverbial pocket. +</P> + +<P> +"Is the coast all clear?" came down a voice from the window above. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; but if I hadn't spotted young Hiram Nelson coming down the street +and warned you to put out that light, it wouldn't have been," responded +Bill in the same cautious tone. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we're safe enough now," came back the voice above, which any of +his acquaintances would have recognized as Jack Curtiss'. "I've got the +rest of them in this other sack. Here, take this one when I drop it." +</P> + +<P> +Bill made a bungling effort to catch the heavy receptacle that fell +following Jack's warning, but in the darkness he failed, and it crashed +down with quite a clatter. +</P> + +<P> +"Look out!" warned Jack anxiously, "some one might hear that." +</P> + +<P> +"Not in this peaceful community. You seem to forget that eleven +o'clock is the very latest bedtime in Hampton." +</P> + +<P> +After a brief interval Jack Curtiss himself slipped out of the side +door of the armory and joined his friend on the dark sidewalk. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what's the next move on the program?" asked Bill. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll sneak down Bailey's Lane—there are no lights there—to Hank's +place. Sam will be waiting off there with the boat," rejoined Jack. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, if he hasn't lost his nerve," was Bill's rejoinder as they +shouldered their sacks and slipped off into the deep blackness +shrouding the side streets. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, if he has lost it, he'll come near losing his head, too," grated +out Jack, "but don't you fear, he wants that fifty too badly to go back +on us." +</P> + +<P> +Silently as two cats the cronies made their way down the tree-bordered +thoroughfare known as Bailey's Lane and after a few minutes gained the +beach. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, that's an awful hike down to Hank's gilded palace," grumbled +Bill, "why didn't you have Sam wait for us off here?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and have old man Hudgins discover him when he finds his boat is +gone," sneered Jack, "you'd have made a fine botch of this if it hadn't +been for me." +</P> + +<P> +The two exchanged no further words on the weary tramp along the soft +beach. They plodded along steadily with the silence only broken by a +muttered remark emanating from Bill Bender from time to time. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank heaven, there's the place at last," exclaimed Bill, with a sigh +of relief, as they came in sight of the miserable hut, "I began to +think that Hank must have moved." +</P> + +<P> +Jack gave a peculiar whistle and the next instant the same light the +boys had seen earlier in the evening shone through the chinks of the +hovel. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, he's awake, at any rate," remarked Jack with a grin, "now to +find out where the boat is." +</P> + +<P> +As the wretched figure of the beach-comber appeared Jack hailed him +roughly. +</P> + +<P> +"Where's that boat, Hank?" +</P> + +<P> +"Been cruising off and on here since eleven o'clock," rejoined the +other sullenly, "ah! there she is now off to the sou'west." +</P> + +<P> +He pointed and the boys saw a red light flash twice seaward as if some +one had passed their hands across it. +</P> + +<P> +"All right, give him the answer," ordered Jack. "We've got to hurry if +we're to be back before the captain and those brats of boys get after +our trail." +</P> + +<P> +Hank at Jack's order dived into the hut and now reappeared with the +smoky lantern. He waved it four times from side to side like a +brakeman and in a short time a steady "put-put!" told the watchers that +a motor boat was approaching. +</P> + +<P> +"Now for your dinghy, Hank," urged Jack, "hurry up. You move like a +man a hundred and ninety years old, with the rheumatism." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, come on, then," retorted Hank, "here's the boat," pointing to a +cobbled dinghy lying hauled up above the water line, "give me a hand +and we'll shove off." +</P> + +<P> +The united strength of the three soon had the boat in the water and +with Hank at the oars they moved steadily toward the chugging motor +boat. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Sam, you're on the job, I see," remarked Jack as the two craft +ranged alongside and Sam cut off the engine. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I'm on the job all right," rejoined Sam, feeling much braver now +that the other two had arrived, "have you got them all right?" +</P> + +<P> +"Right here in this bag, and some more in this, my bucko," chuckled +Jack as he handed the two sacks over to Sam. +</P> + +<P> +"Ha! ha! ha!" chortled Bill under his breath as he climbed out of the +cobble into the motor boat, "won't there be a fine row in the morning." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, come on; start up, Sam. We've no time to lose," ordered Jack as +he and Bill got aboard, "good night there, Hank." +</P> + +<P> +"Good night," rejoined Hank quietly enough, as the motor boat moved +swiftly off over the moonlit sea. He added to himself, "It won't be a +very 'good night' for you, my lad, if you don't pay me as handsomely as +you promised." +</P> + +<P> +And chuckling to himself till his shoulders shook, Hank resumed his +oars and rowed back to the miserable shanty he called home. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE STOLEN UNIFORMS +</H3> + +<P> +Rob and his old friend lost no time the next morning in getting down to +the water-front to make inquiries about the captain's missing boat. To +their astonishment, however, almost the first craft that caught their +eyes as they arrived at the L wharf to begin their search was the old +sailor's motor dory, to all appearances in exactly the same position +she had occupied the preceding night when the captain moored her. +</P> + +<P> +"Have I clapped deadlights on my optics, or am I gone plumb locoed?" +bellowed the amazed captain, as he saw the little craft dancing lightly +on the sunny waters. +</P> + +<P> +"You are certainly not mistaken in supposing that is your boat. I'd +know her among a thousand," Rob assured him. "Are you quite certain +that she was not here last night, captain?" +</P> + +<P> +"Just as sure as I am that yer and me is standin' here," rejoined the +bewildered captain. "I've sailed the seven seas in my day, and man and +boy seen many queer things; but if this don't beat cock fightin', I'm +an inky Senegambian!" +</P> + +<P> +The captain's voice had risen to a perfect roar as he uttered the last +words, and a sort of jack-of-all-trades about the wharf, whose name was +Hi Higgins, came shuffling up, asking what was the trouble. +</P> + +<P> +"Trouble," roared the hermit of Topsail Island. "Trouble enough fer +all hands and some left over fer the cat! Say, shipmate, yer hangs +about this here L wharf a lot. Did yer see any piratical humans +monkeyin' around my boat last night?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, what d'yer mean, cap'n," sniffled Hi Higgins. "I seen yer tie up +here, and there yer boat is now. What d'yer mean by pira-pirawell, +them parties yer mentioned? Yer mean some one took it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Took it—yes, yer hornswoggled longshore lubber!" bellowed the +captain. "I thought yer was hired as a sort uv watchman on this wharf. +A find watchman yer are!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, yer see, cap'n," returned Hi Higgins, really alarmed at the +captain's truculent tone, "I ain't here much after nine at night or +before five in the morning." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, was my boat here at five this mornin'?" demanded the captain. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure it was," rejoined Hi Higgins, with a sniffle; "the fust boat I +seen." +</P> + +<P> +"Rob, my boy, I'm goin' crazy in my old age!" gasped the captain. "I'm +as certain as I can be that the boat wasn't here when I came down to +the wharf last midnight, but the pre-pon-der-ance of evidence is +against me." +</P> + +<P> +The captain shook his head gravely as he spoke. It was evident that he +was sorely puzzled and half inclined to doubt the evidence of his own +senses. +</P> + +<P> +"Douse my toplights," he kept muttering, "if this don't beat a flying +Dutchman on wheels and with whiskers!" +</P> + +<P> +"I certainly don't believe that your eyes deceived you, captain," put +in Rob, in the midst of the captain's rumbling outbursts. "It looks to +me as if somebody really did borrow your boat last night, and that the +decoy note supposed to be from me had something to do with it." +</P> + +<P> +"By the great horn spoon, yer've got it, my boy!" roared the captain. +"And now yer come ter speak uv it, my mind misgives me that all ain 't +right at the island. I didn't tell yer, but I left a tidy sum uv money +in that old iron safe off the Sarah Jane, the last ship I commanded, +and all this what's puzzled us so may be part uv some thievish scheme. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going ter hurry over ter the island and make certain sure," he +went on the next minute. "The more I think uv it, the more signs uv +foul weather I see. Good-by, my lad, and good luck. Will yer be out +ter see me soon? The bluefish are running fine." +</P> + +<P> +"We may be out this afternoon, captain," responded Rob. "I am curious +myself to see if any mischief has been done on your island. If there +has been," he added earnestly, "you can count on the Eagle Patrol to +help you out." +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks, my boy!" exclaimed the old man, who was bending over his +gasoline tank. "Hullo!" he shouted suddenly. "I wasn't crazy! This +boat was took out last night. See here!" +</P> + +<P> +He held up the gasoline measuring stick which he had grabbed up and +plunged into the tank. The instrument was almost dry. The receptacle +for fuel was nearly empty. +</P> + +<P> +"And I filled her before I started out!" thundered the captain. +"Whoever took my boat must have run her a long ways." +</P> + +<P> +Fresh fuel was soon obtained, and the captain, after more shouted +farewells, started for the island to try to obtain some clue to the +mysterious happenings of the night. +</P> + +<P> +Rob, after watching him for a few moments, as he sped down the blue +waters of the sunlit inlet, turned away to return to his home, just +recollecting that, in their eagerness to search for the boat, both he +and the captain had entirely forgotten about breakfast. He was in the +middle of the meal, and eagerly explaining to his interested parents +the strange incidents of the missing boat and the decoy note, when +Merritt Crawford burst into the room unannounced. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I beg your pardon!" he apologized, abashed. "I didn't know you +were at breakfast. But, Mr. Blake—Rob—something has happened that I +just had to come and tell you about at once." +</P> + +<P> +"Good gracious! More mysteries," Mr. Blake was beginning in a jocular +way, when the serious look on the boy's face checked him. "What is it? +What has happened, Merritt?" he asked soberly, while Rob regarded the +spectacle of his usually placid corporal's excitement with round eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"The uniforms are all gone!" burst out Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"What uniforms?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ours—the Eagle Patrols'." +</P> + +<P> +"What! Stolen?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's right," hurried on Merritt. "I met old Mrs. Jones in a +terrible state of mind. You know, Mr. Blake, she's the old woman who +scrubs out the place in the morning. I asked what was the matter, and +she told me that when she went to the armory early to-day, she found +the lock forced and all the lockers broken open and the uniforms gone!" +</P> + +<P> +"Have you seen the place?" asked Mr. Blake. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I followed her up. The room was turned upside down. The locks +had been ripped right off and the lockers rifled of everything. Who +can have done it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll bet anything Jack Curtiss and his gang had something to do with +it, just as I believe they put up some crooked job on the captain!" +burst out Rob, greatly excited and his breakfast entirely forgotten. +</P> + +<P> +"Be careful how you make such a grave accusation," warned his father. +</P> + +<P> +"I know it's a tough thing to say," admitted Rob; "but you don't know +that bunch like we do. They'd—" +</P> + +<P> +He was about to explain more of the characteristics of the bully and +his cronies when a fresh interruption occurred. This time it was Hiram +Nelson. He was almost as abashed as Merritt had been when he found +that his excitement had carried him into what seemed a family +conference. +</P> + +<P> +"It's all right, Hiram. Come right in," said Mr. Blake cheerfully. +"Come on out with your news, for I can see you can hardly keep it to +yourself." +</P> + +<P> +"It's going round the town like wildfire!" responded the panting boy. +The others nodded. "I see you know it already," he went on. "Well, I +think I've got a clue." +</P> + +<P> +"You have! Come on, let's hear it quick," cried Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I was up late with Paul Perkins last night, talking over the +aeroplane model competition, and didn't start home till about midnight. +As I was approaching the armory I thought I saw a light in one of the +windows. I couldn't be certain, however, and I put it down to a trick +that my eyes had played me." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, that's all right as far as it goes," burst out Rob. "It +probably was a light. I wish you'd investigated." +</P> + +<P> +"Wait a minute, Rob," said his father, noting Hiram's anxious face. +"There's more to come, isn't there, Hiram?" +</P> + +<P> +"You bet! The most exciting part of it—the most important, I mean," +went on young Hiram, with an important air. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, well, get down to it," urged the impatient Rob. "What was it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, right after I'd seen the light," went on Hiram, "I thought I saw +a dark figure slip around the corner into that dark street." +</P> + +<P> +"A dark figure! Hum! Sounds like one of those old yellow—back +novels," remarked Mr. Blake, with a smile. +</P> + +<P> +"But this was a figure I recognized, sir," exclaimed Hiram. "It was +Bill Bender!" +</P> + +<P> +"Jack Curtiss' chum! They're as thick as two thieves," burst out +Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"And I believe they are two thieves," solemnly put in Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," went on Hiram, "the next minute Bill Bender came walking round +the corner as fast as if he were coming from somewhere in a great +hurry, and was hastening home. He told me he had been to a birthday +party at his aunt's." +</P> + +<P> +"At his aunt's," echoed Mr. Blake. "Well, that's an important point, +for I happen to know that his aunt, Mrs. Graves, is out of town. She +visited the bank yesterday morning and drew some money for her +traveling expenses. She informed me that she expected to be gone a +week or more." +</P> + +<P> +"I knew it, I knew it!" shouted Rob. "That fellow ought to be in jail. +He'll land there yet." +</P> + +<P> +"Softly, softly, my boy," said Mr. Blake. "This is a grave affair, and +we cannot jump at conclusions." +</P> + +<P> +"I'd jump him," declared Rob, "if I only knew for certain that he was +the thief!" +</P> + +<P> +"I will inform the police myself and have an investigation made," Mr. +Blake promised. "We will leave no stone unturned to find out who has +been guilty of such an outrage." +</P> + +<P> +"And in the meantime the Eagle Patrol will carry on an investigation of +its own," declared Rob sturdily. "What do you say, boys?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll bet every boy in the corps is with you on that," rejoined Merritt +heartily. +</P> + +<P> +"Same here," chimed in Hiram. +</P> + +<P> +"The first step is to take a run to Topsail Island and see if all the +queer things that happened last night have not some connecting link +between them," suggested Mr. Blake. "I am inclined, after what you +boys have told me, to think that they have." +</P> + +<P> +"I am sure of it," echoed Rob. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE HYDROPLANE QUEERLY RECOVERED +</H3> + +<P> +Seldom had the Flying Fish been urged to greater speed than she was a +short time after the discovery of the looting of the scouts' armory. +She fairly flew across the smooth waters of the inlet and out on to the +Atlantic swells, leaving a clean, sweeping bow-wave as she cut her way +along. Her four young occupants, for Tubby had been called on and +notified of the occurrences of the night, were, however, wrapped in +slickers borrowed from the yacht club, so that the showers of spray +which fell about them had little effect on them. +</P> + +<P> +The run to Topsail Island was made in record time, and as they drew +near the little hummock of tree and shrub-covered land the boys could +perceive that something unusual had happened. A figure which even at a +distance they recognized as that of Captain job Hudgins was down on the +little wharf, and had apparently been on the lookout there for some +time. A closer view revealed the captain waving frantically. +</P> + +<P> +"Something's up, all right," remarked Tubby, above the roar of the +motor-boat's engine. +</P> + +<P> +The others said nothing, but kept their gaze riveted on the captain's +figure. With the skill of a veteran boatman, Rob brought the Flying +Fish round in a graceful curve and ran her cleanly up to the wharf +without the slightest jolt or jar. +</P> + +<P> +"Ahoy, lads, I'm glad yer've come!" exclaimed the captain, as he caught +the painter line thrown out to him by Merritt, and skillfully made the +boat fast. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, what has happened?" demanded Rob, as he sprang on to the wharf, +followed by the others. +</P> + +<P> +"Happened?" repeated the captain. "Well, in a manner of speakin', +about twenty things has happened at once. Lads, my spirits and +emotions are in a fair Chinese tornado—every which way at once. In +the first place, I'm seventy-five dollars poorer than I was last night; +in the second, poor old Skipper's been given some kind av poison that's +made him so sick I doubt he'll get over it." +</P> + +<P> +"You've been robbed?" gasped Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"That's it, my lad. That's the word. My poor old safe's been scuttled +and her hold overhauled. But I don't mind that so much—it's poor old +Skipper I'm worried about. But come on up ter the house, lads, and see +fer yerselves." +</P> + +<P> +Followed by the sympathetic four, the old man hobbled up from his +little wharf to a small eminence on which stood his neatly whitewashed +hut. He opened the door and invited them in. A first glance +discovered nothing much the matter, but a second look showed the boys +poor old Skipper lying on the floor in front of the open fireplace +which was filled with fresh green boughs—and evidently a very sick dog +indeed. He gave the boys a pathetic glance of recognition as they came +in, and with a feeble wag or two of his tail tried to show them he was +glad to see them; but this done, he seemed to be completely exhausted, +and once more laid his head between his forepaws and seemed to doze. +</P> + +<P> +"Poor old dog," said the captain, shaking his head. "I doubt if he'll +ever get about again." +</P> + +<P> +The safe now engaged the boys' attention. It is true that it was a +rickety old contrivance which might well have been forced open with an +ordinary poker, but to the captain, up to this day, it had been a +repository as safe and secure as a big Wall Street trust company's +vaults. +</P> + +<P> +"Look at that, boys!" cried the captain, with tragic emphasis, pointing +to the door, which had been forced clear off its rusty hinges. "Just +busted open like yer'd taken the crust off'n a pie! Ah, if I could lay +my hands on the fellers that done this, I'd run 'em tip ter the yardarm +afore a foc'sle hand could say 'Hard tack'!" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, we think that—" began Tubby, when Rob checked him. The captain, +who had been bending over his dog, didn't hear the remark, and Rob +hastily whispered to Tubby: +</P> + +<P> +"Don't breathe a word to anyone of our suspicions. Our only chance to +get hold of the real culprits is to not give them any idea that we +suspect them." +</P> + +<P> +After a little more time spent on the island, the boys took their +leave, promising to come back soon again. First, however, Rob and his +corporal made a brief expedition to see if they could make out the +tracks of the marauders of the previous evening. Whoever they had been, +however—and the boys, as we know, had a shrewd guess at their +identity—they had been too cunning to take the path, but had +apparently, judging from the absence of all footmarks, made their way +to the house through the coarse grass that grew on each side of the way. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what are we going to do about it?" Tubby inquired, as they +speeded back toward home. +</P> + +<P> +"Just what I said," rejoined Rob. "Keep quiet and not let Jack or his +chums know that we suspect a thing. Give them enough rope, and we'll +get them in time. I'm certain of it." +</P> + +<P> +How true his words were to prove, Rob at that time little imagined, +although he felt the wisdom of the course he had advised. +</P> + +<P> +As they neared the inlet, Rob, who was at the wheel and scanning the +channel pretty closely, for the tide was now running out, gave a sudden +shout and pointed ahead. As the others raised their eyes and gazed in +the direction their leader indicated they, too, uttered a cry of +astonishment. From the mouth of the inlet there had stolen a long, +low, black craft, gliding through the water at tremendous speed. +</P> + +<P> +In the strange craft the boy scouts had little difficulty in +recognizing Sam Redding's hydroplane. +</P> + +<P> +"So he's got her back," exclaimed Merritt, recovering from his first +astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and she seems little the worse for her experience," remarked +Tubby. "It doesn't appear, though, that they are going to profit by +their lesson of the other day, for there they go out to sea again." +</P> + +<P> +"Probably consulted the glass this time," remarked Rob. "It read 'set +fair' when we started out." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, that's the only kind of weather for them," commented Merritt; +"though as both Jack and Bill can swim, I wouldn't mind seeing them get +a good ducking." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose the coincidence has struck you fellows, too?" remarked Rob +suddenly, as he skillfully twisted and turned the dancing Flying Fish +through the devious ways of the channel at low water. +</P> + +<P> +"What on earth are you talking about?" demanded Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, that it seems rather queer that Sam, who was round town +desperately trying to raise money with which to get his boat out of +pawn suddenly manages to redeem her, and that on the very day after the +robbery of Captain Hudgins hut." +</P> + +<P> +"By hookey, that's right!" shouted Tubby. "I'll bet your guess was +correct, Rob—that gang of Jack's robbed the old captain." +</P> + +<P> +"And stole our uniforms," put in Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; but how are we going to prove it?" was Rob's "cold water" comment +which silenced further speculation for the time being. Each boy, +however, determined then and there to do his share in running down the +persons responsible for the vandalism. +</P> + +<P> +By the time they got back to Hampton the news had spread among the +entire Eagle Patrol, and an indignation meeting was called in the +devastated armory. Mr. Blake entered in the midst of it, and offered, +in conjunction with the rest of the local council, to furnish new +uniforms. On the matter being put to a vote, however, the lads all +agreed that it would be better not to accept such an offer till they +had made a determined effort to run down the plunderers. +</P> + +<P> +"Very well," said Mr. Blake; "your spirit does you great credit, and if +you need any help, don't fail to call upon me at any time." +</P> + +<P> +"Three cheers for Mr. Blake and the members of the council!" shouted +Merritt, jumping on a chair. +</P> + +<P> +They were given with such roof-raising effect, that people outside in +the street, many of whom knew of the robbery, began to think that the +uniforms must have been recovered. +</P> + +<P> +As the lads surged out of the armory, all talking at once about the +robbery and its likely results, whom should they encounter on the +street but Jack Curtiss and his two chums, evidently, from the fact +that they carried waterproof garments over their arms, just back from +their trip in Sam's newly-recovered hydroplane. +</P> + +<P> +It might have been fancy, but as the eyes of the Boy Scouts met those +of the three lads who would have so much liked to belong to the +organization, Rob thought that a look of embarrassment spread over Jack +Curtiss' heavy features, and that even Bill Bender's brazen face took +on a shade of pallor. If this were so, however, it could have been +only momentary, for the next minute Jack, with what seemed very much +overdone cordiality, came forward with: +</P> + +<P> +"Why, hullo, boys. I just heard about your loss. Any news?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, not a word," chirped little Joe Digby, one of the few lads in the +Eagle Patrol who had never run afoul of the bully. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," went on Jack, affecting not to notice the silence with which +his advances had been greeted, "I hope you find the fellows who did it, +whoever they were." +</P> + +<P> +"Same here," chimed in Bill Bender, now quite at his ease, "although, +at that, I guess it was only a joke, and you'll get 'em back again +before long." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think so, Bill?" asked Merritt, looking the bully's crony +steadily in the eye. "I hope so, I'm sure. By the way, Hiram Nelson +here says that he saw you hurrying up Main Street at just about the +time the robbery must have taken place. You didn't hear any unusual +sounds or see anything out of the way, did you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I—why, no—I—you see, I was on my way home from my aunt's home," +stuttered Bill, seemingly taken off his guard. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; your aunt, who left home yesterday afternoon to be gone a week," +shot out Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"Queer that she should have changed her mind and come home in such a +hurry." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, come on, Bill," stuck in Sam, seeing that things were getting very +unpleasant. "We've got to hurry up if we're to get out to Jack's in +time." +</P> + +<P> +Without another word, the three hurried off, seemingly not at all +unrelieved to escape from what Merritt was pretty sure were +embarrassing questions. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +WINNING THE CONTEST +</H3> + +<P> +The day which was to witness the tests of the aeroplane models for the +prizes offered by the professor of aeronautics dawned still and fair. +It followed several days of storm, in which the boys had been unable to +make any excursions in their motor boat, or into the country, or, +indeed, even to devote any time to the engrossing subject of tracing +the theft of the uniforms to its source. +</P> + +<P> +Early in the morning a small field in the rear of Mr. Blake's house was +well filled with boys of all ages and sizes, watching the contestants +in the model contest trying out their craft. The models were of all +sorts and sizes. Some were freak craft that had been constructed in a +hurry from pictures, without any attention being paid to scale or +proportions, while others were carefully made bits of mechanism. +</P> + +<P> +Among the latter class were Paul Perkins' monoplane—Silver Arrow, he +called it,—Hiram Nelson's two models, the monoplane of Tom Maloney, a +lad of about sixteen, and Ed River's little duplicate of a Curtiss +biplane. The contest was to take place on the Main Street of the town, +in front of the bank, and in the middle of the course two poles had +been erected, one on each side of the street, between which a brightly +colored tape had then been strung, forming a sort of aerial hurdle. +The tape was fifty feet above the ground, and to qualify at all it +would be necessary for the contesting models to clear it. +</P> + +<P> +The lecture which took place in the village hall came first and was +well attended, most of the young folks of Hampton being there. If the +truth must be told, however, while the lecturer was expounding his +subject, illustrating it on the blackboard with chalk drawings, the +majority of his young hearers were wishing that it was over and the +contest really begun. +</P> + +<P> +Especially was this true of the boys of the Eagle Patrol, who were +every one of them anxious to see what kind of aeroplanes Jack Curtiss +and Bill Bender would have produced. The lecture, however, at last +came to an end, and the gentlemen on the platform shook hands with the +professor and the professor shook hands with them, and somebody called +for three cheers for "Hampton's distinguished son." +</P> + +<P> +Everybody then lost no time in filing out into the afternoon sunlight, +where they found quite a crowd already on the streets, and a small +wooden grand stand, which had been erected near what was expected to be +the finishing line, seating several guests. The committee and the +professor, led by the Hampton brass band, blaring away at patriotic +airs, made their way to the front seats in the structure, and everybody +was requested to line up on each side of the street, so as to make a +clear lane for the models to fly in. +</P> + +<P> +The starting line was about a hundred yards from the red tape, and the +contestants were compelled to stand back of this. Mr. Wingate, the +president of the yacht club and member of the Boy Scout Council, had +already shuffled the numbers of the contestants in a hat, and they were +to fly their models in the order in which they drew their figures. +</P> + +<P> +Up to this time there had been no sign of Jack Curtiss or Bill Bender, +but the boys now saw them hastening up to a member of the committee and +whispering to him. A moment later a man, with a megaphone boomed out +from the grand stand: +</P> + +<P> +"William Bender announces that he has withdrawn from the contest." +</P> + +<P> +"Aha! I'll bet Jack's got cold feet, too," whispered Hiram, nudging +Paul, who was kneeling down and winding up the long rubber bands which +drove the propellers of the Silver Arrow, an Antoinette model. +</P> + +<P> +But a short interval showed him to be mistaken, for Jack, with his +usual confident air, repaired to the buggy in which he had driven into +town from his father's farm, and speedily produced a model that caused +loud sighs of "Ohs!" and "Ahs!" to circulate through the juvenile +portion of the crowd. +</P> + +<P> +However he had managed to accomplish it, the bully had certainly +produced a beautiful model. It was of the Bleriot type, and finished +perfectly down to the minutest detail. Every wire and brace on it was +silvered with aluminum paint, and it even bore a small figure at its +steering wheel. Beside it the other models looked almost clumsy. +</P> + +<P> +The faces of the Boy Scouts fell. +</P> + +<P> +"If that machine can fly as well as she looks," said Rob to Merritt, +"she wins the first prize." +</P> + +<P> +"Not a doubt of it," was Merritt's reply. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, well," put in Tubby, for the three inseparables were standing +together, "if he can win the prize fairly, don't knock him. He +certainly has built a beautiful machine. You've got to give him credit +for that." +</P> + +<P> +And now, as Jack, with a triumphant smile at the glances of admiration +his model excited, strode to the starting point, elbowing small boys +aside, and drew from the hat, the man with the megaphone once more +arose. He held in his hand the result of the drawing and the order in +which the models would fly. +</P> + +<P> +"The f-i-r-s-t model to com-pete for the big p-r-ize," he bellowed, +"will be that of Thomas Maloney—a Bler-i-ot!" +</P> + +<P> +Poor Tom might have called his machine a Bleriot, but it is doubtful if +the designer of the original machine of that name would have recognized +the model as having any more than a distant relationship to the famous +type of monoplane. It was provided with a large tin propeller, +however, and seemed capable of at least accomplishing a flight. In +fact, at the trials in the morning it had flown well, and by some of +the lads was regarded as a sort of "dark horse." As Tom was on the +village team, as opposed to the Boy Scout contingent, he was greeted +with loud cheers and whistles by his friends as he stepped to the +starting line, and, holding his already wound up machine in his hand, +made ready to launch it. +</P> + +<P> +"Crack!" went the pistol. +</P> + +<P> +At the same instant Tom, with a thrusting motion, released his model; +but, alas! instead of darting forward like the Sparrow Hawk it was +named after, the craft ingloriously wobbled about eccentrically, and +finally alighted on an old lady's bonnet, causing her to exclaim as the +propeller whizzed round and entangled itself in her hair: +</P> + +<P> +"No good'll ever come of teaching lads to meddle with these here +contraptions." +</P> + +<P> +The model having finally been extricated, amid much laughter, and poor +Tom having offered mortified apologies, the announcer made known that +Hiram Nelson's Doodlebug monoplane would essay a flight. +</P> + +<P> +As the pistol sounded, Hiram launched his craft, and amid cheers from +the crowd it soared up, and, just clearing the red tape, settled +gracefully down a few feet the other side of the two hundred foot line. +</P> + +<P> +"Good for you, Hiram!" exclaimed Ernest Thompson, the bike scout, who +was acting as a patrol on the course. "Whose turn next?" +</P> + +<P> +"You kids wait till I get my Bleriot started," sneered Jack. Several +small boys near him, who were mortally afraid of the big fellow and +rather admired him as being "manly," set up a cheer at this. +</P> + +<P> +"Wait for Jack's dandy model to fly!" they cried. +</P> + +<P> +"Edward Rivers—model of a Curtiss biplane!" came the next announcement +through, the megaphone. +</P> + +<P> +Another cheer greeted this, as young Rivers was also on the "town team." +</P> + +<P> +The little Curtiss darted into the air at the pistol crack and flew +straight as an arrow for the red tape. It cleared it easily and +skimmed on down past the grand stand, and alighted, fluttering like a +tired butterfly, beyond Hiram's model. +</P> + +<P> +"Three hundred feet!" cried the announcer, amid a buzz of approval, +after the measurers of the course had done their work. +</P> + +<P> +"Paul Perkins—Bleriot!" was the next announcement. +</P> + +<P> +A hum of excitement went through the crowds that lined the track. It +began to look as if the record of Ed Rivers' machine would be hard to +beat, but from the determined look on his face and his gritted teeth it +was evident that Paul meant to try hard. +</P> + +<P> +Before the report of the pistol had died out, the yellow-winged +Dragonfly soared upward from Paul's hand and darted like a streak +across the red tape, clearing it at the highest altitude yet achieved +by any of the models. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurrah!" yelled the crowd. +</P> + +<P> +On and on sped the little Bleriot, while Paul watched it with +pride-flushed cheeks. It was evident that it was going to out-distance +the record made by Ed Rivers' machine. The Boy Scouts set up their +Patrol cry: +</P> + +<P> +"Kr-ee-ee-ee-ee!" +</P> + +<P> +As the little machine settled to the ground, far beyond the grand +stand, the officials ran out with their tapes, and presently the +announcement came blaring down the packed ranks of the onlookers: +</P> + +<P> +"Three hundred and fifty feet!" +</P> + +<P> +What a cheer went up then. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess you've got it won. Congratulations!" said Ed Rivers, pressing +forward to Paul's side. +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks, Ed," returned the other; "but 'there's many a slip,' you know, +and there are several others to be flown yet." +</P> + +<P> +Now came in rapid succession several of the smaller models and freak +designs. Some of these wobbled through the air and landed in the +crowd. Others sailed blithely up toward the red tape and just fell +short of clearing it. Another landed right on the tape and hung there, +the target of irreverent remarks from the crowd. +</P> + +<P> +While this was going on, Bill Bender, Jack Curtiss and Sam were in +close consultation. +</P> + +<P> +"Remember, you promised that if you won the prize you'd give that money +back," Sam whispered to Jack, "and for goodness' sake, don't forget it. +I half believe that those boys suspect us already." +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense," returned the bully. "And what if they do? We covered up +our tracks too well for them to have anything on us. They can't prove +anything, can they?" +</P> + +<P> +"I—I—I don't know," stammered Sam, and was about to say more, but the +clarion voice of the announcer was heard informing the crowd that: +</P> + +<P> +"John Curtiss' Bleriot model will now make a flight for the great +prize." +</P> + +<P> +With a confident smile on his face, Jack stepped forward and held his +model ready. The murmur of admiration that had greeted its first +appearance was repeated as he held it high in the sunlight and the +afternoon rays glinted and shimmered on its fittings and wings. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the model for my money," remarked a man in the crowd. +</P> + +<P> +"It's going to win, too," said Jack confidently. +</P> + +<P> +Just at that moment the pistol cracked, and Jack released his +much-admired air craft. +</P> + +<P> +Its flight showed that it was as capable of making as beautiful a +soaring excursion as its graceful outlines and careful finish seemed to +indicate. In a long, sweeping glide, it arose and cleared the red tape +by a greater margin than had Paul Perkins' model. +</P> + +<P> +"Jack Curtiss wins!" yelled the crowd, as the machine soared right on +and did not begin its downward swoop for some distance. After it had +alighted and the measurers had laid their tapes on the course, the +announcer megaphoned, amid a perfect tornado of roars and cheers: +</P> + +<P> +"The last flight, ladies and gentlemen—and apparently the winning +one—accomplished the remarkable distance of four hundred and fifty +feet—four hundred and fifty feet." +</P> + +<P> +"Three cheers for Jack Curtiss!" shouted Bill Bender, slapping Jack +heartily on the back and giving most of the cheers himself. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess those cubs won't be quite so stuck up now," commented Sam, +shaking Jack's hand warmly. +</P> + +<P> +"I was pretty sure I'd win," modestly remarked the bully, as he began +shouldering his way through the press toward the judges' stand. He was +closely followed by the boys, as it looked as if Paul Perkins might +have won the second prize and Ed Rivers the third. +</P> + +<P> +Urged by Bill Bender, the band began puffing away at "See, the +Conquering Hero Comes," and Jack, nothing averse to appearing in such a +role, bowed gracefully right and left to the admiring throngs. +</P> + +<P> +The professor shook hands warmly with the victorious Jack, and remarked: +</P> + +<P> +"You are to be congratulated, young man. I have rarely seen a better +model, and your skill does you great credit. Are you thinking of +taking up aeronautics seriously?" +</P> + +<P> +The bully, his face very red, stammered that he had entertained some +such thoughts. +</P> + +<P> +The professor was about to reply, when there came a sudden sound of +confusion among that portion of the crowd which had surrounded the +delegates deputed to pick up the aeroplanes and bring them to the +stand. This was in order that they might be exhibited as each prize +was awarded. A small boy with a very excited face was seen struggling +to get through the mass, and he finally gained the judges' stand. As +he faced the congratulatory professor he stuttered out: +</P> + +<P> +"Please, sir, there's something wrong about Jack Curtiss' machine." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean, you impudent young shaver!" shouted the bully, +turning white, nevertheless. +</P> + +<P> +"Let the lad speak," said Mr. Blake, who as one of the committee was +standing beside the professor. "What is it, my boy? Let me see. +You're Joe Digby, of the Eagle Patrol, aren't you." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir; and I live out on a farm near Jack Curtiss. I was watching +him fly his machine this morning, from behind a hedge, and I heard them +saying something about 'their store-made machine beating any country +boy's model.'" +</P> + +<P> +"He's a young liar! Pay no attention to him," stammered Jack, licking +his dry lips. +</P> + +<P> +"Silence, sir!" said Mr. Blake gravely. "Let us listen to what this +boy has to say. If he is not speaking the truth, you can easily +disprove it. Go on, my boy." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I guess that's about all I know about it: but I thought I ought +to tell you, sir," confusedly concluded the small lad. +</P> + +<P> +"You young runt, I'll half kill you if I catch you alone!" breathed +Jack, under his breath, as the lad sped off to join his companions. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, you are not going to pay any attention to that kid's—I +mean boy's—story," demanded Jack, addressing the professor. "It's +made out of whole cloth, I assure you." +</P> + +<P> +In the meantime the machines had been brought to the grand stand and +were being examined. Naturally, after young Digby's statement, Jack's +was one of the first to be scrutinized. The committee turned it over +and over, and were about to pass on it, when Mr. Wingate, who had been +bending attentively over the bully's model, gave a sudden exclamation. +</P> + +<P> +"Look here, gentlemen," he cried, pointing to a small tag which Jack +had evidently forgotten to remove, "I think this is conclusive +evidence. Here is the label of the 'Manhattan Model Works' pasted +right under this wing." +</P> + +<P> +"Somebody must have put it there. It's a job those Boy Scouts put up +on me," protested Tack. "I made that model every bit myself." +</P> + +<P> +"I regret to say that we must regard the price tag as conclusive +evidence that this machine comes from a store," said the professor +sternly, handing Jack his unlucky model. "You are disqualified for +entering a machine not of your own workmanship. +</P> + +<P> +"Stand back, please," he went on, as Jack tried to protest. "I want to +say," he went on in a loud tone, holding up his hand to command +attention, "that there has been a grave mistake made. The machine which +actually flew the longest distance is disqualified, as it was made at a +New York model factory. The first prize of fifty dollars, therefore, +goes to Paul Perkins, of the Boy Scouts, the second to Edward Rivers, +of Hampton, and the third to Hiram Green, also of the Boy Scouts. +</P> + +<P> +"Hold on one minute," he shouted, as the crowd began to cheer and hoot. +"There is an additional announcement to be made. The committee has +decided to offer a further reward of five dollars to Thomas Maloney, +whose model shows evidence of praiseworthy and painstaking work." +</P> + +<P> +As the cheers broke loose once more, Jack Curtiss and his cronies slunk +off through the crowd, and having placed the rejected model in the +buggy, drove off into the country in no very amiable or enviable frame +of mind. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you made a fine mess of it," grumbled Bill Bender savagely. "I +told you to look carefully and see that all the tags were off it." +</P> + +<P> +"It's no more my fault than yours," grated out Jack, lashing the horse +savagely, to work off some of his rage. "It's all the fault of those +young cubs of Rob Blake's. Let them look out, though, for I'll get +even with them before long, and in a way that will make them sit up and +take notice." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't forget that young mischief maker, Joe Digby," suggested Bill +Bender. "It was all his fault—the young spy!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I'll attend to him," Jack assured his chum, with a grating laugh +that boded no good for the youngest member of the Eagle Patrol. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A FORTUNATE DISCOVERY +</H3> + +<P> +"Want to go fishing?" Rob inquired over the telephone of Merritt +Crawford a few days later. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure," was the response. +</P> + +<P> +"We can run into Topsail Island and get a site for the camp picked at +the same time," suggested Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"Bully! I'll meet you at the wharf. Going to bring Tubby?" +</P> + +<P> +"You bet! We'll be there in ten minutes." +</P> + +<P> +"All right. Good-by." +</P> + +<P> +At the time set the three boys met on the wharf of the yacht club, and +were speedily ready to start on their trip. Rob brought along bluefish +squids and lines, and Tubby—never at a loss to scare up a hurried +lunch—had a basket full of good things to eat. +</P> + +<P> +The run to the island was made without incident, and the boys were glad +to see that, contrary to the captain's fears, his dog Skipper was all +right again, for the animal came bounding and barking down the wharf as +they drew near, in token of his gladness to see them. +</P> + +<P> +Attracted by his dog's barking, the old captain, who was at work in a +small potato patch he cultivated, came hobbling to meet the boys as +they tied up and disembarked. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, well, boys; come ter stay?" he cheerily remarked, as the three +lads shook hands. +</P> + +<P> +"No, we're off after 'blues,"' said Rob; "but we thought we'd drop in +and see how things are coming along with you, and if you have heard any +news yet concerning the robbery." +</P> + +<P> +"Not a thing, boys, not a thing," said the old man. "In fact, I +haven't left the island since my old safe was busted open. Skipper, as +yer see, got over his sickness. It's my belief that them fellers fed +him poisoned meat or something." +</P> + +<P> +"I shouldn't wonder," remarked Rob dryly. "It would be quite in their +line." +</P> + +<P> +"By the way," exclaimed the old man suddenly, "a queer thing happened +the other day. Skipper had been a-skirmishin' round the other side uv +the island after rabbits and critters, and he brought home this— Wait +a minute and I'll show it to yer." +</P> + +<P> +After some fumbling in his pocket, the old man produced a torn strip of +yellow material with a brass button attached to it. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder where that come from," he remarked, as he handed the fragment +to Rob for his inspection. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, it's khaki," exclaimed Rob, as he felt it. "And, by hokey!" he +ejaculated the next instant, "it's a piece of a Boy Scout uniform!" +</P> + +<P> +Old Skipper was jumping about in great excitement, and endeavoring to +sniff the bit of torn material as Rob examined it, and a sudden idea +struck the boy. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder if Skipper could pilot us to where he found this bit of +material." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you sure it's a bit of uniform?" asked Tubby doubtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Certain of it. No one else wears khaki in these parts. Hey, Skipper, +hey, good dog! Sic 'em, sic 'em!" cried Rob, holding up the khaki for +the intelligent creature to see. +</P> + +<P> +The animal seemed to be greatly excited and gave short, quick barks as +he danced about the boys. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we might try and see if he will lead us anywhere." remarked +Merritt somewhat dubiously. "At any rate, there's no harm done, except +wasting a little time; and if we can get on the track of our uniforms, +it's not such a much of a waste, after all." +</P> + +<P> +"He sure wants ter be off somewhere," observed the old captain, +watching the antics of his dog, whom he regarded in the light of a +human being. "He never acts nor talks that way unless he's got suthin' +on his mind. Yer boys follow him, and I'll bet he'll lead yer ter +suthin'. It may be nothin' more than a dead rabbit, and it may be what +ye think. I'll stay here an' dig my pertaters, fer my rheumatiz is +powerful bad today." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well, captain. We shan't be long," rejoined Rob, calling to the +dog. "Hey, Skipper, hey, old boy! After 'em, Skipper—after 'em!" +</P> + +<P> +The dog bounded on ahead of the three boys, occasionally looking back +to see if they were following and then plunging on again. +</P> + +<P> +"As the Captain said, he 'sure has got suthin' on his mind'!" laughed +Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +After traversing about a mile of beach, the dog suddenly bounded into a +thicket overhanging the shore and began barking furiously. +</P> + +<P> +"He's treed something, all right," remarked Rob, pushing the branches +aside. +</P> + +<P> +The next minute he gave a loud shout of triumph. +</P> + +<P> +"Look there, boys! Old Skipper sure did 'have suthin' on his mind'!" +</P> + +<P> +Peering over Rob's shoulder, the other two were able to make out two +hidden sacks, the mouth of one of which had been torn open, evidently +by the investigating Skipper. +</P> + +<P> +From the aperture appeared the torn sleeve of a Boy Scout's uniform, +and a brief searching of the sacks after they had been lugged out on +the beach revealed the entire stolen equipment. +</P> + +<P> +"Bones for you, Skipper, for the rest of your life!" promised Tubby, as +the dog, evidently well pleased with the petting he received and the +admiration showered upon him, pranced about on the beach and indulged +in a hundred antics. +</P> + +<P> +The only one of the uniforms damaged was the one that Skipper had torn. +The others were all intact, but badly crumpled, having been hastily +thrust into the sacks, and, as it appeared, tamped down to make them +fit more compactly. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what do you know about that?" was Merritt's astonished +exclamation, as one by one Rob drew forth the regimentals and laid them +on the beach. +</P> + +<P> +"You mean what does Jack Curtiss and Company know about that," +seriously returned Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"However, we found them—that's one thing to be enthusiastic over," +observed Tubby sagely. +</P> + +<P> +"I'd like just as well almost to find out exactly who hid them there," +was Merritt's reply. +</P> + +<P> +"The same folks that stole the old captain's seventy-five dollars, I +guess," returned Rob, thrusting the garments back into the sacks +preparatory to carrying them to the boat. "Here, Tubby, you carry this +one—it'll take some of that fat off you to do a hike along the beach +with it. I'll shoulder this one." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, boys, yer certainly made a haul, thanks ter old Skipper here," +declared Captain Job, after the delighted boys had made known their +discovery. "He's a smart one, I tell yer. No better dog ever lived." +</P> + +<P> +"That's what we think," agreed Merritt warmly, patting old Skipper's +black and white head. +</P> + +<P> +The recovery of the uniforms had quite put all thoughts of blue or any +other fishing out of the boys' heads, and after bidding farewell to the +captain, who promised to point out to them a good site for a camp on +their next visit, they made their best speed back to Hampton. On their +way to the armory they spread the news of their discovery broadcast, so +that in a short time the town was buzzing with the information that the +Boy Scouts' lost uniforms had been found under most surprising +circumstances; and the editor of the Hampton News, who was just going +to press, held his paper up till he could get in an item about it. +</P> + +<P> +It was this item that caught Jack Curtiss' eye, the next morning as he +and Bill Bender and Sam were seated in Bill's "club room." +</P> + +<P> +"Confound those brats, they seem always to be putting a spike in our +schemes!" muttered Jack, as he handed the paper to Bill for that +worthy's perusal. "Which reminds me," he went on, "that we haven't +attended to the case of that young Digby yet." +</P> + +<P> +"I wish you'd leave those kids alone for a while, Jack," objected Sam, +in his usual whining tones. "You've had your fun with them. They've +had to do without their uniforms for a long time. Now let up on them, +won't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you're feeling friendly toward 'em, now, are you?" sneered Jack. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no, it isn't that," Sam hastened to assure him; "nothing of the +kind. What I mean is that we are liable to get into serious trouble if +we keep on this way. I saw Hank Handcraft the other day, and I can +tell you he's in no very amiable mood. He wants his money for the +other night, he says, and he intimated that if he didn't get it he'd +make things hot for us." +</P> + +<P> +"He'd better not," glowered Bill Bender, looking up from his paper. +"We know a few things about friend Hank." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and he knows a good deal about us that wouldn't look well in +print," retorted Sam gloomily. "I wish I'd never gone into that thing +the other night." +</P> + +<P> +"Pshaw, it was just borrowing a little money from the old man, wasn't +it?" snorted Jack. "We'll pay it back some time." +</P> + +<P> +"When we get it," rejoined Sam more gloomily than ever; "and I don't +see much immediate chance of that." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, well, cheer up; we'll get it all right somehow," Jack assured him. +"And in connection with that I've got a scheme. Why shouldn't we three +fellows go camping after the motor-boat races?" +</P> + +<P> +"Go camping—where?" asked Bill, looking up surprised. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I would have suggested Topsail Island, but those pestiferous +kids are going there, I hear. However, there are plenty of other +islands right inside the Upper Inlet. What's the matter with our +taking possession of one of those?" +</P> + +<P> +The Upper Inlet was a sort of narrow and shallow bay a short distance +above Topsail Island, and was well known to both Bill and Jack, who had +been there in the winter on frequent ducking expeditions. +</P> + +<P> +"We might as well do something like that before school opens," said +Sam. "I think that Jack's suggestion is a pretty good one." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know that it's so bad myself," patronizingly admitted Bill; +"but what connection has that with your scheme for getting money, Jack?" +</P> + +<P> +"A whole lot," replied the bully. "I'm going to get even with that +young Digby if it takes me a year. He cost me the fifty-dollar prize, +and, beside that, all the kids in the village now call me 'cheater,' +and hardly anybody will have anything to do with me." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, how do you propose to get even by going camping?" inquired Bill. +</P> + +<P> +"I plan to take that Digby kid with me," rejoined Jack calmly. +</P> + +<P> +"You're crazy!" exclaimed Bill. "Why, we'd have the whole country +after us for kidnapping." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I've got a better plan than that," laughed Jack coolly, "and we +won't need to be mixed up in it at all. It'll all come back on Hank +Handcraft, I owe him a grudge for bothering me about money, anyhow, the +old beach-combing nuisance!" +</P> + +<P> +"But where do we come in to get any benefit out of it?" demanded Sam. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll explain that to you later," said Jack grandiloquently. "I +haven't quite worked out all the details yet; but if you'll meet me +here this evening I'll have them all hot and smoking for you." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +JACK FORMS A PLOT +</H3> + +<P> +The next morning Jack lost no time in making his way toward Hank +Handcraft's tumble-down abode. He found its owner in, and likewise +disposed to be quarrelsome. +</P> + +<P> +"'Oh, here you are at last!" exclaimed the hairy and unkempt outcast, +as the bully approached heavily through the yielding sand. "I'd about +given you up, and was seriously contemplating making a visit to your +home—" +</P> + +<P> +"If you ever did," breathed Jack threateningly. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," grinned Hank impudently, with his most malicious chuckle, "if I +did, what then?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'd have you thrown out of the house," calmly replied Jack, seating +himself on a big log of driftwood, once the rib of a schooner that went +ashore on the dangerous shoals off Hampton and pounded herself to +pieces. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no; you wouldn't have me thrown out!" chuckled Hank, resuming his +task of scaling a mackerel. "Cause if you did, I'd go to the chief of +police and tell him something about the robbery of the armory and the +cracking of old man Hudgins' safe." +</P> + +<P> +"You wouldn't dare to do that!" sneered Jack. "You are implicated in +that as badly as we are." +</P> + +<P> +"That's a matter of opinion," rejoined Hank, industriously scraping +away at his fish, and showing no trace of any emotion in his pale eyes. +"Anyhow, what I want right now is some cash. You agreed to pay me well +for what I did the other night, and I haven't seen the money yet." +</P> + +<P> +"Be a little patient, can't you?" irritably retorted the other. "Money +doesn't grow on trees. Now listen, Hank. How would you like to get a +nice little sum of money—more than I could give you—for camping out +on Kidd's Island, in the Upper Inlet, for a few days?" +</P> + +<P> +Hank's fishy eyes showed some trace of feeling at this. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" he asked. "Is this a new joke you're putting up on +me?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I am perfectly serious. You can make a good sum by following our +directions, and I'll see that you get into no trouble over it." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, if you can do that, I'll keep my mouth shut," chuckled Hank in +his mirthless way; "but if I don't get some money pretty quick, I'm +going to make trouble fer somebody, I tell you!" +</P> + +<P> +"Haven't you got some place where we can talk that is less exposed than +this?" said Jack, looking about him apprehensively. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure, there's my mansion," grinned Hank, pointing over his shoulder +with a fishy thumb. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the place," said Jack, "although I wish you'd clean it out +occasionally. Now listen, Hank, here's the plan—" +</P> + +<P> +Still talking, the ill-assorted pair entered the ruinous shack. +</P> + +<HR WIDTH="60%" ALIGN="center"> + +<P> +Motor-boat engines were popping everywhere. The club house was dressed +in bright-colored bunting from veranda rail to ridge pole. Ladies +strolled about beneath their parasols with correctly dressed yachtsmen, +asking all sorts of absurd questions about the various boats that lay +ready to take part in the various events. It was the day of the +Hampton Yacht Club's regatta. +</P> + +<P> +Among the throng the Boy Scouts threaded their way, watching with +interest the events as they were run off, one after the other. But +their minds were centered on the race for the trophy which, although +there were several other entries, had been practically conceded to Sam +Redding's hydroplane. +</P> + +<P> +"She's a wonder," said one of the onlookers, pointing from the porch to +the float, where Jack Curtiss, Bill Bender and Sam were leaning over +their speedy craft, stripping her of every bit of weight not absolutely +necessary. On the opposite side of the float the crew of the Flying +Fish, the Snark, the Bonita and the Albacore were equally busy over +their craft. +</P> + +<P> +"Douse the engine with oil," directed Rob, as Merritt gave the piece +of machinery a final inspection; "and how about that extra set of +batteries?" +</P> + +<P> +"They're aboard," rejoined Tubby, who was perspiringly removing +cushions and other surplus gear from the fleet boat. +</P> + +<P> +"That's right; if it comes to an emergency, we may need them," said +Rob. "Nothing like being prepared." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think we have any show?" asked Tubby, who was to be a sort of +general utility man in the crew. Rob was to steer. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see why not," rejoined the other, wiping his oily hands on a +bit of waste. "The race is a handicap one, and we get an allowance on +account of our engine not being as powerful as the hydroplane's." +</P> + +<P> +The course to be run was a sort of elongated, or isosceles triangle. +The turning point was at the head of the inlet, a buoy with a big red +ball on it being placed just inside the rough waters of the bar. It +made a course of about five miles. The race for the Hampton Motor Boat +Club's cup, for which the boys and the others were entered, was twice +round. +</P> + +<P> +The waters about the club house were so dotted with motor craft which +darted about in every direction that Commodore Wingate of the club and +the other regatta officials had a hard time keeping the course clear +for the contestants. On the threat, however, that the races would be +called off if a clear course was not kept, order was finally obtained. +</P> + +<P> +The boys were too busy to pay much attention to the results of the +other races, but a member of the club who had won the Blake trophy for +the cabin cruiser boats, warned the boys to beware of the turn above +the far buoy. +</P> + +<P> +"It's choppy as the dickens there," he said, as he made his way to the +club house, "and you want to take the turn easily. Don't 'bank' it, or +you'll lose more than you gain." +</P> + +<P> +The boys thanked him for his advice, and laid it to heart to be used +when the race was on. +</P> + +<P> +Sam's boat having been tuned up to the last notch of readiness, Jack +Curtiss strolled consequentially about on the float, making bets freely +on the hydroplane's chance of winning. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll bet you twenty-five to any odds you like that the hydroplane wins +the race," he said, addressing Colin Maxwell, the son of a well-to-do +merchant from a neighboring town. Young Maxwell had heard nothing of +Jack's mean trick in the aeroplane contest, and therefore didn't mind +talking to him. +</P> + +<P> +"I like the look of the Flying Fish pretty well," was the response, +"and I'll take you up. You'll have to give me odds, though." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, certainly," responded the bully, with a confident grin; +"twenty-five to thirty, say." +</P> + +<P> +"Make it thirty-five." +</P> + +<P> +"All right; done," said Jack. "You know me, of course; no necessity of +putting up the money." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, not the least," rejoined the other politely, though had he known +the state of Jack's finances he might have thought differently. +</P> + +<P> +The bully went about making several bets at similar odds, until finally +Bill Bender came up behind him and in a low voice warned him to be +careful. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you going to do if we lose?" he breathed. "You haven't got a +cent to pay with." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it's like taking gum from a busted slot machine," rejoined the +bully, with a laugh. "They can't win. We know what their boat can do, +and the race is practically conceded to us. Besides—" he placed his +hand close to Bill's ear and whispered a few minutes. "I guess that's +a bad scheme, eh?" he resumed in a louder tone, though his voice was +still pitched too low for those about to hear him. "If it's done +right, we'll ram them and it'll never be noticed." +</P> + +<P> +"Hum, I'm not so sure," grunted Bill. "However, if we really perceive +we are losing, I don't see what else we are to do. Are you going to +steer?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure. Sam lost his nerve at the last moment—like him, eh? It's a +good thing, though, I'm to be at the wheel, because I don't think Sam +would have had the courage to carry out my plan." +</P> + +<P> +"Not he," said Bill, with a shrug. "He's got the backbone of a snail." +</P> + +<P> +More of this interesting conversation was cut short by the "bang" of +the pistol which warned the contestants of the racing boats to get +ready. +</P> + +<P> +"The race for the Hampton Yacht Club's trophy will take place in five +minutes!" cried the announcer. +</P> + +<P> +The five contestants cast off from the float and slowly chugged out to +a position in the rear of the starting line and behind the committee +boat. Then came the nervous work of awaiting the starting gun. The +boys had all donned slickers, and the crew of the hydroplane wore +rubber coats which covered them completely. A sort of spray hood had +been erected over the hydroplane's engines. +</P> + +<P> +"That means she's going to do her best," remarked Rob, pointing to this +indication that great speed was expected. "That's what we want to do, +too, isn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +At last came the gun that started off the Snark, the Bonita and the +Albacore, which were all of about the same speed. +</P> + +<P> +"Our turn next," said Rob, who had previously received his instructions +from the committee. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'm all ready," said Merritt, nervously twisting a grease cup. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE "FLYING FISH" ON HER METTLE +</H3> + +<P> +"Bang!" +</P> + +<P> +With a nervous twitch, Rob threw in the first speed clutch, for the +engine had been kept running on her neutral speed, and was able to take +up way as soon as the propeller began to "bite." +</P> + +<P> +Rapidly the boy increased the speed up to the third "forward," and the +Flying Fish darted through the water like a pickerel after a fat frog. +</P> + +<P> +"Bang!" came behind them once more, as the sound of the cheers which +greeted them as they shot across the line grew faint. +</P> + +<P> +"Crouch low!" shouted Rob back to his crew. "We'll need every inch of +advantage we can get." +</P> + +<P> +The white spray shot in a perfect fountain from the sharp bow of the +Flying Fish, and her every frame and plank quivered under the vibration +of her powerful engine. +</P> + +<P> +"She's doing better than she ever did!" shouted Merritt to Tubby, who +crouched in the center of the boat, ready to take any part in an +emergency. +</P> + +<P> +The other nodded and kept his eyes ahead on the white wake of the other +three craft. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the Albacore began to fall back. As the Flying Fish roared by +her, Rob heard a shout of something about "missing fire." +</P> + +<P> +A steady downpour of spray was drenching the occupants of the racer, +but they paid scant heed to it. Rob dived in his pockets and put on a +pair of goggles. The spray was blinding him. He waved to Tubby to go +further astern and keep the rear part of the boat well down when they +made the sharp turn at the red buoy. +</P> + +<P> +In an incredibly short time, it seemed, the turning buoy faced them. +Rob set his wheel over and spun the Flying Fish through the rougher +water at the mouth of the inlet at as sharp an angle as he dared. In a +few seconds more they had passed the Snark and the Bonita, which were +racing bow and bow. The crew of the Flying Fish, though, knew that +both boats had a time allowance over them, so that the mere passing +didn't mean much, unless they could increase the lead. +</P> + +<P> +Faster and faster the boy's craft forged ahead. A thrill shot through +Rob's frame. The Flying Fish was showing what she was made of. +</P> + +<P> +But as he turned his head swiftly he saw that the hydroplane had +rounded the stake and was coming down the straight stretch of water +like an express train. A great wave of water shot out on either side +of her bow. So low in the water had her powerful engines dragged her +that she seemed to be barely on the surface, and yet, as the boys knew, +she was actually "coasting" over the surface. +</P> + +<P> +Try as he would, Rob could not get an ounce more speed out of the +Flying Fish, and as the speedy hydroplane roared by them they heard a +mocking shout from her crew. +</P> + +<P> +Rob, more determined than ever to stick it out, sent the Flying Fish +plunging at top speed through the wash of the speedy craft, hoping to +keep up the distance between them at least equal. But as he saw the +hydroplane gradually drawing away and heard the great roar that went up +from the thrilled spectators as she shot by the club house, his heart +sank. +</P> + +<P> +It looked as if the Plying Fish was beaten. And now the club house +loomed near once more. +</P> + +<P> +"Go on, Plying Fish, go on!" +</P> + +<P> +"You've got a time allowance on her!" +</P> + +<P> +"Push along, Rob!" +</P> + +<P> +"Kr-ee-ee-ee-ee!" +</P> + +<P> +A tumult of other shouts roared in Rob's ears as they tore past the +crowded porch. +</P> + +<P> +"Kr-ee-ee-ee-ee!" screamed back Merritt and Tubby, with waves of the +hand to the brown uniformed figures they could see perched on every +point of vantage. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the Flying Fish began to creep up on the hydroplane, which had +slowed down for some reason. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurrah! We've got'em now!" shouted Merritt, as he saw, far ahead, +Jack and the other two occupants of the seeming winner leaning over the +craft's engine, the hood having been raised. +</P> + +<P> +Rob said nothing, but with burning eyes clung to the wheel and shot the +Flying Fish straight ahead on her course. +</P> + +<P> +As they thundered past the hydroplane, the slender craft lay almost +motionless on the water, with a great cloud of blue smoke tumbling out +of her exhausts. +</P> + +<P> +"Looks like they've flooded her cylinder," said Merritt, observing +these signs. +</P> + +<P> +"Kr-ee-ee-ee-ee!" +</P> + +<P> +It was Tubby giving utterance triumphantly to the Eagle scream. +</P> + +<P> +Jack Curtiss straightened up angrily as he heard, his face black and +greasy from his researches into the engine. He shook a menacing fist +at the others as they tore by. The next minute, however, a quick look +back by Rob showed that the hydroplane was coming ahead again, and that +the engine trouble, whatever it was, had been adjusted. +</P> + +<P> +As they neared the turning point, Rob saw, to his dismay, that the +hydroplane was creeping up faster and faster. It was the last lap, and +if Sam Redding's boat passed them at the stake the race was as good as +over. +</P> + +<P> +"Come on, Flying Fish! Come on!" shouted Rob, as the hydroplane crept +ever nearer and nearer to his boat's stern. +</P> + +<P> +Rob noticed, as he swung a trifle wide of the stake raft, that it +seemed to be the intention of Jack Curtiss, who was at the wheel, to +swing the hydroplane round the sharp angle of the course inside of the +Flying Fish. Guessing that this would mean disaster to her ill-advised +occupants, he waved his hand at them to keep out. +</P> + +<P> +"When we need your advice we'll send for it. This is the time we've +got you!" yelled Jack Curtiss, bending low over his wheel, as he grazed +by the Flying Fish's stern to take the inside course. +</P> + +<P> +At the same instant, so quickly that the boys did not even get a mental +picture of it, the hydroplane overturned. +</P> + +<P> +Taking the curve at such a speed and at such a sharp angle had, as Jack +had surmised, proved too much for her stability. Her occupants were +pitched struggling into the water. +</P> + +<P> +"Shall we pick them up?" yelled Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"No," shouted Rob; "they've all got life belts on. A launch from the +club will get them." +</P> + +<P> +Indeed, as he spoke a launch was seen putting off to the rescue. The +accident had been witnessed from the club, and as the water was warm, +the boys were satisfied that no harm would come to the three from their +immersion. +</P> + +<P> +But the delay almost proved fatal to the Flying Fish's chance of +winning. Close behind her now came creeping up the speedy Albacore. +</P> + +<P> +But a few hundred feet before the finish the Flying Fish darted ahead +once more, and shook off her opponent amid a great roar of yells and +whoops and cheers. An instant later she shot across the line—a winner. +</P> + +<P> +"Bang!" went the gun, in token that the race was finished. +</P> + +<P> +"I congratulate you," said Commodore Wingate, as the boys brought their +craft up to the float. "It was a well-fought race." +</P> + +<P> +And now came the captains of the Albacore, Snark and Bonita. +</P> + +<P> +"You won the race fairly and squarely," said the former, shaking Rob's +hand. "I presume, commodore, the time was taken?" +</P> + +<P> +"It has been," replied that official. "The Flying Fish wins by one +minute and four and seven hundredths seconds." +</P> + +<P> +More cheers greeted this announcement, mingled with laughter and some +sympathy, as the club launch, towing the capsized hydroplane, puffed up +to the float. From the launch emerged three crestfallen figures with +dripping garments. But wet as he was, Jack Curtiss was not going to +surrender the race without a protest. +</P> + +<P> +"A foul! We claim a foul! The Flying Fish fouled us!" he shouted. +</P> + +<P> +"My dear young man," calmly replied the commodore, "I was watching you +every foot of the way through binoculars, and I should rather say that +you fouled the Flying Fish. Anyhow, you should have better sense than +to try to shave round that turn so closely." +</P> + +<P> +More mortified, and angrier than ever, Jack strode off to put on dry +clothes, followed by his equally chagrined companions, who, however, +had sense enough now not to make any protests. They knew well enough +that Jack, in his hurry to grab the prize, had attempted a foolish and +dangerous thing which had cost them the race. +</P> + +<P> +"A great race, a great race," said Mr. Blake, as the boys, followed by +the crowd, entered the club house, where the awards were to be +distributed. "You boys certainly covered yourselves with glory," he +went on. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and here is your reward. I hope it will stimulate you to put up +a fine defense for it next year," said Commodore Wingate, handing to +the elated boys a fine engraved silver cup, the trophy of the Hampton +Yacht Club. +</P> + +<P> +"Get up and make a speech!" shouted some one. +</P> + +<P> +The boys felt inclined to run for it. +</P> + +<P> +"Go ahead! Make some sort of a talk," urged Rob, helping Tubby on to +the platform from which the prizes had been handed out. +</P> + +<P> +"Ladies and gentlemen," puffed the stout youth, "we want to thank you +for your congratulations and thank the club for the fine cup. +Er—er—er—we thank you." +</P> + +<P> +And having made what was perhaps quite as good a speech as some of his +elders', Tubby stepped down amid loud and prolonged cheering. +</P> + +<P> +Up in the dressing room Jack and his cronies, changing into other, +garments, heard the sounds of applause. +</P> + +<P> +"It's high time something was done," said Bill, as he gazed from a +window at several of the yacht club attendants bailing out the unlucky +hydroplane. "Those young beggars will be owning the town next." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE EAGLES IN CAMP +</H3> + +<P> +The next few days were full of excitement and preparation for the Boy +Scouts. Their headquarters resounded all day to the tramp of feet, and +the Manual of Instructions was consulted day and night. The official +tents had arrived, and every boy in the Patrol was eager for the time +to arrive to put them up. So much so that two or three confessed that +they could hardly sleep at night in their impatience for the hour when +the embarkation for Topsail Island was to take place. +</P> + +<P> +Besides the tents, there was much other equipment to be overhauled and +set in order, for, before their departure, the boys were to be reviewed +by their scout master and a field secretary from New York. There were +haversack straps to be replaced, laces mended, axes sharpened, "Billys" +polished and made to shine like new tin, and a hundred and one things +to be done. At last, however—although it seemed that it would never +come—the eventful Monday arrived, as eventful days of all kinds have a +habit of doing; and the Eagle Patrol, spick and span and shining from +tan boots to campaign hats, fell in line behind the band. Proudly they +paraded up the street, with their green and black Eagle Patrol sign +fluttering gallantly in the van. +</P> + +<P> +The "reviewing stand" was the post-office steps, around which most of +the citizens of Hampton and the proud parents and relatives of the +young scouts were assembled. +</P> + +<P> +Plenty of applause greeted them, as, in response to Rob's orders, given +in the sharp, military manner, they drew up in line and gave the Boy +Scout's salute. This done, the young scouts went through a smart drill +with the staffs they carried. Then, after saluting once more, and +being warmly complimented on their appearance by the field secretary, +they marched off to the wharf where they were to embark for their camp. +</P> + +<P> +The day before Merritt, Hiram Nelson, Paul Perkins and the three +"tender feet"—Martin Green, Walter Lonsdale and Joe Digby—had been +told off by Rob as on "pioneer service"; that is to say, that they had +gone down to the island in the Flying Fish. Arrived there, they +selected a good spot for the camp, aided by Commodore Wingate's and +Captain Hudgins' suggestions, and set up the tents and made the other +necessary preparations. The camp was therefore practically ready, for +the "army" to move into. +</P> + +<P> +At Tubby's special request, a list of the rations for the week's camp +had been made out by Rob and affixed to the bulletin board in the +headquarters of the Eagles. As perhaps some of my young readers may +care to know what to take on a similar expedition, is the list, +exclusive of meat, which was to be brought from the mainland, and fish, +which they expected to catch themselves: +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Oatmeal, 8 lbs.;<BR> + rice, 4 lbs.;<BR> + crackers, 35 lbs.;<BR> + chocolate, 1 1-2 lbs.;<BR> + tea, 3 lbs;<BR> + coffee, 1 lb.;<BR> + lard, 6 lbs.;<BR> + sugar, 8 lbs.;<BR> + condensed milk, 10 cans;<BR> + butter, 4 lbs.;<BR> + eggs, 12 dozen;<BR> + bacon, 20 lbs.;<BR> + preserves, 14 jars;<BR> + prunes, 8 lbs.;<BR> + maple syrup and molasses, 4 quarts;<BR> + potatoes, 1 bushel;<BR> + white beans, 6 quarts;<BR> + canned corn, 6 tins;<BR> + canned tomatoes, 6 tins;<BR> + flour, 35 lbs.;<BR> + baking powder, 2 lbs.;<BR> + salt, 4 lbs.;<BR> + pepper, 2 ounces.<BR> +</P> + +<P> +"Well," Tubby had remarked, as he gazed attentively at the list, "we +won't starve, anyhow." +</P> + +<P> +"I should say not," laughed Rob; "and besides all that, I've got lots +of lines and squids, and the blues and mackerel are running good." +</P> + +<P> +"Can't I take along my twenty-two rifle—that island's just swarming +with rabbits, and I think I heard some quail when we were there the +other day," pleaded Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"Not in season," answered Rob laconically. "Laws not up on them till +November." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, bother the law!" blurted out Merritt. "However, I suppose if +there wasn't one there wouldn't be any rabbits left." +</P> + +<P> +"I guess you're right," agreed Tubby. "Still, it does seem hard to +have to look at them skip about and not be able to take a shot at them." +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe we can set a springle and snare some," hopefully suggested +Tubby, as a way out of the difficulty; "that wouldn't be as bad as +shooting them, you know, and I can build a springle that will strangle +them instantaneously." +</P> + +<P> +"No fair, Tubby," laughed Rob. "You know, a boy scout promises to obey +the law, and the game law is as much a law as any other." +</P> + +<P> +Arrived at the L wharf, the boys found the Flying Fish and Captain +Hudgins' Barracuda waiting for them. With much laughter they piled +in—their light-heartedness and constant joking reminding such +onlookers, as had ever seen the spectacle, of a band of real soldiers +going to the front or embarking for foreign stations. +</P> + +<P> +With three ear-splitting cheers and a final yell of, "Kr-ee-ee-ee-ee!" +the little flotilla got under way. +</P> + +<P> +They arrived at the camping ground at the northeast end of the island +before noon, and found that the "pioneers" appointed by Rob had done +their work well. Each tent was placed securely on a level patch of +sandy ground, cleared from brush and stamped flat. The pegs were driven +extra deep in anticipation of a gale, and an open cook tent, with flaps +that could be fastened down in bad weather, stood to one side. +</P> + +<P> +A small spring had been excavated by the pioneers, and an old barrel +sunk in place, which had filled in the night and now presented +sparkling depths of cool, clear water. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose that water is all right, captain?" inquired Leader Rob, with +a true officer's regard for his troops. +</P> + +<P> +"Sweet as a butternut, son," rejoined the old man. "Makes the sick +strong and the strong stronger, as the medicine advertisements say." +</P> + +<P> +For the present, the cooking was to be done on a regular camp fire +which was built between two green logs laid lengthwise and converging +toward the end. The tops of these had, under Commodore Wingate's +directions, been slightly flattened with an axe. At each end a forked +branch had been set upright in the ground, with a green limb laid +between them. From this limb hung "cooking hooks," consisting of green +branches with hooked ends at one extremity to hang over the long +timber, and a nail driven in the other from which to hang the pots. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the best form of camp fire, boys," said Commodore—or perhaps +we would better call him scout master now—Wingate, who had accompanied +the boys to see them settled. "Now, then, the next thing to do is to +run up the Stars and Stripes and plant the Eagle flag. Then you'll be +all O.K." +</P> + +<P> +Little Andy Bowles made the woods behind them echo with the stirring +call of "assembly," and halliards were reeved on a previously cut pole, +about fifteen feet in height. The Stars and Stripes were attached, and +while the whole company stood at attention and gave the scout salute, +Scout Master Wingate raised the colors. Three loud, shrill cheers +greeted Old Glory as it blew bravely out against the cloudless blue. +</P> + +<P> +"That's a pretty sight now, shiver my timbers if it ain't," observed +old Captain Hudgins, who had stood, hat in hand, during the ceremony. +"I've seen Old Glory in many a foreign port, and felt like takin' off +my hat and givin' three cheers fer the old flag; but I never seen her +look better or finer than she does a-streakin' out from that there bit +of timber." +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Patrol cooks," was Scout Master Wingate's next command, "it's +only an hour to dinner time, and we want the first mess to be right. +Come on, and we'll get the pot boiling." +</P> + +<P> +Cook duty fell that day to Hiram Nelson and Walter Lonsdale, and under +the scout master's directions they soon had potatoes peeled, beans in +water, and a big piece of stew meat chopped up with vegetables in a +capacious pot. +</P> + +<P> +After every errand to the store tent, Walter was anxious to know if it +was not yet time to light the fire. +</P> + +<P> +"Never be in a hurry to light your fire when you are in the woods," +rejoined the scout master; "otherwise you will be so busy tending the +fire you won't be able to prepare your food for cooking. Now we're all +ready for the fire, though, and you can bring me some dry bark and +small sticks from that pile of wood the pioneers laid in yesterday." +</P> + +<P> +This was promptly done, and the lads watched the next step with +interest. They saw the scout master take a tiny pile of the sticks and +then light a roll of bark and thrust it into them. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought you piled them up all criss-cross," remarked Hiram. +</P> + +<P> +"No woodsman does that, my boy," was the rejoinder. "Now get me some +larger timber from that pile, and I'll show you how to go about it like +regular trappers." +</P> + +<P> +The fire builder shoved the ends of the sticks into the blaze and then +the bean pot was hung in place. +</P> + +<P> +"We won't put the potatoes on now, as they take less time," he +remarked; "those beans will take the longest." +</P> + +<P> +Soon the heat was leaping up about the pots, and the cheerful crackle +and incense of the camp fire filled the air. As the sticks burned down +the scout master shoved the ends farther into the blaze, instead of +throwing them on top of it. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, then, boys, you've had your first lesson in camp fire making and +cooking," he announced. "Now go ahead, and let's see what kind of a +dinner you can produce. I'm going for a tour of exploration of the +island." +</P> + +<P> +Among the other things the pioneers had accomplished was the building +of a table large enough to seat the entire Patrol, with planks set on +logs as seats. Hiram put Walter to setting this, while he burned his +fingers and smudged his face over his cookery. Long before the beans +seemed any nearer to what experience taught the young cook they ought +to be, Walter announced that the table was all set, with its tin cups +and dishes and steel knives and forks. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly, while Hiram was considering putting the potatoes on their +hook, there came from the rear of the store tent the most appalling +succession of squeals and screams the boy had ever heard. Springing to +his feet, he dashed to the scene of the conflict—for such it seemed to +be though not without a heart that beat rather faster than usual. He +bad no idea what the creatures could be that were producing all the +uproar, and for all he knew they might have been bears. +</P> + +<P> +Behind him came Walter, rather pale, but determined to do his best as a +Boy Scout to fight off any wild beasts that might be attacking the +camp. As he dashed behind the tent, however, Hiram was impelled to +give a loud laugh. The contestants—for he had rightly judged they +were in high dispute—were two small black pigs which had looted a bag +of oatmeal from under the flap of the store tent and were busily +engaged in fighting over their spoils. +</P> + +<P> +"Get out, you brutes! Scat!" shouted the boy, bringing down a +long-handled spoon he carried over the backs of the disputants. +</P> + +<P> +The spoon, being almost red-hot, the clamor of the porkers redoubled, +and with indignant squeals and grumblings they dashed off into the +dense growth of scrub oak and pine that covered the island in its +interior. At the same moment the captain, who had been taking a snooze +under some small bushes, awoke with a start. +</P> + +<P> +"Eh—eh—eh! What's all that?" he exclaimed, hearing the yells. "Why, +it's that plagued Betsy and Jane, my two young sows," he cried the next +moment. "Consarn and keelhaul the critters, they're breakin' out all +the time. I reckon they're headed fer home now," he added, when Hiram +related how he had scared them. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad that they were nothing but pigs, captain," said Hiram, going +back with flushed cheeks to his cookery. "I was afraid for a minute +they were I hardly know what. We'll have to fix that store tent more +snugly in future." +</P> + +<P> +"And I'll have ter take a double reef in my pig Pen," chuckled the +captain. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE CHUMS IN PERIL +</H3> + +<P> +Even the epicurean Tubby Hopkins voted dinner that day a great success, +and Hiram, with becoming modesty, took his congratulations blushingly. +In mid-afternoon, after seeing that the camp was in good working order, +the scout masters started for the home shore in Captain Hudgins's boat, +which was also to bring back some additional supplies for the next day. +</P> + +<P> +After dinner Rob had assigned Merritt and Tubby to form a "fishing +squad," to range seaward in the Flying Fish and "halt and detain" all +the bluefish they could apprehend. The others were given the afternoon +to range the island and practice up their woodcraft and landmark work, +while Rob busied himself in his tent, which was equipped with a small +folding camp table, in filling out his pink blank reports which were to +be forwarded to Commodore Wingate and dispatched by him to the +headquarters of the Boy Scouts in New York. +</P> + +<P> +Merritt and Tubby were both ardent fishermen, and in response to +Hiram's pleadings, they allowed him to accompany them on their +expedition. The fish were running well, and the boys cast and pulled +in some time without particularly noticing how far out to sea they had +gone. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the stout youth, who was fishing with an unusually heavy line +and hook, felt a hard tug on his apparatus, so powerful a tweak, in +fact, that it almost pulled him overboard. He tried to haul in, but +the resistance on the other end of his line was so great that he was +compelled to twist it about a cleat in order to avoid either letting go +or being dragged into the sea. +</P> + +<P> +"What in the name of Sam Hill have you hooked?" gasped Merritt, as the +Flying Fish began to move through the water faster than even her engine +could propel her. +</P> + +<P> +"I've not the least idea," remarked Tubby placidly, "but I rather think +it must be a whale." +</P> + +<P> +"Whale nothing!" exclaimed Merritt scornfully and with superior wisdom. +"Whales sound, don't they?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, there's not been a sound out of this one so far," truthfully +observed Hiram. +</P> + +<P> +"What kind of a sound do they make, corporal?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you chump," responded Merritt good-naturedly, "you've lived by the +sea all your life, and you don't know how a whale sounds. Sound means +when a whale blows, spouts, sends up a big fountain of water." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I see," responded Hiram, much enlightened. "But see here, +Merritt, whatever we are fast to is beginning to pick up speed pretty +rapidly. Don't you think we'd better cut the line or try to haul in?" +</P> + +<P> +"Haul in! Not much!" exclaimed Tubby indignantly. "We'll just hang on +till we tire him out, that's what we'll do, and then haul in." +</P> + +<P> +"But we're getting a good way out from shore," objected Hiram, who, +however much at home he was at the key of a wireless apparatus, had no +great relish for blue water in a small motor boat. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you worry, sonny," put in Merritt patronizingly. "We'll be all +right. My, that was a plunge!" +</P> + +<P> +As he spoke the bow of the Flying Fish dipped till she shipped a few +gallons of green water. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll pay out some more line," said the unperturbed Tubby. "I guess +whatever we're onto begins to believe that he has swallowed something +pretty indigestible." +</P> + +<P> +Faster and faster the Flying Fish began to cut through the sea. The +water sprayed out from both sides of her cutwater in a steady stream. +</P> + +<P> +"She's doing as well as she did the day of the race," said Merritt, +with a laugh, gazing at Hiram's rather pale face. The wireless youth +was casting longing glances at the shore. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I wish Mr. Whale, or whatever he is, would come up and let us +have a look at him!" exclaimed Tubby suddenly. "This is getting pretty +monotonous." +</P> + +<P> +As he spoke the boy paid nut a little more line. He had only just time +to belay it round the cleat to avoid its being jerked out of his hand, +so fast was the creature they had hooked now traveling. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, Tubby," spoke Merritt at length, "I'm beginning to think myself +that it might not be a bad idea to put back. Those clouds over there +on the horizon look as if they meant trouble." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, let's keep it on a little while longer pleaded Tubby; cutting +through the water like this, without any expenditure of gasoline or +power, is the real luxurious way of ocean traveling. It beats the +Mauretania. Just think if liners could hitch a whole team of things +like whatever has got hold of us to their bows! Why, the Atlantic would +be crossed in four days." +</P> + +<P> +For some time longer the boat shot along over the waves, towed by its +invisible force. The boys, with the exception of Tubby, began to get +anxious. The shores of the mainland were dim in the distance behind +them, and Topsail Island itself only showed as a dark blue dot. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the motion ceased. +</P> + +<P> +"He's free of the line!" shouted Hiram, inwardly much relieved to think +they had got rid of what to him was an alarming situation. +</P> + +<P> +"No, he's not," replied Tubby, bending over the line. "He's still fast +to us. The line's as tight as a fiddle string." +</P> + +<P> +He was standing up as he spoke, and as the Flying Fish gave a sudden, +crazy jerk forward, he was almost thrown overboard. In fact, he would +have toppled into the sea if Merritt had not bounded forward and +grabbed the fleshy lad just as he was losing his balance. +</P> + +<P> +"We're off again!" exclaimed Hiram, as the Flying Fish once more began +to move through the water. +</P> + +<P> +But now the creature that had seized Tubby's big hook started to move +in circles. Round and round the Flying Fish was towed in dizzy swings +that made the heads of her young occupants swim. +</P> + +<P> +"Start the engine on the reverse, and see if that will do any good," +said Tubby, bending anxiously over his line. +</P> + +<P> +Merritt brought the reverse gear to "neutral," and then started it up, +gradually bringing back the lever governing the reversing wheel till +the Flying Fish was going second speed astern, and finally at her full +gait backward. +</P> + +<P> +The tug thus exercised seemed to have no effect on the monster that had +caught Tubby's bait, however. With the exception that the speed was +diminished a trifle, the Flying Fish was still powerless to shake off +her opponent. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly, and without the slightest warning, a huge, shiny, wet body +shot out of the water almost directly in front of the amazed and +startled boys, and settled back with a mighty splash that sent the +spray flying in a salt-water shower bath over their heads. +</P> + +<P> +"Whatever was it?" gasped Hiram in awed tones. +</P> + +<P> +"A shark," replied Merritt, "and a whopper, too. What are we going to +do, Tubby—keep on or cut loose?" +</P> + +<P> +"Just a little longer," pleaded the other. "He must be tiring by this +time. If we can only wear him out, we can tow him ashore and make a +little money out of him. You know shark skin is valuable." +</P> + +<P> +"I'd rather have a whole skin of my own," quavered Hiram, who had been +considerably alarmed by the momentary glimpse he had had of Tubby's +quarry. +</P> + +<P> +"He's off again!" shouted Merritt, as the sea tiger started straight +ahead once more. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the line slackened again. +</P> + +<P> +"Look out!" Tubby had just time to shriek the warning before a mighty +shock threw them all off their feet in a heap on the bottom of the boat. +</P> + +<P> +"Zan-g-g-g!" +</P> + +<P> +The line twanged and snapped under the sudden strain, and a great rush +seaward showed the boys, as soon as they recovered their senses, that +they had lost their shark. +</P> + +<P> +"And a good line," moaned Tubby. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you kicking about?" demanded Merritt. "It's a lucky thing +the beast didn't start some plank of the boat when it charged; but as +far as I can see, the Flying Fish stood the shock all right." +</P> + +<P> +"It felt like an earthquake," murmured Hiram, whose face was white and +eyes frightened. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I suppose we'd better head for home," said Tubby at length. +"Those bluefish will go fine for supper." +</P> + +<P> +"Spoken like a Tubby," laughed Merritt. "All right, I'll start up. +Hullo—" he looked up with a puzzled face from the reverse lever. "I +can't get her on the forward speed." +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter?" gasped Hiram. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know. Something's stuck. Shut off that engine, will you, +Tubby, while I see?" +</P> + +<P> +Tubby promptly shut down the motor, and Merritt struggled with the +refractory lever. It was all in vain, however; he could not get it on +the forward speed. +</P> + +<P> +"I've got to investigate," puffed the perspiring corporal; "something +must be wrong with the reversible propeller." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, whatever you are going to do, hurry up about it," spoke Tubby, +with unwonted sharpness in his tones. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, what's the—" began Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +Tubby checked him with a finger on his lips. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't scare the kid," he whispered, leaning forward, "but we're in for +a storm." +</P> + +<P> +He pointed seaward. +</P> + +<P> +Rolling toward them was a spreading wall of heavy clouds traveling at +seemingly great speed, while below the wrack the water darkened +ominously and became flecked with "white horses." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +LOST IN THE STORM +</H3> + +<P> +"The trouble's in the reversible propeller. I always told Rob he was +foolish not to have a regular reverse gear on the shaft itself and a +solid wheel," said Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, never mind that now," urged Tubby anxiously. "I'll shift all +the cushions and stuff up in the bow, and Hiram and I will get as far +forward as we can. That will raise the stern and you can hang over and +reach the wheel." +</P> + +<P> +When the stout lad had done as he suggested there was quite a +perceptible tilt forward to the Flying Fish, and Merritt, hanging over +the stern, could feel about the propeller better. +</P> + +<P> +"Just as I thought," he shouted presently. "That shark when he came +astern fouled that heavy line on the propeller." +</P> + +<P> +He got out his knife, and in a few minutes succeeded in cutting the +entangling line free. +</P> + +<P> +It was not any too soon. From far off there came a low sound, +something like the moaning of a large animal in pain. It grew louder +and closer, and with it came an advancing wall of water crested with +white foam. The sky, too, grew black, and air filled with a sort of +sulphurous smell. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a thunder squall," shouted Tubby, as Merritt shoved over the +lever and started the engine. +</P> + +<P> +As he spoke there came a low growl of thunder and the sky was illumined +with a livid glare. +</P> + +<P> +"Here she comes!" yelled Merritt; "better get out those slickers or +we'll be soaked." +</P> + +<P> +Tubby opened a locker and produced the yellow waterproof coats. The +boys had hardly thrust their arms into them before the big sea struck +them. Thanks to Tubby's steering, however, the Flying Fish met it +without shipping more than a few cupfuls of water. +</P> + +<P> +The next minute the full fury of the storm enveloped the Boy Scouts and +the Flying Fish was laboring in a heaving wilderness of lashed and +tumbling water. +</P> + +<P> +"Keep her head up!" roared Merritt, above the screaming of the wind and +the now almost continuous roar and rattle of the thunder. It grew +almost dark, so overcast was the sky, and under the somber, driving +cloud wrack the white wave crests gleamed like savage teeth. +</P> + +<P> +Hiram crouched on the bottom of the boat, too terrified to speak, while +Tubby and Merritt strove desperately to keep the little craft from +"broaching to," in which case she would have shipped more water than +would have been at all convenient, not to say safe. +</P> + +<P> +As if it were some vindictive live thing, seized with a sudden spite +against the boat and its occupants, the storm roared about the dazed +boys. +</P> + +<P> +The Flying Fish, however, rode the sweeping seas gallantly, breasting +even the biggest combers bravely and buoyantly. +</P> + +<P> +"It's getting worse," shouted Tubby, gazing back at Merritt, who was +bending over the laboring motor. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, you bet it is!" roared back the engineer; "and I'm afraid of a +short circuit if this rain keeps up." +</P> + +<P> +"Cover up the engine with that spare slicker," suggested Tubby. +</P> + +<P> +"That's a good idea," responded the other, rummaging in a stern locker +and producing the garment in question. In another moment he had it over +the engine, protecting the spark plugs and the high-tension wires from +the rain and spray. But the wind was too high to permit of the +covering remaining unfastened, and with a ball of marlin the young +engineer lashed the improvised motor cover firmly in place. +</P> + +<P> +Hiram, with a white face, now crawled up from the bottom of the boat. +In addition to being scared, he was seasick from the eccentric motions +of the storm-tossed craft. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think we'll ever get ashore again?" he asked, crawling to +Merritt's side. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure," responded the corporal confidently. "'Come on, buck up, Hiram! +You know, a Boy Scout never says die. We'll be back in camp in three +hours' time, when this squall blows itself out." +</P> + +<P> +"I—I don't want you to think me a coward, Merritt," quavered Hiram, +"but—but you know this is enough to scare any fellow." +</P> + +<P> +Indeed, he seemed right. The Flying Fish appeared no more than a tiny +chip on the immense rollers the storm had blown up. Time and again it +looked as if she would never be able to climb the huge walls of green +water that towered above her; but every time she did, and, as the storm +raged on, the confidence of the boys began to grow. +</P> + +<P> +"She'll ride it out, Tubby!" yelled Merritt, dousing the engine with +more oil. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure she will!" yelled back Tubby, with a confidence that was, +however, largely assumed. The stout youth had just been assailed by an +alarming thought that flashed across his mind. +</P> + +<P> +"Would the gasoline hold out?" +</P> + +<P> +There was no opportunity on the plunging, bucking craft to examine the +tank, and all the boy could do was to make a rapid mental calculation, +based on what he knew of the consumption of the engine. The tank, he +knew, had been half full when they came out, and that, under ordinary +conditions, would have sufficed to drive the Flying Fish for five or +six hours. +</P> + +<P> +But they were not ordinary conditions under which she was now laboring. +Tubby knew that Merritt was piling in every ounce of gasoline the +carburetor could take care of. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly, while the stout youth's mind was busied with these thoughts, +and without the slightest warning, there came a sort of wheezing gasp +from the motor. +</P> + +<P> +Merritt leaned over it in alarm. He seized the timing lever and shoved +it over and opened the gasoline cock full tilt. +</P> + +<P> +But there was no response from the motor. +</P> + +<P> +It gasped out a cough a couple of times and turned over in a dying +fashion for a few revolutions and then stopped dead. +</P> + +<P> +The boys were adrift in the teeth of the storm in a crippled boat. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter?" roared back Tubby from the wheel. "She's lost +steerage way!" +</P> + +<P> +"Motor's gone dead," howled back Merritt laconically. +</P> + +<P> +"Great Scott, we are in for it now! What's the matter?" +</P> + +<P> +"No gasolene," yelled Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"Sosh-osh-soh!" +</P> + +<P> +A huge green wave climbed on to the Flying Fish's bow, shaking her from +stem to stern like a terrier shakes a rat. +</P> + +<P> +"We've got to do something quick, or we'll be swamped!" roared Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"The cockpit cover, quick!" shouted Tubby, steadying himself in the +bucking craft by a tight grasp on the bulwarks. +</P> + +<P> +"That's it. Now the oars. Hurry up. Here, you Hiram, grab that can and +bail for all you're worth!" +</P> + +<P> +The fat youth seemed transformed by the sudden emergency into the most +active of beings. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you going to do?" yelled Merritt, framing his mouth with his +hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Make a spray hood. Come forward here and give me a hand." +</P> + +<P> +With the oars the two boys made a sort of arched framework, secured +with ropes, and over it spread the canvas cockpit cover, lashing it +down to the forward and side cleats. This work was not unattended with +danger and difficulty. Time and again as they worked the boys had to +lie flat on their stomachs and hang on while the Flying Fish leaped a +wave like a horse taking a barrier. At last, however, their task was +completed, and the improvised spray hood served to some extent to break +the waves that now threatened momentarily to engulf the laboring craft. +</P> + +<P> +"Now to get out a sea anchor!" shouted the indefatigable Tubby. +</P> + +<P> +He seized up an old bait tub, a boat hook and a "swabbing-out" broom, +and lashed them all together in a sort of bridle. Then he attached the +Flying Fish's mooring cable to the contrivance and paid it out for a +hundred feet or more, while the storm-battered craft drifted steadily +backward. Instead, however, of lying beam on to the big sea, she now +headed up into them, the "drag," as it is sometimes called, serving to +keep her bow swung up to the threatening combers. +</P> + +<P> +"There, she'll ride for a while, anyhow," breathed Tubby, when this was +done. +</P> + +<P> +"What's to be done now?" shouted Merritt in his car. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing," was the response; "we've got to lie here till this thing +blows over." +</P> + +<P> +"It's breaking a little to the south now," exclaimed Merritt, pointing +to where a rift began to appear in the solid cloud curtain. +</P> + +<P> +This was cheering news, and even the seasick but plucky Hiram, who had +been bailing for all he was worth, despite his misery, began to cheer +up. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurrah! I guess the worst of our troubles are over," cried Tubby. +"It certainly looks as if the sea was beginning to go down, and the +wind has dropped, I'm sure." +</P> + +<P> +That this was the case became apparent shortly. There was a noticeable +decrease in the size and height of the waves and the wind abated in +proportion. In half an hour after the rift had been first noticed by +Merritt, the black squall had passed, and the late afternoon sun began +to shine in a pallid way through the driving cloud masses. +</P> + +<P> +The lads, however, were still in a serious fix. They had been driven +so far out to sea that the land was blotted out altogether. All about +them was only the still heaving Atlantic. The sun, too, was westering +fast, and it would not be long before darkness fell. +</P> + +<P> +Without gasoline and with no sail, they had no means of making land. +Worse still, they were in the track of the in and out-bound steamers to +and from New York—according to Tubby's reckoning—and they had no +lights. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we seem to have got out of the frying pan into the fire," said +Merritt in a troubled voice. "It's the last time I'll ever come out +without lights and a mast and sail." +</P> + +<P> +"That's what they all say," observed Tubby grimly. "The thing to do +now is to get back to shore somehow. Maybe we can rig up a sail with +the cockpit cover and the oars. We've got to try it, anyhow." +</P> + +<P> +After hauling in the sea anchor, the lads set to work to rig up and +lash the oars into an A shape. The canvas was lashed to each of the +arms of the A, and the contrivance then set up and secured to the fore +and aft cleats by the mooring line they had utilized for the sea anchor. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," remarked Tubby, as he surveyed his handiwork with some +satisfaction and pride, "we can go before the wind now, anyhow—even if +we do look like a lost, strayed or stolen Chinese junk." +</P> + +<P> +"Say, I'm so hungry I could eat one of those fish raw!" exclaimed +Hiram, now quite recovered, as the Flying Fish, under her clumsy sail, +began to stagger along in the direction in which Tubby believed the +land lay, the wind fortunately being dead aft. +</P> + +<P> +"Great Scott, the kid's right!" exclaimed Merritt. "We forgot all +about eating in the gloom but now I believe I could almost follow +Hiram's lead and eat some of those fellows as they are." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, that's about all you'll get to eat for a long time," remarked +Tubby, grimly casting an anxious eye aloft at the filling "sail." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ALMOST RUN DOWN +</H3> + +<P> +It grew dark rapidly and the night fell on three lonely, wet, hungry +boys, rolling along in a disabled boat under what was surely one of the +queerest rigs ever devised. It answered its purpose, though, and under +her "jury mast" the Flying Fish actually made some headway through the +water. +</P> + +<P> +None of the boys said much, and Tubby, under the cover of the darkness, +tightened his capacious belt. It spoke volumes for his Boy Scout +training that, though he probably felt the pangs of hunger as much or +even more keenly than the others, he made no complaint. Hiram, the +second-class scout, complained a bit at first, but soon quieted down +under Merritt's stern looks; as for the latter, as corporal of the +Eagle Patrol, it was his duty to try to keep as cheerful as possible; +which, under the circumstances, was about as hard a task as could well +be imagined. +</P> + +<P> +The eyes of all three were kept strained ahead for some sign of a +light, for they had been so tossed about in the squall that all sense +of direction had been lost, and they had no compass aboard, which in +itself was a piece of carelessness. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly, after about an hour of "going it blind" in this fashion, +young Hiram gave a shout. +</P> + +<P> +"A light, a light!" +</P> + +<P> +"Where?" demanded Tubby and Merritt sharply. +</P> + +<P> +"Off there," cried the lad, pointing to the left, over the port side of +the boat. +</P> + +<P> +Both the elder lads gazed sharply. +</P> + +<P> +"That's not the direction in which land would lie," mused Tubby. +</P> + +<P> +"The light's pretty high up, too, isn't it?" suggested Merritt. "It +might be a lighthouse. We may have been blown farther than we thought." +</P> + +<P> +Tubby offered no opinion for a few seconds, but his ordinarily round +and smiling face grew grave. A sudden apprehension had flashed into +his mind. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me, Merritt," he said, "can you see any other lights?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," replied Merritt, after peering with half closed eyes at the white +light. +</P> + +<P> +"I can," suddenly shouted young Hiram. +</P> + +<P> +"You can?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; some distance below the white light I can see a green one to the +right and a red one on the left." +</P> + +<P> +"Shades of Father Neptune!" groaned Tubby. "It's just as I thought, +Merritt—that light yonder is a steamer's mast lantern, and the fact +that Hiram can see both her port and starboard lamps beneath shows that +she's coming right for us." +</P> + +<P> +This was alarming enough. Without lanterns, without the means of +making any noise sufficiently loud to attract the attention of those on +the approaching vessel, the occupants of the Plying Fish were in about +as serious a predicament as one could imagine. To make matters worse, +the wind began to drop and come in puffs which only urged the Flying +Fish ahead slowly. Tubby made a rapid mental calculation, and decided +that hardly anything short of a miracle could save them from being run +down, unless the steamer saw them and changed her course. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't we shout and make them hear us?" asked Hiram in an alarmed +voice. He saw from the troubled faces of both the elder lads that +something serious indeed was the matter. +</P> + +<P> +"We might try it," responded Tubby, with a bitter shrug. "But it's +about as much use as a mouth organ in a symphony orchestra would be. +Better get on the life belts." +</P> + +<P> +With hands that trembled with the sense of impending disaster, the +three boys strapped on the cork jackets. +</P> + +<P> +"Now all shout together," said Merritt, when this was done. +</P> + +<P> +Standing erect, the three young castaways placed their hands +funnel-wise to their mouths and roared out together: +</P> + +<P> +"Ship ahoy! St-eam-er a-hoy!" +</P> + +<P> +They were alarmed and not ashamed to admit it. +</P> + +<P> +"No good," said Tubby, after they had roared themselves hoarse. "When +she strikes us, jump over the starboard bow and dive as deep as you +can. If you don't, the propellers are liable to catch us." +</P> + +<P> +It was a grim prospect, and no wonder the boys grew white and their +faces strained as the impending peril bore down on them. +</P> + +<P> +They could now see that she was a large vessel—a liner, to judge from +the rows of lighted portholes on her steep black sides. Her bow lights +gleamed like the eye of some monster intent on devouring the Flying +Fish and her occupants. On and on she came. The air trembled with the +vibration of her mighty engines, and a great white "'bone" foamed up at +her sharp prow. +</P> + +<P> +Not one of the boys spoke as the vessel came nearer and nearer, +although it speedily grew evident that unless a wind sprang up or the +lookout saw them, it was inevitable that they would be cut in two +amidships. +</P> + +<P> +"Remember what I said," warned Tubby, in a strange, strained voice. +"Dive deep and stay tinder as long as you can." +</P> + +<P> +And now the great vessel seemed scarcely more than two or three boat +lengths from the tiny cockleshell on which she was bearing down. As a +matter of fact, though, her towering bulk made her appear much nearer +than she actually was. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't we do anything, Merritt?" gasped Hiram, with chattering teeth. +"We might try shouting once more," suggested Tubby in a voice that +quivered in spite of his efforts to keep it steady. +</P> + +<P> +"All together now—come on!" +</P> + +<P> +"Ship ahoy! You'll run us down! St-eam-er a-hoy!" +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly there were signs of confusion on the bow of the big vessel. +Men could be seen running about and waving their arms. +</P> + +<P> +"By hookey, they've seen us!" breathed Merritt, hardly daring to +believe it, however. +</P> + +<P> +The others were speechless with suspense. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly from the bow of the oncoming steamer a great fan-shaped ray of +dazzling light shot out and enveloped the boys and their boat in its +bewildering radiance. +</P> + +<P> +"Hard over, hard over!" the boys could hear the lookout roaring, and +the command rang hoarsely back along the decks to the wheelhouse. +</P> + +<P> +Slowly, very slowly, as if reluctant to give up her prey, the bow of +the mighty liner swung off, and the boys were safe. +</P> + +<P> +"Look out for the wash," warned Merritt, as the great black bulk, +pierced with hundreds of glowing portholes, ploughed regally by them, +her deck crowded with curious passengers. A voice shouted down from +the bridge: +</P> + +<P> +"What in blazing sea serpents are you doing out here in that marine oil +stove?" +</P> + +<P> +The boys made no attempt to reply. They had all they could do to hang +on, as the Flying Fish danced about like a drifting cork in the wash of +the great vessel. They could see, however, that several of her +passengers were clustered at her stern rail, gazing wonderingly down at +them in great perplexity, no doubt, as to what manner of craft it was +that they had so narrowly escaped sending to the bottom. For had the +vessel even grazed the Flying Fish, the small boat would have been +annihilated without those on board the liner even feeling a tremor. It +would have been just such a tragedy as happens frequently to the +fishing dories on the foggy Newfoundland banks. +</P> + +<P> +"Wh-ew!" gasped Merritt, sinking down on a locker. "That was a narrow +escape if you like it!" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't like it," remarked Tubby sententiously, mopping his forehead, +on which beads of cold perspiration had stood out while their +destruction had seemed inevitable. So thoroughly unnerved were the +lads, in fact, by their experience that it was some time before they +could do anything more than sit limply on the lockers while the Flying +Fish rolled aimlessly with an uncontrolled helm. +</P> + +<P> +"Come on," said Tubby at length; "we've got to rouse ourselves. In the +first place, I've got an idea," he went on briskly. "I've been +thinking over that gasoline stoppage, and the more I think of it the +more I am inclined to believe that there's something queer about it. +It's worth looking into, anyhow." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean you think there may be some fuel in the tank, after all?" +asked Merritt, looking up. +</P> + +<P> +"It's possible. Have you tried the little valve forward of the +carburetor?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, no," rejoined Merritt; "but I hardly think—" +</P> + +<P> +"It wouldn't be the first time a carburetor had fouled, particularly +after what we went through in that squall," remarked Tubby. "It's +worth trying, anyhow." +</P> + +<P> +He bent over the valve he had referred to, which was in the gasoline +feed pipe, just forward of the carburetor, and placed there primarily +for draining the tank when it was necessary. +</P> + +<P> +"Look here!" he yelled, with a sudden shout of excitement. "No," he +cried the next moment, "I don't want to waste it—but when I opened the +valve a stream of gasoline came out. There's plenty of it. That +stoppage is in the carburetor. Oh, what a bunch of idiots we've been!" +</P> + +<P> +"Better sound the tank," suggested Merritt; "what came out of the valve +might just be an accumulation in the pipe." +</P> + +<P> +"Not much," rejoined the other, "it came out with too much force for +that, I tell you. It was flowing from the tank, all right." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll soon find out," proclaimed Merritt. "Give me the sounding stick +out of that locker, Hiram." +</P> + +<P> +Armed with the stick, Merritt rapidly unscrewed the cap of the fuel +tank and plunged the sounder into it. +</P> + +<P> +"There's quite a lot of gasoline in there yet," he exclaimed, with +sparkling eyes, as he withdrew and felt the wet end of the instrument. +</P> + +<P> +The carburetor was rapidly adjusted. The rough tossing about the +Flying Fish had received had jammed the needle valve, but that was all. +Presently all was in readiness to get under way once more with the +little boat's proper motive power. The "jury rig" was speedily +dismantled Merritt swung the flywheel over two or three times, and a +welcome "chug, chug!" responded. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurray! she's working," cried Hiram. +</P> + +<P> +"As well as ever," responded Merritt. "Now for the shore. By the +way," he broke off in a dismayed tone, "where is the shore?" +</P> + +<P> +"I know now," rejoined Tubby in a confident tone. "Off there to the +right. You see, that steamer was hugging the coast preparatory to +heading seaward—at least, I'm pretty sure she was, and that would put +the shore on her port side, or on our starboard." +</P> + +<P> +They chugged off in the direction Tubby indicated, and before long a +joyful cry from Hiram announced the sudden appearance of lights. +</P> + +<P> +"What are they?" asked Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't know—they look like bonfires," rejoined the other lad. "I +wonder if we have been lucky enough to pick up Topsail Island?" +</P> + +<P> +As they drew nearer the lads soon saw that it was the island that they +were approaching, and that the lights they had seen were campfires +ignited by order of the anxious young Patrol leader to guide them back. +</P> + +<P> +In a short time they had anchored the Flying Fish opposite the camp, +and jumped into the dinghy left at her moorings when they embarked. +</P> + +<P> +"A fine scare you've given us," cried Rob, as they landed and flung +down their afternoon's catch. "We were afraid for a time that you were +lost in that black squall—it blew two of our tents down, and we were +mighty anxious about you, I can tell you." +</P> + +<P> +"You did not alarm our folks?" asked Hiram anxiously. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I thought that it would be best to wait. Somehow, I thought you'd +turn up safe. Where on earth have you been and what has happened? You +look as pale as three ghosts." +</P> + +<P> +"Towed to sea by a shark—caught in a squall—almost run down by a +liner—and so hungry we can't talk now," sputtered out Tubby +comprehensively. +</P> + +<P> +"All right; come on up to the fire and get dried out and pitch into the +grub." +</P> + +<P> +After such a meal as it may be imagined the young scouts indulged in, +they told their whole yarn of their adventures to the listening Patrol. +A short time after they concluded—so long had it taken to relate +everything and answer all questions—the mournful call of "Taps" +sounded and it was time to turn in. Little Digby alone, who was to do +sentry service, remained on duty. +</P> + +<P> +Merritt's dreams were a strange jumble. It seemed to him that he was +being towed to sea on the back of a huge shark, by a big liner with a +row of blazing portholes that winked at him like facetious eyes. +Suddenly, just as it seem he was about to slip off the marine monster's +slippery back, he thought he heard a loud cry of "Help, scouts!" +</P> + +<P> +So vivid was the dream and so real the cry that he awoke trembling, and +listened intently while peering out through the tent flap. +</P> + +<P> +There was no sound, however, but the ripple of the waves on the beach +and the "hoot hoot" of an owl somewhere back in the woods on the island. +</P> + +<P> +"Funny," mused the boy, as he turned over and dozed off again, "that +certainly sounded loud enough to have been a real, sure enough call for +help." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +JOE DIGBY MISSING +</H3> + +<P> +"Merritt! Merritt, wake up!" +</P> + +<P> +The boy sleepily opened his eyes and saw bending over him the pale +features of Rob, whose voice quivered with suppressed excitement as he +shook the other's shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't hear reveille blow yet. What's up? Have I overslept?" +murmured the young corporal. +</P> + +<P> +"No, it's not six-thirty yet—barely after half past four, in fact. +But young Digby—he had the night watch, you know—and was to have been +relieved at three o'clock. Well, Ernest Thompson, his relief, roused +out at that hour, but not a trace of Digby was to be found!" +</P> + +<P> +"What!" The sleepy boy was drowsy no longer. "Digby gone?" +</P> + +<P> +"Hush! We don't know yet. Don't wake any of the others. Thompson and +I have skirmished around ever since it began to get light, and we have +not been able to find a trace of him." +</P> + +<P> +Merritt was out of his cot while his leader was still speaking, and ten +minutes later, during which time the boys exchanged excited questions +and answers, he was in his uniform and outside the tent. +</P> + +<P> +The sun was just poking his rim above the western horizon and the +chilly damp of early dawn lay over the island. The sea, as calm almost +as a lake, lay sullen and gray, scarcely heaving. Behind the sleeping +camp a few shreds of mist—the ghosts of the vapors of the night were +arising like smoke among the dim trees. At the further end of the +assemblage of tents, and beyond the smoldering fire, stood a silent +figure, that of Ernest Thompson. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you explored the island thoroughly?" asked Merritt under his +breath. Somehow the dim hour and the situation seemed to preclude the +idea of loud talking. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course not. Not yet," breathed the other in the same tones. "We +will break the news to the rest of the Patrol after breakfast. It's no +use alarming them yet." +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't possible that he went off on an early fishing expedition?" +</P> + +<P> +For answer, Rob waved his hand toward the water, where the Flying Fish +lay rocking gently at her anchor. Ashore the dingy lay as Merritt and +his companions had left it the night before. +</P> + +<P> +"But what can have happened to him?" burst out Merritt, as they made +their way over to Ernest Thompson's side. +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot think. It is absolutely mystifying. I am going to start for +the captain's place now. He may be able to throw some light on the +affair." +</P> + +<P> +Merritt shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Hardly likely. If there is no trace of Joe Digby on this side of the +island, it is improbable that Captain Hudgins knows anything about him." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," rejoined Rob in a troubled voice, "we've got to try everything. +I am responsible for his safe keeping while he is in camp. I blame +myself for allowing the kid to go on sentry duty at all." +</P> + +<P> +"No use doing that," comforted Merritt; "there's one thing sure, he +can't have melted away. He must be somewhere on the island. There are +no wild beasts or anything like that here to carry him off, so if we +keep up the search we must come upon him sooner or later." +</P> + +<P> +"That's what makes the whole affair the more mystifying," rejoined Rob. +"What can have become of him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, if he's on the island, we'll find him," he continued; "and if he +isn't—" +</P> + +<P> +"We'll find him anyway," declared Merritt in a determined voice. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the stuff!" warmly exclaimed the other. "And now I'm going to +take a cruise round to the other side of the island, and see if I can +find out anything there." +</P> + +<P> +A few seconds later he was in the dinghy and sculling out over the +water to the speedy Flying Fish. In a short time he was off. +</P> + +<P> +As the "chug chug" of the motor grew fainter, Merritt turned to young +Thompson. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't breathe a word of this to the others till we know for certain +that Digby has vanished," he said. +</P> + +<P> +The other boy nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"I understand," he said, and the look with which he accompanied the +words rendered Merritt perfectly confident that he would be obeyed. +</P> + +<P> +"And now let's rouse out Andy Bowles and get him busy with that tin +horn of his," cheerfully went on Merritt, walking toward Andy's tent. +</P> + +<P> +That youth was much surprised to find that it was morning, but tumbled +out of his cot in double-quick time, and soon the cheerful notes of +reveille were ringing out over the camp, on which the sun's rays were +now streaming down in that luminary's cheerful morning way. +</P> + +<P> +The soldier who immortalized himself by sing the words: "We can't get +'em up, We can't get 'em up, We can't get 'em up in the morning—, We +can't get 'em up, We can't get 'em up, We can't get'em up at +a-a-l-l-l!" to the stirring notes of the army's morning call had never +been in a camp of Boy Scouts. If he had he wouldn't have written them, +for before the last notes had died away the camp was alive and astir, +with hurrying lads filling tin washbasins and cleaning up. +</P> + +<P> +The cook and "cookee" for the day—Jim Jeffords and Martin Green—soon +had their cooking fire going, and presently the appetizing aroma of +coffee and fried ham and eggs filled the camp. +</P> + +<P> +"Give the breakfast call, Andy," ordered Merritt, as the proud if +flush-faced cooks announced their labors complete, and with a clatter +and bang of tin dishes and cups the Boy Scouts sat down to breakfast. +</P> + +<P> +"Where's Rob and Digby?" demanded Andy Bowles, as he dug his spoon into +an island of oatmeal completely surrounded by an ocean of condensed +milk thinned down with warm water. +</P> + +<P> +The moment that Merritt had dreaded had arrived. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, he and Rob went off early to see the captain," he said. "I guess +they'll be back soon." +</P> + +<P> +"Pretty early for paying social calls," commented Andy, too busy with +his breakfast, however, to give the matter more attention, for which +Merritt was duly thankful. +</P> + +<P> +After breakfast Merritt ordered a general airing of bedding, and the +side walls of the tents were raised to let the fresh air blow through +them. Still there was no sign of Rob. Merritt grew so anxious that he +could hardly keep from pacing up and down to conceal his nervous state +of mind. However, he stuck to his duties and oversaw the first routine +of the morning without betraying his anxiety to any of the lads under +his charge. At last there came the awaited chug chug of the returning +boat, for which he had been so eagerly listening, and Rob appeared +rounding the little point below the camp. In the craft was another +figure, that of the captain himself. +</P> + +<P> +Merritt's first hope when he saw the two persons in the boat—namely, +that one of them might be the missing boy—was promptly dashed, and he +instinctively guessed by Rob's silence as he dropped the anchor and he +and the captain tumbled into the dinghy that there had been no news. +</P> + +<P> +"No," said Rob, shaking his head dejectedly as they reached the shore, +"there isn't anything to tell. The captain is as much in the dark as +we." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you'd better have some breakfast," said Merritt, after he and +the captain had exchanged greetings, "then we can go ahead and notify +the others and institute a thorough search." +</P> + +<P> +"That's the stuff, my boy," agreed the veteran. "Overhaul ship from +bilge ter royals, and if not found, then take a cruise in search uv." +</P> + +<P> +Rob ate his meal with small appetite, but the captain, urging on his +young companion the necessity of "filling his hold," devoured +prodigious quantities of food, and then, arising, suggested that the +time had come to "pipe all hands aft and read orders." +</P> + +<P> +The boys had been so busy about their morning tasks that fortunately +none of them, except Tubby, whom Merritt had told of the disappearance, +had found time to notice Rob's return or ask questions; so that when he +announced to them that Joe Digby was missing it came as a stunning +shock. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, boys," said Rob, after he had communicated the full details, so +far as he knew them, of the circumstances of the disappearance, "there +is only one thing to do, and that is turn this island inside out. It +won't take long, but I want it done thoroughly. Don't leave a stone +unturned. If after a painstaking search we find nothing on the island, +we'll know we have to look elsewhere. You are all fairly good woodsmen +by this time, and can trail by signs as effectively as first-class +scouts. Use your eyes, and good luck." +</P> + +<P> +Merritt at once assigned searching parties, he and Rob and Tubby taking +the center of the island and the others being detailed to search along +the shores in two separate squads for any trace of their missing +comrade. +</P> + +<P> +"Call me a lubber if this ain't the most mystifyin' thing I've run my +bow into since the Two Janes, uv Boston, brig, lost her bearings in a +fog and fetched up off Iceland," declared the captain, who had elected +to accompany the three leaders of the Patrol. "But drown or swim, sail +or sink, we'll find that kid if he's on deck." +</P> + +<P> +The searching parties construed this speech as a sort of valedictory to +them as, indeed, the captain intended it—and greeted it with a cheer. +</P> + +<P> +"The first scout that finds a trace of Joe is to light the four +'smokes', meaning come to council," was Rob's last order. "Light them +on as prominent a place as you can find and we will all meet in camp to +hear the news." +</P> + +<P> +The searching parties at once separated, one striking off to the right, +the other to the left and the three young leaders and their grizzled +friend making a dead set for the center of the island. +</P> + +<P> +If Joe Digby was to be found, the look of determination on the face of +each scout showed that it would not be the fault of his young comrades +if he were not. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SAM REBELS +</H3> + +<P> +In the meantime on a small island in the Upper Inlet a strange +conference was taking place. Three youths whom our readers will +recognize as Jack Curtiss, Bill Bender and Sam Redding; were in earnest +consultation with the unkempt and unsavory individual whom we know as +Hank Handcraft, the beach-comber. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, the job's put through, all right," Hank was saying, as the three +sat outside a small tent in front of which was a smoldering fire, about +which the remnants of a meal were scattered. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but now we've got to tackle the hardest part of it," said Jack, +knitting his brows. "I've got the letter written and here it is." As +he spoke he drew from his pocket a sheet of paper. "The question is who +to send for the money when the time comes." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Hank is the man," said Ben, without an instant's hesitation. "We +must not appear in this at all." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I am the man, am?" put in Hank, with no very gratified inflexion +in his voice; "and what if I am caught? I'm to go to prison, I +suppose, while you fellows get off scot-free." +</P> + +<P> +"As for me," said Sam Redding, who was pale and looked scared, and +whose eyes, too, were red-rimmed and heavy as if from lack of sleep, +"you can count me out. I want nothing to do with it. You've gone too +far, Jack, in your schemes against the boys. I'm through with the +whole thing." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, if you're that chicken-hearted, we don't want you in it at all," +sneered Jack, although he looked somewhat troubled at his follower's +defection. "All we want you to promise is not to split on us." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I won't peach," promised Sam readily. +</P> + +<P> +"It will be better for you not to," warned Bill Bender; "and now let's +figure this thing out, and quickly, too. We haven't got any too much +time. They'll have discovered the kid has gone by this time and the +alarm will be spread broadcast." +</P> + +<P> +"I thought, when he yelled like that last night, we were goners sure," +remarked Jack, scowling at the recollection. "It's a good thing those +kids sleep as hard as they do, or we'd have been in a tight fix." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, well, no good going back to that now," dissented Bill. "How was +the young cub when you left him, Hank?" he asked abruptly. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, he'd got through crying, and was lying nice and quiet on his +bunk," remarked Hank, with an amiable chuckle, as though he had just +performed some praiseworthy act, instead of having left little Joe +Digby locked in a deserted bungalow on an island some little distance +from the one on which the conversation related above was taking place. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, that's good," said Bill; "although crying, or yelling, either, +won't do him much good on that island. He could yell for a week and no +one would hear him." +</P> + +<P> +"No; the water's too shallow for any motor boats to get up there," +agreed Hank. "I had a hard job getting through the channel in the +rowboat, even at high water." +</P> + +<P> +"Is the house good and tight?" was Jack's next question. +</P> + +<P> +"Tight—tight as the Tombs," was Hank's answer, the simile being an apt +one for him to use. "The door has that big bolt on the outside that I +put on, besides the lock, of which I carried away the key, and the +shutters are all nailed up. No danger of his getting away till we want +him to!" +</P> + +<P> +"Couldn't be better," grinned Jack approvingly. "Now, here's the +letter. Tell me what you think of it?" +</P> + +<P> +Opening the sheet of paper, the bully read aloud as follows: +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"MR. AND MRS. DIGBY: +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"Your son is safe and in good hands. I alone know where the men who +stole him have taken him. But I am a poor man, and think that the +information should be worth something to you. Suppose you place two +hundred dollars under the signpost at the Montauk crossroads to-night. +I will call and get it if you will mark the spot at which you place it +with a rock. Look under the same rock in the morning and you will find +directions how to get your boy back. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +CAPTAIN NEMO." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you think of that?" inquired Jack complacently, as he +concluded the reading of his epistle. +</P> + +<P> +"A bee-yoo-tiful piece of composition," said Hank approvingly, with one +of his throaty chuckles; "the only thing is—who is Captain Nemo?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, so far as delivering the letter and getting the money is +concerned, you are," said Jack decisively. "Eh, Bill?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, by all means," assented Bill. +</P> + +<P> +Sam was not included in the conversation, and gazed sullenly straight +in front of him as he lay where he had thrown himself on the fine white +sand. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, by no means," echoed Hank derisively. "Say, what do you fellows +take me for, the late lamented Mr. Easy Mark? If you do you have +another think coming." +</P> + +<P> +"Now look here, Hank," argued Jack, "what's the objection? All you've +got to do is to take this note ashore, give it to some boy to deliver, +and then go to the crossroads at whatever time to-night you see fit and +get the money." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course," Bill hastened to put in, "you've got to bring it to us for +proper division." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I have, have I?" chuckled Hank. "Well, what do you think of that? +I'm to do all the work and you fellows are to get the bacon! That's a +fine idea—not! Four into two hundred doesn't go very many times, you +know." +</P> + +<P> +"Not four," corrected Jack, "three. Sam is out of this. He's too much +of a coward to have anything to do with it," he added, mimicking Sam's +tone. +</P> + +<P> +The boat-builder's son reddened, but said nothing in reply to the +bully's taunt. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, three, then," went on Hank; "that's not percentage enough for +me. If I'm to have anything to do with this here job, I want half the +money. You fellows can split the rest between you!" +</P> + +<P> +Jack and Bill exchanged blank looks. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, look here, Hank, be reasonable," began Jack in a tone meant to be +conciliatory. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, look here, Jack, be sensible," echoed Hank mockingly. "You seem +to forget that you owe me something for the job we did on those +uniforms the other night, and that other little errand you performed on +the island. You've got a very convenient memory, you have. Why, I +daresay those kids would have given me a nice little wad of tobacco +money to have told just who took their Sunday-go-to-meetin' suits, but +did I peach? No, you know I didn't; but," he added, with rising +emphasis, "if I don't get what's coming to me pretty soon, I will." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you idiot," began Jack truculently; "haven't you got your chance +now?" +</P> + +<P> +"If I choose to take it—yes," was the rejoinder; "but I don't know as +I will. It seems to me I hold all the trumps and you are at my mercy." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, you insolent dog!" bellowed Jack, rising to his feet from the +position in which he had been squatting. "For two cents I'd knock your +bewhiskered head off!" +</P> + +<P> +He advanced threateningly, but Bill, seeing the turn matters were +taking, and realizing that more was to be gained by peaceful methods, +intervened. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Jack, shut up. Stow that nonsense," he ordered sharply. "Look +here, Hank, we'll accept your terms. Half to you if you carry it out +successfully." +</P> + +<P> +"And if I don't?" +</P> + +<P> +"Then we'll all have to shift for ourselves. This part of the country +will be too hot to hold us. I mean to go out West. I've got a cousin +who has a ranch, and I think I could get along all right there if the +worst comes to the worst." +</P> + +<P> +"See here, I don't agree with your way of dividing the money," began +Jack, an angry light in his eyes. "Look—" +</P> + +<P> +"Look here, Jack," cut in Bill sharply, "if you don't like it, it +doesn't do you any good. If you object to it, keep out. Hank and I +form a majority. You chump" he added, quickly, under his breath, as +Hank turned away and began to "skip" flat stones over the water, "don't +you see he takes all the responsibility? It's a cinch for us to get +away if anything goes wrong." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it's a cinch we get cheated out of our share of the money," +argued Jack, with an angry glare in the direction of the unconscious +Hank. +</P> + +<P> +"Beggars can't be choosers," argued Bill. "You know, as well as I do, +that if we are implicated in this affair it means serious trouble. Our +parents wouldn't stand for it, and we should be disgraced. By doing it +this way we get some of the proceeds—I admit not our fair share but +what's to be done?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I guess you are right, Bill," assented Jack, with a shrug. "It's +go ahead now; we've gone too far to draw back." +</P> + +<P> +"That's the line of talk," grinned Bill, "and when we've each got fifty +dollars in our pockets, silenced Hank with a golden gag and had our +revenge on those kids, we'll be able to talk over future plans. I'm +sick of school. I hate the idea of going back there. I've half a mind +to strike out for the West anyway." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think I could get a job on your cousin's ranch?" asked Jack. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't doubt it a bit," rejoined Bill. "You're a good, husky chap, +and brawn and muscle is what they need in the West." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I'm husky, all right," conceded Jack modestly. "Sometimes I +think that I don't get full opportunities to expand here in this +wretched country hole." +</P> + +<P> +"No, the West is the place," agreed Bill, with an inward smile, "as the +newspapers say—one can expand with the country out there." +</P> + +<P> +Their conversation was broken in upon by Sam, who demanded in no very +gentle tones: +</P> + +<P> +"Well, who's going ashore? I'm off." +</P> + +<P> +"No hurry, Sam," said Jack in a more amiable tone than he had yet used +that morning. "Let's sit around here a while and enjoy the sun—we +might take a swim after a while." +</P> + +<P> +"If you don't come now you'll have to swim ashore," grunted Sam, +arising and brushing the sand from himself. "I'm going back to +Hampton. I'm tired of camping out here." +</P> + +<P> +He walked toward the beach and prepared to shove off the dinghy, +preparatory to sculling out to the hydroplane, which lay a few rods off +shore in the channel. +</P> + +<P> +"Hold on, Sam," cried Bill; "we're coming. Don't go away sore." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not sore," rejoined Sam, in a tone which belied his words, "but I +don't think you fellows are doing the right thing when you maroon a kid +like Joe Digby on a lone island, in a deserted bungalow in which you'd +be scared to stop yourselves." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, what's got into you, Sam?" protested Jack. "It's more a lark +than anything else." +</P> + +<P> +"Fine lark," grunted Sam, "scaring a kid half to death and then writing +notes for money. It's dangerously near to kidnapping—that's what I +call it, and I'm glad I'm not in it." +</P> + +<P> +Both the others looked rather uncomfortable at this presentation of the +matter, but Jack affected to laugh it off. +</P> + +<P> +"Pshaw!" he exclaimed, "it's a little bit rough, I know, but such +things do a kid good. Teach him to be self-reliant and—and all that." +</P> + +<P> +"Sure," agreed Bill, "you don't look at these things in the right +light, Sam—does he, Hank?" +</P> + +<P> +Hank, who had shuffled toward the dinghy at the conclusion of these +edifying remarks, agreed with a chuckle that Sam had no sense of humor, +after which they all got into the dinghy and we sculled off to the +unlucky hydroplane. +</P> + +<P> +It didn't take long to get under way, and the little craft was soon +scudding through the water at a good pace, towing the dinghy behind her. +</P> + +<P> +"Better put us ashore before we get into Hampton," suggested Bill. "We +don't want to be seen about there more than can be helped." +</P> + +<P> +"That's where you are wrong," objected Jack. "We'll put Hank ashore up +the coast, but the more we are seen about the place the better. It +won't look as if we had anything to do with the Digby kid—in case +things do go wrong." +</P> + +<P> +So it was agreed that Hank was to be landed in a small cove a few miles +farther down the coast, from which it was a short cut across country to +the neighborhood of the Digby farm. +</P> + +<P> +Then he was to waylay the first likely-looking messenger and entrust +the note which Jack had read to him for delivery. After that he was to +spend the time as best he could in suitable seclusion, and after dark +conceal himself near the sign-post. He was not to make any attempt to +secure the money if any one hovered about the place, but if the coast +was clear he was to go boldly in and take it. +</P> + +<P> +Hank was landed at the spot agreed upon, a short time later, and the +other three then resumed their journey for the hydroplane's home port. +As they turned seaward Jack pointed mockingly to Topsail Island, which +lay a short distance on their port bow. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll bet there's plenty going on there right now," he grinned. +</P> + +<P> +"Right you are," assented Bill. +</P> + +<P> +"Hullo," he added hastily the next moment; "what's that?" +</P> + +<P> +He pointed toward the island, and the occupants of the homing +hydroplane saw, slowly rising from it in the still air, four straight +columns of blue smoke. +</P> + +<P> +"Looks like a signal of some kind," suggested Jack after a scrutiny. +</P> + +<P> +"It's coming from about the place where we grabbed the kid," added +Bill, a note of apprehension in his voice. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder what it signifies?" demanded Jack, whose face began to bear a +somewhat troubled look. +</P> + +<P> +"I can tell you," said Sam shortly, turning round from the wheel. +</P> + +<P> +"You can?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, hurry up, then—what does it mean?" Jack spoke sharply at Sam's +deliberation. +</P> + +<P> +"It means," said Sam slowly, as if he wanted every word to sink in, +"that the Boy Scouts have picked up your trail." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE HUNT FOR TENDERFOOT JOE +</H3> + +<P> +Rob, Merritt, Tubby Hopkins and Captain Hudgins rested, perspiring +under the noon-day heat, on a group of flat rocks at the highest point +of the island. Their search had been fruitless, and their downcast +faces showed it. +</P> + +<P> +"How ever are we going to break the news to his parents?" +</P> + +<P> +Merritt it was who voiced the question that had been troubling all of +them. +</P> + +<P> +Before any one had time to frame a reply the captain, whose keen eyes +had been gazing about him, gave a sudden shout: +</P> + +<P> +"There's that smoke yonder yer boys were lookin' fer," he exclaimed, +pointing. +</P> + +<P> +"Four columns of it," shouted Rob, "hurray, boys, that means news! +It's 'Come to counsel.' Come on, don't let's lose any time in getting +back." +</P> + +<P> +Rapidly the boys stumbled and ran forward over the rocks and pushed on +among the dense growth that covered the hillside they had climbed. +They hardly noticed the obstacles, however, so keenly were they bent on +getting back to camp and learning the news which they knew must be +awaiting them. They covered the distance in half the time it had taken +them to ascend the hillside and were met in the camp by the body of +searchers—Andy Bowles, Sim Jeffords and Ernest Thompson—who had swung +off to the left or mainland side of the island. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, boys, what news?" breathlessly exclaimed Rob, "we saw the +counsel smoke and hurried down at top speed." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, there's not very much, I'm afraid, Rob," began Andy, "but we +found something that may give us a clue. About half a mile down the +beach there's the distinct mark of a boat keel where it was drawn up on +the hard sand and the marks of three separate pairs of feet." +</P> + +<P> +"Good," exclaimed Rob, "that's something and half confirms my +suspicion. Go on, Andy, what else?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we examined the marks carefully and found that two pairs of feet +wore good shoes and the third a very broken, disreputable pair." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," exclaimed Rob, while the others listened breathlessly. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course that indicated to us that three persons must have carried +Joe off—for I don't think there's much doubt now that he was carried +off, do you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't," said Rob sadly, "but for what possible motive?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have it," suddenly exclaimed Tubby Hopkins, snapping his fingers, +"you remember the day of the aeroplane model contest?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but what—" began Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"Has that to do with it," finished Tubby for him. "Everything. It was +Joe who first told the committee that Jack's model was a bought one and +so lost him the fifty-dollar prize." +</P> + +<P> +"By cracky, that's right!" assented Rob, "and you think that Jack and +his gang have carried him off in revenge for it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Looks that way to me," nodded the stout youth. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, they wouldn't dare," began Andy Bowles. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, they would," amended Rob bitterly, "they'd dare anything to +get even on us for their fancied wrongs. But whose could have been the +broken ragged shoes?" he asked, suddenly taking up another train of +thought. +</P> + +<P> +"Hank Handcrafts, the beach-comber's," suggested Tubby. +</P> + +<P> +"Gee Whillikens! I'll bet a cracker that's the solution," cried Andy, +"and now I come to think of it I heard, before we left, that Jack and +his gang had gone camping." +</P> + +<P> +"Where?" +</P> + +<P> +"Up around the Upper Inlet somewhere. You know that's full of islands +and as there's no drinking water there few people ever think of +frequenting the place. If they wanted to do anything like carrying off +Joe that is where they would have been likely to go." +</P> + +<P> +"You may be right, Andy. It's worth looking into, anyway," declared +Rob. "I'll leave a note here for the others and we'll take a run over +there in the Flying Fish. If Joe is there we'll get him out." +</P> + +<P> +"And in jig time, too," chimed in Ernest Thompson. +</P> + +<P> +"Come on, boys, get some gasoline, hop in the dinghy and let's get +aboard. We've got to move fast if we're to accomplish anything. You +get the boat, Andy, while I write a line to tell the others what we've +gone after." +</P> + +<P> +The young leader hastily ran into his tent and sitting down at the +table dashed off these lines: +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"Boys, we think we have a clue to Joe's whereabouts. Have gone after +him. Keep camp in regular way while we are gone. Hiram Nelson is +leader, and Paul Perkins corporal, in our absence. +<BR><BR> +"ROB BLAKE, Leader, +<BR> +"Eagle Patrol, B. S. of A." +</P> + +<P> +With a piece of chalk the boy marked a rough square and an arrow on a +tree—the arrow pointing to a spot in the sand in which he buried the +letter. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, then, come on," he shouted, dashing toward the boat, "shove off, +boys, and if Joe's in the Upper Inlet we'll find him." +</P> + +<P> +"Hurray," cheered the others, much heartened by the prospect of any +trace of the missing boy, however slight. +</P> + +<P> +"Give way, boys," bellowed the captain, who had insisted on coming +along armed with a huge horse pistol of ancient pattern which he had +strapped on himself in the morning when the news of Joe Digby's +disappearance reached him. "This reminds me uv the time when I was A. +B. on the Bonnie Bess and we smoked out a fine mess of pirates in the +Caribees." +</P> + +<P> +"Regular pirates?" inquired Andy as Rob and Merritt bent to the oars. +</P> + +<P> +"Reg'lar piratical pirates, my boy," responded the old salt, "we +decorated the trees with 'em and they looked a lot handsomer there than +they did a-sailin' the blue main." +</P> + +<P> +Further reminiscences of the captain's were cut short by their arrival +at the Flying Fish's side. They had hastily thrown two cases of +gasoline into the dinghy before they shoved off so that all that +remained to be done was to fill the fast craft's tank and she was ready +to be off. +</P> + +<P> +"Hold on," warned Rob, as Tubby Hopkins was about to secure the dinghy +to the mooring buoy, "we'll tow her along. We may need her. There's +lots of shoal water in that Upper Inlet." +</P> + +<P> +"Right yer are, my boy; there's nothin' like bein' forehanded," +remarked the captain as Merritt bent over the flywheel and Rob threw in +the spark and turned on the gasoline. After a few revolutions an +explosion resulted and the Flying Fish was off on the mission which +might mean so much or so little to the anxious hearts on board her. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know the channel," asked Merritt as Rob with his eyes glued on +the coast sent the Flying Fish through the waves, or rather wavelets, +for the sea was almost like a sheet of glass. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been up here once or twice after duck," rejoined Rob, "but it's a +tricky sort of a place to get through. However, I guess we'll make it." +</P> + +<P> +As they drew nearer the shores the boys made out an opening which Rob +said was the Upper Inlet channel. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, Tubby, get out the lead line and let's see how much water we +have," directed Rob as the color of the ocean began to change from dark +blue to a sort of greenish tinge, lightening in spots, where the shoals +were near to the surface, to a sandy yellow. +</P> + +<P> +The stout lad took a position in the bow and swinging the lead about +his head cast it suddenly ahead of the Flying Fish's bow. +</P> + +<P> +"Slow down," ordered Rob, and Merritt cut down the motor to not more +than two hundred revolutions a minute. +</P> + +<P> +The lead line, tagged with different colored bits of flannel at each +fathom length, sang through the stout lad's fingers. +</P> + +<P> +"By-a-quarter-three," he called out the next instant. +</P> + +<P> +This meant that three fathoms and a quarter or eighteen feet three +inches of water was under the keel of the little craft. +</P> + +<P> +"Nough fer a man-uv-war," grinned old Captain Hodgins. +</P> + +<P> +Slowly the Flying Fish forged ahead till right under her bow lay a +patch of the yellow water. +</P> + +<P> +"By-a-half-two," came a sharp hail from the fat youth, who had once +more heaved the lead. +</P> + +<P> +"Cut her down some more," sharply ordered Rob, without turning his +head, "we draw only three feet so I guess we'll do nicely for a while." +</P> + +<P> +"Great hop-toads, there's regular shark's teeth ahead," commented +Captain Hudgins, pointing to the still shallower water indicated by the +lightening tint of the channel. +</P> + +<P> +"By-one-by-a-quarter-one!" came sharply from Tubby, as the Flying Fish +seemed hardly to crawl along the water. +</P> + +<P> +"By-a-half!" came an instant later, meaning that only three feet of +water lay right ahead. +</P> + +<P> +"Stop her," roared out Rob. +</P> + +<P> +But he was too late. Instantly, almost as Merritt's hand had flown to +the lever, the nose of the Flying Fish poked into the sandbank and her +motor with a gentle sigh came to a stop. +</P> + +<P> +"Hard a-ground!" roared the captain, "too bad and with a fallin' tide, +too." +</P> + +<P> +"Full speed astern," came the next order. +</P> + +<P> +The propeller churned up the water aft into a white turmoil. The Flying +Fish trembled in her every timber, and began to slide slowly backward +from the treacherous shoal. +</P> + +<P> +"Safe, by the great horn spoon!" roared the captain, fetching Andy +Bowles a slap on the back that almost toppled the small bugler into the +water. +</P> + +<P> +"For a time," said Rob quietly, "come ahead a bit, Merritt." +</P> + +<P> +Slowly the little vessel slid ahead once more. Rob seemed fairly to +feel his way through the narrow channel he had picked out and finally +the Flying Fish, after as much coaxing as is usually bestowed on a +balky horse, floated in the deep water beyond the sandy bar. +</P> + +<P> +Eagerly the boys looked about them as they "opened up," as sailors call +it, the narrow stretch of water known as the Upper Inlet. It did not +take them long to spy the island with the tent on it in which the +conversation between Jack and his cronies, and the mutineer to his +plans, had taken place. +</P> + +<P> +"There's their camp!" shouted Rob, eagerly sending the Flying Fish +ahead at full speed, "now we'll find out something." +</P> + +<P> +"And, maybe, use this." The captain, as he spoke, grimly produced his +formidable weapon and flourished it about. +</P> + +<P> +"No, none of that," sternly rejoined Rob, "the Boy Scouts can take care +of those fellows—without using firearms." +</P> + +<P> +"You bet," rejoined Merritt, grimly "muscling up," "we'll show 'em if +it comes to a fight." +</P> + +<P> +But bitter disappointment awaited the boys. As we know, the camp was +deserted and no trace or clue of the whereabouts of its occupants was +to be found. In the tent, however, lay a piece of blotting paper with +ink-marks on it. It was the material with which Jack had dried his +letter. +</P> + +<P> +"Anybody got a mirror?" asked Rob. "This blotter may help some if we +can read what's on it." +</P> + +<P> +"I've got a pocket one," said Andy Bowles, who was somewhat particular +about his person and always carried a small toilet case. +</P> + +<P> +"That will do; let's have it." +</P> + +<P> +Rob seized the bit of looking glass and held the blotter to it. +</P> + +<P> +"Just as I thought," he exclaimed a minute later, with a cry of +triumph. "It's Jack Curtiss' writing, though he has tried to disguise +it, and they've got Joe hidden somewhere. Look here, they want $200 +for his return." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but what good does it do us to know that," objected Merritt, when +the sensation this announcement caused had subsided. "They evidently +had him here overnight and then deserted the camp for fear we'd pick up +their trail. They've taken Joe with them." +</P> + +<P> +"By the great sea-serpent, that's right," grunted the captain, "it's a +blind trail, boys!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SAVED BY "SMOKE MORSE" +</H3> + +<P> +Each member of the party regarded the other blankly. +</P> + +<P> +The captain was right. The deserted camp was only a blind trail and +they had all their work to do over again. +</P> + +<P> +"The first people to communicate with are Joe's parents," mused Rob. +"That note will be delivered very shortly, as the longer they delay the +more dangerous it will be for them." +</P> + +<P> +"That's right," agreed Merritt, "Jack and his gang will not let the +grass grow under their feet now that they know the chase must be on. +What can they have done with Joe?" +</P> + +<P> +Rob had been looking about him with the instinct of the Boy Scout. He +was anxious to ascertain if there were not something tangible, some +clue on which they could base a search for the missing member of the +Patrol. Suddenly something remarkable struck him about the tracks that +lay about the tent. +</P> + +<P> +They were all four those, of persons of larger growth than Joe Digby +and mingling with them unmistakably was the broken-shoed track of Hank, +the beach-comber. +</P> + +<P> +"Boys," announced Rob suddenly, "Joe has not been here at all." +</P> + +<P> +"Not been here at all," echoed Merritt, amazedly. +</P> + +<P> +"I mean what I say. Look at these tracks. There is not a footmark +here that could by any chance be his." +</P> + +<P> +The others scrutinized the maze of foot-prints with the same care as +had Rob and were forced to come to the same conclusion. There was no +question about it—they would have to seek elsewhere for a trace of the +lad. +</P> + +<P> +But where? +</P> + +<P> +They gazed about them at the stretch of lone bay or inlet, the sparse +scrub grass and vegetation fringing it on the shore side and wheeling +sea-gulls swooping and soaring above the shoal waters. +</P> + +<P> +Then Rob's gaze rested carelessly on a closed and seemingly deserted +bungalow, occupying the island above them. As his eyes fell on it they +suddenly became riveted and then grew wide with surprise. +</P> + +<P> +A stream of smoke was issuing from the fieldstone chimney roughly +constructed at one end of the apparently deserted dwelling. +</P> + +<P> +"There's some one living in that bungalow," he exclaimed, as he made +the discovery, "maybe whoever it is can give us some clue to where Joe +Digby is." +</P> + +<P> +They all gazed intently at the weather-beaten old house from which the +paint was scaling, adding to the note of desertion sounded by its +closed shutters and forlorn-looking yard. +</P> + +<P> +As they looked, astonished at the idea that the barren structure should +actually house a human being, a sudden thought struck Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"Suppose Jack Curtiss and his gang are there?" he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Hardly likely," rejoined Rob, "however, we'll get over there and find +out just who is making that smoke." +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the old captain, who had been watching the smoke closely, gave +an astonished snort. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter, captain?" asked Rob, who was about to walk to the +water's edge and get ready to shove off the dinghy. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, there's somethin' queer about that thar smoke," responded the old +salt. +</P> + +<P> +"Queer—how do you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, watch it a minute—there—see! now stops—now it starts +ag'in—then it stops—wha, do yer suppose is happenin' to it?" +</P> + +<P> +Rob knitted his brows and watched the phenomenon to which the captain +had called attention with narrowed eyes. +</P> + +<P> +There was no question about it the smoke was certainly behaving +"queerly" as the captain put it. +</P> + +<P> +The blue vapor emerged from the chimney now in a copious puff and then, +for a space, would cease, only to roll forth once more in larger +volume. The boys watched it in some astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +"What can they be doing, do you suppose?" Merritt asked. +</P> + +<P> +"I have no idea. It's past me to say," responded Rob, "it comes out in +puffs like—like—by hookey! I've got it!" he broke off with a shout, +"like the Morse code!" +</P> + +<P> +"Somebody signaling?" stammered Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"That's it—watch!" +</P> + +<P> +The smoke, which had not been visible for some seconds, now emerged +from the stone chimney once more and the boys, fascinated, watched it +closely with burning eyes. There was no doubt whatever about it now. +It was signaling. +</P> + +<P> +Four short puffs. +</P> + +<P> +"Four dots—that's H," exclaimed Rob, trembling with excitement. +</P> + +<P> +The smoke ceased. +</P> + +<P> +"Here comes some more," shouted Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +One short puff from the chimney. +</P> + +<P> +"E, one dot, that's E sure enough," translated Rob. +</P> + +<P> +The others stood like figures carved in stone as their leader read off +the strange signals. +</P> + +<P> +Puff! A longer period of smoking by the chimney—then two sharp puffs. +</P> + +<P> +"That's L," interpreted the leader of the Eagles. Before they could +say a word the chimney took up its message once more. +</P> + +<P> +Puff—a long puff—another long one, and then a short one. +</P> + +<P> +"Dot—dash—dash—dot," exclaimed Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the letter P," put in Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"That's right, old man," shouted Rob, slapping him on the back, "and +we've found Joe Digby. That smoke signal spelled Help in the Morse +code." +</P> + +<P> +"You're right," shouted Merritt, "come on, Cap, come on, boys, we've +got to get a move on and get it on quick!" +</P> + +<P> +They dashed toward the dinghy and a few seconds later had once more +embarked and were speeding toward the desolate and forsaken bungalow. +Somehow they managed to get ashore in the dinghy without anyone being +spilled over the side in their desperate hurry and a minute later were +pounding at the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Joe—Joe Digby," shouted Rob in a strange, strained voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Here," came back the answer in a feeble tone, "oh, boys, I'm glad +you've come." +</P> + +<P> +Furiously Rob shook the door. +</P> + +<P> +"It's locked," came the voice from inside, "I tried to break it down. +Too weak, I guess. Try the shutters." +</P> + +<P> +At each window in turn the Boy Scouts sought to effect an entrance, but +in vain. The owner of the place had screwed up the window coverings +too tightly for them to be opened without tools. +</P> + +<P> +The rescue party came to a momentary halt. +</P> + +<P> +"I've got it," shouted the captain suddenly, "we'll have him out uv +there in two shakes uv a drake's tail." +</P> + +<P> +He produced his formidable old pistol and waved it grimly. +</P> + +<P> +"Come on, boys," he yelled, darting round to the front of the +house—the side on which the door was. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you going to do?" demanded Rob, as much mystified as the rest +at the old eccentric actions. +</P> + +<P> +"Watch me," grinned the captain as he gained the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Stand clear!" he bawled at the top of his lungs, "stand clear uv the +door inside there, Joe!" +</P> + +<P> +"All right," came back the reply, "I'm in a corner." +</P> + +<P> +"Now, stand by ter receive boarders!" roared the veteran as he placed +the muzzle weapon at the lock and pulled the trigger. +</P> + +<P> +"Bang!" +</P> + +<P> +There was a roaring explosion from the wide mouthed weapon and a cloud +of smoke filled the air. But simultaneously there came a sound of +ripping, tearing and splintering and the lock of the door, shot clean +out by the heavy charge, clattered down to the floor on the inside of +the room. +</P> + +<P> +An instant later Joe Digby, pale and trembling from privation, surprise +and happiness all mingled in one, was in the midst of his friends and +fellow scouts. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know what made me think of it," he explained in answer to +eager questions about the smoke telegraph message. "It was what the +books call an inspiration, I guess. There were plenty of loose +boards—fragments of old packing cases lying about, and luckily they +had not taken my matches. I built a blaze and then, while it was still +smoldering, I covered it with an old strip of sacking that I wetted +with some water out of the bottle they left me." +</P> + +<P> +"It made about as good a signal, as one could want," responded Rob +warmly, "but now tell us about your capture, Joe, how did it happen?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, you see," exclaimed the lad, his voice growing stronger as he +proceeded, "I was just thinking it was about time to wake my relief +when I heard a rustling noise in the bushes back of the camp. I walked +up there to investigate, for I thought it might be some animals—maybe +the captain's pigs." +</P> + +<P> +"Keel haul them lubberly swine," from the captain. +</P> + +<P> +"But, as you shall hear, I was mistaken. Hardly had I reached the edge +of the dark shadows than I was seized and a hand put over my mouth. I +had only time to let out one yell for help." +</P> + +<P> +"The one that woke me," put in Merritt, in parenthesis. +</P> + +<P> +"That was it; I guess," went on the small lad, "well, I was picked up +and carried some little distance to where they had a boat, and thrown +into it. Then the three men who were in the boat rowed to an island +with a tent on it and there two of them got out. The other, a fellow +with a big beard and very dirty, then rowed over to this place with me +and, after putting some bread and a bottle of water inside the door, +closed and locked it. +</P> + +<P> +"I carried on like a baby, I guess. I cried for a long time and +shouted, but no one came. Then I grew quieter and tried to find some +way of escape but the shutters were all fastened and the door was too +strong for me. I tried to clamber up the chimney once but I had to +give it up. Then suddenly the thought of making a smoke came to me and +then I improved on that idea and used the Morse code that Rob has been +drumming into me. I never thought that I might be able to use it to +save my life maybe—or at least a lot of hunger and misery." +</P> + +<P> +"Could you recognize the men who took you if you saw them again?" asked +Rob earnestly. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not sure," responded the small lad, "one of them I would know—the +one with the beard. The other two wore masks. But I think their +voices sounded like Bill's and Jack's. I'm sure of the man with the +beard though." +</P> + +<P> +"Hank Handcraft," exclaimed Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, that's who it was," cried the small lad, "I thought somehow the +voice and something about the man seemed familiar. He's that old beach +comber who lives outside Hampton." +</P> + +<P> +"That's the son uv a sea-swab," roared the captain, "oh, if I could +only get my hands on him, I'd—" +</P> + +<P> +The fate the captain had reserved for Hank was doomed not to be known, +for as he was speaking Paul Perkins gave a sudden shout: +</P> + +<P> +"Look—look there!" he cried, pointing. +</P> + +<P> +Sneaking up to the tented island was the familiar outline of Sam +Redding's hydroplane. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap22"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE ESCAPE OF THE BULLY +</H3> + +<P> +The group standing about the newly rescued lad on the veranda of the +deserted bungalow galvanized into instant action. +</P> + +<P> +"Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender are in her!" shouted Rob, "come on, +scouts, we'll get after them while we can." +</P> + +<P> +With a shout the Boy Scouts ran for the boat and speedily pulled out to +the Flying Fish. Hastily as they executed this move, however, the two +in the other boat had had time to head her about and start at top speed +for the mouth of the inlet. +</P> + +<P> +"Clap on more sail, my hearties," roared the captain, almost beside +himself with excitement, "I want ter get my hands on them two piratical +craft." +</P> + +<P> +Rob, with a look of grim determination on his usually pleasant face, +held the Flying Fish true on her course, but, heavily laden as she was, +she could not make her usual speed and the hydroplane soon distanced +her. Jack Curtiss stood in her stern and waved a mocking hand at the +Boy Scouts as the light-draft craft shot over the shoals and shallows +with case while the Flying Fish had to lose much time and way by +threading in and out seeking the deeper water. +</P> + +<P> +"Douse my toplights, I can't stand that," bellowed the irate Captain +Hudgins. "I'll put a shot in that jackanapes' locker." +</P> + +<P> +With these words, and before any of the boys could stop him, he rose to +his feet and sent a bullet from his ponderous revolver flying in the +direction of the fleeing motor boat. It missed and hit the water near +by, sending up a little fountain of spray. +</P> + +<P> +Even at the distance they were the occupants of the Flying Fish could +see the fear which this warlike move inspired in the bully and his +companion. They threw themselves flat in their boat till only the +hands of Bill, who was steering, were visible. +</P> + +<P> +They need not have feared, however. The captain's hasty move brought +down on his head Rob's wrath, though the young leader could not find it +in his heart to be really angry with the old man who had been irritated +past endurance by the bully's mocking defiance. +</P> + +<P> +"Shiver my garboard strake," he exclaimed contritely, when Rob pointed +out to him that he might have killed one of the occupants of the +hydroplane, "shiver my garboard strake, lad, I saw red fer a minute +just like I did that time the Chinese pirates boarded the Sarah Jane +Butts in the Yellow River." +</P> + +<P> +Although there was not much hope of catching the two, Rob stuck to the +chase even when he realized the scouts were outdistanced, and in fact +kept his attention so closely riveted on the other craft that when +there came a sudden jar and jolt and the Flying Fish stopped with a +grunt and a wheeze, he realized with a start that he had not been +watching the treacherous channel and was once more fast on a sand bar. +</P> + +<P> +With a last shout and a yell of defiance the bully and his companion, +who had by now got over their fright, shot out on to the ocean and +rapidly vanished. +</P> + +<P> +"There goes our hope of catching those two crooks," cried Tubby +angrily, while the engine of the Flying Fish was set at reverse. "It's +all off now. They know that we have rescued Joe and they'll fly the +coop for some other part of the country." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose they came down here to get their tent, not realizing we'd be +here so soon," observed Andy, which indeed was the fact. +</P> + +<P> +Fortunately the Flying Fish was not very hard aground and a little +manipulation got her off into deep water once more. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess those two chaps are almost in Hampton by this time and getting +ready to leave town," observed Rob as the motor boat forged ahead, once +more. +</P> + +<P> +"This will be the safest thing for them to do," exclaimed Merritt, +"they are in a serious position this time. Kidnapping is a dire +offense." +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder what they came back for?" said Tubby suddenly. +</P> + +<P> +"No doubt to get their tent and the few things they had left on the +island," vouchsafed Rob, skillfully dodging a shoal as he spoke, +"maybe, too, they intended to see how Joe was making out." +</P> + +<P> +"I wasn't making out at all," said the small lad, with a shudder at the +recollection of his imprisonment. +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind, Joe, that's all over now," put in Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad it is," answered the small lad, "and just think, if I hadn't +been a Boy Scout and understood that code I might have been there yet." +</P> + +<P> +"That's true enough," said Rob, "for we had about made up our minds +that the bungalow was deserted, and were not going to bother +investigating it, till we saw the smoke." +</P> + +<P> +About an hour later the boys landed once more in camp, where their +reception by the others may be well imagined by my young readers. +</P> + +<P> +"And now comes the final chapter in the career of Messrs. Jack Curtiss +and Bill Bender," said Rob decisively, "I'm going to take a run up to +Hampton. Joe, you'll come along, and you, Merritt, and Tubby. If that +letter was delivered, as I imagine it was, Joe's parents must be in a +terrible state of anxiety by now and we must hurry up and see them at +once." +</P> + +<P> +"Right," agreed Merritt, and a few moments later, having left the +captain and the others ashore, the Boy Scouts and their young leader +were speeding toward Hampton. With the craft lightened as she was, +they made good time and arrived at the yacht club pier speedily. +</P> + +<P> +News of the events which had transpired at the island had evidently +reached the town, for Mr. Wingate himself, with Mr. Blake and Merritt's +father were at the landing as the Flying Fish glided up to it. +</P> + +<P> +The three elders were almost as enthusiastic as the boys had been over +the safe recovery of Joe, the details attendant on which Rob rapidly +sketched to them. He had hardly concluded and had not had time to ask +how they knew of the kidnapping when a wild-eyed man in faded old farm +clothes, accompanied by an equally distracted woman, came rushing down +to the wharf. +</P> + +<P> +"Where's them Boy Scouts? I allers knew no good would come of my son +joining 'em," the man shouted. "I'll give a hundred dollars fer a boat +that'll take me ter Topsail Island in ten minutes." +</P> + +<P> +"'No need of that, Mr. Digby," said Rob quietly stepping forward with +his hand on Joe's shoulder, "here is Joe safe and sound." +</P> + +<P> +"Great hopping watermelons!" yelled the farmer, rushing at his son +followed by his wife. Together the worthy souls almost squashed the +small lad like a butterfly under a harrow. But at last the first +greetings were over and the farmer turned to the somewhat amused group +of boys and men who were looking on. +</P> + +<P> +"My, what a fright we had," exclaimed Mrs. Digby, a motherly-looking +woman, dabbing at her eyes with capacious pocket handkerchief, "we gets +a letter tellin' us that our boy be kidnapped." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes we know all about that, Mrs. Digby," put in Mr. Blake, "you +recollect your husband telephoned to the chief of police here about it, +and expecting news from the island, we came down here." +</P> + +<P> +"So he did, so he did," cried Mrs. Digby, "oh, dear me, Mr. Blake, I'm +in such a takin! I hardly know what I'm sayin'." +</P> + +<P> +"Consarn them Boy Scouts," sputtered the farmer, returning to his +original grievance, "if Joe hadn't a joined them none of this would +have happened." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes it would and worse in fact," said Mr. Blake quietly, "from +what I have learned of the affair it was your lad's knowledge of the +Morse code, which every Boy Scout must know, that saved him when he was +confined on the island." +</P> + +<P> +"That's right, pop," piped up the lad himself. +</P> + +<P> +"Wall, I don't know nothin' about Horses, codes," grunted Mr. Digby, +somewhat mollified, "but if it saved Joe here it must be all right." +</P> + +<P> +"Then your animosity toward the Boy Scouts is somewhat modified," +smiled Mr. Blake, "let me tell you just what happened. As a matter of +fact the whole trouble dates back to the day your son exposed the +contemptible trick by which Jack Curtiss hoped to win the aeroplane +model prize contest." +</P> + +<P> +The banker drew the farmer aside and related to him the story that had +been previously narrated by Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"I want ter shake yer hand, boy," exclaimed the fanner, darting at Rob +at the conclusion, "I want ter shake all yer hands," he yelled in his +enthusiasm. +</P> + +<P> +"Bless my soul," exclaimed Commodore Wingate suddenly, "we are clean +forgetting about those two young rascals who tried to extort the money +from Mr. Digby. We must get after them at once and their accomplice +who, I suppose, is, the man delegated to take the money from under the +rock." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you suggest?" asked Mr. Blake. +</P> + +<P> +"That we hasten to the office of the chief of police and then get into +my car and ferret them out if possible," said the commodore briskly, +"they must be made to suffer for this." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't believe that Sam Redding had any hand in it," put in Rob as +Merritt mentioned the name of the boat-builder's son. "You know that +all our investigation only pointed to two persons, Jack and Bill, and +their assistant, Hank Handcraft." +</P> + +<P> +A short time later Merritt, Tubby and the Digbys being left behind on +the landing, a high powered car, containing Rob, his father, Commodore +Wingate and the chief of police of Hampton shot out on to the road +leading to the farm owned by Jack Curtiss' father. Inquiry at the +Bender home had already developed the fact that Jack and Bill had left +there hurriedly a short time before, saying they were going out to the +Curtiss place. The party was doomed to disappointment, however, so far +as the hope of catching Jack or his accomplices at the farm was +concerned. Old Mr. Curtiss informed them that his son had taken the +family buggy and driven furiously off down the road with Bill Bender a +short time before. +</P> + +<P> +"He got a hundred dollars from me," explained the old man simply, "he +told me he was goin' ter invest it in some rich mining stock his friend +Bender had promoted but—what's the matter, gentlemen," he broke off, +noticing the half-pitying look on the faces of the men in the +automobile. Mr. Blake hurriedly explained the attempted extortion of +which Jack had been guilty. +</P> + +<P> +"What, Jack—my son!" exclaimed the old man in half daze at the +stunning intelligence, "my boy Jack do a thing like that? Why, it +can't be true. I don't believe it." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm afraid, nevertheless, it is," rejoined Mr. Blake, but the old man +only shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll not believe it," he kept repeating. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish that so good a father had a worthy son," remarked Mr. Blake as +the car shot out of the farm and out upon the highroad in the hope of +overtaking the buggy. +</P> + +<P> +At the Digby farm the machine was turned off to take the cross roads +and at this spot they encountered a buggy coming toward them driven by +a farmer friend of Mr. Blake's. +</P> + +<P> +"Seen a rig with Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender in it?" shouted the +banker as the car was slowed up by Commodore Wingate. +</P> + +<P> +"Down the road a piece driving like the Mischief," responded the rustic +pointing back with his whip, "but you're wrong 'bout ther' bein' only +two of them; that no-good beach-comber, Hank Handcraft, was in there +with them." +</P> + +<P> +With a shouted word of thanks the car dashed forward once more. It was +evident that, realizing that their game was up, Jack and Bill had +picked up Hank, and, with a sense of loyalty for which Rob certainly +would not have given them credit, were trying to save him too. +</P> + +<P> +"Where can they be headed for?" wondered Mr. Blake as the car dashed +forward. +</P> + +<P> +"I can hazard a guess," exclaimed Commodore Wingate, "for the Sunnyside +railroad station. If they make a train they may escape us yet." +</P> + +<P> +"Je-rus-a-lem," exclaimed the chief of police, a man named Applegate, +pulling out a huge old-fashioned silver watch, "there's a train due in +a few minutes now; if we don't make it, they'll slip through our +fingers!" +</P> + +<P> +Faster and faster the car roared forward and suddenly as it shot round +a curve the little station of Sunnyside came in sight. Tied outside it +was the buggy and horse of farmer Curtiss and on the platform stood +three figures that the party in the auto made out at once as Jack +Curtiss, Bill Bender and their unsavory ally. +</P> + +<P> +The road took a long curve at this point and while they could see the +station the pursuers had the mortification of knowing that it would be +some minutes before they could reach it. As the car bounded forward, +swaying like a rocking ship over the rough roads, there came a sudden +sound that made Rob's heart bound. +</P> + +<P> +The long whistle of an approaching train. +</P> + +<P> +Faster the machine shot onward roaring like a battery of machine guns +going into action. Its occupants leaned forward with eyes glued on the +group on the platform. +</P> + +<P> +The trio of whom the autoists were in pursuit had by this time realized +that they were the objects of the chase and were nervously staring up +the track down which was fast approaching the train by which they hoped +to escape. +</P> + +<P> +The auto was still a good two hundred yards from the station when the +train rolled in and, hardly stopping, started to move out again. +</P> + +<P> +"Stop! stop!" yelled Chief Applegate, at the top of his lungs, and the +others waved their hands frantically. The engineer looked back at them +with a grin. +</P> + +<P> +"Some more idiots missed their train, Jim," he remarked to the fireman, +"I might have waited for them but we're five minutes behind schedule +time now." +</P> + +<P> +The fireman nodded understandingly and as the auto, in a cloud of dust, +dashed up to the little depot the train, with a screech that sounded +like the last defiance of the bully, shot round a curve and vanished +with a cloud of black smoke. +</P> + +<P> +"Beaten!" gasped the chief. +</P> + +<P> +"We can telegraph ahead and have them arrested in New York," suggested +Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"No, perhaps it is all for the best," counseled Mr. Blake, "the parents +of both those boys are respected citizens, and it would be a cruel +grievance to them were their boys to be publicly disgraced. Let them +work out their own salvation." +</P> + +<P> +And so Jack Curtiss, Bill Bender and Hank Handcraft vanish for a time +from the ken of the Boy Scouts, leaving behind them no regrets, except +it be those of their parents who were for many months bowed down with +the grief and humiliation of their boys' misdoings. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap23"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SCOUTS IN NEED ARE FRIENDS INDEED +</H3> + +<P> +"Ta-ra-ta-ra-ta! Ta-ra-ta-ra-ta! Ta-ra-ta-rata! Ta-ra-ta-a-a!" +</P> + +<P> +Andy's bugle briskly announced the last morning of the Boy Scouts' camp +on Topsail Island. Already the first breath of autumn had begun to +tint the leaves of the earlier fading trees, and the chill of the early +dawn was noticeable. +</P> + +<P> +During their stay in camp the lads had profited in every way. The scout +program as sent out for camps by headquarters had been gone, through +with some modifications, and Sim Jeffords had qualified as a +first-class scout while Martin Green, Walter Lonsdale and Joe Digby, +once more as merry as ever, were all fitted for their second-class +scout diplomas. The prospect of another patrol in Hampton had been +discussed and the outlook for one seemed favorable. +</P> + +<P> +As the last notes of Andy's call—to turn to the subject of the opening +of this chapter—rang out the tousle-headed, sleepy-eyed scouts +appeared from their tents and found themselves enveloped in a fleecy +mist—such a light fog as is common on that part of the Atlantic coast +at this season of the year. +</P> + +<P> +"Pretty thick!" was Rob's comment as he doused his face in his tin +basin. +</P> + +<P> +"Hull-o-o-o!" suddenly hailed a voice from the water, "got any +breakfast fer an old shipmate?" +</P> + +<P> +Through the fog the boys could make out the dim outline of the +captain's motor boat even if it's apoplectic cough had not already told +them it was there. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure, come ashore," hailed Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +A few moments later the hearty old seaman was sitting down with the +lads and performing miracles of eating. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a good thing we haven't all got your capacity," remarked Rob, +laughing, "or that provision tent wouldn't have held out very long." +</P> + +<P> +"Wall, boys," observed the captain, drawing out a black pipe and +ramming some equally black tobacco into it with a horny thumb, "a full +hold makes fair sailin', that's my motto and 'Be Prepared' is yers. A +man can be no better prepared than with a good meal under his belt. +Give me a well-fed crew and I'll navigate a raft to Hindustan, but a +pack uv slab-sided lime juicers couldn't work a full-rigged ship uv the +finest from here to Ban-gor." +</P> + +<P> +Having delivered himself of this bit of philosophy, the captain passed +on to another subject. +</P> + +<P> +"Hear'n anything uv them varmints what slipped their moorings on the +train?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"We heard that they had gone West," rejoined Merritt, "but to just what +part I don't know." +</P> + +<P> +"That thar Sam Reddin' boy clar'd himself uv all suspicion, did he?" +went on the old man. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, after he had admitted that Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender and +himself stole our uniforms and robbed you—" +</P> + +<P> +"Consarn him," interrupted the captain. +</P> + +<P> +"You needn't grumble, his father paid you back all that was taken," +observed Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"That don't lessen the crime," grunted the captain, "heave ahead with +yer yarn, my boy; yer was sayin' that that Reddin' boy admitted +everythin'." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," continued Rob, "in consideration of his confession, it was +agreed not to prosecute him and he seems to be a reformed character. +He absolutely denied, though, having had anything to do with the +kidnapping of Joe Digby here, and I believe he is telling the truth." +</P> + +<P> +"The truth ain't in any uv them fellers, that's my belief," snorted the +captain, "and if ever I get my hands on that thar Jack Curtiss or Bill +Bender I'll lay onto 'em with a rope's end." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, we'll never see them again," laughed Rob. +</P> + +<P> +It may be said here, however, that in this he was very much mistaken. +Rob and his friends did meet the bully again and under strange +circumstances, in scenes far removed from the peaceful surroundings of +Hampton. +</P> + +<P> +"Fog's thickenin'," observed the captain squinting seaward. +</P> + +<P> +As he remarked, the mist was indeed increasing in density, shrouding +the surroundings of the camp completely and covering the trees and +bushes with condensed moisture, which dripped in a slow, melancholy +sort of way from their limbs. +</P> + +<P> +"Bad weather for ships," observed Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"Yer may well say that, my lad, and this is a powerful bad part uv the +coast ter be navigatin' on in a fog. I've heard it said that there's a +lot uv iron in the Long Island shoals and that this deflects the +compasses uv ships that stay too near in shore in a fog. I don't know +how that maybe, I don't place a lot uv stock in it myself, but I do +know that steamers and vessels uv al kinds go ashore here more than +seems ter be natural." +</P> + +<P> +As he finished speaking there came, the fog a sound that fitted in so +well with subject of his conversation that it almost an accompaniment +to it. +</P> + +<P> +"Who-oo-oo-oo!" +</P> + +<P> +"A steamer's siren," exclaimed Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"That's what it is, lad," assented the old sailor, as the sound came +again, booming through the fog with a melancholy cadence. +</P> + +<P> +"Who-o-o-o-o-o!" roared the siren once more. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll bet the feller who's on the bridge uv that ship is havin' his own +troubles just about now," remarked the captain, "hark at that!" +</P> + +<P> +The whistle was now roaring like a wounded bull, sending distinct +vibrations of sound through the increasing fog billows. +</P> + +<P> +"Thick as pea soup," commented the captain, refilling his pipe, "reckon +I'll have ter stay here till she lifts a bit. Wind's hauled to the +sou'west too. Bad quarter means more fog and smother." +</P> + +<P> +"Who-o-o-o-o!" boomed the siren of the hidden vessel once more, and +this time it was answered by another whistle somewhere further off in +the fog. +</P> + +<P> +"Two uv 'em now. Stand by fer a collision," shouted the captain, while +the scouts, intensely interested in the development of this hidden +drama of the fog, clustered about him. +</P> + +<P> +"Who-o-o-o-o! Who-o-o-o-o! Who-o-o-o-o!" came the nearest siren. +</P> + +<P> +"She's standin' in shore," shouted the captain, "boys, she's in grave +danger." +</P> + +<P> +"What's she coming in for?" asked Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose her skipper thinks he's got plenty uv water under his keel +and wants ter give a wide berth ter the other vessel," explained the +captain. "Boys, if only we had a big bell or a steam whistle we could +warn them poor fellows uv their peril." +</P> + +<P> +"It does seem hard to hear them blundering in and not be able to warn +them," agreed Rob, "there should have been a lighthouse put on these +shoals long ago." +</P> + +<P> +"Right yer are, boy, but the government is a slow movin' vessel and +hard ter get under way." +</P> + +<P> +The boys had to laugh at this odd way of expressing the difficulty of +getting new lights erected, but they knew as well almost as their +companion the dangers of the ocean off this part of Long Island. +</P> + +<P> +The whistle boomed out its wailing note again. +</P> + +<P> +"Closer and closer," lamented the captain, "what's the matter with +those lubbers? Yer'd think they'd have a leadsman out." +</P> + +<P> +All at once the catastrophe for which they had been more or less +prepared happened. So quickly did it come that they had not time to +speak. +</P> + +<P> +The echoes of the last note of the siren had hardly died out when there +came a loud explosion. +</P> + +<P> +"Bang!" +</P> + +<P> +"A signal gun," roared the captain. +</P> + +<P> +"They are calling for help?" asked Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"That's it, my boy. They've struck, just as I thought they would." +</P> + +<P> +The distress gun sounded again. +</P> + +<P> +"They're in a bad mess by the sound uv that," said the captain. +</P> + +<P> +"It doesn't sound as if they were more than half a mile or so out," +remarked Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess they're not. Hark at that! They must be scared ter death." +</P> + +<P> +The gun was fired three times in rapid succession. +</P> + +<P> +"They'll never hear that at Lone Hill life savin' station," grimly +commented the captain, "and this fog's too thick fer them ter see her." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you imagine she is badly damaged, captain?" asked Rob anxiously. +The idea of the stranded ship lost in the dense fog affected him +strangely. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't tell," the captain replied to his question, "may have stove a +hole in herself and be sinking now." +</P> + +<P> +"Can't we do something to help them?" asked Merritt eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"Only one thing we can do, boy, and that's full uv danger." +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" demanded Rob, ignoring the last part of the captain's +speech. +</P> + +<P> +"Get in ther boat and go out thar to 'em. If they're sinkin' we can +help 'em a whole lot, and—" +</P> + +<P> +The captain stopped short in amazement. +</P> + +<P> +Rob, Merritt and Tubby had already started for the beach and Hiram, +"the wireless scout", was close on their heels. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, douse my toplights," exclaimed the captain, rising to his feet +and lumbering after them, "Yer can't beat the Boy Scouts." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap24"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A MEETING IN THE FOG—CONCLUSION +</H3> + +<P> +"Can you make her out?" +</P> + +<P> +Five pairs of eyes peered through the mist that hung like a white pall +an every side of the Flying Fish. +</P> + +<P> +"Stop that motor a minute, while I listen!" +</P> + +<P> +In compliance with Rob's order Merritt shut down the panting engine. +</P> + +<P> +"What's that noise off there?" asked Hiram suddenly. +</P> + +<P> +"That sort of throbbing sound?" rejoined Tubby Hopkins. +</P> + +<P> +"That's it, sounds like a big heart beating," put in Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess that's their engine. They're tryin' ter back her off," +suggested the captain. +</P> + +<P> +"Give them a blast on that fog-horn and see if they answer," said Rob +suddenly. +</P> + +<P> +Hiram took up the big brass fish-horn, used as a fog signal on the +Flying Fish, and blew a loud, long call. +</P> + +<P> +After an interval of waiting, from out of the mist came the wail of the +stranded ship's siren once more. +</P> + +<P> +"There she is, right in there," declared the captain, pointing seaward +into the mist. "Steer right on that tack, Rob, and we'll pick her up +pretty soon." +</P> + +<P> +The motor was started up once more and the Flying Fish forged ahead +through the smother. Suddenly Rob, with a sharp cry of: +</P> + +<P> +"Stop her!" swung his wheel over sharp and the Flying Fish headed about. +</P> + +<P> +The gleaming black rampart of a large vessel's side had suddenly loomed +up dead ahead of him. +</P> + +<P> +"Ahoy! aboard the steamer," roared the captain, framing his mouth with +his hands, "what ship is that?" +</P> + +<P> +"The El Paso from London to New York," came back a hail from somewhere +above them in a somewhat surprised tone, "who are you?" +</P> + +<P> +"The Flying Fish of Hampton, Long Island," responded Rob, with a laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"Never heard of her," responded the voice, "we're hard aground on one +of your Long Island shoals it seems." +</P> + +<P> +"That's what yer are," exclaimed the captain, "how come yer ter be +huggin' the shore so hard?" +</P> + +<P> +"Trying to avoid a collision with another vessel." +</P> + +<P> +"Are yer all right?" bellowed the captain. +</P> + +<P> +"Seem to be. So far as we can find out there's not a plate started, +but if you're from the land we've got a couple of passengers we'd be +thankful if you'd take ashore. Will you come on board?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure, if yer'll drop a Jacob's ladder," bellowed the captain at the +invisible speaker. +</P> + +<P> +"In a minute." +</P> + +<P> +The conversation had been carried on without either of the parties to +it being able to see one another, but the captain of the vessel—for he +had been the boy's interlocutor—now came off the bridge and with some +of the crew watched two sailors lower a Jacob's ladder and make it fast +to the rail. +</P> + +<P> +"Now we go aboard," said Captain Hudgins, clambering up the swaying +contrivance as nimbly as an athlete, "make our painter fast ter the +ladder, Rob." +</P> + +<P> +This being done, the boys followed the veteran on board. The steamer, +when they gained her deck, puzzled them a good deal and it was not till +her captain, a genial blond-bearded Britisher, explained to them that +she was a cattle ship that they understood the utility of the wooden +structures with which her decks were obstructed. +</P> + +<P> +The captain explained that these were pens for the cattle she expected +to take back to England, from which country she was returning after +having taken over a large consignment of steers. +</P> + +<P> +"Which," went on the captain, "brings us to my passengers. They are +Mr. Frank Harkness and his son, of Lariat, a small cattle town in the +West, where Mr. Harkness has a large ranch. They were his cattle that +we took over and as he had difficulty in engaging a berth on a liner at +this time of year, when the passenger ships are crowded, he decided to +return with us. Here is Mr. Harkness now," he added, as a tall, +bronzed man, with a long coat draped over a pair of broad shoulders, +and a wide-brimmed sombrero above keen eyes, approached. +</P> + +<P> +"Visitors from the shore, captain?" he inquired, a pleasant smile +illuminating his clean-shaven, sun-browned face. +</P> + +<P> +"That's what they are," rejoined the captain, "just dropped in on us, +don't you know." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean we dropped in on them," amended the other with a laugh, "come +here, Harry," he called, raising his voice, "we've got some company out +of the fog." +</P> + +<P> +In response to his call a lad about the age of Rob appeared from the +after-end of the ship, where the cabins were, and greeted the boys with +a smile and a nod. He, like his father, wore a sombrero and was quite +as sunburned. For the rest he was well-knit and athletic looking and +had evidently lived an out-door life. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we are getting plenty of experiences away from the ranch, eh, +Harry?" observed his father, after the boys and the captain had +introduced themselves and there had been a great and ceremonious +hand-shaking all round. +</P> + +<P> +"We just naturally are," responded the rancher's son. "Say, captain," +he went on, "when do you expect to get off?" +</P> + +<P> +"If we are not too badly hung up we ought to get off at high-water," +rejoined the Britisher. +</P> + +<P> +"That won't be till late to-night," observed Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"If I could only get a tug we might do better," observed the captain, +"in fact, since I've had the engines going I don't think we can back +off under our own power." +</P> + +<P> +"Have you got a wireless?" asked Hiram, his pet subject uppermost. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but our operator went ashore in London and I guess he had too +good a time; anyhow he never showed up so we had to cross without one." +</P> + +<P> +"Is she working?" asked Hiram interestedly. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure, there's plenty of 'juice' as the operators, call it. I tried to +work it coming over," laughed Harry, "but outside of getting a proper +shock, I didn't do much." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll send out a signal for a tug," said Hiram quietly, "there's a +station at Island. They'll pick up the message and transmit it." +</P> + +<P> +"What—you can work a wireless?" +</P> + +<P> +"A little bit," said the lad modestly. +</P> + +<P> +"Come on, I'll show you the way," said the delighted captain, starting +off with Hiram, and followed by the others. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, don't think it personal of me, will you?" remarked Harry Harkness +to Rob as they followed, "but would you mind telling me what you all +are wearing those uniforms for?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, we're Boy Scouts," rejoined Rob proudly, and went on to explain +just what the organization is. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, that's great," exclaimed Harry enthusiastically, "I'd like to +form a patrol out at Lariat. Do you reckon I could?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't doubt it," rejoined Rob, smiling the Western enthusiasm. +</P> + +<P> +"By cracky, I'll do it," went on Harry Harkness, "I'll make it a +mounted patrol and if we don't get old 'Silver Tip' then, besides all +the other sport we'll have, call me a coyote." +</P> + +<P> +"Who or what is old Silver Tip?" asked Rob, somewhat interested in his +breezy new acquaintance. +</P> + +<P> +"Silver Tip is a grizzly," explained Harry, "a grizzly bear you know. +Dad says he's the biggest he's ever seen and he seems to bear—excuse +the pun, please—he seems to bear a charmed life. All the boys on the +ranch are crazy to get a shot at him, but they've never been able to." +</P> + +<P> +"Say, that sounds bully," agreed Rob, "I wish I could get out West for +a while." +</P> + +<P> +"It's a great country," said Harry sagely, as they entered the wireless +room, where Hiram was already bending over the instrument sending out a +message for aid, while the blue spark leaped and crackled across its +gap. The others gazed on admiringly as Hiram, having completed his +message, adjusted the detector on his head and awaited an answer. +</P> + +<P> +It soon came. Tugs would be dispatched as soon as the fog lifted, the +operator at Fire Island announced. +</P> + +<P> +"That's a weight off my mind," breathed the captain, while Harry +hastily confided to his father that the lads who had boarded the vessel +out of the mist were Boy Scouts. +</P> + +<P> +"The fog is lifting," announced Rob, as they streamed out of the +wireless room. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, the wind has shifted," remarked Captain Hudgins. "I guess it was +that sou'west breeze that brought the mist. She's hauled ter the +nor'west now, and in an hour's time it will be clear." +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder if you boys can put us ashore," said Mr. Harkness, as the +group walked aft to the captain's cabin; "I would be very grateful if +you could. It seems that it will be some time before the steamer is +cleared, and I am anxious to make a train for the West." +</P> + +<P> +The boys agreed to land the ranchman and his son as soon as the fog +cleared off, which, as the captain had prophesied, it did in about an +hour's time. The boys had spent the interim in exploring the ship and +listening to Harry Harkness' tales of the ranch and the marvelous +exploits of Silver Tip, the huge grizzly, who derived his name, it +appeared, from a spot of white fur on his breast. In fact, so fast did +they get on, that by the time Harry and his father were called by +Captain Hudgins to embark in the Flying Fish, the boys had become fast +friends. +</P> + +<P> +The run to the shore was made quickly and by landing the two travelers +at a point above Hampton they were enabled to make a train that would +land them in the city in time for dinner. Mr. Harkness whiled away the +trip by plying the boys with all sorts of questions about the Boy +Scouts and seemed greatly interested in their answers. Altogether the +boys felt quite sorry when it came time to part at the wharf at +Farmingdale, the place where the rancher and his son were put ashore. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, good-bye, boys," said Mr. Harkness, holding out a big hand to +Rob, who took it and was amazed to find a twenty dollar gold piece +slipped into his palm by the ranchman. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I couldn't think of taking that," he said, insisting on handing it +back despite the ranchman's protests, "I appreciate your motive, but I +couldn't think of taking any money for an ordinary courtesy." +</P> + +<P> +"By Sam Hooker, you're right, boy," cried the ranchman heartily, "and +it's a privilege to meet such a bunch of fine lads. I thought all you +Easterners were a bunch of stuck-up tenderfeet, but I find I'm +wrong—anyhow so far as the Boy Scouts are concerned." +</P> + +<P> +A few minutes later the rancher and his son were hastening to the +railroad station, followed by the boys' eyes. As they entered the +depot, just in time to catch the New York train—they waved a hearty +farewell and the boys waved and shouted in return. +</P> + +<P> +"We've only known them a few hours, but I feel as if I'd just said +good-bye to two friends," said Rob as they turned away and prepared to +go back to the island in their boat and break camp. +</P> + +<P> +"So do I!" said Tubby; "I wonder if we'll ever see them again." +</P> + +<P> +"No, I guess they're kind of ships that pass in the night,"' laughed +Merritt, "however, I'm glad we did them a good turn." +</P> + +<P> +The boys, however, were destined to meet the ranchers again and to have +many strange and exciting adventures, among which the ultimate downfall +of Silver Tip was to be one. Could they have looked into the future, +too, they would have seen that in the Far West they were to face +dangers and difficulties of which they had as yet never dreamed and +were to be the victims of the malicious contrivings of Bill Bender and +our old, acquaintance, Jack Curtiss. +</P> + +<P> +A few weeks after the events related above there was great excitement +in Hampton over the announcement that Merritt's courageous act of +life-saving and the achievements of the other young scouts of the Eagle +Patrol were to receive official recognition. A field secretary of the +organization arrived at the village one evening and was met at the +depot by the Patrol in full uniform, and with the village band drawn up +at their head. Proudly, under the Eagle standard, they marched to the +Town Hall, which had been illuminated in a style the villagers would +never have believed possible and were greeted by the local committee +headed by Commodore Wingate and Mr. Blake. +</P> + +<P> +"Three cheers for the Boy Scouts!" came from a voice in the back of the +crowded hall after the honors had been distributed and the advances in +rank announced. +</P> + +<P> +The shout that went up cracked the plaster on the ceiling of the +venerable building. +</P> + +<P> +"Speech, speech," shouted one of those individuals who always do raise +that cry on the slightest excuse. +</P> + +<P> +Rob Blake, very red and protesting, was hustled to the front of the +stage on which the Scouts had been drawn up. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't make a speech," he began. +</P> + +<P> +"Hear! Hear!" shouted the crowd, most of whom couldn't. +</P> + +<P> +"But on behalf of the Boy Scouts I want to thank you all and—and—" +</P> + +<P> +The rest was drowned by the band which, having been quiescent for ten +whole minutes, could maintain silence no longer and blared out into +that favorite of all village bands, "Hail to the Chief." +</P> + +<P> +"Come on, let's get out of here," whispered Rob to Merritt, whose +breast was decorated with the coveted bronze cross and red ribbon, +which is the highest honor a scout can attain. +</P> + +<P> +As they slipped out upon the darkened street a boy came up to them with +an outstretched hand. +</P> + +<P> +"I want to tell you I'm sorry for the part I played in the mean tricks +Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender put up on you fellows," he said +contritely, "will you shake hands?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure we will, Sam Redding," responded Merritt, extending his palm, +while Rob did likewise. +</P> + +<P> +"At that," added Merritt, "I guess we win." +</P> + +<P> +And here, with their former enemy become a remorseful friend, we will, +for the present, leave the Boy Scouts to renew our acquaintance with +them in the next volume of this series which will be called: "The Boy +Scouts on the Range." +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="finis"> +THE END +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12112 ***</div> +</BODY> + +</HTML> + + diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Boy Scouts of the Eagle Patrol + +Author: Howard Payson + +Posting Date: March 8, 2009 [EBook #12112] +Release Date: April 22, 2004 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY SCOUTS OF THE EAGLE PATROL *** + + + + +Produced by Sean Pobuda. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +THE BOY SCOUTS OF THE EAGLE PATROL +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +By +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +Lieut. Howard Payson +</H2> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAPTER</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">SCOUTS ON THE TRAIL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">A CRUISE TO THE ISLAND</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">BOY SCOUTS TO THE RESCUE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">SAM IN DIRE STRAITS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">THE BULLY SPRINGS A SURPRISE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">AN ISLAND MYSTERY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">SOME STRANGE DOINGS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">THE STOLEN UNIFORMS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">THE HYDROPLANE QUEERLY RECOVERED</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">WINNING THE CONTEST</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">A FORTUNATE DISCOVERY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">JACK FORMS A PLOT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">THE "FLYING FISH" ON HER METTLE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">THE EAGLES IN CAMP</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">THE CHUMS IN PERIL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">LOST IN THE STORM</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">ALMOST RUN DOWN</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18">JOE DIGBY MISSING</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap19">SAM REBELS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap20">THE HUNT FOR TENDERFOOT JOE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap21">SAVED BY "SMOKE MORSE"</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap22">THE ESCAPE OF THE BULLY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap23">SCOUTS IN NEED ARE FRIENDS INDEED</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap24">A MEETING IN THE FOG—CONCLUSION</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SCOUTS ON THE TRAIL +</H3> + +<P> +The dark growth of scrub oak and pine parted suddenly and the lithe +figure of a boy of about seventeen emerged suddenly into the little +clearing. The lad who had so abruptly materialized from the +close-growing vegetation peculiar to the region about the little town +of Hampton, on the south shore of Long Island, wore a well-fitting +uniform of brown khaki, canvas leggings of the same hue and a soft hat +of the campaign variety, turned up at one side. To the front of his +headpiece was fastened a metal badge, resembling the three-pointed +arrow head utilized on old maps to indicate the north. On a metal +scroll beneath it were embossed the words: "Be Prepared." +</P> + +<P> +The manner of the badge's attachment would have indicated at once, to +any one familiar with the organization, that the lad wearing it was the +patrol leader of the local band of Boy Scouts. +</P> + +<P> +Gazing keenly about him on all sides of the little clearing in the +midst of which he stood, the boy's eyes lighted with a gleam of +satisfaction on a largish rock. He lifted this up, adjusted it to his +satisfaction and then picked up a smaller stone. This he placed on the +top of the first and then listened intently. After a moment of this he +then placed beneath the large underlying rock and at its left side a +small stone. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly he started and gazed back. From the distance, borne faintly +to his ears, came far off boyish shouts and cries. +</P> + +<P> +They rose like the baying of a pack in full cry. Now high, now low on +the hush of the midsummer afternoon. +</P> + +<P> +"They picked the trail all right," he remarked to himself, with a +smile, "maybe I'd better leave another sign." +</P> + +<P> +Stooping he snapped off a small low-growing branch and broke it near +the end so that its top hung limply down. +</P> + +<P> +"Two signs now that this is the trail," he resumed as he stuck it in +the ground beside the stone sign. "Now I'd better be off, for they are +picking my tracks up, fast." +</P> + +<P> +He darted off into the undergrowth on the opposite side of the +clearing, vanishing as suddenly and noiselessly as he had appeared. +</P> + +<P> +A few seconds later the deserted clearing was invaded by a scouting +party of ten lads ranging in years from twelve to sixteen. They were +all attired in similar uniforms to the leader, whom they were tracing, +with but one exception they wore their "Be Prepared" badges on the left +arm above the elbow. Some of them were only entitled to affix the +motto part of the badge the scroll inscribed with the motto. These +latter were the second-class scouts of the Eagle Patrol. The exception +to the badge-bearers was a tall, well-knit lad with a sunny face and +wavy, brown hair. His badge was worn on the left arm, as were the +others, but it had a strip of white braid sewn beneath it. This +indicated that the bearer was the corporal of the patrol. +</P> + +<P> +As the group of flushed, panting lads emerged into the sandy space the +corporal looked sharply about him. Almost at once his eye encountered +the "spoor" left by the preceding lad. +</P> + +<P> +"Here's the trail, boys," he shouted, "and to judge by the fresh look +of the break in this branch it can't have been placed here very long. +The small stone by the large one means to the left. We'll run Rob Blake +down before long for all his skill if we have good luck." +</P> + +<P> +"Say, Corporal Merritt," exclaimed a perspiring lad, whose "too, too +solid flesh" seemed to be melting and running off his face in the form +of streaming moisture, "don't we get a rest?" +</P> + +<P> +A general laugh greeted poor Bob or Tubby Hopkins' remark. +</P> + +<P> +"I always told you, Tubby, you were too fat to make a good scout," +laughed Corporal Merritt Crawford, "this is the sort of thing that will +make you want to take some of that tubbiness off you." +</P> + +<P> +"Say, Tubby, you look like a roll of butter at an August picnic," +laughed Simon Jeffords, one of the second-class scouts. +</P> + +<P> +"All right, Sim," testily rejoined the aggrieved fat one, "I notice at +that, though, that I am a regular scout while you are only a rookie." +</P> + +<P> +"Come on, cut out the conversation," exclaimed Corporal Crawford +hastily, "while we are fussing about here, Rob Blake must be halfway +home." +</P> + +<P> +With a groan of comical despair from poor Tubby, the Boy Scouts darted +forward once more. On and on they pushed across country, skillfully +tracking their leader by the various signs they had been taught to know +and of which the present scouting expedition was a test. +</P> + +<P> +Their young leader evidently intended them to use their eyes to the +utmost for, beside the stone signs, he used blaze-marks, cut on the +trees with his hunting knife. For instance, at one place they would +find a square bit of bark removed, with a long slice to the left of it. +This indicated that their quarry had doubled to the left. The slice to +the right of the square blaze indicated the reverse. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly Corporal Crawford held up his hand as a signal for silence. +The scouts came to an abrupt stop. +</P> + +<P> +From what seemed to be only a short distance in front of them they +could hear a voice upraised apparently in anger. Replying to it were +the tones of their leader. +</P> + +<P> +"Seems to be trouble ahead of some kind," exclaimed Crawford. "Come on, +boys." +</P> + +<P> +They all advanced close on his heels—guided by the sound of the angry +voice, which did not diminish in tone but apparently waxed more and +more furious as they drew nearer. Presently the woodland thinned and +the ground became dotted with stumps of felled timber and in a few +paces more they emerged on a small peach orchard at the edge of which +stood Rob Blake and a larger and older boy. As Crawford and his +followers came upon the scene the elder lad, who seemed beside himself +with rage, picked up a large rock and was about to hurl it with all his +might at Rob when the young corporal dashed forward and held his hand +up to stay him. +</P> + +<P> +"Here, what's all this trouble?" he demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"You just keep out of it, Merritt Crawford," said the elder lad, a +hulking, thick-set youth with a mean look on his heavy features. "I'm +just reading this kid here a lesson. This orchard is my father's and +mine and you'll keep out of it in future or suffer the consequences, +understand?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, we aren't doing any harm," protested Rob Blake heatedly. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't care what you are doing or not doing," retorted the other, +"this is my father's orchard and you'll keep off it. You and the rest +of you tin soldiers. I don't want you stealing our peaches." +</P> + +<P> +"I guess you are sore, Jack Curtiss, because you couldn't get a boy +scout patrol of your own! I guess that's what the trouble is," +remarked Tubby Hopkins softly, but with a meaning look at the big lad. +</P> + +<P> +"You impudent little whipper-snapper," roared Jack Curtiss, "if you +weren't such a shrimp I'd lick you for that remark, but you're all +beneath my notice. All I want to say to you is keep away from my +orchard or I'll give you a trimming." +</P> + +<P> +"Suppose you start now," said Rob Blake quietly, "if you are so anxious +to show what a scrapper you are." +</P> + +<P> +"Bah, I don't want anything to do with you, I tell you," rejoined +Curtiss, turning away, with a rather troubled expression, however, for +while he was a bully the big lad had no particular liking for a fight +unless he was pretty sure that all the advantage lay on his side. +</P> + +<P> +"It was too bad you didn't get that patrol of yours, Jack," called the +irrepressible Tubby after him as the big youth strode off across the +orchard toward the old-fashioned farmhouse in which he lived with his +father, a well-to-do farmer. "Never mind; better luck next time," he +went on, "or maybe we'll let you into ours some time." +</P> + +<P> +"You just wait," roared the retreating bully, shaking his fist at the +lads, "I'll make trouble for you yet." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," remarked Rob Blake, as Jack Curtiss strode off, "I guess the +run is over for to-day. Too bad we should have come out on his land. +Of course he feels sore at us; and I shouldn't wonder but he will +really try to do us some mischief if he gets a chance." +</P> + +<P> +As it was growing late and there did not seem much chance of restarting +the "Follow the Trail" practice, that day at least, the boys strolled +back through the woodland and soon emerged on a country road about +three miles from Hampton Inlet, where they lived. +</P> + +<P> +While they are covering the distance perhaps the reader may care to +know something about the cause of the enmity which Jack Curtiss +entertained toward the lads of the Eagle Patrol. It had its beginning +several months before when the boys of Hampton Inlet began to discuss +forming a patrol of boy scouts. They all attended the Hampton Academy, +and naturally the news that Rob Blake was going to try to organize a +patrol soon spread through the school. +</P> + +<P> +Jack Curtiss, as soon as he heard what Rob—whom he considered more or +less a rival of his—intended doing he also forwarded an application to +the headquarters of the organization in New York. As Rob Blake's had +been received first, however, and on investigation he was shown to be a +likely lad for the leader, he was appointed and at once began the +enrollment of his scouts. +</P> + +<P> +The bully was furious when he realized that he would be unable to +secure an authorized patrol, and he and his cronies, two lads about his +own age named Bill Bender and Sam Redding, had been busy ever since +devising schemes to "get even" as they called it. None of these, +however, had been effective and the encounter of that day was the first +chance Jack had had to work off any of his rancor on Rob Blake's patrol. +</P> + +<P> +Young Blake was the only son of Mr. Albert Blake, the president of the +local bank. His corporal, Merritt Crawford, was the eldest of the +numerous family of Jared Crawford, the blacksmith and wheelwright of +the little town, and Tubby Hopkins was the offspring of Mrs. Hopkins—a +widow in comfortable circumstances. The other lads of the Patrol whom +we shall meet as the story of their doings and adventures progresses +were all natives of the town, which was situated on the south shore of +Long Island—as has been said—and on an inlet which led out to the +Atlantic itself. +</P> + +<P> +The scouts trudged back into Hampton just at twilight and made their +way at once to their armory—as they called it—which was situated In a +large room above the bank of which Rob's father was president. At one +side of it was a row of lockers and each lad—after changing his +uniform for street clothes—placed his "regimentals" in these +receptacles. +</P> + +<P> +This done the lads broke up and started for their various homes. Rob +and his young corporal left the armory together, after locking the door +and descending the stairs which led onto a side street. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder if that fellow Curtiss means to carry out his threat of +getting even?" said Crawford as they made their way down the street arm +in arm, for their homes were not far apart and both on Main Street. +</P> + +<P> +"He's mean enough to attempt anything," rejoined Rob, "but I don't +think he's got nerve enough to carry out any of his schemes. Hullo!" +he broke off suddenly, "there he is now across the street by the post +office, talking to Bill Bender and Sam Redding. I'll bet they are +hatching up some sort of mischief. Just look at them looking at us. +I'll bet a doughnut they were talking about us." +</P> + +<P> +"Shouldn't wonder," agreed his companion. "By the way, I've got to go +and see if there is any mail. Come on over." +</P> + +<P> +The two lads crossed the street and as they entered the post office, +although neither of them had much use for either of the bullies' two +chums, they nodded to them pleasantly. +</P> + +<P> +"You kids think you're pretty fine with your Eagle Patrol or whatever +you call it, don't you," sneered Bill Bender, as they walked by. "I'll +bet the smell of a little real powder would make your whole regiment +run to cover." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't pay any attention to him," whispered the young corporal to Rob, +who doubled up his fists and flushed angrily at the sneering tone Jack +Curtiss' friend had adopted. +</P> + +<P> +Rob restrained his anger with an effort, and by the time they emerged +from the post office the trio of worthies—who, as Rob had rightly +guessed, had been discussing them—had moved on up the street. +</P> + +<P> +"I had trouble with those kids myself this afternoon," remarked Jack +Curtiss with a scowl, as they wended their way toward a shed in the +rear of Bill Bender's home, which had been fitted tip as a sort of +clubroom. +</P> + +<P> +"What did they do to you?" incautiously inquired Sam Redding, a youth +as big as the other two, but not so powerful. In fact he was used more +or less as a tool by them. +</P> + +<P> +"Do to me," roared the bully, "what did I do to them, you mean." +</P> + +<P> +"Well what did you do to them then?" asked Bill Bender, as they entered +the clubroom before referred to and he produced some cigarettes, which +all three had been strictly forbidden to smoke. +</P> + +<P> +"Chased them off my land," rejoined the other, lighting a paper roll +and blowing out a cloud of smoke, "you should have seen them run. If +they want to play their fool games they've got to do it on the property +of folks who'll let them. They can't come on my land." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean your father's, don't you?" put in the unlucky Sam Redding. +</P> + +<P> +"Sam, you've got a head like a billiard ball," retorted the bully, +turning on the other, "it'll be mine some day, won't it? Therefore it's +as good as mine now." +</P> + +<P> +Although he didn't quite see the logic of the foregoing, Sam Redding +gave a sage nod and agreed that his leader was right. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, those kids need a good lesson from somebody," chimed in Bill +Bender. +</P> + +<P> +"I think we had better be the 'somebodies' to give it to them," +rejoined Jack Curtiss. "They are getting insufferable. They actually +twitted me this afternoon with being sore at them because I didn't get +my patrol—as if I really wanted one. That Blake kid is the worst of +the bunch. Just because his father has a little money he gives himself +all kinds of airs. My father is as rich as his, even if he isn't a +banker." +</P> + +<P> +"I've been thinking of a good trick we can put up on them, but it will +take some nerve to carry it out," announced Bill Bender, after some +more discussion of the lads of the Eagle Patrol. +</P> + +<P> +"Out with it, then," urged the bully, "what is it?" +</P> + +<P> +In a lowered tone Bill Bender sketched out his scheme in detail, while +Jack and Sam nodded their approval. At length he ceased talking and +the other two broke out into a delighted laugh, in which malice as much +as merriment prevailed. +</P> + +<P> +"It's the very thing," exclaimed Jack. "Bill, you're a genius. We'll +do it as soon as possible. If that doesn't take some starch out of +those tin soldiers nothing will." +</P> + +<P> +Half an hour later the three cronies parted for the night. Sam went to +his home near the waterfront, for his father was a boat builder, and +Jack started to walk the three miles to his father's farm in the +moonlight. His way took him by the bank. As he passed it he gazed up +at the windows of the armory on which was lettered in gilt: "Eagle +Patrol of the Boy Scouts of America." +</P> + +<P> +"That's a slick idea of Bill's," said the bully to himself, "I can +hardly wait till we get a chance to carry it out." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A CRUISE TO THE ISLAND +</H3> + +<P> +"Whatever are you doing, Rob?" +</P> + +<P> +It was the morning after the consultation of Jack Curtiss and his +cronies, and Corporal Crawford was looking over the fence into his +leader's yard. +</P> + +<P> +Rob was bending over a curious-looking apparatus, consisting of a bent +stick held in a bow-shape by a taut leather thong. The appliance was +twisted about an upright piece of wood sharpened at one end—which was +rotated as the lad ran the bow back and forth across it. +</P> + +<P> +Presently smoke began to rise from the flat piece of timber into which +the point of the upright stick had been boring and depositing sawdust, +and Rob, by industriously blowing at the accumulation, presently caused +it to burst into flame. +</P> + +<P> +"There I've done it," he exclaimed triumphantly, arising with a flushed +face from his labors. +</P> + +<P> +"Done what?" inquired young Crawford interestedly. +</P> + +<P> +"Made fire in the Indian way," replied Rob triumphantly. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought they made it by rubbing two sticks together." +</P> + +<P> +"Only book Indians do that," replied Rob, "I'll tell you it took me a +time to get the hang of it, but I've got it now." +</P> + +<P> +"It's quite a stunt, all right," commented the corporal admiringly. +</P> + +<P> +"You bet, and it's useful, too," replied Rob. "I'll put the bow and +drill in my pocket, and then any time we get stuck for matches we'll +have no trouble in making a signal smoke or lighting cooking fires." +</P> + +<P> +"Say, I've got some news for you," went on young Crawford, "did you +know that Sam Redding has entered that freak motor boat he's been +building in the yacht club regatta? He's out for the club trophy." +</P> + +<P> +"No, is he, though?" exclaimed Rob, keenly interested. "Then the crew +and skipper of the Flying Fish will have to look alive. I know that +Sam's father helped him out with that boat and put a lot of new +wrinkles in it. I didn't think, though, he'd have it ready in time for +the races." +</P> + +<P> +The boys referred to the coming motor-boat races which were to take +place shortly on the inlet at Hampton. Like most of the other lads in +the seashore town, Merritt and Rob had a lot of experience on the water +and some time before had built a speedy motor boat from knock-down +frames. The Flying Fish, as they called her, was entered for the main +event referred to, the prize for which was a silver cup, donated by the +merchants of the town. There were several other entries in the race, +but Rob and his crew, consisting of Merritt and Tubby Hopkins, +confidently expected the Flying Fish to easily lead them all. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder if the Sam Redding can show her stern to the Flying Fish?" +mused Rob. "I'd like to lake a good look at her." +</P> + +<P> +"Let's go down to Redding's boat yard," suggested Merritt; "she's lying +there on the ways. I don't suppose any one would object to our sizing +her up." +</P> + +<P> +Rob hailed the suggestion as a good one. +</P> + +<P> +"We can call in for Tubby on the way," he said, as he darted into the +house after his hat. +</P> + +<P> +The boys dropped in at Tubby's house on their way to the water-front, +and received from the stout youth some additional details regarding +Sam's boat. +</P> + +<P> +"She's a hydroplane," volunteered Tubby, "and Tom Jennings, down at the +yard, says she's as fast as a race horse." +</P> + +<P> +"A hydroplane?—that's one of those craft that cut along the top of the +water like a skimming dish, isn't it?" asked Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the idea," responded Rob. "They're supposed to be as speedy as +anything afloat in smooth water." +</P> + +<P> +Thus conversing they reached the boat-building yard of Sam Redding's +father and were greeted by Tom Jennings, a big good-natured ship +carpenter. "Hullo, Tom! Can we see that new boat of Sam's?" inquired +Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure, I guess there's no objection," grinned Tom, "come right this +way. There she is, over there by that big winch." +</P> + +<P> +Report had not erred apparently as to the novel qualities of Sam +Redding's speed craft. She was about twenty-five feet long, narrow and +painted black. She was perfectly flat-bottomed, her underside being +deeply notched at frequent intervals. On the edge of those notches she +was supposed to glide over the water when driven at top speed. +</P> + +<P> +"She certainly looks like a winner," commented Rob, as he gazed at her +clean, slender lines and sharp bow. +</P> + +<P> +"She's got wonderful speed," Tom Jennings confided. "We tried her out +the other night when no one was around. But I don't think that in +rough water she'll be much good." +</P> + +<P> +"No, I'd prefer the Flying Fish for the waters hereabouts," agreed Rob, +"it's liable to come on rough in a hurry and then a chap who was out in +a dry-goods box, like that thing, would be in trouble." +</P> + +<P> +"What are you calling a dry-goods box?" demanded an indignant voice +behind them, and turning, the lads saw Sam Redding with a menacing look +on his face. A little way behind him stood Bill Bender and Jack +Curtiss. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I beg your pardon, Sam," said Rob. "I really admire your +hydroplane very much, and I think it will give us a tussle for the +trophy, all right; but I don't think she'd be much good in any kind of +a sea-way." +</P> + +<P> +"That's my business, you interfering little runt," snapped Sam, who, +with Bill Bender and Jack Curtiss to back him, felt very brave; though +ordinarily he would have avoided trouble with the young scouts. "What +are you doing spying around the yard here, anyhow?" he went on +insolently. +</P> + +<P> +"We are not spying," indignantly burst out Merritt. "We asked Tom +Jennings if we couldn't look at your hydroplane, as we were naturally +interested in her, and he gave us permission." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, he had no business to," growled Sam; "he ought to be attending +to his work instead of showing a lot of nosy young cubs my new boat." +</P> + +<P> +"They are capable of stealing your ideas," chimed in Jack Curtiss, "and +putting them on their own boat." +</P> + +<P> +"That's ridiculous," laughed Rob, "as I said I wouldn't want to have +anything to do with such a contrivance except on a lake or a river." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you keep your advice and your ideas to yourself, and get out of +this yard!" roared Sam, waxing bolder and bolder, and mistaking Rob's +conciliatory manner for cowardice. "I've a good mind to punch your +head." +</P> + +<P> +"Better come on and try it," retorted Rob, preparing for the immediate +onslaught which it seemed reasonable from Sam's manner to expect. +</P> + +<P> +But it didn't come. +</P> + +<P> +Muttering something about "young cubs," and "keeping the boat-yard gate +locked," Sam turned to his chums and invited them to come and try out +his new motor in the shop. +</P> + +<P> +As the three chums had no desire to "mix it up with Sam on his own +place," as Tubby put it, they left the yard promptly, and walked on +down the water-front to the wharf at which lay the Flying Fish, the +fastest craft in the Hampton Motor Boat Club. Rob's boat was, to tell +the truth, rather broad of beam for a racer and drew quite a little +water. She had a powerful motor and clean lines, however, and while +not primarily designed solely for "mug-hunting," had beaten everything +she had raced with during the few months since the boys had completed +her. The money for her motor had been given to Rob by his father, who +was quite indulgent to Rob in money matters, having noticed that the +lad always expended the sums given him wisely. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's take a spin," suddenly suggested Tubby. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing to prevent us," answered Rob; "we've got plenty of time before +dinner. Come on, boys." +</P> + +<P> +The lads were soon on board and examining the gasoline tank, to see how +much fuel they had on hand, and oiling up the engine. The fuel +receptacle proved to be almost full, so after filling the lubricant +cups and attending to the batteries, they started up the engine—a +powerful, three cylindered, twelve-horse affair capable of driving the +twenty-two foot Flying Fish through the water at twelve miles an hour +or better. +</P> + +<P> +Just as Rob was casting off the head-line there came a hail from the +wharf above them. +</P> + +<P> +"Ahoy, there, shipmates! Where are yer bound fer this fine, sunny day?" +</P> + +<P> +The lads looked up to see the weather-beaten countenance of Captain Job +Hudgins, one of the characters of the vicinity. He was a former +whaler, and lived on a small island some distance from Hampton. On his +little territory he fished and grew a few vegetables, "trading in" his +produce at the Hampton grocery stores for his simple wants. He, +however, had a pension, and was supposed to have a "snug little +fortune" laid by. His only companion in his island solitude was it big +Newfoundland dog named "Skipper." +</P> + +<P> +The animal stood beside its master on the dock and wagged its tail at +the sight of the boys, whom it knew quite well from their frequent +visits to the captain's little island. +</P> + +<P> +"Hullo, captain!" shouted Rob, as the veteran saluted his three young +friends. "Where's your boat?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, her engine went—busted, and I had to leave her at the yard below +fer repairs," explained the captain. "I wonder if yer boys can give me +a lift back if yer goin' near Topsail Island?" +</P> + +<P> +"Surest thing you know," rejoined Rob hastily. "Come right aboard. +But how are you going to get off your island again if your motor is +laid up here to be fixed?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I'll use my rowboat," responded the old mariner, clambering down +into the Flying Fish. "Say, this is quite a right smart contraption, +ain't she?" +</P> + +<P> +"We think she is a pretty good little boat," modestly replied Rob, +taking his place at the wheel. "Now, then, Merritt, start up that +engine." +</P> + +<P> +"Hold on a minute!" shouted Tubby. "We forgot the dog." +</P> + +<P> +Sure enough, Skipper was dashing up and down the wharf in great +distress at the prospect of being deserted. +</P> + +<P> +"Put yer boat alongside that landin' stage at the end of the wharf," +suggested his master. "Skipper can get aboard from there, I reckon." +</P> + +<P> +Rob steered the Flying Fish round to the floating landing, to which an +inclined runway led from the wharf. Skipper dashed down it as soon as +he saw what was happening, and was waiting, ready to embark, when the +Flying Fish came alongside. +</P> + +<P> +"Poor old Skipper, I reckon yer thought we was goin' ter maroon yer," +said Captain Job, as the animal jumped on board with a bark of "thanks" +for his rescue. "I tell yer, boys, I wouldn't lose that dog fer all +the money in Rob's father's bank. He keeps good watch out an the +Island, I'll tell yer." +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't think any one much came there, except us," said Rob, as the +Flying Fish headed away from the wharf and began to cut through the +waters of the inlet. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes; there's others," responded the old man. "That Jack Curtiss +lad and his two chums are out there quite often." +</P> + +<P> +"Bill Bender and Sam Redding, I suppose you mean," said Tubby. +</P> + +<P> +"Those their names?" asked the captain. "Well, I don't know any good +uv any uv 'em. Old Skipper here chased 'em away from my melon patch +the other day. I reckon they thought Old Scratch was after them, the +way they run; but they got away with some melons, just the same." +</P> + +<P> +The old man laughed aloud at the recollection of the marauders' +precipitous flight. +</P> + +<P> +That Jack Curtiss and his two cronies had made a rendezvous of the +island was news to the boys, and not agreeable news, either. They had +been planning a patrol camp there later on in the summer, and the bully +and his two chums were not regarded by them as desirable neighbors. +However, they said nothing, as they could not claim sole right to use +the island, which was property that had been so long in litigation that +It had come to be known as "No Man's Land" as well as by its proper +name. The captain was only a squatter there, but no one cared to +disturb him, and he had led the existence of a semi-hermit there for +many years. +</P> + +<P> +The Flying Fish rapidly covered the calm waters of the inlet and was +soon dancing over the swells outside. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going to let her out a bit," said Rob suddenly; "look out for +spray." +</P> + +<P> +"Spray don't bother a brine-pickled old salt like me," laughed the +captain. "Let her go." +</P> + +<P> +The Flying Fish seemed fairly to leap forward as Merritt gave her the +full power of her engine. As Rob had said, it did indeed behoove her +occupants to look out for spray. The sparkling spume came flying back +in sheets as she cut through the waves, but the boys didn't mind that +any more than did their weather-beaten companion. As for Skipper, he +barked aloud in sheer joy as the Flying Fish slid along as if she were +trying to live up to her name to her utmost ability. +</P> + +<P> +"This is a good little sea boat," remarked the captain, as they plunged +onward. "She's as seaworthy as she is speedy, I guess." +</P> + +<P> +"She'll stand a lot of knocking about, and that's a fact," agreed Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," remarked the old man, gazing about him, "it's a good thing that +she is, fer, if I'm not mistaken—and I'm not often off as regards the +weather—we are goin' ter have quite a little blow before yer boys get +back home." +</P> + +<P> +"A storm?" asked Tubby, somewhat alarmed. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no; not what yer might call a storm," laughed the captain; "but +just what we used to term a 'capful uv wind.'" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, so long as it isn't a really bad blow, it won't trouble the +Flying Fish," Rob assured him. +</P> + +<P> +"Hullo!" exclaimed the old man suddenly. "What queer kind uv craft is +that?" +</P> + +<P> +He pointed back to the mouth of the now distant inlet, from which a +curious-looking black craft was emerging at what seemed to be great +speed. +</P> + +<P> +"It's that hydroplane of Sam Redding's, for a bet!" cried Rob. "Here, +Tubby, take the wheel a minute, while I put the glasses on her." +</P> + +<P> +The lad stood up in the heaving motor craft, steadying himself against +the bulwarks by his knees, and peered through his marine-glasses. +</P> + +<P> +"It's the hydroplane, sure enough," he said. "By ginger, but she can +go, all right! Sam and Jack and Bill are all in her. They seem to be +heading right out to sea, too." +</P> + +<P> +"Say!" exclaimed Tubby suddenly, "if it comes on to blow, as the +captain said it would, they'll be in a bad fix, won't they?" +</P> + +<P> +"In that ther shoe-box thing," scornfully exclaimed the old captain, +who had also been looking through the glasses, "why, I wouldn't give a +confederate dollar bill with a hole in it fer their lives." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BOY SCOUTS TO THE RESCUE +</H3> + +<P> +"Hadn't we better put back and warn them?" suggested Merritt rather +anxiously, for he was alarmed by the confident manner in which the old +seaman prophesied certain disaster to the hydroplane if the weather +freshened. +</P> + +<P> +"No; see, she's heading toward us. I guess they want a race," cried +Rob. "We'll slow down a bit and let them catch up." +</P> + +<P> +In a few moments the hydroplane was alongside. The yellow hood over +her powerful engines glistened with the wet of the great bow-wave her +speed had occasioned, and her powerful motor was exhausting with a roar +like a battery of machine guns. +</P> + +<P> +Crouched aft of the engine hood was Sam Redding, who held the wheel. +Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender were in the stern. They sat tandem-wise +in the narrow racing shell. +</P> + +<P> +"Want a tow rope for that old stone dray of yours?" jeered Jack +Curtiss, as the speedy little racer ranged alongside. +</P> + +<P> +He did not know that the Flying Fish was slowed down, and that although +the hydroplane appeared to be capable of tremendous speed, she was not +actually so very much faster than Rob's boat. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, you fellows," warned Rob, making a trumpet of his hands, "the +captain says it's coming on to blow before long. You'd better get back +into the inlet with that craft of yours." +</P> + +<P> +"Save your breath to cool your coffee," shouted Sam Redding back at +him, across the fifty feet or so of water that lay between the two +boats. "We know what we are about." +</P> + +<P> +"But you're risking your lives," shouted Merritt. "That thing wouldn't +live ten minutes in any kind of a sea." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we're not such a bunch of old women as to be scared of a little +wetting," jeered Jack Curtiss. "So long! We've got no time to wait +for that old tub of yours." +</P> + +<P> +Before the boys could voice any more warnings, the hydroplane, which +had been slowed down, dashed off once more. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know what we are to do," spoke up Merritt. "We can't compel +them to go in, and, after all, the captain may be mistaken." +</P> + +<P> +"No, I'm not, my son," rejoined the veteran. "I can smell wind—and +see them 'mare's tails' in the sky over yonder. They're as fall uv +wind as a preacher is uv texts." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we've done our best to warn them," concluded Rob. "If they are +so foolhardy as to keep on, we can't help it." +</P> + +<P> +In half an hour more the boys had landed the captain at the little pier +he had built on his island, and to which his rowboat was attached, and +were ready to start back, good-bys having been said. +</P> + +<P> +"Hark!" exclaimed the captain, as Rob prepared to give the order to "Go +ahead." +</P> + +<P> +The boys listened, and heard a low, distant moaning sound, something +like the deepest rumbling notes of a church organ. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the wind comin'," warned the captain. "Yer'd better be +hurryin' back." +</P> + +<P> +With more hasty good-bys, the lads got under way at once. As they +emerged from the lee of the island they could see that seaward the +ocean was being rapidly lashed into choppy, white-crested waves by the +advancing storm, and that the wind was freshening into a really stiff +breeze. +</P> + +<P> +"Those fellows must be wishing they took our advice now if they are +fools enough to have kept out," said Merritt, as he slowed down the +engine so as to permit the Flying Fish to ride the rising seas more +easily. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I guess they're doing some tall thinking," agreed Tubby, as a +wave caught the little Flying Fish "quartering" on her port bow, and +sent a white smother of spray swirling back over her occupants. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the time we got it," laughed Rob, from the wheel, peering +straight ahead. Suddenly he uttered a shout and pointed seaward. +</P> + +<P> +"Look there!" he shouted at the top of his voice. "There are those +three fellows, and they're in trouble, from the looks of it." +</P> + +<P> +The others looked, and beheld, half a mile or so away, on the +roughening waters, the hull of the hydroplane. She was tossing up and +down like a cork, and apparently was drifting helplessly, with her +motor broken down, in the heavy sea. Her occupants seemed to be +bailing her; but as they caught sight of the Flying Fish they stood up +and waved frantically. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, they're in trouble, all right," agreed Tubby. "And I suppose +we've got to go and get them out of it." +</P> + +<P> +Rob had already put the Flying Fish about and headed her for the +distressed craft. As they drew near, Sam Redding began shouting: +</P> + +<P> +"Help, help! We're sinking, we're sinking!" +</P> + +<P> +Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender, drenched to the skin with spray and white +with fright, said nothing, but a look of great relief came over their +faces as the chums' boat ranged alongside. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't want to risk ramming my boat by coming right alongside," +shouted Rob. "You'll have to jump for it. Don't be scared. We'll pull +you aboard." +</P> + +<P> +The three youths on the water-logged hydroplane looked somewhat alarmed +at the prospect, but Rob knew that Jack and Bill could swim. He was +not sure of Sam, but assumed, from the fact that he had lived by the +sea all his life, that he was equally at home in the water. +</P> + +<P> +The hesitation of Jack Curtiss and his chum was over in a minute, as +the hydroplane gave a plunge that seemed as if it would be her last. +Lightly dressed as they were, in canvas trousers, sleeveless jerseys +and yachting shoes, it was no trick at all for them to swim the few +feet to the Flying Fish. As they leaped overboard, Sam lingered. +</P> + +<P> +"Come on, Sam," shouted Jack, as the boys lugged the two dripping, +sputtering castaways on board. +</P> + +<P> +"I—I can't swim. You'll have to come alongside for me," stuttered the +badly-scared Sam. +</P> + +<P> +"All right. Hold on, and we'll do what we can," hailed Rob, starting +to carry out the risky maneuver of getting alongside the plunging +hydroplane in the heavy sea. +</P> + +<P> +In some never-to-be-explained manner, however, the frightened Sam +suddenly lost his balance in the tossing racing boat, and, clawing +desperately at her bulwarks to save himself, shot over the side. +</P> + +<P> +"He'll drown!" shouted Jack Curtiss. "He can't swim, and he'll drown." +</P> + +<P> +"If you knew that, why didn't you stand by him?" truculently growled +Tubby. +</P> + +<P> +Without an instant's hesitation, Merritt threw off the jacket he had +put on when it started to blow, and slipped off his shoes. He was +overboard and striking out for the drowning boy before those in the +Flying Fish even realized his purpose. +</P> + +<P> +With swift, powerful strokes he got alongside Sam just as the owner of +the hydroplane was going down for the third time. +</P> + +<P> +As the brave boy seized the struggling, frightened youth he felt +himself gripped by the panic-stricken Sam in a frenzied hold of +desperate intensity. His arms were pinioned by the drowning wretch, +and they both vanished beneath the waves. +</P> + +<P> +As they went under, however, Merritt managed to get one hand free, and +recalling what he had read of what to do under such conditions, struck +the other boy a terrific blow between the eyes. It stunned Sam +completely, and, to his great relief, Merritt felt the imprisoning grip +relax. He could then handle Sam easily, and as they shot to the +surface he saw the Flying Fish bearing down on them, with four white, +strained faces searching the tumbling waters. +</P> + +<P> +In a few moments the unconscious lad and his rescuer were hauled on +board, and Rob, after congratulations, headed the Flying Fish for the +mouth of the inlet, which was still some distance off. +</P> + +<P> +Tubby and Bill Bender laid Sam on his stomach, across a thwart, and +started to try to get some of the salt water, of which he had swallowed +great quantities, out of him. He soon gave signs of returning +consciousness, and opened his eyes just as Jack Curtiss was demanding +to know if the Boy Scouts weren't going to take the hydroplane in tow. +</P> + +<P> +"Not much we're not," responded Rob. "I'm sorry to have to leave her; +but this sea is getting up nastier every minute, and there's no way of +getting a line to her without running more risk than I want to take. +We've had one near-drowning and we don't want another." +</P> + +<P> +"If this was my boat, I'd pick Sam's boat up," sullenly replied the +bully. +</P> + +<P> +"You ought to be mighty glad we came along when we did," indignantly +spoke up Tubby. "You'd have been in a bad fix if we hadn't. Instead +of being thankful for it, all you can do is to kick about leaving the +hydroplane." +</P> + +<P> +An angry reply was on the other's lips, but Bill Bender checked it by +looking up and saying: "I guess the kid's right, Jack. Let it go at +that." +</P> + +<P> +The bully glowered. He felt his pride much wounded at having been +compelled to seek the aid of the boys whom he despised and hated. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose you'll go and blab it all over town about how you saved us," +he sneered, as the Flying Fish threaded her way through the tumbling +waters at the mouth of the inlet and began making her way up it. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think we shall," replied Rob quietly. "I mean to recommend +Merritt, though, to headquarters for his Red Honor." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you mean that cheap, bronze medal thing on a bit of red ribbon!" +sneered Jack. "Why, that isn't worth much. You couldn't sell it for +anything but old junk. Why don't they make them of gold?" +</P> + +<P> +"That 'bronze medal thing,' as you call it, is worth a whole lot to a +Boy Scout," rejoined Rob in the same even tone. "More than you can +understand." +</P> + +<P> +On their arrival at the yacht-club pier the boys were overwhelmed with +questions, and a doctor was summoned for Sam, who, as soon as he found +himself safe, began to groan and show most alarming symptoms of being +seriously affected by his immersion. +</P> + +<P> +The boys were not able to conceal the fact that they had accomplished a +brave rescue, and were overwhelmed with congratulations. Merritt +especially came in for warm praise and commendation. +</P> + +<P> +"You will certainly be granted your Red Honor," declared Mr. Wingate, +who, besides being commodore of the Yacht Club, was one of the +gentlemen whom Rob had persuaded to act as Scout Master for the new +patrol. +</P> + +<P> +Merritt escaped from the crowd of admiring motor-boat men and boys as +soon as he could, and hastened home for a change of clothes. On the +arrival of Dr. Telfair, the village physician, he pronounced that there +was nothing whatever the matter with Sam but a bad fright, and +prescribed dry garments and hot lemonade. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't I need any medicine?" groaned Sam, determined to make the most +out of his temporary notoriety. +</P> + +<P> +"No, you don't," growled the doctor; "unless," he added to himself, +"they put up 'courage' in bottles." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose those boys will be more stuck up than ever now," said Jack +to Bill Bender, as, having perfunctorily thanked their rescuers, they +started for home with the almost weeping Sam. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure to be," rejoined Bill. "It's all your fault, Sam, for taking us +out in that fool hydroplane." +</P> + +<P> +"My fault! Well, I like that," stuttered out Sam. "You asked me to +come, and you know I wanted to come back when the boys told us it might +come on to blow; but you called me a 'sissy,' and said I was too timid +to own a boat." +</P> + +<P> +"Um—er—well," rejoined Bill, somewhat confused, "that's so. But +anyhow, to return to what we were talking about, it's given those kids +a great chance to set up as heroes." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we can work that scheme we were talking about last night on them +just as soon as you're ready," suddenly remarked Jack. "That will give +them something else to think about." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, say, Jack, cut it out, won't you?" pleaded Sam. "I don't like the +kids any better than you do, but one of them saved my life to-day, and +I'm not going into anything that will harm them." +</P> + +<P> +"Hear him rave!" sneered Jack. "Why last night, when we talked it +over, you thought it would be a prime joke. It isn't as if it would +hurt them. It'll just give them something to study up, that's all. +They think they're such fine trailers and tracers that it would be a +shame not to give them a chance to show what they can do." +</P> + +<P> +"That's right, Sam," cut in Bill; "it's more of a joke than anything +else." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," agreed Sam weakly, "if you put it in that way, I suppose it's +all right; but I tell you I don't like it." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, you'll have the laugh of your young life after we've pulled the +stunt off," remarked Bill. "When will we do it, Jack?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not to-night, that's certain," responded the other. "I've had enough +excitement for one day." +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter with to-morrow night, then?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm agreeable. How about you, Sam?" +</P> + +<P> +"I wish you fellows would leave me out of it," rejoined the bully's +timid chum. +</P> + +<P> +"Like they left you out of their patrol, eh?" sneered Bill, knowing +that he was touching the other on a tender spot. +</P> + +<P> +"All right, to-morrow night suits me," snapped Sam, flushing angrily at +Bill's remark—as that worthy had intended he should. "Here's my house. +We'll meet at Bill's 'boudoir."' +</P> + +<P> +"Right you are," chuckled Jack. "Oh, say, it's going to be the joke of +the century!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SAM IN DIRE STRAITS +</H3> + +<P> +"Kree-ee-ee!" +</P> + +<P> +Merritt paused the next morning in front of Tubby's home, and gave the +"call" of the Eagle Patrol with a not uncreditable resemblance to the +scream of a real eagle. +</P> + +<P> +The cry was instantly echoed—though in a rather thicker way—from +inside the house, and in a minute Tubby, who knew that some one of the +patrol must have uttered the call, appeared at his door, munching a +large slice of bread and jam, although it was not more than an hour +since breakfast. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, you, did you ever hear an eagle scream with his mouth full of +bread and jam?" demanded Merritt, as the stout youth appeared. +</P> + +<P> +"Eagles don't eat bread and jam," rejoined Tubby, defending his +position. "Have some?" +</P> + +<P> +"Having had breakfast not more than an hour ago, I'm not hungry yet, +thank you," politely rejoined the corporal; "besides, I'm afraid I'd +get fat." +</P> + +<P> +Dodging the stout youth's blow, the corporal went on: +</P> + +<P> +"Heard the news?" +</P> + +<P> +"No—what news?" eagerly demanded the other, finishing his light repast. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, the Dolphin—you know, that fishing boat—picked up Sam's +hydroplane at sea and towed it in. It's in pretty good shape, I hear, +although the engine is out of commission and it was half full of water." +</P> + +<P> +"He's a lucky fellow to get it back." +</P> + +<P> +"I should say so," replied Merritt; "but it will cost him a whole lot +to reclaim it. The captain of the Dolphin says he wants fifty dollars +for it as salvage." +</P> + +<P> +"Gee! Do you think Sam's father will give him that much?" said Tubby, +with round eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know. He can afford it all right. He's made a lot of money +out of that boat-building shop, my father says; but he's so stingy that +I doubt very much if he will give Sam such a sum." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, here's Sam coming down the street now," exclaimed the +good-natured Tubby. "I wonder if he's heard about it. Hullo, Sam! +Get all the water out of your system?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm all right this morning, if that is what you mean," rejoined the +other, with dignity. +</P> + +<P> +"Heard the news about your boat?" asked Merritt suddenly. +</P> + +<P> +"No; what about her? Is she safe? Who picked her up?" +</P> + +<P> +"Wait a minute. One question at a time," laughed Merritt. "She's safe, +all right. The Dolphin picked her up at sea. But it will cost you +fifty dollars to get her." +</P> + +<P> +"Fifty dollars!" gasped Sam, turning pale. +</P> + +<P> +"That's what the skipper of the Dolphin says. He had a lot of trouble +getting a line fast to her, he says, and he means to have the money or +keep the boat." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, well, I'll get it from my father easily enough," said Sam +confidently, preparing to swagger off down the street. "I've got to +get my boat back and beat Rob's Flying Fish, and that hydroplane can do +it." +</P> + +<P> +"Can you match that?" exclaimed Merritt to the fat youth, as Sam +strolled away. "Here he was saved from drowning by the Flying Fish +only yesterday, and all he can think of this morning is to promise to +beat her. What makes him so mean, I wonder?" +</P> + +<P> +"Just born that way, I guess," rejoined the stout youth; "and as for +the Flying Fish saving him, if it hadn't been for a certain Corporal +Crawford, he—" +</P> + +<P> +"Here, stow that," protested Merritt, coloring up. "I heard enough of +that yesterday afternoon." +</P> + +<P> +As the boys had surmised, Sam's father was not at all pleased when he +learned that his son wanted fifty dollars. In fact, he refused point +blank to let him have it at all. +</P> + +<P> +"That boat of yours has cost enough already, and I'm not going to spend +any more on it," he said angrily, as he turned to his work. +</P> + +<P> +"But I can't get the hydroplane back if I don't pay it," urged Sam. +"I've seen the captain of the Dolphin, and he refuses absolutely to let +me have her unless I pay him for his trouble in towing her in." +</P> + +<P> +"I can't help that," snapped the elder Redding. "What have I got to do +with your boat? Look here!" he exclaimed, turning angrily and +producing a small memorandum book from his pocket and rapidly turning +the leaves. "Do you know how much I've given you in the last two +months?" +</P> + +<P> +"N-n-no," stammered Sam, looking very much embarrassed, and shuffling +about from one foot to the other. +</P> + +<P> +"Then I'll tell you, young man; it's exactly—let me see—ten, twenty, +five, three, fifteen and eight. That's just sixty-one dollars. Do you +think that money grows on gooseberry bushes? Then there'll be your +college expenses to pay. No, I can't let you have a cent." +</P> + +<P> +"That means that I will lose my boat and the chance of winning the race +at the regatta!" urged Sam gloomily. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you should have had more sense than to take that fool hydroplane +out into a rough sea. I told you she wouldn't stand it. There, go on +about your own affairs. I'm far too busy to loaf about, arguing with +you." +</P> + +<P> +And with this the hard-featured old boat builder—who had made his +money literally by the sweat of his brow—turned once more to his task +of figuring out the blue prints of a racing sloop. +</P> + +<P> +Sam saw that it was no use to argue further with his father, and left +the shop with no very pleasant expression on his countenance. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll have to see if I can't borrow it somewhere," he mused. "If only +I was on better terms with Rob Blake, I could get it from him, I guess. +His father is a banker and he must have plenty. I wonder—I wonder if +Mr. Blake himself wouldn't lend it to me. I could give him a note for +it, and in three months' time I'd be sure to be able to take it up." +</P> + +<P> +With this end in view, the lad started for the Hampton Bank. It +required some courage for a youth of his disposition to make up his +mind to beard the lion in his den—or, in other words, to approach Mr. +Blake in his office. For Sam, while bold enough when his two hulking +cronies were about, had no real backbone of his own. +</P> + +<P> +After making two or three turns in front of the bank, he finally +screwed his courage to the sticking point, and timidly asked an +attendant if he could see the banker. +</P> + +<P> +"I think so. I'll see," was the reply. +</P> + +<P> +In a few seconds the man reappeared, and said that Mr. Blake could +spare a few minutes. Hat in hand, Sam entered the ground-glass door +which bore on it in imposing gilt letters the word "President." +</P> + +<P> +The interview was brief, and to Sam most unsatisfactory. The banker +pointed out to him that he was a minor, and as such that his note would +be no good; and also that, without the permission of his father, he +would not think of lending the youth such a sum. Much crestfallen, Sam +shuffled his way out toward the main door of the bank, when suddenly a +voice he recognized caused him to look up. +</P> + +<P> +"A hundred and twenty-five dollars. That's right, all shipshape and +above board!" +</P> + +<P> +It was the old captain of Topsail Island, counting over in his gnarled +paw one hundred and twenty-five dollars in crisp bills which he had +just received from the paying teller. +</P> + +<P> +"You must be going to be married, captain," Sam heard the teller remark +jocularly. +</P> + +<P> +"Not yet a while," the captain laughed back. "That ther motor uv mine +that I left ter be fixed up is goin' ter cost me fifty dollars, and the +other seventy-five I'm calculating ter keep on hand in my safe fer a +while. I'm kind uv figgerin' on gettin' a new dinghy—my old one is +just plum full uv holes. I rowed over frum the island this mornin', +and I declar' ter goodness, once or twice I thought I'd swamp." +</P> + +<P> +Sam slipped out of the bank without speaking to the captain, whom, +indeed, since the episode of the melon patch, he had no great desire to +encounter. +</P> + +<P> +As he made his way toward his home in no very amiable mood, he was +hailed from the opposite side of the street by Jack Curtiss and Bill +Bender. +</P> + +<P> +"Any news of the boat?" demanded Jack, as he and Bill crossed over and +slapped their crony on the back with great assumed heartiness. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and mighty bad news, too, in one way. She's safe enough. The +Dolphin—that fishing boat—found her and towed her in. But—here's the +tough part of it—it's going to cost fifty dollars for salvage to get +her from the Dolphin's captain, the old shark!" +</P> + +<P> +"Phew!" whistled Jack Curtiss. "Pretty steep. But I suppose your old +man will fork over, eh?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's just it," grumbled Sam; "he won't come across with a cent. I +suppose, if I don't pay for the hydroplane's recovery pretty soon, she +will be sold at auction." +</P> + +<P> +"That's the usual process," observed Bill. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't there any way you can raise the wind?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I've tried every one I can think of. I don't suppose either of +you fellows could—" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing doing here," hastily cried Jack, not giving the other time to +finish. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm cleaned out, too," Bill also hurriedly assured the unfortunate Sam. +</P> + +<P> +"It looks like everybody but us has coin," complained that worthy +bitterly. "While I was in the bank trying to get old man Blake to take +up a note of mine for the sum I need, who should I see in there but +that old fossil of a captain from Topsail Island." +</P> + +<P> +"Who grows such fine, juicy melons and keeps such a nice, amiable pet +dog," laughed Jack, roaring at the recollection of the piratical +expedition of which the island dweller had told the boys. +</P> + +<P> +"Ha, ha, ha!" shouted Bill in chorus. "We'll have to give him another +visit soon." +</P> + +<P> +"But what about the old land crab, Sam?" demanded Jack the next minute. +"What was he doing in the bank?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, drawing one hundred and twenty-five dollars. Just think of it, +and we always figured it out that he was poor." +</P> + +<P> +"A hundred and twenty-five dollars! I wonder what he's going to do +with it?" wondered Jack, with whom money and its spending was always an +absorbing topic. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, I overheard that, too, as I passed by," rejoined Sam. "He's going +to spend some of it for the repairing of his motor, which broke down +yesterday, and the rest he's going to keep by him." +</P> + +<P> +"Keep it on the island, you mean?" demanded Jack, becoming suddenly +much interested. +</P> + +<P> +"That's what he said—keep it in his safe," replied Sam. "But what +good does that do us?" +</P> + +<P> +"A whole lot, maybe," was the enigmatic reply. "See here, Sam, you can +win that race if you get your hydroplane?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sure of it." +</P> + +<P> +"You are going to bet on yourself, of course." +</P> + +<P> +"Sure. I've got to raise some money somehow." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I've thought of a way you can borrow the money to get your boat +back, and when you win the race you can return it. Come on, lees go to +Bill's den, and we'll have a smoke and talk it over." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE BULLY SPRINGS A SURPRISE +</H3> + +<P> +That afternoon, in reply to a notice sent round by a runner, the lads +of the Eagle Patrol assembled at their armory, and on Leader Rob's +orders "fell in" to hear the official announcement of the coming +camping trip. As a matter of fact, they had discussed little else for +several days, but the first "regimental" notification, as it were, was +to be made now. +</P> + +<P> +The first duty to be performed was the calling of the roll after +"assembly" had been sounded—somewhat quaveringly—by little Andy +Bowles, the company bugler. +</P> + +<P> +Beside Rob Merritt, Tubby and Andy, there were Hiram Nelson, a tall, +lanky youth, whose hands were stained with much fussing with chemicals, +for he was a wireless experimenter; Ernest Thompson, a big-eyed, +serious-looking lad, whose specialty in the little regiment was that of +bicycle scout, as the spoked wheel on his arm denoted; Simon Jeffords, +a second-class scout, but who, under Rob's tutelage, was becoming the +expert "wig-wagger" of the organization; Paul Perkins, another +second-class boy, but a hard worker and a devotee of aeronautics; +Martin Green, one of the smallest of the Eagle Patrol, a tenderfoot; +Walter Lonsdale, also a recruit, and Joe Digby, who, as the last to +join the Patrol, was the tenderest of the tenderfeet. +</P> + +<P> +Rob's announcement of the program for the eight days they were to spend +on the island was greeted with cheers. The news that turns were to be +taken by two scouts daily at washing dishes and cooking did not awaken +quite so much enthusiasm. Everybody cheered up again, however, when +Rob announced that the Flying Fish would be at the disposal of the boys +of the patrol. +</P> + +<P> +Corporal Merritt took Rob's place as orator then, and announced that +each boy would be assessed one dollar for the expenses of the camp, the +remainder of the money necessary for the providing of tents and the +provisioning of the camp having been donated by Rob's father, Mr. +Wingate, of the yacht club, and the other representative citizens of +Hampton who composed the local scout council. +</P> + +<P> +Further excitement was caused by the announcement that following the +camp the local committee would pass upon the applications for +promotions and honors for the lads of the Patrol, and that it was +likely that another patrol would be formed in the village, as several +boys had expressed themselves as anxious to form one. The gentlemen +having charge of the local scout movement, however, had decided that it +would be wiser to wait and see the result of one patrol's training +before forming a second one. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going to try for an aviator's badge," announced Paul Perkins, as +Rob declared the official business at an end. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, Rob, what's the matter with our fixing up a wireless in the camp? +I'm pretty sure I can make one that will catch anything in a +hundred-mile radius." +</P> + +<P> +"That's a good idea," assented Rob; "if you can do it we can get a lot +of good out of it, I don't doubt." +</P> + +<P> +"What's the good of wireless when we've got wig-wagging and the +semaphore code," spoke up Simon Jeffords, who was inclined to doubt the +use of any other form of telegraphy but that in which he had perfected +himself. +</P> + +<P> +As for Martin Green, Walter Lonsdale and Joe Digby, they contented +themselves with hoping that they might receive their badges as +second-class scouts when the camp was over. +</P> + +<P> +"I can take the whole tests except cooking the meat and potatoes in the +'Billy,'" bemoaned young Green, a small chap of about thirteen. +"Somehow, they always seem to burn, or else they don't cook at all." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, cheer up, Martin," laughed Rob. "You'll learn to do it in camp. +We'll make you cook for the whole time we're out there, if you +like—that will give you plenty of practice." +</P> + +<P> +"No, thank you," chimed in Andy Bowles. "I've seen some of Mart's +cooking, and I think the farther you keep him from the cook fire, the +better for the general health of the Eagle Patrol." +</P> + +<P> +At this moment there came a rap on the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Come in!" shouted Rob. +</P> + +<P> +In reply to this invitation, the door opened and a lad of about fifteen +entered. His face was flushed and he bore in his hand a long sheet of +green paper. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Frank Farnham," exclaimed Rob glancing at the boy's flushed, +excited face. "What's troubling you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, hello, Rob. Excuse me for butting in on your ceremonies, but I +was told Paul Perkins was here." +</P> + +<P> +"Sure he is, Frank," exclaimed Paul, coming forward. "What's the +matter? It's much too warm to be flying around the way you seem to +have been. Come in under this fan." +</P> + +<P> +He indicated an electrically driven ventilator that was whirring in a +corner of the room. +</P> + +<P> +"Quit your fooling, Paul," remonstrated Frank, "and read this circular. +Here." +</P> + +<P> +He thrust the green "dodger" he carried into the other's hand. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you think of that, eh?" demanded Frank, as Paul skimmed it +with delighted eyes. +</P> + +<P> +The circular contained the announcement of a lecture on aeronautics by +a well-known authority on the subject who had once been a resident of +Hampton. To stimulate interest in the subject, the paper stated that a +first prize of fifty dollars, a second prize of twenty-five, and a +third prize of ten dollars would be given to the three lads of the town +making and flying the most successful models of aeroplanes in a public +competition. To win the first prize it would be necessary for the model +to fly more than two hundred feet, and not lower, except at the start +and end of the flight, than fifty feet above the ground. The second +prize was for the next best flight, and the third for the model +approaching the nearest to the winner of the second money. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Paul, you are an aeronautic fiend," went on Frank, "So am I, and +Hiram has the fever in a mild way. What's the matter with you two +fellows forming a team to represent the Boy Scouts, and I'll get up a +team of village boys, to compete for the prizes." +</P> + +<P> +"That's a good idea," assented Hiram Nelson. "I've got a model almost +completed. It only needs the rubber bands and a little testing and it +will be O.K., or at least I hope so. How about you, Paul?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I've got two models that I have got good results from," replied +the boy addressed. "One is a biplane. She's not so speedy, but very +steady; and then I have a model of a Bleriot. I'm willing to enter +either of them or both." +</P> + +<P> +"And I've got a model of an Antoinette, and one of a design of my own. +I don't know just how well it will work," concluded Frank modestly, +"but I have great hopes of carrying off that prize." +</P> + +<P> +"Let's see who else there is," pondered Hiram. +</P> + +<P> +"There's Tom Maloney. He'll go in, I know; and Ed Rivers and two or +three others, and then, by the way, I almost forgot it, I met Sam +Redding, Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender, reading a notice of the +competition, just before I came up. Of course, as there is a chance of +winning fifty dollars, Jack is going to enter one, and Bill Bender said +he would put one in, too." +</P> + +<P> +"What do they know about aeroplanes?" demanded Paul. +</P> + +<P> +"Not a whole lot, I guess; but Jack said he was going to get a book +that tells how to make one, and Bill said he'd do the same." +</P> + +<P> +"How about Sam?" inquired Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I guess he's got troubles enough with his hydroplane," responded +Rob, whose father had told him at dinner that day of Sam's vain visit +to the bank. +</P> + +<P> +"It would be just like those fellows to put up something crooked on +us," remarked Paul, who had had much the same experiences with the +bully and his chums as his schoolmates generally. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, there'll be no chance of that," Frank assured him. "A local +committee of business men is to be appointed to see fair play, and I +don't fancy that even Jack or Bill will be slick enough to get away +with any crooked work." +</P> + +<P> +"How long have we got to get ready?" asked Hiram suddenly. +</P> + +<P> +"Just a week." +</P> + +<P> +"Wow! that isn't much time." +</P> + +<P> +"No; my father told me that Professor Charlton, whom he knows, would +have given a longer time for preparation but that he has to attend a +flying meet in Europe, and only decided to lecture at his native town +at the last moment. Lucky thing that most of us have got our models +almost ready." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, especially as this notice says," added Paul, who had been reading +it, "that all models must be the sole work of the contestants." +</P> + +<P> +"If it wasn't for that it would be easy," remarked Hiram. "You can buy +dandy models in New York. I've seen them advertised in the papers." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, come on over now and put your name down, as a contestant. The +blanks are in the office of the Hampton News," urged Frank. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess we're all through up here, Rob, aren't we?" asked Hiram. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," rejoined the young leader; "but you study up on your woodcraft, +Hiram, and devote more time to your signaling. You are such a bug on +wireless that you forget the rest of the stuff." +</P> + +<P> +"All right, Rob," promised Hiram contritely. "By the time we go +camping I'll know a cat track from a squirrel's, or never put a +detector on my head again." +</P> + +<P> +Piloted by Frank, the two young scouts made their way to the office of +the local paper, which had already placed a large bulletin announcing +the aeroplane model competition in its window. Quite a crowd was +gathered, reading the details, as the three boys entered. +</P> + +<P> +They applied for their application blanks and walked over to a desk to +fill them out. As they were hard at work at this, Jack Curtiss and his +two chums entered the office. +</P> + +<P> +"You going into this, too?" asked the proprietor of the paper, Ephraim +Parkhurst, as Jack loudly demanded two blanks. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure," responded Jack confidently, "and we are going to win it, too. +Hullo," he exclaimed, as his eyes fell on the younger lads, "those kids +are after the prize, too. Why, what would they do with fifty dollars +if they had it? However, there's not much chance of your winning +anything," he added, coming up close to the boys, with a sneer on his +face. "I think that I've got it cinched." +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't know that you knew anything about aeroplanes," responded Paul +quietly. "Have you got a model built yet?" +</P> + +<P> +"I know about a whole lot of things I don't go blabbing round to +everybody about," responded the elder lad, with a sneer, "and as for +having a model built, I'm going to get right to work on one at once. +It'll be a model of a Bleriot monoplane, and a large one, too. I +notice that there is nothing said in the rules about the size of the +machines." +</P> + +<P> +Soon after this the three chums left the newspaper office together. +</P> + +<P> +"Say," remarked Paul, in a rather worried tone, "I don't believe that +there is anything said about the size of the models. Bill may build a +great big one and beat us all out." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose that the big machines would be handicapped according to +their power and speed," rejoined Frank. "However, don't you worry +about that. I don't believe that Jack Curtiss knows enough about the +subject to build an aeroplane in a week, and anyhow, I think it's all +empty bluff on his part." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope so," replied Paul, as they reached his front gate. "Will you +be over to-night, Hiram, to talk things over? Bring your models with +you, too, will you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure," replied Hiram; "but I've got to do a few things at home after +supper. I'll be over about eight o'clock or half-past." +</P> + +<P> +"All right. I'll be ready for you," responded Paul, as the lads said +good-by. +</P> + +<P> +A few minutes later Jack Curtiss and his chums emerged from the +newspaper office, the former and Bill Bender having made out their +applications. Sam seemed more dejected than ever, but there was a grin +of satisfaction on Jack Curtiss' face. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we sent the note, all right," he laughed under his breath, to +his two chums. "He'll have got it by this time, and will be in town by +dark. You know your part of the program, Sam. Don't fail to carry it +out, or I'll see that you get into trouble." +</P> + +<P> +"There's no need to worry about me, Jack," rejoined Sam, with an angry +flush. "I'll get the boat as soon as he lands, and keep it out of +sight till you've done the trick. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing like killing two birds with one stone," grinned Bill Bender. +"My! what a time there'll be in the morning, when they find out that +there's been a regular double cross." +</P> + +<P> +"Hush! Here come those three kids now," warned Sam, as Rob, Merritt +and Tubby came down the street. After what had passed they did not +feel called upon to give the bully and his companions more than a cold +nod. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, be as stuck up as you like to this after-noon!" sneered Jack, +after they had gone by, taking good care, however, that his voice would +not carry. "I guess the laugh will be on you and your old friend of +the island to-morrow." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AN ISLAND MYSTERY +</H3> + +<P> +"Hullo, Hiram; where are you bound for?" +</P> + +<P> +It was Rob who spoke, as Hiram hastened by his house in the early +darkness. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, hullo, Rob," responded the other. "I was wondering who that was +hanging over the gate. Why, I'm going to Paul's house. I'm going to +talk over that aeroplane model contest with him. I think that we stand +a chance to win if Jack Curtiss doesn't make good his boast." +</P> + +<P> +"What was that?" inquired Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, he says that he is going to build an aeroplane that will beat us +all." +</P> + +<P> +"And have it ready in a week?" was Rob's astonished query. +</P> + +<P> +"That's what he says," responded Hiram. "It all looks kind of +suspicious to me. Fifty dollars is a large enough sum to tempt Jack to +do almost anything. Well, so long. I've got to hurry along. I'm late +now." +</P> + +<P> +And the lad hastened away to keep his appointment. +</P> + +<P> +Rob was about to go into the house and get a book, when his attention +was arrested by a figure coming up the street at a smart pace whose +outlines somehow seemed familiar to him. The next minute his guess was +confirmed, when a hearty voice hailed him: +</P> + +<P> +"Waal, here I am, lad—all shipshape and in first-class trim. Now, what +is it? What do yer want? Yer didn't explain in the note, but old +Captain job Hudgins'll always stand by a shipmate in distress." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, whatever do you mean, captain?" exclaimed Rob, amazed, and +thinking that the captain must have taken leave of his wits. "Who do +you mean is in distress?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mean?" echoed the captain, in his turn, it seemed, surprised. "Why, +that note yer sent me. Here it is—all written on one uv them +new-fangled machines." +</P> + +<P> +Rob took the crumpled paper the old seaman drew out of his coat and +scanned it hastily by the light of the street lamp. The following note +met his puzzled gaze. +</P> + +<P> +"DEAR CAPTAIN: Please come over and see me at once. Something serious +has happened at the bank. I need your aid and advice. +</P> + +<P> +"Yours, +</P> + +<P> +"ROB BLAKE." +</P> + +<P> +"Hum! The signature is typewritten, too," mused Rob. "What kind of a +joke is this? I don't know, but I'll bet anything that Jack Curtiss is +at the bottom of it." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," demanded the captain, "what is it, a bit of gammon? I'll +keel-haul the man as did it if I can find him." +</P> + +<P> +"It looks like a hoax of some sort," admitted Rob, sorely puzzled; "but +I can't for the life of me see the object of it. Come into the house a +minute, captain, and we'll try to figure it out." +</P> + +<P> +Seated beneath the lamp in the library of his home, Rob scrutinized the +letter closely, but could find absolutely no indication about it to +betray who could have typewritten it. +</P> + +<P> +"How did you come to receive it?" he asked suddenly. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, old Hank Handcraft come out in that crazy launch uv his and guv +it ter me," rejoined the captain. "I ought ter hev told yer that in +the first place, but I was all took aback and canvas a-shiver when yer +tole me yer never wrote it." +</P> + +<P> +"Hank Handcraft," repeated Rob. "He's that queer old fellow that lives +in a hut away down the beach?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and a bad character, too," replied the captain. "He used ter be +a smuggler, and done a term in jail fer it." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it's pretty certain that he didn't write this," said Rob. "He +couldn't get hold of a typewriter, even if he could use one. What did +he tell you about it? Did he say who gave it to, him?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, he just handed it ter me, and says: 'A young party in Hampton says +ter give yer this and hurry.' I was just gettin' my supper when I +heard his hail of 'Island, ahoy!' I hurried out, and there he was in +that old teakettle uv his, at the end uv my wharf." +</P> + +<P> +"And he left before you read the note?" +</P> + +<P> +"I should say. He hurried right off ag'in." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I don't see any way to get at the bottom of this mystery but to +go and see old Hank himself," mused Rob, after a period of thought. +"What do you think, captain?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's the tack ter go about on, youngster," agreed the man of Topsail +Island; "but if yer are goin' down ter his place at this hour uv night, +we'd better take somebody else along. He's a bad character, and I'm +only a feeble old man and yer are a lad." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll go round by Merritt Crawford's house," proposed Rob; "then we'll +pick up Tubby Hopkins. I guess we can handle any trouble that Hank +wants to make, with that force on hand." +</P> + +<P> +"I guess so," agreed the old man. "I must say I'd like ter get ter the +bottom uv this here mystery. 'All fair and above board' is my motto. +I don't like these secret craft." +</P> + +<P> +The two young scouts were both at home, and after brief explanations +the four started off at a lively pace for Hank Handcraft's hut, which +was situated about two miles along the beach. As they hastened along, +Rob explained to the others in more detail the nature of their mission, +but though they were as much mystified by the sudden summons of Captain +Hudgins as Rob and the captain himself, they could hit upon no +plausible explanation for it. +</P> + +<P> +It was a little over half an hour before they reached the dilapidated +hut where old Handcraft, a beach-comber, made his dwelling place. A +short distance off the shore they could see by the moon, which had now +risen, that his crazy old motor boat lay at anchor. This was a sign +that Hank was at home. Lest it be wondered that such a character could +have owned a motor boat, it may be explained here that the engine of +Hank's old oyster skiff had been given him by a summer resident who +despaired of making it work. Hank, however, who was quite handy with +tools, had fixed it up and managed to make it drive his patched old +craft at quite a fair speed—sometimes. When it broke down, as it +frequently did, Hank, who was a philosopher in his way, simply got out +his oars and rowed his heavy craft. +</P> + +<P> +As an additional indication that the hut was occupied, light shone +through several of its numerous chinks and crannies, and a knock at the +door brought forth a low growl of: "Who's there?" +</P> + +<P> +"We want to see you," said Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"This is no time of night to call on a gentleman; come to-morrow and +leave your cards," rumbled the gruff voice from inside the hut. +</P> + +<P> +"This is serious business," urged Rob. "Come on, open that door, Hank. +This is Rob Blake, the banker's son." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it is, is it?" grumbled the voice, as the clank of the door-chains +being taken off was heard from within. "Well, I ain't had much +business deals with your father lately, my private fortune being +somewhat shrunk." +</P> + +<P> +With a muffled chuckle from the speaker, the door slowly opened, and +Hank, a ragged figure, with an immense matted beard, long tangled hair +and dim blue eyes, that blinked like a rat's, stood revealed. +</P> + +<P> +"Come in, come in, gentlemen," he bowed, with mock politeness. "I'm +glad to see such a numerous and representative party. Now, what kin I +do you for?" +</P> + +<P> +He chuckled once more at his little jest, and the boys involuntarily +shrank from him. +</P> + +<P> +There was nothing to do, however, but enter the hut, and Hank +accommodated his guests with a cracker box apiece as chairs. On a +table, roughly built out of similar boxes, a battered old stable lamp +smoked and flared. A more miserable human habitation could not be +imagined. +</P> + +<P> +"Hank," began the captain, "speak me fair and above board, mate—who +give yer that letter ter bring ter me ter-night?" +</P> + +<P> +"What letter?" blankly responded Hank, a look of vacancy in his shifty +eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yer know well enough; that letter yer give me at supper time." +</P> + +<P> +"Captain, I'll give you my davy I don't know what you're talking +about," returned the beachcomber. +</P> + +<P> +"What!" roared the captain: rising to his feet and advancing +threateningly. "Yer mean ter tell me, yer rapscallion, that yer don't +recall landin' at Topsail Island earlier ter-night and givin' me a note +which says ter come urgent and immediate ter see young Rob Blake here?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, captain," calmly returned Hank, with an indulgent grin, "I really +think you must be gettin' childish in your old age. You must be seeing +things. I hope you ain't drinking." +</P> + +<P> +"You—you scoundrel, you!" roared the old captain, almost beside +himself with rage, and dancing with clenched fists toward Hank. +</P> + +<P> +The beach-comber's filthy hand slipped into his rags in a minute, and +the next instant he was squatting back on his haunches in the corner of +the hut, like a wildcat about to spring. In his hand there glistened, +in the yellow rays of the lamp, a blued-steel revolver. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't get angry, captain. It's bad for the digestion," grinned the +castaway. "Now," he went on, "I'm going to tell you flat that if you +say I came to your island to-night, you're dreaming. It must have been +some one else. +</P> + +<P> +"Come on, boys," directed the captain, with an angry shrug. "There's no +use wastin' time on the critter. I'm inclined ter think now that +there's somethin' more than ordinary in the wind," he added, as they +left the hut, with the half-idiotic chuckles of its occupant ringing in +their ears. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SOME STRANGE DOINGS +</H3> + +<P> +It was not far from midnight when the boys, sorely perplexed, once more +reached Hampton. The main street had been deserted long since, and +every one in the village had returned to rest. +</P> + +<P> +The boys left the captain by the water-front, while they headed up the +Main Street for their respective homes. Rob remained up, pondering +over the events of the evening for some time, without arriving at any +solution of them. He was just about to extinguish his light when he +was startled by a loud: +</P> + +<P> +"His—s—st!" +</P> + +<P> +The noise came from directly below his open window, which faced onto +the garden. +</P> + +<P> +He put out his head, and saw a dark figure standing in the yard. +</P> + +<P> +"Who is it?" he demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"It's me, the captain, Rob," rejoined the well-known voice. "I +wouldn't have bothered yer but that I saw a light in yer window." +</P> + +<P> +"What's the trouble, captain?" asked the boy, noting a troubled +inflection in the old man's voice. +</P> + +<P> +"My boat's gone!" was the startling reply. +</P> + +<P> +"Gone! Are you sure?" +</P> + +<P> +"No doubt about it. I left her tied ter the L wharf when I come up +from the island, and now there ain't hide nor hair uv her there." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll bet anything that that fellow Curtiss is at the bottom of all +this," cried Rob. "I remember now I heard some time ago that he was +thick with that Hank Handcraft." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know what ter do about it at this time uv ther night," went on +the distressed captain, "an' I can't go round waking folks up ter get +another boat." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course not," agreed Rob. "There's only one thing for you to do, +captain, and that is to put up here to-night, and in the morning we'll +see what we can do." +</P> + +<P> +"That's mighty fair, square, and above board uv yer, lad," said the +captain gratefully. "Punk me anywhere. I'm an old sailor, and can +aways find the softest plank in the deck." +</P> + +<P> +"You won't have to do that," said Rob, who had slipped downstairs by +this time and opened the door; "we've got a spare room you can bunk in +to-night. I'll explain it all to father in the morning. Perhaps he can +help us out." +</P> + +<P> +"Gee whiz! almost twelve o'clock," exclaimed Hiram Nelson, looking up +at the clock from the dining-room table in Paul Perkins' house. The +chamber was strewn with text books on model aeroplane construction and +littered with figures and plans of the boys' own devising. "How time +flies when you're on a subject that interests you." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it's a good thing it's vacation time," agreed Paul. "We wouldn't +be in much shape to work at our books to-morrow, eh?" +</P> + +<P> +"I should say not!" rejoined Hiram with conviction. "Well, so long, +Paul. I guess we've got it all figured out now, and all that is left +to do is to go ahead." +</P> + +<P> +"That's the idea," responded Paul. "We'll get the prize for the glory +of the Eagle Patrol, or—or—" +</P> + +<P> +"Bust!" Hiram finished for him. +</P> + +<P> +Hiram's way home lay past the bank, and as he walked down the moonlit +street he thought for a minute that he perceived a light in the windows +of the armory. +</P> + +<P> +Almost as he fancied he glimpsed it, however, it vanished, and the lad +was convinced that he must have been mistaken, or else seen a +reflection of the moonlight on the windows. +</P> + +<P> +"Queer, though," he mused. "I could almost have sworn it was a light." +</P> + +<P> +Another curious thing presently attracted his attention. As he neared +the bank a dark figure seemed to vanish into the black shadows round +the corner. Something familiar about it struck Hiram, and the next +moment he realized why. +</P> + +<P> +"If that wasn't Bill Bender, I'm a Dutchman," he muttered, his heart +beating a little faster. "But what can he be doing round here at this +time of night?" +</P> + +<P> +As he put the question to himself, Bill Bender, walking rapidly, as if +he had come from some distance, and had not dodged round the corner a +moment before, suddenly appeared from round the angle of the bank +building. +</P> + +<P> +"Good evening, Bill," said Hiram, wondering if his eyes were not +playing him some queer tricks; "wasn't that you just went round the +corner?" +</P> + +<P> +"Who, me?" blustered Bill. "You need to visit an oculist, young man. +I've just come from a visit to my aunt's. It was her birthday, and we +had a bully time. Sat up a little too late, though. Good night." +</P> + +<P> +And with a great assumption of easiness, the crony of Jack Curtiss +walked rapidly off up the street. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess he's right," mused Hiram, as he hurried on home. "But if that +wasn't Bill Bender who walked round that corner it was his ghost, and +all the ghosts I ever read about don't wear squeaky boots." +</P> + +<P> +If Hiram had remained he would have had further cause to be suspicious +and speculative. +</P> + +<P> +The lad's footsteps had hardly died out down the street before Bill +Bender cautiously retraced his way, and, going round to the side +street, upon which the steps leading to the armory opened, gave a +cautious whistle. In reply a sack was lowered from a window to him by +some person invisible above. +</P> + +<P> +Although there was some little light on the Main Street by reason of +the moon and the few scattering lamps along the thoroughfare, the spot +in which Bill now stood was as black as the proverbial pocket. +</P> + +<P> +"Is the coast all clear?" came down a voice from the window above. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; but if I hadn't spotted young Hiram Nelson coming down the street +and warned you to put out that light, it wouldn't have been," responded +Bill in the same cautious tone. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we're safe enough now," came back the voice above, which any of +his acquaintances would have recognized as Jack Curtiss'. "I've got the +rest of them in this other sack. Here, take this one when I drop it." +</P> + +<P> +Bill made a bungling effort to catch the heavy receptacle that fell +following Jack's warning, but in the darkness he failed, and it crashed +down with quite a clatter. +</P> + +<P> +"Look out!" warned Jack anxiously, "some one might hear that." +</P> + +<P> +"Not in this peaceful community. You seem to forget that eleven +o'clock is the very latest bedtime in Hampton." +</P> + +<P> +After a brief interval Jack Curtiss himself slipped out of the side +door of the armory and joined his friend on the dark sidewalk. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what's the next move on the program?" asked Bill. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll sneak down Bailey's Lane—there are no lights there—to Hank's +place. Sam will be waiting off there with the boat," rejoined Jack. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, if he hasn't lost his nerve," was Bill's rejoinder as they +shouldered their sacks and slipped off into the deep blackness +shrouding the side streets. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, if he has lost it, he'll come near losing his head, too," grated +out Jack, "but don't you fear, he wants that fifty too badly to go back +on us." +</P> + +<P> +Silently as two cats the cronies made their way down the tree-bordered +thoroughfare known as Bailey's Lane and after a few minutes gained the +beach. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, that's an awful hike down to Hank's gilded palace," grumbled +Bill, "why didn't you have Sam wait for us off here?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and have old man Hudgins discover him when he finds his boat is +gone," sneered Jack, "you'd have made a fine botch of this if it hadn't +been for me." +</P> + +<P> +The two exchanged no further words on the weary tramp along the soft +beach. They plodded along steadily with the silence only broken by a +muttered remark emanating from Bill Bender from time to time. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank heaven, there's the place at last," exclaimed Bill, with a sigh +of relief, as they came in sight of the miserable hut, "I began to +think that Hank must have moved." +</P> + +<P> +Jack gave a peculiar whistle and the next instant the same light the +boys had seen earlier in the evening shone through the chinks of the +hovel. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, he's awake, at any rate," remarked Jack with a grin, "now to +find out where the boat is." +</P> + +<P> +As the wretched figure of the beach-comber appeared Jack hailed him +roughly. +</P> + +<P> +"Where's that boat, Hank?" +</P> + +<P> +"Been cruising off and on here since eleven o'clock," rejoined the +other sullenly, "ah! there she is now off to the sou'west." +</P> + +<P> +He pointed and the boys saw a red light flash twice seaward as if some +one had passed their hands across it. +</P> + +<P> +"All right, give him the answer," ordered Jack. "We've got to hurry if +we're to be back before the captain and those brats of boys get after +our trail." +</P> + +<P> +Hank at Jack's order dived into the hut and now reappeared with the +smoky lantern. He waved it four times from side to side like a +brakeman and in a short time a steady "put-put!" told the watchers that +a motor boat was approaching. +</P> + +<P> +"Now for your dinghy, Hank," urged Jack, "hurry up. You move like a +man a hundred and ninety years old, with the rheumatism." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, come on, then," retorted Hank, "here's the boat," pointing to a +cobbled dinghy lying hauled up above the water line, "give me a hand +and we'll shove off." +</P> + +<P> +The united strength of the three soon had the boat in the water and +with Hank at the oars they moved steadily toward the chugging motor +boat. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Sam, you're on the job, I see," remarked Jack as the two craft +ranged alongside and Sam cut off the engine. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I'm on the job all right," rejoined Sam, feeling much braver now +that the other two had arrived, "have you got them all right?" +</P> + +<P> +"Right here in this bag, and some more in this, my bucko," chuckled +Jack as he handed the two sacks over to Sam. +</P> + +<P> +"Ha! ha! ha!" chortled Bill under his breath as he climbed out of the +cobble into the motor boat, "won't there be a fine row in the morning." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, come on; start up, Sam. We've no time to lose," ordered Jack as +he and Bill got aboard, "good night there, Hank." +</P> + +<P> +"Good night," rejoined Hank quietly enough, as the motor boat moved +swiftly off over the moonlit sea. He added to himself, "It won't be a +very 'good night' for you, my lad, if you don't pay me as handsomely as +you promised." +</P> + +<P> +And chuckling to himself till his shoulders shook, Hank resumed his +oars and rowed back to the miserable shanty he called home. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE STOLEN UNIFORMS +</H3> + +<P> +Rob and his old friend lost no time the next morning in getting down to +the water-front to make inquiries about the captain's missing boat. To +their astonishment, however, almost the first craft that caught their +eyes as they arrived at the L wharf to begin their search was the old +sailor's motor dory, to all appearances in exactly the same position +she had occupied the preceding night when the captain moored her. +</P> + +<P> +"Have I clapped deadlights on my optics, or am I gone plumb locoed?" +bellowed the amazed captain, as he saw the little craft dancing lightly +on the sunny waters. +</P> + +<P> +"You are certainly not mistaken in supposing that is your boat. I'd +know her among a thousand," Rob assured him. "Are you quite certain +that she was not here last night, captain?" +</P> + +<P> +"Just as sure as I am that yer and me is standin' here," rejoined the +bewildered captain. "I've sailed the seven seas in my day, and man and +boy seen many queer things; but if this don't beat cock fightin', I'm +an inky Senegambian!" +</P> + +<P> +The captain's voice had risen to a perfect roar as he uttered the last +words, and a sort of jack-of-all-trades about the wharf, whose name was +Hi Higgins, came shuffling up, asking what was the trouble. +</P> + +<P> +"Trouble," roared the hermit of Topsail Island. "Trouble enough fer +all hands and some left over fer the cat! Say, shipmate, yer hangs +about this here L wharf a lot. Did yer see any piratical humans +monkeyin' around my boat last night?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, what d'yer mean, cap'n," sniffled Hi Higgins. "I seen yer tie up +here, and there yer boat is now. What d'yer mean by pira-pirawell, +them parties yer mentioned? Yer mean some one took it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Took it—yes, yer hornswoggled longshore lubber!" bellowed the +captain. "I thought yer was hired as a sort uv watchman on this wharf. +A find watchman yer are!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, yer see, cap'n," returned Hi Higgins, really alarmed at the +captain's truculent tone, "I ain't here much after nine at night or +before five in the morning." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, was my boat here at five this mornin'?" demanded the captain. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure it was," rejoined Hi Higgins, with a sniffle; "the fust boat I +seen." +</P> + +<P> +"Rob, my boy, I'm goin' crazy in my old age!" gasped the captain. "I'm +as certain as I can be that the boat wasn't here when I came down to +the wharf last midnight, but the pre-pon-der-ance of evidence is +against me." +</P> + +<P> +The captain shook his head gravely as he spoke. It was evident that he +was sorely puzzled and half inclined to doubt the evidence of his own +senses. +</P> + +<P> +"Douse my toplights," he kept muttering, "if this don't beat a flying +Dutchman on wheels and with whiskers!" +</P> + +<P> +"I certainly don't believe that your eyes deceived you, captain," put +in Rob, in the midst of the captain's rumbling outbursts. "It looks to +me as if somebody really did borrow your boat last night, and that the +decoy note supposed to be from me had something to do with it." +</P> + +<P> +"By the great horn spoon, yer've got it, my boy!" roared the captain. +"And now yer come ter speak uv it, my mind misgives me that all ain 't +right at the island. I didn't tell yer, but I left a tidy sum uv money +in that old iron safe off the Sarah Jane, the last ship I commanded, +and all this what's puzzled us so may be part uv some thievish scheme. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going ter hurry over ter the island and make certain sure," he +went on the next minute. "The more I think uv it, the more signs uv +foul weather I see. Good-by, my lad, and good luck. Will yer be out +ter see me soon? The bluefish are running fine." +</P> + +<P> +"We may be out this afternoon, captain," responded Rob. "I am curious +myself to see if any mischief has been done on your island. If there +has been," he added earnestly, "you can count on the Eagle Patrol to +help you out." +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks, my boy!" exclaimed the old man, who was bending over his +gasoline tank. "Hullo!" he shouted suddenly. "I wasn't crazy! This +boat was took out last night. See here!" +</P> + +<P> +He held up the gasoline measuring stick which he had grabbed up and +plunged into the tank. The instrument was almost dry. The receptacle +for fuel was nearly empty. +</P> + +<P> +"And I filled her before I started out!" thundered the captain. +"Whoever took my boat must have run her a long ways." +</P> + +<P> +Fresh fuel was soon obtained, and the captain, after more shouted +farewells, started for the island to try to obtain some clue to the +mysterious happenings of the night. +</P> + +<P> +Rob, after watching him for a few moments, as he sped down the blue +waters of the sunlit inlet, turned away to return to his home, just +recollecting that, in their eagerness to search for the boat, both he +and the captain had entirely forgotten about breakfast. He was in the +middle of the meal, and eagerly explaining to his interested parents +the strange incidents of the missing boat and the decoy note, when +Merritt Crawford burst into the room unannounced. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I beg your pardon!" he apologized, abashed. "I didn't know you +were at breakfast. But, Mr. Blake—Rob—something has happened that I +just had to come and tell you about at once." +</P> + +<P> +"Good gracious! More mysteries," Mr. Blake was beginning in a jocular +way, when the serious look on the boy's face checked him. "What is it? +What has happened, Merritt?" he asked soberly, while Rob regarded the +spectacle of his usually placid corporal's excitement with round eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"The uniforms are all gone!" burst out Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"What uniforms?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ours—the Eagle Patrols'." +</P> + +<P> +"What! Stolen?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's right," hurried on Merritt. "I met old Mrs. Jones in a +terrible state of mind. You know, Mr. Blake, she's the old woman who +scrubs out the place in the morning. I asked what was the matter, and +she told me that when she went to the armory early to-day, she found +the lock forced and all the lockers broken open and the uniforms gone!" +</P> + +<P> +"Have you seen the place?" asked Mr. Blake. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I followed her up. The room was turned upside down. The locks +had been ripped right off and the lockers rifled of everything. Who +can have done it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll bet anything Jack Curtiss and his gang had something to do with +it, just as I believe they put up some crooked job on the captain!" +burst out Rob, greatly excited and his breakfast entirely forgotten. +</P> + +<P> +"Be careful how you make such a grave accusation," warned his father. +</P> + +<P> +"I know it's a tough thing to say," admitted Rob; "but you don't know +that bunch like we do. They'd—" +</P> + +<P> +He was about to explain more of the characteristics of the bully and +his cronies when a fresh interruption occurred. This time it was Hiram +Nelson. He was almost as abashed as Merritt had been when he found +that his excitement had carried him into what seemed a family +conference. +</P> + +<P> +"It's all right, Hiram. Come right in," said Mr. Blake cheerfully. +"Come on out with your news, for I can see you can hardly keep it to +yourself." +</P> + +<P> +"It's going round the town like wildfire!" responded the panting boy. +The others nodded. "I see you know it already," he went on. "Well, I +think I've got a clue." +</P> + +<P> +"You have! Come on, let's hear it quick," cried Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I was up late with Paul Perkins last night, talking over the +aeroplane model competition, and didn't start home till about midnight. +As I was approaching the armory I thought I saw a light in one of the +windows. I couldn't be certain, however, and I put it down to a trick +that my eyes had played me." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, that's all right as far as it goes," burst out Rob. "It +probably was a light. I wish you'd investigated." +</P> + +<P> +"Wait a minute, Rob," said his father, noting Hiram's anxious face. +"There's more to come, isn't there, Hiram?" +</P> + +<P> +"You bet! The most exciting part of it—the most important, I mean," +went on young Hiram, with an important air. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, well, get down to it," urged the impatient Rob. "What was it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, right after I'd seen the light," went on Hiram, "I thought I saw +a dark figure slip around the corner into that dark street." +</P> + +<P> +"A dark figure! Hum! Sounds like one of those old yellow—back +novels," remarked Mr. Blake, with a smile. +</P> + +<P> +"But this was a figure I recognized, sir," exclaimed Hiram. "It was +Bill Bender!" +</P> + +<P> +"Jack Curtiss' chum! They're as thick as two thieves," burst out +Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"And I believe they are two thieves," solemnly put in Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," went on Hiram, "the next minute Bill Bender came walking round +the corner as fast as if he were coming from somewhere in a great +hurry, and was hastening home. He told me he had been to a birthday +party at his aunt's." +</P> + +<P> +"At his aunt's," echoed Mr. Blake. "Well, that's an important point, +for I happen to know that his aunt, Mrs. Graves, is out of town. She +visited the bank yesterday morning and drew some money for her +traveling expenses. She informed me that she expected to be gone a +week or more." +</P> + +<P> +"I knew it, I knew it!" shouted Rob. "That fellow ought to be in jail. +He'll land there yet." +</P> + +<P> +"Softly, softly, my boy," said Mr. Blake. "This is a grave affair, and +we cannot jump at conclusions." +</P> + +<P> +"I'd jump him," declared Rob, "if I only knew for certain that he was +the thief!" +</P> + +<P> +"I will inform the police myself and have an investigation made," Mr. +Blake promised. "We will leave no stone unturned to find out who has +been guilty of such an outrage." +</P> + +<P> +"And in the meantime the Eagle Patrol will carry on an investigation of +its own," declared Rob sturdily. "What do you say, boys?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll bet every boy in the corps is with you on that," rejoined Merritt +heartily. +</P> + +<P> +"Same here," chimed in Hiram. +</P> + +<P> +"The first step is to take a run to Topsail Island and see if all the +queer things that happened last night have not some connecting link +between them," suggested Mr. Blake. "I am inclined, after what you +boys have told me, to think that they have." +</P> + +<P> +"I am sure of it," echoed Rob. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE HYDROPLANE QUEERLY RECOVERED +</H3> + +<P> +Seldom had the Flying Fish been urged to greater speed than she was a +short time after the discovery of the looting of the scouts' armory. +She fairly flew across the smooth waters of the inlet and out on to the +Atlantic swells, leaving a clean, sweeping bow-wave as she cut her way +along. Her four young occupants, for Tubby had been called on and +notified of the occurrences of the night, were, however, wrapped in +slickers borrowed from the yacht club, so that the showers of spray +which fell about them had little effect on them. +</P> + +<P> +The run to Topsail Island was made in record time, and as they drew +near the little hummock of tree and shrub-covered land the boys could +perceive that something unusual had happened. A figure which even at a +distance they recognized as that of Captain job Hudgins was down on the +little wharf, and had apparently been on the lookout there for some +time. A closer view revealed the captain waving frantically. +</P> + +<P> +"Something's up, all right," remarked Tubby, above the roar of the +motor-boat's engine. +</P> + +<P> +The others said nothing, but kept their gaze riveted on the captain's +figure. With the skill of a veteran boatman, Rob brought the Flying +Fish round in a graceful curve and ran her cleanly up to the wharf +without the slightest jolt or jar. +</P> + +<P> +"Ahoy, lads, I'm glad yer've come!" exclaimed the captain, as he caught +the painter line thrown out to him by Merritt, and skillfully made the +boat fast. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, what has happened?" demanded Rob, as he sprang on to the wharf, +followed by the others. +</P> + +<P> +"Happened?" repeated the captain. "Well, in a manner of speakin', +about twenty things has happened at once. Lads, my spirits and +emotions are in a fair Chinese tornado—every which way at once. In +the first place, I'm seventy-five dollars poorer than I was last night; +in the second, poor old Skipper's been given some kind av poison that's +made him so sick I doubt he'll get over it." +</P> + +<P> +"You've been robbed?" gasped Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"That's it, my lad. That's the word. My poor old safe's been scuttled +and her hold overhauled. But I don't mind that so much—it's poor old +Skipper I'm worried about. But come on up ter the house, lads, and see +fer yerselves." +</P> + +<P> +Followed by the sympathetic four, the old man hobbled up from his +little wharf to a small eminence on which stood his neatly whitewashed +hut. He opened the door and invited them in. A first glance +discovered nothing much the matter, but a second look showed the boys +poor old Skipper lying on the floor in front of the open fireplace +which was filled with fresh green boughs—and evidently a very sick dog +indeed. He gave the boys a pathetic glance of recognition as they came +in, and with a feeble wag or two of his tail tried to show them he was +glad to see them; but this done, he seemed to be completely exhausted, +and once more laid his head between his forepaws and seemed to doze. +</P> + +<P> +"Poor old dog," said the captain, shaking his head. "I doubt if he'll +ever get about again." +</P> + +<P> +The safe now engaged the boys' attention. It is true that it was a +rickety old contrivance which might well have been forced open with an +ordinary poker, but to the captain, up to this day, it had been a +repository as safe and secure as a big Wall Street trust company's +vaults. +</P> + +<P> +"Look at that, boys!" cried the captain, with tragic emphasis, pointing +to the door, which had been forced clear off its rusty hinges. "Just +busted open like yer'd taken the crust off'n a pie! Ah, if I could lay +my hands on the fellers that done this, I'd run 'em tip ter the yardarm +afore a foc'sle hand could say 'Hard tack'!" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, we think that—" began Tubby, when Rob checked him. The captain, +who had been bending over his dog, didn't hear the remark, and Rob +hastily whispered to Tubby: +</P> + +<P> +"Don't breathe a word to anyone of our suspicions. Our only chance to +get hold of the real culprits is to not give them any idea that we +suspect them." +</P> + +<P> +After a little more time spent on the island, the boys took their +leave, promising to come back soon again. First, however, Rob and his +corporal made a brief expedition to see if they could make out the +tracks of the marauders of the previous evening. Whoever they had been, +however—and the boys, as we know, had a shrewd guess at their +identity—they had been too cunning to take the path, but had +apparently, judging from the absence of all footmarks, made their way +to the house through the coarse grass that grew on each side of the way. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what are we going to do about it?" Tubby inquired, as they +speeded back toward home. +</P> + +<P> +"Just what I said," rejoined Rob. "Keep quiet and not let Jack or his +chums know that we suspect a thing. Give them enough rope, and we'll +get them in time. I'm certain of it." +</P> + +<P> +How true his words were to prove, Rob at that time little imagined, +although he felt the wisdom of the course he had advised. +</P> + +<P> +As they neared the inlet, Rob, who was at the wheel and scanning the +channel pretty closely, for the tide was now running out, gave a sudden +shout and pointed ahead. As the others raised their eyes and gazed in +the direction their leader indicated they, too, uttered a cry of +astonishment. From the mouth of the inlet there had stolen a long, +low, black craft, gliding through the water at tremendous speed. +</P> + +<P> +In the strange craft the boy scouts had little difficulty in +recognizing Sam Redding's hydroplane. +</P> + +<P> +"So he's got her back," exclaimed Merritt, recovering from his first +astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and she seems little the worse for her experience," remarked +Tubby. "It doesn't appear, though, that they are going to profit by +their lesson of the other day, for there they go out to sea again." +</P> + +<P> +"Probably consulted the glass this time," remarked Rob. "It read 'set +fair' when we started out." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, that's the only kind of weather for them," commented Merritt; +"though as both Jack and Bill can swim, I wouldn't mind seeing them get +a good ducking." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose the coincidence has struck you fellows, too?" remarked Rob +suddenly, as he skillfully twisted and turned the dancing Flying Fish +through the devious ways of the channel at low water. +</P> + +<P> +"What on earth are you talking about?" demanded Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, that it seems rather queer that Sam, who was round town +desperately trying to raise money with which to get his boat out of +pawn suddenly manages to redeem her, and that on the very day after the +robbery of Captain Hudgins hut." +</P> + +<P> +"By hookey, that's right!" shouted Tubby. "I'll bet your guess was +correct, Rob—that gang of Jack's robbed the old captain." +</P> + +<P> +"And stole our uniforms," put in Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; but how are we going to prove it?" was Rob's "cold water" comment +which silenced further speculation for the time being. Each boy, +however, determined then and there to do his share in running down the +persons responsible for the vandalism. +</P> + +<P> +By the time they got back to Hampton the news had spread among the +entire Eagle Patrol, and an indignation meeting was called in the +devastated armory. Mr. Blake entered in the midst of it, and offered, +in conjunction with the rest of the local council, to furnish new +uniforms. On the matter being put to a vote, however, the lads all +agreed that it would be better not to accept such an offer till they +had made a determined effort to run down the plunderers. +</P> + +<P> +"Very well," said Mr. Blake; "your spirit does you great credit, and if +you need any help, don't fail to call upon me at any time." +</P> + +<P> +"Three cheers for Mr. Blake and the members of the council!" shouted +Merritt, jumping on a chair. +</P> + +<P> +They were given with such roof-raising effect, that people outside in +the street, many of whom knew of the robbery, began to think that the +uniforms must have been recovered. +</P> + +<P> +As the lads surged out of the armory, all talking at once about the +robbery and its likely results, whom should they encounter on the +street but Jack Curtiss and his two chums, evidently, from the fact +that they carried waterproof garments over their arms, just back from +their trip in Sam's newly-recovered hydroplane. +</P> + +<P> +It might have been fancy, but as the eyes of the Boy Scouts met those +of the three lads who would have so much liked to belong to the +organization, Rob thought that a look of embarrassment spread over Jack +Curtiss' heavy features, and that even Bill Bender's brazen face took +on a shade of pallor. If this were so, however, it could have been +only momentary, for the next minute Jack, with what seemed very much +overdone cordiality, came forward with: +</P> + +<P> +"Why, hullo, boys. I just heard about your loss. Any news?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, not a word," chirped little Joe Digby, one of the few lads in the +Eagle Patrol who had never run afoul of the bully. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," went on Jack, affecting not to notice the silence with which +his advances had been greeted, "I hope you find the fellows who did it, +whoever they were." +</P> + +<P> +"Same here," chimed in Bill Bender, now quite at his ease, "although, +at that, I guess it was only a joke, and you'll get 'em back again +before long." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think so, Bill?" asked Merritt, looking the bully's crony +steadily in the eye. "I hope so, I'm sure. By the way, Hiram Nelson +here says that he saw you hurrying up Main Street at just about the +time the robbery must have taken place. You didn't hear any unusual +sounds or see anything out of the way, did you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I—why, no—I—you see, I was on my way home from my aunt's home," +stuttered Bill, seemingly taken off his guard. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; your aunt, who left home yesterday afternoon to be gone a week," +shot out Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"Queer that she should have changed her mind and come home in such a +hurry." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, come on, Bill," stuck in Sam, seeing that things were getting very +unpleasant. "We've got to hurry up if we're to get out to Jack's in +time." +</P> + +<P> +Without another word, the three hurried off, seemingly not at all +unrelieved to escape from what Merritt was pretty sure were +embarrassing questions. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +WINNING THE CONTEST +</H3> + +<P> +The day which was to witness the tests of the aeroplane models for the +prizes offered by the professor of aeronautics dawned still and fair. +It followed several days of storm, in which the boys had been unable to +make any excursions in their motor boat, or into the country, or, +indeed, even to devote any time to the engrossing subject of tracing +the theft of the uniforms to its source. +</P> + +<P> +Early in the morning a small field in the rear of Mr. Blake's house was +well filled with boys of all ages and sizes, watching the contestants +in the model contest trying out their craft. The models were of all +sorts and sizes. Some were freak craft that had been constructed in a +hurry from pictures, without any attention being paid to scale or +proportions, while others were carefully made bits of mechanism. +</P> + +<P> +Among the latter class were Paul Perkins' monoplane—Silver Arrow, he +called it,—Hiram Nelson's two models, the monoplane of Tom Maloney, a +lad of about sixteen, and Ed River's little duplicate of a Curtiss +biplane. The contest was to take place on the Main Street of the town, +in front of the bank, and in the middle of the course two poles had +been erected, one on each side of the street, between which a brightly +colored tape had then been strung, forming a sort of aerial hurdle. +The tape was fifty feet above the ground, and to qualify at all it +would be necessary for the contesting models to clear it. +</P> + +<P> +The lecture which took place in the village hall came first and was +well attended, most of the young folks of Hampton being there. If the +truth must be told, however, while the lecturer was expounding his +subject, illustrating it on the blackboard with chalk drawings, the +majority of his young hearers were wishing that it was over and the +contest really begun. +</P> + +<P> +Especially was this true of the boys of the Eagle Patrol, who were +every one of them anxious to see what kind of aeroplanes Jack Curtiss +and Bill Bender would have produced. The lecture, however, at last +came to an end, and the gentlemen on the platform shook hands with the +professor and the professor shook hands with them, and somebody called +for three cheers for "Hampton's distinguished son." +</P> + +<P> +Everybody then lost no time in filing out into the afternoon sunlight, +where they found quite a crowd already on the streets, and a small +wooden grand stand, which had been erected near what was expected to be +the finishing line, seating several guests. The committee and the +professor, led by the Hampton brass band, blaring away at patriotic +airs, made their way to the front seats in the structure, and everybody +was requested to line up on each side of the street, so as to make a +clear lane for the models to fly in. +</P> + +<P> +The starting line was about a hundred yards from the red tape, and the +contestants were compelled to stand back of this. Mr. Wingate, the +president of the yacht club and member of the Boy Scout Council, had +already shuffled the numbers of the contestants in a hat, and they were +to fly their models in the order in which they drew their figures. +</P> + +<P> +Up to this time there had been no sign of Jack Curtiss or Bill Bender, +but the boys now saw them hastening up to a member of the committee and +whispering to him. A moment later a man, with a megaphone boomed out +from the grand stand: +</P> + +<P> +"William Bender announces that he has withdrawn from the contest." +</P> + +<P> +"Aha! I'll bet Jack's got cold feet, too," whispered Hiram, nudging +Paul, who was kneeling down and winding up the long rubber bands which +drove the propellers of the Silver Arrow, an Antoinette model. +</P> + +<P> +But a short interval showed him to be mistaken, for Jack, with his +usual confident air, repaired to the buggy in which he had driven into +town from his father's farm, and speedily produced a model that caused +loud sighs of "Ohs!" and "Ahs!" to circulate through the juvenile +portion of the crowd. +</P> + +<P> +However he had managed to accomplish it, the bully had certainly +produced a beautiful model. It was of the Bleriot type, and finished +perfectly down to the minutest detail. Every wire and brace on it was +silvered with aluminum paint, and it even bore a small figure at its +steering wheel. Beside it the other models looked almost clumsy. +</P> + +<P> +The faces of the Boy Scouts fell. +</P> + +<P> +"If that machine can fly as well as she looks," said Rob to Merritt, +"she wins the first prize." +</P> + +<P> +"Not a doubt of it," was Merritt's reply. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, well," put in Tubby, for the three inseparables were standing +together, "if he can win the prize fairly, don't knock him. He +certainly has built a beautiful machine. You've got to give him credit +for that." +</P> + +<P> +And now, as Jack, with a triumphant smile at the glances of admiration +his model excited, strode to the starting point, elbowing small boys +aside, and drew from the hat, the man with the megaphone once more +arose. He held in his hand the result of the drawing and the order in +which the models would fly. +</P> + +<P> +"The f-i-r-s-t model to com-pete for the big p-r-ize," he bellowed, +"will be that of Thomas Maloney—a Bler-i-ot!" +</P> + +<P> +Poor Tom might have called his machine a Bleriot, but it is doubtful if +the designer of the original machine of that name would have recognized +the model as having any more than a distant relationship to the famous +type of monoplane. It was provided with a large tin propeller, +however, and seemed capable of at least accomplishing a flight. In +fact, at the trials in the morning it had flown well, and by some of +the lads was regarded as a sort of "dark horse." As Tom was on the +village team, as opposed to the Boy Scout contingent, he was greeted +with loud cheers and whistles by his friends as he stepped to the +starting line, and, holding his already wound up machine in his hand, +made ready to launch it. +</P> + +<P> +"Crack!" went the pistol. +</P> + +<P> +At the same instant Tom, with a thrusting motion, released his model; +but, alas! instead of darting forward like the Sparrow Hawk it was +named after, the craft ingloriously wobbled about eccentrically, and +finally alighted on an old lady's bonnet, causing her to exclaim as the +propeller whizzed round and entangled itself in her hair: +</P> + +<P> +"No good'll ever come of teaching lads to meddle with these here +contraptions." +</P> + +<P> +The model having finally been extricated, amid much laughter, and poor +Tom having offered mortified apologies, the announcer made known that +Hiram Nelson's Doodlebug monoplane would essay a flight. +</P> + +<P> +As the pistol sounded, Hiram launched his craft, and amid cheers from +the crowd it soared up, and, just clearing the red tape, settled +gracefully down a few feet the other side of the two hundred foot line. +</P> + +<P> +"Good for you, Hiram!" exclaimed Ernest Thompson, the bike scout, who +was acting as a patrol on the course. "Whose turn next?" +</P> + +<P> +"You kids wait till I get my Bleriot started," sneered Jack. Several +small boys near him, who were mortally afraid of the big fellow and +rather admired him as being "manly," set up a cheer at this. +</P> + +<P> +"Wait for Jack's dandy model to fly!" they cried. +</P> + +<P> +"Edward Rivers—model of a Curtiss biplane!" came the next announcement +through, the megaphone. +</P> + +<P> +Another cheer greeted this, as young Rivers was also on the "town team." +</P> + +<P> +The little Curtiss darted into the air at the pistol crack and flew +straight as an arrow for the red tape. It cleared it easily and +skimmed on down past the grand stand, and alighted, fluttering like a +tired butterfly, beyond Hiram's model. +</P> + +<P> +"Three hundred feet!" cried the announcer, amid a buzz of approval, +after the measurers of the course had done their work. +</P> + +<P> +"Paul Perkins—Bleriot!" was the next announcement. +</P> + +<P> +A hum of excitement went through the crowds that lined the track. It +began to look as if the record of Ed Rivers' machine would be hard to +beat, but from the determined look on his face and his gritted teeth it +was evident that Paul meant to try hard. +</P> + +<P> +Before the report of the pistol had died out, the yellow-winged +Dragonfly soared upward from Paul's hand and darted like a streak +across the red tape, clearing it at the highest altitude yet achieved +by any of the models. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurrah!" yelled the crowd. +</P> + +<P> +On and on sped the little Bleriot, while Paul watched it with +pride-flushed cheeks. It was evident that it was going to out-distance +the record made by Ed Rivers' machine. The Boy Scouts set up their +Patrol cry: +</P> + +<P> +"Kr-ee-ee-ee-ee!" +</P> + +<P> +As the little machine settled to the ground, far beyond the grand +stand, the officials ran out with their tapes, and presently the +announcement came blaring down the packed ranks of the onlookers: +</P> + +<P> +"Three hundred and fifty feet!" +</P> + +<P> +What a cheer went up then. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess you've got it won. Congratulations!" said Ed Rivers, pressing +forward to Paul's side. +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks, Ed," returned the other; "but 'there's many a slip,' you know, +and there are several others to be flown yet." +</P> + +<P> +Now came in rapid succession several of the smaller models and freak +designs. Some of these wobbled through the air and landed in the +crowd. Others sailed blithely up toward the red tape and just fell +short of clearing it. Another landed right on the tape and hung there, +the target of irreverent remarks from the crowd. +</P> + +<P> +While this was going on, Bill Bender, Jack Curtiss and Sam were in +close consultation. +</P> + +<P> +"Remember, you promised that if you won the prize you'd give that money +back," Sam whispered to Jack, "and for goodness' sake, don't forget it. +I half believe that those boys suspect us already." +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense," returned the bully. "And what if they do? We covered up +our tracks too well for them to have anything on us. They can't prove +anything, can they?" +</P> + +<P> +"I—I—I don't know," stammered Sam, and was about to say more, but the +clarion voice of the announcer was heard informing the crowd that: +</P> + +<P> +"John Curtiss' Bleriot model will now make a flight for the great +prize." +</P> + +<P> +With a confident smile on his face, Jack stepped forward and held his +model ready. The murmur of admiration that had greeted its first +appearance was repeated as he held it high in the sunlight and the +afternoon rays glinted and shimmered on its fittings and wings. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the model for my money," remarked a man in the crowd. +</P> + +<P> +"It's going to win, too," said Jack confidently. +</P> + +<P> +Just at that moment the pistol cracked, and Jack released his +much-admired air craft. +</P> + +<P> +Its flight showed that it was as capable of making as beautiful a +soaring excursion as its graceful outlines and careful finish seemed to +indicate. In a long, sweeping glide, it arose and cleared the red tape +by a greater margin than had Paul Perkins' model. +</P> + +<P> +"Jack Curtiss wins!" yelled the crowd, as the machine soared right on +and did not begin its downward swoop for some distance. After it had +alighted and the measurers had laid their tapes on the course, the +announcer megaphoned, amid a perfect tornado of roars and cheers: +</P> + +<P> +"The last flight, ladies and gentlemen—and apparently the winning +one—accomplished the remarkable distance of four hundred and fifty +feet—four hundred and fifty feet." +</P> + +<P> +"Three cheers for Jack Curtiss!" shouted Bill Bender, slapping Jack +heartily on the back and giving most of the cheers himself. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess those cubs won't be quite so stuck up now," commented Sam, +shaking Jack's hand warmly. +</P> + +<P> +"I was pretty sure I'd win," modestly remarked the bully, as he began +shouldering his way through the press toward the judges' stand. He was +closely followed by the boys, as it looked as if Paul Perkins might +have won the second prize and Ed Rivers the third. +</P> + +<P> +Urged by Bill Bender, the band began puffing away at "See, the +Conquering Hero Comes," and Jack, nothing averse to appearing in such a +role, bowed gracefully right and left to the admiring throngs. +</P> + +<P> +The professor shook hands warmly with the victorious Jack, and remarked: +</P> + +<P> +"You are to be congratulated, young man. I have rarely seen a better +model, and your skill does you great credit. Are you thinking of +taking up aeronautics seriously?" +</P> + +<P> +The bully, his face very red, stammered that he had entertained some +such thoughts. +</P> + +<P> +The professor was about to reply, when there came a sudden sound of +confusion among that portion of the crowd which had surrounded the +delegates deputed to pick up the aeroplanes and bring them to the +stand. This was in order that they might be exhibited as each prize +was awarded. A small boy with a very excited face was seen struggling +to get through the mass, and he finally gained the judges' stand. As +he faced the congratulatory professor he stuttered out: +</P> + +<P> +"Please, sir, there's something wrong about Jack Curtiss' machine." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean, you impudent young shaver!" shouted the bully, +turning white, nevertheless. +</P> + +<P> +"Let the lad speak," said Mr. Blake, who as one of the committee was +standing beside the professor. "What is it, my boy? Let me see. +You're Joe Digby, of the Eagle Patrol, aren't you." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir; and I live out on a farm near Jack Curtiss. I was watching +him fly his machine this morning, from behind a hedge, and I heard them +saying something about 'their store-made machine beating any country +boy's model.'" +</P> + +<P> +"He's a young liar! Pay no attention to him," stammered Jack, licking +his dry lips. +</P> + +<P> +"Silence, sir!" said Mr. Blake gravely. "Let us listen to what this +boy has to say. If he is not speaking the truth, you can easily +disprove it. Go on, my boy." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I guess that's about all I know about it: but I thought I ought +to tell you, sir," confusedly concluded the small lad. +</P> + +<P> +"You young runt, I'll half kill you if I catch you alone!" breathed +Jack, under his breath, as the lad sped off to join his companions. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, you are not going to pay any attention to that kid's—I +mean boy's—story," demanded Jack, addressing the professor. "It's +made out of whole cloth, I assure you." +</P> + +<P> +In the meantime the machines had been brought to the grand stand and +were being examined. Naturally, after young Digby's statement, Jack's +was one of the first to be scrutinized. The committee turned it over +and over, and were about to pass on it, when Mr. Wingate, who had been +bending attentively over the bully's model, gave a sudden exclamation. +</P> + +<P> +"Look here, gentlemen," he cried, pointing to a small tag which Jack +had evidently forgotten to remove, "I think this is conclusive +evidence. Here is the label of the 'Manhattan Model Works' pasted +right under this wing." +</P> + +<P> +"Somebody must have put it there. It's a job those Boy Scouts put up +on me," protested Tack. "I made that model every bit myself." +</P> + +<P> +"I regret to say that we must regard the price tag as conclusive +evidence that this machine comes from a store," said the professor +sternly, handing Jack his unlucky model. "You are disqualified for +entering a machine not of your own workmanship. +</P> + +<P> +"Stand back, please," he went on, as Jack tried to protest. "I want to +say," he went on in a loud tone, holding up his hand to command +attention, "that there has been a grave mistake made. The machine which +actually flew the longest distance is disqualified, as it was made at a +New York model factory. The first prize of fifty dollars, therefore, +goes to Paul Perkins, of the Boy Scouts, the second to Edward Rivers, +of Hampton, and the third to Hiram Green, also of the Boy Scouts. +</P> + +<P> +"Hold on one minute," he shouted, as the crowd began to cheer and hoot. +"There is an additional announcement to be made. The committee has +decided to offer a further reward of five dollars to Thomas Maloney, +whose model shows evidence of praiseworthy and painstaking work." +</P> + +<P> +As the cheers broke loose once more, Jack Curtiss and his cronies slunk +off through the crowd, and having placed the rejected model in the +buggy, drove off into the country in no very amiable or enviable frame +of mind. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you made a fine mess of it," grumbled Bill Bender savagely. "I +told you to look carefully and see that all the tags were off it." +</P> + +<P> +"It's no more my fault than yours," grated out Jack, lashing the horse +savagely, to work off some of his rage. "It's all the fault of those +young cubs of Rob Blake's. Let them look out, though, for I'll get +even with them before long, and in a way that will make them sit up and +take notice." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't forget that young mischief maker, Joe Digby," suggested Bill +Bender. "It was all his fault—the young spy!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I'll attend to him," Jack assured his chum, with a grating laugh +that boded no good for the youngest member of the Eagle Patrol. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A FORTUNATE DISCOVERY +</H3> + +<P> +"Want to go fishing?" Rob inquired over the telephone of Merritt +Crawford a few days later. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure," was the response. +</P> + +<P> +"We can run into Topsail Island and get a site for the camp picked at +the same time," suggested Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"Bully! I'll meet you at the wharf. Going to bring Tubby?" +</P> + +<P> +"You bet! We'll be there in ten minutes." +</P> + +<P> +"All right. Good-by." +</P> + +<P> +At the time set the three boys met on the wharf of the yacht club, and +were speedily ready to start on their trip. Rob brought along bluefish +squids and lines, and Tubby—never at a loss to scare up a hurried +lunch—had a basket full of good things to eat. +</P> + +<P> +The run to the island was made without incident, and the boys were glad +to see that, contrary to the captain's fears, his dog Skipper was all +right again, for the animal came bounding and barking down the wharf as +they drew near, in token of his gladness to see them. +</P> + +<P> +Attracted by his dog's barking, the old captain, who was at work in a +small potato patch he cultivated, came hobbling to meet the boys as +they tied up and disembarked. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, well, boys; come ter stay?" he cheerily remarked, as the three +lads shook hands. +</P> + +<P> +"No, we're off after 'blues,"' said Rob; "but we thought we'd drop in +and see how things are coming along with you, and if you have heard any +news yet concerning the robbery." +</P> + +<P> +"Not a thing, boys, not a thing," said the old man. "In fact, I +haven't left the island since my old safe was busted open. Skipper, as +yer see, got over his sickness. It's my belief that them fellers fed +him poisoned meat or something." +</P> + +<P> +"I shouldn't wonder," remarked Rob dryly. "It would be quite in their +line." +</P> + +<P> +"By the way," exclaimed the old man suddenly, "a queer thing happened +the other day. Skipper had been a-skirmishin' round the other side uv +the island after rabbits and critters, and he brought home this— Wait +a minute and I'll show it to yer." +</P> + +<P> +After some fumbling in his pocket, the old man produced a torn strip of +yellow material with a brass button attached to it. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder where that come from," he remarked, as he handed the fragment +to Rob for his inspection. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, it's khaki," exclaimed Rob, as he felt it. "And, by hokey!" he +ejaculated the next instant, "it's a piece of a Boy Scout uniform!" +</P> + +<P> +Old Skipper was jumping about in great excitement, and endeavoring to +sniff the bit of torn material as Rob examined it, and a sudden idea +struck the boy. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder if Skipper could pilot us to where he found this bit of +material." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you sure it's a bit of uniform?" asked Tubby doubtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Certain of it. No one else wears khaki in these parts. Hey, Skipper, +hey, good dog! Sic 'em, sic 'em!" cried Rob, holding up the khaki for +the intelligent creature to see. +</P> + +<P> +The animal seemed to be greatly excited and gave short, quick barks as +he danced about the boys. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we might try and see if he will lead us anywhere." remarked +Merritt somewhat dubiously. "At any rate, there's no harm done, except +wasting a little time; and if we can get on the track of our uniforms, +it's not such a much of a waste, after all." +</P> + +<P> +"He sure wants ter be off somewhere," observed the old captain, +watching the antics of his dog, whom he regarded in the light of a +human being. "He never acts nor talks that way unless he's got suthin' +on his mind. Yer boys follow him, and I'll bet he'll lead yer ter +suthin'. It may be nothin' more than a dead rabbit, and it may be what +ye think. I'll stay here an' dig my pertaters, fer my rheumatiz is +powerful bad today." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well, captain. We shan't be long," rejoined Rob, calling to the +dog. "Hey, Skipper, hey, old boy! After 'em, Skipper—after 'em!" +</P> + +<P> +The dog bounded on ahead of the three boys, occasionally looking back +to see if they were following and then plunging on again. +</P> + +<P> +"As the Captain said, he 'sure has got suthin' on his mind'!" laughed +Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +After traversing about a mile of beach, the dog suddenly bounded into a +thicket overhanging the shore and began barking furiously. +</P> + +<P> +"He's treed something, all right," remarked Rob, pushing the branches +aside. +</P> + +<P> +The next minute he gave a loud shout of triumph. +</P> + +<P> +"Look there, boys! Old Skipper sure did 'have suthin' on his mind'!" +</P> + +<P> +Peering over Rob's shoulder, the other two were able to make out two +hidden sacks, the mouth of one of which had been torn open, evidently +by the investigating Skipper. +</P> + +<P> +From the aperture appeared the torn sleeve of a Boy Scout's uniform, +and a brief searching of the sacks after they had been lugged out on +the beach revealed the entire stolen equipment. +</P> + +<P> +"Bones for you, Skipper, for the rest of your life!" promised Tubby, as +the dog, evidently well pleased with the petting he received and the +admiration showered upon him, pranced about on the beach and indulged +in a hundred antics. +</P> + +<P> +The only one of the uniforms damaged was the one that Skipper had torn. +The others were all intact, but badly crumpled, having been hastily +thrust into the sacks, and, as it appeared, tamped down to make them +fit more compactly. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what do you know about that?" was Merritt's astonished +exclamation, as one by one Rob drew forth the regimentals and laid them +on the beach. +</P> + +<P> +"You mean what does Jack Curtiss and Company know about that," +seriously returned Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"However, we found them—that's one thing to be enthusiastic over," +observed Tubby sagely. +</P> + +<P> +"I'd like just as well almost to find out exactly who hid them there," +was Merritt's reply. +</P> + +<P> +"The same folks that stole the old captain's seventy-five dollars, I +guess," returned Rob, thrusting the garments back into the sacks +preparatory to carrying them to the boat. "Here, Tubby, you carry this +one—it'll take some of that fat off you to do a hike along the beach +with it. I'll shoulder this one." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, boys, yer certainly made a haul, thanks ter old Skipper here," +declared Captain Job, after the delighted boys had made known their +discovery. "He's a smart one, I tell yer. No better dog ever lived." +</P> + +<P> +"That's what we think," agreed Merritt warmly, patting old Skipper's +black and white head. +</P> + +<P> +The recovery of the uniforms had quite put all thoughts of blue or any +other fishing out of the boys' heads, and after bidding farewell to the +captain, who promised to point out to them a good site for a camp on +their next visit, they made their best speed back to Hampton. On their +way to the armory they spread the news of their discovery broadcast, so +that in a short time the town was buzzing with the information that the +Boy Scouts' lost uniforms had been found under most surprising +circumstances; and the editor of the Hampton News, who was just going +to press, held his paper up till he could get in an item about it. +</P> + +<P> +It was this item that caught Jack Curtiss' eye, the next morning as he +and Bill Bender and Sam were seated in Bill's "club room." +</P> + +<P> +"Confound those brats, they seem always to be putting a spike in our +schemes!" muttered Jack, as he handed the paper to Bill for that +worthy's perusal. "Which reminds me," he went on, "that we haven't +attended to the case of that young Digby yet." +</P> + +<P> +"I wish you'd leave those kids alone for a while, Jack," objected Sam, +in his usual whining tones. "You've had your fun with them. They've +had to do without their uniforms for a long time. Now let up on them, +won't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you're feeling friendly toward 'em, now, are you?" sneered Jack. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no, it isn't that," Sam hastened to assure him; "nothing of the +kind. What I mean is that we are liable to get into serious trouble if +we keep on this way. I saw Hank Handcraft the other day, and I can +tell you he's in no very amiable mood. He wants his money for the +other night, he says, and he intimated that if he didn't get it he'd +make things hot for us." +</P> + +<P> +"He'd better not," glowered Bill Bender, looking up from his paper. +"We know a few things about friend Hank." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and he knows a good deal about us that wouldn't look well in +print," retorted Sam gloomily. "I wish I'd never gone into that thing +the other night." +</P> + +<P> +"Pshaw, it was just borrowing a little money from the old man, wasn't +it?" snorted Jack. "We'll pay it back some time." +</P> + +<P> +"When we get it," rejoined Sam more gloomily than ever; "and I don't +see much immediate chance of that." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, well, cheer up; we'll get it all right somehow," Jack assured him. +"And in connection with that I've got a scheme. Why shouldn't we three +fellows go camping after the motor-boat races?" +</P> + +<P> +"Go camping—where?" asked Bill, looking up surprised. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I would have suggested Topsail Island, but those pestiferous +kids are going there, I hear. However, there are plenty of other +islands right inside the Upper Inlet. What's the matter with our +taking possession of one of those?" +</P> + +<P> +The Upper Inlet was a sort of narrow and shallow bay a short distance +above Topsail Island, and was well known to both Bill and Jack, who had +been there in the winter on frequent ducking expeditions. +</P> + +<P> +"We might as well do something like that before school opens," said +Sam. "I think that Jack's suggestion is a pretty good one." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know that it's so bad myself," patronizingly admitted Bill; +"but what connection has that with your scheme for getting money, Jack?" +</P> + +<P> +"A whole lot," replied the bully. "I'm going to get even with that +young Digby if it takes me a year. He cost me the fifty-dollar prize, +and, beside that, all the kids in the village now call me 'cheater,' +and hardly anybody will have anything to do with me." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, how do you propose to get even by going camping?" inquired Bill. +</P> + +<P> +"I plan to take that Digby kid with me," rejoined Jack calmly. +</P> + +<P> +"You're crazy!" exclaimed Bill. "Why, we'd have the whole country +after us for kidnapping." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I've got a better plan than that," laughed Jack coolly, "and we +won't need to be mixed up in it at all. It'll all come back on Hank +Handcraft, I owe him a grudge for bothering me about money, anyhow, the +old beach-combing nuisance!" +</P> + +<P> +"But where do we come in to get any benefit out of it?" demanded Sam. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll explain that to you later," said Jack grandiloquently. "I +haven't quite worked out all the details yet; but if you'll meet me +here this evening I'll have them all hot and smoking for you." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +JACK FORMS A PLOT +</H3> + +<P> +The next morning Jack lost no time in making his way toward Hank +Handcraft's tumble-down abode. He found its owner in, and likewise +disposed to be quarrelsome. +</P> + +<P> +"'Oh, here you are at last!" exclaimed the hairy and unkempt outcast, +as the bully approached heavily through the yielding sand. "I'd about +given you up, and was seriously contemplating making a visit to your +home—" +</P> + +<P> +"If you ever did," breathed Jack threateningly. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," grinned Hank impudently, with his most malicious chuckle, "if I +did, what then?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'd have you thrown out of the house," calmly replied Jack, seating +himself on a big log of driftwood, once the rib of a schooner that went +ashore on the dangerous shoals off Hampton and pounded herself to +pieces. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no; you wouldn't have me thrown out!" chuckled Hank, resuming his +task of scaling a mackerel. "Cause if you did, I'd go to the chief of +police and tell him something about the robbery of the armory and the +cracking of old man Hudgins' safe." +</P> + +<P> +"You wouldn't dare to do that!" sneered Jack. "You are implicated in +that as badly as we are." +</P> + +<P> +"That's a matter of opinion," rejoined Hank, industriously scraping +away at his fish, and showing no trace of any emotion in his pale eyes. +"Anyhow, what I want right now is some cash. You agreed to pay me well +for what I did the other night, and I haven't seen the money yet." +</P> + +<P> +"Be a little patient, can't you?" irritably retorted the other. "Money +doesn't grow on trees. Now listen, Hank. How would you like to get a +nice little sum of money—more than I could give you—for camping out +on Kidd's Island, in the Upper Inlet, for a few days?" +</P> + +<P> +Hank's fishy eyes showed some trace of feeling at this. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" he asked. "Is this a new joke you're putting up on +me?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I am perfectly serious. You can make a good sum by following our +directions, and I'll see that you get into no trouble over it." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, if you can do that, I'll keep my mouth shut," chuckled Hank in +his mirthless way; "but if I don't get some money pretty quick, I'm +going to make trouble fer somebody, I tell you!" +</P> + +<P> +"Haven't you got some place where we can talk that is less exposed than +this?" said Jack, looking about him apprehensively. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure, there's my mansion," grinned Hank, pointing over his shoulder +with a fishy thumb. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the place," said Jack, "although I wish you'd clean it out +occasionally. Now listen, Hank, here's the plan—" +</P> + +<P> +Still talking, the ill-assorted pair entered the ruinous shack. +</P> + +<HR WIDTH="60%" ALIGN="center"> + +<P> +Motor-boat engines were popping everywhere. The club house was dressed +in bright-colored bunting from veranda rail to ridge pole. Ladies +strolled about beneath their parasols with correctly dressed yachtsmen, +asking all sorts of absurd questions about the various boats that lay +ready to take part in the various events. It was the day of the +Hampton Yacht Club's regatta. +</P> + +<P> +Among the throng the Boy Scouts threaded their way, watching with +interest the events as they were run off, one after the other. But +their minds were centered on the race for the trophy which, although +there were several other entries, had been practically conceded to Sam +Redding's hydroplane. +</P> + +<P> +"She's a wonder," said one of the onlookers, pointing from the porch to +the float, where Jack Curtiss, Bill Bender and Sam were leaning over +their speedy craft, stripping her of every bit of weight not absolutely +necessary. On the opposite side of the float the crew of the Flying +Fish, the Snark, the Bonita and the Albacore were equally busy over +their craft. +</P> + +<P> +"Douse the engine with oil," directed Rob, as Merritt gave the piece +of machinery a final inspection; "and how about that extra set of +batteries?" +</P> + +<P> +"They're aboard," rejoined Tubby, who was perspiringly removing +cushions and other surplus gear from the fleet boat. +</P> + +<P> +"That's right; if it comes to an emergency, we may need them," said +Rob. "Nothing like being prepared." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think we have any show?" asked Tubby, who was to be a sort of +general utility man in the crew. Rob was to steer. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see why not," rejoined the other, wiping his oily hands on a +bit of waste. "The race is a handicap one, and we get an allowance on +account of our engine not being as powerful as the hydroplane's." +</P> + +<P> +The course to be run was a sort of elongated, or isosceles triangle. +The turning point was at the head of the inlet, a buoy with a big red +ball on it being placed just inside the rough waters of the bar. It +made a course of about five miles. The race for the Hampton Motor Boat +Club's cup, for which the boys and the others were entered, was twice +round. +</P> + +<P> +The waters about the club house were so dotted with motor craft which +darted about in every direction that Commodore Wingate of the club and +the other regatta officials had a hard time keeping the course clear +for the contestants. On the threat, however, that the races would be +called off if a clear course was not kept, order was finally obtained. +</P> + +<P> +The boys were too busy to pay much attention to the results of the +other races, but a member of the club who had won the Blake trophy for +the cabin cruiser boats, warned the boys to beware of the turn above +the far buoy. +</P> + +<P> +"It's choppy as the dickens there," he said, as he made his way to the +club house, "and you want to take the turn easily. Don't 'bank' it, or +you'll lose more than you gain." +</P> + +<P> +The boys thanked him for his advice, and laid it to heart to be used +when the race was on. +</P> + +<P> +Sam's boat having been tuned up to the last notch of readiness, Jack +Curtiss strolled consequentially about on the float, making bets freely +on the hydroplane's chance of winning. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll bet you twenty-five to any odds you like that the hydroplane wins +the race," he said, addressing Colin Maxwell, the son of a well-to-do +merchant from a neighboring town. Young Maxwell had heard nothing of +Jack's mean trick in the aeroplane contest, and therefore didn't mind +talking to him. +</P> + +<P> +"I like the look of the Flying Fish pretty well," was the response, +"and I'll take you up. You'll have to give me odds, though." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, certainly," responded the bully, with a confident grin; +"twenty-five to thirty, say." +</P> + +<P> +"Make it thirty-five." +</P> + +<P> +"All right; done," said Jack. "You know me, of course; no necessity of +putting up the money." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, not the least," rejoined the other politely, though had he known +the state of Jack's finances he might have thought differently. +</P> + +<P> +The bully went about making several bets at similar odds, until finally +Bill Bender came up behind him and in a low voice warned him to be +careful. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you going to do if we lose?" he breathed. "You haven't got a +cent to pay with." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it's like taking gum from a busted slot machine," rejoined the +bully, with a laugh. "They can't win. We know what their boat can do, +and the race is practically conceded to us. Besides—" he placed his +hand close to Bill's ear and whispered a few minutes. "I guess that's +a bad scheme, eh?" he resumed in a louder tone, though his voice was +still pitched too low for those about to hear him. "If it's done +right, we'll ram them and it'll never be noticed." +</P> + +<P> +"Hum, I'm not so sure," grunted Bill. "However, if we really perceive +we are losing, I don't see what else we are to do. Are you going to +steer?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure. Sam lost his nerve at the last moment—like him, eh? It's a +good thing, though, I'm to be at the wheel, because I don't think Sam +would have had the courage to carry out my plan." +</P> + +<P> +"Not he," said Bill, with a shrug. "He's got the backbone of a snail." +</P> + +<P> +More of this interesting conversation was cut short by the "bang" of +the pistol which warned the contestants of the racing boats to get +ready. +</P> + +<P> +"The race for the Hampton Yacht Club's trophy will take place in five +minutes!" cried the announcer. +</P> + +<P> +The five contestants cast off from the float and slowly chugged out to +a position in the rear of the starting line and behind the committee +boat. Then came the nervous work of awaiting the starting gun. The +boys had all donned slickers, and the crew of the hydroplane wore +rubber coats which covered them completely. A sort of spray hood had +been erected over the hydroplane's engines. +</P> + +<P> +"That means she's going to do her best," remarked Rob, pointing to this +indication that great speed was expected. "That's what we want to do, +too, isn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +At last came the gun that started off the Snark, the Bonita and the +Albacore, which were all of about the same speed. +</P> + +<P> +"Our turn next," said Rob, who had previously received his instructions +from the committee. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'm all ready," said Merritt, nervously twisting a grease cup. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE "FLYING FISH" ON HER METTLE +</H3> + +<P> +"Bang!" +</P> + +<P> +With a nervous twitch, Rob threw in the first speed clutch, for the +engine had been kept running on her neutral speed, and was able to take +up way as soon as the propeller began to "bite." +</P> + +<P> +Rapidly the boy increased the speed up to the third "forward," and the +Flying Fish darted through the water like a pickerel after a fat frog. +</P> + +<P> +"Bang!" came behind them once more, as the sound of the cheers which +greeted them as they shot across the line grew faint. +</P> + +<P> +"Crouch low!" shouted Rob back to his crew. "We'll need every inch of +advantage we can get." +</P> + +<P> +The white spray shot in a perfect fountain from the sharp bow of the +Flying Fish, and her every frame and plank quivered under the vibration +of her powerful engine. +</P> + +<P> +"She's doing better than she ever did!" shouted Merritt to Tubby, who +crouched in the center of the boat, ready to take any part in an +emergency. +</P> + +<P> +The other nodded and kept his eyes ahead on the white wake of the other +three craft. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the Albacore began to fall back. As the Flying Fish roared by +her, Rob heard a shout of something about "missing fire." +</P> + +<P> +A steady downpour of spray was drenching the occupants of the racer, +but they paid scant heed to it. Rob dived in his pockets and put on a +pair of goggles. The spray was blinding him. He waved to Tubby to go +further astern and keep the rear part of the boat well down when they +made the sharp turn at the red buoy. +</P> + +<P> +In an incredibly short time, it seemed, the turning buoy faced them. +Rob set his wheel over and spun the Flying Fish through the rougher +water at the mouth of the inlet at as sharp an angle as he dared. In a +few seconds more they had passed the Snark and the Bonita, which were +racing bow and bow. The crew of the Flying Fish, though, knew that +both boats had a time allowance over them, so that the mere passing +didn't mean much, unless they could increase the lead. +</P> + +<P> +Faster and faster the boy's craft forged ahead. A thrill shot through +Rob's frame. The Flying Fish was showing what she was made of. +</P> + +<P> +But as he turned his head swiftly he saw that the hydroplane had +rounded the stake and was coming down the straight stretch of water +like an express train. A great wave of water shot out on either side +of her bow. So low in the water had her powerful engines dragged her +that she seemed to be barely on the surface, and yet, as the boys knew, +she was actually "coasting" over the surface. +</P> + +<P> +Try as he would, Rob could not get an ounce more speed out of the +Flying Fish, and as the speedy hydroplane roared by them they heard a +mocking shout from her crew. +</P> + +<P> +Rob, more determined than ever to stick it out, sent the Flying Fish +plunging at top speed through the wash of the speedy craft, hoping to +keep up the distance between them at least equal. But as he saw the +hydroplane gradually drawing away and heard the great roar that went up +from the thrilled spectators as she shot by the club house, his heart +sank. +</P> + +<P> +It looked as if the Plying Fish was beaten. And now the club house +loomed near once more. +</P> + +<P> +"Go on, Plying Fish, go on!" +</P> + +<P> +"You've got a time allowance on her!" +</P> + +<P> +"Push along, Rob!" +</P> + +<P> +"Kr-ee-ee-ee-ee!" +</P> + +<P> +A tumult of other shouts roared in Rob's ears as they tore past the +crowded porch. +</P> + +<P> +"Kr-ee-ee-ee-ee!" screamed back Merritt and Tubby, with waves of the +hand to the brown uniformed figures they could see perched on every +point of vantage. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the Flying Fish began to creep up on the hydroplane, which had +slowed down for some reason. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurrah! We've got'em now!" shouted Merritt, as he saw, far ahead, +Jack and the other two occupants of the seeming winner leaning over the +craft's engine, the hood having been raised. +</P> + +<P> +Rob said nothing, but with burning eyes clung to the wheel and shot the +Flying Fish straight ahead on her course. +</P> + +<P> +As they thundered past the hydroplane, the slender craft lay almost +motionless on the water, with a great cloud of blue smoke tumbling out +of her exhausts. +</P> + +<P> +"Looks like they've flooded her cylinder," said Merritt, observing +these signs. +</P> + +<P> +"Kr-ee-ee-ee-ee!" +</P> + +<P> +It was Tubby giving utterance triumphantly to the Eagle scream. +</P> + +<P> +Jack Curtiss straightened up angrily as he heard, his face black and +greasy from his researches into the engine. He shook a menacing fist +at the others as they tore by. The next minute, however, a quick look +back by Rob showed that the hydroplane was coming ahead again, and that +the engine trouble, whatever it was, had been adjusted. +</P> + +<P> +As they neared the turning point, Rob saw, to his dismay, that the +hydroplane was creeping up faster and faster. It was the last lap, and +if Sam Redding's boat passed them at the stake the race was as good as +over. +</P> + +<P> +"Come on, Flying Fish! Come on!" shouted Rob, as the hydroplane crept +ever nearer and nearer to his boat's stern. +</P> + +<P> +Rob noticed, as he swung a trifle wide of the stake raft, that it +seemed to be the intention of Jack Curtiss, who was at the wheel, to +swing the hydroplane round the sharp angle of the course inside of the +Flying Fish. Guessing that this would mean disaster to her ill-advised +occupants, he waved his hand at them to keep out. +</P> + +<P> +"When we need your advice we'll send for it. This is the time we've +got you!" yelled Jack Curtiss, bending low over his wheel, as he grazed +by the Flying Fish's stern to take the inside course. +</P> + +<P> +At the same instant, so quickly that the boys did not even get a mental +picture of it, the hydroplane overturned. +</P> + +<P> +Taking the curve at such a speed and at such a sharp angle had, as Jack +had surmised, proved too much for her stability. Her occupants were +pitched struggling into the water. +</P> + +<P> +"Shall we pick them up?" yelled Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"No," shouted Rob; "they've all got life belts on. A launch from the +club will get them." +</P> + +<P> +Indeed, as he spoke a launch was seen putting off to the rescue. The +accident had been witnessed from the club, and as the water was warm, +the boys were satisfied that no harm would come to the three from their +immersion. +</P> + +<P> +But the delay almost proved fatal to the Flying Fish's chance of +winning. Close behind her now came creeping up the speedy Albacore. +</P> + +<P> +But a few hundred feet before the finish the Flying Fish darted ahead +once more, and shook off her opponent amid a great roar of yells and +whoops and cheers. An instant later she shot across the line—a winner. +</P> + +<P> +"Bang!" went the gun, in token that the race was finished. +</P> + +<P> +"I congratulate you," said Commodore Wingate, as the boys brought their +craft up to the float. "It was a well-fought race." +</P> + +<P> +And now came the captains of the Albacore, Snark and Bonita. +</P> + +<P> +"You won the race fairly and squarely," said the former, shaking Rob's +hand. "I presume, commodore, the time was taken?" +</P> + +<P> +"It has been," replied that official. "The Flying Fish wins by one +minute and four and seven hundredths seconds." +</P> + +<P> +More cheers greeted this announcement, mingled with laughter and some +sympathy, as the club launch, towing the capsized hydroplane, puffed up +to the float. From the launch emerged three crestfallen figures with +dripping garments. But wet as he was, Jack Curtiss was not going to +surrender the race without a protest. +</P> + +<P> +"A foul! We claim a foul! The Flying Fish fouled us!" he shouted. +</P> + +<P> +"My dear young man," calmly replied the commodore, "I was watching you +every foot of the way through binoculars, and I should rather say that +you fouled the Flying Fish. Anyhow, you should have better sense than +to try to shave round that turn so closely." +</P> + +<P> +More mortified, and angrier than ever, Jack strode off to put on dry +clothes, followed by his equally chagrined companions, who, however, +had sense enough now not to make any protests. They knew well enough +that Jack, in his hurry to grab the prize, had attempted a foolish and +dangerous thing which had cost them the race. +</P> + +<P> +"A great race, a great race," said Mr. Blake, as the boys, followed by +the crowd, entered the club house, where the awards were to be +distributed. "You boys certainly covered yourselves with glory," he +went on. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, and here is your reward. I hope it will stimulate you to put up +a fine defense for it next year," said Commodore Wingate, handing to +the elated boys a fine engraved silver cup, the trophy of the Hampton +Yacht Club. +</P> + +<P> +"Get up and make a speech!" shouted some one. +</P> + +<P> +The boys felt inclined to run for it. +</P> + +<P> +"Go ahead! Make some sort of a talk," urged Rob, helping Tubby on to +the platform from which the prizes had been handed out. +</P> + +<P> +"Ladies and gentlemen," puffed the stout youth, "we want to thank you +for your congratulations and thank the club for the fine cup. +Er—er—er—we thank you." +</P> + +<P> +And having made what was perhaps quite as good a speech as some of his +elders', Tubby stepped down amid loud and prolonged cheering. +</P> + +<P> +Up in the dressing room Jack and his cronies, changing into other, +garments, heard the sounds of applause. +</P> + +<P> +"It's high time something was done," said Bill, as he gazed from a +window at several of the yacht club attendants bailing out the unlucky +hydroplane. "Those young beggars will be owning the town next." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE EAGLES IN CAMP +</H3> + +<P> +The next few days were full of excitement and preparation for the Boy +Scouts. Their headquarters resounded all day to the tramp of feet, and +the Manual of Instructions was consulted day and night. The official +tents had arrived, and every boy in the Patrol was eager for the time +to arrive to put them up. So much so that two or three confessed that +they could hardly sleep at night in their impatience for the hour when +the embarkation for Topsail Island was to take place. +</P> + +<P> +Besides the tents, there was much other equipment to be overhauled and +set in order, for, before their departure, the boys were to be reviewed +by their scout master and a field secretary from New York. There were +haversack straps to be replaced, laces mended, axes sharpened, "Billys" +polished and made to shine like new tin, and a hundred and one things +to be done. At last, however—although it seemed that it would never +come—the eventful Monday arrived, as eventful days of all kinds have a +habit of doing; and the Eagle Patrol, spick and span and shining from +tan boots to campaign hats, fell in line behind the band. Proudly they +paraded up the street, with their green and black Eagle Patrol sign +fluttering gallantly in the van. +</P> + +<P> +The "reviewing stand" was the post-office steps, around which most of +the citizens of Hampton and the proud parents and relatives of the +young scouts were assembled. +</P> + +<P> +Plenty of applause greeted them, as, in response to Rob's orders, given +in the sharp, military manner, they drew up in line and gave the Boy +Scout's salute. This done, the young scouts went through a smart drill +with the staffs they carried. Then, after saluting once more, and +being warmly complimented on their appearance by the field secretary, +they marched off to the wharf where they were to embark for their camp. +</P> + +<P> +The day before Merritt, Hiram Nelson, Paul Perkins and the three +"tender feet"—Martin Green, Walter Lonsdale and Joe Digby—had been +told off by Rob as on "pioneer service"; that is to say, that they had +gone down to the island in the Flying Fish. Arrived there, they +selected a good spot for the camp, aided by Commodore Wingate's and +Captain Hudgins' suggestions, and set up the tents and made the other +necessary preparations. The camp was therefore practically ready, for +the "army" to move into. +</P> + +<P> +At Tubby's special request, a list of the rations for the week's camp +had been made out by Rob and affixed to the bulletin board in the +headquarters of the Eagles. As perhaps some of my young readers may +care to know what to take on a similar expedition, is the list, +exclusive of meat, which was to be brought from the mainland, and fish, +which they expected to catch themselves: +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> + Oatmeal, 8 lbs.;<BR> + rice, 4 lbs.;<BR> + crackers, 35 lbs.;<BR> + chocolate, 1 1-2 lbs.;<BR> + tea, 3 lbs;<BR> + coffee, 1 lb.;<BR> + lard, 6 lbs.;<BR> + sugar, 8 lbs.;<BR> + condensed milk, 10 cans;<BR> + butter, 4 lbs.;<BR> + eggs, 12 dozen;<BR> + bacon, 20 lbs.;<BR> + preserves, 14 jars;<BR> + prunes, 8 lbs.;<BR> + maple syrup and molasses, 4 quarts;<BR> + potatoes, 1 bushel;<BR> + white beans, 6 quarts;<BR> + canned corn, 6 tins;<BR> + canned tomatoes, 6 tins;<BR> + flour, 35 lbs.;<BR> + baking powder, 2 lbs.;<BR> + salt, 4 lbs.;<BR> + pepper, 2 ounces.<BR> +</P> + +<P> +"Well," Tubby had remarked, as he gazed attentively at the list, "we +won't starve, anyhow." +</P> + +<P> +"I should say not," laughed Rob; "and besides all that, I've got lots +of lines and squids, and the blues and mackerel are running good." +</P> + +<P> +"Can't I take along my twenty-two rifle—that island's just swarming +with rabbits, and I think I heard some quail when we were there the +other day," pleaded Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"Not in season," answered Rob laconically. "Laws not up on them till +November." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, bother the law!" blurted out Merritt. "However, I suppose if +there wasn't one there wouldn't be any rabbits left." +</P> + +<P> +"I guess you're right," agreed Tubby. "Still, it does seem hard to +have to look at them skip about and not be able to take a shot at them." +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe we can set a springle and snare some," hopefully suggested +Tubby, as a way out of the difficulty; "that wouldn't be as bad as +shooting them, you know, and I can build a springle that will strangle +them instantaneously." +</P> + +<P> +"No fair, Tubby," laughed Rob. "You know, a boy scout promises to obey +the law, and the game law is as much a law as any other." +</P> + +<P> +Arrived at the L wharf, the boys found the Flying Fish and Captain +Hudgins' Barracuda waiting for them. With much laughter they piled +in—their light-heartedness and constant joking reminding such +onlookers, as had ever seen the spectacle, of a band of real soldiers +going to the front or embarking for foreign stations. +</P> + +<P> +With three ear-splitting cheers and a final yell of, "Kr-ee-ee-ee-ee!" +the little flotilla got under way. +</P> + +<P> +They arrived at the camping ground at the northeast end of the island +before noon, and found that the "pioneers" appointed by Rob had done +their work well. Each tent was placed securely on a level patch of +sandy ground, cleared from brush and stamped flat. The pegs were driven +extra deep in anticipation of a gale, and an open cook tent, with flaps +that could be fastened down in bad weather, stood to one side. +</P> + +<P> +A small spring had been excavated by the pioneers, and an old barrel +sunk in place, which had filled in the night and now presented +sparkling depths of cool, clear water. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose that water is all right, captain?" inquired Leader Rob, with +a true officer's regard for his troops. +</P> + +<P> +"Sweet as a butternut, son," rejoined the old man. "Makes the sick +strong and the strong stronger, as the medicine advertisements say." +</P> + +<P> +For the present, the cooking was to be done on a regular camp fire +which was built between two green logs laid lengthwise and converging +toward the end. The tops of these had, under Commodore Wingate's +directions, been slightly flattened with an axe. At each end a forked +branch had been set upright in the ground, with a green limb laid +between them. From this limb hung "cooking hooks," consisting of green +branches with hooked ends at one extremity to hang over the long +timber, and a nail driven in the other from which to hang the pots. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the best form of camp fire, boys," said Commodore—or perhaps +we would better call him scout master now—Wingate, who had accompanied +the boys to see them settled. "Now, then, the next thing to do is to +run up the Stars and Stripes and plant the Eagle flag. Then you'll be +all O.K." +</P> + +<P> +Little Andy Bowles made the woods behind them echo with the stirring +call of "assembly," and halliards were reeved on a previously cut pole, +about fifteen feet in height. The Stars and Stripes were attached, and +while the whole company stood at attention and gave the scout salute, +Scout Master Wingate raised the colors. Three loud, shrill cheers +greeted Old Glory as it blew bravely out against the cloudless blue. +</P> + +<P> +"That's a pretty sight now, shiver my timbers if it ain't," observed +old Captain Hudgins, who had stood, hat in hand, during the ceremony. +"I've seen Old Glory in many a foreign port, and felt like takin' off +my hat and givin' three cheers fer the old flag; but I never seen her +look better or finer than she does a-streakin' out from that there bit +of timber." +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Patrol cooks," was Scout Master Wingate's next command, "it's +only an hour to dinner time, and we want the first mess to be right. +Come on, and we'll get the pot boiling." +</P> + +<P> +Cook duty fell that day to Hiram Nelson and Walter Lonsdale, and under +the scout master's directions they soon had potatoes peeled, beans in +water, and a big piece of stew meat chopped up with vegetables in a +capacious pot. +</P> + +<P> +After every errand to the store tent, Walter was anxious to know if it +was not yet time to light the fire. +</P> + +<P> +"Never be in a hurry to light your fire when you are in the woods," +rejoined the scout master; "otherwise you will be so busy tending the +fire you won't be able to prepare your food for cooking. Now we're all +ready for the fire, though, and you can bring me some dry bark and +small sticks from that pile of wood the pioneers laid in yesterday." +</P> + +<P> +This was promptly done, and the lads watched the next step with +interest. They saw the scout master take a tiny pile of the sticks and +then light a roll of bark and thrust it into them. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought you piled them up all criss-cross," remarked Hiram. +</P> + +<P> +"No woodsman does that, my boy," was the rejoinder. "Now get me some +larger timber from that pile, and I'll show you how to go about it like +regular trappers." +</P> + +<P> +The fire builder shoved the ends of the sticks into the blaze and then +the bean pot was hung in place. +</P> + +<P> +"We won't put the potatoes on now, as they take less time," he +remarked; "those beans will take the longest." +</P> + +<P> +Soon the heat was leaping up about the pots, and the cheerful crackle +and incense of the camp fire filled the air. As the sticks burned down +the scout master shoved the ends farther into the blaze, instead of +throwing them on top of it. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, then, boys, you've had your first lesson in camp fire making and +cooking," he announced. "Now go ahead, and let's see what kind of a +dinner you can produce. I'm going for a tour of exploration of the +island." +</P> + +<P> +Among the other things the pioneers had accomplished was the building +of a table large enough to seat the entire Patrol, with planks set on +logs as seats. Hiram put Walter to setting this, while he burned his +fingers and smudged his face over his cookery. Long before the beans +seemed any nearer to what experience taught the young cook they ought +to be, Walter announced that the table was all set, with its tin cups +and dishes and steel knives and forks. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly, while Hiram was considering putting the potatoes on their +hook, there came from the rear of the store tent the most appalling +succession of squeals and screams the boy had ever heard. Springing to +his feet, he dashed to the scene of the conflict—for such it seemed to +be though not without a heart that beat rather faster than usual. He +bad no idea what the creatures could be that were producing all the +uproar, and for all he knew they might have been bears. +</P> + +<P> +Behind him came Walter, rather pale, but determined to do his best as a +Boy Scout to fight off any wild beasts that might be attacking the +camp. As he dashed behind the tent, however, Hiram was impelled to +give a loud laugh. The contestants—for he had rightly judged they +were in high dispute—were two small black pigs which had looted a bag +of oatmeal from under the flap of the store tent and were busily +engaged in fighting over their spoils. +</P> + +<P> +"Get out, you brutes! Scat!" shouted the boy, bringing down a +long-handled spoon he carried over the backs of the disputants. +</P> + +<P> +The spoon, being almost red-hot, the clamor of the porkers redoubled, +and with indignant squeals and grumblings they dashed off into the +dense growth of scrub oak and pine that covered the island in its +interior. At the same moment the captain, who had been taking a snooze +under some small bushes, awoke with a start. +</P> + +<P> +"Eh—eh—eh! What's all that?" he exclaimed, hearing the yells. "Why, +it's that plagued Betsy and Jane, my two young sows," he cried the next +moment. "Consarn and keelhaul the critters, they're breakin' out all +the time. I reckon they're headed fer home now," he added, when Hiram +related how he had scared them. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad that they were nothing but pigs, captain," said Hiram, going +back with flushed cheeks to his cookery. "I was afraid for a minute +they were I hardly know what. We'll have to fix that store tent more +snugly in future." +</P> + +<P> +"And I'll have ter take a double reef in my pig Pen," chuckled the +captain. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE CHUMS IN PERIL +</H3> + +<P> +Even the epicurean Tubby Hopkins voted dinner that day a great success, +and Hiram, with becoming modesty, took his congratulations blushingly. +In mid-afternoon, after seeing that the camp was in good working order, +the scout masters started for the home shore in Captain Hudgins's boat, +which was also to bring back some additional supplies for the next day. +</P> + +<P> +After dinner Rob had assigned Merritt and Tubby to form a "fishing +squad," to range seaward in the Flying Fish and "halt and detain" all +the bluefish they could apprehend. The others were given the afternoon +to range the island and practice up their woodcraft and landmark work, +while Rob busied himself in his tent, which was equipped with a small +folding camp table, in filling out his pink blank reports which were to +be forwarded to Commodore Wingate and dispatched by him to the +headquarters of the Boy Scouts in New York. +</P> + +<P> +Merritt and Tubby were both ardent fishermen, and in response to +Hiram's pleadings, they allowed him to accompany them on their +expedition. The fish were running well, and the boys cast and pulled +in some time without particularly noticing how far out to sea they had +gone. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the stout youth, who was fishing with an unusually heavy line +and hook, felt a hard tug on his apparatus, so powerful a tweak, in +fact, that it almost pulled him overboard. He tried to haul in, but +the resistance on the other end of his line was so great that he was +compelled to twist it about a cleat in order to avoid either letting go +or being dragged into the sea. +</P> + +<P> +"What in the name of Sam Hill have you hooked?" gasped Merritt, as the +Flying Fish began to move through the water faster than even her engine +could propel her. +</P> + +<P> +"I've not the least idea," remarked Tubby placidly, "but I rather think +it must be a whale." +</P> + +<P> +"Whale nothing!" exclaimed Merritt scornfully and with superior wisdom. +"Whales sound, don't they?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, there's not been a sound out of this one so far," truthfully +observed Hiram. +</P> + +<P> +"What kind of a sound do they make, corporal?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you chump," responded Merritt good-naturedly, "you've lived by the +sea all your life, and you don't know how a whale sounds. Sound means +when a whale blows, spouts, sends up a big fountain of water." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I see," responded Hiram, much enlightened. "But see here, +Merritt, whatever we are fast to is beginning to pick up speed pretty +rapidly. Don't you think we'd better cut the line or try to haul in?" +</P> + +<P> +"Haul in! Not much!" exclaimed Tubby indignantly. "We'll just hang on +till we tire him out, that's what we'll do, and then haul in." +</P> + +<P> +"But we're getting a good way out from shore," objected Hiram, who, +however much at home he was at the key of a wireless apparatus, had no +great relish for blue water in a small motor boat. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you worry, sonny," put in Merritt patronizingly. "We'll be all +right. My, that was a plunge!" +</P> + +<P> +As he spoke the bow of the Flying Fish dipped till she shipped a few +gallons of green water. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll pay out some more line," said the unperturbed Tubby. "I guess +whatever we're onto begins to believe that he has swallowed something +pretty indigestible." +</P> + +<P> +Faster and faster the Flying Fish began to cut through the sea. The +water sprayed out from both sides of her cutwater in a steady stream. +</P> + +<P> +"She's doing as well as she did the day of the race," said Merritt, +with a laugh, gazing at Hiram's rather pale face. The wireless youth +was casting longing glances at the shore. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I wish Mr. Whale, or whatever he is, would come up and let us +have a look at him!" exclaimed Tubby suddenly. "This is getting pretty +monotonous." +</P> + +<P> +As he spoke the boy paid nut a little more line. He had only just time +to belay it round the cleat to avoid its being jerked out of his hand, +so fast was the creature they had hooked now traveling. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, Tubby," spoke Merritt at length, "I'm beginning to think myself +that it might not be a bad idea to put back. Those clouds over there +on the horizon look as if they meant trouble." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, let's keep it on a little while longer pleaded Tubby; cutting +through the water like this, without any expenditure of gasoline or +power, is the real luxurious way of ocean traveling. It beats the +Mauretania. Just think if liners could hitch a whole team of things +like whatever has got hold of us to their bows! Why, the Atlantic would +be crossed in four days." +</P> + +<P> +For some time longer the boat shot along over the waves, towed by its +invisible force. The boys, with the exception of Tubby, began to get +anxious. The shores of the mainland were dim in the distance behind +them, and Topsail Island itself only showed as a dark blue dot. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the motion ceased. +</P> + +<P> +"He's free of the line!" shouted Hiram, inwardly much relieved to think +they had got rid of what to him was an alarming situation. +</P> + +<P> +"No, he's not," replied Tubby, bending over the line. "He's still fast +to us. The line's as tight as a fiddle string." +</P> + +<P> +He was standing up as he spoke, and as the Flying Fish gave a sudden, +crazy jerk forward, he was almost thrown overboard. In fact, he would +have toppled into the sea if Merritt had not bounded forward and +grabbed the fleshy lad just as he was losing his balance. +</P> + +<P> +"We're off again!" exclaimed Hiram, as the Flying Fish once more began +to move through the water. +</P> + +<P> +But now the creature that had seized Tubby's big hook started to move +in circles. Round and round the Flying Fish was towed in dizzy swings +that made the heads of her young occupants swim. +</P> + +<P> +"Start the engine on the reverse, and see if that will do any good," +said Tubby, bending anxiously over his line. +</P> + +<P> +Merritt brought the reverse gear to "neutral," and then started it up, +gradually bringing back the lever governing the reversing wheel till +the Flying Fish was going second speed astern, and finally at her full +gait backward. +</P> + +<P> +The tug thus exercised seemed to have no effect on the monster that had +caught Tubby's bait, however. With the exception that the speed was +diminished a trifle, the Flying Fish was still powerless to shake off +her opponent. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly, and without the slightest warning, a huge, shiny, wet body +shot out of the water almost directly in front of the amazed and +startled boys, and settled back with a mighty splash that sent the +spray flying in a salt-water shower bath over their heads. +</P> + +<P> +"Whatever was it?" gasped Hiram in awed tones. +</P> + +<P> +"A shark," replied Merritt, "and a whopper, too. What are we going to +do, Tubby—keep on or cut loose?" +</P> + +<P> +"Just a little longer," pleaded the other. "He must be tiring by this +time. If we can only wear him out, we can tow him ashore and make a +little money out of him. You know shark skin is valuable." +</P> + +<P> +"I'd rather have a whole skin of my own," quavered Hiram, who had been +considerably alarmed by the momentary glimpse he had had of Tubby's +quarry. +</P> + +<P> +"He's off again!" shouted Merritt, as the sea tiger started straight +ahead once more. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the line slackened again. +</P> + +<P> +"Look out!" Tubby had just time to shriek the warning before a mighty +shock threw them all off their feet in a heap on the bottom of the boat. +</P> + +<P> +"Zan-g-g-g!" +</P> + +<P> +The line twanged and snapped under the sudden strain, and a great rush +seaward showed the boys, as soon as they recovered their senses, that +they had lost their shark. +</P> + +<P> +"And a good line," moaned Tubby. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you kicking about?" demanded Merritt. "It's a lucky thing +the beast didn't start some plank of the boat when it charged; but as +far as I can see, the Flying Fish stood the shock all right." +</P> + +<P> +"It felt like an earthquake," murmured Hiram, whose face was white and +eyes frightened. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I suppose we'd better head for home," said Tubby at length. +"Those bluefish will go fine for supper." +</P> + +<P> +"Spoken like a Tubby," laughed Merritt. "All right, I'll start up. +Hullo—" he looked up with a puzzled face from the reverse lever. "I +can't get her on the forward speed." +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter?" gasped Hiram. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know. Something's stuck. Shut off that engine, will you, +Tubby, while I see?" +</P> + +<P> +Tubby promptly shut down the motor, and Merritt struggled with the +refractory lever. It was all in vain, however; he could not get it on +the forward speed. +</P> + +<P> +"I've got to investigate," puffed the perspiring corporal; "something +must be wrong with the reversible propeller." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, whatever you are going to do, hurry up about it," spoke Tubby, +with unwonted sharpness in his tones. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, what's the—" began Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +Tubby checked him with a finger on his lips. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't scare the kid," he whispered, leaning forward, "but we're in for +a storm." +</P> + +<P> +He pointed seaward. +</P> + +<P> +Rolling toward them was a spreading wall of heavy clouds traveling at +seemingly great speed, while below the wrack the water darkened +ominously and became flecked with "white horses." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +LOST IN THE STORM +</H3> + +<P> +"The trouble's in the reversible propeller. I always told Rob he was +foolish not to have a regular reverse gear on the shaft itself and a +solid wheel," said Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, never mind that now," urged Tubby anxiously. "I'll shift all +the cushions and stuff up in the bow, and Hiram and I will get as far +forward as we can. That will raise the stern and you can hang over and +reach the wheel." +</P> + +<P> +When the stout lad had done as he suggested there was quite a +perceptible tilt forward to the Flying Fish, and Merritt, hanging over +the stern, could feel about the propeller better. +</P> + +<P> +"Just as I thought," he shouted presently. "That shark when he came +astern fouled that heavy line on the propeller." +</P> + +<P> +He got out his knife, and in a few minutes succeeded in cutting the +entangling line free. +</P> + +<P> +It was not any too soon. From far off there came a low sound, +something like the moaning of a large animal in pain. It grew louder +and closer, and with it came an advancing wall of water crested with +white foam. The sky, too, grew black, and air filled with a sort of +sulphurous smell. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a thunder squall," shouted Tubby, as Merritt shoved over the +lever and started the engine. +</P> + +<P> +As he spoke there came a low growl of thunder and the sky was illumined +with a livid glare. +</P> + +<P> +"Here she comes!" yelled Merritt; "better get out those slickers or +we'll be soaked." +</P> + +<P> +Tubby opened a locker and produced the yellow waterproof coats. The +boys had hardly thrust their arms into them before the big sea struck +them. Thanks to Tubby's steering, however, the Flying Fish met it +without shipping more than a few cupfuls of water. +</P> + +<P> +The next minute the full fury of the storm enveloped the Boy Scouts and +the Flying Fish was laboring in a heaving wilderness of lashed and +tumbling water. +</P> + +<P> +"Keep her head up!" roared Merritt, above the screaming of the wind and +the now almost continuous roar and rattle of the thunder. It grew +almost dark, so overcast was the sky, and under the somber, driving +cloud wrack the white wave crests gleamed like savage teeth. +</P> + +<P> +Hiram crouched on the bottom of the boat, too terrified to speak, while +Tubby and Merritt strove desperately to keep the little craft from +"broaching to," in which case she would have shipped more water than +would have been at all convenient, not to say safe. +</P> + +<P> +As if it were some vindictive live thing, seized with a sudden spite +against the boat and its occupants, the storm roared about the dazed +boys. +</P> + +<P> +The Flying Fish, however, rode the sweeping seas gallantly, breasting +even the biggest combers bravely and buoyantly. +</P> + +<P> +"It's getting worse," shouted Tubby, gazing back at Merritt, who was +bending over the laboring motor. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, you bet it is!" roared back the engineer; "and I'm afraid of a +short circuit if this rain keeps up." +</P> + +<P> +"Cover up the engine with that spare slicker," suggested Tubby. +</P> + +<P> +"That's a good idea," responded the other, rummaging in a stern locker +and producing the garment in question. In another moment he had it over +the engine, protecting the spark plugs and the high-tension wires from +the rain and spray. But the wind was too high to permit of the +covering remaining unfastened, and with a ball of marlin the young +engineer lashed the improvised motor cover firmly in place. +</P> + +<P> +Hiram, with a white face, now crawled up from the bottom of the boat. +In addition to being scared, he was seasick from the eccentric motions +of the storm-tossed craft. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think we'll ever get ashore again?" he asked, crawling to +Merritt's side. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure," responded the corporal confidently. "'Come on, buck up, Hiram! +You know, a Boy Scout never says die. We'll be back in camp in three +hours' time, when this squall blows itself out." +</P> + +<P> +"I—I don't want you to think me a coward, Merritt," quavered Hiram, +"but—but you know this is enough to scare any fellow." +</P> + +<P> +Indeed, he seemed right. The Flying Fish appeared no more than a tiny +chip on the immense rollers the storm had blown up. Time and again it +looked as if she would never be able to climb the huge walls of green +water that towered above her; but every time she did, and, as the storm +raged on, the confidence of the boys began to grow. +</P> + +<P> +"She'll ride it out, Tubby!" yelled Merritt, dousing the engine with +more oil. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure she will!" yelled back Tubby, with a confidence that was, +however, largely assumed. The stout youth had just been assailed by an +alarming thought that flashed across his mind. +</P> + +<P> +"Would the gasoline hold out?" +</P> + +<P> +There was no opportunity on the plunging, bucking craft to examine the +tank, and all the boy could do was to make a rapid mental calculation, +based on what he knew of the consumption of the engine. The tank, he +knew, had been half full when they came out, and that, under ordinary +conditions, would have sufficed to drive the Flying Fish for five or +six hours. +</P> + +<P> +But they were not ordinary conditions under which she was now laboring. +Tubby knew that Merritt was piling in every ounce of gasoline the +carburetor could take care of. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly, while the stout youth's mind was busied with these thoughts, +and without the slightest warning, there came a sort of wheezing gasp +from the motor. +</P> + +<P> +Merritt leaned over it in alarm. He seized the timing lever and shoved +it over and opened the gasoline cock full tilt. +</P> + +<P> +But there was no response from the motor. +</P> + +<P> +It gasped out a cough a couple of times and turned over in a dying +fashion for a few revolutions and then stopped dead. +</P> + +<P> +The boys were adrift in the teeth of the storm in a crippled boat. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter?" roared back Tubby from the wheel. "She's lost +steerage way!" +</P> + +<P> +"Motor's gone dead," howled back Merritt laconically. +</P> + +<P> +"Great Scott, we are in for it now! What's the matter?" +</P> + +<P> +"No gasolene," yelled Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"Sosh-osh-soh!" +</P> + +<P> +A huge green wave climbed on to the Flying Fish's bow, shaking her from +stem to stern like a terrier shakes a rat. +</P> + +<P> +"We've got to do something quick, or we'll be swamped!" roared Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"The cockpit cover, quick!" shouted Tubby, steadying himself in the +bucking craft by a tight grasp on the bulwarks. +</P> + +<P> +"That's it. Now the oars. Hurry up. Here, you Hiram, grab that can and +bail for all you're worth!" +</P> + +<P> +The fat youth seemed transformed by the sudden emergency into the most +active of beings. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you going to do?" yelled Merritt, framing his mouth with his +hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Make a spray hood. Come forward here and give me a hand." +</P> + +<P> +With the oars the two boys made a sort of arched framework, secured +with ropes, and over it spread the canvas cockpit cover, lashing it +down to the forward and side cleats. This work was not unattended with +danger and difficulty. Time and again as they worked the boys had to +lie flat on their stomachs and hang on while the Flying Fish leaped a +wave like a horse taking a barrier. At last, however, their task was +completed, and the improvised spray hood served to some extent to break +the waves that now threatened momentarily to engulf the laboring craft. +</P> + +<P> +"Now to get out a sea anchor!" shouted the indefatigable Tubby. +</P> + +<P> +He seized up an old bait tub, a boat hook and a "swabbing-out" broom, +and lashed them all together in a sort of bridle. Then he attached the +Flying Fish's mooring cable to the contrivance and paid it out for a +hundred feet or more, while the storm-battered craft drifted steadily +backward. Instead, however, of lying beam on to the big sea, she now +headed up into them, the "drag," as it is sometimes called, serving to +keep her bow swung up to the threatening combers. +</P> + +<P> +"There, she'll ride for a while, anyhow," breathed Tubby, when this was +done. +</P> + +<P> +"What's to be done now?" shouted Merritt in his car. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing," was the response; "we've got to lie here till this thing +blows over." +</P> + +<P> +"It's breaking a little to the south now," exclaimed Merritt, pointing +to where a rift began to appear in the solid cloud curtain. +</P> + +<P> +This was cheering news, and even the seasick but plucky Hiram, who had +been bailing for all he was worth, despite his misery, began to cheer +up. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurrah! I guess the worst of our troubles are over," cried Tubby. +"It certainly looks as if the sea was beginning to go down, and the +wind has dropped, I'm sure." +</P> + +<P> +That this was the case became apparent shortly. There was a noticeable +decrease in the size and height of the waves and the wind abated in +proportion. In half an hour after the rift had been first noticed by +Merritt, the black squall had passed, and the late afternoon sun began +to shine in a pallid way through the driving cloud masses. +</P> + +<P> +The lads, however, were still in a serious fix. They had been driven +so far out to sea that the land was blotted out altogether. All about +them was only the still heaving Atlantic. The sun, too, was westering +fast, and it would not be long before darkness fell. +</P> + +<P> +Without gasoline and with no sail, they had no means of making land. +Worse still, they were in the track of the in and out-bound steamers to +and from New York—according to Tubby's reckoning—and they had no +lights. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we seem to have got out of the frying pan into the fire," said +Merritt in a troubled voice. "It's the last time I'll ever come out +without lights and a mast and sail." +</P> + +<P> +"That's what they all say," observed Tubby grimly. "The thing to do +now is to get back to shore somehow. Maybe we can rig up a sail with +the cockpit cover and the oars. We've got to try it, anyhow." +</P> + +<P> +After hauling in the sea anchor, the lads set to work to rig up and +lash the oars into an A shape. The canvas was lashed to each of the +arms of the A, and the contrivance then set up and secured to the fore +and aft cleats by the mooring line they had utilized for the sea anchor. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," remarked Tubby, as he surveyed his handiwork with some +satisfaction and pride, "we can go before the wind now, anyhow—even if +we do look like a lost, strayed or stolen Chinese junk." +</P> + +<P> +"Say, I'm so hungry I could eat one of those fish raw!" exclaimed +Hiram, now quite recovered, as the Flying Fish, under her clumsy sail, +began to stagger along in the direction in which Tubby believed the +land lay, the wind fortunately being dead aft. +</P> + +<P> +"Great Scott, the kid's right!" exclaimed Merritt. "We forgot all +about eating in the gloom but now I believe I could almost follow +Hiram's lead and eat some of those fellows as they are." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, that's about all you'll get to eat for a long time," remarked +Tubby, grimly casting an anxious eye aloft at the filling "sail." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ALMOST RUN DOWN +</H3> + +<P> +It grew dark rapidly and the night fell on three lonely, wet, hungry +boys, rolling along in a disabled boat under what was surely one of the +queerest rigs ever devised. It answered its purpose, though, and under +her "jury mast" the Flying Fish actually made some headway through the +water. +</P> + +<P> +None of the boys said much, and Tubby, under the cover of the darkness, +tightened his capacious belt. It spoke volumes for his Boy Scout +training that, though he probably felt the pangs of hunger as much or +even more keenly than the others, he made no complaint. Hiram, the +second-class scout, complained a bit at first, but soon quieted down +under Merritt's stern looks; as for the latter, as corporal of the +Eagle Patrol, it was his duty to try to keep as cheerful as possible; +which, under the circumstances, was about as hard a task as could well +be imagined. +</P> + +<P> +The eyes of all three were kept strained ahead for some sign of a +light, for they had been so tossed about in the squall that all sense +of direction had been lost, and they had no compass aboard, which in +itself was a piece of carelessness. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly, after about an hour of "going it blind" in this fashion, +young Hiram gave a shout. +</P> + +<P> +"A light, a light!" +</P> + +<P> +"Where?" demanded Tubby and Merritt sharply. +</P> + +<P> +"Off there," cried the lad, pointing to the left, over the port side of +the boat. +</P> + +<P> +Both the elder lads gazed sharply. +</P> + +<P> +"That's not the direction in which land would lie," mused Tubby. +</P> + +<P> +"The light's pretty high up, too, isn't it?" suggested Merritt. "It +might be a lighthouse. We may have been blown farther than we thought." +</P> + +<P> +Tubby offered no opinion for a few seconds, but his ordinarily round +and smiling face grew grave. A sudden apprehension had flashed into +his mind. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me, Merritt," he said, "can you see any other lights?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," replied Merritt, after peering with half closed eyes at the white +light. +</P> + +<P> +"I can," suddenly shouted young Hiram. +</P> + +<P> +"You can?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; some distance below the white light I can see a green one to the +right and a red one on the left." +</P> + +<P> +"Shades of Father Neptune!" groaned Tubby. "It's just as I thought, +Merritt—that light yonder is a steamer's mast lantern, and the fact +that Hiram can see both her port and starboard lamps beneath shows that +she's coming right for us." +</P> + +<P> +This was alarming enough. Without lanterns, without the means of +making any noise sufficiently loud to attract the attention of those on +the approaching vessel, the occupants of the Plying Fish were in about +as serious a predicament as one could imagine. To make matters worse, +the wind began to drop and come in puffs which only urged the Flying +Fish ahead slowly. Tubby made a rapid mental calculation, and decided +that hardly anything short of a miracle could save them from being run +down, unless the steamer saw them and changed her course. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't we shout and make them hear us?" asked Hiram in an alarmed +voice. He saw from the troubled faces of both the elder lads that +something serious indeed was the matter. +</P> + +<P> +"We might try it," responded Tubby, with a bitter shrug. "But it's +about as much use as a mouth organ in a symphony orchestra would be. +Better get on the life belts." +</P> + +<P> +With hands that trembled with the sense of impending disaster, the +three boys strapped on the cork jackets. +</P> + +<P> +"Now all shout together," said Merritt, when this was done. +</P> + +<P> +Standing erect, the three young castaways placed their hands +funnel-wise to their mouths and roared out together: +</P> + +<P> +"Ship ahoy! St-eam-er a-hoy!" +</P> + +<P> +They were alarmed and not ashamed to admit it. +</P> + +<P> +"No good," said Tubby, after they had roared themselves hoarse. "When +she strikes us, jump over the starboard bow and dive as deep as you +can. If you don't, the propellers are liable to catch us." +</P> + +<P> +It was a grim prospect, and no wonder the boys grew white and their +faces strained as the impending peril bore down on them. +</P> + +<P> +They could now see that she was a large vessel—a liner, to judge from +the rows of lighted portholes on her steep black sides. Her bow lights +gleamed like the eye of some monster intent on devouring the Flying +Fish and her occupants. On and on she came. The air trembled with the +vibration of her mighty engines, and a great white "'bone" foamed up at +her sharp prow. +</P> + +<P> +Not one of the boys spoke as the vessel came nearer and nearer, +although it speedily grew evident that unless a wind sprang up or the +lookout saw them, it was inevitable that they would be cut in two +amidships. +</P> + +<P> +"Remember what I said," warned Tubby, in a strange, strained voice. +"Dive deep and stay tinder as long as you can." +</P> + +<P> +And now the great vessel seemed scarcely more than two or three boat +lengths from the tiny cockleshell on which she was bearing down. As a +matter of fact, though, her towering bulk made her appear much nearer +than she actually was. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't we do anything, Merritt?" gasped Hiram, with chattering teeth. +"We might try shouting once more," suggested Tubby in a voice that +quivered in spite of his efforts to keep it steady. +</P> + +<P> +"All together now—come on!" +</P> + +<P> +"Ship ahoy! You'll run us down! St-eam-er a-hoy!" +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly there were signs of confusion on the bow of the big vessel. +Men could be seen running about and waving their arms. +</P> + +<P> +"By hookey, they've seen us!" breathed Merritt, hardly daring to +believe it, however. +</P> + +<P> +The others were speechless with suspense. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly from the bow of the oncoming steamer a great fan-shaped ray of +dazzling light shot out and enveloped the boys and their boat in its +bewildering radiance. +</P> + +<P> +"Hard over, hard over!" the boys could hear the lookout roaring, and +the command rang hoarsely back along the decks to the wheelhouse. +</P> + +<P> +Slowly, very slowly, as if reluctant to give up her prey, the bow of +the mighty liner swung off, and the boys were safe. +</P> + +<P> +"Look out for the wash," warned Merritt, as the great black bulk, +pierced with hundreds of glowing portholes, ploughed regally by them, +her deck crowded with curious passengers. A voice shouted down from +the bridge: +</P> + +<P> +"What in blazing sea serpents are you doing out here in that marine oil +stove?" +</P> + +<P> +The boys made no attempt to reply. They had all they could do to hang +on, as the Flying Fish danced about like a drifting cork in the wash of +the great vessel. They could see, however, that several of her +passengers were clustered at her stern rail, gazing wonderingly down at +them in great perplexity, no doubt, as to what manner of craft it was +that they had so narrowly escaped sending to the bottom. For had the +vessel even grazed the Flying Fish, the small boat would have been +annihilated without those on board the liner even feeling a tremor. It +would have been just such a tragedy as happens frequently to the +fishing dories on the foggy Newfoundland banks. +</P> + +<P> +"Wh-ew!" gasped Merritt, sinking down on a locker. "That was a narrow +escape if you like it!" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't like it," remarked Tubby sententiously, mopping his forehead, +on which beads of cold perspiration had stood out while their +destruction had seemed inevitable. So thoroughly unnerved were the +lads, in fact, by their experience that it was some time before they +could do anything more than sit limply on the lockers while the Flying +Fish rolled aimlessly with an uncontrolled helm. +</P> + +<P> +"Come on," said Tubby at length; "we've got to rouse ourselves. In the +first place, I've got an idea," he went on briskly. "I've been +thinking over that gasoline stoppage, and the more I think of it the +more I am inclined to believe that there's something queer about it. +It's worth looking into, anyhow." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean you think there may be some fuel in the tank, after all?" +asked Merritt, looking up. +</P> + +<P> +"It's possible. Have you tried the little valve forward of the +carburetor?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, no," rejoined Merritt; "but I hardly think—" +</P> + +<P> +"It wouldn't be the first time a carburetor had fouled, particularly +after what we went through in that squall," remarked Tubby. "It's +worth trying, anyhow." +</P> + +<P> +He bent over the valve he had referred to, which was in the gasoline +feed pipe, just forward of the carburetor, and placed there primarily +for draining the tank when it was necessary. +</P> + +<P> +"Look here!" he yelled, with a sudden shout of excitement. "No," he +cried the next moment, "I don't want to waste it—but when I opened the +valve a stream of gasoline came out. There's plenty of it. That +stoppage is in the carburetor. Oh, what a bunch of idiots we've been!" +</P> + +<P> +"Better sound the tank," suggested Merritt; "what came out of the valve +might just be an accumulation in the pipe." +</P> + +<P> +"Not much," rejoined the other, "it came out with too much force for +that, I tell you. It was flowing from the tank, all right." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll soon find out," proclaimed Merritt. "Give me the sounding stick +out of that locker, Hiram." +</P> + +<P> +Armed with the stick, Merritt rapidly unscrewed the cap of the fuel +tank and plunged the sounder into it. +</P> + +<P> +"There's quite a lot of gasoline in there yet," he exclaimed, with +sparkling eyes, as he withdrew and felt the wet end of the instrument. +</P> + +<P> +The carburetor was rapidly adjusted. The rough tossing about the +Flying Fish had received had jammed the needle valve, but that was all. +Presently all was in readiness to get under way once more with the +little boat's proper motive power. The "jury rig" was speedily +dismantled Merritt swung the flywheel over two or three times, and a +welcome "chug, chug!" responded. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurray! she's working," cried Hiram. +</P> + +<P> +"As well as ever," responded Merritt. "Now for the shore. By the +way," he broke off in a dismayed tone, "where is the shore?" +</P> + +<P> +"I know now," rejoined Tubby in a confident tone. "Off there to the +right. You see, that steamer was hugging the coast preparatory to +heading seaward—at least, I'm pretty sure she was, and that would put +the shore on her port side, or on our starboard." +</P> + +<P> +They chugged off in the direction Tubby indicated, and before long a +joyful cry from Hiram announced the sudden appearance of lights. +</P> + +<P> +"What are they?" asked Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't know—they look like bonfires," rejoined the other lad. "I +wonder if we have been lucky enough to pick up Topsail Island?" +</P> + +<P> +As they drew nearer the lads soon saw that it was the island that they +were approaching, and that the lights they had seen were campfires +ignited by order of the anxious young Patrol leader to guide them back. +</P> + +<P> +In a short time they had anchored the Flying Fish opposite the camp, +and jumped into the dinghy left at her moorings when they embarked. +</P> + +<P> +"A fine scare you've given us," cried Rob, as they landed and flung +down their afternoon's catch. "We were afraid for a time that you were +lost in that black squall—it blew two of our tents down, and we were +mighty anxious about you, I can tell you." +</P> + +<P> +"You did not alarm our folks?" asked Hiram anxiously. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I thought that it would be best to wait. Somehow, I thought you'd +turn up safe. Where on earth have you been and what has happened? You +look as pale as three ghosts." +</P> + +<P> +"Towed to sea by a shark—caught in a squall—almost run down by a +liner—and so hungry we can't talk now," sputtered out Tubby +comprehensively. +</P> + +<P> +"All right; come on up to the fire and get dried out and pitch into the +grub." +</P> + +<P> +After such a meal as it may be imagined the young scouts indulged in, +they told their whole yarn of their adventures to the listening Patrol. +A short time after they concluded—so long had it taken to relate +everything and answer all questions—the mournful call of "Taps" +sounded and it was time to turn in. Little Digby alone, who was to do +sentry service, remained on duty. +</P> + +<P> +Merritt's dreams were a strange jumble. It seemed to him that he was +being towed to sea on the back of a huge shark, by a big liner with a +row of blazing portholes that winked at him like facetious eyes. +Suddenly, just as it seem he was about to slip off the marine monster's +slippery back, he thought he heard a loud cry of "Help, scouts!" +</P> + +<P> +So vivid was the dream and so real the cry that he awoke trembling, and +listened intently while peering out through the tent flap. +</P> + +<P> +There was no sound, however, but the ripple of the waves on the beach +and the "hoot hoot" of an owl somewhere back in the woods on the island. +</P> + +<P> +"Funny," mused the boy, as he turned over and dozed off again, "that +certainly sounded loud enough to have been a real, sure enough call for +help." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +JOE DIGBY MISSING +</H3> + +<P> +"Merritt! Merritt, wake up!" +</P> + +<P> +The boy sleepily opened his eyes and saw bending over him the pale +features of Rob, whose voice quivered with suppressed excitement as he +shook the other's shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't hear reveille blow yet. What's up? Have I overslept?" +murmured the young corporal. +</P> + +<P> +"No, it's not six-thirty yet—barely after half past four, in fact. +But young Digby—he had the night watch, you know—and was to have been +relieved at three o'clock. Well, Ernest Thompson, his relief, roused +out at that hour, but not a trace of Digby was to be found!" +</P> + +<P> +"What!" The sleepy boy was drowsy no longer. "Digby gone?" +</P> + +<P> +"Hush! We don't know yet. Don't wake any of the others. Thompson and +I have skirmished around ever since it began to get light, and we have +not been able to find a trace of him." +</P> + +<P> +Merritt was out of his cot while his leader was still speaking, and ten +minutes later, during which time the boys exchanged excited questions +and answers, he was in his uniform and outside the tent. +</P> + +<P> +The sun was just poking his rim above the western horizon and the +chilly damp of early dawn lay over the island. The sea, as calm almost +as a lake, lay sullen and gray, scarcely heaving. Behind the sleeping +camp a few shreds of mist—the ghosts of the vapors of the night were +arising like smoke among the dim trees. At the further end of the +assemblage of tents, and beyond the smoldering fire, stood a silent +figure, that of Ernest Thompson. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you explored the island thoroughly?" asked Merritt under his +breath. Somehow the dim hour and the situation seemed to preclude the +idea of loud talking. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course not. Not yet," breathed the other in the same tones. "We +will break the news to the rest of the Patrol after breakfast. It's no +use alarming them yet." +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't possible that he went off on an early fishing expedition?" +</P> + +<P> +For answer, Rob waved his hand toward the water, where the Flying Fish +lay rocking gently at her anchor. Ashore the dingy lay as Merritt and +his companions had left it the night before. +</P> + +<P> +"But what can have happened to him?" burst out Merritt, as they made +their way over to Ernest Thompson's side. +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot think. It is absolutely mystifying. I am going to start for +the captain's place now. He may be able to throw some light on the +affair." +</P> + +<P> +Merritt shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Hardly likely. If there is no trace of Joe Digby on this side of the +island, it is improbable that Captain Hudgins knows anything about him." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," rejoined Rob in a troubled voice, "we've got to try everything. +I am responsible for his safe keeping while he is in camp. I blame +myself for allowing the kid to go on sentry duty at all." +</P> + +<P> +"No use doing that," comforted Merritt; "there's one thing sure, he +can't have melted away. He must be somewhere on the island. There are +no wild beasts or anything like that here to carry him off, so if we +keep up the search we must come upon him sooner or later." +</P> + +<P> +"That's what makes the whole affair the more mystifying," rejoined Rob. +"What can have become of him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, if he's on the island, we'll find him," he continued; "and if he +isn't—" +</P> + +<P> +"We'll find him anyway," declared Merritt in a determined voice. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the stuff!" warmly exclaimed the other. "And now I'm going to +take a cruise round to the other side of the island, and see if I can +find out anything there." +</P> + +<P> +A few seconds later he was in the dinghy and sculling out over the +water to the speedy Flying Fish. In a short time he was off. +</P> + +<P> +As the "chug chug" of the motor grew fainter, Merritt turned to young +Thompson. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't breathe a word of this to the others till we know for certain +that Digby has vanished," he said. +</P> + +<P> +The other boy nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"I understand," he said, and the look with which he accompanied the +words rendered Merritt perfectly confident that he would be obeyed. +</P> + +<P> +"And now let's rouse out Andy Bowles and get him busy with that tin +horn of his," cheerfully went on Merritt, walking toward Andy's tent. +</P> + +<P> +That youth was much surprised to find that it was morning, but tumbled +out of his cot in double-quick time, and soon the cheerful notes of +reveille were ringing out over the camp, on which the sun's rays were +now streaming down in that luminary's cheerful morning way. +</P> + +<P> +The soldier who immortalized himself by sing the words: "We can't get +'em up, We can't get 'em up, We can't get 'em up in the morning—, We +can't get 'em up, We can't get 'em up, We can't get'em up at +a-a-l-l-l!" to the stirring notes of the army's morning call had never +been in a camp of Boy Scouts. If he had he wouldn't have written them, +for before the last notes had died away the camp was alive and astir, +with hurrying lads filling tin washbasins and cleaning up. +</P> + +<P> +The cook and "cookee" for the day—Jim Jeffords and Martin Green—soon +had their cooking fire going, and presently the appetizing aroma of +coffee and fried ham and eggs filled the camp. +</P> + +<P> +"Give the breakfast call, Andy," ordered Merritt, as the proud if +flush-faced cooks announced their labors complete, and with a clatter +and bang of tin dishes and cups the Boy Scouts sat down to breakfast. +</P> + +<P> +"Where's Rob and Digby?" demanded Andy Bowles, as he dug his spoon into +an island of oatmeal completely surrounded by an ocean of condensed +milk thinned down with warm water. +</P> + +<P> +The moment that Merritt had dreaded had arrived. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, he and Rob went off early to see the captain," he said. "I guess +they'll be back soon." +</P> + +<P> +"Pretty early for paying social calls," commented Andy, too busy with +his breakfast, however, to give the matter more attention, for which +Merritt was duly thankful. +</P> + +<P> +After breakfast Merritt ordered a general airing of bedding, and the +side walls of the tents were raised to let the fresh air blow through +them. Still there was no sign of Rob. Merritt grew so anxious that he +could hardly keep from pacing up and down to conceal his nervous state +of mind. However, he stuck to his duties and oversaw the first routine +of the morning without betraying his anxiety to any of the lads under +his charge. At last there came the awaited chug chug of the returning +boat, for which he had been so eagerly listening, and Rob appeared +rounding the little point below the camp. In the craft was another +figure, that of the captain himself. +</P> + +<P> +Merritt's first hope when he saw the two persons in the boat—namely, +that one of them might be the missing boy—was promptly dashed, and he +instinctively guessed by Rob's silence as he dropped the anchor and he +and the captain tumbled into the dinghy that there had been no news. +</P> + +<P> +"No," said Rob, shaking his head dejectedly as they reached the shore, +"there isn't anything to tell. The captain is as much in the dark as +we." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you'd better have some breakfast," said Merritt, after he and +the captain had exchanged greetings, "then we can go ahead and notify +the others and institute a thorough search." +</P> + +<P> +"That's the stuff, my boy," agreed the veteran. "Overhaul ship from +bilge ter royals, and if not found, then take a cruise in search uv." +</P> + +<P> +Rob ate his meal with small appetite, but the captain, urging on his +young companion the necessity of "filling his hold," devoured +prodigious quantities of food, and then, arising, suggested that the +time had come to "pipe all hands aft and read orders." +</P> + +<P> +The boys had been so busy about their morning tasks that fortunately +none of them, except Tubby, whom Merritt had told of the disappearance, +had found time to notice Rob's return or ask questions; so that when he +announced to them that Joe Digby was missing it came as a stunning +shock. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, boys," said Rob, after he had communicated the full details, so +far as he knew them, of the circumstances of the disappearance, "there +is only one thing to do, and that is turn this island inside out. It +won't take long, but I want it done thoroughly. Don't leave a stone +unturned. If after a painstaking search we find nothing on the island, +we'll know we have to look elsewhere. You are all fairly good woodsmen +by this time, and can trail by signs as effectively as first-class +scouts. Use your eyes, and good luck." +</P> + +<P> +Merritt at once assigned searching parties, he and Rob and Tubby taking +the center of the island and the others being detailed to search along +the shores in two separate squads for any trace of their missing +comrade. +</P> + +<P> +"Call me a lubber if this ain't the most mystifyin' thing I've run my +bow into since the Two Janes, uv Boston, brig, lost her bearings in a +fog and fetched up off Iceland," declared the captain, who had elected +to accompany the three leaders of the Patrol. "But drown or swim, sail +or sink, we'll find that kid if he's on deck." +</P> + +<P> +The searching parties construed this speech as a sort of valedictory to +them as, indeed, the captain intended it—and greeted it with a cheer. +</P> + +<P> +"The first scout that finds a trace of Joe is to light the four +'smokes', meaning come to council," was Rob's last order. "Light them +on as prominent a place as you can find and we will all meet in camp to +hear the news." +</P> + +<P> +The searching parties at once separated, one striking off to the right, +the other to the left and the three young leaders and their grizzled +friend making a dead set for the center of the island. +</P> + +<P> +If Joe Digby was to be found, the look of determination on the face of +each scout showed that it would not be the fault of his young comrades +if he were not. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SAM REBELS +</H3> + +<P> +In the meantime on a small island in the Upper Inlet a strange +conference was taking place. Three youths whom our readers will +recognize as Jack Curtiss, Bill Bender and Sam Redding; were in earnest +consultation with the unkempt and unsavory individual whom we know as +Hank Handcraft, the beach-comber. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, the job's put through, all right," Hank was saying, as the three +sat outside a small tent in front of which was a smoldering fire, about +which the remnants of a meal were scattered. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but now we've got to tackle the hardest part of it," said Jack, +knitting his brows. "I've got the letter written and here it is." As +he spoke he drew from his pocket a sheet of paper. "The question is who +to send for the money when the time comes." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Hank is the man," said Ben, without an instant's hesitation. "We +must not appear in this at all." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I am the man, am?" put in Hank, with no very gratified inflexion +in his voice; "and what if I am caught? I'm to go to prison, I +suppose, while you fellows get off scot-free." +</P> + +<P> +"As for me," said Sam Redding, who was pale and looked scared, and +whose eyes, too, were red-rimmed and heavy as if from lack of sleep, +"you can count me out. I want nothing to do with it. You've gone too +far, Jack, in your schemes against the boys. I'm through with the +whole thing." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, if you're that chicken-hearted, we don't want you in it at all," +sneered Jack, although he looked somewhat troubled at his follower's +defection. "All we want you to promise is not to split on us." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I won't peach," promised Sam readily. +</P> + +<P> +"It will be better for you not to," warned Bill Bender; "and now let's +figure this thing out, and quickly, too. We haven't got any too much +time. They'll have discovered the kid has gone by this time and the +alarm will be spread broadcast." +</P> + +<P> +"I thought, when he yelled like that last night, we were goners sure," +remarked Jack, scowling at the recollection. "It's a good thing those +kids sleep as hard as they do, or we'd have been in a tight fix." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, well, no good going back to that now," dissented Bill. "How was +the young cub when you left him, Hank?" he asked abruptly. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, he'd got through crying, and was lying nice and quiet on his +bunk," remarked Hank, with an amiable chuckle, as though he had just +performed some praiseworthy act, instead of having left little Joe +Digby locked in a deserted bungalow on an island some little distance +from the one on which the conversation related above was taking place. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, that's good," said Bill; "although crying, or yelling, either, +won't do him much good on that island. He could yell for a week and no +one would hear him." +</P> + +<P> +"No; the water's too shallow for any motor boats to get up there," +agreed Hank. "I had a hard job getting through the channel in the +rowboat, even at high water." +</P> + +<P> +"Is the house good and tight?" was Jack's next question. +</P> + +<P> +"Tight—tight as the Tombs," was Hank's answer, the simile being an apt +one for him to use. "The door has that big bolt on the outside that I +put on, besides the lock, of which I carried away the key, and the +shutters are all nailed up. No danger of his getting away till we want +him to!" +</P> + +<P> +"Couldn't be better," grinned Jack approvingly. "Now, here's the +letter. Tell me what you think of it?" +</P> + +<P> +Opening the sheet of paper, the bully read aloud as follows: +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"MR. AND MRS. DIGBY: +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"Your son is safe and in good hands. I alone know where the men who +stole him have taken him. But I am a poor man, and think that the +information should be worth something to you. Suppose you place two +hundred dollars under the signpost at the Montauk crossroads to-night. +I will call and get it if you will mark the spot at which you place it +with a rock. Look under the same rock in the morning and you will find +directions how to get your boy back. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +CAPTAIN NEMO." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you think of that?" inquired Jack complacently, as he +concluded the reading of his epistle. +</P> + +<P> +"A bee-yoo-tiful piece of composition," said Hank approvingly, with one +of his throaty chuckles; "the only thing is—who is Captain Nemo?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, so far as delivering the letter and getting the money is +concerned, you are," said Jack decisively. "Eh, Bill?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, by all means," assented Bill. +</P> + +<P> +Sam was not included in the conversation, and gazed sullenly straight +in front of him as he lay where he had thrown himself on the fine white +sand. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, by no means," echoed Hank derisively. "Say, what do you fellows +take me for, the late lamented Mr. Easy Mark? If you do you have +another think coming." +</P> + +<P> +"Now look here, Hank," argued Jack, "what's the objection? All you've +got to do is to take this note ashore, give it to some boy to deliver, +and then go to the crossroads at whatever time to-night you see fit and +get the money." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course," Bill hastened to put in, "you've got to bring it to us for +proper division." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I have, have I?" chuckled Hank. "Well, what do you think of that? +I'm to do all the work and you fellows are to get the bacon! That's a +fine idea—not! Four into two hundred doesn't go very many times, you +know." +</P> + +<P> +"Not four," corrected Jack, "three. Sam is out of this. He's too much +of a coward to have anything to do with it," he added, mimicking Sam's +tone. +</P> + +<P> +The boat-builder's son reddened, but said nothing in reply to the +bully's taunt. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, three, then," went on Hank; "that's not percentage enough for +me. If I'm to have anything to do with this here job, I want half the +money. You fellows can split the rest between you!" +</P> + +<P> +Jack and Bill exchanged blank looks. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, look here, Hank, be reasonable," began Jack in a tone meant to be +conciliatory. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, look here, Jack, be sensible," echoed Hank mockingly. "You seem +to forget that you owe me something for the job we did on those +uniforms the other night, and that other little errand you performed on +the island. You've got a very convenient memory, you have. Why, I +daresay those kids would have given me a nice little wad of tobacco +money to have told just who took their Sunday-go-to-meetin' suits, but +did I peach? No, you know I didn't; but," he added, with rising +emphasis, "if I don't get what's coming to me pretty soon, I will." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you idiot," began Jack truculently; "haven't you got your chance +now?" +</P> + +<P> +"If I choose to take it—yes," was the rejoinder; "but I don't know as +I will. It seems to me I hold all the trumps and you are at my mercy." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, you insolent dog!" bellowed Jack, rising to his feet from the +position in which he had been squatting. "For two cents I'd knock your +bewhiskered head off!" +</P> + +<P> +He advanced threateningly, but Bill, seeing the turn matters were +taking, and realizing that more was to be gained by peaceful methods, +intervened. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Jack, shut up. Stow that nonsense," he ordered sharply. "Look +here, Hank, we'll accept your terms. Half to you if you carry it out +successfully." +</P> + +<P> +"And if I don't?" +</P> + +<P> +"Then we'll all have to shift for ourselves. This part of the country +will be too hot to hold us. I mean to go out West. I've got a cousin +who has a ranch, and I think I could get along all right there if the +worst comes to the worst." +</P> + +<P> +"See here, I don't agree with your way of dividing the money," began +Jack, an angry light in his eyes. "Look—" +</P> + +<P> +"Look here, Jack," cut in Bill sharply, "if you don't like it, it +doesn't do you any good. If you object to it, keep out. Hank and I +form a majority. You chump" he added, quickly, under his breath, as +Hank turned away and began to "skip" flat stones over the water, "don't +you see he takes all the responsibility? It's a cinch for us to get +away if anything goes wrong." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it's a cinch we get cheated out of our share of the money," +argued Jack, with an angry glare in the direction of the unconscious +Hank. +</P> + +<P> +"Beggars can't be choosers," argued Bill. "You know, as well as I do, +that if we are implicated in this affair it means serious trouble. Our +parents wouldn't stand for it, and we should be disgraced. By doing it +this way we get some of the proceeds—I admit not our fair share but +what's to be done?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I guess you are right, Bill," assented Jack, with a shrug. "It's +go ahead now; we've gone too far to draw back." +</P> + +<P> +"That's the line of talk," grinned Bill, "and when we've each got fifty +dollars in our pockets, silenced Hank with a golden gag and had our +revenge on those kids, we'll be able to talk over future plans. I'm +sick of school. I hate the idea of going back there. I've half a mind +to strike out for the West anyway." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think I could get a job on your cousin's ranch?" asked Jack. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't doubt it a bit," rejoined Bill. "You're a good, husky chap, +and brawn and muscle is what they need in the West." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I'm husky, all right," conceded Jack modestly. "Sometimes I +think that I don't get full opportunities to expand here in this +wretched country hole." +</P> + +<P> +"No, the West is the place," agreed Bill, with an inward smile, "as the +newspapers say—one can expand with the country out there." +</P> + +<P> +Their conversation was broken in upon by Sam, who demanded in no very +gentle tones: +</P> + +<P> +"Well, who's going ashore? I'm off." +</P> + +<P> +"No hurry, Sam," said Jack in a more amiable tone than he had yet used +that morning. "Let's sit around here a while and enjoy the sun—we +might take a swim after a while." +</P> + +<P> +"If you don't come now you'll have to swim ashore," grunted Sam, +arising and brushing the sand from himself. "I'm going back to +Hampton. I'm tired of camping out here." +</P> + +<P> +He walked toward the beach and prepared to shove off the dinghy, +preparatory to sculling out to the hydroplane, which lay a few rods off +shore in the channel. +</P> + +<P> +"Hold on, Sam," cried Bill; "we're coming. Don't go away sore." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not sore," rejoined Sam, in a tone which belied his words, "but I +don't think you fellows are doing the right thing when you maroon a kid +like Joe Digby on a lone island, in a deserted bungalow in which you'd +be scared to stop yourselves." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, what's got into you, Sam?" protested Jack. "It's more a lark +than anything else." +</P> + +<P> +"Fine lark," grunted Sam, "scaring a kid half to death and then writing +notes for money. It's dangerously near to kidnapping—that's what I +call it, and I'm glad I'm not in it." +</P> + +<P> +Both the others looked rather uncomfortable at this presentation of the +matter, but Jack affected to laugh it off. +</P> + +<P> +"Pshaw!" he exclaimed, "it's a little bit rough, I know, but such +things do a kid good. Teach him to be self-reliant and—and all that." +</P> + +<P> +"Sure," agreed Bill, "you don't look at these things in the right +light, Sam—does he, Hank?" +</P> + +<P> +Hank, who had shuffled toward the dinghy at the conclusion of these +edifying remarks, agreed with a chuckle that Sam had no sense of humor, +after which they all got into the dinghy and we sculled off to the +unlucky hydroplane. +</P> + +<P> +It didn't take long to get under way, and the little craft was soon +scudding through the water at a good pace, towing the dinghy behind her. +</P> + +<P> +"Better put us ashore before we get into Hampton," suggested Bill. "We +don't want to be seen about there more than can be helped." +</P> + +<P> +"That's where you are wrong," objected Jack. "We'll put Hank ashore up +the coast, but the more we are seen about the place the better. It +won't look as if we had anything to do with the Digby kid—in case +things do go wrong." +</P> + +<P> +So it was agreed that Hank was to be landed in a small cove a few miles +farther down the coast, from which it was a short cut across country to +the neighborhood of the Digby farm. +</P> + +<P> +Then he was to waylay the first likely-looking messenger and entrust +the note which Jack had read to him for delivery. After that he was to +spend the time as best he could in suitable seclusion, and after dark +conceal himself near the sign-post. He was not to make any attempt to +secure the money if any one hovered about the place, but if the coast +was clear he was to go boldly in and take it. +</P> + +<P> +Hank was landed at the spot agreed upon, a short time later, and the +other three then resumed their journey for the hydroplane's home port. +As they turned seaward Jack pointed mockingly to Topsail Island, which +lay a short distance on their port bow. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll bet there's plenty going on there right now," he grinned. +</P> + +<P> +"Right you are," assented Bill. +</P> + +<P> +"Hullo," he added hastily the next moment; "what's that?" +</P> + +<P> +He pointed toward the island, and the occupants of the homing +hydroplane saw, slowly rising from it in the still air, four straight +columns of blue smoke. +</P> + +<P> +"Looks like a signal of some kind," suggested Jack after a scrutiny. +</P> + +<P> +"It's coming from about the place where we grabbed the kid," added +Bill, a note of apprehension in his voice. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder what it signifies?" demanded Jack, whose face began to bear a +somewhat troubled look. +</P> + +<P> +"I can tell you," said Sam shortly, turning round from the wheel. +</P> + +<P> +"You can?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, hurry up, then—what does it mean?" Jack spoke sharply at Sam's +deliberation. +</P> + +<P> +"It means," said Sam slowly, as if he wanted every word to sink in, +"that the Boy Scouts have picked up your trail." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE HUNT FOR TENDERFOOT JOE +</H3> + +<P> +Rob, Merritt, Tubby Hopkins and Captain Hudgins rested, perspiring +under the noon-day heat, on a group of flat rocks at the highest point +of the island. Their search had been fruitless, and their downcast +faces showed it. +</P> + +<P> +"How ever are we going to break the news to his parents?" +</P> + +<P> +Merritt it was who voiced the question that had been troubling all of +them. +</P> + +<P> +Before any one had time to frame a reply the captain, whose keen eyes +had been gazing about him, gave a sudden shout: +</P> + +<P> +"There's that smoke yonder yer boys were lookin' fer," he exclaimed, +pointing. +</P> + +<P> +"Four columns of it," shouted Rob, "hurray, boys, that means news! +It's 'Come to counsel.' Come on, don't let's lose any time in getting +back." +</P> + +<P> +Rapidly the boys stumbled and ran forward over the rocks and pushed on +among the dense growth that covered the hillside they had climbed. +They hardly noticed the obstacles, however, so keenly were they bent on +getting back to camp and learning the news which they knew must be +awaiting them. They covered the distance in half the time it had taken +them to ascend the hillside and were met in the camp by the body of +searchers—Andy Bowles, Sim Jeffords and Ernest Thompson—who had swung +off to the left or mainland side of the island. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, boys, what news?" breathlessly exclaimed Rob, "we saw the +counsel smoke and hurried down at top speed." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, there's not very much, I'm afraid, Rob," began Andy, "but we +found something that may give us a clue. About half a mile down the +beach there's the distinct mark of a boat keel where it was drawn up on +the hard sand and the marks of three separate pairs of feet." +</P> + +<P> +"Good," exclaimed Rob, "that's something and half confirms my +suspicion. Go on, Andy, what else?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we examined the marks carefully and found that two pairs of feet +wore good shoes and the third a very broken, disreputable pair." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," exclaimed Rob, while the others listened breathlessly. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course that indicated to us that three persons must have carried +Joe off—for I don't think there's much doubt now that he was carried +off, do you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't," said Rob sadly, "but for what possible motive?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have it," suddenly exclaimed Tubby Hopkins, snapping his fingers, +"you remember the day of the aeroplane model contest?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but what—" began Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"Has that to do with it," finished Tubby for him. "Everything. It was +Joe who first told the committee that Jack's model was a bought one and +so lost him the fifty-dollar prize." +</P> + +<P> +"By cracky, that's right!" assented Rob, "and you think that Jack and +his gang have carried him off in revenge for it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Looks that way to me," nodded the stout youth. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, they wouldn't dare," began Andy Bowles. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, they would," amended Rob bitterly, "they'd dare anything to +get even on us for their fancied wrongs. But whose could have been the +broken ragged shoes?" he asked, suddenly taking up another train of +thought. +</P> + +<P> +"Hank Handcrafts, the beach-comber's," suggested Tubby. +</P> + +<P> +"Gee Whillikens! I'll bet a cracker that's the solution," cried Andy, +"and now I come to think of it I heard, before we left, that Jack and +his gang had gone camping." +</P> + +<P> +"Where?" +</P> + +<P> +"Up around the Upper Inlet somewhere. You know that's full of islands +and as there's no drinking water there few people ever think of +frequenting the place. If they wanted to do anything like carrying off +Joe that is where they would have been likely to go." +</P> + +<P> +"You may be right, Andy. It's worth looking into, anyway," declared +Rob. "I'll leave a note here for the others and we'll take a run over +there in the Flying Fish. If Joe is there we'll get him out." +</P> + +<P> +"And in jig time, too," chimed in Ernest Thompson. +</P> + +<P> +"Come on, boys, get some gasoline, hop in the dinghy and let's get +aboard. We've got to move fast if we're to accomplish anything. You +get the boat, Andy, while I write a line to tell the others what we've +gone after." +</P> + +<P> +The young leader hastily ran into his tent and sitting down at the +table dashed off these lines: +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"Boys, we think we have a clue to Joe's whereabouts. Have gone after +him. Keep camp in regular way while we are gone. Hiram Nelson is +leader, and Paul Perkins corporal, in our absence. +<BR><BR> +"ROB BLAKE, Leader, +<BR> +"Eagle Patrol, B. S. of A." +</P> + +<P> +With a piece of chalk the boy marked a rough square and an arrow on a +tree—the arrow pointing to a spot in the sand in which he buried the +letter. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, then, come on," he shouted, dashing toward the boat, "shove off, +boys, and if Joe's in the Upper Inlet we'll find him." +</P> + +<P> +"Hurray," cheered the others, much heartened by the prospect of any +trace of the missing boy, however slight. +</P> + +<P> +"Give way, boys," bellowed the captain, who had insisted on coming +along armed with a huge horse pistol of ancient pattern which he had +strapped on himself in the morning when the news of Joe Digby's +disappearance reached him. "This reminds me uv the time when I was A. +B. on the Bonnie Bess and we smoked out a fine mess of pirates in the +Caribees." +</P> + +<P> +"Regular pirates?" inquired Andy as Rob and Merritt bent to the oars. +</P> + +<P> +"Reg'lar piratical pirates, my boy," responded the old salt, "we +decorated the trees with 'em and they looked a lot handsomer there than +they did a-sailin' the blue main." +</P> + +<P> +Further reminiscences of the captain's were cut short by their arrival +at the Flying Fish's side. They had hastily thrown two cases of +gasoline into the dinghy before they shoved off so that all that +remained to be done was to fill the fast craft's tank and she was ready +to be off. +</P> + +<P> +"Hold on," warned Rob, as Tubby Hopkins was about to secure the dinghy +to the mooring buoy, "we'll tow her along. We may need her. There's +lots of shoal water in that Upper Inlet." +</P> + +<P> +"Right yer are, my boy; there's nothin' like bein' forehanded," +remarked the captain as Merritt bent over the flywheel and Rob threw in +the spark and turned on the gasoline. After a few revolutions an +explosion resulted and the Flying Fish was off on the mission which +might mean so much or so little to the anxious hearts on board her. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know the channel," asked Merritt as Rob with his eyes glued on +the coast sent the Flying Fish through the waves, or rather wavelets, +for the sea was almost like a sheet of glass. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been up here once or twice after duck," rejoined Rob, "but it's a +tricky sort of a place to get through. However, I guess we'll make it." +</P> + +<P> +As they drew nearer the shores the boys made out an opening which Rob +said was the Upper Inlet channel. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, Tubby, get out the lead line and let's see how much water we +have," directed Rob as the color of the ocean began to change from dark +blue to a sort of greenish tinge, lightening in spots, where the shoals +were near to the surface, to a sandy yellow. +</P> + +<P> +The stout lad took a position in the bow and swinging the lead about +his head cast it suddenly ahead of the Flying Fish's bow. +</P> + +<P> +"Slow down," ordered Rob, and Merritt cut down the motor to not more +than two hundred revolutions a minute. +</P> + +<P> +The lead line, tagged with different colored bits of flannel at each +fathom length, sang through the stout lad's fingers. +</P> + +<P> +"By-a-quarter-three," he called out the next instant. +</P> + +<P> +This meant that three fathoms and a quarter or eighteen feet three +inches of water was under the keel of the little craft. +</P> + +<P> +"Nough fer a man-uv-war," grinned old Captain Hodgins. +</P> + +<P> +Slowly the Flying Fish forged ahead till right under her bow lay a +patch of the yellow water. +</P> + +<P> +"By-a-half-two," came a sharp hail from the fat youth, who had once +more heaved the lead. +</P> + +<P> +"Cut her down some more," sharply ordered Rob, without turning his +head, "we draw only three feet so I guess we'll do nicely for a while." +</P> + +<P> +"Great hop-toads, there's regular shark's teeth ahead," commented +Captain Hudgins, pointing to the still shallower water indicated by the +lightening tint of the channel. +</P> + +<P> +"By-one-by-a-quarter-one!" came sharply from Tubby, as the Flying Fish +seemed hardly to crawl along the water. +</P> + +<P> +"By-a-half!" came an instant later, meaning that only three feet of +water lay right ahead. +</P> + +<P> +"Stop her," roared out Rob. +</P> + +<P> +But he was too late. Instantly, almost as Merritt's hand had flown to +the lever, the nose of the Flying Fish poked into the sandbank and her +motor with a gentle sigh came to a stop. +</P> + +<P> +"Hard a-ground!" roared the captain, "too bad and with a fallin' tide, +too." +</P> + +<P> +"Full speed astern," came the next order. +</P> + +<P> +The propeller churned up the water aft into a white turmoil. The Flying +Fish trembled in her every timber, and began to slide slowly backward +from the treacherous shoal. +</P> + +<P> +"Safe, by the great horn spoon!" roared the captain, fetching Andy +Bowles a slap on the back that almost toppled the small bugler into the +water. +</P> + +<P> +"For a time," said Rob quietly, "come ahead a bit, Merritt." +</P> + +<P> +Slowly the little vessel slid ahead once more. Rob seemed fairly to +feel his way through the narrow channel he had picked out and finally +the Flying Fish, after as much coaxing as is usually bestowed on a +balky horse, floated in the deep water beyond the sandy bar. +</P> + +<P> +Eagerly the boys looked about them as they "opened up," as sailors call +it, the narrow stretch of water known as the Upper Inlet. It did not +take them long to spy the island with the tent on it in which the +conversation between Jack and his cronies, and the mutineer to his +plans, had taken place. +</P> + +<P> +"There's their camp!" shouted Rob, eagerly sending the Flying Fish +ahead at full speed, "now we'll find out something." +</P> + +<P> +"And, maybe, use this." The captain, as he spoke, grimly produced his +formidable weapon and flourished it about. +</P> + +<P> +"No, none of that," sternly rejoined Rob, "the Boy Scouts can take care +of those fellows—without using firearms." +</P> + +<P> +"You bet," rejoined Merritt, grimly "muscling up," "we'll show 'em if +it comes to a fight." +</P> + +<P> +But bitter disappointment awaited the boys. As we know, the camp was +deserted and no trace or clue of the whereabouts of its occupants was +to be found. In the tent, however, lay a piece of blotting paper with +ink-marks on it. It was the material with which Jack had dried his +letter. +</P> + +<P> +"Anybody got a mirror?" asked Rob. "This blotter may help some if we +can read what's on it." +</P> + +<P> +"I've got a pocket one," said Andy Bowles, who was somewhat particular +about his person and always carried a small toilet case. +</P> + +<P> +"That will do; let's have it." +</P> + +<P> +Rob seized the bit of looking glass and held the blotter to it. +</P> + +<P> +"Just as I thought," he exclaimed a minute later, with a cry of +triumph. "It's Jack Curtiss' writing, though he has tried to disguise +it, and they've got Joe hidden somewhere. Look here, they want $200 +for his return." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but what good does it do us to know that," objected Merritt, when +the sensation this announcement caused had subsided. "They evidently +had him here overnight and then deserted the camp for fear we'd pick up +their trail. They've taken Joe with them." +</P> + +<P> +"By the great sea-serpent, that's right," grunted the captain, "it's a +blind trail, boys!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SAVED BY "SMOKE MORSE" +</H3> + +<P> +Each member of the party regarded the other blankly. +</P> + +<P> +The captain was right. The deserted camp was only a blind trail and +they had all their work to do over again. +</P> + +<P> +"The first people to communicate with are Joe's parents," mused Rob. +"That note will be delivered very shortly, as the longer they delay the +more dangerous it will be for them." +</P> + +<P> +"That's right," agreed Merritt, "Jack and his gang will not let the +grass grow under their feet now that they know the chase must be on. +What can they have done with Joe?" +</P> + +<P> +Rob had been looking about him with the instinct of the Boy Scout. He +was anxious to ascertain if there were not something tangible, some +clue on which they could base a search for the missing member of the +Patrol. Suddenly something remarkable struck him about the tracks that +lay about the tent. +</P> + +<P> +They were all four those, of persons of larger growth than Joe Digby +and mingling with them unmistakably was the broken-shoed track of Hank, +the beach-comber. +</P> + +<P> +"Boys," announced Rob suddenly, "Joe has not been here at all." +</P> + +<P> +"Not been here at all," echoed Merritt, amazedly. +</P> + +<P> +"I mean what I say. Look at these tracks. There is not a footmark +here that could by any chance be his." +</P> + +<P> +The others scrutinized the maze of foot-prints with the same care as +had Rob and were forced to come to the same conclusion. There was no +question about it—they would have to seek elsewhere for a trace of the +lad. +</P> + +<P> +But where? +</P> + +<P> +They gazed about them at the stretch of lone bay or inlet, the sparse +scrub grass and vegetation fringing it on the shore side and wheeling +sea-gulls swooping and soaring above the shoal waters. +</P> + +<P> +Then Rob's gaze rested carelessly on a closed and seemingly deserted +bungalow, occupying the island above them. As his eyes fell on it they +suddenly became riveted and then grew wide with surprise. +</P> + +<P> +A stream of smoke was issuing from the fieldstone chimney roughly +constructed at one end of the apparently deserted dwelling. +</P> + +<P> +"There's some one living in that bungalow," he exclaimed, as he made +the discovery, "maybe whoever it is can give us some clue to where Joe +Digby is." +</P> + +<P> +They all gazed intently at the weather-beaten old house from which the +paint was scaling, adding to the note of desertion sounded by its +closed shutters and forlorn-looking yard. +</P> + +<P> +As they looked, astonished at the idea that the barren structure should +actually house a human being, a sudden thought struck Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"Suppose Jack Curtiss and his gang are there?" he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Hardly likely," rejoined Rob, "however, we'll get over there and find +out just who is making that smoke." +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the old captain, who had been watching the smoke closely, gave +an astonished snort. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter, captain?" asked Rob, who was about to walk to the +water's edge and get ready to shove off the dinghy. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, there's somethin' queer about that thar smoke," responded the old +salt. +</P> + +<P> +"Queer—how do you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, watch it a minute—there—see! now stops—now it starts +ag'in—then it stops—wha, do yer suppose is happenin' to it?" +</P> + +<P> +Rob knitted his brows and watched the phenomenon to which the captain +had called attention with narrowed eyes. +</P> + +<P> +There was no question about it the smoke was certainly behaving +"queerly" as the captain put it. +</P> + +<P> +The blue vapor emerged from the chimney now in a copious puff and then, +for a space, would cease, only to roll forth once more in larger +volume. The boys watched it in some astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +"What can they be doing, do you suppose?" Merritt asked. +</P> + +<P> +"I have no idea. It's past me to say," responded Rob, "it comes out in +puffs like—like—by hookey! I've got it!" he broke off with a shout, +"like the Morse code!" +</P> + +<P> +"Somebody signaling?" stammered Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"That's it—watch!" +</P> + +<P> +The smoke, which had not been visible for some seconds, now emerged +from the stone chimney once more and the boys, fascinated, watched it +closely with burning eyes. There was no doubt whatever about it now. +It was signaling. +</P> + +<P> +Four short puffs. +</P> + +<P> +"Four dots—that's H," exclaimed Rob, trembling with excitement. +</P> + +<P> +The smoke ceased. +</P> + +<P> +"Here comes some more," shouted Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +One short puff from the chimney. +</P> + +<P> +"E, one dot, that's E sure enough," translated Rob. +</P> + +<P> +The others stood like figures carved in stone as their leader read off +the strange signals. +</P> + +<P> +Puff! A longer period of smoking by the chimney—then two sharp puffs. +</P> + +<P> +"That's L," interpreted the leader of the Eagles. Before they could +say a word the chimney took up its message once more. +</P> + +<P> +Puff—a long puff—another long one, and then a short one. +</P> + +<P> +"Dot—dash—dash—dot," exclaimed Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the letter P," put in Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"That's right, old man," shouted Rob, slapping him on the back, "and +we've found Joe Digby. That smoke signal spelled Help in the Morse +code." +</P> + +<P> +"You're right," shouted Merritt, "come on, Cap, come on, boys, we've +got to get a move on and get it on quick!" +</P> + +<P> +They dashed toward the dinghy and a few seconds later had once more +embarked and were speeding toward the desolate and forsaken bungalow. +Somehow they managed to get ashore in the dinghy without anyone being +spilled over the side in their desperate hurry and a minute later were +pounding at the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Joe—Joe Digby," shouted Rob in a strange, strained voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Here," came back the answer in a feeble tone, "oh, boys, I'm glad +you've come." +</P> + +<P> +Furiously Rob shook the door. +</P> + +<P> +"It's locked," came the voice from inside, "I tried to break it down. +Too weak, I guess. Try the shutters." +</P> + +<P> +At each window in turn the Boy Scouts sought to effect an entrance, but +in vain. The owner of the place had screwed up the window coverings +too tightly for them to be opened without tools. +</P> + +<P> +The rescue party came to a momentary halt. +</P> + +<P> +"I've got it," shouted the captain suddenly, "we'll have him out uv +there in two shakes uv a drake's tail." +</P> + +<P> +He produced his formidable old pistol and waved it grimly. +</P> + +<P> +"Come on, boys," he yelled, darting round to the front of the +house—the side on which the door was. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you going to do?" demanded Rob, as much mystified as the rest +at the old eccentric actions. +</P> + +<P> +"Watch me," grinned the captain as he gained the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Stand clear!" he bawled at the top of his lungs, "stand clear uv the +door inside there, Joe!" +</P> + +<P> +"All right," came back the reply, "I'm in a corner." +</P> + +<P> +"Now, stand by ter receive boarders!" roared the veteran as he placed +the muzzle weapon at the lock and pulled the trigger. +</P> + +<P> +"Bang!" +</P> + +<P> +There was a roaring explosion from the wide mouthed weapon and a cloud +of smoke filled the air. But simultaneously there came a sound of +ripping, tearing and splintering and the lock of the door, shot clean +out by the heavy charge, clattered down to the floor on the inside of +the room. +</P> + +<P> +An instant later Joe Digby, pale and trembling from privation, surprise +and happiness all mingled in one, was in the midst of his friends and +fellow scouts. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know what made me think of it," he explained in answer to +eager questions about the smoke telegraph message. "It was what the +books call an inspiration, I guess. There were plenty of loose +boards—fragments of old packing cases lying about, and luckily they +had not taken my matches. I built a blaze and then, while it was still +smoldering, I covered it with an old strip of sacking that I wetted +with some water out of the bottle they left me." +</P> + +<P> +"It made about as good a signal, as one could want," responded Rob +warmly, "but now tell us about your capture, Joe, how did it happen?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, you see," exclaimed the lad, his voice growing stronger as he +proceeded, "I was just thinking it was about time to wake my relief +when I heard a rustling noise in the bushes back of the camp. I walked +up there to investigate, for I thought it might be some animals—maybe +the captain's pigs." +</P> + +<P> +"Keel haul them lubberly swine," from the captain. +</P> + +<P> +"But, as you shall hear, I was mistaken. Hardly had I reached the edge +of the dark shadows than I was seized and a hand put over my mouth. I +had only time to let out one yell for help." +</P> + +<P> +"The one that woke me," put in Merritt, in parenthesis. +</P> + +<P> +"That was it; I guess," went on the small lad, "well, I was picked up +and carried some little distance to where they had a boat, and thrown +into it. Then the three men who were in the boat rowed to an island +with a tent on it and there two of them got out. The other, a fellow +with a big beard and very dirty, then rowed over to this place with me +and, after putting some bread and a bottle of water inside the door, +closed and locked it. +</P> + +<P> +"I carried on like a baby, I guess. I cried for a long time and +shouted, but no one came. Then I grew quieter and tried to find some +way of escape but the shutters were all fastened and the door was too +strong for me. I tried to clamber up the chimney once but I had to +give it up. Then suddenly the thought of making a smoke came to me and +then I improved on that idea and used the Morse code that Rob has been +drumming into me. I never thought that I might be able to use it to +save my life maybe—or at least a lot of hunger and misery." +</P> + +<P> +"Could you recognize the men who took you if you saw them again?" asked +Rob earnestly. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not sure," responded the small lad, "one of them I would know—the +one with the beard. The other two wore masks. But I think their +voices sounded like Bill's and Jack's. I'm sure of the man with the +beard though." +</P> + +<P> +"Hank Handcraft," exclaimed Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, that's who it was," cried the small lad, "I thought somehow the +voice and something about the man seemed familiar. He's that old beach +comber who lives outside Hampton." +</P> + +<P> +"That's the son uv a sea-swab," roared the captain, "oh, if I could +only get my hands on him, I'd—" +</P> + +<P> +The fate the captain had reserved for Hank was doomed not to be known, +for as he was speaking Paul Perkins gave a sudden shout: +</P> + +<P> +"Look—look there!" he cried, pointing. +</P> + +<P> +Sneaking up to the tented island was the familiar outline of Sam +Redding's hydroplane. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap22"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE ESCAPE OF THE BULLY +</H3> + +<P> +The group standing about the newly rescued lad on the veranda of the +deserted bungalow galvanized into instant action. +</P> + +<P> +"Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender are in her!" shouted Rob, "come on, +scouts, we'll get after them while we can." +</P> + +<P> +With a shout the Boy Scouts ran for the boat and speedily pulled out to +the Flying Fish. Hastily as they executed this move, however, the two +in the other boat had had time to head her about and start at top speed +for the mouth of the inlet. +</P> + +<P> +"Clap on more sail, my hearties," roared the captain, almost beside +himself with excitement, "I want ter get my hands on them two piratical +craft." +</P> + +<P> +Rob, with a look of grim determination on his usually pleasant face, +held the Flying Fish true on her course, but, heavily laden as she was, +she could not make her usual speed and the hydroplane soon distanced +her. Jack Curtiss stood in her stern and waved a mocking hand at the +Boy Scouts as the light-draft craft shot over the shoals and shallows +with case while the Flying Fish had to lose much time and way by +threading in and out seeking the deeper water. +</P> + +<P> +"Douse my toplights, I can't stand that," bellowed the irate Captain +Hudgins. "I'll put a shot in that jackanapes' locker." +</P> + +<P> +With these words, and before any of the boys could stop him, he rose to +his feet and sent a bullet from his ponderous revolver flying in the +direction of the fleeing motor boat. It missed and hit the water near +by, sending up a little fountain of spray. +</P> + +<P> +Even at the distance they were the occupants of the Flying Fish could +see the fear which this warlike move inspired in the bully and his +companion. They threw themselves flat in their boat till only the +hands of Bill, who was steering, were visible. +</P> + +<P> +They need not have feared, however. The captain's hasty move brought +down on his head Rob's wrath, though the young leader could not find it +in his heart to be really angry with the old man who had been irritated +past endurance by the bully's mocking defiance. +</P> + +<P> +"Shiver my garboard strake," he exclaimed contritely, when Rob pointed +out to him that he might have killed one of the occupants of the +hydroplane, "shiver my garboard strake, lad, I saw red fer a minute +just like I did that time the Chinese pirates boarded the Sarah Jane +Butts in the Yellow River." +</P> + +<P> +Although there was not much hope of catching the two, Rob stuck to the +chase even when he realized the scouts were outdistanced, and in fact +kept his attention so closely riveted on the other craft that when +there came a sudden jar and jolt and the Flying Fish stopped with a +grunt and a wheeze, he realized with a start that he had not been +watching the treacherous channel and was once more fast on a sand bar. +</P> + +<P> +With a last shout and a yell of defiance the bully and his companion, +who had by now got over their fright, shot out on to the ocean and +rapidly vanished. +</P> + +<P> +"There goes our hope of catching those two crooks," cried Tubby +angrily, while the engine of the Flying Fish was set at reverse. "It's +all off now. They know that we have rescued Joe and they'll fly the +coop for some other part of the country." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose they came down here to get their tent, not realizing we'd be +here so soon," observed Andy, which indeed was the fact. +</P> + +<P> +Fortunately the Flying Fish was not very hard aground and a little +manipulation got her off into deep water once more. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess those two chaps are almost in Hampton by this time and getting +ready to leave town," observed Rob as the motor boat forged ahead, once +more. +</P> + +<P> +"This will be the safest thing for them to do," exclaimed Merritt, +"they are in a serious position this time. Kidnapping is a dire +offense." +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder what they came back for?" said Tubby suddenly. +</P> + +<P> +"No doubt to get their tent and the few things they had left on the +island," vouchsafed Rob, skillfully dodging a shoal as he spoke, +"maybe, too, they intended to see how Joe was making out." +</P> + +<P> +"I wasn't making out at all," said the small lad, with a shudder at the +recollection of his imprisonment. +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind, Joe, that's all over now," put in Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad it is," answered the small lad, "and just think, if I hadn't +been a Boy Scout and understood that code I might have been there yet." +</P> + +<P> +"That's true enough," said Rob, "for we had about made up our minds +that the bungalow was deserted, and were not going to bother +investigating it, till we saw the smoke." +</P> + +<P> +About an hour later the boys landed once more in camp, where their +reception by the others may be well imagined by my young readers. +</P> + +<P> +"And now comes the final chapter in the career of Messrs. Jack Curtiss +and Bill Bender," said Rob decisively, "I'm going to take a run up to +Hampton. Joe, you'll come along, and you, Merritt, and Tubby. If that +letter was delivered, as I imagine it was, Joe's parents must be in a +terrible state of anxiety by now and we must hurry up and see them at +once." +</P> + +<P> +"Right," agreed Merritt, and a few moments later, having left the +captain and the others ashore, the Boy Scouts and their young leader +were speeding toward Hampton. With the craft lightened as she was, +they made good time and arrived at the yacht club pier speedily. +</P> + +<P> +News of the events which had transpired at the island had evidently +reached the town, for Mr. Wingate himself, with Mr. Blake and Merritt's +father were at the landing as the Flying Fish glided up to it. +</P> + +<P> +The three elders were almost as enthusiastic as the boys had been over +the safe recovery of Joe, the details attendant on which Rob rapidly +sketched to them. He had hardly concluded and had not had time to ask +how they knew of the kidnapping when a wild-eyed man in faded old farm +clothes, accompanied by an equally distracted woman, came rushing down +to the wharf. +</P> + +<P> +"Where's them Boy Scouts? I allers knew no good would come of my son +joining 'em," the man shouted. "I'll give a hundred dollars fer a boat +that'll take me ter Topsail Island in ten minutes." +</P> + +<P> +"'No need of that, Mr. Digby," said Rob quietly stepping forward with +his hand on Joe's shoulder, "here is Joe safe and sound." +</P> + +<P> +"Great hopping watermelons!" yelled the farmer, rushing at his son +followed by his wife. Together the worthy souls almost squashed the +small lad like a butterfly under a harrow. But at last the first +greetings were over and the farmer turned to the somewhat amused group +of boys and men who were looking on. +</P> + +<P> +"My, what a fright we had," exclaimed Mrs. Digby, a motherly-looking +woman, dabbing at her eyes with capacious pocket handkerchief, "we gets +a letter tellin' us that our boy be kidnapped." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes we know all about that, Mrs. Digby," put in Mr. Blake, "you +recollect your husband telephoned to the chief of police here about it, +and expecting news from the island, we came down here." +</P> + +<P> +"So he did, so he did," cried Mrs. Digby, "oh, dear me, Mr. Blake, I'm +in such a takin! I hardly know what I'm sayin'." +</P> + +<P> +"Consarn them Boy Scouts," sputtered the farmer, returning to his +original grievance, "if Joe hadn't a joined them none of this would +have happened." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes it would and worse in fact," said Mr. Blake quietly, "from +what I have learned of the affair it was your lad's knowledge of the +Morse code, which every Boy Scout must know, that saved him when he was +confined on the island." +</P> + +<P> +"That's right, pop," piped up the lad himself. +</P> + +<P> +"Wall, I don't know nothin' about Horses, codes," grunted Mr. Digby, +somewhat mollified, "but if it saved Joe here it must be all right." +</P> + +<P> +"Then your animosity toward the Boy Scouts is somewhat modified," +smiled Mr. Blake, "let me tell you just what happened. As a matter of +fact the whole trouble dates back to the day your son exposed the +contemptible trick by which Jack Curtiss hoped to win the aeroplane +model prize contest." +</P> + +<P> +The banker drew the farmer aside and related to him the story that had +been previously narrated by Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"I want ter shake yer hand, boy," exclaimed the fanner, darting at Rob +at the conclusion, "I want ter shake all yer hands," he yelled in his +enthusiasm. +</P> + +<P> +"Bless my soul," exclaimed Commodore Wingate suddenly, "we are clean +forgetting about those two young rascals who tried to extort the money +from Mr. Digby. We must get after them at once and their accomplice +who, I suppose, is, the man delegated to take the money from under the +rock." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you suggest?" asked Mr. Blake. +</P> + +<P> +"That we hasten to the office of the chief of police and then get into +my car and ferret them out if possible," said the commodore briskly, +"they must be made to suffer for this." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't believe that Sam Redding had any hand in it," put in Rob as +Merritt mentioned the name of the boat-builder's son. "You know that +all our investigation only pointed to two persons, Jack and Bill, and +their assistant, Hank Handcraft." +</P> + +<P> +A short time later Merritt, Tubby and the Digbys being left behind on +the landing, a high powered car, containing Rob, his father, Commodore +Wingate and the chief of police of Hampton shot out on to the road +leading to the farm owned by Jack Curtiss' father. Inquiry at the +Bender home had already developed the fact that Jack and Bill had left +there hurriedly a short time before, saying they were going out to the +Curtiss place. The party was doomed to disappointment, however, so far +as the hope of catching Jack or his accomplices at the farm was +concerned. Old Mr. Curtiss informed them that his son had taken the +family buggy and driven furiously off down the road with Bill Bender a +short time before. +</P> + +<P> +"He got a hundred dollars from me," explained the old man simply, "he +told me he was goin' ter invest it in some rich mining stock his friend +Bender had promoted but—what's the matter, gentlemen," he broke off, +noticing the half-pitying look on the faces of the men in the +automobile. Mr. Blake hurriedly explained the attempted extortion of +which Jack had been guilty. +</P> + +<P> +"What, Jack—my son!" exclaimed the old man in half daze at the +stunning intelligence, "my boy Jack do a thing like that? Why, it +can't be true. I don't believe it." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm afraid, nevertheless, it is," rejoined Mr. Blake, but the old man +only shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll not believe it," he kept repeating. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish that so good a father had a worthy son," remarked Mr. Blake as +the car shot out of the farm and out upon the highroad in the hope of +overtaking the buggy. +</P> + +<P> +At the Digby farm the machine was turned off to take the cross roads +and at this spot they encountered a buggy coming toward them driven by +a farmer friend of Mr. Blake's. +</P> + +<P> +"Seen a rig with Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender in it?" shouted the +banker as the car was slowed up by Commodore Wingate. +</P> + +<P> +"Down the road a piece driving like the Mischief," responded the rustic +pointing back with his whip, "but you're wrong 'bout ther' bein' only +two of them; that no-good beach-comber, Hank Handcraft, was in there +with them." +</P> + +<P> +With a shouted word of thanks the car dashed forward once more. It was +evident that, realizing that their game was up, Jack and Bill had +picked up Hank, and, with a sense of loyalty for which Rob certainly +would not have given them credit, were trying to save him too. +</P> + +<P> +"Where can they be headed for?" wondered Mr. Blake as the car dashed +forward. +</P> + +<P> +"I can hazard a guess," exclaimed Commodore Wingate, "for the Sunnyside +railroad station. If they make a train they may escape us yet." +</P> + +<P> +"Je-rus-a-lem," exclaimed the chief of police, a man named Applegate, +pulling out a huge old-fashioned silver watch, "there's a train due in +a few minutes now; if we don't make it, they'll slip through our +fingers!" +</P> + +<P> +Faster and faster the car roared forward and suddenly as it shot round +a curve the little station of Sunnyside came in sight. Tied outside it +was the buggy and horse of farmer Curtiss and on the platform stood +three figures that the party in the auto made out at once as Jack +Curtiss, Bill Bender and their unsavory ally. +</P> + +<P> +The road took a long curve at this point and while they could see the +station the pursuers had the mortification of knowing that it would be +some minutes before they could reach it. As the car bounded forward, +swaying like a rocking ship over the rough roads, there came a sudden +sound that made Rob's heart bound. +</P> + +<P> +The long whistle of an approaching train. +</P> + +<P> +Faster the machine shot onward roaring like a battery of machine guns +going into action. Its occupants leaned forward with eyes glued on the +group on the platform. +</P> + +<P> +The trio of whom the autoists were in pursuit had by this time realized +that they were the objects of the chase and were nervously staring up +the track down which was fast approaching the train by which they hoped +to escape. +</P> + +<P> +The auto was still a good two hundred yards from the station when the +train rolled in and, hardly stopping, started to move out again. +</P> + +<P> +"Stop! stop!" yelled Chief Applegate, at the top of his lungs, and the +others waved their hands frantically. The engineer looked back at them +with a grin. +</P> + +<P> +"Some more idiots missed their train, Jim," he remarked to the fireman, +"I might have waited for them but we're five minutes behind schedule +time now." +</P> + +<P> +The fireman nodded understandingly and as the auto, in a cloud of dust, +dashed up to the little depot the train, with a screech that sounded +like the last defiance of the bully, shot round a curve and vanished +with a cloud of black smoke. +</P> + +<P> +"Beaten!" gasped the chief. +</P> + +<P> +"We can telegraph ahead and have them arrested in New York," suggested +Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"No, perhaps it is all for the best," counseled Mr. Blake, "the parents +of both those boys are respected citizens, and it would be a cruel +grievance to them were their boys to be publicly disgraced. Let them +work out their own salvation." +</P> + +<P> +And so Jack Curtiss, Bill Bender and Hank Handcraft vanish for a time +from the ken of the Boy Scouts, leaving behind them no regrets, except +it be those of their parents who were for many months bowed down with +the grief and humiliation of their boys' misdoings. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap23"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SCOUTS IN NEED ARE FRIENDS INDEED +</H3> + +<P> +"Ta-ra-ta-ra-ta! Ta-ra-ta-ra-ta! Ta-ra-ta-rata! Ta-ra-ta-a-a!" +</P> + +<P> +Andy's bugle briskly announced the last morning of the Boy Scouts' camp +on Topsail Island. Already the first breath of autumn had begun to +tint the leaves of the earlier fading trees, and the chill of the early +dawn was noticeable. +</P> + +<P> +During their stay in camp the lads had profited in every way. The scout +program as sent out for camps by headquarters had been gone, through +with some modifications, and Sim Jeffords had qualified as a +first-class scout while Martin Green, Walter Lonsdale and Joe Digby, +once more as merry as ever, were all fitted for their second-class +scout diplomas. The prospect of another patrol in Hampton had been +discussed and the outlook for one seemed favorable. +</P> + +<P> +As the last notes of Andy's call—to turn to the subject of the opening +of this chapter—rang out the tousle-headed, sleepy-eyed scouts +appeared from their tents and found themselves enveloped in a fleecy +mist—such a light fog as is common on that part of the Atlantic coast +at this season of the year. +</P> + +<P> +"Pretty thick!" was Rob's comment as he doused his face in his tin +basin. +</P> + +<P> +"Hull-o-o-o!" suddenly hailed a voice from the water, "got any +breakfast fer an old shipmate?" +</P> + +<P> +Through the fog the boys could make out the dim outline of the +captain's motor boat even if it's apoplectic cough had not already told +them it was there. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure, come ashore," hailed Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +A few moments later the hearty old seaman was sitting down with the +lads and performing miracles of eating. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a good thing we haven't all got your capacity," remarked Rob, +laughing, "or that provision tent wouldn't have held out very long." +</P> + +<P> +"Wall, boys," observed the captain, drawing out a black pipe and +ramming some equally black tobacco into it with a horny thumb, "a full +hold makes fair sailin', that's my motto and 'Be Prepared' is yers. A +man can be no better prepared than with a good meal under his belt. +Give me a well-fed crew and I'll navigate a raft to Hindustan, but a +pack uv slab-sided lime juicers couldn't work a full-rigged ship uv the +finest from here to Ban-gor." +</P> + +<P> +Having delivered himself of this bit of philosophy, the captain passed +on to another subject. +</P> + +<P> +"Hear'n anything uv them varmints what slipped their moorings on the +train?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"We heard that they had gone West," rejoined Merritt, "but to just what +part I don't know." +</P> + +<P> +"That thar Sam Reddin' boy clar'd himself uv all suspicion, did he?" +went on the old man. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, after he had admitted that Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender and +himself stole our uniforms and robbed you—" +</P> + +<P> +"Consarn him," interrupted the captain. +</P> + +<P> +"You needn't grumble, his father paid you back all that was taken," +observed Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"That don't lessen the crime," grunted the captain, "heave ahead with +yer yarn, my boy; yer was sayin' that that Reddin' boy admitted +everythin'." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," continued Rob, "in consideration of his confession, it was +agreed not to prosecute him and he seems to be a reformed character. +He absolutely denied, though, having had anything to do with the +kidnapping of Joe Digby here, and I believe he is telling the truth." +</P> + +<P> +"The truth ain't in any uv them fellers, that's my belief," snorted the +captain, "and if ever I get my hands on that thar Jack Curtiss or Bill +Bender I'll lay onto 'em with a rope's end." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, we'll never see them again," laughed Rob. +</P> + +<P> +It may be said here, however, that in this he was very much mistaken. +Rob and his friends did meet the bully again and under strange +circumstances, in scenes far removed from the peaceful surroundings of +Hampton. +</P> + +<P> +"Fog's thickenin'," observed the captain squinting seaward. +</P> + +<P> +As he remarked, the mist was indeed increasing in density, shrouding +the surroundings of the camp completely and covering the trees and +bushes with condensed moisture, which dripped in a slow, melancholy +sort of way from their limbs. +</P> + +<P> +"Bad weather for ships," observed Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"Yer may well say that, my lad, and this is a powerful bad part uv the +coast ter be navigatin' on in a fog. I've heard it said that there's a +lot uv iron in the Long Island shoals and that this deflects the +compasses uv ships that stay too near in shore in a fog. I don't know +how that maybe, I don't place a lot uv stock in it myself, but I do +know that steamers and vessels uv al kinds go ashore here more than +seems ter be natural." +</P> + +<P> +As he finished speaking there came, the fog a sound that fitted in so +well with subject of his conversation that it almost an accompaniment +to it. +</P> + +<P> +"Who-oo-oo-oo!" +</P> + +<P> +"A steamer's siren," exclaimed Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"That's what it is, lad," assented the old sailor, as the sound came +again, booming through the fog with a melancholy cadence. +</P> + +<P> +"Who-o-o-o-o-o!" roared the siren once more. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll bet the feller who's on the bridge uv that ship is havin' his own +troubles just about now," remarked the captain, "hark at that!" +</P> + +<P> +The whistle was now roaring like a wounded bull, sending distinct +vibrations of sound through the increasing fog billows. +</P> + +<P> +"Thick as pea soup," commented the captain, refilling his pipe, "reckon +I'll have ter stay here till she lifts a bit. Wind's hauled to the +sou'west too. Bad quarter means more fog and smother." +</P> + +<P> +"Who-o-o-o-o!" boomed the siren of the hidden vessel once more, and +this time it was answered by another whistle somewhere further off in +the fog. +</P> + +<P> +"Two uv 'em now. Stand by fer a collision," shouted the captain, while +the scouts, intensely interested in the development of this hidden +drama of the fog, clustered about him. +</P> + +<P> +"Who-o-o-o-o! Who-o-o-o-o! Who-o-o-o-o!" came the nearest siren. +</P> + +<P> +"She's standin' in shore," shouted the captain, "boys, she's in grave +danger." +</P> + +<P> +"What's she coming in for?" asked Merritt. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose her skipper thinks he's got plenty uv water under his keel +and wants ter give a wide berth ter the other vessel," explained the +captain. "Boys, if only we had a big bell or a steam whistle we could +warn them poor fellows uv their peril." +</P> + +<P> +"It does seem hard to hear them blundering in and not be able to warn +them," agreed Rob, "there should have been a lighthouse put on these +shoals long ago." +</P> + +<P> +"Right yer are, boy, but the government is a slow movin' vessel and +hard ter get under way." +</P> + +<P> +The boys had to laugh at this odd way of expressing the difficulty of +getting new lights erected, but they knew as well almost as their +companion the dangers of the ocean off this part of Long Island. +</P> + +<P> +The whistle boomed out its wailing note again. +</P> + +<P> +"Closer and closer," lamented the captain, "what's the matter with +those lubbers? Yer'd think they'd have a leadsman out." +</P> + +<P> +All at once the catastrophe for which they had been more or less +prepared happened. So quickly did it come that they had not time to +speak. +</P> + +<P> +The echoes of the last note of the siren had hardly died out when there +came a loud explosion. +</P> + +<P> +"Bang!" +</P> + +<P> +"A signal gun," roared the captain. +</P> + +<P> +"They are calling for help?" asked Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"That's it, my boy. They've struck, just as I thought they would." +</P> + +<P> +The distress gun sounded again. +</P> + +<P> +"They're in a bad mess by the sound uv that," said the captain. +</P> + +<P> +"It doesn't sound as if they were more than half a mile or so out," +remarked Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess they're not. Hark at that! They must be scared ter death." +</P> + +<P> +The gun was fired three times in rapid succession. +</P> + +<P> +"They'll never hear that at Lone Hill life savin' station," grimly +commented the captain, "and this fog's too thick fer them ter see her." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you imagine she is badly damaged, captain?" asked Rob anxiously. +The idea of the stranded ship lost in the dense fog affected him +strangely. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't tell," the captain replied to his question, "may have stove a +hole in herself and be sinking now." +</P> + +<P> +"Can't we do something to help them?" asked Merritt eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"Only one thing we can do, boy, and that's full uv danger." +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" demanded Rob, ignoring the last part of the captain's +speech. +</P> + +<P> +"Get in ther boat and go out thar to 'em. If they're sinkin' we can +help 'em a whole lot, and—" +</P> + +<P> +The captain stopped short in amazement. +</P> + +<P> +Rob, Merritt and Tubby had already started for the beach and Hiram, +"the wireless scout", was close on their heels. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, douse my toplights," exclaimed the captain, rising to his feet +and lumbering after them, "Yer can't beat the Boy Scouts." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap24"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A MEETING IN THE FOG—CONCLUSION +</H3> + +<P> +"Can you make her out?" +</P> + +<P> +Five pairs of eyes peered through the mist that hung like a white pall +an every side of the Flying Fish. +</P> + +<P> +"Stop that motor a minute, while I listen!" +</P> + +<P> +In compliance with Rob's order Merritt shut down the panting engine. +</P> + +<P> +"What's that noise off there?" asked Hiram suddenly. +</P> + +<P> +"That sort of throbbing sound?" rejoined Tubby Hopkins. +</P> + +<P> +"That's it, sounds like a big heart beating," put in Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess that's their engine. They're tryin' ter back her off," +suggested the captain. +</P> + +<P> +"Give them a blast on that fog-horn and see if they answer," said Rob +suddenly. +</P> + +<P> +Hiram took up the big brass fish-horn, used as a fog signal on the +Flying Fish, and blew a loud, long call. +</P> + +<P> +After an interval of waiting, from out of the mist came the wail of the +stranded ship's siren once more. +</P> + +<P> +"There she is, right in there," declared the captain, pointing seaward +into the mist. "Steer right on that tack, Rob, and we'll pick her up +pretty soon." +</P> + +<P> +The motor was started up once more and the Flying Fish forged ahead +through the smother. Suddenly Rob, with a sharp cry of: +</P> + +<P> +"Stop her!" swung his wheel over sharp and the Flying Fish headed about. +</P> + +<P> +The gleaming black rampart of a large vessel's side had suddenly loomed +up dead ahead of him. +</P> + +<P> +"Ahoy! aboard the steamer," roared the captain, framing his mouth with +his hands, "what ship is that?" +</P> + +<P> +"The El Paso from London to New York," came back a hail from somewhere +above them in a somewhat surprised tone, "who are you?" +</P> + +<P> +"The Flying Fish of Hampton, Long Island," responded Rob, with a laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"Never heard of her," responded the voice, "we're hard aground on one +of your Long Island shoals it seems." +</P> + +<P> +"That's what yer are," exclaimed the captain, "how come yer ter be +huggin' the shore so hard?" +</P> + +<P> +"Trying to avoid a collision with another vessel." +</P> + +<P> +"Are yer all right?" bellowed the captain. +</P> + +<P> +"Seem to be. So far as we can find out there's not a plate started, +but if you're from the land we've got a couple of passengers we'd be +thankful if you'd take ashore. Will you come on board?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure, if yer'll drop a Jacob's ladder," bellowed the captain at the +invisible speaker. +</P> + +<P> +"In a minute." +</P> + +<P> +The conversation had been carried on without either of the parties to +it being able to see one another, but the captain of the vessel—for he +had been the boy's interlocutor—now came off the bridge and with some +of the crew watched two sailors lower a Jacob's ladder and make it fast +to the rail. +</P> + +<P> +"Now we go aboard," said Captain Hudgins, clambering up the swaying +contrivance as nimbly as an athlete, "make our painter fast ter the +ladder, Rob." +</P> + +<P> +This being done, the boys followed the veteran on board. The steamer, +when they gained her deck, puzzled them a good deal and it was not till +her captain, a genial blond-bearded Britisher, explained to them that +she was a cattle ship that they understood the utility of the wooden +structures with which her decks were obstructed. +</P> + +<P> +The captain explained that these were pens for the cattle she expected +to take back to England, from which country she was returning after +having taken over a large consignment of steers. +</P> + +<P> +"Which," went on the captain, "brings us to my passengers. They are +Mr. Frank Harkness and his son, of Lariat, a small cattle town in the +West, where Mr. Harkness has a large ranch. They were his cattle that +we took over and as he had difficulty in engaging a berth on a liner at +this time of year, when the passenger ships are crowded, he decided to +return with us. Here is Mr. Harkness now," he added, as a tall, +bronzed man, with a long coat draped over a pair of broad shoulders, +and a wide-brimmed sombrero above keen eyes, approached. +</P> + +<P> +"Visitors from the shore, captain?" he inquired, a pleasant smile +illuminating his clean-shaven, sun-browned face. +</P> + +<P> +"That's what they are," rejoined the captain, "just dropped in on us, +don't you know." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean we dropped in on them," amended the other with a laugh, "come +here, Harry," he called, raising his voice, "we've got some company out +of the fog." +</P> + +<P> +In response to his call a lad about the age of Rob appeared from the +after-end of the ship, where the cabins were, and greeted the boys with +a smile and a nod. He, like his father, wore a sombrero and was quite +as sunburned. For the rest he was well-knit and athletic looking and +had evidently lived an out-door life. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we are getting plenty of experiences away from the ranch, eh, +Harry?" observed his father, after the boys and the captain had +introduced themselves and there had been a great and ceremonious +hand-shaking all round. +</P> + +<P> +"We just naturally are," responded the rancher's son. "Say, captain," +he went on, "when do you expect to get off?" +</P> + +<P> +"If we are not too badly hung up we ought to get off at high-water," +rejoined the Britisher. +</P> + +<P> +"That won't be till late to-night," observed Rob. +</P> + +<P> +"If I could only get a tug we might do better," observed the captain, +"in fact, since I've had the engines going I don't think we can back +off under our own power." +</P> + +<P> +"Have you got a wireless?" asked Hiram, his pet subject uppermost. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but our operator went ashore in London and I guess he had too +good a time; anyhow he never showed up so we had to cross without one." +</P> + +<P> +"Is she working?" asked Hiram interestedly. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure, there's plenty of 'juice' as the operators, call it. I tried to +work it coming over," laughed Harry, "but outside of getting a proper +shock, I didn't do much." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll send out a signal for a tug," said Hiram quietly, "there's a +station at Island. They'll pick up the message and transmit it." +</P> + +<P> +"What—you can work a wireless?" +</P> + +<P> +"A little bit," said the lad modestly. +</P> + +<P> +"Come on, I'll show you the way," said the delighted captain, starting +off with Hiram, and followed by the others. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, don't think it personal of me, will you?" remarked Harry Harkness +to Rob as they followed, "but would you mind telling me what you all +are wearing those uniforms for?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, we're Boy Scouts," rejoined Rob proudly, and went on to explain +just what the organization is. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, that's great," exclaimed Harry enthusiastically, "I'd like to +form a patrol out at Lariat. Do you reckon I could?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't doubt it," rejoined Rob, smiling the Western enthusiasm. +</P> + +<P> +"By cracky, I'll do it," went on Harry Harkness, "I'll make it a +mounted patrol and if we don't get old 'Silver Tip' then, besides all +the other sport we'll have, call me a coyote." +</P> + +<P> +"Who or what is old Silver Tip?" asked Rob, somewhat interested in his +breezy new acquaintance. +</P> + +<P> +"Silver Tip is a grizzly," explained Harry, "a grizzly bear you know. +Dad says he's the biggest he's ever seen and he seems to bear—excuse +the pun, please—he seems to bear a charmed life. All the boys on the +ranch are crazy to get a shot at him, but they've never been able to." +</P> + +<P> +"Say, that sounds bully," agreed Rob, "I wish I could get out West for +a while." +</P> + +<P> +"It's a great country," said Harry sagely, as they entered the wireless +room, where Hiram was already bending over the instrument sending out a +message for aid, while the blue spark leaped and crackled across its +gap. The others gazed on admiringly as Hiram, having completed his +message, adjusted the detector on his head and awaited an answer. +</P> + +<P> +It soon came. Tugs would be dispatched as soon as the fog lifted, the +operator at Fire Island announced. +</P> + +<P> +"That's a weight off my mind," breathed the captain, while Harry +hastily confided to his father that the lads who had boarded the vessel +out of the mist were Boy Scouts. +</P> + +<P> +"The fog is lifting," announced Rob, as they streamed out of the +wireless room. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, the wind has shifted," remarked Captain Hudgins. "I guess it was +that sou'west breeze that brought the mist. She's hauled ter the +nor'west now, and in an hour's time it will be clear." +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder if you boys can put us ashore," said Mr. Harkness, as the +group walked aft to the captain's cabin; "I would be very grateful if +you could. It seems that it will be some time before the steamer is +cleared, and I am anxious to make a train for the West." +</P> + +<P> +The boys agreed to land the ranchman and his son as soon as the fog +cleared off, which, as the captain had prophesied, it did in about an +hour's time. The boys had spent the interim in exploring the ship and +listening to Harry Harkness' tales of the ranch and the marvelous +exploits of Silver Tip, the huge grizzly, who derived his name, it +appeared, from a spot of white fur on his breast. In fact, so fast did +they get on, that by the time Harry and his father were called by +Captain Hudgins to embark in the Flying Fish, the boys had become fast +friends. +</P> + +<P> +The run to the shore was made quickly and by landing the two travelers +at a point above Hampton they were enabled to make a train that would +land them in the city in time for dinner. Mr. Harkness whiled away the +trip by plying the boys with all sorts of questions about the Boy +Scouts and seemed greatly interested in their answers. Altogether the +boys felt quite sorry when it came time to part at the wharf at +Farmingdale, the place where the rancher and his son were put ashore. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, good-bye, boys," said Mr. Harkness, holding out a big hand to +Rob, who took it and was amazed to find a twenty dollar gold piece +slipped into his palm by the ranchman. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I couldn't think of taking that," he said, insisting on handing it +back despite the ranchman's protests, "I appreciate your motive, but I +couldn't think of taking any money for an ordinary courtesy." +</P> + +<P> +"By Sam Hooker, you're right, boy," cried the ranchman heartily, "and +it's a privilege to meet such a bunch of fine lads. I thought all you +Easterners were a bunch of stuck-up tenderfeet, but I find I'm +wrong—anyhow so far as the Boy Scouts are concerned." +</P> + +<P> +A few minutes later the rancher and his son were hastening to the +railroad station, followed by the boys' eyes. As they entered the +depot, just in time to catch the New York train—they waved a hearty +farewell and the boys waved and shouted in return. +</P> + +<P> +"We've only known them a few hours, but I feel as if I'd just said +good-bye to two friends," said Rob as they turned away and prepared to +go back to the island in their boat and break camp. +</P> + +<P> +"So do I!" said Tubby; "I wonder if we'll ever see them again." +</P> + +<P> +"No, I guess they're kind of ships that pass in the night,"' laughed +Merritt, "however, I'm glad we did them a good turn." +</P> + +<P> +The boys, however, were destined to meet the ranchers again and to have +many strange and exciting adventures, among which the ultimate downfall +of Silver Tip was to be one. Could they have looked into the future, +too, they would have seen that in the Far West they were to face +dangers and difficulties of which they had as yet never dreamed and +were to be the victims of the malicious contrivings of Bill Bender and +our old, acquaintance, Jack Curtiss. +</P> + +<P> +A few weeks after the events related above there was great excitement +in Hampton over the announcement that Merritt's courageous act of +life-saving and the achievements of the other young scouts of the Eagle +Patrol were to receive official recognition. A field secretary of the +organization arrived at the village one evening and was met at the +depot by the Patrol in full uniform, and with the village band drawn up +at their head. Proudly, under the Eagle standard, they marched to the +Town Hall, which had been illuminated in a style the villagers would +never have believed possible and were greeted by the local committee +headed by Commodore Wingate and Mr. Blake. +</P> + +<P> +"Three cheers for the Boy Scouts!" came from a voice in the back of the +crowded hall after the honors had been distributed and the advances in +rank announced. +</P> + +<P> +The shout that went up cracked the plaster on the ceiling of the +venerable building. +</P> + +<P> +"Speech, speech," shouted one of those individuals who always do raise +that cry on the slightest excuse. +</P> + +<P> +Rob Blake, very red and protesting, was hustled to the front of the +stage on which the Scouts had been drawn up. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't make a speech," he began. +</P> + +<P> +"Hear! Hear!" shouted the crowd, most of whom couldn't. +</P> + +<P> +"But on behalf of the Boy Scouts I want to thank you all and—and—" +</P> + +<P> +The rest was drowned by the band which, having been quiescent for ten +whole minutes, could maintain silence no longer and blared out into +that favorite of all village bands, "Hail to the Chief." +</P> + +<P> +"Come on, let's get out of here," whispered Rob to Merritt, whose +breast was decorated with the coveted bronze cross and red ribbon, +which is the highest honor a scout can attain. +</P> + +<P> +As they slipped out upon the darkened street a boy came up to them with +an outstretched hand. +</P> + +<P> +"I want to tell you I'm sorry for the part I played in the mean tricks +Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender put up on you fellows," he said +contritely, "will you shake hands?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure we will, Sam Redding," responded Merritt, extending his palm, +while Rob did likewise. +</P> + +<P> +"At that," added Merritt, "I guess we win." +</P> + +<P> +And here, with their former enemy become a remorseful friend, we will, +for the present, leave the Boy Scouts to renew our acquaintance with +them in the next volume of this series which will be called: "The Boy +Scouts on the Range." +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="finis"> +THE END +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Boy Scouts of the Eagle Patrol, by +Howard Payson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY SCOUTS OF THE EAGLE PATROL *** + +***** This file should be named 12112-h.htm or 12112-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/1/1/12112/ + +Produced by Sean Pobuda. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</BODY> + +</HTML> + + diff --git a/old/12112.txt b/old/12112.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6722676 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12112.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6798 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Boy Scouts of the Eagle Patrol, by Howard Payson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Boy Scouts of the Eagle Patrol + +Author: Howard Payson + +Posting Date: March 8, 2009 [EBook #12112] +Release Date: April 22, 2004 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY SCOUTS OF THE EAGLE PATROL *** + + + + +Produced by Sean Pobuda. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + +THE BOY SCOUTS OF THE EAGLE PATROL + + +By + +Lieut. Howard Payson + + + + +CONTENTS + + I SCOUTS ON THE TRAIL + II A CRUISE TO THE ISLAND + III BOY SCOUTS TO THE RESCUE + IV SAM IN DIRE STRAITS + V THE BULLY SPRINGS A SURPRISE + VI AN ISLAND MYSTERY + VII SOME STRANGE DOINGS + VIII THE STOLEN UNIFORMS + IX THE HYDROPLANE QUEERLY RECOVERED + X WINNING THE CONTEST + XI A FORTUNATE DISCOVERY + XII JACK FORMS A PLOT + XIII THE "FLYING FISH" ON HER METTLE + XIV THE EAGLES IN CAMP + XV THE CHUMS IN PERIL + XVI LOST IN THE STORM + XVII ALMOST RUN DOWN + XVIII JOE DIGBY MISSING + XIX SAM REBELS + XX THE HUNT FOR TENDERFOOT JOE + XXI SAVED BY "SMOKE MORSE" + XXII THE ESCAPE OF THE BULLY + XXIII SCOUTS IN NEED ARE FRIENDS INDEED + XXIV A MEETING IN THE FOG--CONCLUSION + + + + +CHAPTER I + +SCOUTS ON THE TRAIL + + +The dark growth of scrub oak and pine parted suddenly and the lithe +figure of a boy of about seventeen emerged suddenly into the little +clearing. The lad who had so abruptly materialized from the +close-growing vegetation peculiar to the region about the little town +of Hampton, on the south shore of Long Island, wore a well-fitting +uniform of brown khaki, canvas leggings of the same hue and a soft hat +of the campaign variety, turned up at one side. To the front of his +headpiece was fastened a metal badge, resembling the three-pointed +arrow head utilized on old maps to indicate the north. On a metal +scroll beneath it were embossed the words: "Be Prepared." + +The manner of the badge's attachment would have indicated at once, to +any one familiar with the organization, that the lad wearing it was the +patrol leader of the local band of Boy Scouts. + +Gazing keenly about him on all sides of the little clearing in the +midst of which he stood, the boy's eyes lighted with a gleam of +satisfaction on a largish rock. He lifted this up, adjusted it to his +satisfaction and then picked up a smaller stone. This he placed on the +top of the first and then listened intently. After a moment of this he +then placed beneath the large underlying rock and at its left side a +small stone. + +Suddenly he started and gazed back. From the distance, borne faintly +to his ears, came far off boyish shouts and cries. + +They rose like the baying of a pack in full cry. Now high, now low on +the hush of the midsummer afternoon. + +"They picked the trail all right," he remarked to himself, with a +smile, "maybe I'd better leave another sign." + +Stooping he snapped off a small low-growing branch and broke it near +the end so that its top hung limply down. + +"Two signs now that this is the trail," he resumed as he stuck it in +the ground beside the stone sign. "Now I'd better be off, for they are +picking my tracks up, fast." + +He darted off into the undergrowth on the opposite side of the +clearing, vanishing as suddenly and noiselessly as he had appeared. + +A few seconds later the deserted clearing was invaded by a scouting +party of ten lads ranging in years from twelve to sixteen. They were +all attired in similar uniforms to the leader, whom they were tracing, +with but one exception they wore their "Be Prepared" badges on the left +arm above the elbow. Some of them were only entitled to affix the +motto part of the badge the scroll inscribed with the motto. These +latter were the second-class scouts of the Eagle Patrol. The exception +to the badge-bearers was a tall, well-knit lad with a sunny face and +wavy, brown hair. His badge was worn on the left arm, as were the +others, but it had a strip of white braid sewn beneath it. This +indicated that the bearer was the corporal of the patrol. + +As the group of flushed, panting lads emerged into the sandy space the +corporal looked sharply about him. Almost at once his eye encountered +the "spoor" left by the preceding lad. + +"Here's the trail, boys," he shouted, "and to judge by the fresh look +of the break in this branch it can't have been placed here very long. +The small stone by the large one means to the left. We'll run Rob Blake +down before long for all his skill if we have good luck." + +"Say, Corporal Merritt," exclaimed a perspiring lad, whose "too, too +solid flesh" seemed to be melting and running off his face in the form +of streaming moisture, "don't we get a rest?" + +A general laugh greeted poor Bob or Tubby Hopkins' remark. + +"I always told you, Tubby, you were too fat to make a good scout," +laughed Corporal Merritt Crawford, "this is the sort of thing that will +make you want to take some of that tubbiness off you." + +"Say, Tubby, you look like a roll of butter at an August picnic," +laughed Simon Jeffords, one of the second-class scouts. + +"All right, Sim," testily rejoined the aggrieved fat one, "I notice at +that, though, that I am a regular scout while you are only a rookie." + +"Come on, cut out the conversation," exclaimed Corporal Crawford +hastily, "while we are fussing about here, Rob Blake must be halfway +home." + +With a groan of comical despair from poor Tubby, the Boy Scouts darted +forward once more. On and on they pushed across country, skillfully +tracking their leader by the various signs they had been taught to know +and of which the present scouting expedition was a test. + +Their young leader evidently intended them to use their eyes to the +utmost for, beside the stone signs, he used blaze-marks, cut on the +trees with his hunting knife. For instance, at one place they would +find a square bit of bark removed, with a long slice to the left of it. +This indicated that their quarry had doubled to the left. The slice to +the right of the square blaze indicated the reverse. + +Suddenly Corporal Crawford held up his hand as a signal for silence. +The scouts came to an abrupt stop. + +From what seemed to be only a short distance in front of them they +could hear a voice upraised apparently in anger. Replying to it were +the tones of their leader. + +"Seems to be trouble ahead of some kind," exclaimed Crawford. "Come on, +boys." + +They all advanced close on his heels--guided by the sound of the angry +voice, which did not diminish in tone but apparently waxed more and +more furious as they drew nearer. Presently the woodland thinned and +the ground became dotted with stumps of felled timber and in a few +paces more they emerged on a small peach orchard at the edge of which +stood Rob Blake and a larger and older boy. As Crawford and his +followers came upon the scene the elder lad, who seemed beside himself +with rage, picked up a large rock and was about to hurl it with all his +might at Rob when the young corporal dashed forward and held his hand +up to stay him. + +"Here, what's all this trouble?" he demanded. + +"You just keep out of it, Merritt Crawford," said the elder lad, a +hulking, thick-set youth with a mean look on his heavy features. "I'm +just reading this kid here a lesson. This orchard is my father's and +mine and you'll keep out of it in future or suffer the consequences, +understand?" + +"Why, we aren't doing any harm," protested Rob Blake heatedly. + +"I don't care what you are doing or not doing," retorted the other, +"this is my father's orchard and you'll keep off it. You and the rest +of you tin soldiers. I don't want you stealing our peaches." + +"I guess you are sore, Jack Curtiss, because you couldn't get a boy +scout patrol of your own! I guess that's what the trouble is," +remarked Tubby Hopkins softly, but with a meaning look at the big lad. + +"You impudent little whipper-snapper," roared Jack Curtiss, "if you +weren't such a shrimp I'd lick you for that remark, but you're all +beneath my notice. All I want to say to you is keep away from my +orchard or I'll give you a trimming." + +"Suppose you start now," said Rob Blake quietly, "if you are so anxious +to show what a scrapper you are." + +"Bah, I don't want anything to do with you, I tell you," rejoined +Curtiss, turning away, with a rather troubled expression, however, for +while he was a bully the big lad had no particular liking for a fight +unless he was pretty sure that all the advantage lay on his side. + +"It was too bad you didn't get that patrol of yours, Jack," called the +irrepressible Tubby after him as the big youth strode off across the +orchard toward the old-fashioned farmhouse in which he lived with his +father, a well-to-do farmer. "Never mind; better luck next time," he +went on, "or maybe we'll let you into ours some time." + +"You just wait," roared the retreating bully, shaking his fist at the +lads, "I'll make trouble for you yet." + +"Well," remarked Rob Blake, as Jack Curtiss strode off, "I guess the +run is over for to-day. Too bad we should have come out on his land. +Of course he feels sore at us; and I shouldn't wonder but he will +really try to do us some mischief if he gets a chance." + +As it was growing late and there did not seem much chance of restarting +the "Follow the Trail" practice, that day at least, the boys strolled +back through the woodland and soon emerged on a country road about +three miles from Hampton Inlet, where they lived. + +While they are covering the distance perhaps the reader may care to +know something about the cause of the enmity which Jack Curtiss +entertained toward the lads of the Eagle Patrol. It had its beginning +several months before when the boys of Hampton Inlet began to discuss +forming a patrol of boy scouts. They all attended the Hampton Academy, +and naturally the news that Rob Blake was going to try to organize a +patrol soon spread through the school. + +Jack Curtiss, as soon as he heard what Rob--whom he considered more or +less a rival of his--intended doing he also forwarded an application to +the headquarters of the organization in New York. As Rob Blake's had +been received first, however, and on investigation he was shown to be a +likely lad for the leader, he was appointed and at once began the +enrollment of his scouts. + +The bully was furious when he realized that he would be unable to +secure an authorized patrol, and he and his cronies, two lads about his +own age named Bill Bender and Sam Redding, had been busy ever since +devising schemes to "get even" as they called it. None of these, +however, had been effective and the encounter of that day was the first +chance Jack had had to work off any of his rancor on Rob Blake's patrol. + +Young Blake was the only son of Mr. Albert Blake, the president of the +local bank. His corporal, Merritt Crawford, was the eldest of the +numerous family of Jared Crawford, the blacksmith and wheelwright of +the little town, and Tubby Hopkins was the offspring of Mrs. Hopkins--a +widow in comfortable circumstances. The other lads of the Patrol whom +we shall meet as the story of their doings and adventures progresses +were all natives of the town, which was situated on the south shore of +Long Island--as has been said--and on an inlet which led out to the +Atlantic itself. + +The scouts trudged back into Hampton just at twilight and made their +way at once to their armory--as they called it--which was situated In a +large room above the bank of which Rob's father was president. At one +side of it was a row of lockers and each lad--after changing his +uniform for street clothes--placed his "regimentals" in these +receptacles. + +This done the lads broke up and started for their various homes. Rob +and his young corporal left the armory together, after locking the door +and descending the stairs which led onto a side street. + +"I wonder if that fellow Curtiss means to carry out his threat of +getting even?" said Crawford as they made their way down the street arm +in arm, for their homes were not far apart and both on Main Street. + +"He's mean enough to attempt anything," rejoined Rob, "but I don't +think he's got nerve enough to carry out any of his schemes. Hullo!" +he broke off suddenly, "there he is now across the street by the post +office, talking to Bill Bender and Sam Redding. I'll bet they are +hatching up some sort of mischief. Just look at them looking at us. +I'll bet a doughnut they were talking about us." + +"Shouldn't wonder," agreed his companion. "By the way, I've got to go +and see if there is any mail. Come on over." + +The two lads crossed the street and as they entered the post office, +although neither of them had much use for either of the bullies' two +chums, they nodded to them pleasantly. + +"You kids think you're pretty fine with your Eagle Patrol or whatever +you call it, don't you," sneered Bill Bender, as they walked by. "I'll +bet the smell of a little real powder would make your whole regiment +run to cover." + +"Don't pay any attention to him," whispered the young corporal to Rob, +who doubled up his fists and flushed angrily at the sneering tone Jack +Curtiss' friend had adopted. + +Rob restrained his anger with an effort, and by the time they emerged +from the post office the trio of worthies--who, as Rob had rightly +guessed, had been discussing them--had moved on up the street. + +"I had trouble with those kids myself this afternoon," remarked Jack +Curtiss with a scowl, as they wended their way toward a shed in the +rear of Bill Bender's home, which had been fitted tip as a sort of +clubroom. + +"What did they do to you?" incautiously inquired Sam Redding, a youth +as big as the other two, but not so powerful. In fact he was used more +or less as a tool by them. + +"Do to me," roared the bully, "what did I do to them, you mean." + +"Well what did you do to them then?" asked Bill Bender, as they entered +the clubroom before referred to and he produced some cigarettes, which +all three had been strictly forbidden to smoke. + +"Chased them off my land," rejoined the other, lighting a paper roll +and blowing out a cloud of smoke, "you should have seen them run. If +they want to play their fool games they've got to do it on the property +of folks who'll let them. They can't come on my land." + +"You mean your father's, don't you?" put in the unlucky Sam Redding. + +"Sam, you've got a head like a billiard ball," retorted the bully, +turning on the other, "it'll be mine some day, won't it? Therefore it's +as good as mine now." + +Although he didn't quite see the logic of the foregoing, Sam Redding +gave a sage nod and agreed that his leader was right. + +"Yes, those kids need a good lesson from somebody," chimed in Bill +Bender. + +"I think we had better be the 'somebodies' to give it to them," +rejoined Jack Curtiss. "They are getting insufferable. They actually +twitted me this afternoon with being sore at them because I didn't get +my patrol--as if I really wanted one. That Blake kid is the worst of +the bunch. Just because his father has a little money he gives himself +all kinds of airs. My father is as rich as his, even if he isn't a +banker." + +"I've been thinking of a good trick we can put up on them, but it will +take some nerve to carry it out," announced Bill Bender, after some +more discussion of the lads of the Eagle Patrol. + +"Out with it, then," urged the bully, "what is it?" + +In a lowered tone Bill Bender sketched out his scheme in detail, while +Jack and Sam nodded their approval. At length he ceased talking and +the other two broke out into a delighted laugh, in which malice as much +as merriment prevailed. + +"It's the very thing," exclaimed Jack. "Bill, you're a genius. We'll +do it as soon as possible. If that doesn't take some starch out of +those tin soldiers nothing will." + +Half an hour later the three cronies parted for the night. Sam went to +his home near the waterfront, for his father was a boat builder, and +Jack started to walk the three miles to his father's farm in the +moonlight. His way took him by the bank. As he passed it he gazed up +at the windows of the armory on which was lettered in gilt: "Eagle +Patrol of the Boy Scouts of America." + +"That's a slick idea of Bill's," said the bully to himself, "I can +hardly wait till we get a chance to carry it out." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A CRUISE TO THE ISLAND + + +"Whatever are you doing, Rob?" + +It was the morning after the consultation of Jack Curtiss and his +cronies, and Corporal Crawford was looking over the fence into his +leader's yard. + +Rob was bending over a curious-looking apparatus, consisting of a bent +stick held in a bow-shape by a taut leather thong. The appliance was +twisted about an upright piece of wood sharpened at one end--which was +rotated as the lad ran the bow back and forth across it. + +Presently smoke began to rise from the flat piece of timber into which +the point of the upright stick had been boring and depositing sawdust, +and Rob, by industriously blowing at the accumulation, presently caused +it to burst into flame. + +"There I've done it," he exclaimed triumphantly, arising with a flushed +face from his labors. + +"Done what?" inquired young Crawford interestedly. + +"Made fire in the Indian way," replied Rob triumphantly. + +"I thought they made it by rubbing two sticks together." + +"Only book Indians do that," replied Rob, "I'll tell you it took me a +time to get the hang of it, but I've got it now." + +"It's quite a stunt, all right," commented the corporal admiringly. + +"You bet, and it's useful, too," replied Rob. "I'll put the bow and +drill in my pocket, and then any time we get stuck for matches we'll +have no trouble in making a signal smoke or lighting cooking fires." + +"Say, I've got some news for you," went on young Crawford, "did you +know that Sam Redding has entered that freak motor boat he's been +building in the yacht club regatta? He's out for the club trophy." + +"No, is he, though?" exclaimed Rob, keenly interested. "Then the crew +and skipper of the Flying Fish will have to look alive. I know that +Sam's father helped him out with that boat and put a lot of new +wrinkles in it. I didn't think, though, he'd have it ready in time for +the races." + +The boys referred to the coming motor-boat races which were to take +place shortly on the inlet at Hampton. Like most of the other lads in +the seashore town, Merritt and Rob had a lot of experience on the water +and some time before had built a speedy motor boat from knock-down +frames. The Flying Fish, as they called her, was entered for the main +event referred to, the prize for which was a silver cup, donated by the +merchants of the town. There were several other entries in the race, +but Rob and his crew, consisting of Merritt and Tubby Hopkins, +confidently expected the Flying Fish to easily lead them all. + +"I wonder if the Sam Redding can show her stern to the Flying Fish?" +mused Rob. "I'd like to lake a good look at her." + +"Let's go down to Redding's boat yard," suggested Merritt; "she's lying +there on the ways. I don't suppose any one would object to our sizing +her up." + +Rob hailed the suggestion as a good one. + +"We can call in for Tubby on the way," he said, as he darted into the +house after his hat. + +The boys dropped in at Tubby's house on their way to the water-front, +and received from the stout youth some additional details regarding +Sam's boat. + +"She's a hydroplane," volunteered Tubby, "and Tom Jennings, down at the +yard, says she's as fast as a race horse." + +"A hydroplane?--that's one of those craft that cut along the top of the +water like a skimming dish, isn't it?" asked Merritt. + +"That's the idea," responded Rob. "They're supposed to be as speedy as +anything afloat in smooth water." + +Thus conversing they reached the boat-building yard of Sam Redding's +father and were greeted by Tom Jennings, a big good-natured ship +carpenter. "Hullo, Tom! Can we see that new boat of Sam's?" inquired +Rob. + +"Sure, I guess there's no objection," grinned Tom, "come right this +way. There she is, over there by that big winch." + +Report had not erred apparently as to the novel qualities of Sam +Redding's speed craft. She was about twenty-five feet long, narrow and +painted black. She was perfectly flat-bottomed, her underside being +deeply notched at frequent intervals. On the edge of those notches she +was supposed to glide over the water when driven at top speed. + +"She certainly looks like a winner," commented Rob, as he gazed at her +clean, slender lines and sharp bow. + +"She's got wonderful speed," Tom Jennings confided. "We tried her out +the other night when no one was around. But I don't think that in +rough water she'll be much good." + +"No, I'd prefer the Flying Fish for the waters hereabouts," agreed Rob, +"it's liable to come on rough in a hurry and then a chap who was out in +a dry-goods box, like that thing, would be in trouble." + +"What are you calling a dry-goods box?" demanded an indignant voice +behind them, and turning, the lads saw Sam Redding with a menacing look +on his face. A little way behind him stood Bill Bender and Jack +Curtiss. + +"Oh, I beg your pardon, Sam," said Rob. "I really admire your +hydroplane very much, and I think it will give us a tussle for the +trophy, all right; but I don't think she'd be much good in any kind of +a sea-way." + +"That's my business, you interfering little runt," snapped Sam, who, +with Bill Bender and Jack Curtiss to back him, felt very brave; though +ordinarily he would have avoided trouble with the young scouts. "What +are you doing spying around the yard here, anyhow?" he went on +insolently. + +"We are not spying," indignantly burst out Merritt. "We asked Tom +Jennings if we couldn't look at your hydroplane, as we were naturally +interested in her, and he gave us permission." + +"Well, he had no business to," growled Sam; "he ought to be attending +to his work instead of showing a lot of nosy young cubs my new boat." + +"They are capable of stealing your ideas," chimed in Jack Curtiss, "and +putting them on their own boat." + +"That's ridiculous," laughed Rob, "as I said I wouldn't want to have +anything to do with such a contrivance except on a lake or a river." + +"Well, you keep your advice and your ideas to yourself, and get out of +this yard!" roared Sam, waxing bolder and bolder, and mistaking Rob's +conciliatory manner for cowardice. "I've a good mind to punch your +head." + +"Better come on and try it," retorted Rob, preparing for the immediate +onslaught which it seemed reasonable from Sam's manner to expect. + +But it didn't come. + +Muttering something about "young cubs," and "keeping the boat-yard gate +locked," Sam turned to his chums and invited them to come and try out +his new motor in the shop. + +As the three chums had no desire to "mix it up with Sam on his own +place," as Tubby put it, they left the yard promptly, and walked on +down the water-front to the wharf at which lay the Flying Fish, the +fastest craft in the Hampton Motor Boat Club. Rob's boat was, to tell +the truth, rather broad of beam for a racer and drew quite a little +water. She had a powerful motor and clean lines, however, and while +not primarily designed solely for "mug-hunting," had beaten everything +she had raced with during the few months since the boys had completed +her. The money for her motor had been given to Rob by his father, who +was quite indulgent to Rob in money matters, having noticed that the +lad always expended the sums given him wisely. + +"Let's take a spin," suddenly suggested Tubby. + +"Nothing to prevent us," answered Rob; "we've got plenty of time before +dinner. Come on, boys." + +The lads were soon on board and examining the gasoline tank, to see how +much fuel they had on hand, and oiling up the engine. The fuel +receptacle proved to be almost full, so after filling the lubricant +cups and attending to the batteries, they started up the engine--a +powerful, three cylindered, twelve-horse affair capable of driving the +twenty-two foot Flying Fish through the water at twelve miles an hour +or better. + +Just as Rob was casting off the head-line there came a hail from the +wharf above them. + +"Ahoy, there, shipmates! Where are yer bound fer this fine, sunny day?" + +The lads looked up to see the weather-beaten countenance of Captain Job +Hudgins, one of the characters of the vicinity. He was a former +whaler, and lived on a small island some distance from Hampton. On his +little territory he fished and grew a few vegetables, "trading in" his +produce at the Hampton grocery stores for his simple wants. He, +however, had a pension, and was supposed to have a "snug little +fortune" laid by. His only companion in his island solitude was it big +Newfoundland dog named "Skipper." + +The animal stood beside its master on the dock and wagged its tail at +the sight of the boys, whom it knew quite well from their frequent +visits to the captain's little island. + +"Hullo, captain!" shouted Rob, as the veteran saluted his three young +friends. "Where's your boat?" + +"Oh, her engine went--busted, and I had to leave her at the yard below +fer repairs," explained the captain. "I wonder if yer boys can give me +a lift back if yer goin' near Topsail Island?" + +"Surest thing you know," rejoined Rob hastily. "Come right aboard. +But how are you going to get off your island again if your motor is +laid up here to be fixed?" + +"Oh, I'll use my rowboat," responded the old mariner, clambering down +into the Flying Fish. "Say, this is quite a right smart contraption, +ain't she?" + +"We think she is a pretty good little boat," modestly replied Rob, +taking his place at the wheel. "Now, then, Merritt, start up that +engine." + +"Hold on a minute!" shouted Tubby. "We forgot the dog." + +Sure enough, Skipper was dashing up and down the wharf in great +distress at the prospect of being deserted. + +"Put yer boat alongside that landin' stage at the end of the wharf," +suggested his master. "Skipper can get aboard from there, I reckon." + +Rob steered the Flying Fish round to the floating landing, to which an +inclined runway led from the wharf. Skipper dashed down it as soon as +he saw what was happening, and was waiting, ready to embark, when the +Flying Fish came alongside. + +"Poor old Skipper, I reckon yer thought we was goin' ter maroon yer," +said Captain Job, as the animal jumped on board with a bark of "thanks" +for his rescue. "I tell yer, boys, I wouldn't lose that dog fer all +the money in Rob's father's bank. He keeps good watch out an the +Island, I'll tell yer." + +"I didn't think any one much came there, except us," said Rob, as the +Flying Fish headed away from the wharf and began to cut through the +waters of the inlet. + +"Oh, yes; there's others," responded the old man. "That Jack Curtiss +lad and his two chums are out there quite often." + +"Bill Bender and Sam Redding, I suppose you mean," said Tubby. + +"Those their names?" asked the captain. "Well, I don't know any good +uv any uv 'em. Old Skipper here chased 'em away from my melon patch +the other day. I reckon they thought Old Scratch was after them, the +way they run; but they got away with some melons, just the same." + +The old man laughed aloud at the recollection of the marauders' +precipitous flight. + +That Jack Curtiss and his two cronies had made a rendezvous of the +island was news to the boys, and not agreeable news, either. They had +been planning a patrol camp there later on in the summer, and the bully +and his two chums were not regarded by them as desirable neighbors. +However, they said nothing, as they could not claim sole right to use +the island, which was property that had been so long in litigation that +It had come to be known as "No Man's Land" as well as by its proper +name. The captain was only a squatter there, but no one cared to +disturb him, and he had led the existence of a semi-hermit there for +many years. + +The Flying Fish rapidly covered the calm waters of the inlet and was +soon dancing over the swells outside. + +"I'm going to let her out a bit," said Rob suddenly; "look out for +spray." + +"Spray don't bother a brine-pickled old salt like me," laughed the +captain. "Let her go." + +The Flying Fish seemed fairly to leap forward as Merritt gave her the +full power of her engine. As Rob had said, it did indeed behoove her +occupants to look out for spray. The sparkling spume came flying back +in sheets as she cut through the waves, but the boys didn't mind that +any more than did their weather-beaten companion. As for Skipper, he +barked aloud in sheer joy as the Flying Fish slid along as if she were +trying to live up to her name to her utmost ability. + +"This is a good little sea boat," remarked the captain, as they plunged +onward. "She's as seaworthy as she is speedy, I guess." + +"She'll stand a lot of knocking about, and that's a fact," agreed Rob. + +"Well," remarked the old man, gazing about him, "it's a good thing that +she is, fer, if I'm not mistaken--and I'm not often off as regards the +weather--we are goin' ter have quite a little blow before yer boys get +back home." + +"A storm?" asked Tubby, somewhat alarmed. + +"Oh, no; not what yer might call a storm," laughed the captain; "but +just what we used to term a 'capful uv wind.'" + +"Well, so long as it isn't a really bad blow, it won't trouble the +Flying Fish," Rob assured him. + +"Hullo!" exclaimed the old man suddenly. "What queer kind uv craft is +that?" + +He pointed back to the mouth of the now distant inlet, from which a +curious-looking black craft was emerging at what seemed to be great +speed. + +"It's that hydroplane of Sam Redding's, for a bet!" cried Rob. "Here, +Tubby, take the wheel a minute, while I put the glasses on her." + +The lad stood up in the heaving motor craft, steadying himself against +the bulwarks by his knees, and peered through his marine-glasses. + +"It's the hydroplane, sure enough," he said. "By ginger, but she can +go, all right! Sam and Jack and Bill are all in her. They seem to be +heading right out to sea, too." + +"Say!" exclaimed Tubby suddenly, "if it comes on to blow, as the +captain said it would, they'll be in a bad fix, won't they?" + +"In that ther shoe-box thing," scornfully exclaimed the old captain, +who had also been looking through the glasses, "why, I wouldn't give a +confederate dollar bill with a hole in it fer their lives." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +BOY SCOUTS TO THE RESCUE + + +"Hadn't we better put back and warn them?" suggested Merritt rather +anxiously, for he was alarmed by the confident manner in which the old +seaman prophesied certain disaster to the hydroplane if the weather +freshened. + +"No; see, she's heading toward us. I guess they want a race," cried +Rob. "We'll slow down a bit and let them catch up." + +In a few moments the hydroplane was alongside. The yellow hood over +her powerful engines glistened with the wet of the great bow-wave her +speed had occasioned, and her powerful motor was exhausting with a roar +like a battery of machine guns. + +Crouched aft of the engine hood was Sam Redding, who held the wheel. +Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender were in the stern. They sat tandem-wise +in the narrow racing shell. + +"Want a tow rope for that old stone dray of yours?" jeered Jack +Curtiss, as the speedy little racer ranged alongside. + +He did not know that the Flying Fish was slowed down, and that although +the hydroplane appeared to be capable of tremendous speed, she was not +actually so very much faster than Rob's boat. + +"Say, you fellows," warned Rob, making a trumpet of his hands, "the +captain says it's coming on to blow before long. You'd better get back +into the inlet with that craft of yours." + +"Save your breath to cool your coffee," shouted Sam Redding back at +him, across the fifty feet or so of water that lay between the two +boats. "We know what we are about." + +"But you're risking your lives," shouted Merritt. "That thing wouldn't +live ten minutes in any kind of a sea." + +"Well, we're not such a bunch of old women as to be scared of a little +wetting," jeered Jack Curtiss. "So long! We've got no time to wait +for that old tub of yours." + +Before the boys could voice any more warnings, the hydroplane, which +had been slowed down, dashed off once more. + +"I don't know what we are to do," spoke up Merritt. "We can't compel +them to go in, and, after all, the captain may be mistaken." + +"No, I'm not, my son," rejoined the veteran. "I can smell wind--and +see them 'mare's tails' in the sky over yonder. They're as fall uv +wind as a preacher is uv texts." + +"Well, we've done our best to warn them," concluded Rob. "If they are +so foolhardy as to keep on, we can't help it." + +In half an hour more the boys had landed the captain at the little pier +he had built on his island, and to which his rowboat was attached, and +were ready to start back, good-bys having been said. + +"Hark!" exclaimed the captain, as Rob prepared to give the order to "Go +ahead." + +The boys listened, and heard a low, distant moaning sound, something +like the deepest rumbling notes of a church organ. + +"That's the wind comin'," warned the captain. "Yer'd better be +hurryin' back." + +With more hasty good-bys, the lads got under way at once. As they +emerged from the lee of the island they could see that seaward the +ocean was being rapidly lashed into choppy, white-crested waves by the +advancing storm, and that the wind was freshening into a really stiff +breeze. + +"Those fellows must be wishing they took our advice now if they are +fools enough to have kept out," said Merritt, as he slowed down the +engine so as to permit the Flying Fish to ride the rising seas more +easily. + +"Yes, I guess they're doing some tall thinking," agreed Tubby, as a +wave caught the little Flying Fish "quartering" on her port bow, and +sent a white smother of spray swirling back over her occupants. + +"That's the time we got it," laughed Rob, from the wheel, peering +straight ahead. Suddenly he uttered a shout and pointed seaward. + +"Look there!" he shouted at the top of his voice. "There are those +three fellows, and they're in trouble, from the looks of it." + +The others looked, and beheld, half a mile or so away, on the +roughening waters, the hull of the hydroplane. She was tossing up and +down like a cork, and apparently was drifting helplessly, with her +motor broken down, in the heavy sea. Her occupants seemed to be +bailing her; but as they caught sight of the Flying Fish they stood up +and waved frantically. + +"Yes, they're in trouble, all right," agreed Tubby. "And I suppose +we've got to go and get them out of it." + +Rob had already put the Flying Fish about and headed her for the +distressed craft. As they drew near, Sam Redding began shouting: + +"Help, help! We're sinking, we're sinking!" + +Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender, drenched to the skin with spray and white +with fright, said nothing, but a look of great relief came over their +faces as the chums' boat ranged alongside. + +"I don't want to risk ramming my boat by coming right alongside," +shouted Rob. "You'll have to jump for it. Don't be scared. We'll pull +you aboard." + +The three youths on the water-logged hydroplane looked somewhat alarmed +at the prospect, but Rob knew that Jack and Bill could swim. He was +not sure of Sam, but assumed, from the fact that he had lived by the +sea all his life, that he was equally at home in the water. + +The hesitation of Jack Curtiss and his chum was over in a minute, as +the hydroplane gave a plunge that seemed as if it would be her last. +Lightly dressed as they were, in canvas trousers, sleeveless jerseys +and yachting shoes, it was no trick at all for them to swim the few +feet to the Flying Fish. As they leaped overboard, Sam lingered. + +"Come on, Sam," shouted Jack, as the boys lugged the two dripping, +sputtering castaways on board. + +"I--I can't swim. You'll have to come alongside for me," stuttered the +badly-scared Sam. + +"All right. Hold on, and we'll do what we can," hailed Rob, starting +to carry out the risky maneuver of getting alongside the plunging +hydroplane in the heavy sea. + +In some never-to-be-explained manner, however, the frightened Sam +suddenly lost his balance in the tossing racing boat, and, clawing +desperately at her bulwarks to save himself, shot over the side. + +"He'll drown!" shouted Jack Curtiss. "He can't swim, and he'll drown." + +"If you knew that, why didn't you stand by him?" truculently growled +Tubby. + +Without an instant's hesitation, Merritt threw off the jacket he had +put on when it started to blow, and slipped off his shoes. He was +overboard and striking out for the drowning boy before those in the +Flying Fish even realized his purpose. + +With swift, powerful strokes he got alongside Sam just as the owner of +the hydroplane was going down for the third time. + +As the brave boy seized the struggling, frightened youth he felt +himself gripped by the panic-stricken Sam in a frenzied hold of +desperate intensity. His arms were pinioned by the drowning wretch, +and they both vanished beneath the waves. + +As they went under, however, Merritt managed to get one hand free, and +recalling what he had read of what to do under such conditions, struck +the other boy a terrific blow between the eyes. It stunned Sam +completely, and, to his great relief, Merritt felt the imprisoning grip +relax. He could then handle Sam easily, and as they shot to the +surface he saw the Flying Fish bearing down on them, with four white, +strained faces searching the tumbling waters. + +In a few moments the unconscious lad and his rescuer were hauled on +board, and Rob, after congratulations, headed the Flying Fish for the +mouth of the inlet, which was still some distance off. + +Tubby and Bill Bender laid Sam on his stomach, across a thwart, and +started to try to get some of the salt water, of which he had swallowed +great quantities, out of him. He soon gave signs of returning +consciousness, and opened his eyes just as Jack Curtiss was demanding +to know if the Boy Scouts weren't going to take the hydroplane in tow. + +"Not much we're not," responded Rob. "I'm sorry to have to leave her; +but this sea is getting up nastier every minute, and there's no way of +getting a line to her without running more risk than I want to take. +We've had one near-drowning and we don't want another." + +"If this was my boat, I'd pick Sam's boat up," sullenly replied the +bully. + +"You ought to be mighty glad we came along when we did," indignantly +spoke up Tubby. "You'd have been in a bad fix if we hadn't. Instead +of being thankful for it, all you can do is to kick about leaving the +hydroplane." + +An angry reply was on the other's lips, but Bill Bender checked it by +looking up and saying: "I guess the kid's right, Jack. Let it go at +that." + +The bully glowered. He felt his pride much wounded at having been +compelled to seek the aid of the boys whom he despised and hated. + +"I suppose you'll go and blab it all over town about how you saved us," +he sneered, as the Flying Fish threaded her way through the tumbling +waters at the mouth of the inlet and began making her way up it. + +"I don't think we shall," replied Rob quietly. "I mean to recommend +Merritt, though, to headquarters for his Red Honor." + +"Oh, you mean that cheap, bronze medal thing on a bit of red ribbon!" +sneered Jack. "Why, that isn't worth much. You couldn't sell it for +anything but old junk. Why don't they make them of gold?" + +"That 'bronze medal thing,' as you call it, is worth a whole lot to a +Boy Scout," rejoined Rob in the same even tone. "More than you can +understand." + +On their arrival at the yacht-club pier the boys were overwhelmed with +questions, and a doctor was summoned for Sam, who, as soon as he found +himself safe, began to groan and show most alarming symptoms of being +seriously affected by his immersion. + +The boys were not able to conceal the fact that they had accomplished a +brave rescue, and were overwhelmed with congratulations. Merritt +especially came in for warm praise and commendation. + +"You will certainly be granted your Red Honor," declared Mr. Wingate, +who, besides being commodore of the Yacht Club, was one of the +gentlemen whom Rob had persuaded to act as Scout Master for the new +patrol. + +Merritt escaped from the crowd of admiring motor-boat men and boys as +soon as he could, and hastened home for a change of clothes. On the +arrival of Dr. Telfair, the village physician, he pronounced that there +was nothing whatever the matter with Sam but a bad fright, and +prescribed dry garments and hot lemonade. + +"Don't I need any medicine?" groaned Sam, determined to make the most +out of his temporary notoriety. + +"No, you don't," growled the doctor; "unless," he added to himself, +"they put up 'courage' in bottles." + +"I suppose those boys will be more stuck up than ever now," said Jack +to Bill Bender, as, having perfunctorily thanked their rescuers, they +started for home with the almost weeping Sam. + +"Sure to be," rejoined Bill. "It's all your fault, Sam, for taking us +out in that fool hydroplane." + +"My fault! Well, I like that," stuttered out Sam. "You asked me to +come, and you know I wanted to come back when the boys told us it might +come on to blow; but you called me a 'sissy,' and said I was too timid +to own a boat." + +"Um--er--well," rejoined Bill, somewhat confused, "that's so. But +anyhow, to return to what we were talking about, it's given those kids +a great chance to set up as heroes." + +"Well, we can work that scheme we were talking about last night on them +just as soon as you're ready," suddenly remarked Jack. "That will give +them something else to think about." + +"Oh, say, Jack, cut it out, won't you?" pleaded Sam. "I don't like the +kids any better than you do, but one of them saved my life to-day, and +I'm not going into anything that will harm them." + +"Hear him rave!" sneered Jack. "Why last night, when we talked it +over, you thought it would be a prime joke. It isn't as if it would +hurt them. It'll just give them something to study up, that's all. +They think they're such fine trailers and tracers that it would be a +shame not to give them a chance to show what they can do." + +"That's right, Sam," cut in Bill; "it's more of a joke than anything +else." + +"Well," agreed Sam weakly, "if you put it in that way, I suppose it's +all right; but I tell you I don't like it." + +"Why, you'll have the laugh of your young life after we've pulled the +stunt off," remarked Bill. "When will we do it, Jack?" + +"Not to-night, that's certain," responded the other. "I've had enough +excitement for one day." + +"What's the matter with to-morrow night, then?" + +"I'm agreeable. How about you, Sam?" + +"I wish you fellows would leave me out of it," rejoined the bully's +timid chum. + +"Like they left you out of their patrol, eh?" sneered Bill, knowing +that he was touching the other on a tender spot. + +"All right, to-morrow night suits me," snapped Sam, flushing angrily at +Bill's remark--as that worthy had intended he should. "Here's my house. +We'll meet at Bill's 'boudoir."' + +"Right you are," chuckled Jack. "Oh, say, it's going to be the joke of +the century!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +SAM IN DIRE STRAITS + + +"Kree-ee-ee!" + +Merritt paused the next morning in front of Tubby's home, and gave the +"call" of the Eagle Patrol with a not uncreditable resemblance to the +scream of a real eagle. + +The cry was instantly echoed--though in a rather thicker way--from +inside the house, and in a minute Tubby, who knew that some one of the +patrol must have uttered the call, appeared at his door, munching a +large slice of bread and jam, although it was not more than an hour +since breakfast. + +"Say, you, did you ever hear an eagle scream with his mouth full of +bread and jam?" demanded Merritt, as the stout youth appeared. + +"Eagles don't eat bread and jam," rejoined Tubby, defending his +position. "Have some?" + +"Having had breakfast not more than an hour ago, I'm not hungry yet, +thank you," politely rejoined the corporal; "besides, I'm afraid I'd +get fat." + +Dodging the stout youth's blow, the corporal went on: + +"Heard the news?" + +"No--what news?" eagerly demanded the other, finishing his light repast. + +"Why, the Dolphin--you know, that fishing boat--picked up Sam's +hydroplane at sea and towed it in. It's in pretty good shape, I hear, +although the engine is out of commission and it was half full of water." + +"He's a lucky fellow to get it back." + +"I should say so," replied Merritt; "but it will cost him a whole lot +to reclaim it. The captain of the Dolphin says he wants fifty dollars +for it as salvage." + +"Gee! Do you think Sam's father will give him that much?" said Tubby, +with round eyes. + +"I don't know. He can afford it all right. He's made a lot of money +out of that boat-building shop, my father says; but he's so stingy that +I doubt very much if he will give Sam such a sum." + +"Why, here's Sam coming down the street now," exclaimed the +good-natured Tubby. "I wonder if he's heard about it. Hullo, Sam! +Get all the water out of your system?" + +"I'm all right this morning, if that is what you mean," rejoined the +other, with dignity. + +"Heard the news about your boat?" asked Merritt suddenly. + +"No; what about her? Is she safe? Who picked her up?" + +"Wait a minute. One question at a time," laughed Merritt. "She's safe, +all right. The Dolphin picked her up at sea. But it will cost you +fifty dollars to get her." + +"Fifty dollars!" gasped Sam, turning pale. + +"That's what the skipper of the Dolphin says. He had a lot of trouble +getting a line fast to her, he says, and he means to have the money or +keep the boat." + +"Oh, well, I'll get it from my father easily enough," said Sam +confidently, preparing to swagger off down the street. "I've got to +get my boat back and beat Rob's Flying Fish, and that hydroplane can do +it." + +"Can you match that?" exclaimed Merritt to the fat youth, as Sam +strolled away. "Here he was saved from drowning by the Flying Fish +only yesterday, and all he can think of this morning is to promise to +beat her. What makes him so mean, I wonder?" + +"Just born that way, I guess," rejoined the stout youth; "and as for +the Flying Fish saving him, if it hadn't been for a certain Corporal +Crawford, he--" + +"Here, stow that," protested Merritt, coloring up. "I heard enough of +that yesterday afternoon." + +As the boys had surmised, Sam's father was not at all pleased when he +learned that his son wanted fifty dollars. In fact, he refused point +blank to let him have it at all. + +"That boat of yours has cost enough already, and I'm not going to spend +any more on it," he said angrily, as he turned to his work. + +"But I can't get the hydroplane back if I don't pay it," urged Sam. +"I've seen the captain of the Dolphin, and he refuses absolutely to let +me have her unless I pay him for his trouble in towing her in." + +"I can't help that," snapped the elder Redding. "What have I got to do +with your boat? Look here!" he exclaimed, turning angrily and +producing a small memorandum book from his pocket and rapidly turning +the leaves. "Do you know how much I've given you in the last two +months?" + +"N-n-no," stammered Sam, looking very much embarrassed, and shuffling +about from one foot to the other. + +"Then I'll tell you, young man; it's exactly--let me see--ten, twenty, +five, three, fifteen and eight. That's just sixty-one dollars. Do you +think that money grows on gooseberry bushes? Then there'll be your +college expenses to pay. No, I can't let you have a cent." + +"That means that I will lose my boat and the chance of winning the race +at the regatta!" urged Sam gloomily. + +"Well, you should have had more sense than to take that fool hydroplane +out into a rough sea. I told you she wouldn't stand it. There, go on +about your own affairs. I'm far too busy to loaf about, arguing with +you." + +And with this the hard-featured old boat builder--who had made his +money literally by the sweat of his brow--turned once more to his task +of figuring out the blue prints of a racing sloop. + +Sam saw that it was no use to argue further with his father, and left +the shop with no very pleasant expression on his countenance. + +"I'll have to see if I can't borrow it somewhere," he mused. "If only +I was on better terms with Rob Blake, I could get it from him, I guess. +His father is a banker and he must have plenty. I wonder--I wonder if +Mr. Blake himself wouldn't lend it to me. I could give him a note for +it, and in three months' time I'd be sure to be able to take it up." + +With this end in view, the lad started for the Hampton Bank. It +required some courage for a youth of his disposition to make up his +mind to beard the lion in his den--or, in other words, to approach Mr. +Blake in his office. For Sam, while bold enough when his two hulking +cronies were about, had no real backbone of his own. + +After making two or three turns in front of the bank, he finally +screwed his courage to the sticking point, and timidly asked an +attendant if he could see the banker. + +"I think so. I'll see," was the reply. + +In a few seconds the man reappeared, and said that Mr. Blake could +spare a few minutes. Hat in hand, Sam entered the ground-glass door +which bore on it in imposing gilt letters the word "President." + +The interview was brief, and to Sam most unsatisfactory. The banker +pointed out to him that he was a minor, and as such that his note would +be no good; and also that, without the permission of his father, he +would not think of lending the youth such a sum. Much crestfallen, Sam +shuffled his way out toward the main door of the bank, when suddenly a +voice he recognized caused him to look up. + +"A hundred and twenty-five dollars. That's right, all shipshape and +above board!" + +It was the old captain of Topsail Island, counting over in his gnarled +paw one hundred and twenty-five dollars in crisp bills which he had +just received from the paying teller. + +"You must be going to be married, captain," Sam heard the teller remark +jocularly. + +"Not yet a while," the captain laughed back. "That ther motor uv mine +that I left ter be fixed up is goin' ter cost me fifty dollars, and the +other seventy-five I'm calculating ter keep on hand in my safe fer a +while. I'm kind uv figgerin' on gettin' a new dinghy--my old one is +just plum full uv holes. I rowed over frum the island this mornin', +and I declar' ter goodness, once or twice I thought I'd swamp." + +Sam slipped out of the bank without speaking to the captain, whom, +indeed, since the episode of the melon patch, he had no great desire to +encounter. + +As he made his way toward his home in no very amiable mood, he was +hailed from the opposite side of the street by Jack Curtiss and Bill +Bender. + +"Any news of the boat?" demanded Jack, as he and Bill crossed over and +slapped their crony on the back with great assumed heartiness. + +"Yes, and mighty bad news, too, in one way. She's safe enough. The +Dolphin--that fishing boat--found her and towed her in. But--here's the +tough part of it--it's going to cost fifty dollars for salvage to get +her from the Dolphin's captain, the old shark!" + +"Phew!" whistled Jack Curtiss. "Pretty steep. But I suppose your old +man will fork over, eh?" + +"That's just it," grumbled Sam; "he won't come across with a cent. I +suppose, if I don't pay for the hydroplane's recovery pretty soon, she +will be sold at auction." + +"That's the usual process," observed Bill. + +"Isn't there any way you can raise the wind?" + +"No, I've tried every one I can think of. I don't suppose either of +you fellows could--" + +"Nothing doing here," hastily cried Jack, not giving the other time to +finish. + +"I'm cleaned out, too," Bill also hurriedly assured the unfortunate Sam. + +"It looks like everybody but us has coin," complained that worthy +bitterly. "While I was in the bank trying to get old man Blake to take +up a note of mine for the sum I need, who should I see in there but +that old fossil of a captain from Topsail Island." + +"Who grows such fine, juicy melons and keeps such a nice, amiable pet +dog," laughed Jack, roaring at the recollection of the piratical +expedition of which the island dweller had told the boys. + +"Ha, ha, ha!" shouted Bill in chorus. "We'll have to give him another +visit soon." + +"But what about the old land crab, Sam?" demanded Jack the next minute. +"What was he doing in the bank?" + +"Why, drawing one hundred and twenty-five dollars. Just think of it, +and we always figured it out that he was poor." + +"A hundred and twenty-five dollars! I wonder what he's going to do +with it?" wondered Jack, with whom money and its spending was always an +absorbing topic. + +"Why, I overheard that, too, as I passed by," rejoined Sam. "He's going +to spend some of it for the repairing of his motor, which broke down +yesterday, and the rest he's going to keep by him." + +"Keep it on the island, you mean?" demanded Jack, becoming suddenly +much interested. + +"That's what he said--keep it in his safe," replied Sam. "But what +good does that do us?" + +"A whole lot, maybe," was the enigmatic reply. "See here, Sam, you can +win that race if you get your hydroplane?" + +"I'm sure of it." + +"You are going to bet on yourself, of course." + +"Sure. I've got to raise some money somehow." + +"Well, I've thought of a way you can borrow the money to get your boat +back, and when you win the race you can return it. Come on, lees go to +Bill's den, and we'll have a smoke and talk it over." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE BULLY SPRINGS A SURPRISE + + +That afternoon, in reply to a notice sent round by a runner, the lads +of the Eagle Patrol assembled at their armory, and on Leader Rob's +orders "fell in" to hear the official announcement of the coming +camping trip. As a matter of fact, they had discussed little else for +several days, but the first "regimental" notification, as it were, was +to be made now. + +The first duty to be performed was the calling of the roll after +"assembly" had been sounded--somewhat quaveringly--by little Andy +Bowles, the company bugler. + +Beside Rob Merritt, Tubby and Andy, there were Hiram Nelson, a tall, +lanky youth, whose hands were stained with much fussing with chemicals, +for he was a wireless experimenter; Ernest Thompson, a big-eyed, +serious-looking lad, whose specialty in the little regiment was that of +bicycle scout, as the spoked wheel on his arm denoted; Simon Jeffords, +a second-class scout, but who, under Rob's tutelage, was becoming the +expert "wig-wagger" of the organization; Paul Perkins, another +second-class boy, but a hard worker and a devotee of aeronautics; +Martin Green, one of the smallest of the Eagle Patrol, a tenderfoot; +Walter Lonsdale, also a recruit, and Joe Digby, who, as the last to +join the Patrol, was the tenderest of the tenderfeet. + +Rob's announcement of the program for the eight days they were to spend +on the island was greeted with cheers. The news that turns were to be +taken by two scouts daily at washing dishes and cooking did not awaken +quite so much enthusiasm. Everybody cheered up again, however, when +Rob announced that the Flying Fish would be at the disposal of the boys +of the patrol. + +Corporal Merritt took Rob's place as orator then, and announced that +each boy would be assessed one dollar for the expenses of the camp, the +remainder of the money necessary for the providing of tents and the +provisioning of the camp having been donated by Rob's father, Mr. +Wingate, of the yacht club, and the other representative citizens of +Hampton who composed the local scout council. + +Further excitement was caused by the announcement that following the +camp the local committee would pass upon the applications for +promotions and honors for the lads of the Patrol, and that it was +likely that another patrol would be formed in the village, as several +boys had expressed themselves as anxious to form one. The gentlemen +having charge of the local scout movement, however, had decided that it +would be wiser to wait and see the result of one patrol's training +before forming a second one. + +"I'm going to try for an aviator's badge," announced Paul Perkins, as +Rob declared the official business at an end. + +"Say, Rob, what's the matter with our fixing up a wireless in the camp? +I'm pretty sure I can make one that will catch anything in a +hundred-mile radius." + +"That's a good idea," assented Rob; "if you can do it we can get a lot +of good out of it, I don't doubt." + +"What's the good of wireless when we've got wig-wagging and the +semaphore code," spoke up Simon Jeffords, who was inclined to doubt the +use of any other form of telegraphy but that in which he had perfected +himself. + +As for Martin Green, Walter Lonsdale and Joe Digby, they contented +themselves with hoping that they might receive their badges as +second-class scouts when the camp was over. + +"I can take the whole tests except cooking the meat and potatoes in the +'Billy,'" bemoaned young Green, a small chap of about thirteen. +"Somehow, they always seem to burn, or else they don't cook at all." + +"Well, cheer up, Martin," laughed Rob. "You'll learn to do it in camp. +We'll make you cook for the whole time we're out there, if you +like--that will give you plenty of practice." + +"No, thank you," chimed in Andy Bowles. "I've seen some of Mart's +cooking, and I think the farther you keep him from the cook fire, the +better for the general health of the Eagle Patrol." + +At this moment there came a rap on the door. + +"Come in!" shouted Rob. + +In reply to this invitation, the door opened and a lad of about fifteen +entered. His face was flushed and he bore in his hand a long sheet of +green paper. + +"Hello, Frank Farnham," exclaimed Rob glancing at the boy's flushed, +excited face. "What's troubling you?" + +"Oh, hello, Rob. Excuse me for butting in on your ceremonies, but I +was told Paul Perkins was here." + +"Sure he is, Frank," exclaimed Paul, coming forward. "What's the +matter? It's much too warm to be flying around the way you seem to +have been. Come in under this fan." + +He indicated an electrically driven ventilator that was whirring in a +corner of the room. + +"Quit your fooling, Paul," remonstrated Frank, "and read this circular. +Here." + +He thrust the green "dodger" he carried into the other's hand. + +"What do you think of that, eh?" demanded Frank, as Paul skimmed it +with delighted eyes. + +The circular contained the announcement of a lecture on aeronautics by +a well-known authority on the subject who had once been a resident of +Hampton. To stimulate interest in the subject, the paper stated that a +first prize of fifty dollars, a second prize of twenty-five, and a +third prize of ten dollars would be given to the three lads of the town +making and flying the most successful models of aeroplanes in a public +competition. To win the first prize it would be necessary for the model +to fly more than two hundred feet, and not lower, except at the start +and end of the flight, than fifty feet above the ground. The second +prize was for the next best flight, and the third for the model +approaching the nearest to the winner of the second money. + +"Now, Paul, you are an aeronautic fiend," went on Frank, "So am I, and +Hiram has the fever in a mild way. What's the matter with you two +fellows forming a team to represent the Boy Scouts, and I'll get up a +team of village boys, to compete for the prizes." + +"That's a good idea," assented Hiram Nelson. "I've got a model almost +completed. It only needs the rubber bands and a little testing and it +will be O.K., or at least I hope so. How about you, Paul?" + +"Oh, I've got two models that I have got good results from," replied +the boy addressed. "One is a biplane. She's not so speedy, but very +steady; and then I have a model of a Bleriot. I'm willing to enter +either of them or both." + +"And I've got a model of an Antoinette, and one of a design of my own. +I don't know just how well it will work," concluded Frank modestly, +"but I have great hopes of carrying off that prize." + +"Let's see who else there is," pondered Hiram. + +"There's Tom Maloney. He'll go in, I know; and Ed Rivers and two or +three others, and then, by the way, I almost forgot it, I met Sam +Redding, Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender, reading a notice of the +competition, just before I came up. Of course, as there is a chance of +winning fifty dollars, Jack is going to enter one, and Bill Bender said +he would put one in, too." + +"What do they know about aeroplanes?" demanded Paul. + +"Not a whole lot, I guess; but Jack said he was going to get a book +that tells how to make one, and Bill said he'd do the same." + +"How about Sam?" inquired Rob. + +"Oh, I guess he's got troubles enough with his hydroplane," responded +Rob, whose father had told him at dinner that day of Sam's vain visit +to the bank. + +"It would be just like those fellows to put up something crooked on +us," remarked Paul, who had had much the same experiences with the +bully and his chums as his schoolmates generally. + +"Oh, there'll be no chance of that," Frank assured him. "A local +committee of business men is to be appointed to see fair play, and I +don't fancy that even Jack or Bill will be slick enough to get away +with any crooked work." + +"How long have we got to get ready?" asked Hiram suddenly. + +"Just a week." + +"Wow! that isn't much time." + +"No; my father told me that Professor Charlton, whom he knows, would +have given a longer time for preparation but that he has to attend a +flying meet in Europe, and only decided to lecture at his native town +at the last moment. Lucky thing that most of us have got our models +almost ready." + +"Yes, especially as this notice says," added Paul, who had been reading +it, "that all models must be the sole work of the contestants." + +"If it wasn't for that it would be easy," remarked Hiram. "You can buy +dandy models in New York. I've seen them advertised in the papers." + +"Well, come on over now and put your name down, as a contestant. The +blanks are in the office of the Hampton News," urged Frank. + +"I guess we're all through up here, Rob, aren't we?" asked Hiram. + +"Yes," rejoined the young leader; "but you study up on your woodcraft, +Hiram, and devote more time to your signaling. You are such a bug on +wireless that you forget the rest of the stuff." + +"All right, Rob," promised Hiram contritely. "By the time we go +camping I'll know a cat track from a squirrel's, or never put a +detector on my head again." + +Piloted by Frank, the two young scouts made their way to the office of +the local paper, which had already placed a large bulletin announcing +the aeroplane model competition in its window. Quite a crowd was +gathered, reading the details, as the three boys entered. + +They applied for their application blanks and walked over to a desk to +fill them out. As they were hard at work at this, Jack Curtiss and his +two chums entered the office. + +"You going into this, too?" asked the proprietor of the paper, Ephraim +Parkhurst, as Jack loudly demanded two blanks. + +"Sure," responded Jack confidently, "and we are going to win it, too. +Hullo," he exclaimed, as his eyes fell on the younger lads, "those kids +are after the prize, too. Why, what would they do with fifty dollars +if they had it? However, there's not much chance of your winning +anything," he added, coming up close to the boys, with a sneer on his +face. "I think that I've got it cinched." + +"I didn't know that you knew anything about aeroplanes," responded Paul +quietly. "Have you got a model built yet?" + +"I know about a whole lot of things I don't go blabbing round to +everybody about," responded the elder lad, with a sneer, "and as for +having a model built, I'm going to get right to work on one at once. +It'll be a model of a Bleriot monoplane, and a large one, too. I +notice that there is nothing said in the rules about the size of the +machines." + +Soon after this the three chums left the newspaper office together. + +"Say," remarked Paul, in a rather worried tone, "I don't believe that +there is anything said about the size of the models. Bill may build a +great big one and beat us all out." + +"I suppose that the big machines would be handicapped according to +their power and speed," rejoined Frank. "However, don't you worry +about that. I don't believe that Jack Curtiss knows enough about the +subject to build an aeroplane in a week, and anyhow, I think it's all +empty bluff on his part." + +"I hope so," replied Paul, as they reached his front gate. "Will you +be over to-night, Hiram, to talk things over? Bring your models with +you, too, will you?" + +"Sure," replied Hiram; "but I've got to do a few things at home after +supper. I'll be over about eight o'clock or half-past." + +"All right. I'll be ready for you," responded Paul, as the lads said +good-by. + +A few minutes later Jack Curtiss and his chums emerged from the +newspaper office, the former and Bill Bender having made out their +applications. Sam seemed more dejected than ever, but there was a grin +of satisfaction on Jack Curtiss' face. + +"Well, we sent the note, all right," he laughed under his breath, to +his two chums. "He'll have got it by this time, and will be in town by +dark. You know your part of the program, Sam. Don't fail to carry it +out, or I'll see that you get into trouble." + +"There's no need to worry about me, Jack," rejoined Sam, with an angry +flush. "I'll get the boat as soon as he lands, and keep it out of +sight till you've done the trick. + +"Nothing like killing two birds with one stone," grinned Bill Bender. +"My! what a time there'll be in the morning, when they find out that +there's been a regular double cross." + +"Hush! Here come those three kids now," warned Sam, as Rob, Merritt +and Tubby came down the street. After what had passed they did not +feel called upon to give the bully and his companions more than a cold +nod. + +"Well, be as stuck up as you like to this after-noon!" sneered Jack, +after they had gone by, taking good care, however, that his voice would +not carry. "I guess the laugh will be on you and your old friend of +the island to-morrow." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +AN ISLAND MYSTERY + + +"Hullo, Hiram; where are you bound for?" + +It was Rob who spoke, as Hiram hastened by his house in the early +darkness. + +"Oh, hullo, Rob," responded the other. "I was wondering who that was +hanging over the gate. Why, I'm going to Paul's house. I'm going to +talk over that aeroplane model contest with him. I think that we stand +a chance to win if Jack Curtiss doesn't make good his boast." + +"What was that?" inquired Rob. + +"Oh, he says that he is going to build an aeroplane that will beat us +all." + +"And have it ready in a week?" was Rob's astonished query. + +"That's what he says," responded Hiram. "It all looks kind of +suspicious to me. Fifty dollars is a large enough sum to tempt Jack to +do almost anything. Well, so long. I've got to hurry along. I'm late +now." + +And the lad hastened away to keep his appointment. + +Rob was about to go into the house and get a book, when his attention +was arrested by a figure coming up the street at a smart pace whose +outlines somehow seemed familiar to him. The next minute his guess was +confirmed, when a hearty voice hailed him: + +"Waal, here I am, lad--all shipshape and in first-class trim. Now, what +is it? What do yer want? Yer didn't explain in the note, but old +Captain job Hudgins'll always stand by a shipmate in distress." + +"Why, whatever do you mean, captain?" exclaimed Rob, amazed, and +thinking that the captain must have taken leave of his wits. "Who do +you mean is in distress?" + +"Mean?" echoed the captain, in his turn, it seemed, surprised. "Why, +that note yer sent me. Here it is--all written on one uv them +new-fangled machines." + +Rob took the crumpled paper the old seaman drew out of his coat and +scanned it hastily by the light of the street lamp. The following note +met his puzzled gaze. + +"DEAR CAPTAIN: Please come over and see me at once. Something serious +has happened at the bank. I need your aid and advice. + +"Yours, + +"ROB BLAKE." + +"Hum! The signature is typewritten, too," mused Rob. "What kind of a +joke is this? I don't know, but I'll bet anything that Jack Curtiss is +at the bottom of it." + +"Well," demanded the captain, "what is it, a bit of gammon? I'll +keel-haul the man as did it if I can find him." + +"It looks like a hoax of some sort," admitted Rob, sorely puzzled; "but +I can't for the life of me see the object of it. Come into the house a +minute, captain, and we'll try to figure it out." + +Seated beneath the lamp in the library of his home, Rob scrutinized the +letter closely, but could find absolutely no indication about it to +betray who could have typewritten it. + +"How did you come to receive it?" he asked suddenly. + +"Why, old Hank Handcraft come out in that crazy launch uv his and guv +it ter me," rejoined the captain. "I ought ter hev told yer that in +the first place, but I was all took aback and canvas a-shiver when yer +tole me yer never wrote it." + +"Hank Handcraft," repeated Rob. "He's that queer old fellow that lives +in a hut away down the beach?" + +"Yes, and a bad character, too," replied the captain. "He used ter be +a smuggler, and done a term in jail fer it." + +"Well, it's pretty certain that he didn't write this," said Rob. "He +couldn't get hold of a typewriter, even if he could use one. What did +he tell you about it? Did he say who gave it to, him?" + +"No, he just handed it ter me, and says: 'A young party in Hampton says +ter give yer this and hurry.' I was just gettin' my supper when I +heard his hail of 'Island, ahoy!' I hurried out, and there he was in +that old teakettle uv his, at the end uv my wharf." + +"And he left before you read the note?" + +"I should say. He hurried right off ag'in." + +"Well, I don't see any way to get at the bottom of this mystery but to +go and see old Hank himself," mused Rob, after a period of thought. +"What do you think, captain?" + +"That's the tack ter go about on, youngster," agreed the man of Topsail +Island; "but if yer are goin' down ter his place at this hour uv night, +we'd better take somebody else along. He's a bad character, and I'm +only a feeble old man and yer are a lad." + +"I'll go round by Merritt Crawford's house," proposed Rob; "then we'll +pick up Tubby Hopkins. I guess we can handle any trouble that Hank +wants to make, with that force on hand." + +"I guess so," agreed the old man. "I must say I'd like ter get ter the +bottom uv this here mystery. 'All fair and above board' is my motto. +I don't like these secret craft." + +The two young scouts were both at home, and after brief explanations +the four started off at a lively pace for Hank Handcraft's hut, which +was situated about two miles along the beach. As they hastened along, +Rob explained to the others in more detail the nature of their mission, +but though they were as much mystified by the sudden summons of Captain +Hudgins as Rob and the captain himself, they could hit upon no +plausible explanation for it. + +It was a little over half an hour before they reached the dilapidated +hut where old Handcraft, a beach-comber, made his dwelling place. A +short distance off the shore they could see by the moon, which had now +risen, that his crazy old motor boat lay at anchor. This was a sign +that Hank was at home. Lest it be wondered that such a character could +have owned a motor boat, it may be explained here that the engine of +Hank's old oyster skiff had been given him by a summer resident who +despaired of making it work. Hank, however, who was quite handy with +tools, had fixed it up and managed to make it drive his patched old +craft at quite a fair speed--sometimes. When it broke down, as it +frequently did, Hank, who was a philosopher in his way, simply got out +his oars and rowed his heavy craft. + +As an additional indication that the hut was occupied, light shone +through several of its numerous chinks and crannies, and a knock at the +door brought forth a low growl of: "Who's there?" + +"We want to see you," said Rob. + +"This is no time of night to call on a gentleman; come to-morrow and +leave your cards," rumbled the gruff voice from inside the hut. + +"This is serious business," urged Rob. "Come on, open that door, Hank. +This is Rob Blake, the banker's son." + +"Oh, it is, is it?" grumbled the voice, as the clank of the door-chains +being taken off was heard from within. "Well, I ain't had much +business deals with your father lately, my private fortune being +somewhat shrunk." + +With a muffled chuckle from the speaker, the door slowly opened, and +Hank, a ragged figure, with an immense matted beard, long tangled hair +and dim blue eyes, that blinked like a rat's, stood revealed. + +"Come in, come in, gentlemen," he bowed, with mock politeness. "I'm +glad to see such a numerous and representative party. Now, what kin I +do you for?" + +He chuckled once more at his little jest, and the boys involuntarily +shrank from him. + +There was nothing to do, however, but enter the hut, and Hank +accommodated his guests with a cracker box apiece as chairs. On a +table, roughly built out of similar boxes, a battered old stable lamp +smoked and flared. A more miserable human habitation could not be +imagined. + +"Hank," began the captain, "speak me fair and above board, mate--who +give yer that letter ter bring ter me ter-night?" + +"What letter?" blankly responded Hank, a look of vacancy in his shifty +eyes. + +"Oh, yer know well enough; that letter yer give me at supper time." + +"Captain, I'll give you my davy I don't know what you're talking +about," returned the beachcomber. + +"What!" roared the captain: rising to his feet and advancing +threateningly. "Yer mean ter tell me, yer rapscallion, that yer don't +recall landin' at Topsail Island earlier ter-night and givin' me a note +which says ter come urgent and immediate ter see young Rob Blake here?" + +"Why, captain," calmly returned Hank, with an indulgent grin, "I really +think you must be gettin' childish in your old age. You must be seeing +things. I hope you ain't drinking." + +"You--you scoundrel, you!" roared the old captain, almost beside +himself with rage, and dancing with clenched fists toward Hank. + +The beach-comber's filthy hand slipped into his rags in a minute, and +the next instant he was squatting back on his haunches in the corner of +the hut, like a wildcat about to spring. In his hand there glistened, +in the yellow rays of the lamp, a blued-steel revolver. + +"Don't get angry, captain. It's bad for the digestion," grinned the +castaway. "Now," he went on, "I'm going to tell you flat that if you +say I came to your island to-night, you're dreaming. It must have been +some one else. + +"Come on, boys," directed the captain, with an angry shrug. "There's no +use wastin' time on the critter. I'm inclined ter think now that +there's somethin' more than ordinary in the wind," he added, as they +left the hut, with the half-idiotic chuckles of its occupant ringing in +their ears. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +SOME STRANGE DOINGS + + +It was not far from midnight when the boys, sorely perplexed, once more +reached Hampton. The main street had been deserted long since, and +every one in the village had returned to rest. + +The boys left the captain by the water-front, while they headed up the +Main Street for their respective homes. Rob remained up, pondering +over the events of the evening for some time, without arriving at any +solution of them. He was just about to extinguish his light when he +was startled by a loud: + +"His--s--st!" + +The noise came from directly below his open window, which faced onto +the garden. + +He put out his head, and saw a dark figure standing in the yard. + +"Who is it?" he demanded. + +"It's me, the captain, Rob," rejoined the well-known voice. "I +wouldn't have bothered yer but that I saw a light in yer window." + +"What's the trouble, captain?" asked the boy, noting a troubled +inflection in the old man's voice. + +"My boat's gone!" was the startling reply. + +"Gone! Are you sure?" + +"No doubt about it. I left her tied ter the L wharf when I come up +from the island, and now there ain't hide nor hair uv her there." + +"I'll bet anything that that fellow Curtiss is at the bottom of all +this," cried Rob. "I remember now I heard some time ago that he was +thick with that Hank Handcraft." + +"I don't know what ter do about it at this time uv ther night," went on +the distressed captain, "an' I can't go round waking folks up ter get +another boat." + +"Of course not," agreed Rob. "There's only one thing for you to do, +captain, and that is to put up here to-night, and in the morning we'll +see what we can do." + +"That's mighty fair, square, and above board uv yer, lad," said the +captain gratefully. "Punk me anywhere. I'm an old sailor, and can +aways find the softest plank in the deck." + +"You won't have to do that," said Rob, who had slipped downstairs by +this time and opened the door; "we've got a spare room you can bunk in +to-night. I'll explain it all to father in the morning. Perhaps he can +help us out." + +"Gee whiz! almost twelve o'clock," exclaimed Hiram Nelson, looking up +at the clock from the dining-room table in Paul Perkins' house. The +chamber was strewn with text books on model aeroplane construction and +littered with figures and plans of the boys' own devising. "How time +flies when you're on a subject that interests you." + +"Yes, it's a good thing it's vacation time," agreed Paul. "We wouldn't +be in much shape to work at our books to-morrow, eh?" + +"I should say not!" rejoined Hiram with conviction. "Well, so long, +Paul. I guess we've got it all figured out now, and all that is left +to do is to go ahead." + +"That's the idea," responded Paul. "We'll get the prize for the glory +of the Eagle Patrol, or--or--" + +"Bust!" Hiram finished for him. + +Hiram's way home lay past the bank, and as he walked down the moonlit +street he thought for a minute that he perceived a light in the windows +of the armory. + +Almost as he fancied he glimpsed it, however, it vanished, and the lad +was convinced that he must have been mistaken, or else seen a +reflection of the moonlight on the windows. + +"Queer, though," he mused. "I could almost have sworn it was a light." + +Another curious thing presently attracted his attention. As he neared +the bank a dark figure seemed to vanish into the black shadows round +the corner. Something familiar about it struck Hiram, and the next +moment he realized why. + +"If that wasn't Bill Bender, I'm a Dutchman," he muttered, his heart +beating a little faster. "But what can he be doing round here at this +time of night?" + +As he put the question to himself, Bill Bender, walking rapidly, as if +he had come from some distance, and had not dodged round the corner a +moment before, suddenly appeared from round the angle of the bank +building. + +"Good evening, Bill," said Hiram, wondering if his eyes were not +playing him some queer tricks; "wasn't that you just went round the +corner?" + +"Who, me?" blustered Bill. "You need to visit an oculist, young man. +I've just come from a visit to my aunt's. It was her birthday, and we +had a bully time. Sat up a little too late, though. Good night." + +And with a great assumption of easiness, the crony of Jack Curtiss +walked rapidly off up the street. + +"I guess he's right," mused Hiram, as he hurried on home. "But if that +wasn't Bill Bender who walked round that corner it was his ghost, and +all the ghosts I ever read about don't wear squeaky boots." + +If Hiram had remained he would have had further cause to be suspicious +and speculative. + +The lad's footsteps had hardly died out down the street before Bill +Bender cautiously retraced his way, and, going round to the side +street, upon which the steps leading to the armory opened, gave a +cautious whistle. In reply a sack was lowered from a window to him by +some person invisible above. + +Although there was some little light on the Main Street by reason of +the moon and the few scattering lamps along the thoroughfare, the spot +in which Bill now stood was as black as the proverbial pocket. + +"Is the coast all clear?" came down a voice from the window above. + +"Yes; but if I hadn't spotted young Hiram Nelson coming down the street +and warned you to put out that light, it wouldn't have been," responded +Bill in the same cautious tone. + +"Well, we're safe enough now," came back the voice above, which any of +his acquaintances would have recognized as Jack Curtiss'. "I've got the +rest of them in this other sack. Here, take this one when I drop it." + +Bill made a bungling effort to catch the heavy receptacle that fell +following Jack's warning, but in the darkness he failed, and it crashed +down with quite a clatter. + +"Look out!" warned Jack anxiously, "some one might hear that." + +"Not in this peaceful community. You seem to forget that eleven +o'clock is the very latest bedtime in Hampton." + +After a brief interval Jack Curtiss himself slipped out of the side +door of the armory and joined his friend on the dark sidewalk. + +"Well, what's the next move on the program?" asked Bill. + +"We'll sneak down Bailey's Lane--there are no lights there--to Hank's +place. Sam will be waiting off there with the boat," rejoined Jack. + +"Yes, if he hasn't lost his nerve," was Bill's rejoinder as they +shouldered their sacks and slipped off into the deep blackness +shrouding the side streets. + +"Well, if he has lost it, he'll come near losing his head, too," grated +out Jack, "but don't you fear, he wants that fifty too badly to go back +on us." + +Silently as two cats the cronies made their way down the tree-bordered +thoroughfare known as Bailey's Lane and after a few minutes gained the +beach. + +"Say, that's an awful hike down to Hank's gilded palace," grumbled +Bill, "why didn't you have Sam wait for us off here?" + +"Yes, and have old man Hudgins discover him when he finds his boat is +gone," sneered Jack, "you'd have made a fine botch of this if it hadn't +been for me." + +The two exchanged no further words on the weary tramp along the soft +beach. They plodded along steadily with the silence only broken by a +muttered remark emanating from Bill Bender from time to time. + +"Thank heaven, there's the place at last," exclaimed Bill, with a sigh +of relief, as they came in sight of the miserable hut, "I began to +think that Hank must have moved." + +Jack gave a peculiar whistle and the next instant the same light the +boys had seen earlier in the evening shone through the chinks of the +hovel. + +"Well, he's awake, at any rate," remarked Jack with a grin, "now to +find out where the boat is." + +As the wretched figure of the beach-comber appeared Jack hailed him +roughly. + +"Where's that boat, Hank?" + +"Been cruising off and on here since eleven o'clock," rejoined the +other sullenly, "ah! there she is now off to the sou'west." + +He pointed and the boys saw a red light flash twice seaward as if some +one had passed their hands across it. + +"All right, give him the answer," ordered Jack. "We've got to hurry if +we're to be back before the captain and those brats of boys get after +our trail." + +Hank at Jack's order dived into the hut and now reappeared with the +smoky lantern. He waved it four times from side to side like a +brakeman and in a short time a steady "put-put!" told the watchers that +a motor boat was approaching. + +"Now for your dinghy, Hank," urged Jack, "hurry up. You move like a +man a hundred and ninety years old, with the rheumatism." + +"Well, come on, then," retorted Hank, "here's the boat," pointing to a +cobbled dinghy lying hauled up above the water line, "give me a hand +and we'll shove off." + +The united strength of the three soon had the boat in the water and +with Hank at the oars they moved steadily toward the chugging motor +boat. + +"Well, Sam, you're on the job, I see," remarked Jack as the two craft +ranged alongside and Sam cut off the engine. + +"Oh, I'm on the job all right," rejoined Sam, feeling much braver now +that the other two had arrived, "have you got them all right?" + +"Right here in this bag, and some more in this, my bucko," chuckled +Jack as he handed the two sacks over to Sam. + +"Ha! ha! ha!" chortled Bill under his breath as he climbed out of the +cobble into the motor boat, "won't there be a fine row in the morning." + +"Well, come on; start up, Sam. We've no time to lose," ordered Jack as +he and Bill got aboard, "good night there, Hank." + +"Good night," rejoined Hank quietly enough, as the motor boat moved +swiftly off over the moonlit sea. He added to himself, "It won't be a +very 'good night' for you, my lad, if you don't pay me as handsomely as +you promised." + +And chuckling to himself till his shoulders shook, Hank resumed his +oars and rowed back to the miserable shanty he called home. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE STOLEN UNIFORMS + + +Rob and his old friend lost no time the next morning in getting down to +the water-front to make inquiries about the captain's missing boat. To +their astonishment, however, almost the first craft that caught their +eyes as they arrived at the L wharf to begin their search was the old +sailor's motor dory, to all appearances in exactly the same position +she had occupied the preceding night when the captain moored her. + +"Have I clapped deadlights on my optics, or am I gone plumb locoed?" +bellowed the amazed captain, as he saw the little craft dancing lightly +on the sunny waters. + +"You are certainly not mistaken in supposing that is your boat. I'd +know her among a thousand," Rob assured him. "Are you quite certain +that she was not here last night, captain?" + +"Just as sure as I am that yer and me is standin' here," rejoined the +bewildered captain. "I've sailed the seven seas in my day, and man and +boy seen many queer things; but if this don't beat cock fightin', I'm +an inky Senegambian!" + +The captain's voice had risen to a perfect roar as he uttered the last +words, and a sort of jack-of-all-trades about the wharf, whose name was +Hi Higgins, came shuffling up, asking what was the trouble. + +"Trouble," roared the hermit of Topsail Island. "Trouble enough fer +all hands and some left over fer the cat! Say, shipmate, yer hangs +about this here L wharf a lot. Did yer see any piratical humans +monkeyin' around my boat last night?" + +"Why, what d'yer mean, cap'n," sniffled Hi Higgins. "I seen yer tie up +here, and there yer boat is now. What d'yer mean by pira-pirawell, +them parties yer mentioned? Yer mean some one took it?" + +"Took it--yes, yer hornswoggled longshore lubber!" bellowed the +captain. "I thought yer was hired as a sort uv watchman on this wharf. +A find watchman yer are!" + +"Well, yer see, cap'n," returned Hi Higgins, really alarmed at the +captain's truculent tone, "I ain't here much after nine at night or +before five in the morning." + +"Well, was my boat here at five this mornin'?" demanded the captain. + +"Sure it was," rejoined Hi Higgins, with a sniffle; "the fust boat I +seen." + +"Rob, my boy, I'm goin' crazy in my old age!" gasped the captain. "I'm +as certain as I can be that the boat wasn't here when I came down to +the wharf last midnight, but the pre-pon-der-ance of evidence is +against me." + +The captain shook his head gravely as he spoke. It was evident that he +was sorely puzzled and half inclined to doubt the evidence of his own +senses. + +"Douse my toplights," he kept muttering, "if this don't beat a flying +Dutchman on wheels and with whiskers!" + +"I certainly don't believe that your eyes deceived you, captain," put +in Rob, in the midst of the captain's rumbling outbursts. "It looks to +me as if somebody really did borrow your boat last night, and that the +decoy note supposed to be from me had something to do with it." + +"By the great horn spoon, yer've got it, my boy!" roared the captain. +"And now yer come ter speak uv it, my mind misgives me that all ain 't +right at the island. I didn't tell yer, but I left a tidy sum uv money +in that old iron safe off the Sarah Jane, the last ship I commanded, +and all this what's puzzled us so may be part uv some thievish scheme. + +"I'm going ter hurry over ter the island and make certain sure," he +went on the next minute. "The more I think uv it, the more signs uv +foul weather I see. Good-by, my lad, and good luck. Will yer be out +ter see me soon? The bluefish are running fine." + +"We may be out this afternoon, captain," responded Rob. "I am curious +myself to see if any mischief has been done on your island. If there +has been," he added earnestly, "you can count on the Eagle Patrol to +help you out." + +"Thanks, my boy!" exclaimed the old man, who was bending over his +gasoline tank. "Hullo!" he shouted suddenly. "I wasn't crazy! This +boat was took out last night. See here!" + +He held up the gasoline measuring stick which he had grabbed up and +plunged into the tank. The instrument was almost dry. The receptacle +for fuel was nearly empty. + +"And I filled her before I started out!" thundered the captain. +"Whoever took my boat must have run her a long ways." + +Fresh fuel was soon obtained, and the captain, after more shouted +farewells, started for the island to try to obtain some clue to the +mysterious happenings of the night. + +Rob, after watching him for a few moments, as he sped down the blue +waters of the sunlit inlet, turned away to return to his home, just +recollecting that, in their eagerness to search for the boat, both he +and the captain had entirely forgotten about breakfast. He was in the +middle of the meal, and eagerly explaining to his interested parents +the strange incidents of the missing boat and the decoy note, when +Merritt Crawford burst into the room unannounced. + +"Oh, I beg your pardon!" he apologized, abashed. "I didn't know you +were at breakfast. But, Mr. Blake--Rob--something has happened that I +just had to come and tell you about at once." + +"Good gracious! More mysteries," Mr. Blake was beginning in a jocular +way, when the serious look on the boy's face checked him. "What is it? +What has happened, Merritt?" he asked soberly, while Rob regarded the +spectacle of his usually placid corporal's excitement with round eyes. + +"The uniforms are all gone!" burst out Merritt. + +"What uniforms?" + +"Ours--the Eagle Patrols'." + +"What! Stolen?" + +"That's right," hurried on Merritt. "I met old Mrs. Jones in a +terrible state of mind. You know, Mr. Blake, she's the old woman who +scrubs out the place in the morning. I asked what was the matter, and +she told me that when she went to the armory early to-day, she found +the lock forced and all the lockers broken open and the uniforms gone!" + +"Have you seen the place?" asked Mr. Blake. + +"Yes, I followed her up. The room was turned upside down. The locks +had been ripped right off and the lockers rifled of everything. Who +can have done it?" + +"I'll bet anything Jack Curtiss and his gang had something to do with +it, just as I believe they put up some crooked job on the captain!" +burst out Rob, greatly excited and his breakfast entirely forgotten. + +"Be careful how you make such a grave accusation," warned his father. + +"I know it's a tough thing to say," admitted Rob; "but you don't know +that bunch like we do. They'd--" + +He was about to explain more of the characteristics of the bully and +his cronies when a fresh interruption occurred. This time it was Hiram +Nelson. He was almost as abashed as Merritt had been when he found +that his excitement had carried him into what seemed a family +conference. + +"It's all right, Hiram. Come right in," said Mr. Blake cheerfully. +"Come on out with your news, for I can see you can hardly keep it to +yourself." + +"It's going round the town like wildfire!" responded the panting boy. +The others nodded. "I see you know it already," he went on. "Well, I +think I've got a clue." + +"You have! Come on, let's hear it quick," cried Rob. + +"Well, I was up late with Paul Perkins last night, talking over the +aeroplane model competition, and didn't start home till about midnight. +As I was approaching the armory I thought I saw a light in one of the +windows. I couldn't be certain, however, and I put it down to a trick +that my eyes had played me." + +"Well, that's all right as far as it goes," burst out Rob. "It +probably was a light. I wish you'd investigated." + +"Wait a minute, Rob," said his father, noting Hiram's anxious face. +"There's more to come, isn't there, Hiram?" + +"You bet! The most exciting part of it--the most important, I mean," +went on young Hiram, with an important air. + +"Oh, well, get down to it," urged the impatient Rob. "What was it?" + +"Why, right after I'd seen the light," went on Hiram, "I thought I saw +a dark figure slip around the corner into that dark street." + +"A dark figure! Hum! Sounds like one of those old yellow--back +novels," remarked Mr. Blake, with a smile. + +"But this was a figure I recognized, sir," exclaimed Hiram. "It was +Bill Bender!" + +"Jack Curtiss' chum! They're as thick as two thieves," burst out +Merritt. + +"And I believe they are two thieves," solemnly put in Rob. + +"Well," went on Hiram, "the next minute Bill Bender came walking round +the corner as fast as if he were coming from somewhere in a great +hurry, and was hastening home. He told me he had been to a birthday +party at his aunt's." + +"At his aunt's," echoed Mr. Blake. "Well, that's an important point, +for I happen to know that his aunt, Mrs. Graves, is out of town. She +visited the bank yesterday morning and drew some money for her +traveling expenses. She informed me that she expected to be gone a +week or more." + +"I knew it, I knew it!" shouted Rob. "That fellow ought to be in jail. +He'll land there yet." + +"Softly, softly, my boy," said Mr. Blake. "This is a grave affair, and +we cannot jump at conclusions." + +"I'd jump him," declared Rob, "if I only knew for certain that he was +the thief!" + +"I will inform the police myself and have an investigation made," Mr. +Blake promised. "We will leave no stone unturned to find out who has +been guilty of such an outrage." + +"And in the meantime the Eagle Patrol will carry on an investigation of +its own," declared Rob sturdily. "What do you say, boys?" + +"I'll bet every boy in the corps is with you on that," rejoined Merritt +heartily. + +"Same here," chimed in Hiram. + +"The first step is to take a run to Topsail Island and see if all the +queer things that happened last night have not some connecting link +between them," suggested Mr. Blake. "I am inclined, after what you +boys have told me, to think that they have." + +"I am sure of it," echoed Rob. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE HYDROPLANE QUEERLY RECOVERED + + +Seldom had the Flying Fish been urged to greater speed than she was a +short time after the discovery of the looting of the scouts' armory. +She fairly flew across the smooth waters of the inlet and out on to the +Atlantic swells, leaving a clean, sweeping bow-wave as she cut her way +along. Her four young occupants, for Tubby had been called on and +notified of the occurrences of the night, were, however, wrapped in +slickers borrowed from the yacht club, so that the showers of spray +which fell about them had little effect on them. + +The run to Topsail Island was made in record time, and as they drew +near the little hummock of tree and shrub-covered land the boys could +perceive that something unusual had happened. A figure which even at a +distance they recognized as that of Captain job Hudgins was down on the +little wharf, and had apparently been on the lookout there for some +time. A closer view revealed the captain waving frantically. + +"Something's up, all right," remarked Tubby, above the roar of the +motor-boat's engine. + +The others said nothing, but kept their gaze riveted on the captain's +figure. With the skill of a veteran boatman, Rob brought the Flying +Fish round in a graceful curve and ran her cleanly up to the wharf +without the slightest jolt or jar. + +"Ahoy, lads, I'm glad yer've come!" exclaimed the captain, as he caught +the painter line thrown out to him by Merritt, and skillfully made the +boat fast. + +"Why, what has happened?" demanded Rob, as he sprang on to the wharf, +followed by the others. + +"Happened?" repeated the captain. "Well, in a manner of speakin', +about twenty things has happened at once. Lads, my spirits and +emotions are in a fair Chinese tornado--every which way at once. In +the first place, I'm seventy-five dollars poorer than I was last night; +in the second, poor old Skipper's been given some kind av poison that's +made him so sick I doubt he'll get over it." + +"You've been robbed?" gasped Merritt. + +"That's it, my lad. That's the word. My poor old safe's been scuttled +and her hold overhauled. But I don't mind that so much--it's poor old +Skipper I'm worried about. But come on up ter the house, lads, and see +fer yerselves." + +Followed by the sympathetic four, the old man hobbled up from his +little wharf to a small eminence on which stood his neatly whitewashed +hut. He opened the door and invited them in. A first glance +discovered nothing much the matter, but a second look showed the boys +poor old Skipper lying on the floor in front of the open fireplace +which was filled with fresh green boughs--and evidently a very sick dog +indeed. He gave the boys a pathetic glance of recognition as they came +in, and with a feeble wag or two of his tail tried to show them he was +glad to see them; but this done, he seemed to be completely exhausted, +and once more laid his head between his forepaws and seemed to doze. + +"Poor old dog," said the captain, shaking his head. "I doubt if he'll +ever get about again." + +The safe now engaged the boys' attention. It is true that it was a +rickety old contrivance which might well have been forced open with an +ordinary poker, but to the captain, up to this day, it had been a +repository as safe and secure as a big Wall Street trust company's +vaults. + +"Look at that, boys!" cried the captain, with tragic emphasis, pointing +to the door, which had been forced clear off its rusty hinges. "Just +busted open like yer'd taken the crust off'n a pie! Ah, if I could lay +my hands on the fellers that done this, I'd run 'em tip ter the yardarm +afore a foc'sle hand could say 'Hard tack'!" + +"Why, we think that--" began Tubby, when Rob checked him. The captain, +who had been bending over his dog, didn't hear the remark, and Rob +hastily whispered to Tubby: + +"Don't breathe a word to anyone of our suspicions. Our only chance to +get hold of the real culprits is to not give them any idea that we +suspect them." + +After a little more time spent on the island, the boys took their +leave, promising to come back soon again. First, however, Rob and his +corporal made a brief expedition to see if they could make out the +tracks of the marauders of the previous evening. Whoever they had been, +however--and the boys, as we know, had a shrewd guess at their +identity--they had been too cunning to take the path, but had +apparently, judging from the absence of all footmarks, made their way +to the house through the coarse grass that grew on each side of the way. + +"Well, what are we going to do about it?" Tubby inquired, as they +speeded back toward home. + +"Just what I said," rejoined Rob. "Keep quiet and not let Jack or his +chums know that we suspect a thing. Give them enough rope, and we'll +get them in time. I'm certain of it." + +How true his words were to prove, Rob at that time little imagined, +although he felt the wisdom of the course he had advised. + +As they neared the inlet, Rob, who was at the wheel and scanning the +channel pretty closely, for the tide was now running out, gave a sudden +shout and pointed ahead. As the others raised their eyes and gazed in +the direction their leader indicated they, too, uttered a cry of +astonishment. From the mouth of the inlet there had stolen a long, +low, black craft, gliding through the water at tremendous speed. + +In the strange craft the boy scouts had little difficulty in +recognizing Sam Redding's hydroplane. + +"So he's got her back," exclaimed Merritt, recovering from his first +astonishment. + +"Yes, and she seems little the worse for her experience," remarked +Tubby. "It doesn't appear, though, that they are going to profit by +their lesson of the other day, for there they go out to sea again." + +"Probably consulted the glass this time," remarked Rob. "It read 'set +fair' when we started out." + +"Well, that's the only kind of weather for them," commented Merritt; +"though as both Jack and Bill can swim, I wouldn't mind seeing them get +a good ducking." + +"I suppose the coincidence has struck you fellows, too?" remarked Rob +suddenly, as he skillfully twisted and turned the dancing Flying Fish +through the devious ways of the channel at low water. + +"What on earth are you talking about?" demanded Merritt. + +"Why, that it seems rather queer that Sam, who was round town +desperately trying to raise money with which to get his boat out of +pawn suddenly manages to redeem her, and that on the very day after the +robbery of Captain Hudgins hut." + +"By hookey, that's right!" shouted Tubby. "I'll bet your guess was +correct, Rob--that gang of Jack's robbed the old captain." + +"And stole our uniforms," put in Merritt. + +"Yes; but how are we going to prove it?" was Rob's "cold water" comment +which silenced further speculation for the time being. Each boy, +however, determined then and there to do his share in running down the +persons responsible for the vandalism. + +By the time they got back to Hampton the news had spread among the +entire Eagle Patrol, and an indignation meeting was called in the +devastated armory. Mr. Blake entered in the midst of it, and offered, +in conjunction with the rest of the local council, to furnish new +uniforms. On the matter being put to a vote, however, the lads all +agreed that it would be better not to accept such an offer till they +had made a determined effort to run down the plunderers. + +"Very well," said Mr. Blake; "your spirit does you great credit, and if +you need any help, don't fail to call upon me at any time." + +"Three cheers for Mr. Blake and the members of the council!" shouted +Merritt, jumping on a chair. + +They were given with such roof-raising effect, that people outside in +the street, many of whom knew of the robbery, began to think that the +uniforms must have been recovered. + +As the lads surged out of the armory, all talking at once about the +robbery and its likely results, whom should they encounter on the +street but Jack Curtiss and his two chums, evidently, from the fact +that they carried waterproof garments over their arms, just back from +their trip in Sam's newly-recovered hydroplane. + +It might have been fancy, but as the eyes of the Boy Scouts met those +of the three lads who would have so much liked to belong to the +organization, Rob thought that a look of embarrassment spread over Jack +Curtiss' heavy features, and that even Bill Bender's brazen face took +on a shade of pallor. If this were so, however, it could have been +only momentary, for the next minute Jack, with what seemed very much +overdone cordiality, came forward with: + +"Why, hullo, boys. I just heard about your loss. Any news?" + +"No, not a word," chirped little Joe Digby, one of the few lads in the +Eagle Patrol who had never run afoul of the bully. + +"Well," went on Jack, affecting not to notice the silence with which +his advances had been greeted, "I hope you find the fellows who did it, +whoever they were." + +"Same here," chimed in Bill Bender, now quite at his ease, "although, +at that, I guess it was only a joke, and you'll get 'em back again +before long." + +"Do you think so, Bill?" asked Merritt, looking the bully's crony +steadily in the eye. "I hope so, I'm sure. By the way, Hiram Nelson +here says that he saw you hurrying up Main Street at just about the +time the robbery must have taken place. You didn't hear any unusual +sounds or see anything out of the way, did you?" + +"I--why, no--I--you see, I was on my way home from my aunt's home," +stuttered Bill, seemingly taken off his guard. + +"Yes; your aunt, who left home yesterday afternoon to be gone a week," +shot out Merritt. + +"Queer that she should have changed her mind and come home in such a +hurry." + +"Oh, come on, Bill," stuck in Sam, seeing that things were getting very +unpleasant. "We've got to hurry up if we're to get out to Jack's in +time." + +Without another word, the three hurried off, seemingly not at all +unrelieved to escape from what Merritt was pretty sure were +embarrassing questions. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +WINNING THE CONTEST + + +The day which was to witness the tests of the aeroplane models for the +prizes offered by the professor of aeronautics dawned still and fair. +It followed several days of storm, in which the boys had been unable to +make any excursions in their motor boat, or into the country, or, +indeed, even to devote any time to the engrossing subject of tracing +the theft of the uniforms to its source. + +Early in the morning a small field in the rear of Mr. Blake's house was +well filled with boys of all ages and sizes, watching the contestants +in the model contest trying out their craft. The models were of all +sorts and sizes. Some were freak craft that had been constructed in a +hurry from pictures, without any attention being paid to scale or +proportions, while others were carefully made bits of mechanism. + +Among the latter class were Paul Perkins' monoplane--Silver Arrow, he +called it,--Hiram Nelson's two models, the monoplane of Tom Maloney, a +lad of about sixteen, and Ed River's little duplicate of a Curtiss +biplane. The contest was to take place on the Main Street of the town, +in front of the bank, and in the middle of the course two poles had +been erected, one on each side of the street, between which a brightly +colored tape had then been strung, forming a sort of aerial hurdle. +The tape was fifty feet above the ground, and to qualify at all it +would be necessary for the contesting models to clear it. + +The lecture which took place in the village hall came first and was +well attended, most of the young folks of Hampton being there. If the +truth must be told, however, while the lecturer was expounding his +subject, illustrating it on the blackboard with chalk drawings, the +majority of his young hearers were wishing that it was over and the +contest really begun. + +Especially was this true of the boys of the Eagle Patrol, who were +every one of them anxious to see what kind of aeroplanes Jack Curtiss +and Bill Bender would have produced. The lecture, however, at last +came to an end, and the gentlemen on the platform shook hands with the +professor and the professor shook hands with them, and somebody called +for three cheers for "Hampton's distinguished son." + +Everybody then lost no time in filing out into the afternoon sunlight, +where they found quite a crowd already on the streets, and a small +wooden grand stand, which had been erected near what was expected to be +the finishing line, seating several guests. The committee and the +professor, led by the Hampton brass band, blaring away at patriotic +airs, made their way to the front seats in the structure, and everybody +was requested to line up on each side of the street, so as to make a +clear lane for the models to fly in. + +The starting line was about a hundred yards from the red tape, and the +contestants were compelled to stand back of this. Mr. Wingate, the +president of the yacht club and member of the Boy Scout Council, had +already shuffled the numbers of the contestants in a hat, and they were +to fly their models in the order in which they drew their figures. + +Up to this time there had been no sign of Jack Curtiss or Bill Bender, +but the boys now saw them hastening up to a member of the committee and +whispering to him. A moment later a man, with a megaphone boomed out +from the grand stand: + +"William Bender announces that he has withdrawn from the contest." + +"Aha! I'll bet Jack's got cold feet, too," whispered Hiram, nudging +Paul, who was kneeling down and winding up the long rubber bands which +drove the propellers of the Silver Arrow, an Antoinette model. + +But a short interval showed him to be mistaken, for Jack, with his +usual confident air, repaired to the buggy in which he had driven into +town from his father's farm, and speedily produced a model that caused +loud sighs of "Ohs!" and "Ahs!" to circulate through the juvenile +portion of the crowd. + +However he had managed to accomplish it, the bully had certainly +produced a beautiful model. It was of the Bleriot type, and finished +perfectly down to the minutest detail. Every wire and brace on it was +silvered with aluminum paint, and it even bore a small figure at its +steering wheel. Beside it the other models looked almost clumsy. + +The faces of the Boy Scouts fell. + +"If that machine can fly as well as she looks," said Rob to Merritt, +"she wins the first prize." + +"Not a doubt of it," was Merritt's reply. + +"Oh, well," put in Tubby, for the three inseparables were standing +together, "if he can win the prize fairly, don't knock him. He +certainly has built a beautiful machine. You've got to give him credit +for that." + +And now, as Jack, with a triumphant smile at the glances of admiration +his model excited, strode to the starting point, elbowing small boys +aside, and drew from the hat, the man with the megaphone once more +arose. He held in his hand the result of the drawing and the order in +which the models would fly. + +"The f-i-r-s-t model to com-pete for the big p-r-ize," he bellowed, +"will be that of Thomas Maloney--a Bler-i-ot!" + +Poor Tom might have called his machine a Bleriot, but it is doubtful if +the designer of the original machine of that name would have recognized +the model as having any more than a distant relationship to the famous +type of monoplane. It was provided with a large tin propeller, +however, and seemed capable of at least accomplishing a flight. In +fact, at the trials in the morning it had flown well, and by some of +the lads was regarded as a sort of "dark horse." As Tom was on the +village team, as opposed to the Boy Scout contingent, he was greeted +with loud cheers and whistles by his friends as he stepped to the +starting line, and, holding his already wound up machine in his hand, +made ready to launch it. + +"Crack!" went the pistol. + +At the same instant Tom, with a thrusting motion, released his model; +but, alas! instead of darting forward like the Sparrow Hawk it was +named after, the craft ingloriously wobbled about eccentrically, and +finally alighted on an old lady's bonnet, causing her to exclaim as the +propeller whizzed round and entangled itself in her hair: + +"No good'll ever come of teaching lads to meddle with these here +contraptions." + +The model having finally been extricated, amid much laughter, and poor +Tom having offered mortified apologies, the announcer made known that +Hiram Nelson's Doodlebug monoplane would essay a flight. + +As the pistol sounded, Hiram launched his craft, and amid cheers from +the crowd it soared up, and, just clearing the red tape, settled +gracefully down a few feet the other side of the two hundred foot line. + +"Good for you, Hiram!" exclaimed Ernest Thompson, the bike scout, who +was acting as a patrol on the course. "Whose turn next?" + +"You kids wait till I get my Bleriot started," sneered Jack. Several +small boys near him, who were mortally afraid of the big fellow and +rather admired him as being "manly," set up a cheer at this. + +"Wait for Jack's dandy model to fly!" they cried. + +"Edward Rivers--model of a Curtiss biplane!" came the next announcement +through, the megaphone. + +Another cheer greeted this, as young Rivers was also on the "town team." + +The little Curtiss darted into the air at the pistol crack and flew +straight as an arrow for the red tape. It cleared it easily and +skimmed on down past the grand stand, and alighted, fluttering like a +tired butterfly, beyond Hiram's model. + +"Three hundred feet!" cried the announcer, amid a buzz of approval, +after the measurers of the course had done their work. + +"Paul Perkins--Bleriot!" was the next announcement. + +A hum of excitement went through the crowds that lined the track. It +began to look as if the record of Ed Rivers' machine would be hard to +beat, but from the determined look on his face and his gritted teeth it +was evident that Paul meant to try hard. + +Before the report of the pistol had died out, the yellow-winged +Dragonfly soared upward from Paul's hand and darted like a streak +across the red tape, clearing it at the highest altitude yet achieved +by any of the models. + +"Hurrah!" yelled the crowd. + +On and on sped the little Bleriot, while Paul watched it with +pride-flushed cheeks. It was evident that it was going to out-distance +the record made by Ed Rivers' machine. The Boy Scouts set up their +Patrol cry: + +"Kr-ee-ee-ee-ee!" + +As the little machine settled to the ground, far beyond the grand +stand, the officials ran out with their tapes, and presently the +announcement came blaring down the packed ranks of the onlookers: + +"Three hundred and fifty feet!" + +What a cheer went up then. + +"I guess you've got it won. Congratulations!" said Ed Rivers, pressing +forward to Paul's side. + +"Thanks, Ed," returned the other; "but 'there's many a slip,' you know, +and there are several others to be flown yet." + +Now came in rapid succession several of the smaller models and freak +designs. Some of these wobbled through the air and landed in the +crowd. Others sailed blithely up toward the red tape and just fell +short of clearing it. Another landed right on the tape and hung there, +the target of irreverent remarks from the crowd. + +While this was going on, Bill Bender, Jack Curtiss and Sam were in +close consultation. + +"Remember, you promised that if you won the prize you'd give that money +back," Sam whispered to Jack, "and for goodness' sake, don't forget it. +I half believe that those boys suspect us already." + +"Nonsense," returned the bully. "And what if they do? We covered up +our tracks too well for them to have anything on us. They can't prove +anything, can they?" + +"I--I--I don't know," stammered Sam, and was about to say more, but the +clarion voice of the announcer was heard informing the crowd that: + +"John Curtiss' Bleriot model will now make a flight for the great +prize." + +With a confident smile on his face, Jack stepped forward and held his +model ready. The murmur of admiration that had greeted its first +appearance was repeated as he held it high in the sunlight and the +afternoon rays glinted and shimmered on its fittings and wings. + +"That's the model for my money," remarked a man in the crowd. + +"It's going to win, too," said Jack confidently. + +Just at that moment the pistol cracked, and Jack released his +much-admired air craft. + +Its flight showed that it was as capable of making as beautiful a +soaring excursion as its graceful outlines and careful finish seemed to +indicate. In a long, sweeping glide, it arose and cleared the red tape +by a greater margin than had Paul Perkins' model. + +"Jack Curtiss wins!" yelled the crowd, as the machine soared right on +and did not begin its downward swoop for some distance. After it had +alighted and the measurers had laid their tapes on the course, the +announcer megaphoned, amid a perfect tornado of roars and cheers: + +"The last flight, ladies and gentlemen--and apparently the winning +one--accomplished the remarkable distance of four hundred and fifty +feet--four hundred and fifty feet." + +"Three cheers for Jack Curtiss!" shouted Bill Bender, slapping Jack +heartily on the back and giving most of the cheers himself. + +"I guess those cubs won't be quite so stuck up now," commented Sam, +shaking Jack's hand warmly. + +"I was pretty sure I'd win," modestly remarked the bully, as he began +shouldering his way through the press toward the judges' stand. He was +closely followed by the boys, as it looked as if Paul Perkins might +have won the second prize and Ed Rivers the third. + +Urged by Bill Bender, the band began puffing away at "See, the +Conquering Hero Comes," and Jack, nothing averse to appearing in such a +role, bowed gracefully right and left to the admiring throngs. + +The professor shook hands warmly with the victorious Jack, and remarked: + +"You are to be congratulated, young man. I have rarely seen a better +model, and your skill does you great credit. Are you thinking of +taking up aeronautics seriously?" + +The bully, his face very red, stammered that he had entertained some +such thoughts. + +The professor was about to reply, when there came a sudden sound of +confusion among that portion of the crowd which had surrounded the +delegates deputed to pick up the aeroplanes and bring them to the +stand. This was in order that they might be exhibited as each prize +was awarded. A small boy with a very excited face was seen struggling +to get through the mass, and he finally gained the judges' stand. As +he faced the congratulatory professor he stuttered out: + +"Please, sir, there's something wrong about Jack Curtiss' machine." + +"What do you mean, you impudent young shaver!" shouted the bully, +turning white, nevertheless. + +"Let the lad speak," said Mr. Blake, who as one of the committee was +standing beside the professor. "What is it, my boy? Let me see. +You're Joe Digby, of the Eagle Patrol, aren't you." + +"Yes, sir; and I live out on a farm near Jack Curtiss. I was watching +him fly his machine this morning, from behind a hedge, and I heard them +saying something about 'their store-made machine beating any country +boy's model.'" + +"He's a young liar! Pay no attention to him," stammered Jack, licking +his dry lips. + +"Silence, sir!" said Mr. Blake gravely. "Let us listen to what this +boy has to say. If he is not speaking the truth, you can easily +disprove it. Go on, my boy." + +"Well, I guess that's about all I know about it: but I thought I ought +to tell you, sir," confusedly concluded the small lad. + +"You young runt, I'll half kill you if I catch you alone!" breathed +Jack, under his breath, as the lad sped off to join his companions. + +"Of course, you are not going to pay any attention to that kid's--I +mean boy's--story," demanded Jack, addressing the professor. "It's +made out of whole cloth, I assure you." + +In the meantime the machines had been brought to the grand stand and +were being examined. Naturally, after young Digby's statement, Jack's +was one of the first to be scrutinized. The committee turned it over +and over, and were about to pass on it, when Mr. Wingate, who had been +bending attentively over the bully's model, gave a sudden exclamation. + +"Look here, gentlemen," he cried, pointing to a small tag which Jack +had evidently forgotten to remove, "I think this is conclusive +evidence. Here is the label of the 'Manhattan Model Works' pasted +right under this wing." + +"Somebody must have put it there. It's a job those Boy Scouts put up +on me," protested Tack. "I made that model every bit myself." + +"I regret to say that we must regard the price tag as conclusive +evidence that this machine comes from a store," said the professor +sternly, handing Jack his unlucky model. "You are disqualified for +entering a machine not of your own workmanship. + +"Stand back, please," he went on, as Jack tried to protest. "I want to +say," he went on in a loud tone, holding up his hand to command +attention, "that there has been a grave mistake made. The machine which +actually flew the longest distance is disqualified, as it was made at a +New York model factory. The first prize of fifty dollars, therefore, +goes to Paul Perkins, of the Boy Scouts, the second to Edward Rivers, +of Hampton, and the third to Hiram Green, also of the Boy Scouts. + +"Hold on one minute," he shouted, as the crowd began to cheer and hoot. +"There is an additional announcement to be made. The committee has +decided to offer a further reward of five dollars to Thomas Maloney, +whose model shows evidence of praiseworthy and painstaking work." + +As the cheers broke loose once more, Jack Curtiss and his cronies slunk +off through the crowd, and having placed the rejected model in the +buggy, drove off into the country in no very amiable or enviable frame +of mind. + +"Well, you made a fine mess of it," grumbled Bill Bender savagely. "I +told you to look carefully and see that all the tags were off it." + +"It's no more my fault than yours," grated out Jack, lashing the horse +savagely, to work off some of his rage. "It's all the fault of those +young cubs of Rob Blake's. Let them look out, though, for I'll get +even with them before long, and in a way that will make them sit up and +take notice." + +"Don't forget that young mischief maker, Joe Digby," suggested Bill +Bender. "It was all his fault--the young spy!" + +"Oh, I'll attend to him," Jack assured his chum, with a grating laugh +that boded no good for the youngest member of the Eagle Patrol. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A FORTUNATE DISCOVERY + + +"Want to go fishing?" Rob inquired over the telephone of Merritt +Crawford a few days later. + +"Sure," was the response. + +"We can run into Topsail Island and get a site for the camp picked at +the same time," suggested Rob. + +"Bully! I'll meet you at the wharf. Going to bring Tubby?" + +"You bet! We'll be there in ten minutes." + +"All right. Good-by." + +At the time set the three boys met on the wharf of the yacht club, and +were speedily ready to start on their trip. Rob brought along bluefish +squids and lines, and Tubby--never at a loss to scare up a hurried +lunch--had a basket full of good things to eat. + +The run to the island was made without incident, and the boys were glad +to see that, contrary to the captain's fears, his dog Skipper was all +right again, for the animal came bounding and barking down the wharf as +they drew near, in token of his gladness to see them. + +Attracted by his dog's barking, the old captain, who was at work in a +small potato patch he cultivated, came hobbling to meet the boys as +they tied up and disembarked. + +"Well, well, boys; come ter stay?" he cheerily remarked, as the three +lads shook hands. + +"No, we're off after 'blues,"' said Rob; "but we thought we'd drop in +and see how things are coming along with you, and if you have heard any +news yet concerning the robbery." + +"Not a thing, boys, not a thing," said the old man. "In fact, I +haven't left the island since my old safe was busted open. Skipper, as +yer see, got over his sickness. It's my belief that them fellers fed +him poisoned meat or something." + +"I shouldn't wonder," remarked Rob dryly. "It would be quite in their +line." + +"By the way," exclaimed the old man suddenly, "a queer thing happened +the other day. Skipper had been a-skirmishin' round the other side uv +the island after rabbits and critters, and he brought home this-- Wait +a minute and I'll show it to yer." + +After some fumbling in his pocket, the old man produced a torn strip of +yellow material with a brass button attached to it. + +"I wonder where that come from," he remarked, as he handed the fragment +to Rob for his inspection. + +"Why, it's khaki," exclaimed Rob, as he felt it. "And, by hokey!" he +ejaculated the next instant, "it's a piece of a Boy Scout uniform!" + +Old Skipper was jumping about in great excitement, and endeavoring to +sniff the bit of torn material as Rob examined it, and a sudden idea +struck the boy. + +"I wonder if Skipper could pilot us to where he found this bit of +material." + +"Are you sure it's a bit of uniform?" asked Tubby doubtfully. + +"Certain of it. No one else wears khaki in these parts. Hey, Skipper, +hey, good dog! Sic 'em, sic 'em!" cried Rob, holding up the khaki for +the intelligent creature to see. + +The animal seemed to be greatly excited and gave short, quick barks as +he danced about the boys. + +"Well, we might try and see if he will lead us anywhere." remarked +Merritt somewhat dubiously. "At any rate, there's no harm done, except +wasting a little time; and if we can get on the track of our uniforms, +it's not such a much of a waste, after all." + +"He sure wants ter be off somewhere," observed the old captain, +watching the antics of his dog, whom he regarded in the light of a +human being. "He never acts nor talks that way unless he's got suthin' +on his mind. Yer boys follow him, and I'll bet he'll lead yer ter +suthin'. It may be nothin' more than a dead rabbit, and it may be what +ye think. I'll stay here an' dig my pertaters, fer my rheumatiz is +powerful bad today." + +"Very well, captain. We shan't be long," rejoined Rob, calling to the +dog. "Hey, Skipper, hey, old boy! After 'em, Skipper--after 'em!" + +The dog bounded on ahead of the three boys, occasionally looking back +to see if they were following and then plunging on again. + +"As the Captain said, he 'sure has got suthin' on his mind'!" laughed +Merritt. + +After traversing about a mile of beach, the dog suddenly bounded into a +thicket overhanging the shore and began barking furiously. + +"He's treed something, all right," remarked Rob, pushing the branches +aside. + +The next minute he gave a loud shout of triumph. + +"Look there, boys! Old Skipper sure did 'have suthin' on his mind'!" + +Peering over Rob's shoulder, the other two were able to make out two +hidden sacks, the mouth of one of which had been torn open, evidently +by the investigating Skipper. + +From the aperture appeared the torn sleeve of a Boy Scout's uniform, +and a brief searching of the sacks after they had been lugged out on +the beach revealed the entire stolen equipment. + +"Bones for you, Skipper, for the rest of your life!" promised Tubby, as +the dog, evidently well pleased with the petting he received and the +admiration showered upon him, pranced about on the beach and indulged +in a hundred antics. + +The only one of the uniforms damaged was the one that Skipper had torn. +The others were all intact, but badly crumpled, having been hastily +thrust into the sacks, and, as it appeared, tamped down to make them +fit more compactly. + +"Well, what do you know about that?" was Merritt's astonished +exclamation, as one by one Rob drew forth the regimentals and laid them +on the beach. + +"You mean what does Jack Curtiss and Company know about that," +seriously returned Rob. + +"However, we found them--that's one thing to be enthusiastic over," +observed Tubby sagely. + +"I'd like just as well almost to find out exactly who hid them there," +was Merritt's reply. + +"The same folks that stole the old captain's seventy-five dollars, I +guess," returned Rob, thrusting the garments back into the sacks +preparatory to carrying them to the boat. "Here, Tubby, you carry this +one--it'll take some of that fat off you to do a hike along the beach +with it. I'll shoulder this one." + +"Well, boys, yer certainly made a haul, thanks ter old Skipper here," +declared Captain Job, after the delighted boys had made known their +discovery. "He's a smart one, I tell yer. No better dog ever lived." + +"That's what we think," agreed Merritt warmly, patting old Skipper's +black and white head. + +The recovery of the uniforms had quite put all thoughts of blue or any +other fishing out of the boys' heads, and after bidding farewell to the +captain, who promised to point out to them a good site for a camp on +their next visit, they made their best speed back to Hampton. On their +way to the armory they spread the news of their discovery broadcast, so +that in a short time the town was buzzing with the information that the +Boy Scouts' lost uniforms had been found under most surprising +circumstances; and the editor of the Hampton News, who was just going +to press, held his paper up till he could get in an item about it. + +It was this item that caught Jack Curtiss' eye, the next morning as he +and Bill Bender and Sam were seated in Bill's "club room." + +"Confound those brats, they seem always to be putting a spike in our +schemes!" muttered Jack, as he handed the paper to Bill for that +worthy's perusal. "Which reminds me," he went on, "that we haven't +attended to the case of that young Digby yet." + +"I wish you'd leave those kids alone for a while, Jack," objected Sam, +in his usual whining tones. "You've had your fun with them. They've +had to do without their uniforms for a long time. Now let up on them, +won't you?" + +"Oh, you're feeling friendly toward 'em, now, are you?" sneered Jack. + +"Oh, no, it isn't that," Sam hastened to assure him; "nothing of the +kind. What I mean is that we are liable to get into serious trouble if +we keep on this way. I saw Hank Handcraft the other day, and I can +tell you he's in no very amiable mood. He wants his money for the +other night, he says, and he intimated that if he didn't get it he'd +make things hot for us." + +"He'd better not," glowered Bill Bender, looking up from his paper. +"We know a few things about friend Hank." + +"Yes, and he knows a good deal about us that wouldn't look well in +print," retorted Sam gloomily. "I wish I'd never gone into that thing +the other night." + +"Pshaw, it was just borrowing a little money from the old man, wasn't +it?" snorted Jack. "We'll pay it back some time." + +"When we get it," rejoined Sam more gloomily than ever; "and I don't +see much immediate chance of that." + +"Oh, well, cheer up; we'll get it all right somehow," Jack assured him. +"And in connection with that I've got a scheme. Why shouldn't we three +fellows go camping after the motor-boat races?" + +"Go camping--where?" asked Bill, looking up surprised. + +"Well, I would have suggested Topsail Island, but those pestiferous +kids are going there, I hear. However, there are plenty of other +islands right inside the Upper Inlet. What's the matter with our +taking possession of one of those?" + +The Upper Inlet was a sort of narrow and shallow bay a short distance +above Topsail Island, and was well known to both Bill and Jack, who had +been there in the winter on frequent ducking expeditions. + +"We might as well do something like that before school opens," said +Sam. "I think that Jack's suggestion is a pretty good one." + +"I don't know that it's so bad myself," patronizingly admitted Bill; +"but what connection has that with your scheme for getting money, Jack?" + +"A whole lot," replied the bully. "I'm going to get even with that +young Digby if it takes me a year. He cost me the fifty-dollar prize, +and, beside that, all the kids in the village now call me 'cheater,' +and hardly anybody will have anything to do with me." + +"Well, how do you propose to get even by going camping?" inquired Bill. + +"I plan to take that Digby kid with me," rejoined Jack calmly. + +"You're crazy!" exclaimed Bill. "Why, we'd have the whole country +after us for kidnapping." + +"Oh, I've got a better plan than that," laughed Jack coolly, "and we +won't need to be mixed up in it at all. It'll all come back on Hank +Handcraft, I owe him a grudge for bothering me about money, anyhow, the +old beach-combing nuisance!" + +"But where do we come in to get any benefit out of it?" demanded Sam. + +"I'll explain that to you later," said Jack grandiloquently. "I +haven't quite worked out all the details yet; but if you'll meet me +here this evening I'll have them all hot and smoking for you." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +JACK FORMS A PLOT + + +The next morning Jack lost no time in making his way toward Hank +Handcraft's tumble-down abode. He found its owner in, and likewise +disposed to be quarrelsome. + +"'Oh, here you are at last!" exclaimed the hairy and unkempt outcast, +as the bully approached heavily through the yielding sand. "I'd about +given you up, and was seriously contemplating making a visit to your +home--" + +"If you ever did," breathed Jack threateningly. + +"Well," grinned Hank impudently, with his most malicious chuckle, "if I +did, what then?" + +"I'd have you thrown out of the house," calmly replied Jack, seating +himself on a big log of driftwood, once the rib of a schooner that went +ashore on the dangerous shoals off Hampton and pounded herself to +pieces. + +"Oh, no; you wouldn't have me thrown out!" chuckled Hank, resuming his +task of scaling a mackerel. "Cause if you did, I'd go to the chief of +police and tell him something about the robbery of the armory and the +cracking of old man Hudgins' safe." + +"You wouldn't dare to do that!" sneered Jack. "You are implicated in +that as badly as we are." + +"That's a matter of opinion," rejoined Hank, industriously scraping +away at his fish, and showing no trace of any emotion in his pale eyes. +"Anyhow, what I want right now is some cash. You agreed to pay me well +for what I did the other night, and I haven't seen the money yet." + +"Be a little patient, can't you?" irritably retorted the other. "Money +doesn't grow on trees. Now listen, Hank. How would you like to get a +nice little sum of money--more than I could give you--for camping out +on Kidd's Island, in the Upper Inlet, for a few days?" + +Hank's fishy eyes showed some trace of feeling at this. + +"What do you mean?" he asked. "Is this a new joke you're putting up on +me?" + +"No, I am perfectly serious. You can make a good sum by following our +directions, and I'll see that you get into no trouble over it." + +"Well, if you can do that, I'll keep my mouth shut," chuckled Hank in +his mirthless way; "but if I don't get some money pretty quick, I'm +going to make trouble fer somebody, I tell you!" + +"Haven't you got some place where we can talk that is less exposed than +this?" said Jack, looking about him apprehensively. + +"Sure, there's my mansion," grinned Hank, pointing over his shoulder +with a fishy thumb. + +"That's the place," said Jack, "although I wish you'd clean it out +occasionally. Now listen, Hank, here's the plan--" + +Still talking, the ill-assorted pair entered the ruinous shack. + + * * * * * * + +Motor-boat engines were popping everywhere. The club house was dressed +in bright-colored bunting from veranda rail to ridge pole. Ladies +strolled about beneath their parasols with correctly dressed yachtsmen, +asking all sorts of absurd questions about the various boats that lay +ready to take part in the various events. It was the day of the +Hampton Yacht Club's regatta. + +Among the throng the Boy Scouts threaded their way, watching with +interest the events as they were run off, one after the other. But +their minds were centered on the race for the trophy which, although +there were several other entries, had been practically conceded to Sam +Redding's hydroplane. + +"She's a wonder," said one of the onlookers, pointing from the porch to +the float, where Jack Curtiss, Bill Bender and Sam were leaning over +their speedy craft, stripping her of every bit of weight not absolutely +necessary. On the opposite side of the float the crew of the Flying +Fish, the Snark, the Bonita and the Albacore were equally busy over +their craft. + +"Douse the engine with oil," directed Rob, as Merritt gave the piece +of machinery a final inspection; "and how about that extra set of +batteries?" + +"They're aboard," rejoined Tubby, who was perspiringly removing +cushions and other surplus gear from the fleet boat. + +"That's right; if it comes to an emergency, we may need them," said +Rob. "Nothing like being prepared." + +"Do you think we have any show?" asked Tubby, who was to be a sort of +general utility man in the crew. Rob was to steer. + +"I don't see why not," rejoined the other, wiping his oily hands on a +bit of waste. "The race is a handicap one, and we get an allowance on +account of our engine not being as powerful as the hydroplane's." + +The course to be run was a sort of elongated, or isosceles triangle. +The turning point was at the head of the inlet, a buoy with a big red +ball on it being placed just inside the rough waters of the bar. It +made a course of about five miles. The race for the Hampton Motor Boat +Club's cup, for which the boys and the others were entered, was twice +round. + +The waters about the club house were so dotted with motor craft which +darted about in every direction that Commodore Wingate of the club and +the other regatta officials had a hard time keeping the course clear +for the contestants. On the threat, however, that the races would be +called off if a clear course was not kept, order was finally obtained. + +The boys were too busy to pay much attention to the results of the +other races, but a member of the club who had won the Blake trophy for +the cabin cruiser boats, warned the boys to beware of the turn above +the far buoy. + +"It's choppy as the dickens there," he said, as he made his way to the +club house, "and you want to take the turn easily. Don't 'bank' it, or +you'll lose more than you gain." + +The boys thanked him for his advice, and laid it to heart to be used +when the race was on. + +Sam's boat having been tuned up to the last notch of readiness, Jack +Curtiss strolled consequentially about on the float, making bets freely +on the hydroplane's chance of winning. + +"I'll bet you twenty-five to any odds you like that the hydroplane wins +the race," he said, addressing Colin Maxwell, the son of a well-to-do +merchant from a neighboring town. Young Maxwell had heard nothing of +Jack's mean trick in the aeroplane contest, and therefore didn't mind +talking to him. + +"I like the look of the Flying Fish pretty well," was the response, +"and I'll take you up. You'll have to give me odds, though." + +"Oh, certainly," responded the bully, with a confident grin; +"twenty-five to thirty, say." + +"Make it thirty-five." + +"All right; done," said Jack. "You know me, of course; no necessity of +putting up the money." + +"Oh, not the least," rejoined the other politely, though had he known +the state of Jack's finances he might have thought differently. + +The bully went about making several bets at similar odds, until finally +Bill Bender came up behind him and in a low voice warned him to be +careful. + +"What are you going to do if we lose?" he breathed. "You haven't got a +cent to pay with." + +"Oh, it's like taking gum from a busted slot machine," rejoined the +bully, with a laugh. "They can't win. We know what their boat can do, +and the race is practically conceded to us. Besides--" he placed his +hand close to Bill's ear and whispered a few minutes. "I guess that's +a bad scheme, eh?" he resumed in a louder tone, though his voice was +still pitched too low for those about to hear him. "If it's done +right, we'll ram them and it'll never be noticed." + +"Hum, I'm not so sure," grunted Bill. "However, if we really perceive +we are losing, I don't see what else we are to do. Are you going to +steer?" + +"Sure. Sam lost his nerve at the last moment--like him, eh? It's a +good thing, though, I'm to be at the wheel, because I don't think Sam +would have had the courage to carry out my plan." + +"Not he," said Bill, with a shrug. "He's got the backbone of a snail." + +More of this interesting conversation was cut short by the "bang" of +the pistol which warned the contestants of the racing boats to get +ready. + +"The race for the Hampton Yacht Club's trophy will take place in five +minutes!" cried the announcer. + +The five contestants cast off from the float and slowly chugged out to +a position in the rear of the starting line and behind the committee +boat. Then came the nervous work of awaiting the starting gun. The +boys had all donned slickers, and the crew of the hydroplane wore +rubber coats which covered them completely. A sort of spray hood had +been erected over the hydroplane's engines. + +"That means she's going to do her best," remarked Rob, pointing to this +indication that great speed was expected. "That's what we want to do, +too, isn't it?" + +At last came the gun that started off the Snark, the Bonita and the +Albacore, which were all of about the same speed. + +"Our turn next," said Rob, who had previously received his instructions +from the committee. + +"Well, I'm all ready," said Merritt, nervously twisting a grease cup. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE "FLYING FISH" ON HER METTLE + + +"Bang!" + +With a nervous twitch, Rob threw in the first speed clutch, for the +engine had been kept running on her neutral speed, and was able to take +up way as soon as the propeller began to "bite." + +Rapidly the boy increased the speed up to the third "forward," and the +Flying Fish darted through the water like a pickerel after a fat frog. + +"Bang!" came behind them once more, as the sound of the cheers which +greeted them as they shot across the line grew faint. + +"Crouch low!" shouted Rob back to his crew. "We'll need every inch of +advantage we can get." + +The white spray shot in a perfect fountain from the sharp bow of the +Flying Fish, and her every frame and plank quivered under the vibration +of her powerful engine. + +"She's doing better than she ever did!" shouted Merritt to Tubby, who +crouched in the center of the boat, ready to take any part in an +emergency. + +The other nodded and kept his eyes ahead on the white wake of the other +three craft. + +Suddenly the Albacore began to fall back. As the Flying Fish roared by +her, Rob heard a shout of something about "missing fire." + +A steady downpour of spray was drenching the occupants of the racer, +but they paid scant heed to it. Rob dived in his pockets and put on a +pair of goggles. The spray was blinding him. He waved to Tubby to go +further astern and keep the rear part of the boat well down when they +made the sharp turn at the red buoy. + +In an incredibly short time, it seemed, the turning buoy faced them. +Rob set his wheel over and spun the Flying Fish through the rougher +water at the mouth of the inlet at as sharp an angle as he dared. In a +few seconds more they had passed the Snark and the Bonita, which were +racing bow and bow. The crew of the Flying Fish, though, knew that +both boats had a time allowance over them, so that the mere passing +didn't mean much, unless they could increase the lead. + +Faster and faster the boy's craft forged ahead. A thrill shot through +Rob's frame. The Flying Fish was showing what she was made of. + +But as he turned his head swiftly he saw that the hydroplane had +rounded the stake and was coming down the straight stretch of water +like an express train. A great wave of water shot out on either side +of her bow. So low in the water had her powerful engines dragged her +that she seemed to be barely on the surface, and yet, as the boys knew, +she was actually "coasting" over the surface. + +Try as he would, Rob could not get an ounce more speed out of the +Flying Fish, and as the speedy hydroplane roared by them they heard a +mocking shout from her crew. + +Rob, more determined than ever to stick it out, sent the Flying Fish +plunging at top speed through the wash of the speedy craft, hoping to +keep up the distance between them at least equal. But as he saw the +hydroplane gradually drawing away and heard the great roar that went up +from the thrilled spectators as she shot by the club house, his heart +sank. + +It looked as if the Plying Fish was beaten. And now the club house +loomed near once more. + +"Go on, Plying Fish, go on!" + +"You've got a time allowance on her!" + +"Push along, Rob!" + +"Kr-ee-ee-ee-ee!" + +A tumult of other shouts roared in Rob's ears as they tore past the +crowded porch. + +"Kr-ee-ee-ee-ee!" screamed back Merritt and Tubby, with waves of the +hand to the brown uniformed figures they could see perched on every +point of vantage. + +Suddenly the Flying Fish began to creep up on the hydroplane, which had +slowed down for some reason. + +"Hurrah! We've got'em now!" shouted Merritt, as he saw, far ahead, +Jack and the other two occupants of the seeming winner leaning over the +craft's engine, the hood having been raised. + +Rob said nothing, but with burning eyes clung to the wheel and shot the +Flying Fish straight ahead on her course. + +As they thundered past the hydroplane, the slender craft lay almost +motionless on the water, with a great cloud of blue smoke tumbling out +of her exhausts. + +"Looks like they've flooded her cylinder," said Merritt, observing +these signs. + +"Kr-ee-ee-ee-ee!" + +It was Tubby giving utterance triumphantly to the Eagle scream. + +Jack Curtiss straightened up angrily as he heard, his face black and +greasy from his researches into the engine. He shook a menacing fist +at the others as they tore by. The next minute, however, a quick look +back by Rob showed that the hydroplane was coming ahead again, and that +the engine trouble, whatever it was, had been adjusted. + +As they neared the turning point, Rob saw, to his dismay, that the +hydroplane was creeping up faster and faster. It was the last lap, and +if Sam Redding's boat passed them at the stake the race was as good as +over. + +"Come on, Flying Fish! Come on!" shouted Rob, as the hydroplane crept +ever nearer and nearer to his boat's stern. + +Rob noticed, as he swung a trifle wide of the stake raft, that it +seemed to be the intention of Jack Curtiss, who was at the wheel, to +swing the hydroplane round the sharp angle of the course inside of the +Flying Fish. Guessing that this would mean disaster to her ill-advised +occupants, he waved his hand at them to keep out. + +"When we need your advice we'll send for it. This is the time we've +got you!" yelled Jack Curtiss, bending low over his wheel, as he grazed +by the Flying Fish's stern to take the inside course. + +At the same instant, so quickly that the boys did not even get a mental +picture of it, the hydroplane overturned. + +Taking the curve at such a speed and at such a sharp angle had, as Jack +had surmised, proved too much for her stability. Her occupants were +pitched struggling into the water. + +"Shall we pick them up?" yelled Merritt. + +"No," shouted Rob; "they've all got life belts on. A launch from the +club will get them." + +Indeed, as he spoke a launch was seen putting off to the rescue. The +accident had been witnessed from the club, and as the water was warm, +the boys were satisfied that no harm would come to the three from their +immersion. + +But the delay almost proved fatal to the Flying Fish's chance of +winning. Close behind her now came creeping up the speedy Albacore. + +But a few hundred feet before the finish the Flying Fish darted ahead +once more, and shook off her opponent amid a great roar of yells and +whoops and cheers. An instant later she shot across the line--a winner. + +"Bang!" went the gun, in token that the race was finished. + +"I congratulate you," said Commodore Wingate, as the boys brought their +craft up to the float. "It was a well-fought race." + +And now came the captains of the Albacore, Snark and Bonita. + +"You won the race fairly and squarely," said the former, shaking Rob's +hand. "I presume, commodore, the time was taken?" + +"It has been," replied that official. "The Flying Fish wins by one +minute and four and seven hundredths seconds." + +More cheers greeted this announcement, mingled with laughter and some +sympathy, as the club launch, towing the capsized hydroplane, puffed up +to the float. From the launch emerged three crestfallen figures with +dripping garments. But wet as he was, Jack Curtiss was not going to +surrender the race without a protest. + +"A foul! We claim a foul! The Flying Fish fouled us!" he shouted. + +"My dear young man," calmly replied the commodore, "I was watching you +every foot of the way through binoculars, and I should rather say that +you fouled the Flying Fish. Anyhow, you should have better sense than +to try to shave round that turn so closely." + +More mortified, and angrier than ever, Jack strode off to put on dry +clothes, followed by his equally chagrined companions, who, however, +had sense enough now not to make any protests. They knew well enough +that Jack, in his hurry to grab the prize, had attempted a foolish and +dangerous thing which had cost them the race. + +"A great race, a great race," said Mr. Blake, as the boys, followed by +the crowd, entered the club house, where the awards were to be +distributed. "You boys certainly covered yourselves with glory," he +went on. + +"Yes, and here is your reward. I hope it will stimulate you to put up +a fine defense for it next year," said Commodore Wingate, handing to +the elated boys a fine engraved silver cup, the trophy of the Hampton +Yacht Club. + +"Get up and make a speech!" shouted some one. + +The boys felt inclined to run for it. + +"Go ahead! Make some sort of a talk," urged Rob, helping Tubby on to +the platform from which the prizes had been handed out. + +"Ladies and gentlemen," puffed the stout youth, "we want to thank you +for your congratulations and thank the club for the fine cup. +Er--er--er--we thank you." + +And having made what was perhaps quite as good a speech as some of his +elders', Tubby stepped down amid loud and prolonged cheering. + +Up in the dressing room Jack and his cronies, changing into other, +garments, heard the sounds of applause. + +"It's high time something was done," said Bill, as he gazed from a +window at several of the yacht club attendants bailing out the unlucky +hydroplane. "Those young beggars will be owning the town next." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE EAGLES IN CAMP + + +The next few days were full of excitement and preparation for the Boy +Scouts. Their headquarters resounded all day to the tramp of feet, and +the Manual of Instructions was consulted day and night. The official +tents had arrived, and every boy in the Patrol was eager for the time +to arrive to put them up. So much so that two or three confessed that +they could hardly sleep at night in their impatience for the hour when +the embarkation for Topsail Island was to take place. + +Besides the tents, there was much other equipment to be overhauled and +set in order, for, before their departure, the boys were to be reviewed +by their scout master and a field secretary from New York. There were +haversack straps to be replaced, laces mended, axes sharpened, "Billys" +polished and made to shine like new tin, and a hundred and one things +to be done. At last, however--although it seemed that it would never +come--the eventful Monday arrived, as eventful days of all kinds have a +habit of doing; and the Eagle Patrol, spick and span and shining from +tan boots to campaign hats, fell in line behind the band. Proudly they +paraded up the street, with their green and black Eagle Patrol sign +fluttering gallantly in the van. + +The "reviewing stand" was the post-office steps, around which most of +the citizens of Hampton and the proud parents and relatives of the +young scouts were assembled. + +Plenty of applause greeted them, as, in response to Rob's orders, given +in the sharp, military manner, they drew up in line and gave the Boy +Scout's salute. This done, the young scouts went through a smart drill +with the staffs they carried. Then, after saluting once more, and +being warmly complimented on their appearance by the field secretary, +they marched off to the wharf where they were to embark for their camp. + +The day before Merritt, Hiram Nelson, Paul Perkins and the three +"tender feet"--Martin Green, Walter Lonsdale and Joe Digby--had been +told off by Rob as on "pioneer service"; that is to say, that they had +gone down to the island in the Flying Fish. Arrived there, they +selected a good spot for the camp, aided by Commodore Wingate's and +Captain Hudgins' suggestions, and set up the tents and made the other +necessary preparations. The camp was therefore practically ready, for +the "army" to move into. + +At Tubby's special request, a list of the rations for the week's camp +had been made out by Rob and affixed to the bulletin board in the +headquarters of the Eagles. As perhaps some of my young readers may +care to know what to take on a similar expedition, is the list, +exclusive of meat, which was to be brought from the mainland, and fish, +which they expected to catch themselves: + + Oatmeal, 8 lbs.; + rice, 4 lbs.; + crackers, 35 lbs.; + chocolate, 1 1-2 lbs.; + tea, 3 lbs; + coffee, 1 lb.; + lard, 6 lbs.; + sugar, 8 lbs.; + condensed milk, 10 cans; + butter, 4 lbs.; + eggs, 12 dozen; + bacon, 20 lbs.; + preserves, 14 jars; + prunes, 8 lbs.; + maple syrup and molasses, 4 quarts; + potatoes, 1 bushel; + white beans, 6 quarts; + canned corn, 6 tins; + canned tomatoes, 6 tins; + flour, 35 lbs.; + baking powder, 2 lbs.; + salt, 4 lbs.; + pepper, 2 ounces. + +"Well," Tubby had remarked, as he gazed attentively at the list, "we +won't starve, anyhow." + +"I should say not," laughed Rob; "and besides all that, I've got lots +of lines and squids, and the blues and mackerel are running good." + +"Can't I take along my twenty-two rifle--that island's just swarming +with rabbits, and I think I heard some quail when we were there the +other day," pleaded Merritt. + +"Not in season," answered Rob laconically. "Laws not up on them till +November." + +"Oh, bother the law!" blurted out Merritt. "However, I suppose if +there wasn't one there wouldn't be any rabbits left." + +"I guess you're right," agreed Tubby. "Still, it does seem hard to +have to look at them skip about and not be able to take a shot at them." + +"Maybe we can set a springle and snare some," hopefully suggested +Tubby, as a way out of the difficulty; "that wouldn't be as bad as +shooting them, you know, and I can build a springle that will strangle +them instantaneously." + +"No fair, Tubby," laughed Rob. "You know, a boy scout promises to obey +the law, and the game law is as much a law as any other." + +Arrived at the L wharf, the boys found the Flying Fish and Captain +Hudgins' Barracuda waiting for them. With much laughter they piled +in--their light-heartedness and constant joking reminding such +onlookers, as had ever seen the spectacle, of a band of real soldiers +going to the front or embarking for foreign stations. + +With three ear-splitting cheers and a final yell of, "Kr-ee-ee-ee-ee!" +the little flotilla got under way. + +They arrived at the camping ground at the northeast end of the island +before noon, and found that the "pioneers" appointed by Rob had done +their work well. Each tent was placed securely on a level patch of +sandy ground, cleared from brush and stamped flat. The pegs were driven +extra deep in anticipation of a gale, and an open cook tent, with flaps +that could be fastened down in bad weather, stood to one side. + +A small spring had been excavated by the pioneers, and an old barrel +sunk in place, which had filled in the night and now presented +sparkling depths of cool, clear water. + +"I suppose that water is all right, captain?" inquired Leader Rob, with +a true officer's regard for his troops. + +"Sweet as a butternut, son," rejoined the old man. "Makes the sick +strong and the strong stronger, as the medicine advertisements say." + +For the present, the cooking was to be done on a regular camp fire +which was built between two green logs laid lengthwise and converging +toward the end. The tops of these had, under Commodore Wingate's +directions, been slightly flattened with an axe. At each end a forked +branch had been set upright in the ground, with a green limb laid +between them. From this limb hung "cooking hooks," consisting of green +branches with hooked ends at one extremity to hang over the long +timber, and a nail driven in the other from which to hang the pots. + +"That's the best form of camp fire, boys," said Commodore--or perhaps +we would better call him scout master now--Wingate, who had accompanied +the boys to see them settled. "Now, then, the next thing to do is to +run up the Stars and Stripes and plant the Eagle flag. Then you'll be +all O.K." + +Little Andy Bowles made the woods behind them echo with the stirring +call of "assembly," and halliards were reeved on a previously cut pole, +about fifteen feet in height. The Stars and Stripes were attached, and +while the whole company stood at attention and gave the scout salute, +Scout Master Wingate raised the colors. Three loud, shrill cheers +greeted Old Glory as it blew bravely out against the cloudless blue. + +"That's a pretty sight now, shiver my timbers if it ain't," observed +old Captain Hudgins, who had stood, hat in hand, during the ceremony. +"I've seen Old Glory in many a foreign port, and felt like takin' off +my hat and givin' three cheers fer the old flag; but I never seen her +look better or finer than she does a-streakin' out from that there bit +of timber." + +"Now, Patrol cooks," was Scout Master Wingate's next command, "it's +only an hour to dinner time, and we want the first mess to be right. +Come on, and we'll get the pot boiling." + +Cook duty fell that day to Hiram Nelson and Walter Lonsdale, and under +the scout master's directions they soon had potatoes peeled, beans in +water, and a big piece of stew meat chopped up with vegetables in a +capacious pot. + +After every errand to the store tent, Walter was anxious to know if it +was not yet time to light the fire. + +"Never be in a hurry to light your fire when you are in the woods," +rejoined the scout master; "otherwise you will be so busy tending the +fire you won't be able to prepare your food for cooking. Now we're all +ready for the fire, though, and you can bring me some dry bark and +small sticks from that pile of wood the pioneers laid in yesterday." + +This was promptly done, and the lads watched the next step with +interest. They saw the scout master take a tiny pile of the sticks and +then light a roll of bark and thrust it into them. + +"I thought you piled them up all criss-cross," remarked Hiram. + +"No woodsman does that, my boy," was the rejoinder. "Now get me some +larger timber from that pile, and I'll show you how to go about it like +regular trappers." + +The fire builder shoved the ends of the sticks into the blaze and then +the bean pot was hung in place. + +"We won't put the potatoes on now, as they take less time," he +remarked; "those beans will take the longest." + +Soon the heat was leaping up about the pots, and the cheerful crackle +and incense of the camp fire filled the air. As the sticks burned down +the scout master shoved the ends farther into the blaze, instead of +throwing them on top of it. + +"Now, then, boys, you've had your first lesson in camp fire making and +cooking," he announced. "Now go ahead, and let's see what kind of a +dinner you can produce. I'm going for a tour of exploration of the +island." + +Among the other things the pioneers had accomplished was the building +of a table large enough to seat the entire Patrol, with planks set on +logs as seats. Hiram put Walter to setting this, while he burned his +fingers and smudged his face over his cookery. Long before the beans +seemed any nearer to what experience taught the young cook they ought +to be, Walter announced that the table was all set, with its tin cups +and dishes and steel knives and forks. + +Suddenly, while Hiram was considering putting the potatoes on their +hook, there came from the rear of the store tent the most appalling +succession of squeals and screams the boy had ever heard. Springing to +his feet, he dashed to the scene of the conflict--for such it seemed to +be though not without a heart that beat rather faster than usual. He +bad no idea what the creatures could be that were producing all the +uproar, and for all he knew they might have been bears. + +Behind him came Walter, rather pale, but determined to do his best as a +Boy Scout to fight off any wild beasts that might be attacking the +camp. As he dashed behind the tent, however, Hiram was impelled to +give a loud laugh. The contestants--for he had rightly judged they +were in high dispute--were two small black pigs which had looted a bag +of oatmeal from under the flap of the store tent and were busily +engaged in fighting over their spoils. + +"Get out, you brutes! Scat!" shouted the boy, bringing down a +long-handled spoon he carried over the backs of the disputants. + +The spoon, being almost red-hot, the clamor of the porkers redoubled, +and with indignant squeals and grumblings they dashed off into the +dense growth of scrub oak and pine that covered the island in its +interior. At the same moment the captain, who had been taking a snooze +under some small bushes, awoke with a start. + +"Eh--eh--eh! What's all that?" he exclaimed, hearing the yells. "Why, +it's that plagued Betsy and Jane, my two young sows," he cried the next +moment. "Consarn and keelhaul the critters, they're breakin' out all +the time. I reckon they're headed fer home now," he added, when Hiram +related how he had scared them. + +"I'm glad that they were nothing but pigs, captain," said Hiram, going +back with flushed cheeks to his cookery. "I was afraid for a minute +they were I hardly know what. We'll have to fix that store tent more +snugly in future." + +"And I'll have ter take a double reef in my pig Pen," chuckled the +captain. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE CHUMS IN PERIL + + +Even the epicurean Tubby Hopkins voted dinner that day a great success, +and Hiram, with becoming modesty, took his congratulations blushingly. +In mid-afternoon, after seeing that the camp was in good working order, +the scout masters started for the home shore in Captain Hudgins's boat, +which was also to bring back some additional supplies for the next day. + +After dinner Rob had assigned Merritt and Tubby to form a "fishing +squad," to range seaward in the Flying Fish and "halt and detain" all +the bluefish they could apprehend. The others were given the afternoon +to range the island and practice up their woodcraft and landmark work, +while Rob busied himself in his tent, which was equipped with a small +folding camp table, in filling out his pink blank reports which were to +be forwarded to Commodore Wingate and dispatched by him to the +headquarters of the Boy Scouts in New York. + +Merritt and Tubby were both ardent fishermen, and in response to +Hiram's pleadings, they allowed him to accompany them on their +expedition. The fish were running well, and the boys cast and pulled +in some time without particularly noticing how far out to sea they had +gone. + +Suddenly the stout youth, who was fishing with an unusually heavy line +and hook, felt a hard tug on his apparatus, so powerful a tweak, in +fact, that it almost pulled him overboard. He tried to haul in, but +the resistance on the other end of his line was so great that he was +compelled to twist it about a cleat in order to avoid either letting go +or being dragged into the sea. + +"What in the name of Sam Hill have you hooked?" gasped Merritt, as the +Flying Fish began to move through the water faster than even her engine +could propel her. + +"I've not the least idea," remarked Tubby placidly, "but I rather think +it must be a whale." + +"Whale nothing!" exclaimed Merritt scornfully and with superior wisdom. +"Whales sound, don't they?" + +"Well, there's not been a sound out of this one so far," truthfully +observed Hiram. + +"What kind of a sound do they make, corporal?" + +"Oh, you chump," responded Merritt good-naturedly, "you've lived by the +sea all your life, and you don't know how a whale sounds. Sound means +when a whale blows, spouts, sends up a big fountain of water." + +"Oh, I see," responded Hiram, much enlightened. "But see here, +Merritt, whatever we are fast to is beginning to pick up speed pretty +rapidly. Don't you think we'd better cut the line or try to haul in?" + +"Haul in! Not much!" exclaimed Tubby indignantly. "We'll just hang on +till we tire him out, that's what we'll do, and then haul in." + +"But we're getting a good way out from shore," objected Hiram, who, +however much at home he was at the key of a wireless apparatus, had no +great relish for blue water in a small motor boat. + +"Don't you worry, sonny," put in Merritt patronizingly. "We'll be all +right. My, that was a plunge!" + +As he spoke the bow of the Flying Fish dipped till she shipped a few +gallons of green water. + +"I'll pay out some more line," said the unperturbed Tubby. "I guess +whatever we're onto begins to believe that he has swallowed something +pretty indigestible." + +Faster and faster the Flying Fish began to cut through the sea. The +water sprayed out from both sides of her cutwater in a steady stream. + +"She's doing as well as she did the day of the race," said Merritt, +with a laugh, gazing at Hiram's rather pale face. The wireless youth +was casting longing glances at the shore. + +"Well, I wish Mr. Whale, or whatever he is, would come up and let us +have a look at him!" exclaimed Tubby suddenly. "This is getting pretty +monotonous." + +As he spoke the boy paid nut a little more line. He had only just time +to belay it round the cleat to avoid its being jerked out of his hand, +so fast was the creature they had hooked now traveling. + +"Say, Tubby," spoke Merritt at length, "I'm beginning to think myself +that it might not be a bad idea to put back. Those clouds over there +on the horizon look as if they meant trouble." + +"Oh, let's keep it on a little while longer pleaded Tubby; cutting +through the water like this, without any expenditure of gasoline or +power, is the real luxurious way of ocean traveling. It beats the +Mauretania. Just think if liners could hitch a whole team of things +like whatever has got hold of us to their bows! Why, the Atlantic would +be crossed in four days." + +For some time longer the boat shot along over the waves, towed by its +invisible force. The boys, with the exception of Tubby, began to get +anxious. The shores of the mainland were dim in the distance behind +them, and Topsail Island itself only showed as a dark blue dot. + +Suddenly the motion ceased. + +"He's free of the line!" shouted Hiram, inwardly much relieved to think +they had got rid of what to him was an alarming situation. + +"No, he's not," replied Tubby, bending over the line. "He's still fast +to us. The line's as tight as a fiddle string." + +He was standing up as he spoke, and as the Flying Fish gave a sudden, +crazy jerk forward, he was almost thrown overboard. In fact, he would +have toppled into the sea if Merritt had not bounded forward and +grabbed the fleshy lad just as he was losing his balance. + +"We're off again!" exclaimed Hiram, as the Flying Fish once more began +to move through the water. + +But now the creature that had seized Tubby's big hook started to move +in circles. Round and round the Flying Fish was towed in dizzy swings +that made the heads of her young occupants swim. + +"Start the engine on the reverse, and see if that will do any good," +said Tubby, bending anxiously over his line. + +Merritt brought the reverse gear to "neutral," and then started it up, +gradually bringing back the lever governing the reversing wheel till +the Flying Fish was going second speed astern, and finally at her full +gait backward. + +The tug thus exercised seemed to have no effect on the monster that had +caught Tubby's bait, however. With the exception that the speed was +diminished a trifle, the Flying Fish was still powerless to shake off +her opponent. + +Suddenly, and without the slightest warning, a huge, shiny, wet body +shot out of the water almost directly in front of the amazed and +startled boys, and settled back with a mighty splash that sent the +spray flying in a salt-water shower bath over their heads. + +"Whatever was it?" gasped Hiram in awed tones. + +"A shark," replied Merritt, "and a whopper, too. What are we going to +do, Tubby--keep on or cut loose?" + +"Just a little longer," pleaded the other. "He must be tiring by this +time. If we can only wear him out, we can tow him ashore and make a +little money out of him. You know shark skin is valuable." + +"I'd rather have a whole skin of my own," quavered Hiram, who had been +considerably alarmed by the momentary glimpse he had had of Tubby's +quarry. + +"He's off again!" shouted Merritt, as the sea tiger started straight +ahead once more. + +Suddenly the line slackened again. + +"Look out!" Tubby had just time to shriek the warning before a mighty +shock threw them all off their feet in a heap on the bottom of the boat. + +"Zan-g-g-g!" + +The line twanged and snapped under the sudden strain, and a great rush +seaward showed the boys, as soon as they recovered their senses, that +they had lost their shark. + +"And a good line," moaned Tubby. + +"What are you kicking about?" demanded Merritt. "It's a lucky thing +the beast didn't start some plank of the boat when it charged; but as +far as I can see, the Flying Fish stood the shock all right." + +"It felt like an earthquake," murmured Hiram, whose face was white and +eyes frightened. + +"Well, I suppose we'd better head for home," said Tubby at length. +"Those bluefish will go fine for supper." + +"Spoken like a Tubby," laughed Merritt. "All right, I'll start up. +Hullo--" he looked up with a puzzled face from the reverse lever. "I +can't get her on the forward speed." + +"What's the matter?" gasped Hiram. + +"I don't know. Something's stuck. Shut off that engine, will you, +Tubby, while I see?" + +Tubby promptly shut down the motor, and Merritt struggled with the +refractory lever. It was all in vain, however; he could not get it on +the forward speed. + +"I've got to investigate," puffed the perspiring corporal; "something +must be wrong with the reversible propeller." + +"Well, whatever you are going to do, hurry up about it," spoke Tubby, +with unwonted sharpness in his tones. + +"Why, what's the--" began Merritt. + +Tubby checked him with a finger on his lips. + +"Don't scare the kid," he whispered, leaning forward, "but we're in for +a storm." + +He pointed seaward. + +Rolling toward them was a spreading wall of heavy clouds traveling at +seemingly great speed, while below the wrack the water darkened +ominously and became flecked with "white horses." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +LOST IN THE STORM + + +"The trouble's in the reversible propeller. I always told Rob he was +foolish not to have a regular reverse gear on the shaft itself and a +solid wheel," said Merritt. + +"Well, never mind that now," urged Tubby anxiously. "I'll shift all +the cushions and stuff up in the bow, and Hiram and I will get as far +forward as we can. That will raise the stern and you can hang over and +reach the wheel." + +When the stout lad had done as he suggested there was quite a +perceptible tilt forward to the Flying Fish, and Merritt, hanging over +the stern, could feel about the propeller better. + +"Just as I thought," he shouted presently. "That shark when he came +astern fouled that heavy line on the propeller." + +He got out his knife, and in a few minutes succeeded in cutting the +entangling line free. + +It was not any too soon. From far off there came a low sound, +something like the moaning of a large animal in pain. It grew louder +and closer, and with it came an advancing wall of water crested with +white foam. The sky, too, grew black, and air filled with a sort of +sulphurous smell. + +"It's a thunder squall," shouted Tubby, as Merritt shoved over the +lever and started the engine. + +As he spoke there came a low growl of thunder and the sky was illumined +with a livid glare. + +"Here she comes!" yelled Merritt; "better get out those slickers or +we'll be soaked." + +Tubby opened a locker and produced the yellow waterproof coats. The +boys had hardly thrust their arms into them before the big sea struck +them. Thanks to Tubby's steering, however, the Flying Fish met it +without shipping more than a few cupfuls of water. + +The next minute the full fury of the storm enveloped the Boy Scouts and +the Flying Fish was laboring in a heaving wilderness of lashed and +tumbling water. + +"Keep her head up!" roared Merritt, above the screaming of the wind and +the now almost continuous roar and rattle of the thunder. It grew +almost dark, so overcast was the sky, and under the somber, driving +cloud wrack the white wave crests gleamed like savage teeth. + +Hiram crouched on the bottom of the boat, too terrified to speak, while +Tubby and Merritt strove desperately to keep the little craft from +"broaching to," in which case she would have shipped more water than +would have been at all convenient, not to say safe. + +As if it were some vindictive live thing, seized with a sudden spite +against the boat and its occupants, the storm roared about the dazed +boys. + +The Flying Fish, however, rode the sweeping seas gallantly, breasting +even the biggest combers bravely and buoyantly. + +"It's getting worse," shouted Tubby, gazing back at Merritt, who was +bending over the laboring motor. + +"Yes, you bet it is!" roared back the engineer; "and I'm afraid of a +short circuit if this rain keeps up." + +"Cover up the engine with that spare slicker," suggested Tubby. + +"That's a good idea," responded the other, rummaging in a stern locker +and producing the garment in question. In another moment he had it over +the engine, protecting the spark plugs and the high-tension wires from +the rain and spray. But the wind was too high to permit of the +covering remaining unfastened, and with a ball of marlin the young +engineer lashed the improvised motor cover firmly in place. + +Hiram, with a white face, now crawled up from the bottom of the boat. +In addition to being scared, he was seasick from the eccentric motions +of the storm-tossed craft. + +"Do you think we'll ever get ashore again?" he asked, crawling to +Merritt's side. + +"Sure," responded the corporal confidently. "'Come on, buck up, Hiram! +You know, a Boy Scout never says die. We'll be back in camp in three +hours' time, when this squall blows itself out." + +"I--I don't want you to think me a coward, Merritt," quavered Hiram, +"but--but you know this is enough to scare any fellow." + +Indeed, he seemed right. The Flying Fish appeared no more than a tiny +chip on the immense rollers the storm had blown up. Time and again it +looked as if she would never be able to climb the huge walls of green +water that towered above her; but every time she did, and, as the storm +raged on, the confidence of the boys began to grow. + +"She'll ride it out, Tubby!" yelled Merritt, dousing the engine with +more oil. + +"Sure she will!" yelled back Tubby, with a confidence that was, +however, largely assumed. The stout youth had just been assailed by an +alarming thought that flashed across his mind. + +"Would the gasoline hold out?" + +There was no opportunity on the plunging, bucking craft to examine the +tank, and all the boy could do was to make a rapid mental calculation, +based on what he knew of the consumption of the engine. The tank, he +knew, had been half full when they came out, and that, under ordinary +conditions, would have sufficed to drive the Flying Fish for five or +six hours. + +But they were not ordinary conditions under which she was now laboring. +Tubby knew that Merritt was piling in every ounce of gasoline the +carburetor could take care of. + +Suddenly, while the stout youth's mind was busied with these thoughts, +and without the slightest warning, there came a sort of wheezing gasp +from the motor. + +Merritt leaned over it in alarm. He seized the timing lever and shoved +it over and opened the gasoline cock full tilt. + +But there was no response from the motor. + +It gasped out a cough a couple of times and turned over in a dying +fashion for a few revolutions and then stopped dead. + +The boys were adrift in the teeth of the storm in a crippled boat. + +"What's the matter?" roared back Tubby from the wheel. "She's lost +steerage way!" + +"Motor's gone dead," howled back Merritt laconically. + +"Great Scott, we are in for it now! What's the matter?" + +"No gasolene," yelled Merritt. + +"Sosh-osh-soh!" + +A huge green wave climbed on to the Flying Fish's bow, shaking her from +stem to stern like a terrier shakes a rat. + +"We've got to do something quick, or we'll be swamped!" roared Merritt. + +"The cockpit cover, quick!" shouted Tubby, steadying himself in the +bucking craft by a tight grasp on the bulwarks. + +"That's it. Now the oars. Hurry up. Here, you Hiram, grab that can and +bail for all you're worth!" + +The fat youth seemed transformed by the sudden emergency into the most +active of beings. + +"What are you going to do?" yelled Merritt, framing his mouth with his +hands. + +"Make a spray hood. Come forward here and give me a hand." + +With the oars the two boys made a sort of arched framework, secured +with ropes, and over it spread the canvas cockpit cover, lashing it +down to the forward and side cleats. This work was not unattended with +danger and difficulty. Time and again as they worked the boys had to +lie flat on their stomachs and hang on while the Flying Fish leaped a +wave like a horse taking a barrier. At last, however, their task was +completed, and the improvised spray hood served to some extent to break +the waves that now threatened momentarily to engulf the laboring craft. + +"Now to get out a sea anchor!" shouted the indefatigable Tubby. + +He seized up an old bait tub, a boat hook and a "swabbing-out" broom, +and lashed them all together in a sort of bridle. Then he attached the +Flying Fish's mooring cable to the contrivance and paid it out for a +hundred feet or more, while the storm-battered craft drifted steadily +backward. Instead, however, of lying beam on to the big sea, she now +headed up into them, the "drag," as it is sometimes called, serving to +keep her bow swung up to the threatening combers. + +"There, she'll ride for a while, anyhow," breathed Tubby, when this was +done. + +"What's to be done now?" shouted Merritt in his car. + +"Nothing," was the response; "we've got to lie here till this thing +blows over." + +"It's breaking a little to the south now," exclaimed Merritt, pointing +to where a rift began to appear in the solid cloud curtain. + +This was cheering news, and even the seasick but plucky Hiram, who had +been bailing for all he was worth, despite his misery, began to cheer +up. + +"Hurrah! I guess the worst of our troubles are over," cried Tubby. +"It certainly looks as if the sea was beginning to go down, and the +wind has dropped, I'm sure." + +That this was the case became apparent shortly. There was a noticeable +decrease in the size and height of the waves and the wind abated in +proportion. In half an hour after the rift had been first noticed by +Merritt, the black squall had passed, and the late afternoon sun began +to shine in a pallid way through the driving cloud masses. + +The lads, however, were still in a serious fix. They had been driven +so far out to sea that the land was blotted out altogether. All about +them was only the still heaving Atlantic. The sun, too, was westering +fast, and it would not be long before darkness fell. + +Without gasoline and with no sail, they had no means of making land. +Worse still, they were in the track of the in and out-bound steamers to +and from New York--according to Tubby's reckoning--and they had no +lights. + +"Well, we seem to have got out of the frying pan into the fire," said +Merritt in a troubled voice. "It's the last time I'll ever come out +without lights and a mast and sail." + +"That's what they all say," observed Tubby grimly. "The thing to do +now is to get back to shore somehow. Maybe we can rig up a sail with +the cockpit cover and the oars. We've got to try it, anyhow." + +After hauling in the sea anchor, the lads set to work to rig up and +lash the oars into an A shape. The canvas was lashed to each of the +arms of the A, and the contrivance then set up and secured to the fore +and aft cleats by the mooring line they had utilized for the sea anchor. + +"Well," remarked Tubby, as he surveyed his handiwork with some +satisfaction and pride, "we can go before the wind now, anyhow--even if +we do look like a lost, strayed or stolen Chinese junk." + +"Say, I'm so hungry I could eat one of those fish raw!" exclaimed +Hiram, now quite recovered, as the Flying Fish, under her clumsy sail, +began to stagger along in the direction in which Tubby believed the +land lay, the wind fortunately being dead aft. + +"Great Scott, the kid's right!" exclaimed Merritt. "We forgot all +about eating in the gloom but now I believe I could almost follow +Hiram's lead and eat some of those fellows as they are." + +"Well, that's about all you'll get to eat for a long time," remarked +Tubby, grimly casting an anxious eye aloft at the filling "sail." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +ALMOST RUN DOWN + + +It grew dark rapidly and the night fell on three lonely, wet, hungry +boys, rolling along in a disabled boat under what was surely one of the +queerest rigs ever devised. It answered its purpose, though, and under +her "jury mast" the Flying Fish actually made some headway through the +water. + +None of the boys said much, and Tubby, under the cover of the darkness, +tightened his capacious belt. It spoke volumes for his Boy Scout +training that, though he probably felt the pangs of hunger as much or +even more keenly than the others, he made no complaint. Hiram, the +second-class scout, complained a bit at first, but soon quieted down +under Merritt's stern looks; as for the latter, as corporal of the +Eagle Patrol, it was his duty to try to keep as cheerful as possible; +which, under the circumstances, was about as hard a task as could well +be imagined. + +The eyes of all three were kept strained ahead for some sign of a +light, for they had been so tossed about in the squall that all sense +of direction had been lost, and they had no compass aboard, which in +itself was a piece of carelessness. + +Suddenly, after about an hour of "going it blind" in this fashion, +young Hiram gave a shout. + +"A light, a light!" + +"Where?" demanded Tubby and Merritt sharply. + +"Off there," cried the lad, pointing to the left, over the port side of +the boat. + +Both the elder lads gazed sharply. + +"That's not the direction in which land would lie," mused Tubby. + +"The light's pretty high up, too, isn't it?" suggested Merritt. "It +might be a lighthouse. We may have been blown farther than we thought." + +Tubby offered no opinion for a few seconds, but his ordinarily round +and smiling face grew grave. A sudden apprehension had flashed into +his mind. + +"Tell me, Merritt," he said, "can you see any other lights?" + +"No," replied Merritt, after peering with half closed eyes at the white +light. + +"I can," suddenly shouted young Hiram. + +"You can?" + +"Yes; some distance below the white light I can see a green one to the +right and a red one on the left." + +"Shades of Father Neptune!" groaned Tubby. "It's just as I thought, +Merritt--that light yonder is a steamer's mast lantern, and the fact +that Hiram can see both her port and starboard lamps beneath shows that +she's coming right for us." + +This was alarming enough. Without lanterns, without the means of +making any noise sufficiently loud to attract the attention of those on +the approaching vessel, the occupants of the Plying Fish were in about +as serious a predicament as one could imagine. To make matters worse, +the wind began to drop and come in puffs which only urged the Flying +Fish ahead slowly. Tubby made a rapid mental calculation, and decided +that hardly anything short of a miracle could save them from being run +down, unless the steamer saw them and changed her course. + +"Can't we shout and make them hear us?" asked Hiram in an alarmed +voice. He saw from the troubled faces of both the elder lads that +something serious indeed was the matter. + +"We might try it," responded Tubby, with a bitter shrug. "But it's +about as much use as a mouth organ in a symphony orchestra would be. +Better get on the life belts." + +With hands that trembled with the sense of impending disaster, the +three boys strapped on the cork jackets. + +"Now all shout together," said Merritt, when this was done. + +Standing erect, the three young castaways placed their hands +funnel-wise to their mouths and roared out together: + +"Ship ahoy! St-eam-er a-hoy!" + +They were alarmed and not ashamed to admit it. + +"No good," said Tubby, after they had roared themselves hoarse. "When +she strikes us, jump over the starboard bow and dive as deep as you +can. If you don't, the propellers are liable to catch us." + +It was a grim prospect, and no wonder the boys grew white and their +faces strained as the impending peril bore down on them. + +They could now see that she was a large vessel--a liner, to judge from +the rows of lighted portholes on her steep black sides. Her bow lights +gleamed like the eye of some monster intent on devouring the Flying +Fish and her occupants. On and on she came. The air trembled with the +vibration of her mighty engines, and a great white "'bone" foamed up at +her sharp prow. + +Not one of the boys spoke as the vessel came nearer and nearer, +although it speedily grew evident that unless a wind sprang up or the +lookout saw them, it was inevitable that they would be cut in two +amidships. + +"Remember what I said," warned Tubby, in a strange, strained voice. +"Dive deep and stay tinder as long as you can." + +And now the great vessel seemed scarcely more than two or three boat +lengths from the tiny cockleshell on which she was bearing down. As a +matter of fact, though, her towering bulk made her appear much nearer +than she actually was. + +"Can't we do anything, Merritt?" gasped Hiram, with chattering teeth. +"We might try shouting once more," suggested Tubby in a voice that +quivered in spite of his efforts to keep it steady. + +"All together now--come on!" + +"Ship ahoy! You'll run us down! St-eam-er a-hoy!" + +Suddenly there were signs of confusion on the bow of the big vessel. +Men could be seen running about and waving their arms. + +"By hookey, they've seen us!" breathed Merritt, hardly daring to +believe it, however. + +The others were speechless with suspense. + +Suddenly from the bow of the oncoming steamer a great fan-shaped ray of +dazzling light shot out and enveloped the boys and their boat in its +bewildering radiance. + +"Hard over, hard over!" the boys could hear the lookout roaring, and +the command rang hoarsely back along the decks to the wheelhouse. + +Slowly, very slowly, as if reluctant to give up her prey, the bow of +the mighty liner swung off, and the boys were safe. + +"Look out for the wash," warned Merritt, as the great black bulk, +pierced with hundreds of glowing portholes, ploughed regally by them, +her deck crowded with curious passengers. A voice shouted down from +the bridge: + +"What in blazing sea serpents are you doing out here in that marine oil +stove?" + +The boys made no attempt to reply. They had all they could do to hang +on, as the Flying Fish danced about like a drifting cork in the wash of +the great vessel. They could see, however, that several of her +passengers were clustered at her stern rail, gazing wonderingly down at +them in great perplexity, no doubt, as to what manner of craft it was +that they had so narrowly escaped sending to the bottom. For had the +vessel even grazed the Flying Fish, the small boat would have been +annihilated without those on board the liner even feeling a tremor. It +would have been just such a tragedy as happens frequently to the +fishing dories on the foggy Newfoundland banks. + +"Wh-ew!" gasped Merritt, sinking down on a locker. "That was a narrow +escape if you like it!" + +"I don't like it," remarked Tubby sententiously, mopping his forehead, +on which beads of cold perspiration had stood out while their +destruction had seemed inevitable. So thoroughly unnerved were the +lads, in fact, by their experience that it was some time before they +could do anything more than sit limply on the lockers while the Flying +Fish rolled aimlessly with an uncontrolled helm. + +"Come on," said Tubby at length; "we've got to rouse ourselves. In the +first place, I've got an idea," he went on briskly. "I've been +thinking over that gasoline stoppage, and the more I think of it the +more I am inclined to believe that there's something queer about it. +It's worth looking into, anyhow." + +"You mean you think there may be some fuel in the tank, after all?" +asked Merritt, looking up. + +"It's possible. Have you tried the little valve forward of the +carburetor?" + +"Why, no," rejoined Merritt; "but I hardly think--" + +"It wouldn't be the first time a carburetor had fouled, particularly +after what we went through in that squall," remarked Tubby. "It's +worth trying, anyhow." + +He bent over the valve he had referred to, which was in the gasoline +feed pipe, just forward of the carburetor, and placed there primarily +for draining the tank when it was necessary. + +"Look here!" he yelled, with a sudden shout of excitement. "No," he +cried the next moment, "I don't want to waste it--but when I opened the +valve a stream of gasoline came out. There's plenty of it. That +stoppage is in the carburetor. Oh, what a bunch of idiots we've been!" + +"Better sound the tank," suggested Merritt; "what came out of the valve +might just be an accumulation in the pipe." + +"Not much," rejoined the other, "it came out with too much force for +that, I tell you. It was flowing from the tank, all right." + +"We'll soon find out," proclaimed Merritt. "Give me the sounding stick +out of that locker, Hiram." + +Armed with the stick, Merritt rapidly unscrewed the cap of the fuel +tank and plunged the sounder into it. + +"There's quite a lot of gasoline in there yet," he exclaimed, with +sparkling eyes, as he withdrew and felt the wet end of the instrument. + +The carburetor was rapidly adjusted. The rough tossing about the +Flying Fish had received had jammed the needle valve, but that was all. +Presently all was in readiness to get under way once more with the +little boat's proper motive power. The "jury rig" was speedily +dismantled Merritt swung the flywheel over two or three times, and a +welcome "chug, chug!" responded. + +"Hurray! she's working," cried Hiram. + +"As well as ever," responded Merritt. "Now for the shore. By the +way," he broke off in a dismayed tone, "where is the shore?" + +"I know now," rejoined Tubby in a confident tone. "Off there to the +right. You see, that steamer was hugging the coast preparatory to +heading seaward--at least, I'm pretty sure she was, and that would put +the shore on her port side, or on our starboard." + +They chugged off in the direction Tubby indicated, and before long a +joyful cry from Hiram announced the sudden appearance of lights. + +"What are they?" asked Merritt. + +"Don't know--they look like bonfires," rejoined the other lad. "I +wonder if we have been lucky enough to pick up Topsail Island?" + +As they drew nearer the lads soon saw that it was the island that they +were approaching, and that the lights they had seen were campfires +ignited by order of the anxious young Patrol leader to guide them back. + +In a short time they had anchored the Flying Fish opposite the camp, +and jumped into the dinghy left at her moorings when they embarked. + +"A fine scare you've given us," cried Rob, as they landed and flung +down their afternoon's catch. "We were afraid for a time that you were +lost in that black squall--it blew two of our tents down, and we were +mighty anxious about you, I can tell you." + +"You did not alarm our folks?" asked Hiram anxiously. + +"No, I thought that it would be best to wait. Somehow, I thought you'd +turn up safe. Where on earth have you been and what has happened? You +look as pale as three ghosts." + +"Towed to sea by a shark--caught in a squall--almost run down by a +liner--and so hungry we can't talk now," sputtered out Tubby +comprehensively. + +"All right; come on up to the fire and get dried out and pitch into the +grub." + +After such a meal as it may be imagined the young scouts indulged in, +they told their whole yarn of their adventures to the listening Patrol. +A short time after they concluded--so long had it taken to relate +everything and answer all questions--the mournful call of "Taps" +sounded and it was time to turn in. Little Digby alone, who was to do +sentry service, remained on duty. + +Merritt's dreams were a strange jumble. It seemed to him that he was +being towed to sea on the back of a huge shark, by a big liner with a +row of blazing portholes that winked at him like facetious eyes. +Suddenly, just as it seem he was about to slip off the marine monster's +slippery back, he thought he heard a loud cry of "Help, scouts!" + +So vivid was the dream and so real the cry that he awoke trembling, and +listened intently while peering out through the tent flap. + +There was no sound, however, but the ripple of the waves on the beach +and the "hoot hoot" of an owl somewhere back in the woods on the island. + +"Funny," mused the boy, as he turned over and dozed off again, "that +certainly sounded loud enough to have been a real, sure enough call for +help." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +JOE DIGBY MISSING + + +"Merritt! Merritt, wake up!" + +The boy sleepily opened his eyes and saw bending over him the pale +features of Rob, whose voice quivered with suppressed excitement as he +shook the other's shoulder. + +"I didn't hear reveille blow yet. What's up? Have I overslept?" +murmured the young corporal. + +"No, it's not six-thirty yet--barely after half past four, in fact. +But young Digby--he had the night watch, you know--and was to have been +relieved at three o'clock. Well, Ernest Thompson, his relief, roused +out at that hour, but not a trace of Digby was to be found!" + +"What!" The sleepy boy was drowsy no longer. "Digby gone?" + +"Hush! We don't know yet. Don't wake any of the others. Thompson and +I have skirmished around ever since it began to get light, and we have +not been able to find a trace of him." + +Merritt was out of his cot while his leader was still speaking, and ten +minutes later, during which time the boys exchanged excited questions +and answers, he was in his uniform and outside the tent. + +The sun was just poking his rim above the western horizon and the +chilly damp of early dawn lay over the island. The sea, as calm almost +as a lake, lay sullen and gray, scarcely heaving. Behind the sleeping +camp a few shreds of mist--the ghosts of the vapors of the night were +arising like smoke among the dim trees. At the further end of the +assemblage of tents, and beyond the smoldering fire, stood a silent +figure, that of Ernest Thompson. + +"Have you explored the island thoroughly?" asked Merritt under his +breath. Somehow the dim hour and the situation seemed to preclude the +idea of loud talking. + +"Of course not. Not yet," breathed the other in the same tones. "We +will break the news to the rest of the Patrol after breakfast. It's no +use alarming them yet." + +"It isn't possible that he went off on an early fishing expedition?" + +For answer, Rob waved his hand toward the water, where the Flying Fish +lay rocking gently at her anchor. Ashore the dingy lay as Merritt and +his companions had left it the night before. + +"But what can have happened to him?" burst out Merritt, as they made +their way over to Ernest Thompson's side. + +"I cannot think. It is absolutely mystifying. I am going to start for +the captain's place now. He may be able to throw some light on the +affair." + +Merritt shook his head. + +"Hardly likely. If there is no trace of Joe Digby on this side of the +island, it is improbable that Captain Hudgins knows anything about him." + +"Well," rejoined Rob in a troubled voice, "we've got to try everything. +I am responsible for his safe keeping while he is in camp. I blame +myself for allowing the kid to go on sentry duty at all." + +"No use doing that," comforted Merritt; "there's one thing sure, he +can't have melted away. He must be somewhere on the island. There are +no wild beasts or anything like that here to carry him off, so if we +keep up the search we must come upon him sooner or later." + +"That's what makes the whole affair the more mystifying," rejoined Rob. +"What can have become of him?" + +"Well, if he's on the island, we'll find him," he continued; "and if he +isn't--" + +"We'll find him anyway," declared Merritt in a determined voice. + +"That's the stuff!" warmly exclaimed the other. "And now I'm going to +take a cruise round to the other side of the island, and see if I can +find out anything there." + +A few seconds later he was in the dinghy and sculling out over the +water to the speedy Flying Fish. In a short time he was off. + +As the "chug chug" of the motor grew fainter, Merritt turned to young +Thompson. + +"Don't breathe a word of this to the others till we know for certain +that Digby has vanished," he said. + +The other boy nodded. + +"I understand," he said, and the look with which he accompanied the +words rendered Merritt perfectly confident that he would be obeyed. + +"And now let's rouse out Andy Bowles and get him busy with that tin +horn of his," cheerfully went on Merritt, walking toward Andy's tent. + +That youth was much surprised to find that it was morning, but tumbled +out of his cot in double-quick time, and soon the cheerful notes of +reveille were ringing out over the camp, on which the sun's rays were +now streaming down in that luminary's cheerful morning way. + +The soldier who immortalized himself by sing the words: "We can't get +'em up, We can't get 'em up, We can't get 'em up in the morning--, We +can't get 'em up, We can't get 'em up, We can't get'em up at +a-a-l-l-l!" to the stirring notes of the army's morning call had never +been in a camp of Boy Scouts. If he had he wouldn't have written them, +for before the last notes had died away the camp was alive and astir, +with hurrying lads filling tin washbasins and cleaning up. + +The cook and "cookee" for the day--Jim Jeffords and Martin Green--soon +had their cooking fire going, and presently the appetizing aroma of +coffee and fried ham and eggs filled the camp. + +"Give the breakfast call, Andy," ordered Merritt, as the proud if +flush-faced cooks announced their labors complete, and with a clatter +and bang of tin dishes and cups the Boy Scouts sat down to breakfast. + +"Where's Rob and Digby?" demanded Andy Bowles, as he dug his spoon into +an island of oatmeal completely surrounded by an ocean of condensed +milk thinned down with warm water. + +The moment that Merritt had dreaded had arrived. + +"Why, he and Rob went off early to see the captain," he said. "I guess +they'll be back soon." + +"Pretty early for paying social calls," commented Andy, too busy with +his breakfast, however, to give the matter more attention, for which +Merritt was duly thankful. + +After breakfast Merritt ordered a general airing of bedding, and the +side walls of the tents were raised to let the fresh air blow through +them. Still there was no sign of Rob. Merritt grew so anxious that he +could hardly keep from pacing up and down to conceal his nervous state +of mind. However, he stuck to his duties and oversaw the first routine +of the morning without betraying his anxiety to any of the lads under +his charge. At last there came the awaited chug chug of the returning +boat, for which he had been so eagerly listening, and Rob appeared +rounding the little point below the camp. In the craft was another +figure, that of the captain himself. + +Merritt's first hope when he saw the two persons in the boat--namely, +that one of them might be the missing boy--was promptly dashed, and he +instinctively guessed by Rob's silence as he dropped the anchor and he +and the captain tumbled into the dinghy that there had been no news. + +"No," said Rob, shaking his head dejectedly as they reached the shore, +"there isn't anything to tell. The captain is as much in the dark as +we." + +"Well, you'd better have some breakfast," said Merritt, after he and +the captain had exchanged greetings, "then we can go ahead and notify +the others and institute a thorough search." + +"That's the stuff, my boy," agreed the veteran. "Overhaul ship from +bilge ter royals, and if not found, then take a cruise in search uv." + +Rob ate his meal with small appetite, but the captain, urging on his +young companion the necessity of "filling his hold," devoured +prodigious quantities of food, and then, arising, suggested that the +time had come to "pipe all hands aft and read orders." + +The boys had been so busy about their morning tasks that fortunately +none of them, except Tubby, whom Merritt had told of the disappearance, +had found time to notice Rob's return or ask questions; so that when he +announced to them that Joe Digby was missing it came as a stunning +shock. + +"Now, boys," said Rob, after he had communicated the full details, so +far as he knew them, of the circumstances of the disappearance, "there +is only one thing to do, and that is turn this island inside out. It +won't take long, but I want it done thoroughly. Don't leave a stone +unturned. If after a painstaking search we find nothing on the island, +we'll know we have to look elsewhere. You are all fairly good woodsmen +by this time, and can trail by signs as effectively as first-class +scouts. Use your eyes, and good luck." + +Merritt at once assigned searching parties, he and Rob and Tubby taking +the center of the island and the others being detailed to search along +the shores in two separate squads for any trace of their missing +comrade. + +"Call me a lubber if this ain't the most mystifyin' thing I've run my +bow into since the Two Janes, uv Boston, brig, lost her bearings in a +fog and fetched up off Iceland," declared the captain, who had elected +to accompany the three leaders of the Patrol. "But drown or swim, sail +or sink, we'll find that kid if he's on deck." + +The searching parties construed this speech as a sort of valedictory to +them as, indeed, the captain intended it--and greeted it with a cheer. + +"The first scout that finds a trace of Joe is to light the four +'smokes', meaning come to council," was Rob's last order. "Light them +on as prominent a place as you can find and we will all meet in camp to +hear the news." + +The searching parties at once separated, one striking off to the right, +the other to the left and the three young leaders and their grizzled +friend making a dead set for the center of the island. + +If Joe Digby was to be found, the look of determination on the face of +each scout showed that it would not be the fault of his young comrades +if he were not. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +SAM REBELS + + +In the meantime on a small island in the Upper Inlet a strange +conference was taking place. Three youths whom our readers will +recognize as Jack Curtiss, Bill Bender and Sam Redding; were in earnest +consultation with the unkempt and unsavory individual whom we know as +Hank Handcraft, the beach-comber. + +"Well, the job's put through, all right," Hank was saying, as the three +sat outside a small tent in front of which was a smoldering fire, about +which the remnants of a meal were scattered. + +"Yes, but now we've got to tackle the hardest part of it," said Jack, +knitting his brows. "I've got the letter written and here it is." As +he spoke he drew from his pocket a sheet of paper. "The question is who +to send for the money when the time comes." + +"Oh, Hank is the man," said Ben, without an instant's hesitation. "We +must not appear in this at all." + +"Oh, I am the man, am?" put in Hank, with no very gratified inflexion +in his voice; "and what if I am caught? I'm to go to prison, I +suppose, while you fellows get off scot-free." + +"As for me," said Sam Redding, who was pale and looked scared, and +whose eyes, too, were red-rimmed and heavy as if from lack of sleep, +"you can count me out. I want nothing to do with it. You've gone too +far, Jack, in your schemes against the boys. I'm through with the +whole thing." + +"Well, if you're that chicken-hearted, we don't want you in it at all," +sneered Jack, although he looked somewhat troubled at his follower's +defection. "All we want you to promise is not to split on us." + +"Oh, I won't peach," promised Sam readily. + +"It will be better for you not to," warned Bill Bender; "and now let's +figure this thing out, and quickly, too. We haven't got any too much +time. They'll have discovered the kid has gone by this time and the +alarm will be spread broadcast." + +"I thought, when he yelled like that last night, we were goners sure," +remarked Jack, scowling at the recollection. "It's a good thing those +kids sleep as hard as they do, or we'd have been in a tight fix." + +"Oh, well, no good going back to that now," dissented Bill. "How was +the young cub when you left him, Hank?" he asked abruptly. + +"Oh, he'd got through crying, and was lying nice and quiet on his +bunk," remarked Hank, with an amiable chuckle, as though he had just +performed some praiseworthy act, instead of having left little Joe +Digby locked in a deserted bungalow on an island some little distance +from the one on which the conversation related above was taking place. + +"Well, that's good," said Bill; "although crying, or yelling, either, +won't do him much good on that island. He could yell for a week and no +one would hear him." + +"No; the water's too shallow for any motor boats to get up there," +agreed Hank. "I had a hard job getting through the channel in the +rowboat, even at high water." + +"Is the house good and tight?" was Jack's next question. + +"Tight--tight as the Tombs," was Hank's answer, the simile being an apt +one for him to use. "The door has that big bolt on the outside that I +put on, besides the lock, of which I carried away the key, and the +shutters are all nailed up. No danger of his getting away till we want +him to!" + +"Couldn't be better," grinned Jack approvingly. "Now, here's the +letter. Tell me what you think of it?" + +Opening the sheet of paper, the bully read aloud as follows: + +"MR. AND MRS. DIGBY: + +"Your son is safe and in good hands. I alone know where the men who +stole him have taken him. But I am a poor man, and think that the +information should be worth something to you. Suppose you place two +hundred dollars under the signpost at the Montauk crossroads to-night. +I will call and get it if you will mark the spot at which you place it +with a rock. Look under the same rock in the morning and you will find +directions how to get your boy back. + +CAPTAIN NEMO." + +"What do you think of that?" inquired Jack complacently, as he +concluded the reading of his epistle. + +"A bee-yoo-tiful piece of composition," said Hank approvingly, with one +of his throaty chuckles; "the only thing is--who is Captain Nemo?" + +"Why, so far as delivering the letter and getting the money is +concerned, you are," said Jack decisively. "Eh, Bill?" + +"Oh, by all means," assented Bill. + +Sam was not included in the conversation, and gazed sullenly straight +in front of him as he lay where he had thrown himself on the fine white +sand. + +"Oh, by no means," echoed Hank derisively. "Say, what do you fellows +take me for, the late lamented Mr. Easy Mark? If you do you have +another think coming." + +"Now look here, Hank," argued Jack, "what's the objection? All you've +got to do is to take this note ashore, give it to some boy to deliver, +and then go to the crossroads at whatever time to-night you see fit and +get the money." + +"Of course," Bill hastened to put in, "you've got to bring it to us for +proper division." + +"Oh, I have, have I?" chuckled Hank. "Well, what do you think of that? +I'm to do all the work and you fellows are to get the bacon! That's a +fine idea--not! Four into two hundred doesn't go very many times, you +know." + +"Not four," corrected Jack, "three. Sam is out of this. He's too much +of a coward to have anything to do with it," he added, mimicking Sam's +tone. + +The boat-builder's son reddened, but said nothing in reply to the +bully's taunt. + +"Well, three, then," went on Hank; "that's not percentage enough for +me. If I'm to have anything to do with this here job, I want half the +money. You fellows can split the rest between you!" + +Jack and Bill exchanged blank looks. + +"Now, look here, Hank, be reasonable," began Jack in a tone meant to be +conciliatory. + +"Now, look here, Jack, be sensible," echoed Hank mockingly. "You seem +to forget that you owe me something for the job we did on those +uniforms the other night, and that other little errand you performed on +the island. You've got a very convenient memory, you have. Why, I +daresay those kids would have given me a nice little wad of tobacco +money to have told just who took their Sunday-go-to-meetin' suits, but +did I peach? No, you know I didn't; but," he added, with rising +emphasis, "if I don't get what's coming to me pretty soon, I will." + +"Well, you idiot," began Jack truculently; "haven't you got your chance +now?" + +"If I choose to take it--yes," was the rejoinder; "but I don't know as +I will. It seems to me I hold all the trumps and you are at my mercy." + +"Why, you insolent dog!" bellowed Jack, rising to his feet from the +position in which he had been squatting. "For two cents I'd knock your +bewhiskered head off!" + +He advanced threateningly, but Bill, seeing the turn matters were +taking, and realizing that more was to be gained by peaceful methods, +intervened. + +"Now, Jack, shut up. Stow that nonsense," he ordered sharply. "Look +here, Hank, we'll accept your terms. Half to you if you carry it out +successfully." + +"And if I don't?" + +"Then we'll all have to shift for ourselves. This part of the country +will be too hot to hold us. I mean to go out West. I've got a cousin +who has a ranch, and I think I could get along all right there if the +worst comes to the worst." + +"See here, I don't agree with your way of dividing the money," began +Jack, an angry light in his eyes. "Look--" + +"Look here, Jack," cut in Bill sharply, "if you don't like it, it +doesn't do you any good. If you object to it, keep out. Hank and I +form a majority. You chump" he added, quickly, under his breath, as +Hank turned away and began to "skip" flat stones over the water, "don't +you see he takes all the responsibility? It's a cinch for us to get +away if anything goes wrong." + +"Yes, it's a cinch we get cheated out of our share of the money," +argued Jack, with an angry glare in the direction of the unconscious +Hank. + +"Beggars can't be choosers," argued Bill. "You know, as well as I do, +that if we are implicated in this affair it means serious trouble. Our +parents wouldn't stand for it, and we should be disgraced. By doing it +this way we get some of the proceeds--I admit not our fair share but +what's to be done?" + +"Well, I guess you are right, Bill," assented Jack, with a shrug. "It's +go ahead now; we've gone too far to draw back." + +"That's the line of talk," grinned Bill, "and when we've each got fifty +dollars in our pockets, silenced Hank with a golden gag and had our +revenge on those kids, we'll be able to talk over future plans. I'm +sick of school. I hate the idea of going back there. I've half a mind +to strike out for the West anyway." + +"Do you think I could get a job on your cousin's ranch?" asked Jack. + +"I don't doubt it a bit," rejoined Bill. "You're a good, husky chap, +and brawn and muscle is what they need in the West." + +"Yes, I'm husky, all right," conceded Jack modestly. "Sometimes I +think that I don't get full opportunities to expand here in this +wretched country hole." + +"No, the West is the place," agreed Bill, with an inward smile, "as the +newspapers say--one can expand with the country out there." + +Their conversation was broken in upon by Sam, who demanded in no very +gentle tones: + +"Well, who's going ashore? I'm off." + +"No hurry, Sam," said Jack in a more amiable tone than he had yet used +that morning. "Let's sit around here a while and enjoy the sun--we +might take a swim after a while." + +"If you don't come now you'll have to swim ashore," grunted Sam, +arising and brushing the sand from himself. "I'm going back to +Hampton. I'm tired of camping out here." + +He walked toward the beach and prepared to shove off the dinghy, +preparatory to sculling out to the hydroplane, which lay a few rods off +shore in the channel. + +"Hold on, Sam," cried Bill; "we're coming. Don't go away sore." + +"I'm not sore," rejoined Sam, in a tone which belied his words, "but I +don't think you fellows are doing the right thing when you maroon a kid +like Joe Digby on a lone island, in a deserted bungalow in which you'd +be scared to stop yourselves." + +"Why, what's got into you, Sam?" protested Jack. "It's more a lark +than anything else." + +"Fine lark," grunted Sam, "scaring a kid half to death and then writing +notes for money. It's dangerously near to kidnapping--that's what I +call it, and I'm glad I'm not in it." + +Both the others looked rather uncomfortable at this presentation of the +matter, but Jack affected to laugh it off. + +"Pshaw!" he exclaimed, "it's a little bit rough, I know, but such +things do a kid good. Teach him to be self-reliant and--and all that." + +"Sure," agreed Bill, "you don't look at these things in the right +light, Sam--does he, Hank?" + +Hank, who had shuffled toward the dinghy at the conclusion of these +edifying remarks, agreed with a chuckle that Sam had no sense of humor, +after which they all got into the dinghy and we sculled off to the +unlucky hydroplane. + +It didn't take long to get under way, and the little craft was soon +scudding through the water at a good pace, towing the dinghy behind her. + +"Better put us ashore before we get into Hampton," suggested Bill. "We +don't want to be seen about there more than can be helped." + +"That's where you are wrong," objected Jack. "We'll put Hank ashore up +the coast, but the more we are seen about the place the better. It +won't look as if we had anything to do with the Digby kid--in case +things do go wrong." + +So it was agreed that Hank was to be landed in a small cove a few miles +farther down the coast, from which it was a short cut across country to +the neighborhood of the Digby farm. + +Then he was to waylay the first likely-looking messenger and entrust +the note which Jack had read to him for delivery. After that he was to +spend the time as best he could in suitable seclusion, and after dark +conceal himself near the sign-post. He was not to make any attempt to +secure the money if any one hovered about the place, but if the coast +was clear he was to go boldly in and take it. + +Hank was landed at the spot agreed upon, a short time later, and the +other three then resumed their journey for the hydroplane's home port. +As they turned seaward Jack pointed mockingly to Topsail Island, which +lay a short distance on their port bow. + +"I'll bet there's plenty going on there right now," he grinned. + +"Right you are," assented Bill. + +"Hullo," he added hastily the next moment; "what's that?" + +He pointed toward the island, and the occupants of the homing +hydroplane saw, slowly rising from it in the still air, four straight +columns of blue smoke. + +"Looks like a signal of some kind," suggested Jack after a scrutiny. + +"It's coming from about the place where we grabbed the kid," added +Bill, a note of apprehension in his voice. + +"I wonder what it signifies?" demanded Jack, whose face began to bear a +somewhat troubled look. + +"I can tell you," said Sam shortly, turning round from the wheel. + +"You can?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, hurry up, then--what does it mean?" Jack spoke sharply at Sam's +deliberation. + +"It means," said Sam slowly, as if he wanted every word to sink in, +"that the Boy Scouts have picked up your trail." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE HUNT FOR TENDERFOOT JOE + + +Rob, Merritt, Tubby Hopkins and Captain Hudgins rested, perspiring +under the noon-day heat, on a group of flat rocks at the highest point +of the island. Their search had been fruitless, and their downcast +faces showed it. + +"How ever are we going to break the news to his parents?" + +Merritt it was who voiced the question that had been troubling all of +them. + +Before any one had time to frame a reply the captain, whose keen eyes +had been gazing about him, gave a sudden shout: + +"There's that smoke yonder yer boys were lookin' fer," he exclaimed, +pointing. + +"Four columns of it," shouted Rob, "hurray, boys, that means news! +It's 'Come to counsel.' Come on, don't let's lose any time in getting +back." + +Rapidly the boys stumbled and ran forward over the rocks and pushed on +among the dense growth that covered the hillside they had climbed. +They hardly noticed the obstacles, however, so keenly were they bent on +getting back to camp and learning the news which they knew must be +awaiting them. They covered the distance in half the time it had taken +them to ascend the hillside and were met in the camp by the body of +searchers--Andy Bowles, Sim Jeffords and Ernest Thompson--who had swung +off to the left or mainland side of the island. + +"Well, boys, what news?" breathlessly exclaimed Rob, "we saw the +counsel smoke and hurried down at top speed." + +"Well, there's not very much, I'm afraid, Rob," began Andy, "but we +found something that may give us a clue. About half a mile down the +beach there's the distinct mark of a boat keel where it was drawn up on +the hard sand and the marks of three separate pairs of feet." + +"Good," exclaimed Rob, "that's something and half confirms my +suspicion. Go on, Andy, what else?" + +"Well, we examined the marks carefully and found that two pairs of feet +wore good shoes and the third a very broken, disreputable pair." + +"Yes," exclaimed Rob, while the others listened breathlessly. + +"Of course that indicated to us that three persons must have carried +Joe off--for I don't think there's much doubt now that he was carried +off, do you?" + +"I don't," said Rob sadly, "but for what possible motive?" + +"I have it," suddenly exclaimed Tubby Hopkins, snapping his fingers, +"you remember the day of the aeroplane model contest?" + +"Yes, but what--" began Rob. + +"Has that to do with it," finished Tubby for him. "Everything. It was +Joe who first told the committee that Jack's model was a bought one and +so lost him the fifty-dollar prize." + +"By cracky, that's right!" assented Rob, "and you think that Jack and +his gang have carried him off in revenge for it?" + +"Looks that way to me," nodded the stout youth. + +"Why, they wouldn't dare," began Andy Bowles. + +"Oh, yes, they would," amended Rob bitterly, "they'd dare anything to +get even on us for their fancied wrongs. But whose could have been the +broken ragged shoes?" he asked, suddenly taking up another train of +thought. + +"Hank Handcrafts, the beach-comber's," suggested Tubby. + +"Gee Whillikens! I'll bet a cracker that's the solution," cried Andy, +"and now I come to think of it I heard, before we left, that Jack and +his gang had gone camping." + +"Where?" + +"Up around the Upper Inlet somewhere. You know that's full of islands +and as there's no drinking water there few people ever think of +frequenting the place. If they wanted to do anything like carrying off +Joe that is where they would have been likely to go." + +"You may be right, Andy. It's worth looking into, anyway," declared +Rob. "I'll leave a note here for the others and we'll take a run over +there in the Flying Fish. If Joe is there we'll get him out." + +"And in jig time, too," chimed in Ernest Thompson. + +"Come on, boys, get some gasoline, hop in the dinghy and let's get +aboard. We've got to move fast if we're to accomplish anything. You +get the boat, Andy, while I write a line to tell the others what we've +gone after." + +The young leader hastily ran into his tent and sitting down at the +table dashed off these lines: + +"Boys, we think we have a clue to Joe's whereabouts. Have gone after +him. Keep camp in regular way while we are gone. Hiram Nelson is +leader, and Paul Perkins corporal, in our absence. + +"ROB BLAKE, Leader, + +"Eagle Patrol, B. S. of A." + +With a piece of chalk the boy marked a rough square and an arrow on a +tree--the arrow pointing to a spot in the sand in which he buried the +letter. + +"Now, then, come on," he shouted, dashing toward the boat, "shove off, +boys, and if Joe's in the Upper Inlet we'll find him." + +"Hurray," cheered the others, much heartened by the prospect of any +trace of the missing boy, however slight. + +"Give way, boys," bellowed the captain, who had insisted on coming +along armed with a huge horse pistol of ancient pattern which he had +strapped on himself in the morning when the news of Joe Digby's +disappearance reached him. "This reminds me uv the time when I was A. +B. on the Bonnie Bess and we smoked out a fine mess of pirates in the +Caribees." + +"Regular pirates?" inquired Andy as Rob and Merritt bent to the oars. + +"Reg'lar piratical pirates, my boy," responded the old salt, "we +decorated the trees with 'em and they looked a lot handsomer there than +they did a-sailin' the blue main." + +Further reminiscences of the captain's were cut short by their arrival +at the Flying Fish's side. They had hastily thrown two cases of +gasoline into the dinghy before they shoved off so that all that +remained to be done was to fill the fast craft's tank and she was ready +to be off. + +"Hold on," warned Rob, as Tubby Hopkins was about to secure the dinghy +to the mooring buoy, "we'll tow her along. We may need her. There's +lots of shoal water in that Upper Inlet." + +"Right yer are, my boy; there's nothin' like bein' forehanded," +remarked the captain as Merritt bent over the flywheel and Rob threw in +the spark and turned on the gasoline. After a few revolutions an +explosion resulted and the Flying Fish was off on the mission which +might mean so much or so little to the anxious hearts on board her. + +"Do you know the channel," asked Merritt as Rob with his eyes glued on +the coast sent the Flying Fish through the waves, or rather wavelets, +for the sea was almost like a sheet of glass. + +"I've been up here once or twice after duck," rejoined Rob, "but it's a +tricky sort of a place to get through. However, I guess we'll make it." + +As they drew nearer the shores the boys made out an opening which Rob +said was the Upper Inlet channel. + +"Say, Tubby, get out the lead line and let's see how much water we +have," directed Rob as the color of the ocean began to change from dark +blue to a sort of greenish tinge, lightening in spots, where the shoals +were near to the surface, to a sandy yellow. + +The stout lad took a position in the bow and swinging the lead about +his head cast it suddenly ahead of the Flying Fish's bow. + +"Slow down," ordered Rob, and Merritt cut down the motor to not more +than two hundred revolutions a minute. + +The lead line, tagged with different colored bits of flannel at each +fathom length, sang through the stout lad's fingers. + +"By-a-quarter-three," he called out the next instant. + +This meant that three fathoms and a quarter or eighteen feet three +inches of water was under the keel of the little craft. + +"Nough fer a man-uv-war," grinned old Captain Hodgins. + +Slowly the Flying Fish forged ahead till right under her bow lay a +patch of the yellow water. + +"By-a-half-two," came a sharp hail from the fat youth, who had once +more heaved the lead. + +"Cut her down some more," sharply ordered Rob, without turning his +head, "we draw only three feet so I guess we'll do nicely for a while." + +"Great hop-toads, there's regular shark's teeth ahead," commented +Captain Hudgins, pointing to the still shallower water indicated by the +lightening tint of the channel. + +"By-one-by-a-quarter-one!" came sharply from Tubby, as the Flying Fish +seemed hardly to crawl along the water. + +"By-a-half!" came an instant later, meaning that only three feet of +water lay right ahead. + +"Stop her," roared out Rob. + +But he was too late. Instantly, almost as Merritt's hand had flown to +the lever, the nose of the Flying Fish poked into the sandbank and her +motor with a gentle sigh came to a stop. + +"Hard a-ground!" roared the captain, "too bad and with a fallin' tide, +too." + +"Full speed astern," came the next order. + +The propeller churned up the water aft into a white turmoil. The Flying +Fish trembled in her every timber, and began to slide slowly backward +from the treacherous shoal. + +"Safe, by the great horn spoon!" roared the captain, fetching Andy +Bowles a slap on the back that almost toppled the small bugler into the +water. + +"For a time," said Rob quietly, "come ahead a bit, Merritt." + +Slowly the little vessel slid ahead once more. Rob seemed fairly to +feel his way through the narrow channel he had picked out and finally +the Flying Fish, after as much coaxing as is usually bestowed on a +balky horse, floated in the deep water beyond the sandy bar. + +Eagerly the boys looked about them as they "opened up," as sailors call +it, the narrow stretch of water known as the Upper Inlet. It did not +take them long to spy the island with the tent on it in which the +conversation between Jack and his cronies, and the mutineer to his +plans, had taken place. + +"There's their camp!" shouted Rob, eagerly sending the Flying Fish +ahead at full speed, "now we'll find out something." + +"And, maybe, use this." The captain, as he spoke, grimly produced his +formidable weapon and flourished it about. + +"No, none of that," sternly rejoined Rob, "the Boy Scouts can take care +of those fellows--without using firearms." + +"You bet," rejoined Merritt, grimly "muscling up," "we'll show 'em if +it comes to a fight." + +But bitter disappointment awaited the boys. As we know, the camp was +deserted and no trace or clue of the whereabouts of its occupants was +to be found. In the tent, however, lay a piece of blotting paper with +ink-marks on it. It was the material with which Jack had dried his +letter. + +"Anybody got a mirror?" asked Rob. "This blotter may help some if we +can read what's on it." + +"I've got a pocket one," said Andy Bowles, who was somewhat particular +about his person and always carried a small toilet case. + +"That will do; let's have it." + +Rob seized the bit of looking glass and held the blotter to it. + +"Just as I thought," he exclaimed a minute later, with a cry of +triumph. "It's Jack Curtiss' writing, though he has tried to disguise +it, and they've got Joe hidden somewhere. Look here, they want $200 +for his return." + +"Yes, but what good does it do us to know that," objected Merritt, when +the sensation this announcement caused had subsided. "They evidently +had him here overnight and then deserted the camp for fear we'd pick up +their trail. They've taken Joe with them." + +"By the great sea-serpent, that's right," grunted the captain, "it's a +blind trail, boys!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +SAVED BY "SMOKE MORSE" + + +Each member of the party regarded the other blankly. + +The captain was right. The deserted camp was only a blind trail and +they had all their work to do over again. + +"The first people to communicate with are Joe's parents," mused Rob. +"That note will be delivered very shortly, as the longer they delay the +more dangerous it will be for them." + +"That's right," agreed Merritt, "Jack and his gang will not let the +grass grow under their feet now that they know the chase must be on. +What can they have done with Joe?" + +Rob had been looking about him with the instinct of the Boy Scout. He +was anxious to ascertain if there were not something tangible, some +clue on which they could base a search for the missing member of the +Patrol. Suddenly something remarkable struck him about the tracks that +lay about the tent. + +They were all four those, of persons of larger growth than Joe Digby +and mingling with them unmistakably was the broken-shoed track of Hank, +the beach-comber. + +"Boys," announced Rob suddenly, "Joe has not been here at all." + +"Not been here at all," echoed Merritt, amazedly. + +"I mean what I say. Look at these tracks. There is not a footmark +here that could by any chance be his." + +The others scrutinized the maze of foot-prints with the same care as +had Rob and were forced to come to the same conclusion. There was no +question about it--they would have to seek elsewhere for a trace of the +lad. + +But where? + +They gazed about them at the stretch of lone bay or inlet, the sparse +scrub grass and vegetation fringing it on the shore side and wheeling +sea-gulls swooping and soaring above the shoal waters. + +Then Rob's gaze rested carelessly on a closed and seemingly deserted +bungalow, occupying the island above them. As his eyes fell on it they +suddenly became riveted and then grew wide with surprise. + +A stream of smoke was issuing from the fieldstone chimney roughly +constructed at one end of the apparently deserted dwelling. + +"There's some one living in that bungalow," he exclaimed, as he made +the discovery, "maybe whoever it is can give us some clue to where Joe +Digby is." + +They all gazed intently at the weather-beaten old house from which the +paint was scaling, adding to the note of desertion sounded by its +closed shutters and forlorn-looking yard. + +As they looked, astonished at the idea that the barren structure should +actually house a human being, a sudden thought struck Merritt. + +"Suppose Jack Curtiss and his gang are there?" he said. + +"Hardly likely," rejoined Rob, "however, we'll get over there and find +out just who is making that smoke." + +Suddenly the old captain, who had been watching the smoke closely, gave +an astonished snort. + +"What's the matter, captain?" asked Rob, who was about to walk to the +water's edge and get ready to shove off the dinghy. + +"Why, there's somethin' queer about that thar smoke," responded the old +salt. + +"Queer--how do you mean?" + +"Well, watch it a minute--there--see! now stops--now it starts +ag'in--then it stops--wha, do yer suppose is happenin' to it?" + +Rob knitted his brows and watched the phenomenon to which the captain +had called attention with narrowed eyes. + +There was no question about it the smoke was certainly behaving +"queerly" as the captain put it. + +The blue vapor emerged from the chimney now in a copious puff and then, +for a space, would cease, only to roll forth once more in larger +volume. The boys watched it in some astonishment. + +"What can they be doing, do you suppose?" Merritt asked. + +"I have no idea. It's past me to say," responded Rob, "it comes out in +puffs like--like--by hookey! I've got it!" he broke off with a shout, +"like the Morse code!" + +"Somebody signaling?" stammered Merritt. + +"That's it--watch!" + +The smoke, which had not been visible for some seconds, now emerged +from the stone chimney once more and the boys, fascinated, watched it +closely with burning eyes. There was no doubt whatever about it now. +It was signaling. + +Four short puffs. + +"Four dots--that's H," exclaimed Rob, trembling with excitement. + +The smoke ceased. + +"Here comes some more," shouted Merritt. + +One short puff from the chimney. + +"E, one dot, that's E sure enough," translated Rob. + +The others stood like figures carved in stone as their leader read off +the strange signals. + +Puff! A longer period of smoking by the chimney--then two sharp puffs. + +"That's L," interpreted the leader of the Eagles. Before they could +say a word the chimney took up its message once more. + +Puff--a long puff--another long one, and then a short one. + +"Dot--dash--dash--dot," exclaimed Rob. + +"That's the letter P," put in Merritt. + +"That's right, old man," shouted Rob, slapping him on the back, "and +we've found Joe Digby. That smoke signal spelled Help in the Morse +code." + +"You're right," shouted Merritt, "come on, Cap, come on, boys, we've +got to get a move on and get it on quick!" + +They dashed toward the dinghy and a few seconds later had once more +embarked and were speeding toward the desolate and forsaken bungalow. +Somehow they managed to get ashore in the dinghy without anyone being +spilled over the side in their desperate hurry and a minute later were +pounding at the door. + +"Joe--Joe Digby," shouted Rob in a strange, strained voice. + +"Here," came back the answer in a feeble tone, "oh, boys, I'm glad +you've come." + +Furiously Rob shook the door. + +"It's locked," came the voice from inside, "I tried to break it down. +Too weak, I guess. Try the shutters." + +At each window in turn the Boy Scouts sought to effect an entrance, but +in vain. The owner of the place had screwed up the window coverings +too tightly for them to be opened without tools. + +The rescue party came to a momentary halt. + +"I've got it," shouted the captain suddenly, "we'll have him out uv +there in two shakes uv a drake's tail." + +He produced his formidable old pistol and waved it grimly. + +"Come on, boys," he yelled, darting round to the front of the +house--the side on which the door was. + +"What are you going to do?" demanded Rob, as much mystified as the rest +at the old eccentric actions. + +"Watch me," grinned the captain as he gained the door. + +"Stand clear!" he bawled at the top of his lungs, "stand clear uv the +door inside there, Joe!" + +"All right," came back the reply, "I'm in a corner." + +"Now, stand by ter receive boarders!" roared the veteran as he placed +the muzzle weapon at the lock and pulled the trigger. + +"Bang!" + +There was a roaring explosion from the wide mouthed weapon and a cloud +of smoke filled the air. But simultaneously there came a sound of +ripping, tearing and splintering and the lock of the door, shot clean +out by the heavy charge, clattered down to the floor on the inside of +the room. + +An instant later Joe Digby, pale and trembling from privation, surprise +and happiness all mingled in one, was in the midst of his friends and +fellow scouts. + +"I don't know what made me think of it," he explained in answer to +eager questions about the smoke telegraph message. "It was what the +books call an inspiration, I guess. There were plenty of loose +boards--fragments of old packing cases lying about, and luckily they +had not taken my matches. I built a blaze and then, while it was still +smoldering, I covered it with an old strip of sacking that I wetted +with some water out of the bottle they left me." + +"It made about as good a signal, as one could want," responded Rob +warmly, "but now tell us about your capture, Joe, how did it happen?" + +"Why, you see," exclaimed the lad, his voice growing stronger as he +proceeded, "I was just thinking it was about time to wake my relief +when I heard a rustling noise in the bushes back of the camp. I walked +up there to investigate, for I thought it might be some animals--maybe +the captain's pigs." + +"Keel haul them lubberly swine," from the captain. + +"But, as you shall hear, I was mistaken. Hardly had I reached the edge +of the dark shadows than I was seized and a hand put over my mouth. I +had only time to let out one yell for help." + +"The one that woke me," put in Merritt, in parenthesis. + +"That was it; I guess," went on the small lad, "well, I was picked up +and carried some little distance to where they had a boat, and thrown +into it. Then the three men who were in the boat rowed to an island +with a tent on it and there two of them got out. The other, a fellow +with a big beard and very dirty, then rowed over to this place with me +and, after putting some bread and a bottle of water inside the door, +closed and locked it. + +"I carried on like a baby, I guess. I cried for a long time and +shouted, but no one came. Then I grew quieter and tried to find some +way of escape but the shutters were all fastened and the door was too +strong for me. I tried to clamber up the chimney once but I had to +give it up. Then suddenly the thought of making a smoke came to me and +then I improved on that idea and used the Morse code that Rob has been +drumming into me. I never thought that I might be able to use it to +save my life maybe--or at least a lot of hunger and misery." + +"Could you recognize the men who took you if you saw them again?" asked +Rob earnestly. + +"I'm not sure," responded the small lad, "one of them I would know--the +one with the beard. The other two wore masks. But I think their +voices sounded like Bill's and Jack's. I'm sure of the man with the +beard though." + +"Hank Handcraft," exclaimed Merritt. + +"Oh, that's who it was," cried the small lad, "I thought somehow the +voice and something about the man seemed familiar. He's that old beach +comber who lives outside Hampton." + +"That's the son uv a sea-swab," roared the captain, "oh, if I could +only get my hands on him, I'd--" + +The fate the captain had reserved for Hank was doomed not to be known, +for as he was speaking Paul Perkins gave a sudden shout: + +"Look--look there!" he cried, pointing. + +Sneaking up to the tented island was the familiar outline of Sam +Redding's hydroplane. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE ESCAPE OF THE BULLY + + +The group standing about the newly rescued lad on the veranda of the +deserted bungalow galvanized into instant action. + +"Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender are in her!" shouted Rob, "come on, +scouts, we'll get after them while we can." + +With a shout the Boy Scouts ran for the boat and speedily pulled out to +the Flying Fish. Hastily as they executed this move, however, the two +in the other boat had had time to head her about and start at top speed +for the mouth of the inlet. + +"Clap on more sail, my hearties," roared the captain, almost beside +himself with excitement, "I want ter get my hands on them two piratical +craft." + +Rob, with a look of grim determination on his usually pleasant face, +held the Flying Fish true on her course, but, heavily laden as she was, +she could not make her usual speed and the hydroplane soon distanced +her. Jack Curtiss stood in her stern and waved a mocking hand at the +Boy Scouts as the light-draft craft shot over the shoals and shallows +with case while the Flying Fish had to lose much time and way by +threading in and out seeking the deeper water. + +"Douse my toplights, I can't stand that," bellowed the irate Captain +Hudgins. "I'll put a shot in that jackanapes' locker." + +With these words, and before any of the boys could stop him, he rose to +his feet and sent a bullet from his ponderous revolver flying in the +direction of the fleeing motor boat. It missed and hit the water near +by, sending up a little fountain of spray. + +Even at the distance they were the occupants of the Flying Fish could +see the fear which this warlike move inspired in the bully and his +companion. They threw themselves flat in their boat till only the +hands of Bill, who was steering, were visible. + +They need not have feared, however. The captain's hasty move brought +down on his head Rob's wrath, though the young leader could not find it +in his heart to be really angry with the old man who had been irritated +past endurance by the bully's mocking defiance. + +"Shiver my garboard strake," he exclaimed contritely, when Rob pointed +out to him that he might have killed one of the occupants of the +hydroplane, "shiver my garboard strake, lad, I saw red fer a minute +just like I did that time the Chinese pirates boarded the Sarah Jane +Butts in the Yellow River." + +Although there was not much hope of catching the two, Rob stuck to the +chase even when he realized the scouts were outdistanced, and in fact +kept his attention so closely riveted on the other craft that when +there came a sudden jar and jolt and the Flying Fish stopped with a +grunt and a wheeze, he realized with a start that he had not been +watching the treacherous channel and was once more fast on a sand bar. + +With a last shout and a yell of defiance the bully and his companion, +who had by now got over their fright, shot out on to the ocean and +rapidly vanished. + +"There goes our hope of catching those two crooks," cried Tubby +angrily, while the engine of the Flying Fish was set at reverse. "It's +all off now. They know that we have rescued Joe and they'll fly the +coop for some other part of the country." + +"I suppose they came down here to get their tent, not realizing we'd be +here so soon," observed Andy, which indeed was the fact. + +Fortunately the Flying Fish was not very hard aground and a little +manipulation got her off into deep water once more. + +"I guess those two chaps are almost in Hampton by this time and getting +ready to leave town," observed Rob as the motor boat forged ahead, once +more. + +"This will be the safest thing for them to do," exclaimed Merritt, +"they are in a serious position this time. Kidnapping is a dire +offense." + +"I wonder what they came back for?" said Tubby suddenly. + +"No doubt to get their tent and the few things they had left on the +island," vouchsafed Rob, skillfully dodging a shoal as he spoke, +"maybe, too, they intended to see how Joe was making out." + +"I wasn't making out at all," said the small lad, with a shudder at the +recollection of his imprisonment. + +"Never mind, Joe, that's all over now," put in Merritt. + +"I'm glad it is," answered the small lad, "and just think, if I hadn't +been a Boy Scout and understood that code I might have been there yet." + +"That's true enough," said Rob, "for we had about made up our minds +that the bungalow was deserted, and were not going to bother +investigating it, till we saw the smoke." + +About an hour later the boys landed once more in camp, where their +reception by the others may be well imagined by my young readers. + +"And now comes the final chapter in the career of Messrs. Jack Curtiss +and Bill Bender," said Rob decisively, "I'm going to take a run up to +Hampton. Joe, you'll come along, and you, Merritt, and Tubby. If that +letter was delivered, as I imagine it was, Joe's parents must be in a +terrible state of anxiety by now and we must hurry up and see them at +once." + +"Right," agreed Merritt, and a few moments later, having left the +captain and the others ashore, the Boy Scouts and their young leader +were speeding toward Hampton. With the craft lightened as she was, +they made good time and arrived at the yacht club pier speedily. + +News of the events which had transpired at the island had evidently +reached the town, for Mr. Wingate himself, with Mr. Blake and Merritt's +father were at the landing as the Flying Fish glided up to it. + +The three elders were almost as enthusiastic as the boys had been over +the safe recovery of Joe, the details attendant on which Rob rapidly +sketched to them. He had hardly concluded and had not had time to ask +how they knew of the kidnapping when a wild-eyed man in faded old farm +clothes, accompanied by an equally distracted woman, came rushing down +to the wharf. + +"Where's them Boy Scouts? I allers knew no good would come of my son +joining 'em," the man shouted. "I'll give a hundred dollars fer a boat +that'll take me ter Topsail Island in ten minutes." + +"'No need of that, Mr. Digby," said Rob quietly stepping forward with +his hand on Joe's shoulder, "here is Joe safe and sound." + +"Great hopping watermelons!" yelled the farmer, rushing at his son +followed by his wife. Together the worthy souls almost squashed the +small lad like a butterfly under a harrow. But at last the first +greetings were over and the farmer turned to the somewhat amused group +of boys and men who were looking on. + +"My, what a fright we had," exclaimed Mrs. Digby, a motherly-looking +woman, dabbing at her eyes with capacious pocket handkerchief, "we gets +a letter tellin' us that our boy be kidnapped." + +"Yes we know all about that, Mrs. Digby," put in Mr. Blake, "you +recollect your husband telephoned to the chief of police here about it, +and expecting news from the island, we came down here." + +"So he did, so he did," cried Mrs. Digby, "oh, dear me, Mr. Blake, I'm +in such a takin! I hardly know what I'm sayin'." + +"Consarn them Boy Scouts," sputtered the farmer, returning to his +original grievance, "if Joe hadn't a joined them none of this would +have happened." + +"Oh, yes it would and worse in fact," said Mr. Blake quietly, "from +what I have learned of the affair it was your lad's knowledge of the +Morse code, which every Boy Scout must know, that saved him when he was +confined on the island." + +"That's right, pop," piped up the lad himself. + +"Wall, I don't know nothin' about Horses, codes," grunted Mr. Digby, +somewhat mollified, "but if it saved Joe here it must be all right." + +"Then your animosity toward the Boy Scouts is somewhat modified," +smiled Mr. Blake, "let me tell you just what happened. As a matter of +fact the whole trouble dates back to the day your son exposed the +contemptible trick by which Jack Curtiss hoped to win the aeroplane +model prize contest." + +The banker drew the farmer aside and related to him the story that had +been previously narrated by Rob. + +"I want ter shake yer hand, boy," exclaimed the fanner, darting at Rob +at the conclusion, "I want ter shake all yer hands," he yelled in his +enthusiasm. + +"Bless my soul," exclaimed Commodore Wingate suddenly, "we are clean +forgetting about those two young rascals who tried to extort the money +from Mr. Digby. We must get after them at once and their accomplice +who, I suppose, is, the man delegated to take the money from under the +rock." + +"What do you suggest?" asked Mr. Blake. + +"That we hasten to the office of the chief of police and then get into +my car and ferret them out if possible," said the commodore briskly, +"they must be made to suffer for this." + +"I don't believe that Sam Redding had any hand in it," put in Rob as +Merritt mentioned the name of the boat-builder's son. "You know that +all our investigation only pointed to two persons, Jack and Bill, and +their assistant, Hank Handcraft." + +A short time later Merritt, Tubby and the Digbys being left behind on +the landing, a high powered car, containing Rob, his father, Commodore +Wingate and the chief of police of Hampton shot out on to the road +leading to the farm owned by Jack Curtiss' father. Inquiry at the +Bender home had already developed the fact that Jack and Bill had left +there hurriedly a short time before, saying they were going out to the +Curtiss place. The party was doomed to disappointment, however, so far +as the hope of catching Jack or his accomplices at the farm was +concerned. Old Mr. Curtiss informed them that his son had taken the +family buggy and driven furiously off down the road with Bill Bender a +short time before. + +"He got a hundred dollars from me," explained the old man simply, "he +told me he was goin' ter invest it in some rich mining stock his friend +Bender had promoted but--what's the matter, gentlemen," he broke off, +noticing the half-pitying look on the faces of the men in the +automobile. Mr. Blake hurriedly explained the attempted extortion of +which Jack had been guilty. + +"What, Jack--my son!" exclaimed the old man in half daze at the +stunning intelligence, "my boy Jack do a thing like that? Why, it +can't be true. I don't believe it." + +"I'm afraid, nevertheless, it is," rejoined Mr. Blake, but the old man +only shook his head. + +"I'll not believe it," he kept repeating. + +"I wish that so good a father had a worthy son," remarked Mr. Blake as +the car shot out of the farm and out upon the highroad in the hope of +overtaking the buggy. + +At the Digby farm the machine was turned off to take the cross roads +and at this spot they encountered a buggy coming toward them driven by +a farmer friend of Mr. Blake's. + +"Seen a rig with Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender in it?" shouted the +banker as the car was slowed up by Commodore Wingate. + +"Down the road a piece driving like the Mischief," responded the rustic +pointing back with his whip, "but you're wrong 'bout ther' bein' only +two of them; that no-good beach-comber, Hank Handcraft, was in there +with them." + +With a shouted word of thanks the car dashed forward once more. It was +evident that, realizing that their game was up, Jack and Bill had +picked up Hank, and, with a sense of loyalty for which Rob certainly +would not have given them credit, were trying to save him too. + +"Where can they be headed for?" wondered Mr. Blake as the car dashed +forward. + +"I can hazard a guess," exclaimed Commodore Wingate, "for the Sunnyside +railroad station. If they make a train they may escape us yet." + +"Je-rus-a-lem," exclaimed the chief of police, a man named Applegate, +pulling out a huge old-fashioned silver watch, "there's a train due in +a few minutes now; if we don't make it, they'll slip through our +fingers!" + +Faster and faster the car roared forward and suddenly as it shot round +a curve the little station of Sunnyside came in sight. Tied outside it +was the buggy and horse of farmer Curtiss and on the platform stood +three figures that the party in the auto made out at once as Jack +Curtiss, Bill Bender and their unsavory ally. + +The road took a long curve at this point and while they could see the +station the pursuers had the mortification of knowing that it would be +some minutes before they could reach it. As the car bounded forward, +swaying like a rocking ship over the rough roads, there came a sudden +sound that made Rob's heart bound. + +The long whistle of an approaching train. + +Faster the machine shot onward roaring like a battery of machine guns +going into action. Its occupants leaned forward with eyes glued on the +group on the platform. + +The trio of whom the autoists were in pursuit had by this time realized +that they were the objects of the chase and were nervously staring up +the track down which was fast approaching the train by which they hoped +to escape. + +The auto was still a good two hundred yards from the station when the +train rolled in and, hardly stopping, started to move out again. + +"Stop! stop!" yelled Chief Applegate, at the top of his lungs, and the +others waved their hands frantically. The engineer looked back at them +with a grin. + +"Some more idiots missed their train, Jim," he remarked to the fireman, +"I might have waited for them but we're five minutes behind schedule +time now." + +The fireman nodded understandingly and as the auto, in a cloud of dust, +dashed up to the little depot the train, with a screech that sounded +like the last defiance of the bully, shot round a curve and vanished +with a cloud of black smoke. + +"Beaten!" gasped the chief. + +"We can telegraph ahead and have them arrested in New York," suggested +Rob. + +"No, perhaps it is all for the best," counseled Mr. Blake, "the parents +of both those boys are respected citizens, and it would be a cruel +grievance to them were their boys to be publicly disgraced. Let them +work out their own salvation." + +And so Jack Curtiss, Bill Bender and Hank Handcraft vanish for a time +from the ken of the Boy Scouts, leaving behind them no regrets, except +it be those of their parents who were for many months bowed down with +the grief and humiliation of their boys' misdoings. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +SCOUTS IN NEED ARE FRIENDS INDEED + + +"Ta-ra-ta-ra-ta! Ta-ra-ta-ra-ta! Ta-ra-ta-rata! Ta-ra-ta-a-a!" + +Andy's bugle briskly announced the last morning of the Boy Scouts' camp +on Topsail Island. Already the first breath of autumn had begun to +tint the leaves of the earlier fading trees, and the chill of the early +dawn was noticeable. + +During their stay in camp the lads had profited in every way. The scout +program as sent out for camps by headquarters had been gone, through +with some modifications, and Sim Jeffords had qualified as a +first-class scout while Martin Green, Walter Lonsdale and Joe Digby, +once more as merry as ever, were all fitted for their second-class +scout diplomas. The prospect of another patrol in Hampton had been +discussed and the outlook for one seemed favorable. + +As the last notes of Andy's call--to turn to the subject of the opening +of this chapter--rang out the tousle-headed, sleepy-eyed scouts +appeared from their tents and found themselves enveloped in a fleecy +mist--such a light fog as is common on that part of the Atlantic coast +at this season of the year. + +"Pretty thick!" was Rob's comment as he doused his face in his tin +basin. + +"Hull-o-o-o!" suddenly hailed a voice from the water, "got any +breakfast fer an old shipmate?" + +Through the fog the boys could make out the dim outline of the +captain's motor boat even if it's apoplectic cough had not already told +them it was there. + +"Sure, come ashore," hailed Merritt. + +A few moments later the hearty old seaman was sitting down with the +lads and performing miracles of eating. + +"It's a good thing we haven't all got your capacity," remarked Rob, +laughing, "or that provision tent wouldn't have held out very long." + +"Wall, boys," observed the captain, drawing out a black pipe and +ramming some equally black tobacco into it with a horny thumb, "a full +hold makes fair sailin', that's my motto and 'Be Prepared' is yers. A +man can be no better prepared than with a good meal under his belt. +Give me a well-fed crew and I'll navigate a raft to Hindustan, but a +pack uv slab-sided lime juicers couldn't work a full-rigged ship uv the +finest from here to Ban-gor." + +Having delivered himself of this bit of philosophy, the captain passed +on to another subject. + +"Hear'n anything uv them varmints what slipped their moorings on the +train?" he asked. + +"We heard that they had gone West," rejoined Merritt, "but to just what +part I don't know." + +"That thar Sam Reddin' boy clar'd himself uv all suspicion, did he?" +went on the old man. + +"Yes, after he had admitted that Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender and +himself stole our uniforms and robbed you--" + +"Consarn him," interrupted the captain. + +"You needn't grumble, his father paid you back all that was taken," +observed Merritt. + +"That don't lessen the crime," grunted the captain, "heave ahead with +yer yarn, my boy; yer was sayin' that that Reddin' boy admitted +everythin'." + +"Well," continued Rob, "in consideration of his confession, it was +agreed not to prosecute him and he seems to be a reformed character. +He absolutely denied, though, having had anything to do with the +kidnapping of Joe Digby here, and I believe he is telling the truth." + +"The truth ain't in any uv them fellers, that's my belief," snorted the +captain, "and if ever I get my hands on that thar Jack Curtiss or Bill +Bender I'll lay onto 'em with a rope's end." + +"Oh, we'll never see them again," laughed Rob. + +It may be said here, however, that in this he was very much mistaken. +Rob and his friends did meet the bully again and under strange +circumstances, in scenes far removed from the peaceful surroundings of +Hampton. + +"Fog's thickenin'," observed the captain squinting seaward. + +As he remarked, the mist was indeed increasing in density, shrouding +the surroundings of the camp completely and covering the trees and +bushes with condensed moisture, which dripped in a slow, melancholy +sort of way from their limbs. + +"Bad weather for ships," observed Merritt. + +"Yer may well say that, my lad, and this is a powerful bad part uv the +coast ter be navigatin' on in a fog. I've heard it said that there's a +lot uv iron in the Long Island shoals and that this deflects the +compasses uv ships that stay too near in shore in a fog. I don't know +how that maybe, I don't place a lot uv stock in it myself, but I do +know that steamers and vessels uv al kinds go ashore here more than +seems ter be natural." + +As he finished speaking there came, the fog a sound that fitted in so +well with subject of his conversation that it almost an accompaniment +to it. + +"Who-oo-oo-oo!" + +"A steamer's siren," exclaimed Rob. + +"That's what it is, lad," assented the old sailor, as the sound came +again, booming through the fog with a melancholy cadence. + +"Who-o-o-o-o-o!" roared the siren once more. + +"I'll bet the feller who's on the bridge uv that ship is havin' his own +troubles just about now," remarked the captain, "hark at that!" + +The whistle was now roaring like a wounded bull, sending distinct +vibrations of sound through the increasing fog billows. + +"Thick as pea soup," commented the captain, refilling his pipe, "reckon +I'll have ter stay here till she lifts a bit. Wind's hauled to the +sou'west too. Bad quarter means more fog and smother." + +"Who-o-o-o-o!" boomed the siren of the hidden vessel once more, and +this time it was answered by another whistle somewhere further off in +the fog. + +"Two uv 'em now. Stand by fer a collision," shouted the captain, while +the scouts, intensely interested in the development of this hidden +drama of the fog, clustered about him. + +"Who-o-o-o-o! Who-o-o-o-o! Who-o-o-o-o!" came the nearest siren. + +"She's standin' in shore," shouted the captain, "boys, she's in grave +danger." + +"What's she coming in for?" asked Merritt. + +"I suppose her skipper thinks he's got plenty uv water under his keel +and wants ter give a wide berth ter the other vessel," explained the +captain. "Boys, if only we had a big bell or a steam whistle we could +warn them poor fellows uv their peril." + +"It does seem hard to hear them blundering in and not be able to warn +them," agreed Rob, "there should have been a lighthouse put on these +shoals long ago." + +"Right yer are, boy, but the government is a slow movin' vessel and +hard ter get under way." + +The boys had to laugh at this odd way of expressing the difficulty of +getting new lights erected, but they knew as well almost as their +companion the dangers of the ocean off this part of Long Island. + +The whistle boomed out its wailing note again. + +"Closer and closer," lamented the captain, "what's the matter with +those lubbers? Yer'd think they'd have a leadsman out." + +All at once the catastrophe for which they had been more or less +prepared happened. So quickly did it come that they had not time to +speak. + +The echoes of the last note of the siren had hardly died out when there +came a loud explosion. + +"Bang!" + +"A signal gun," roared the captain. + +"They are calling for help?" asked Rob. + +"That's it, my boy. They've struck, just as I thought they would." + +The distress gun sounded again. + +"They're in a bad mess by the sound uv that," said the captain. + +"It doesn't sound as if they were more than half a mile or so out," +remarked Rob. + +"I guess they're not. Hark at that! They must be scared ter death." + +The gun was fired three times in rapid succession. + +"They'll never hear that at Lone Hill life savin' station," grimly +commented the captain, "and this fog's too thick fer them ter see her." + +"Do you imagine she is badly damaged, captain?" asked Rob anxiously. +The idea of the stranded ship lost in the dense fog affected him +strangely. + +"Can't tell," the captain replied to his question, "may have stove a +hole in herself and be sinking now." + +"Can't we do something to help them?" asked Merritt eagerly. + +"Only one thing we can do, boy, and that's full uv danger." + +"What is it?" demanded Rob, ignoring the last part of the captain's +speech. + +"Get in ther boat and go out thar to 'em. If they're sinkin' we can +help 'em a whole lot, and--" + +The captain stopped short in amazement. + +Rob, Merritt and Tubby had already started for the beach and Hiram, +"the wireless scout", was close on their heels. + +"Well, douse my toplights," exclaimed the captain, rising to his feet +and lumbering after them, "Yer can't beat the Boy Scouts." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +A MEETING IN THE FOG--CONCLUSION + + +"Can you make her out?" + +Five pairs of eyes peered through the mist that hung like a white pall +an every side of the Flying Fish. + +"Stop that motor a minute, while I listen!" + +In compliance with Rob's order Merritt shut down the panting engine. + +"What's that noise off there?" asked Hiram suddenly. + +"That sort of throbbing sound?" rejoined Tubby Hopkins. + +"That's it, sounds like a big heart beating," put in Rob. + +"I guess that's their engine. They're tryin' ter back her off," +suggested the captain. + +"Give them a blast on that fog-horn and see if they answer," said Rob +suddenly. + +Hiram took up the big brass fish-horn, used as a fog signal on the +Flying Fish, and blew a loud, long call. + +After an interval of waiting, from out of the mist came the wail of the +stranded ship's siren once more. + +"There she is, right in there," declared the captain, pointing seaward +into the mist. "Steer right on that tack, Rob, and we'll pick her up +pretty soon." + +The motor was started up once more and the Flying Fish forged ahead +through the smother. Suddenly Rob, with a sharp cry of: + +"Stop her!" swung his wheel over sharp and the Flying Fish headed about. + +The gleaming black rampart of a large vessel's side had suddenly loomed +up dead ahead of him. + +"Ahoy! aboard the steamer," roared the captain, framing his mouth with +his hands, "what ship is that?" + +"The El Paso from London to New York," came back a hail from somewhere +above them in a somewhat surprised tone, "who are you?" + +"The Flying Fish of Hampton, Long Island," responded Rob, with a laugh. + +"Never heard of her," responded the voice, "we're hard aground on one +of your Long Island shoals it seems." + +"That's what yer are," exclaimed the captain, "how come yer ter be +huggin' the shore so hard?" + +"Trying to avoid a collision with another vessel." + +"Are yer all right?" bellowed the captain. + +"Seem to be. So far as we can find out there's not a plate started, +but if you're from the land we've got a couple of passengers we'd be +thankful if you'd take ashore. Will you come on board?" + +"Sure, if yer'll drop a Jacob's ladder," bellowed the captain at the +invisible speaker. + +"In a minute." + +The conversation had been carried on without either of the parties to +it being able to see one another, but the captain of the vessel--for he +had been the boy's interlocutor--now came off the bridge and with some +of the crew watched two sailors lower a Jacob's ladder and make it fast +to the rail. + +"Now we go aboard," said Captain Hudgins, clambering up the swaying +contrivance as nimbly as an athlete, "make our painter fast ter the +ladder, Rob." + +This being done, the boys followed the veteran on board. The steamer, +when they gained her deck, puzzled them a good deal and it was not till +her captain, a genial blond-bearded Britisher, explained to them that +she was a cattle ship that they understood the utility of the wooden +structures with which her decks were obstructed. + +The captain explained that these were pens for the cattle she expected +to take back to England, from which country she was returning after +having taken over a large consignment of steers. + +"Which," went on the captain, "brings us to my passengers. They are +Mr. Frank Harkness and his son, of Lariat, a small cattle town in the +West, where Mr. Harkness has a large ranch. They were his cattle that +we took over and as he had difficulty in engaging a berth on a liner at +this time of year, when the passenger ships are crowded, he decided to +return with us. Here is Mr. Harkness now," he added, as a tall, +bronzed man, with a long coat draped over a pair of broad shoulders, +and a wide-brimmed sombrero above keen eyes, approached. + +"Visitors from the shore, captain?" he inquired, a pleasant smile +illuminating his clean-shaven, sun-browned face. + +"That's what they are," rejoined the captain, "just dropped in on us, +don't you know." + +"You mean we dropped in on them," amended the other with a laugh, "come +here, Harry," he called, raising his voice, "we've got some company out +of the fog." + +In response to his call a lad about the age of Rob appeared from the +after-end of the ship, where the cabins were, and greeted the boys with +a smile and a nod. He, like his father, wore a sombrero and was quite +as sunburned. For the rest he was well-knit and athletic looking and +had evidently lived an out-door life. + +"Well, we are getting plenty of experiences away from the ranch, eh, +Harry?" observed his father, after the boys and the captain had +introduced themselves and there had been a great and ceremonious +hand-shaking all round. + +"We just naturally are," responded the rancher's son. "Say, captain," +he went on, "when do you expect to get off?" + +"If we are not too badly hung up we ought to get off at high-water," +rejoined the Britisher. + +"That won't be till late to-night," observed Rob. + +"If I could only get a tug we might do better," observed the captain, +"in fact, since I've had the engines going I don't think we can back +off under our own power." + +"Have you got a wireless?" asked Hiram, his pet subject uppermost. + +"Yes, but our operator went ashore in London and I guess he had too +good a time; anyhow he never showed up so we had to cross without one." + +"Is she working?" asked Hiram interestedly. + +"Sure, there's plenty of 'juice' as the operators, call it. I tried to +work it coming over," laughed Harry, "but outside of getting a proper +shock, I didn't do much." + +"I'll send out a signal for a tug," said Hiram quietly, "there's a +station at Island. They'll pick up the message and transmit it." + +"What--you can work a wireless?" + +"A little bit," said the lad modestly. + +"Come on, I'll show you the way," said the delighted captain, starting +off with Hiram, and followed by the others. + +"Say, don't think it personal of me, will you?" remarked Harry Harkness +to Rob as they followed, "but would you mind telling me what you all +are wearing those uniforms for?" + +"Why, we're Boy Scouts," rejoined Rob proudly, and went on to explain +just what the organization is. + +"Say, that's great," exclaimed Harry enthusiastically, "I'd like to +form a patrol out at Lariat. Do you reckon I could?" + +"I don't doubt it," rejoined Rob, smiling the Western enthusiasm. + +"By cracky, I'll do it," went on Harry Harkness, "I'll make it a +mounted patrol and if we don't get old 'Silver Tip' then, besides all +the other sport we'll have, call me a coyote." + +"Who or what is old Silver Tip?" asked Rob, somewhat interested in his +breezy new acquaintance. + +"Silver Tip is a grizzly," explained Harry, "a grizzly bear you know. +Dad says he's the biggest he's ever seen and he seems to bear--excuse +the pun, please--he seems to bear a charmed life. All the boys on the +ranch are crazy to get a shot at him, but they've never been able to." + +"Say, that sounds bully," agreed Rob, "I wish I could get out West for +a while." + +"It's a great country," said Harry sagely, as they entered the wireless +room, where Hiram was already bending over the instrument sending out a +message for aid, while the blue spark leaped and crackled across its +gap. The others gazed on admiringly as Hiram, having completed his +message, adjusted the detector on his head and awaited an answer. + +It soon came. Tugs would be dispatched as soon as the fog lifted, the +operator at Fire Island announced. + +"That's a weight off my mind," breathed the captain, while Harry +hastily confided to his father that the lads who had boarded the vessel +out of the mist were Boy Scouts. + +"The fog is lifting," announced Rob, as they streamed out of the +wireless room. + +"Yes, the wind has shifted," remarked Captain Hudgins. "I guess it was +that sou'west breeze that brought the mist. She's hauled ter the +nor'west now, and in an hour's time it will be clear." + +"I wonder if you boys can put us ashore," said Mr. Harkness, as the +group walked aft to the captain's cabin; "I would be very grateful if +you could. It seems that it will be some time before the steamer is +cleared, and I am anxious to make a train for the West." + +The boys agreed to land the ranchman and his son as soon as the fog +cleared off, which, as the captain had prophesied, it did in about an +hour's time. The boys had spent the interim in exploring the ship and +listening to Harry Harkness' tales of the ranch and the marvelous +exploits of Silver Tip, the huge grizzly, who derived his name, it +appeared, from a spot of white fur on his breast. In fact, so fast did +they get on, that by the time Harry and his father were called by +Captain Hudgins to embark in the Flying Fish, the boys had become fast +friends. + +The run to the shore was made quickly and by landing the two travelers +at a point above Hampton they were enabled to make a train that would +land them in the city in time for dinner. Mr. Harkness whiled away the +trip by plying the boys with all sorts of questions about the Boy +Scouts and seemed greatly interested in their answers. Altogether the +boys felt quite sorry when it came time to part at the wharf at +Farmingdale, the place where the rancher and his son were put ashore. + +"Well, good-bye, boys," said Mr. Harkness, holding out a big hand to +Rob, who took it and was amazed to find a twenty dollar gold piece +slipped into his palm by the ranchman. + +"Oh, I couldn't think of taking that," he said, insisting on handing it +back despite the ranchman's protests, "I appreciate your motive, but I +couldn't think of taking any money for an ordinary courtesy." + +"By Sam Hooker, you're right, boy," cried the ranchman heartily, "and +it's a privilege to meet such a bunch of fine lads. I thought all you +Easterners were a bunch of stuck-up tenderfeet, but I find I'm +wrong--anyhow so far as the Boy Scouts are concerned." + +A few minutes later the rancher and his son were hastening to the +railroad station, followed by the boys' eyes. As they entered the +depot, just in time to catch the New York train--they waved a hearty +farewell and the boys waved and shouted in return. + +"We've only known them a few hours, but I feel as if I'd just said +good-bye to two friends," said Rob as they turned away and prepared to +go back to the island in their boat and break camp. + +"So do I!" said Tubby; "I wonder if we'll ever see them again." + +"No, I guess they're kind of ships that pass in the night,"' laughed +Merritt, "however, I'm glad we did them a good turn." + +The boys, however, were destined to meet the ranchers again and to have +many strange and exciting adventures, among which the ultimate downfall +of Silver Tip was to be one. Could they have looked into the future, +too, they would have seen that in the Far West they were to face +dangers and difficulties of which they had as yet never dreamed and +were to be the victims of the malicious contrivings of Bill Bender and +our old, acquaintance, Jack Curtiss. + +A few weeks after the events related above there was great excitement +in Hampton over the announcement that Merritt's courageous act of +life-saving and the achievements of the other young scouts of the Eagle +Patrol were to receive official recognition. A field secretary of the +organization arrived at the village one evening and was met at the +depot by the Patrol in full uniform, and with the village band drawn up +at their head. Proudly, under the Eagle standard, they marched to the +Town Hall, which had been illuminated in a style the villagers would +never have believed possible and were greeted by the local committee +headed by Commodore Wingate and Mr. Blake. + +"Three cheers for the Boy Scouts!" came from a voice in the back of the +crowded hall after the honors had been distributed and the advances in +rank announced. + +The shout that went up cracked the plaster on the ceiling of the +venerable building. + +"Speech, speech," shouted one of those individuals who always do raise +that cry on the slightest excuse. + +Rob Blake, very red and protesting, was hustled to the front of the +stage on which the Scouts had been drawn up. + +"I can't make a speech," he began. + +"Hear! Hear!" shouted the crowd, most of whom couldn't. + +"But on behalf of the Boy Scouts I want to thank you all and--and--" + +The rest was drowned by the band which, having been quiescent for ten +whole minutes, could maintain silence no longer and blared out into +that favorite of all village bands, "Hail to the Chief." + +"Come on, let's get out of here," whispered Rob to Merritt, whose +breast was decorated with the coveted bronze cross and red ribbon, +which is the highest honor a scout can attain. + +As they slipped out upon the darkened street a boy came up to them with +an outstretched hand. + +"I want to tell you I'm sorry for the part I played in the mean tricks +Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender put up on you fellows," he said +contritely, "will you shake hands?" + +"Sure we will, Sam Redding," responded Merritt, extending his palm, +while Rob did likewise. + +"At that," added Merritt, "I guess we win." + +And here, with their former enemy become a remorseful friend, we will, +for the present, leave the Boy Scouts to renew our acquaintance with +them in the next volume of this series which will be called: "The Boy +Scouts on the Range." + + + +THE END + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Boy Scouts of the Eagle Patrol, by +Howard Payson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY SCOUTS OF THE EAGLE PATROL *** + +***** This file should be named 12112.txt or 12112.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/1/1/12112/ + +Produced by Sean Pobuda. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/12112.zip b/old/12112.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..912bfb6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12112.zip diff --git a/old/old/20040422.12112.txt b/old/old/20040422.12112.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..661dd31 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/20040422.12112.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7159 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Boy Scouts of the Eagle Patrol, by Robert Drake + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net + + +Title: The Boy Scouts of the Eagle Patrol + +Author: Robert Drake + +Release Date: April 22, 2004 [EBook #12112] +[Date last updated: May 24, 2004] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY SCOUTS OF THE EAGLE PATROL *** + + + + +Produced by Sean Pobuda + + + + + +THE BOY SCOUTS OF THE EAGLE PATROL + +By Lieut. Howard Payson + + + + + + +CHAPTER I + +SCOUTS ON THE TRAIL + + +The dark growth of scrub oak and pine parted suddenly and the +lithe figure of a boy of about seventeen emerged suddenly into +the little clearing. The lad who had so abruptly materialized +from the close-growing vegetation peculiar to the region about +the little town of Hampton, on the south shore of Long Island, +wore a well-fitting uniform of brown khaki, canvas leggings of +the same hue and a soft hat of the campaign variety, turned up at +one side. To the front of his headpiece was fastened a metal +badge, resembling the three-pointed arrow head utilized on old +maps to indicate the north. On a metal scroll beneath it were +embossed the words: "Be Prepared." + +The manner of the badge's attachment would have indicated at +once, to any one familiar with the organization, that the lad +wearing it was the patrol leader of the local band of Boy Scouts. + +Gazing keenly about him on all sides of the little clearing in +the midst of which he stood, the boy's eyes lighted with a gleam +of satisfaction on a largish rock. He lifted this up, adjusted +it to his satisfaction and then picked up a smaller stone. This +he placed on the top of the first and then listened intently. +After a moment of this he then placed beneath the large +underlying rock and at its left side a small stone. + +Suddenly he started and gazed back. From the distance, borne +faintly to his ears, came far off boyish shouts and cries. + +They rose like the baying of a pack in full cry. Now high, now +low on the hush of the midsummer afternoon. + +"They picked the trail all right," he remarked to himself, with a +smile, "maybe I'd better leave another sign." + +Stooping he snapped off a small low-growing branch and broke it +near the end so that its top hung limply down. + +"Two signs now that this is the trail," he resumed as he stuck it +in the ground beside the stone sign. "Now I'd better be off, for +they are picking my tracks up, fast." + +He darted off into the undergrowth on the opposite side of the +clearing, vanishing as suddenly and noiselessly as he had +appeared. + +A few seconds later the deserted clearing was invaded by a +scouting party of ten lads ranging in years from twelve to +sixteen. They were all attired in similar uniforms to the +leader, whom they were tracing, with but one exception they wore +their "Be Prepared" badges on the left arm above the elbow. Some +of them were only entitled to affix the motto part of the badge +the scroll inscribed with the motto. These latter were the +second-class scouts of the Eagle Patrol. The exception to the +badge-bearers was a tall, well-knit lad with a sunny face and +wavy, brown hair. His badge was worn on the left arm, as were +the others, but it had a strip of white braid sewn beneath it. +This indicated that the bearer was the corporal of the patrol. + +As the group of flushed, panting lads emerged into the sandy +space the corporal looked sharply about him. Almost at once his +eye encountered the "spoor" left by the preceding lad. + +"Here's the trail, boys," he shouted, "and to judge by the fresh +look of the break in this branch it can't have been placed here +very long. The small stone by the large one means to the left. +We'll run Rob Blake down before long for all his skill if we have +good luck." + +"Say, Corporal Merritt," exclaimed a perspiring lad, whose "too, +too solid flesh" seemed to be melting and running off his face in +the form of streaming moisture, "don't we get a rest?" + +A general laugh greeted poor Bob or Tubby Hopkins' remark. + +"I always told you, Tubby, you were too fat to make a good +scout," laughed Corporal Merritt Crawford, "this is the sort of +thing that will make you want to take some of that tubbiness off +you." + +"Say, Tubby, you look like a roll of butter at an August picnic," +laughed Simon Jeffords, one of the second-class scouts. + +"All right, Sim," testily rejoined the aggrieved fat one, "I +notice at that, though, that I am a regular scout while you are +only a rookie." + +"Come on, cut out the conversation," exclaimed Corporal Crawford +hastily, "while we are fussing about here, Rob Blake must be +halfway home." + +With a groan of comical despair from poor Tubby, the Boy Scouts +darted forward once more. On and on they pushed across country, +skillfully tracking their leader by the various signs they had +been taught to know and of which the present scouting expedition +was a test. + +Their young leader evidently intended them to use their eyes to +the utmost for, beside the stone signs, he used blaze-marks, cut +on the trees with his hunting knife. For instance, at one place +they would find a square bit of bark removed, with a long slice +to the left of it. This indicated that their quarry had doubled +to the left. The slice to the right of the square blaze +indicated the reverse. + +Suddenly Corporal Crawford held up his hand as a signal for +silence. The scouts came to an abrupt stop. + +From what seemed to be only a short distance in front of them +they could hear a voice upraised apparently in anger. Replying +to it were the tones of their leader. + +"Seems to be trouble ahead of some kind," exclaimed Crawford. +"Come on, boys." + +They all advanced close on his heels--guided by the sound of the +angry voice, which did not diminish in tone but apparently waxed +more and more furious as they drew nearer. Presently the +woodland thinned and the ground became dotted with stumps of +felled timber and in a few paces more they emerged on a small +peach orchard at the edge of which stood Rob Blake and a larger +and older boy. As Crawford and his followers came upon the scene +the elder lad, who seemed beside himself with rage, picked up a +large rock and was about to hurl it with all his might at Rob +when the young corporal dashed forward and held his hand up to +stay him. + +"Here, what's all this trouble?" he demanded. + +"You just keep out of it, Merritt Crawford," said the elder lad, +a hulking, thick-set youth with a mean look on his heavy +features. "I'm just reading this kid here a lesson. This +orchard is my father's and mine and you'll keep out of it in +future or suffer the consequences, understand?" + +"Why, we aren't doing any harm," protested Rob Blake heatedly. + +"I don't care what you are doing or not doing," retorted the +other, "this is my father's orchard and you'll keep off it. You +and the rest of you tin soldiers. I don't want you stealing our +peaches." + +"I guess you are sore, Jack Curtiss, because you couldn't get a +boy scout patrol of your own! I guess that's what the trouble +is," remarked Tubby Hopkins softly, but with a meaning look at +the big lad. + +"You impudent little whipper-snapper," roared Jack Curtiss, "if +you weren't such a shrimp I'd lick you for that remark, but +you're all beneath my notice. All I want to say to you is keep +away from my orchard or I'll give you a trimming." + +"Suppose you start now," said Rob Blake quietly, "if you are so +anxious to show what a scrapper you are." + +"Bah, I don't want anything to do with you, I tell you," rejoined +Curtiss, turning away, with a rather troubled expression, +however, for while he was a bully the big lad had no particular +liking for a fight unless he was pretty sure that all the +advantage lay on his side. + +"It was too bad you didn't get that patrol of yours, Jack," +called the irrepressible Tubby after him as the big youth strode +off across the orchard toward the old-fashioned farmhouse in +which he lived with his father, a well-to-do farmer. "Never +mind; better luck next time," he went on, "or maybe we'll let you +into ours some time." + +"You just wait," roared the retreating bully, shaking his fist at +the lads, "I'll make trouble for you yet." + +"Well," remarked Rob Blake, as Jack Curtiss strode off, "I guess +the run is over for to-day. Too bad we should have come out on +his land. Of course he feels sore at us; and I shouldn't wonder +but he will really try to do us some mischief if he gets a +chance." + +As it was growing late and there did not seem much chance of +restarting the "Follow the Trail" practice, that day at least, +the boys strolled back through the woodland and soon emerged on a +country road about three miles from Hampton Inlet, where they +lived. + +While they are covering the distance perhaps the reader may care +to know something about the cause of the enmity which Jack +Curtiss entertained toward the lads of the Eagle Patrol. It had +its beginning several months before when the boys of Hampton +Inlet began to discuss forming a patrol of boy scouts. They all +attended the Hampton Academy, and naturally the news that Rob +Blake was going to try to organize a patrol soon spread through +the school. + +Jack Curtiss, as soon as he heard what Rob--whom he considered +more or less a rival of his--intended doing he also forwarded an +application to the headquarters of the organization in New York. +As Rob Blake's had been received first, however, and on +investigation he was shown to be a likely lad for the leader, he +was appointed and at once began the enrollment of his scouts. + +The bully was furious when he realized that he would be unable to +secure an authorized patrol, and he and his cronies, two lads +about his own age named Bill Bender and Sam Redding, had been +busy ever since devising schemes to "get even" as they called +it. None of these, however, had been effective and the encounter +of that day was the first chance Jack had had to work off any of +his rancor on Rob Blake's patrol. + +Young Blake was the only son of Mr. Albert Blake, the president +of the local bank. His corporal, Merritt Crawford, was the +eldest of the numerous family of Jared Crawford, the blacksmith +and wheelwright of the little town, and Tubby Hopkins was the +offspring of Mrs. Hopkins--a widow in comfortable circumstances. +The other lads of the Patrol whom we shall meet as the story of +their doings and adventures progresses were all natives of the +town, which was situated on the south shore of Long Island--as +has been said--and on an inlet which led out to the Atlantic +itself. + +The scouts trudged back into Hampton just at twilight and made +their way at once to their armory--as they called it--which was +situated In a large room above the bank of which Rob's father was +president. At one side of it was a row of lockers and each lad--after +changing his uniform for street clothes--placed his "regimentals" +in these receptacles. + +This done the lads broke up and started for their various homes. +Rob and his young corporal left the armory together, after +locking the door and descending the stairs which led onto a side +street. + +"I wonder if that fellow Curtiss means to carry out his threat of +getting even?" said Crawford as they made their way down the +street arm in arm, for their homes were not far apart and both on +Main Street. + +"He's mean enough to attempt anything," rejoined Rob, "but I +don't think he's got nerve enough to carry out any of his +schemes. Hullo!" he broke off suddenly, "there he is now across +the street by the post office, talking to Bill Bender and Sam +Redding. I'll bet they are hatching up some sort of mischief. +Just look at them looking at us. I'll bet a doughnut they were +talking about us." + +"Shouldn't wonder," agreed his companion. "By the way, I've got +to go and see if there is any mail. Come on over." + +The two lads crossed the street and as they entered the post +office, although neither of them had much use for either of the +bullies' two chums, they nodded to them pleasantly. + +"You kids think you're pretty fine with your Eagle Patrol or +whatever you call it, don't you," sneered Bill Bender, as they +walked by. "I'll bet the smell of a little real powder would +make your whole regiment run to cover." + +"Don't pay any attention to him," whispered the young corporal to +Rob, who doubled up his fists and flushed angrily at the sneering +tone Jack Curtiss' friend had adopted. + +Rob restrained his anger with an effort, and by the time they +emerged from the post office the trio of worthies--who, as Rob +had rightly guessed, had been discussing them--had moved on up +the street. + +"I had trouble with those kids myself this afternoon," remarked +Jack Curtiss with a scowl, as they wended their way toward a shed +in the rear of Bill Bender's home, which had been fitted tip as a +sort of clubroom. + +"What did they do to you?" incautiously inquired Sam Redding, a +youth as big as the other two, but not so powerful. In fact he +was used more or less as a tool by them. + +"Do to me," roared the bully, "what did I do to them, you mean." + +"Well what did you do to them then?" asked Bill Bender, as they +entered the clubroom before referred to and he produced some +cigarettes, which all three had been strictly forbidden to smoke. + +"Chased them off my land," rejoined the other, lighting a paper +roll and blowing out a cloud of smoke, "you should have seen them +run. If they want to play their fool games they've got to do it +on the property of folks who'll let them. They can't come on my +land." + +"You mean your father's, don't you?" put in the unlucky Sam +Redding. + +"Sam, you've got a head like a billiard ball," retorted the +bully, turning on the other, "it'll be mine some day, won't it? +Therefore it's as good as mine now." + +Although he didn't quite see the logic of the foregoing, Sam +Redding gave a sage nod and agreed that his leader was right. + +"Yes, those kids need a good lesson from somebody," chimed in +Bill Bender. + +"I think we had better be the 'somebodies' to give it to them," +rejoined Jack Curtiss. "They are getting insufferable. They +actually twitted me this afternoon with being sore at them +because I didn't get my patrol--as if I really wanted one. That +Blake kid is the worst of the bunch. Just because his father has +a little money he gives himself all kinds of airs. My father is +as rich as his, even if he isn't a banker." + +"I've been thinking of a good trick we can put up on them, but it +will take some nerve to carry it out," announced Bill Bender, +after some more discussion of the lads of the Eagle Patrol. + +"Out with it, then," urged the bully, "what is it?" + +In a lowered tone Bill Bender sketched out his scheme in detail, +while Jack and Sam nodded their approval. At length he ceased +talking and the other two broke out into a delighted laugh, in +which malice as much as merriment prevailed. + +"It's the very thing," exclaimed Jack. "Bill, you're a genius. +We'll do it as soon as possible. If that doesn't take some +starch out of those tin soldiers nothing will." + +Half an hour later the three cronies parted for the night. Sam +went to his home near the waterfront, for his father was a boat +builder, and Jack started to walk the three miles to his father's +farm in the moonlight. His way took him by the bank. As he +passed it he gazed up at the windows of the armory on which was +lettered in gilt: "Eagle Patrol of the Boy Scouts of America." + +"That's a slick idea of Bill's," said the bully to himself, "I +can hardly wait till we get a chance to carry it out." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A CRUISE TO THE ISLAND + + +"Whatever are you doing, Rob?" + +It was the morning after the consultation of Jack Curtiss and his +cronies, and Corporal Crawford was looking over the fence into +his leader's yard. + +Rob was bending over a curious-looking apparatus, consisting of a +bent stick held in a bow-shape by a taut leather thong. The +appliance was twisted about an upright piece of wood sharpened at +one end--which was rotated as the lad ran the bow back and forth +across it. + +Presently smoke began to rise from the flat piece of timber into +which the point of the upright stick had been boring and +depositing sawdust, and Rob, by industriously blowing at the +accumulation, presently caused it to burst into flame. + +"There I've done it," he exclaimed triumphantly, arising with a +flushed face from his labors. + +"Done what?" inquired young Crawford interestedly. + +"Made fire in the Indian way," replied Rob triumphantly. + +"I thought they made it by rubbing two sticks together." + +"Only book Indians do that," replied Rob, "I'll tell you it took +me a time to get the hang of it, but I've got it now." + +"It's quite a stunt, all right," commented the corporal +admiringly. + +"You bet, and it's useful, too," replied Rob. "I'll put the bow +and drill in my pocket, and then any time we get stuck for +matches we'll have no trouble in making a signal smoke or +lighting cooking fires." + +"Say, I've got some news for you," went on young Crawford, "did +you know that Sam Redding has entered that freak motor boat he's +been building in the yacht club regatta? He's out for the club +trophy." + +"No, is he, though?" exclaimed Rob, keenly interested. "Then +the crew and skipper of the Flying Fish will have to look alive. +I know that Sam's father helped him out with that boat and put a +lot of new wrinkles in it. I didn't think, though, he'd have it +ready in time for the races." + +The boys referred to the coming motor-boat races which were to +take place shortly on the inlet at Hampton. Like most of the +other lads in the seashore town, Merritt and Rob had a lot of +experience on the water and some time before had built a speedy +motor boat from knock-down frames. The Flying Fish, as they +called her, was entered for the main event referred to, the +prize for which was a silver cup, donated by the merchants of +the town. There were several other entries in the race, but Rob +and his crew, consisting of Merritt and Tubby Hopkins, +confidently expected the Flying Fish to easily lead them all. + +"I wonder if the Sam Redding can show her stern to the Flying +Fish?" mused Rob. "I'd like to lake a good look at her." + +"Let's go down to Redding's boat yard," suggested Merritt; +"she's lying there on the ways. I don't suppose any one would +object to our sizing her up." + +Rob hailed the suggestion as a good one. + +"We can call in for Tubby on the way," he said, as he darted into +the house after his hat. + +The boys dropped in at Tubby's house on their way to the +water-front, and received from the stout youth some additional +details regarding Sam's boat. + +"She's a hydroplane," volunteered Tubby, "and Tom Jennings, down +at the yard, says she's as fast as a race horse." + +"A hydroplane?--that's one of those craft that cut along the top +of the water like a skimming dish, isn't it?" asked Merritt. + +"That's the idea," responded Rob. "They're supposed to be as +speedy as anything afloat in smooth water." + +Thus conversing they reached the boat-building yard of Sam +Redding's father and were greeted by Tom Jennings, a big +good-natured ship carpenter. "Hullo, Tom! Can we see that new +boat of Sam's?" inquired Rob, + +"Sure, I guess there's no objection," grinned Tom, "come right +this way. There she is, over there by that big winch." + +Report had not erred apparently as to the novel qualities of Sam +Redding's speed craft. She was about twenty-five feet long, +narrow and painted black. She was perfectly flat-bottomed, her +underside being deeply notched at frequent intervals. On the +edge of those notches she was supposed to glide over the water +when driven at top speed. + +"She certainly looks like a winner," commented Rob, as he gazed +at her clean, slender lines and sharp bow. + +"She's got wonderful speed," Tom Jennings confided. "We tried +her out the other night when no one was around. But I don't +think that in rough water she'll be much good." + +"No, I'd prefer the Flying Fish for the waters hereabouts," +agreed Rob, "it's liable to come on rough in a hurry and then a +chap who was out in a dry-goods box, like that thing, would be in +trouble." + +"What are you calling a dry-goods box?" demanded an indignant +voice behind them, and turning, the lads saw Sam Redding with a +menacing look on his face. A little way behind him stood Bill +Bender and Jack Curtiss. + +"Oh, I beg your pardon, Sam," said Rob. "I really admire your +hydroplane very much, and I think it will give us a tussle for +the trophy, all right; but I don't think she'd be much good in +any kind of a sea-way." + +"That's my business, you interfering little runt," snapped Sam, +who, with Bill Bender and Jack Curtiss to back him, felt very +brave; though ordinarily he would have avoided trouble with the +young scouts. "What are you doing spying around the yard here, +anyhow?" he went on insolently. + +"We are not spying," indignantly burst out Merritt. "We asked +Tom Jennings if we couldn't look at your hydroplane, as we were +naturally interested in her, and he gave us permission." + +"Well, he had no business to," growled Sam; "he ought to be +attending to his work instead of showing a lot of nosy young cubs +my new boat." + +"They are capable of stealing your ideas," chimed in Jack +Curtiss, "and putting them on their own boat." + +"That's ridiculous," laughed Rob, "as I said I wouldn't want to +have anything to do with such a contrivance except on a lake or a +river." + +"Well, you keep your advice and your ideas to yourself, and get +out of this yard!" roared Sam, waxing bolder and bolder, and +mistaking Rob's conciliatory manner for cowardice. "I've a good +mind to punch your head." + +"Better come on and try it," retorted Rob, preparing for the +immediate onslaught which it seemed reasonable from Sam's manner +to expect. + +But it didn't come. + +Muttering something about "young cubs," and "keeping the +boat-yard gate locked," Sam turned to his chums and invited them +to come and try out his new motor in the shop. + +As the three chums had no desire to "mix it up with Sam on his +own place," as Tubby put it, they left the yard promptly, and +walked on down the water-front to the wharf at which lay the +Flying Fish, the fastest craft in the Hampton Motor Boat Club. +Rob's boat was, to tell the truth, rather broad of beam for a +racer and drew quite a little water. She had a powerful motor +and clean lines, however, and while not primarily designed solely +for "mug-hunting," had beaten everything she had raced with +during the few months since the boys had completed her. The +money for her motor had been given to Rob by his father, who was +quite indulgent to Rob in money matters, having noticed that the +lad always expended the sums given him wisely. + +"Let's take a spin," suddenly suggested Tubby. + +"Nothing to prevent us," answered Rob; "we've got plenty of time +before dinner. Come on, boys." + +The lads were soon on board and examining the gasoline tank, to +see how much fuel they had on hand, and oiling up the engine. +The fuel receptacle proved to be almost full, so after filling +the lubricant cups and attending to the batteries, they started +up the engine--a powerful, three cylindered, twelve-horse affair +capable of driving the twenty-two foot Flying Fish through the +water at twelve miles an hour or better. + +Just as Rob was casting off the head-line there came a hail from +the wharf above them. + +"Ahoy, there, shipmates! Where are yer bound fer this fine, +sunny day?" + +The lads looked up to see the weather-beaten countenance of +Captain Job Hudgins, one of the characters of the vicinity. He +was a former whaler, and lived on a small island some distance +from Hampton. On his little territory he fished and grew a few +vegetables, "trading in" his produce at the Hampton grocery +stores for his simple wants. He, however, had a pension, and was +supposed to have a "snug little fortune" laid by. His only +companion in his island solitude was it big Newfoundland dog +named "Skipper." + +The animal stood beside its master on the dock and wagged its +tail at the sight of the boys, whom it knew quite well from their +frequent visits to the captain's little island. + +"Hullo, captain!" shouted Rob, as the veteran saluted his three +young friends. "Where's your boat?" + +"Oh, her engine went--busted, and I had to leave her at the yard +below fer repairs," explained the captain. "I wonder if yer boys +can give me a lift back if yer goin' near Topsail Island?" + +"Surest thing you know," rejoined Rob hastily. "Come right +aboard. But how are you going to get off your island again if +your motor is laid up here to be fixed?" + +"Oh, I'll use my rowboat," responded the old mariner, clambering +down into the Flying Fish. "Say, this is quite a right smart +contraption, ain't she?" + +"We think she is a pretty good little boat," modestly replied +Rob, taking his place at the wheel. "Now, then, Merritt, start +up that engine." + +"Hold on a minute!" shouted Tubby. "We forgot the dog." + +Sure enough, Skipper was dashing up and down the wharf in great +distress at the prospect of being deserted. + +"Put yer boat alongside that landin' stage at the end of the +wharf," suggested his master. "Skipper can get aboard from +there, I reckon." + +Rob steered the Flying Fish round to the floating landing, to +which an inclined runway led from the wharf. Skipper dashed down +it as soon as he saw what was happening, and was waiting, ready +to embark, when the Flying Fish came alongside. + +"Poor old Skipper, I reckon yer thought we was goin' ter maroon +yer," said Captain Job, as the animal jumped on board with a bark +of "thanks" for his rescue. "I tell yer, boys, I wouldn't lose +that dog fer all the money in Rob's father's bank. He keeps +good watch out an the Island, I'll tell yer." + +"I didn't think any one much came there, except us," said Rob, as +the Flying Fish headed away from the wharf and began to cut +through the waters of the inlet. + +"Oh, yes; there's others," responded the old man. "That Jack +Curtiss lad and his two chums are out there quite often." + +"Bill Bender and Sam Redding, I suppose you mean," said Tubby. + +"Those their names?" asked the captain. "Well, I don't know any +good uv any uv 'em. Old Skipper here chased 'em away from my +melon patch the other day. I reckon they thought Old Scratch was +after them, the way they run; but they got away with some melons, +just the same." + +The old man laughed aloud at the recollection of the marauders' +precipitous flight. + +That Jack Curtiss and his two cronies had made a rendezvous of +the island was news to the boys, and not agreeable news, either. +They had been planning a patrol camp there later on in the +summer, and the bully and his two chums were not regarded by them +as desirable neighbors. However, they said nothing, as they +could not claim sole right to use the island, which was property +that had been so long in litigation that It had come to be known +as "No Man's Land" as well as by its proper name. The captain +was only a squatter there, but no one cared to disturb him, and +he had led the existence of a semi-hermit there for many years. + +The Flying Fish rapidly covered the calm waters of the inlet and +was soon dancing over the swells outside. + +"I'm going to let her out a bit," said Rob suddenly; "look out +for spray." + +"Spray don't bother a brine-pickled old salt like me," laughed +the captain. "Let her go." + +The Flying Fish seemed fairly to leap forward as Merritt gave her +the full power of her engine. As Rob had said, it did indeed +behoove her occupants to look out for spray. The sparkling spume +came flying back in sheets as she cut through the waves, but the +boys didn't mind that any more than did their weather-beaten +companion. As for Skipper, he barked aloud in sheer joy as the +Flying Fish slid along as if she were trying to live up to her +name to her utmost ability. + +"This is a good little sea boat," remarked the captain, as they +plunged onward. "She's as seaworthy as she is speedy, I guess." + +"She'll stand a lot of knocking about, and that's a fact," agreed +Rob. + +"Well," remarked the old man, gazing about him, "it's a good +thing that she is, fer, if I'm not mistaken--and I'm not often +off as regards the weather--we are goin' ter have quite a little +blow before yer boys get back home." + +"A storm?" asked Tubby, somewhat alarmed. + +"Oh, no; not what yer might call a storm," laughed the captain; +"but just what we used to term a 'capful uv wind.'" + +"Well, so long as it isn't a really bad blow, it won't trouble +the Flying Fish," Rob assured him. + +"Hullo!" exclaimed the old man suddenly. "What queer kind uv +craft is that?" + +He pointed back to the mouth of the now distant inlet, from which +a curious-looking black craft was emerging at what seemed to be +great speed. + +"It's that hydroplane of Sam Redding's, for a bet!" cried Rob. +"Here, Tubby, take the wheel a minute, while I put the glasses on +her." + +The lad stood up in the heaving motor craft, steadying himself +against the bulwarks by his knees, and peered through his +marine-glasses. + +"It's the hydroplane, sure enough," he said. "By ginger, but she +can go, all right! Sam and Jack and Bill are all in her. They +seem to be heading right out to sea, too." + +"Say!" exclaimed Tubby suddenly, "if it comes on to blow, as the +captain said it would, they'll be in a bad fix, won't they?" + +"In that ther shoe-box thing," scornfully exclaimed the old +captain, who had also been looking through the glasses, "why, I +wouldn't give a confederate dollar bill with a hole in it fer +their lives." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +BOY SCOUTS TO THE RESCUE + + +"Hadn't we better put back and warn them?" suggested Merritt +rather anxiously, for he was alarmed by the confident manner in +which the old seaman prophesied certain disaster to the +hydroplane if the weather freshened. + +"No; see, she's heading toward us. I guess they want a race," +cried Rob. "We'll slow down a bit and let them catch up." + +In a few moments the hydroplane was alongside. The yellow hood +over her powerful engines glistened with the wet of the great +bow-wave her speed had occasioned, and her powerful motor was +exhausting with a roar like a battery of machine guns. + +Crouched aft of the engine hood was Sam Redding, who held the +wheel. Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender were in the stern. They sat +tandem-wise in the narrow racing shell. + +"Want a tow rope for that old stone dray of yours?" jeered Jack +Curtiss, as the speedy little racer ranged alongside. + +He did not know that the Flying Fish was slowed down, and that +although the hydroplane appeared to be capable of tremendous +speed, she was not actually so very much faster than Rob's boat. + +"Say, you fellows," warned Rob, making a trumpet of his hands, +"the captain says it's coming on to blow before long. You'd +better get back into the inlet with that craft of yours." + +"Save your breath to cool your coffee," shouted Sam Redding back +at him, across the fifty feet or so of water that lay between the +two boats. "We know what we are about." + +"But you're risking your lives," shouted Merritt. "That thing +wouldn't live ten minutes in any kind of a sea." + +"Well, we're not such a bunch of old women as to be scared of a +little wetting," jeered Jack Curtiss. "So long! We've got no +time to wait for that old tub of yours." + +Before the boys could voice any more warnings, the hydroplane, +which had been slowed down, dashed off once more. + +"I don't know what we are to do," spoke up Merritt. "We can't +compel them to go in, and, after all, the captain may be +mistaken." + +"No, I'm not, my son," rejoined the veteran. "I can smell wind--and +see them 'mare's tails' in the sky over yonder. They're as fall +uv wind as a preacher is uv texts." + +"Well, we've done our best to warn them," concluded Rob. "If +they are so foolhardy as to keep on, we can't help it." + +In half an hour more the boys had landed the captain at the +little pier he had built on his island, and to which his rowboat +was attached, and were ready to start back, good-bys having been +said. + +"Hark!" exclaimed the captain, as Rob prepared to give the order +to "Go ahead." + +The boys listened, and heard a low, distant moaning sound, +something like the deepest rumbling notes of a church organ. + +"That's the wind comin'," warned the captain. "Yer'd better be +hurryin' back." + +With more hasty good-bys, the lads got under way at once. As +they emerged from the lee of the island they could see that +seaward the ocean was being rapidly lashed into choppy, white-- +crested waves by the advancing storm, and that the wind was +freshening into a really stiff breeze. + +"Those fellows must be wishing they took our advice now if they +are fools enough to have kept out," said Merritt, as he slowed +down the engine so as to permit the Flying Fish to ride the +rising seas more easily. + +"Yes, I guess they're doing some tall thinking," agreed Tubby, as +a wave caught the little Flying Fish "quartering" on her port +bow, and sent a white smother of spray swirling back over her +occupants. + +"That's the time we got it," laughed Rob, from the wheel, peering +straight ahead. Suddenly he uttered a shout and pointed seaward. + +"Look there!" he shouted at the top of his voice. "There are +those three fellows, and they're in trouble, from the looks of +it." + +The others looked, and beheld, half a mile or so away, on the +roughening waters, the hull of the hydroplane. She was tossing +up and down like a cork, and apparently was drifting helplessly, +with her motor broken down, in the heavy sea. Her occupants +seemed to be bailing her; but as they caught sight of the Flying +Fish they stood up and waved frantically. + +"Yes, they're in trouble, all right," agreed Tubby. "And I +suppose we've got to go and get them out of it." + +Rob had already put the Flying Fish about and headed her for the +distressed craft. As they drew near, Sam Redding began shouting: + +"Help, help! We're sinking, we're sinking!" + +Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender, drenched to the skin with spray and +white with fright, said nothing, but a look of great relief came +over their faces as the chums' boat ranged alongside. + +"I don't want to risk ramming my boat by coming right alongside," +shouted Rob. "You'll have to jump for it. Don't be scared. +We'll pull you aboard." + +The three youths on the water-logged hydroplane looked somewhat +alarmed at the prospect, but Rob knew that Jack and Bill could +swim. He was not sure of Sam, but assumed, from the fact that he +had lived by the sea all his life, that he was equally at home in +the water. + +The hesitation of Jack Curtiss and his chum was over in a minute, +as the hydroplane gave a plunge that seemed as if it would be her +last. Lightly dressed as they were, in canvas trousers, +sleeveless jerseys and yachting shoes, it was no trick at all for +them to swim the few feet to the Flying Fish. As they leaped +overboard, Sam lingered. + +"Come on, Sam," shouted Jack, as the boys lugged the two +dripping, sputtering castaways on board. + +"I--I can't swim. You'll have to come alongside for me," +stuttered the badly-scared Sam. + +"All right. Hold on, and we'll do what we can," hailed Rob, +starting to carry out the risky maneuver of getting alongside the +plunging hydroplane in the heavy sea. + +In some never-to-be-explained manner, however, the frightened Sam +suddenly lost his balance in the tossing racing boat, and, +clawing desperately at her bulwarks to save himself, shot over +the side. + +"He'll drown!" shouted Jack Curtiss. "He can't swim, and he'll +drown." + +"If you knew that, why didn't you stand by him?" truculently +growled Tubby. + +Without an instant's hesitation, Merritt threw off the jacket he +had put on when it started to blow, and slipped off his shoes. +He was overboard and striking out for the drowning boy before +those in the Flying Fish even realized his purpose. + +With swift, powerful strokes he got alongside Sam just as the +owner of the hydroplane was going down for the third time. + +As the brave boy seized the struggling, frightened youth he felt +himself gripped by the panic-stricken Sam in a frenzied hold of +desperate intensity. His arms were pinioned by the drowning +wretch, and they both vanished beneath the waves. + +As they went under, however, Merritt managed to get one hand +free, and recalling what he had read of what to do under such +conditions, struck the other boy a terrific blow between the +eyes. It stunned Sam completely, and, to his great relief, +Merritt felt the imprisoning grip relax. He could then handle +Sam easily, and as they shot to the surface he saw the Flying +Fish bearing down on them, with four white, strained faces +searching the tumbling waters. + +In a few moments the unconscious lad and his rescuer were hauled +on board, and Rob, after congratulations, headed the Flying Fish +for the mouth of the inlet, which was still some distance off. + +Tubby and Bill Bender laid Sam on his stomach, across a thwart, +and started to try to get some of the salt water, of which he had +swallowed great quantities, out of him. He soon gave signs of +returning consciousness, and opened his eyes just as Jack Curtiss +was demanding to know if the Boy Scouts weren't going to take the +hydroplane in tow. + +"Not much we're not," responded Rob. "I'm sorry to have to leave +her; but this sea is getting up nastier every minute, and there's +no way of getting a line to her without running more risk than I +want to take. We've had one near-drowning and we don't want +another." + +"If this was my boat, I'd pick Sam's boat up," sullenly replied +the bully. + +"You ought to be mighty glad we came along when we did," +indignantly spoke up Tubby. "You'd have been in a bad fix if we +hadn't. Instead of being thankful for it, all you can do is to +kick about leaving the hydroplane." + +An angry reply was on the other's lips, but Bill Bender checked +it by looking up and saying: "I guess the kid's right, Jack. Let +it go at that." + +The bully glowered. He felt his pride much wounded at having +been compelled to seek the aid of the boys whom be despised and +hated. + +"I suppose you'll go and blab it all over town about how you +saved us," he sneered, as the Flying Fish threaded her way +through the tumbling waters at the mouth of the inlet and began +making her way up it. + +"I don't think we shall," replied Rob quietly. "I mean to +recommend Merritt, though, to headquarters for his Red Honor." + +"Oh, you mean that cheap, bronze medal thing on a bit of red +ribbon!" sneered Jack. "Why, that isn't worth much. You +couldn't sell it for anything but old junk. Why don't they make +them of gold?" + +"That 'bronze medal thing,' as you call it, is worth a whole lot +to a Boy Scout," rejoined Rob in the same even tone. "More than +you can understand." + +On their arrival at the yacht-club pier the boys were overwhelmed +with questions, and a doctor was summoned for Sam, who, as soon +as he found himself safe, began to groan and show most alarming +symptoms of being seriously affected by his immersion. + +The boys were not able to conceal the fact that they had +accomplished a brave rescue, and were overwhelmed with +congratulations. Merritt especially came in for warm praise and +commendation. + +"You will certainly be granted your Red Honor," declared Mr. +Wingate, who, besides being commodore of the Yacht Club, was one +of the gentlemen whom Rob had persuaded to act as Scout Master +for the new patrol. + +Merritt escaped from the crowd of admiring motor-boat men and +boys as soon as he could, and hastened home for a change of +clothes. On the arrival of Dr. Telfair, the village physician, +he pronounced that there was nothing whatever the matter with Sam +but a bad fright, and prescribed dry garments and hot lemonade. + +"Don't I need any medicine?" groaned Sam, determined to make the +most out of his temporary notoriety. + +"No, you don't," growled the doctor; "unless," he added to +himself, "they put up 'courage' in bottles." + +"I suppose those boys will be more stuck up than ever now," said +Jack to Bill Bender, as, having perfunctorily thanked their +rescuers, they started for home with the almost weeping Sam. + +"Sure to be," rejoined Bill. "It's all your fault, Sam, for +taking us out in that fool hydroplane." + +"My fault! Well, I like that," stuttered out Sam. "You asked me +to come, and you know I wanted to come back when the boys told us +it might come on to blow; but you called me a 'sissy,' and said I +was too timid to own a boat." + +"Um--er--well," rejoined Bill, somewhat confused, "that's so. +But anyhow, to return to what we were talking about, it's given +those kids a great chance to set up as heroes." + +"Well, we can work that scheme we were talking about last night +on them just as soon as you're ready," suddenly remarked Jack. +"That will give them something else to think about." + +"Oh, say, Jack, cut it out, won't you?" pleaded Sam. "I don't +like the kids any better than you do, but one of them saved my +life to-day, and I'm not going into anything that will harm +them." + +"Hear him rave!" sneered Jack. "Why last night, when we talked +it over, you thought it would be a prime joke. It isn't as if it +would hurt them. It'll just give them something to study up, +that's all. They think they're such fine trailers and tracers +that it would be a shame not to give them a chance to show what +they can do." + +"That's right, Sam," cut in Bill; "it's more of a joke than +anything else." + +"Well," agreed Sam weakly, "if you put it in that way, I suppose +it's all right; but I tell you I don't like it." + +"Why, you'll have the laugh of your young life after we've pulled +the stunt off," remarked Bill. "When will we do it, Jack?" + +"Not to-night, that's certain," responded the other. "I've had +enough excitement for one day." + +"What's the matter with to-morrow night, then?" + +"I'm agreeable. How about you, Sam?" + +"I wish you fellows would leave me out of it," rejoined the +bully's timid chum. + +"Like they left you out of their patrol, eh?" sneered Bill, +knowing that he was touching the other on a tender spot. + +"All right, to-morrow night suits me," snapped Sam, flushing +angrily at Bill's remark--as that worthy had intended he should. +"Here's my house. We'll meet at Bill's 'boudoir."' + +"Right you are," chuckled Jack. "Oh, say, it's going to be the +joke of the century!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +SAM IN DIRE STRAITS + + +"Kree-ee-ee!" + +Merritt paused the next morning in front of Tubby's home, and +gave the "call" of the Eagle Patrol with a not uncreditable +resemblance to the scream of a real eagle. + +The cry was instantly echoed--though in a rather thicker way-- +from inside the house, and in a minute Tubby, who knew that some +one of the patrol must have uttered the call, appeared at his +door, munching a large slice of bread and jam, although it was +not more than an hour since breakfast. + +"Say, you, did you ever hear an eagle scream with his mouth full +of bread and jam?" demanded Merritt, as the stout youth appeared. + +"Eagles don't eat bread and jam," rejoined Tubby, defending his +position. "Have some?" + +"Having had breakfast not more than an hour ago, I'm not hungry +yet, thank you," politely rejoined the corporal; "besides, I'm +afraid I'd get fat." + +Dodging the stout youth's blow, the corporal went on: + +"Heard the news?" + +"No--what news?" eagerly demanded the other, finishing his light +repast. + +"Why, the Dolphin--you know, that fishing boat--picked up Sam's +hydroplane at sea and towed it in. It's in pretty good shape, I +hear, although the engine is out of commission and it was half +full of water." + +"He's a lucky fellow to get it back." + +"I should say so," replied Merritt; "but it will cost him a whole +lot to reclaim it. The captain of the Dolphin says he wants +fifty dollars for it as salvage." + +"Gee! Do you think Sam's father will give him that much?" said +Tubby, with round eyes. + +"I don't know. He can afford it all right. He's made a lot of +money out of that boat-building shop, my father says; but he's so +stingy that I doubt very much if he will give Sam such a sum." + +"Why, here's Sam coming down the street now," exclaimed the +good-natured Tubby. "I wonder if he's heard about it. Hullo, +Sam! Get all the water out of your system?" + +"I'm all right this morning, if that is what you mean," rejoined +the other, with dignity. + +"Heard the news about your boat?" asked Merritt suddenly. + +"No; what about her? Is she safe? Who picked her up?" + +"Wait a minute. One question at a time," laughed Merritt. +"She's safe, all right. The Dolphin picked her up at sea. But +it will cost you fifty dollars to get her." + +"Fifty dollars!" gasped Sam, turning pale. + +"That's what the skipper of the Dolphin says. He had a lot of +trouble getting a line fast to her, he says, and he means to have +the money or keep the boat." + +"Oh, well, I'll get it from my father easily enough," said Sam +confidently, preparing to swagger off down the street. "I've got +to get my boat back and beat Rob's Flying Fish, and that +hydroplane can do it." + +"Can you match that?" exclaimed Merritt to the fat youth, as Sam +strolled away. "Here he was saved from drowning by the Flying +Fish only yesterday, and all he can think of this morning is to +promise to beat her. What makes him so mean, I wonder?" + +"Just born that way, I guess," rejoined the stout youth; "and as +for the Flying Fish saving him, if it hadn't been for a certain +Corporal Crawford, he--" + +"Here, stow that," protested Merritt, coloring up. "I heard +enough of that yesterday afternoon," + +As the boys had surmised, Sam's father was not at all pleased +when he learned that his son wanted fifty dollars. In fact, he +refused point blank to let him have it at all. + +"That boat of yours has cost enough already, and I'm not going to +spend any more on it," he said angrily, as he turned to his work. + +"But I can't get the hydroplane back if I don't pay it," urged +Sam. "I've seen the captain of the Dolphin, and he refuses +absolutely to let me have her unless I pay him for his trouble in +towing her in." + +"I can't help that," snapped the elder Redding. "What have I got +to do with your boat? Look here!" he exclaimed, turning angrily +and producing a small memorandum book from his pocket and rapidly +turning the leaves. "Do you know how much I've given you in the +last two months?" + +"N-n-no," stammered Sam, looking very much embarrassed, and +shuffling about from one foot to the other. + +"Then I'll tell you, young man; it's exactly--let me see--ten, +twenty, five, three, fifteen and eight. That's just sixty-one +dollars. Do you think that money grows on gooseberry bushes? +Then there'll be your college expenses to pay. No, I can't let +you have a cent." + +"That means that I will lose my boat and the chance of winning +the race at the regatta!" urged Sam gloomily. + +"Well, you should have had more sense than to take that fool +hydroplane out into a rough sea. I told you she wouldn't stand +it. There, go on about your own affairs. I'm far too busy to +loaf about, arguing with you." + +And with this the hard-featured old boat builder--who had made +his money literally by the sweat of his brow--turned once more to +his task of figuring out the blue prints of a racing sloop. + +Sam saw that it was no use to argue further with his father, and +left the shop with no very pleasant expression on his +countenance. + +"I'll have to see if I can't borrow it somewhere," he mused. "If +only I was on better terms with Rob Blake, I could get it from +him, I guess. His father is a banker and he must have plenty. I +wonder--I wonder if Mr. Blake himself wouldn't lend it to me. I +could give him a note for it, and in three months' time I'd be +sure to be able to take it up." + +With this end in view, the lad started for the Hampton Bank. It +required some courage for a youth of his disposition to make up +his mind to beard the lion in his den--or, in other words, to +approach Mr. Blake in his office. For Sam, while bold enough +when his two hulking cronies were about, had no real backbone of +his own. + +After making two or three turns in front of the bank, he finally +screwed his courage to the sticking point, and timidly asked an +attendant if he could see the banker. + +"I think so. I'll see," was the reply. + +In a few seconds the man reappeared, and said that Mr. Blake +could spare a few minutes. Hat in hand, Sam entered the +ground-glass door which bore on it in imposing gilt letters the +word "President." + +The interview was brief, and to Sam most unsatisfactory. The +banker pointed out to him that he was a minor, and as such that +his note would be no good; and also that, without the permission +of his father, he would not think of lending the youth such a +sum. Much crestfallen, Sam shuffled his way out toward the main +door of the bank, when suddenly a voice he recognized caused him +to look up. + +"A hundred and twenty-five dollars. That's right, all shipshape +and above board!" + +It was the old captain of Topsail Island, counting over in his +gnarled paw one hundred and twenty-five dollars in crisp bills +which he had just received from the paying teller. + +"You must be going to be married, captain," Sam heard the teller +remark jocularly. + +"Not yet a while," the captain laughed back. "That ther motor uv +mine that I left ter be fixed up is goin' ter cost me fifty +dollars, and the other seventy-five I'm calculating ter keep on +hand in my safe fer a while. I'm kind uv figgerin' on gettin' a +new dinghy--my old one is just plum full uv holes. I rowed over +frum the island this mornin', and I declar' ter goodness, once or +twice I thought I'd swamp." + +Sam slipped out of the bank without speaking to the captain, +whom, indeed, since the episode of the melon patch, he had no +great desire to encounter. + +As he made his way toward his home in no very amiable mood, he +was hailed from the opposite side of the street by Jack Curtiss +and Bill Bender. + +"Any news of the boat?" demanded Jack, as he and Bill crossed +over and slapped their crony on the back with great assumed +heartiness. + +"Yes, and mighty bad news, too, in one way. She's safe enough. +The Dolphin--that fishing boat--found her and towed her in. +But--here's the tough part of it--it's going to cost fifty dollars +for salvage to get her from the Dolphin's captain, the old +shark!" + +"Phew!" whistled Jack Curtiss. "Pretty steep. But I suppose +your old man will fork over, eh?" + +"That's just it," grumbled Sam; "he won't come across with a +cent. I suppose, if I don't pay for the hydroplane's recovery +pretty soon, she will be sold at auction." + +"That's the usual process," observed Bill. + +"Isn't there any way you can raise the wind?" + +"No, I've tried every one I can think of. I don't suppose either +of you fellows could--" + +"Nothing doing here," hastily cried Jack, not giving the other +time to finish. + +"I'm cleaned out, too," Bill also hurriedly assured the +unfortunate Sam. + +"It looks like everybody but us has coin," complained that worthy +bitterly. "While I was in the bank trying to get old man Blake +to take up a note of mine for the sum I need, who should I see in +there but that old fossil of a captain from Topsail Island." + +"Who grows such fine, juicy melons and keeps such a nice, amiable +pet dog," laughed Jack, roaring at the recollection of the +piratical expedition of which the island dweller had told the +boys. + +"Ha, ha, ha!" shouted Bill in chorus. "We'll have to give him +another visit soon." + +"But what about the old land crab, Sam?" demanded Jack the next +minute. "What was he doing in the bank?" + +"Why, drawing one hundred and twenty-five dollars. Just think of +it, and we always figured it out that he was poor." + +"A hundred and twenty-five dollars! I wonder what he's going to +do with it?" wondered Jack, with whom money and its spending was +always an absorbing topic. + +"Why, I overheard that, too, as I passed by," rejoined Sam. +"He's going to spend some of it for the repairing of his motor, +which broke down yesterday, and the rest he's going to keep by +him." + +"Keep it on the island, you mean?" demanded Jack, becoming +suddenly much interested. + +"That's what he said--keep it in his safe," replied Sam. "But +what good does that do us?" + +"A whole lot, maybe," was the enigmatic reply. "See here, Sam, +you can win that race if you get your hydroplane?" + +"I'm sure of it." + +"You are going to bet on yourself, of course." + +"Sure. I've got to raise some money somehow." + +"Well, I've thought of a way you can borrow the money to get your +boat back, and when you win the race you can return it. Come on, +lees go to Bill's den, and we'll have a smoke and talk it over." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE BULLY SPRINGS A SURPRISE + + +That afternoon, in reply to a notice sent round by a runner, the +lads of the Eagle Patrol assembled at their armory, and on Leader +Rob's orders "fell in" to hear the official announcement of the +coming camping trip. As a matter of fact, they had discussed +little else for several days, but the first "regimental" +notification, as it were, was to be made now. + +The first duty to be performed was the calling of the roll after +"assembly" had been sounded--somewhat quaveringly--by little Andy +Bowles, the company bugler. + +Beside Rob Merritt, Tubby and Andy, there were Hiram Nelson, a +tall, lanky youth, whose hands were stained with much fussing +with chemicals, for he was a wireless experimenter; Ernest +Thompson, a big-eyed, serious-looking lad, whose specialty in the +little regiment was that of bicycle scout, as the spoked wheel on +his arm denoted; Simon Jeffords, a second-class scout, but who, +under Rob's tutelage, was becoming the expert "wig-wagger" of the +organization; Paul Perkins, another second-class boy, but a hard +worker and a devotee of aeronautics; Martin Green, one of the +smallest of the Eagle Patrol, a tenderfoot; Walter Lonsdale, also +a recruit, and Joe Digby, who, as the last to join the Patrol, +was the tenderest of the tenderfeet. + +Rob's announcement of the program for the eight days they were to +spend on the island was greeted with cheers. The news that turns +were to be taken by two scouts daily at washing dishes and +cooking did not awaken quite so much enthusiasm. Everybody cheered +up again, however, when Rob announced that the Flying Fish would be +at the disposal of the boys of the patrol. + +Corporal Merritt took Rob's place as orator then, and announced +that each boy would be assessed one dollar for the expenses of +the camp, the remainder of the money necessary for the providing +of tents and the provisioning of the camp having been donated by +Rob's father, Mr. Wingate, of the yacht club, and the other +representative citizens of Hampton who composed the local scout +council. + +Further excitement was caused by the announcement that following +the camp the local committee would pass upon the applications for +promotions and honors for the lads of the Patrol, and that it was +likely that another patrol would be formed in the village, as +several boys had expressed themselves as anxious to form one. +The gentlemen having charge of the local scout movement, however, +had decided that it would be wiser to wait and see the result of +one patrol's training before forming a second one. + +"I'm going to try for an aviator's badge," announced Paul Perkins, +as Rob declared the official business at an end. + +"Say, Rob, what's the matter with our fixing up a wireless in the +camp? I'm pretty sure I can make one that will catch anything in +a hundred-mile radius." + +"That's a good idea," assented Rob; "if you can do it we can get +a lot of good out of it, I don't doubt." + +"What's the good of wireless when we've got wig-wagging and the +semaphore code," spoke up Simon Jeffords, who was inclined to +doubt the use of any other form of telegraphy but that in which +he had perfected himself. + +As for Martin Green, Walter Lonsdale and Joe Digby, they +contented themselves with hoping that they might receive their +badges as second-class scouts when the camp was over. + +"I can take the whole tests except cooking the meat and potatoes +in the 'Billy,'" bemoaned young Green, a small chap of about +thirteen. "Somehow, they always seem to burn, or else they don't +cook at all." + +"Well, cheer up, Martin," laughed Rob. "You'll learn to do it in +camp. We'll make you cook for the whole time we're out there, if +you like--that will give you plenty of practice." + +"No, thank you," chimed in Andy Bowles. "I've seen some of +Mart's cooking, and I think the farther you keep him from the +cook fire, the better for the general health of the Eagle Patrol." + +At this moment there came a rap on the door. + +"Come in!" shouted Rob. + +In reply to this invitation, the door opened and a lad of about +fifteen entered. His face was flushed and he bore in his hand a +long sheet of green paper. + +"Hello, Frank Farnham," exclaimed Rob glancing at the boy's +flushed, excited face. "What's troubling you?" + +"Oh, hello, Rob. Excuse me for butting in on your ceremonies, +but I was told Paul Perkins was here." + +"Sure he is, Frank," exclaimed Paul, coming forward. "What's the +matter? It's much too warm to be flying around the way you seem +to have been. Come in under this fan." + +He indicated an electrically driven ventilator that was whirring +in a corner of the room. + +"Quit your fooling, Paul," remonstrated Frank, "and read this +circular. Here." + +He thrust the green "dodger" he carried into the other's hand. + +"What do you think of that, eh?" demanded Frank, as Paul skimmed +it with delighted eyes. + +The circular contained the announcement of a lecture on +aeronautics by a well-known authority on the subject who had once +been a resident of Hampton. To stimulate interest in the +subject, the paper stated that a first prize of fifty dollars, a +second prize of twenty-five, and a third prize of ten dollars +would be given to the three lads of the town making and flying +the most successful models of aeroplanes in a public competition. +To win the first prize it would be necessary for the model to fly +more than two hundred feet, and not lower, except at the start +and end of the flight, than fifty feet above the ground. The +second prize was for the next best flight, and the third for the +model approaching the nearest to the winner of the second money. + +"Now, Paul, you are an aeronautic fiend," went on Frank, "So am +I, and Hiram has the fever in a mild way. What's the matter with +you two fellows forming a team to represent the Boy Scouts, and +I'll get up a team of village boys, to compete for the prizes." + +"That's a good idea," assented Hiram Nelson. "I've got a model +almost completed. It only needs the rubber bands and a little +testing and it will be O.K., or at least I hope so. How about +you, Paul?" + +"Oh, I've got two models that I have got good results from," +replied the boy addressed. "One is a biplane. She's not so +speedy, but very steady; and then I have a model of a Bleriot. +I'm willing to enter either of them or both." + +"And I've got a model of an Antoinette, and one of a design of my +own. I don't know just how well it will work," concluded Frank +modestly, "but I have great hopes of carrying off that prize." + +"Let's see who else there is," pondered Hiram. + +"There's Tom Maloney. He'll go in, I know; and Ed Rivers and two +or three others, and then, by the way, I almost forgot it, I met +Sam Redding, Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender, reading a notice of +the competition, just before I came up. Of course, as there is a +chance of winning fifty dollars, Jack is going to enter one, and +Bill Bender said he would put one in, too." + +"What do they know about aeroplanes?" demanded Paul. + +"Not a whole lot, I guess; but Jack said he was going to get a +book that tells how to make one, and Bill said he'd do the same." + +"How about Sam?" inquired Rob. + +"Oh, I guess he's got troubles enough with his hydroplane," +responded Rob, whose father had told him at dinner that day of +Sam's vain visit to the bank. + +"It would be just like those fellows to put up something crooked +on us," remarked Paul, who had had much the same experiences with +the bully and his chums as his schoolmates generally. + +"Oh, there'll be no chance of that," Frank assured him. "A local +committee of business men is to be appointed to see fair play, +and I don't fancy that even Jack or Bill will be slick enough to +get away with any crooked work." + +"How long have we got to get ready?" asked Hiram suddenly. + +"Just a week." + +"Wow! that isn't much time." + +"No; my father told me that Professor Charlton, whom he knows, +would have given a longer time for preparation but that he has to +attend a flying meet in Europe, and only decided to lecture at +his native town at the last moment. Lucky thing that most of us +have got our models almost ready." + +"Yes, especially as this notice says," added Paul, who had been +reading it, "that all models must be the sole work of the +contestants." + +"If it wasn't for that it would be easy," remarked Hiram. "You +can buy dandy models in New York. I've seen them advertised in +the papers." + +"Well, come on over now and put your name down, as a contestant. +The blanks are in the office of the Hampton News," urged Frank. + +"I guess we're all through up here, Rob, aren't we?" asked Hiram. + +"Yes," rejoined the young leader; "but you study up on your +woodcraft, Hiram, and devote more time to your signaling. You +are such a bug on wireless that you forget the rest of the stuff." + +"All right, Rob," promised Hiram contritely. "By the time we go +camping I'll know a cat track from a squirrel's, or never put a +detector on my head again." + +Piloted by Frank, the two young scouts made their way to the +office of the local paper, which had already placed a large +bulletin announcing the aeroplane model competition in its +window. Quite a crowd was gathered, reading the details, as the +three boys entered. + +They applied for their application blanks and walked over to a +desk to fill them out. As they were hard at work at this, Jack +Curtiss and his two chums entered the office. + +"You going into this, too?" asked the proprietor of the paper, +Ephraim Parkhurst, as Jack loudly demanded two blanks. + +"Sure," responded Jack confidently, "and we are going to win it, +too. Hullo," he exclaimed, as his eyes fell on the younger lads, +"those kids are after the prize, too. Why, what would they do +with fifty dollars if they had it? However, there's not much +chance of your winning anything," he added, coming up close to +the boys, with a sneer on his face. "I think that I've got it +cinched." + +"I didn't know that you knew anything about aeroplanes," +responded Paul quietly. "Have you got a model built yet?" + +"I know about a whole lot of things I don't go blabbing round to +everybody about," responded the elder lad, with a sneer, "and as +for having a model built, I'm going to get right to work on one +at once. It'll be a model of a Bleriot monoplane, and a large +one, too. I notice that there is nothing said in the rules about +the size of the machines." + +Soon after this the three chums left the newspaper office +together. + +"Say," remarked Paul, in a rather worried tone, "I don't believe +that there is anything said about the size of the models. Bill +may build a great big one and beat us all out." + +"I suppose that the big machines would be handicapped according +to their power and speed," rejoined Frank. "However, don't you +worry about that. I don't believe that Jack Curtiss knows enough +about the subject to build an aeroplane in a week, and anyhow, I +think it's all empty bluff on his part." + +"I hope so," replied Paul, as they reached his front gate. "Will +you be over to-night, Hiram, to talk things over? Bring your +models with you, too, will you?" + +"Sure," replied Hiram; "but I've got to do a few things at home +after supper. I'll be over about eight o'clock or half-past." + +"All right. I'll be ready for you," responded Paul, as the lads +said good-by. + +A few minutes later Jack Curtiss and his chums emerged from the +newspaper office, the former and Bill Bender having made out +their applications. Sam seemed more dejected than ever, but +there was a grin of satisfaction on Jack Curtiss' face. + +"Well, we sent the note, all right," he laughed under his breath, +to his two chums. "He'll have got it by this time, and will be +in town by dark. You know your part of the program, Sam. Don't +fail to carry it out, or I'll see that you get into trouble." + +"There's no need to worry about me, Jack," rejoined Sam, with an +angry flush. "I'll get the boat as soon as he lands, and keep it +out of sight till you've done the trick. + +"Nothing like killing two birds with one stone," grinned Bill +Bender. "My! what a time there'll be in the morning, when they +find out that there's been a regular double cross." + +"Hush! Here come those three kids now," warned Sam, as Rob, +Merritt and Tubby came down the street. After what had passed +they did not feel called upon to give the bully and his +companions more than a cold nod. + +"Well, be as stuck up as you like to this after-noon!" sneered +Jack, after they had gone by, taking good care, however, that his +voice would not carry. "I guess the laugh will be on you and +your old friend of the island to-morrow." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +AN ISLAND MYSTERY + + +"Hullo, Hiram; where are you bound for?" + +It was Rob who spoke, as Hiram hastened by his house in the early +darkness. + +"Oh, hullo, Rob," responded the other. "I was wondering who that +was hanging over the gate. Why, I'm going to Paul's house. I'm +going to talk over that aeroplane model contest with him. I +think that we stand a chance to win if Jack Curtiss doesn't make +good his boast." + +"What was that?" inquired Rob. + +"Oh, he says that he is going to build an aeroplane that will +beat us all." + +"And have it ready in a week?" was Rob's astonished query. + +"That's what he says," responded Hiram. "It all looks kind of +suspicious to me. Fifty dollars is a large enough sum to tempt +Jack to do almost anything. Well, so long. I've got to hurry +along. I'm late now." + +And the lad hastened away to keep his appointment. + +Rob was about to go into the house and get a book, when his +attention was arrested by a figure coming up the street at a +smart pace whose outlines somehow seemed familiar to him. The +next minute his guess was confirmed, when a hearty voice hailed +him: + +"Waal, here I am, lad--all shipshape and in first-class trim. +Now, what is it? What do yer want? Yer didn't explain in the +note, but old Captain job Hudgins'll always stand by a shipmate +in distress." + +"Why, whatever do you mean, captain?" exclaimed Rob, amazed, and +thinking that the captain must have taken leave of his wits. +"Who do you mean is in distress?" + +"Mean?" echoed the captain, in his turn, it seemed, surprised. +"Why, that note yer sent me. Here it is--all written on one uv +them new-fangled machines." + +Rob took the crumpled paper the old seaman drew out of his coat +and scanned it hastily by the light of the street lamp. The +following note met his puzzled gaze. + +"DEAR CAPTAIN: Please come over and see me at once. Something +serious has happened at the bank. I need your aid and advice. + +"Yours, + +"ROB BLAKE." + +"Hum! The signature is typewritten, too," mused Rob. "What kind +of a joke is this? I don't know, but I'll bet anything that Jack +Curtiss is at the bottom of it." + +"Well," demanded the captain, "what is it, a bit of gammon? I'll +keel-haul the man as did it if I can find him." + +"It looks like a hoax of some sort," admitted Rob, sorely +puzzled; "but I can't for the life of me see the object of it. +Come into the house a minute, captain, and we'll try to figure it +out." + +Seated beneath the lamp in the library of his home, Rob +scrutinized the letter closely, but could find absolutely no +indication about it to betray who could have typewritten it. + +"How did you come to receive it?" he asked suddenly. + +"Why, old Hank Handcraft come out in that crazy launch uv his and +guv it ter me," rejoined the captain. "I ought ter hev told yer +that in the first place, but I was all took aback and canvas +a-shiver when yer tole me yer never wrote it." + +"Hank Handcraft," repeated Rob. "He's that queer old fellow that +lives in a hut away down the beach?" + +"Yes, and a bad character, too," replied the captain. "He used +ter be a smuggler, and done a term in jail fer it." + +"Well, it's pretty certain that he didn't write this," said Rob. +"He couldn't get hold of a typewriter, even if he could use one. +What did he tell you about it? Did he say who gave it to, him?" + +"No, he just handed it ter me, and says: 'A young party in +Hampton says ter give yer this and hurry.' I was just gettin' my +supper when I heard his hail of 'Island, ahoy!' I hurried out, +and there he was in that old teakettle uv his, at the end uv my +wharf." + +"And he left before you read the note?" + +"I should say. He hurried right off ag'in." + +"Well, I don't see any way to get at the bottom of this mystery +but to go and see old Hank himself," mused Rob, after a period of +thought. "What do you think, captain?" + +"That's the tack ter go about on, youngster," agreed the man of +Topsail Island; "but if yer are goin' down ter his place at this +hour uv night, we'd better take somebody else along. He's a bad +character, and I'm only a feeble old man and yer are a lad." + +"I'll go round by Merritt Crawford's house," proposed Rob; "then +we'll pick up Tubby Hopkins. I guess we can handle any trouble +that Hank wants to make, with that force on hand." + +"I guess so," agreed the old man. "I must say I'd like ter get +ter the bottom uv this here mystery. 'All fair and above board' +is my motto. I don't like these secret craft." + +The two young scouts were both at home, and after brief +explanations the four started off at a lively pace for Hank +Handcraft's hut, which was situated about two miles along the +beach. As they hastened along, Rob explained to the others in +more detail the nature of their mission, but though they were as +much mystified by the sudden summons of Captain Hudgins as Rob +and the captain himself, they could hit upon no plausible +explanation for it. + +It was a little over half an hour before they reached the +dilapidated hut where old Handcraft, a beach-comber, made his +dwelling place. A short distance off the shore they could see by +the moon, which had now risen, that his crazy old motor boat lay +at anchor. This was a sign that Hank was at home. Lest it be +wondered that such a character could have owned a motor boat, it +may be explained here that the engine of Hank's old oyster skiff +had been given him by a summer resident who despaired of making +it work. Hank, however, who was quite handy with tools, had +fixed it up and managed to make it drive his patched old craft at +quite a fair speed--sometimes. When it broke down, as it frequently +did, Hank, who was a philosopher in his way, simply got out his +oars and rowed his heavy craft. + +As an additional indication that the hut was occupied, light +shone through several of its numerous chinks and crannies, and a +knock at the door brought forth a low growl of: "Who's there?" + +"We want to see you," said Rob. + +"This is no time of night to call on a gentleman; come to-morrow +and leave your cards," rumbled the gruff voice from inside the +hut. + +"This is serious business," urged Rob. "Come on, open that door, +Hank. This is Rob Blake, the banker's son." + +"Oh, it is, is it?" grumbled the voice, as the clank of the +door-chains being taken off was heard from within. "Well, I +ain't had much business deals with your father lately, my private +fortune being somewhat shrunk." + +With a muffled chuckle from the speaker, the door slowly opened, +and Hank, a ragged figure, with an immense matted beard, long +tangled hair and dim blue eyes, that blinked like a rat's, stood +revealed. + +"Come in, come in, gentlemen," he bowed, with mock politeness. +"I'm glad to see such a numerous and representative party. Now, +what kin I do you for?" + +He chuckled once more at his little jest, and the boys +involuntarily shrank from him. + +There was nothing to do, however, but enter the hut, and Hank +accommodated his guests with a cracker box apiece as chairs. On +a table, roughly built out of similar boxes, a battered old +stable lamp smoked and flared. A more miserable human habitation +could not be imagined. + +"Hank," began the captain, "speak me fair and above board, mate--who +give yer that letter ter bring ter me ter-night?" + +"What letter?" blankly responded Hank, a look of vacancy in his +shifty eyes. + +"Oh, yer know well enough; that letter yer give me at supper +time." + +"Captain, I'll give you my davy I don't know what you're talking +about," returned the beachcomber. + +"What!" roared the captain: rising to his feet and advancing +threateningly. "Yer mean ter tell me, yer rapscallion, that yer +don't recall landin' at Topsail Island earlier ter-night and +givin' me a note which says ter come urgent and immediate ter see +young Rob Blake here?" + +"Why, captain," calmly returned Hank, with an indulgent grin, "I +really think you must be gettin' childish in your old age. You +must be seeing things. I hope you ain't drinking." + +"You--you scoundrel, you!" roared the old captain, almost beside +himself with rage, and dancing with clenched fists toward Hank. + +The beach-comber's filthy hand slipped into his rags in a minute, +and the next instant he was squatting back on his haunches in the +corner of the hut, like a wildcat about to spring. In his hand +there glistened, in the yellow rays of the lamp, a blued-steel +revolver. + +"Don't get angry, captain. It's bad for the digestion," grinned +the castaway. "Now," he went on, "I'm going to tell you flat +that if you say I came to your island to-night, you're dreaming. +It must have been some one else. + +"Come on, boys," directed the captain, with an angry shrug. +"There's no use wastin' time on the critter. I'm inclined ter +think now that there's somethin' more than ordinary in the wind," +he added, as they left the hut, with the half-idiotic chuckles of +its occupant ringing in their ears. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +SOME STRANGE DOINGS + + +It was not far from midnight when the boys, sorely perplexed, +once more reached Hampton. The main street had been deserted +long since, and every one in the village had returned to rest. + +The boys left the captain by the water-front, while they headed +up the Main Street for their respective homes. Rob remained up, +pondering over the events of the evening for some time, without +arriving at any solution of them. He was just about to +extinguish his light when he was startled by a loud: + +"His--s--st!" + +The noise came from directly below his open window, which faced +onto the garden. + +He put out his head, and saw a dark figure standing in the yard. + +"Who is it?" he demanded. + +"It's me, the captain, Rob," rejoined the well-known voice. "I +wouldn't have bothered yer but that I saw a light in yer window." + +"What's the trouble, captain?" asked the boy, noting a troubled +inflection in the old man's voice. + +"My boat's gone!" was the startling reply. + +"Gone! Are you sure?" + +"No doubt about it. I left her tied ter the L wharf when I come +up from the island, and now there ain't hide nor hair uv her +there." + +"I'll bet anything that that fellow Curtiss is at the bottom of +all this," cried Rob. "I remember now I heard some time ago that +he was thick with that Hank Handcraft." + +"I don't know what ter do about it at this time uv ther night," +went on the distressed captain, "an' I can't go round waking +folks up ter get another boat." + +"Of course not," agreed Rob. "There's only one thing for you to +do, captain, and that is to put up here to-night, and in the +morning we'll see what we can do." + +"That's mighty fair, square, and above board uv yer, lad," said +the captain gratefully. "Punk me anywhere. I'm an old sailor, +and can aways find the softest plank in the deck." + +"You won't have to do that," said Rob, who had slipped downstairs +by this time and opened the door; "we've got a spare room you can +bunk in to-night. I'll explain it all to father in the morning. +Perhaps he can help us out." + +"Gee whiz! almost twelve o'clock," exclaimed Hiram Nelson, +looking up at the clock from the dining-room table in Paul +Perkins' house. The chamber was strewn with text books on model +aeroplane construction and littered with figures and plans of the +boys' own devising. "How time flies when you're on a subject +that interests you." + +"Yes, it's a good thing it's vacation time," agreed Paul. "We +wouldn't be in much shape to work at our books to-morrow, eh?" + +"I should say not!" rejoined Hiram with conviction. "Well, so +long, Paul. I guess we've got it all figured out now, and all +that is left to do is to go ahead." + +"That's the idea," responded Paul. "We'll get the prize for the +glory of the Eagle Patrol, or-- or--" + +"Bust!" Hiram finished for him. + +Hiram's way home lay past the bank, and as he walked down the +moonlit street he thought for a minute that he perceived a light +in the windows of the armory. + +Almost as he fancied he glimpsed it, however, it vanished, and +the lad was convinced that he must have been mistaken, or else +seen a reflection of the moonlight on the windows. + +"Queer, though," he mused. "I could almost have sworn it was a +light." + +Another curious thing presently attracted his attention. As he +neared the bank a dark figure seemed to vanish into the black +shadows round the corner. Something familiar about it struck +Hiram, and the next moment he realized why. + +"If that wasn't Bill Bender, I'm a Dutchman," he muttered, his +heart beating a little faster. "But what can he be doing round +here at this time of night?" + +As he put the question to himself, Bill Bender, walking rapidly, +as if he had come from some distance, and had not dodged round +the corner a moment before, suddenly appeared from round the +angle of the bank building. + +"Good evening, Bill," said Hiram, wondering if his eyes were not +playing him some queer tricks; "wasn't that you just went round +the corner?" + +"Who, me?" blustered Bill. "You need to visit an oculist, young +man. I've just come from a visit to my aunt's. It was her +birthday, and we had a bully time. Sat up a little too late, +though. Good night." + +And with a great assumption of easiness, the crony of Jack +Curtiss walked rapidly off up the street. + +"I guess he's right," mused Hiram, as he hurried on home. "But +if that wasn't Bill Bender who walked round that corner it was +his ghost, and all the ghosts I ever read about don't wear +squeaky boots." + +If Hiram had remained he would have had further cause to be +suspicious and speculative. + +The lad's footsteps had hardly died out down the street before +Bill Bender cautiously retraced his way, and, going round to the +side street, upon which the steps leading to the armory opened, +gave a cautious whistle. In reply a sack was lowered from a +window to him by some person invisible above. + +Although there was some little light on the Main Street by reason +of the moon and the few scattering lamps along the thoroughfare, +the spot in which Bill now stood was as black as the proverbial +pocket. + +"Is the coast all clear?" came down a voice from the window +above. + +"Yes; but if I hadn't spotted young Hiram Nelson coming down the +street and warned you to put out that light, it wouldn't have +been," responded Bill in the same cautious tone. + +"Well, we're safe enough now," came back the voice above, which +any of his acquaintances would have recognized as Jack Curtiss'. +"I've got the rest of them in this other sack. Here, take this +one when I drop it." + +Bill made a bungling effort to catch the heavy receptacle that +fell following Jack's warning, but in the darkness he failed, and +it crashed down with quite a clatter. + +"Look out!" warned Jack anxiously, "some one might hear that." + +"Not in this peaceful community. You seem to forget that eleven +o'clock is the very latest bedtime in Hampton." + +After a brief interval Jack Curtiss himself slipped out of the +side door of the armory and joined his friend on the dark +sidewalk. + +"Well, what's the next move on the program?" asked Bill. + +"We'll sneak down Bailey's Lane--there are no lights there--to +Hank's place. Sam will be waiting off there with the boat," +rejoined Jack. + +"Yes, if he hasn't lost his nerve," was Bill's rejoinder as they +shouldered their sacks and slipped off into the deep blackness +shrouding the side streets. + +"Well, if he has lost it, he'll come near losing his head, too," +grated out Jack, "but don't you fear, he wants that fifty too +badly to go back on us." + +Silently as two cats the cronies made their way down the +tree-bordered thoroughfare known as Bailey's Lane and after a few +minutes gained the beach. + +"Say, that's an awful hike down to Hank's gilded palace," +grumbled Bill, "why didn't you have Sam wait for us off here?" + +"Yes, and have old man Hudgins discover him when he finds his +boat is gone," sneered Jack, "you'd have made a fine botch of +this if it hadn't been for me." + +The two exchanged no further words on the weary tramp along the +soft beach. They plodded along steadily with the silence only +broken by a muttered remark emanating from Bill Bender from time +to time. + +"Thank heaven, there's the place at last," exclaimed Bill, with a +sigh of relief, as they came in sight of the miserable hut, "I +began to think that Hank must have moved." + +Jack gave a peculiar whistle and the next instant the same light +the boys had seen earlier in the evening shone through the chinks +of the hovel. + +"Well, he's awake, at any rate," remarked Jack with a grin, "now +to find out where the boat is." + +As the wretched figure of the beach-comber appeared Jack hailed +him roughly. + +"Where's that boat, Hank?" + +"Been cruising off and on here since eleven o'clock," rejoined +the other sullenly, "ah! there she is now off to the sou'west." + +He pointed and the boys saw a red light flash twice seaward as if +some one had passed their hands across it. + +"All right, give him the answer," ordered Jack. "We've got to +hurry if we're to be back before the captain and those brats of +boys get after our trail." + +Hank at Jack's order dived into the hut and now reappeared with +the smoky lantern. He waved it four times from side to side like +a brakeman and in a short time a steady "put-put!" told the +watchers that a motor boat was approaching. + +"Now for your dinghy, Hank," urged Jack, "hurry up. You move +like a man a hundred and ninety years old, with the rheumatism." + +"Well, come on, then," retorted Hank, "here's the boat," pointing +to a cobbled dinghy lying hauled up above the water line, "give +me a hand and we'll shove off." + +The united strength of the three soon had the boat in the water +and with Hank at the oars they moved steadily toward the chugging +motor boat. + +"Well, Sam, you're on the job, I see," remarked Jack as the two +craft ranged alongside and Sam cut off the engine. + +"Oh, I'm on the job all right," rejoined Sam, feeling much braver +now that the other two had arrived, "have you got them all +right?" + +"Right here in this bag, and some more in this, my bucko," +chuckled Jack as he handed the two sacks over to Sam. + +"Ha! ha! ha!" chortled Bill under his breath as he climbed out +of the cobble into the motor boat, "won't there be a fine row in +the morning." + +"Well, come on; start up, Sam. We've no time to lose," ordered +Jack as he and Bill got aboard, "good night there, Hank." + +"Good night," rejoined Hank quietly enough, as the motor boat +moved swiftly off over the moonlit sea. He added to himself, "It +won't be a very 'good night' for you, my lad, if you don't pay me +as handsomely as you promised." + +And chuckling to himself till his shoulders shook, Hank resumed +his oars and rowed back to the miserable shanty he called home. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE STOLEN UNIFORMS + + +Rob and his old friend lost no time the next morning in getting +down to the water-front to make inquiries about the captain's +missing boat. To their astonishment, however, almost the first +craft that caught their eyes as they arrived at the L wharf to +begin their search was the old sailor's motor dory, to all +appearances in exactly the same position she had occupied the +preceding night when the captain moored her. + +"Have I clapped deadlights on my optics, or am I gone plumb +locoed?" bellowed the amazed captain, as he saw the little craft +dancing lightly on the sunny waters. + +"You are certainly not mistaken in supposing that is your boat. +I'd know her among a thousand," Rob assured him. "Are you quite +certain that she was not here last night, captain?" + +"Just as sure as I am that yer and me is standin' here," rejoined +the bewildered captain. "I've sailed the seven seas in my day, +and man and boy seen many queer things; but if this don't beat +cock fightin', I'm an inky Senegambian!" + +The captain's voice had risen to a perfect roar as he uttered the +last words, and a sort of jack-of-all-trades about the wharf, +whose name was Hi Higgins, came shuffling up, asking what was the +trouble. + +"Trouble," roared the hermit of Topsail Island. "Trouble enough +fer all hands and some left over fer the cat! Say, shipmate, yer +hangs about this here L wharf a lot. Did yer see any piratical +humans monkeyin' around my boat last night?" + +"Why, what d'yer mean, cap'n," sniffled Hi Higgins. "I seen yer +tie up here, and there yer boat is now. What d'yer mean by +pira-pirawell, them parties yer mentioned? Yer mean some one +took it?" + +"Took it--yes, yer hornswoggled longshore lubber!" bellowed the +captain. "I thought yer was hired as a sort uv watchman on this +wharf. A find watchman yer are!" + +"Well, yer see, cap'n," returned Hi Higgins, really alarmed at +the captain's truculent tone, "I ain't here much after nine at +night or before five in the morning." + +"Well, was my boat here at five this mornin'?" demanded the +captain. + +"Sure it was," rejoined Hi Higgins, with a sniffle; "the fust +boat I seen." + +"Rob, my boy, I'm goin' crazy in my old age!" gasped the captain. +"I'm as certain as I can be that the boat wasn't here when I came +down to the wharf last midnight, but the pre-pon-der-ance of +evidence is against me." + +The captain shook his head gravely as he spoke. It was evident +that he was sorely puzzled and half inclined to doubt the +evidence of his own senses. + +"Douse my toplights," he kept muttering, "if this don't beat a +flying Dutchman on wheels and with whiskers!" + +"I certainly don't believe that your eyes deceived you, captain," +put in Rob, in the midst of the captain's rumbling outbursts. +"It looks to me as if somebody really did borrow your boat last +night, and that the decoy note supposed to be from me had +something to do with it." + +"By the great horn spoon, yer've got it, my boy!" roared the +captain. "And now yer come ter speak uv it, my mind misgives me +that all ain 't right at the island. I didn't tell yer, but I +left a tidy sum uv money in that old iron safe off the Sarah +Jane, the last ship I commanded, and all this what's puzzled us +so may be part uv some thievish scheme. + +"I'm going ter hurry over ter the island and make certain sure," +he went on the next minute. "The more I think uv it, the more +signs uv foul weather I see. Good-by, my lad, and good luck. +Will yer be out ter see me soon? The bluefish are running fine." + +"We may be out this afternoon, captain," responded Rob. "I am +curious myself to see if any mischief has been done on your +island. If there has been," he added earnestly, "you can count +on the Eagle Patrol to help you out." + +"Thanks, my boy!" exclaimed the old man, who was bending over his +gasoline tank. "Hullo!" he shouted suddenly. "I wasn't crazy! +This boat was took out last night. See here!" + +He held up the gasoline measuring stick which he had grabbed up +and plunged into the tank. The instrument was almost dry. The +receptacle for fuel was nearly empty. + +"And I filled her before I started out!" thundered the captain. +"Whoever took my boat must have run her a long ways." + +Fresh fuel was soon obtained, and the captain, after more shouted +farewells, started for the island to try to obtain some clue to +the mysterious happenings of the night. + +Rob, after watching him for a few moments, as he sped down the +blue waters of the sunlit inlet, turned away to return to his +home, just recollecting that, in their eagerness to search for +the boat, both he and the captain had entirely forgotten about +breakfast. He was in the middle of the meal, and eagerly +explaining to his interested parents the strange incidents of the +missing boat and the decoy note, when Merritt Crawford burst into +the room unannounced. + +"Oh, I beg your pardon!" he apologized, abashed. "I didn't know +you were at breakfast. But, Mr. Blake--Rob--something has +happened that I just had to come and tell you about at once." + +"Good gracious! More mysteries," Mr. Blake was beginning in a +jocular way, when the serious look on the boy's face checked him. +"What is it? What has happened, Merritt?" he asked soberly, +while Rob regarded the spectacle of his usually placid corporal's +excitement with round eyes. + +"The uniforms are all gone!" burst out Merritt. + +"What uniforms?" + +"Ours--the Eagle Patrols'." + +"What! Stolen?" + +"That's right," hurried on Merritt. "I met old Mrs. Jones in a +terrible state of mind. You know, Mr. Blake, she's the old woman +who scrubs out the place in the morning. I asked what was the +matter, and she told me that when she went to the armory early +to-day, she found the lock forced and all the lockers broken open +and the uniforms gone!" + +"Have you seen the place?" asked Mr. Blake. + +"Yes, I followed her up. The room was turned upside down. The +locks had been ripped right off and the lockers rifled of +everything. Who can have done it?" + +"I'll bet anything Jack Curtiss and his gang had something to do +with it, just as I believe they put up some crooked job on the +captain!" burst out Rob, greatly excited and his breakfast +entirely forgotten. + +"Be careful how you make such a grave accusation," warned his +father. + +"I know it's a tough thing to say," admitted Rob; "but you don't +know that bunch like we do. They'd--" + +He was about to explain more of the characteristics of the bully +and his cronies when a fresh interruption occurred. This time it +was Hiram Nelson. He was almost as abashed as Merritt had been +when he found that his excitement had carried him into what +seemed a family conference. + +"It's all right, Hiram. Come right in," said Mr. Blake +cheerfully. "Come on out with your news, for I can see you can +hardly keep it to yourself." + +"It's going round the town like wildfire!" responded the panting +boy. The others nodded. "I see you know it already," he went +on. "Well, I think I've got a clue." + +"You have! Come on, let's hear it quick," cried Rob. + +"Well, I was up late with Paul Perkins last night, talking over +the aeroplane model competition, and didn't start home till about +midnight. As I was approaching the armory I thought I saw a +light in one of the windows. I couldn't be certain, however, and +I put it down to a trick that my eyes had played me." + +"Well, that's all right as far as it goes," burst out Rob. "It +probably was a light. I wish you'd investigated." + +"Wait a minute, Rob," said his father, noting Hiram's anxious +face. "There's more to come, isn't there, Hiram?" + +"You bet! The most exciting part of it--the most important, I +mean," went on young Hiram, with an important air. + +"Oh, well, get down to it," urged the impatient Rob. "What was +it?" + +"Why, right after I'd seen the light," went on Hiram, "I thought +I saw a dark figure slip around the corner into that dark +street." + +"A dark figure! Hum! Sounds like one of those old yellow--back +novels," remarked Mr. Blake, with a smile. + +"But this was a figure I recognized, sir," exclaimed Hiram. "It +was Bill Bender!" + +"Jack Curtiss' chum! They're as thick as two thieves," burst out +Merritt. + +"And I believe they are two thieves," solemnly put in Rob. + +"Well," went on Hiram, "the next minute Bill Bender came walking +round the corner as fast as if he were coming from somewhere in a +great hurry, and was hastening home. He told me he had been to a +birthday party at his aunt's." + +"At his aunt's," echoed Mr. Blake. "Well, that's an important +point, for I happen to know that his aunt, Mrs. Graves, is out of +town. She visited the bank yesterday morning and drew some money +for her traveling expenses. She informed me that she expected to +be gone a week or more." + +"I knew it, I knew it!" shouted Rob. "That fellow ought to be in +jail. He'll land there yet." + +"Softly, softly, my boy," said Mr. Blake. "This is a grave +affair, and we cannot jump at conclusions." + +"I'd jump him," declared Rob, "if I only knew for certain that he +was the thief!" + +"I will inform the police myself and have an investigation made," +Mr. Blake promised. "We will leave no stone unturned to find out +who has been guilty of such an outrage." + +"And in the meantime the Eagle Patrol will carry on an +investigation of its own," declared Rob sturdily. "What do you +say, boys?" + +"I'll bet every boy in the corps is with you on that," rejoined +Merritt heartily. + +"Same here," chimed in Hiram. + +"The first step is to take a run to Topsail Island and see if all +the queer things that happened last night have not some +connecting link between them," suggested Mr. Blake. "I am inclined, +after what you boys have told me, to think that they have." + +"I am sure of it," echoed Rob. + + + + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE HYDROPLANE QUEERLY RECOVERED + + +Seldom had the Flying Fish been urged to greater speed than she +was a short time after the discovery of the looting of the +scouts' armory. She fairly flew across the smooth waters of the +inlet and out on to the Atlantic swells, leaving a clean, +sweeping bow-wave as she cut her way along. Her four young +occupants, for Tubby had been called on and notified of the +occurrences of the night, were, however, wrapped in slickers +borrowed from the yacht club, so that the showers of spray which +fell about them had little effect on them. + +The run to Topsail Island was made in record time, and as they +drew near the little hummock of tree and shrub-covered land the +boys could perceive that something unusual had happened. A +figure which even at a distance they recognized as that of +Captain job Hudgins was down on the little wharf, and had +apparently been on the lookout there for some time. A closer +view revealed the captain waving frantically. + +"Something's up, all right," remarked Tubby, above the roar of +the motor-boat's engine. + +The others said nothing, but kept their gaze riveted on the +captain's figure. With the skill of a veteran boatman, Rob +brought the Flying Fish round in a graceful curve and ran her +cleanly up to the wharf without the slightest jolt or jar. + +"Ahoy, lads, I'm glad yer've come!" exclaimed the captain, as he +caught the painter line thrown out to him by Merritt, and +skillfully made the boat fast. + +"Why, what has happened?" demanded Rob, as he sprang on to the +wharf, followed by the others. + +"Happened?" repeated the captain. "Well, in a manner of +speakin', about twenty things has happened at once. Lads, my +spirits and emotions are in a fair Chinese tornado--every which +way at once. In the first place, I'm seventy-five dollars poorer +than I was last night; in the second, poor old Skipper's been +given some kind av poison that's made him so sick I doubt he'll +get over it." + +"You've been robbed?" gasped Merritt. + +"That's it, my lad. That's the word. My poor old safe's been +scuttled and her hold overhauled. But I don't mind that so +much--it's poor old Skipper I'm worried about. But come on up +ter the house, lads, and see fer yerselves." + +Followed by the sympathetic four, the old man hobbled up from his +little wharf to a small eminence on which stood his neatly +whitewashed hut. He opened the door and invited them in. A +first glance discovered nothing much the matter, but a second +look showed the boys poor old Skipper lying on the floor in front +of the open fireplace which was filled with fresh green boughs-- +and evidently a very sick dog indeed. He gave the boys a +pathetic glance of recognition as they came in, and with a feeble +wag or two of his tail tried to show them he was glad to see +them; but this done, he seemed to be completely exhausted, and +once more laid his head between his forepaws and seemed to doze. + +"Poor old dog," said the captain, shaking his head. "I doubt if +he'll ever get about again." + +The safe now engaged the boys' attention. It is true that it was +a rickety old contrivance which might well have been forced open +with an, ordinary poker, but to the captain, up to this day, it +had been a repository as safe and secure as a big Wall Street +trust company's vaults. + +"Look at that, boys!" cried the captain, with tragic emphasis, +pointing to the door, which had been forced clear off its rusty +hinges. "Just busted open like yer'd taken the crust off'n a +pie! Ah, if I could lay my hands on the fellers that done this, +I'd run 'em tip ter the yardarm afore a foc'sle hand could say +'Hard tack'!" + +"Why, we think that--" began Tubby, when Rob checked him. The +captain, who had been bending over his dog, didn't hear the +remark, and Rob hastily whispered to Tubby: + +"Don't breathe a word to anyone of our suspicions. Our only +chance to get hold of the real culprits is to not give them any +idea that we suspect them." + +After a little more time spent on the island, the boys took their +leave, promising to come back soon again. First, however, Rob +and his corporal made a brief expedition to see if they could +make out the tracks of the marauders of the previous evening. +Whoever they had been, however--and the boys, as we know, had a +shrewd guess at their identity--they had been too cunning to take +the path, but had apparently, judging from the absence of all +footmarks, made their way to the house through the coarse grass +that grew on each side of the way. + +"Well, what are we going to do about it?" Tubby inquired, as they +speeded back toward home. + +"Just what I said," rejoined Rob. "Keep quiet and not let Jack +or his chums know that we suspect a thing. Give them enough +rope, and we'll get them in time. I'm certain of it." + +How true his words were to prove, Rob at that time little +imagined, although he felt the wisdom of the course he had +advised. + +As they neared the inlet, Rob, who was at the wheel and scanning +the channel pretty closely, for the tide was now running out, +gave a sudden shout and pointed ahead. As the others raised +their eyes and gazed in the direction their leader indicated +they, too, uttered a cry of astonishment. From the mouth of the +inlet there had stolen a long, low, black craft, gliding through +the water at tremendous speed. + +In the strange craft the boy scouts had little difficulty in +recognizing Sam Redding's hydroplane. + +"So he's got her back," exclaimed Merritt, recovering from his +first astonishment. + +"Yes, and she seems little the worse for her experience," +remarked Tubby. "It doesn't appear, though, that they are going +to profit by their lesson of the other day, for there they go out +to sea again." + +"Probably consulted the glass this time," remarked Rob. "It read +'set fair' when we started out." + +"Well, that's the only kind of weather for them," commented +Merritt; "though as both Jack and Bill can swim, I wouldn't mind +seeing them get a good ducking." + +"I suppose the coincidence has struck you fellows, too?" remarked +Rob suddenly, as he skillfully twisted and turned the dancing +Flying Fish through the devious ways of the channel at low water. + +"What on earth are you talking about?" demanded Merritt. + +"Why, that it seems rather queer that Sam, who was round town +desperately trying to raise money with which to get his boat out +of pawn suddenly manages to redeem her, and that on the very day +after the robbery of Captain Hudgins hut." + +"By hookey, that's right!" shouted Tubby. "I'll bet your guess +was correct, Rob--that gang of Jack's robbed the old captain." + +"And stole our uniforms," put in Merritt. + +"Yes; but how are we going to prove it?" was Rob's "cold water" +comment which silenced further speculation for the time being. +Each boy, however, determined then and there to do his share in +running down the persons responsible for the vandalism. + +By the time they got back to Hampton the news had spread among +the entire Eagle Patrol, and an indignation meeting was called in +the devastated armory. Mr. Blake entered in the midst of it, and +offered, in conjunction with the rest of the local council, to +furnish new uniforms. On the matter being put to a vote, +however, the lads all agreed that it would be better not to +accept such an offer till they had made a determined effort to +run down the plunderers. + +"Very well," said Mr. Blake; "your spirit does you great credit, +and if you need any help, don't fail to call upon me at any +time." + +"Three cheers for Mr. Blake and the members of the council!" +shouted Merritt, jumping on a chair. + +They were given with such roof-raising effect, that people +outside in the street, many of whom knew of the robbery, began to +think that the uniforms must have been recovered. + +As the lads surged out of the armory, all talking at once about +the robbery and its likely results, whom should they encounter on +the street but Jack Curtiss and his two chums, evidently, from +the fact that they carried waterproof garments over their arms, +just back from their trip in Sam's newly-recovered hydroplane. + +It might have been fancy, but as the eyes of the Boy Scouts met +those of the three lads who would have so much liked to belong to +the organization, Rob thought that a look of embarrassment spread +over Jack Curtiss' heavy features, and that even Bill Bender's +brazen face took on a shade of pallor. If this were so, however, +it could have been only momentary, for the next minute Jack, with +what seemed very much overdone cordiality, came forward with: + +"Why, hullo, boys. I just heard about your loss. Any news?" + +"No, not a word," chirped little Joe Digby, one of the few lads +in the Eagle Patrol who had never run afoul of the bully. + +"Well," went on Jack, affecting not to notice the silence with +which his advances had been greeted, "I hope you find the fellows +who did it, whoever they were." + +"Same here," chimed in Bill Bender, now quite at his ease, +"although, at that, I guess it was only a joke, and you'll get +'em back again before long." + +"Do you think so, Bill?" asked Merritt, looking the bully's crony +steadily in the eye. "I hope so, I'm sure. By the way, Hiram +Nelson here says that he saw you hurrying up Main Street at just +about the time the robbery must have taken place. You didn't +hear any unusual sounds or see anything out of the way, did you?" + +"I--why, no--I--you see, I was on my way home from my aunt's +home," stuttered Bill, seemingly taken off his guard. + +"Yes; your aunt, who left home yesterday afternoon to be gone a +week," shot out Merritt. + +"Queer that she should have changed her mind and come home in +such a hurry." + +"Oh, come on, Bill," stuck in Sam, seeing that things were +getting very unpleasant. "We've got to hurry up if we're to get +out to Jack's in time." + +Without another word, the three hurried off, seemingly not at all +unrelieved to escape from what Merritt was pretty sure were +embarrassing questions. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +WINNING THE CONTEST + + +The day which was to witness the tests of the aeroplane models +for the prizes offered by the professor of aeronautics dawned +still and fair. It followed several days of storm, in which the +boys had been unable to make any excursions in their motor boat, +or into the country, or, indeed, even to devote any time to the +engrossing subject of tracing the theft of the uniforms to its +source. + +Early in the morning a small field in the rear of Mr. Blake's +house was well filled with boys of all ages and sizes, watching +the contestants in the model contest trying out their craft. The +models were of all sorts and sizes. Some were freak craft that +had been constructed in a hurry from pictures, without any +attention being paid to scale or proportions, while others were +carefully made bits of mechanism. + +Among the latter class were Paul Perkins' monoplane--Silver +Arrow, he called it,--Hiram Nelson's two models, the monoplane of +Tom Maloney, a lad of about sixteen, and Ed River's little +duplicate of a Curtiss biplane. The contest was to take place on +the Main Street of the town, in front of the bank, and in the +middle of the course two poles had been erected, one on each side +of the street, between which a brightly colored tape had then +been strung, forming a sort of aerial hurdle. The tape was fifty +feet above the ground, and to qualify at all it would be +necessary for the contesting models to clear it. + +The lecture which took place in the village hall came first and +was well attended, most of the young folks of Hampton being +there. If the truth must be told, however, while the lecturer +was expounding his subject, illustrating it on the blackboard +with chalk drawings, the majority of his young hearers were +wishing that it was over and the contest really begun. + +Especially was this true of the boys of the Eagle Patrol, who +were every one of them anxious to see what kind of aeroplanes +Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender would have produced. The lecture, +however, at last came to an end, and the gentlemen on the +platform shook hands with the professor and the professor shook +hands with them, and somebody called for three cheers for +"Hampton's distinguished son." + +Everybody then lost no time in filing out into the afternoon +sunlight, where they found quite a crowd already on the streets, +and a small wooden grand stand, which had been erected near what +was expected to be the finishing line, seating several guests. +The committee and the professor, led by the Hampton brass band, +blaring away at patriotic airs, made their way to the front seats +in the structure, and everybody was requested to line up on each +side of the street, so as to make a clear lane for the models to +fly in. + +The starting line was about a hundred yards from the red tape, +and the contestants were compelled to stand back of this. Mr. +Wingate, the president of the yacht club and member of the Boy +Scout Council, had already shuffled the numbers of the +contestants in a hat, and they were to fly their models in the +order in which they drew their figures. + +Up to this time there had been no sign of Jack Curtiss or Bill +Bender, but the boys now saw them hastening up to a member of the +committee and whispering to him. A moment later a man, with a +megaphone boomed out from the grand stand: + +"William Bender announces that he has withdrawn from the +contest." + +"Aha! I'll bet Jack's got cold feet, too," whispered Hiram, +nudging Paul, who was kneeling down and winding up the long +rubber bands which drove the propellers of the Silver Arrow, an +Antoinette model. + +But a short interval showed him to be mistaken, for Jack, with +his usual confident air, repaired to the buggy in which he had +driven into town from his father's farm, and speedily produced a +model that caused loud sighs of "Ohs!" and "Ahs!" to circulate +through the juvenile portion of the crowd. + +However he had managed to accomplish it, the bully had certainly +produced a beautiful model. It was of the Bleriot type, and +finished perfectly down to the minutest detail. Every wire and +brace on it was silvered with aluminum paint, and it even bore a +small figure at its steering wheel. Beside it the other models +looked almost clumsy. + +The faces of the Boy Scouts fell. + +"If that machine can fly as well as she looks," said Rob to +Merritt, "she wins the first prize." + +"Not a doubt of it," was Merritt's reply. + +"Oh, well," put in Tubby, for the three inseparables were +standing together, "if he can win the prize fairly, don't knock +him. He certainly has built a beautiful machine. You've got to +give him credit for that." + +And now, as Jack, with a triumphant smile at the glances of +admiration his model excited, strode to the starting point, +elbowing small boys aside, and drew from the hat, the man with +the megaphone once more arose. He held in his hand the result of +the drawing and the order in which the models would fly. + +"The f-i-r-s-t model to com-pete for the big p-r-ize," he +bellowed, "will be that of Thomas Maloney--a Bler-i-ot!" + +Poor Tom might have called his machine a Bleriot, but it is +doubtful if the designer of the original machine of that name +would have recognized the model as having any more than a distant +relationship to the famous type of monoplane. It was provided +with a large tin propeller, however, and seemed capable of at +least accomplishing a flight. In fact, at the trials in the +morning it had flown well, and by some of the lads was regarded +as a sort of "dark horse." As Tom was on the village team, as +opposed to the Boy Scout contingent, he was greeted with loud +cheers and whistles by his friends as he stepped to the starting +line, and, holding his already wound up machine in his hand, made +ready to launch it. + +"Crack!" went the pistol. + +At the same instant Tom, with a thrusting motion, released his +model; but, alas! instead of darting forward like the Sparrow +Hawk it was named after, the craft ingloriously wobbled about +eccentrically, and finally alighted on an old lady's bonnet, +causing her to exclaim as the propeller whizzed round and +entangled itself in her hair: + +"No good'll ever come of teaching lads to meddle with these here +contraptions." + +The model having finally been extricated, amid much laughter, and +poor Tom having offered mortified apologies, the announcer made +known that Hiram Nelson's Doodlebug monoplane would essay a +flight. + +As the pistol sounded, Hiram launched his craft, and amid cheers +from the crowd it soared up, and, just clearing the red tape, +settled gracefully down a few feet the other side of the two +hundred foot line. + +"Good for you, Hiram!" exclaimed Ernest Thompson, the bike scout, +who was acting as a patrol on the course. "Whose turn next?" + +"You kids wait till I get my Bleriot started," sneered Jack. +Several small boys near him, who were mortally afraid of the big +fellow and rather admired him as being "manly," set up a cheer at +this. + +"Wait for Jack's dandy model to fly!" they cried. + +"Edward Rivers--model of a Curtiss biplane!" came the next +announcement through, the megaphone. + +Another cheer greeted this, as young Rivers was also on the "town +team." + +The little Curtiss darted into the air at the pistol crack and +flew straight as an arrow for the red tape. It cleared it easily +and skimmed on down past the grand stand, and alighted, +fluttering like a tired butterfly, beyond Hiram's model. + +"Three hundred feet!" cried the announcer, amid a buzz of +approval, after the measurers of the course had done their work. + +"Paul Perkins--Bleriot!" was the next announcement. + +A hum of excitement went through the crowds that lined the track. +It began to look as if the record of Ed Rivers' machine would be +hard to beat, but from the determined look on his face and his +gritted teeth it was evident that Paul meant to try hard. + +Before the report of the pistol had died out, the yellow-winged +Dragonfly soared upward from Paul's hand and darted like a streak +across the red tape, clearing it at the highest altitude yet +achieved by any of the models. + +"Hurrah!" yelled the crowd. + +On and on sped the little Bleriot, while Paul watched it with +pride-flushed cheeks. It was evident that it was going to +out-distance the record made by Ed Rivers' machine. The Boy +Scouts set up their Patrol cry: + +"Kr-ee-ee-ee-ee!" + +As the little machine settled to the ground, far beyond the grand +stand, the officials ran out with their tapes, and presently the +announcement came blaring down the packed ranks of the onlookers: + +"Three hundred and fifty feet!" + +What a cheer went up then. + +"I guess you've got it won. Congratulations!" said Ed Rivers, +pressing forward to Paul's side. + +"Thanks, Ed," returned the other; "but 'there's many a slip,' you +know, and there are several others to be flown yet." + +Now came in rapid succession several of the smaller models and +freak designs. Some of these wobbled through the air and landed +in the crowd. Others sailed blithely up toward the red tape and +just fell short of clearing it. Another landed right on the tape +and hung there, the target of irreverent remarks from the crowd. + +While this was going on, Bill Bender, Jack Curtiss and Sam were +in close consultation. + +"Remember, you promised that if you won the prize you'd give that +money back," Sam whispered to Jack, "and for goodness' sake, +don't forget it. I half believe that those boys suspect us +already." + +"Nonsense," returned the bully. "And what if they do? We +covered up our tracks too well for them to have anything on us. +They can't prove anything, can they?" + +"I--I--I don't know," stammered Sam, and was about to say more, +but the clarion voice of the announcer was heard informing the +crowd that: + +"John Curtiss' Bleriot model will now make a flight for the great +prize." + +With a confident smile on his face, Jack stepped forward and held +his model ready. The murmur of admiration that had greeted its +first appearance was repeated as he held it high in the sunlight +and the afternoon rays glinted and shimmered on its fittings and +wings. + +"That's the model for my money," remarked a man in the crowd. + +"It's going to win, too," said Jack confidently. + +Just at that moment the pistol cracked, and Jack released his +much-admired air craft. + +Its flight showed that it was as capable of making as beautiful a +soaring excursion as its graceful outlines and careful finish +seemed to indicate. In a long, sweeping glide, it arose and +cleared the red tape by a greater margin than had Paul Perkins' +model. + +"Jack Curtiss wins!" yelled the crowd, as the machine soared +right on and did not begin its downward swoop for some distance. +After it had alighted and the measurers had laid their tapes on +the course, the announcer megaphoned, amid a perfect tornado of +roars and cheers: + +"The last flight, ladies and gentlemen--and apparently the +winning one--accomplished the remarkable distance of four hundred +and fifty feet--four hundred and fifty feet." + +"Three cheers for Jack Curtiss!" shouted Bill Bender, slapping +Jack heartily on the back and giving most of the cheers himself. + +"I guess those cubs won't be quite so stuck up now," commented +Sam, shaking Jack's hand warmly. + +"I was pretty sure I'd win," modestly remarked the bully, as he +began shouldering his way through the press toward the judges' +stand. He was closely followed by the boys, as it looked as if +Paul Perkins might have won the second prize and Ed Rivers the +third. + +Urged by Bill Bender, the band began puffing away at "See, the +Conquering Hero Comes," and Jack, nothing averse to appearing in +such a role, bowed gracefully right and left to the admiring +throngs. + +The professor shook hands warmly with the victorious Jack, and +remarked: + +"You are to be congratulated, young man. I have rarely seen a +better model, and your skill does you great credit. Are you +thinking of taking up aeronautics seriously?" + +The bully, his face very red, stammered that he had entertained +some such thoughts. + +The professor was about to reply, when there came a sudden sound +of confusion among that portion of the crowd which had surrounded +the delegates deputed to pick up the aeroplanes and bring them to +the stand. This was in order that they might be exhibited as +each prize was awarded. A small boy with a very excited face was +seen struggling to get through the mass, and he finally gained +the judges' stand. As he faced the congratulatory professor he +stuttered out: + +"Please, sir, there's something wrong about Jack Curtiss' +machine." + +"What do you mean, you impudent young shaver!" shouted the bully, +turning white, nevertheless. + +"Let the lad speak," said Mr. Blake, who as one of the committee +was standing beside the professor. "What is it, my boy? Let me +see. You're Joe Digby, of the Eagle Patrol, aren't you." + +"Yes, sir; and I live out on a farm near Jack Curtiss. I was +watching him fly his machine this morning, from behind a hedge, +and I heard them saying something about 'their store-made machine +beating any country boy's model.'" + +"He's a young liar! Pay no attention to him," stammered Jack, +licking his dry lips. + +"Silence, sir!" said Mr. Blake gravely. "Let us listen to what +this boy has to say. If he is not speaking the truth, you can +easily disprove it. Go on, my boy." + +"Well, I guess that's about all I know about it: but I thought I +ought to tell you, sir," confusedly concluded the small lad. + +"You young runt, I'll half kill you if I catch you alone!" +breathed Jack, under his breath, as the lad sped off to join his +companions. + +"Of course, you are not going to pay any attention to that +kid's--I mean boy's--story," demanded Jack, addressing the +professor. "It's made out of whole cloth, I assure you." + +In the meantime the machines had been brought to the grand stand +and were being examined. Naturally, after young Digby's +statement, Jack's was one of the first to be scrutinized. The +committee turned it over and over, and were about to pass on it, +when Mr. Wingate, who had been bending attentively over the +bully's model, gave a sudden exclamation. + +"Look here, gentlemen," he cried, pointing to a small tag which +Jack had evidently forgotten to remove, "I think this is +conclusive evidence. Here is the label of the 'Manhattan Model +Works' pasted right under this wing." + +"Somebody must have put it there. It's a job those Boy Scouts +put up on me," protested Tack. "I made that model every bit +myself." + +"I regret to say that we must regard the price tag as conclusive +evidence that this machine comes from a store," said the +professor sternly, handing Jack his unlucky model. "You are +disqualified for entering a machine not of your own workmanship. + +"Stand back, please," he went on, as Jack tried to protest. "I +want to say," he went on in a loud tone, holding up his hand to +command attention, "that there has been a grave mistake made. +The machine which actually flew the longest distance is +disqualified, as it was made at a New York model factory. The +first prize of fifty dollars, therefore, goes to Paul Perkins, of +the Boy Scouts, the second to Edward Rivers, of Hampton, and the +third to Hiram Green, also of the Boy Scouts. + +"Hold on one minute," he shouted, as the crowd began to cheer and +hoot. "There is an additional announcement to be made. The +committee has decided to offer a further reward of five dollars +to Thomas Maloney, whose model shows evidence of praiseworthy and +painstaking work." + +As the cheers broke loose once more, Jack Curtiss and his cronies +slunk off through the crowd, and having placed the rejected model +in the buggy, drove off into the country in no very amiable or +enviable frame of mind. + +"Well, you made a fine mess of it," grumbled Bill Bender +savagely. "I told you to look carefully and see that all the +tags were off it." + +"It's no more my fault than yours," grated out Jack, lashing the +horse savagely, to work off some of his rage. "It's all the +fault of those young cubs of Rob Blake's. Let them look out, +though, for I'll get even with them before long, and in a way +that will make them sit up and take notice." + +"Don't forget that young mischief maker, Joe Digby," suggested +Bill Bender. "It was all his fault--the young spy!" + +"Oh, I'll attend to him," Jack assured his chum, with a grating +laugh that boded no good for the youngest member of the Eagle +Patrol. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A FORTUNATE DISCOVERY + +"Want to go fishing?" Rob inquired over the telephone of Merritt +Crawford a few days later. + +"Sure," was the response. + +"We can run into Topsail Island and get a site for the camp +picked at the same time," suggested Rob. + +"Bully! I'll meet you at the wharf. Going to bring Tubby?" + +"You bet! We'll be there in ten minutes." + +"All right. Good-by." + +At the time set the three boys met on the wharf of the yacht +club, and were speedily ready to start on their trip. Rob +brought along bluefish squids and lines, and Tubby--never at a +loss to scare up a hurried lunch--had a basket full of good +things to eat. + +The run to the island was made without incident, and the boys +were glad to see that, contrary to the captain's fears, his dog +Skipper was all right again, for the animal came bounding and +barking down the wharf as they drew near, in token of his +gladness to see them. + +Attracted by his dog's barking, the old captain, who was at work +in a small potato patch he cultivated, came hobbling to meet the +boys as they tied up and disembarked. + +"Well, well, boys; come ter stay?" he cheerily remarked, as the +three lads shook hands. + +"No, we're off after 'blues,"' said Rob; "but we thought we'd +drop in and see how things are coming along with you, and if you +have heard any news yet concerning the robbery." + +"Not a thing, boys, not a thing," said the old man. "In fact, I +haven't left the island since my old safe was busted open. +Skipper, as yer see, got over his sickness. It's my belief that +them fellers fed him poisoned meat or something." + +"I shouldn't wonder," remarked Rob dryly. "It would be quite in +their line." + +"By the way," exclaimed the old man suddenly, "a queer thing +happened the other day. Skipper had been a-skirmishin' round the +other side uv the island after rabbits and critters, and he +brought home this-- Wait a minute and I'll show it to yer." + +After some fumbling in his pocket, the old man produced a torn +strip of yellow material with a brass button attached to it. + +"I wonder where that come from," he remarked, as he handed the +fragment to Rob for his inspection. + +"Why, it's khaki," exclaimed Rob, as he felt it. "And, by +hokey!" he ejaculated the next instant, "it's a piece of a Boy +Scout uniform!" + +Old Skipper was jumping about in great excitement, and +endeavoring to sniff the bit of torn material as Rob examined it, +and a sudden idea struck the boy. + +"I wonder if Skipper could pilot us to where he found this bit of +material." + +"Are you sure it's a bit of uniform?" asked Tubby doubtfully. + +"Certain of it. No one else wears khaki in these parts. Hey, +Skipper, hey, good dog! Sic 'em, sic 'em!" cried Rob, holding up +the khaki for the intelligent creature to see. + +The animal seemed to be greatly excited and gave short, quick +barks as he danced about the boys. + +"Well, we might try and see if he will lead us anywhere." +remarked Merritt somewhat dubiously. "At any rate, there's no +harm done, except wasting a little time; and if we can get on the +track of our uniforms, it's not such a much of a waste, after +all." + +"He sure wants ter be off somewhere," observed the old captain, +watching the antics of his dog, whom he regarded in the light of +a human being. "He never acts nor talks that way unless he's got +suthin' on his mind. Yer boys follow him, and I'll bet he'll +lead yer ter suthin'. It may be nothin' more than a dead rabbit, +and it may be what ye think. I'll stay here an' dig my +pertaters, fer my rheumatiz is powerful bad today." + +"Very well, captain. We shan't be long," rejoined Rob, calling +to the dog. "Hey, Skipper, hey, old boy! After 'em, Skipper--after +'em!" + +The dog bounded on ahead of the three boys, occasionally looking +back to see if they were following and then plunging on again. + +"As the Captain said, he 'sure has got suthin' on his mind'!" +laughed Merritt. + +After traversing about a mile of beach, the dog suddenly bounded +into a thicket overhanging the shore and began barking furiously. + +"He's treed something, all right," remarked Rob, pushing the +branches aside. + +The next minute he gave a loud shout of triumph. + +"Look there, boys! Old Skipper sure did 'have suthin' on his +mind'!" + +Peering over Rob's shoulder, the other two were able to make out +two hidden sacks, the mouth of one of which had been torn open, +evidently by the investigating Skipper. + +From the aperture appeared the torn sleeve of a Boy Scout's +uniform, and a brief searching of the sacks after they had been +lugged out on the beach revealed the entire stolen equipment. + +"Bones for you, Skipper, for the rest of your life!" promised +Tubby, as the dog, evidently well pleased with the petting he +received and the admiration showered upon him, pranced about on +the beach and indulged in a hundred antics. + +The only one of the uniforms damaged was the one that Skipper had +torn. The others were all intact, but badly crumpled, having +been hastily thrust into the sacks, and, as it appeared, tamped +down to make them fit more compactly. + +"Well, what do you know about that?" was Merritt's astonished +exclamation, as one by one Rob drew forth the regimentals and +laid them on the beach. + +"You mean what does Jack Curtiss and Company know about that," +seriously returned Rob. + +"However, we found them--that's one thing to be enthusiastic +over," observed Tubby sagely. + +"I'd like just as well almost to find out exactly who hid them +there," was Merritt's reply. + +"The same folks that stole the old captain's seventy-five +dollars, I guess," returned Rob, thrusting the garments back into +the sacks preparatory to carrying them to the boat. "Here, +Tubby, you carry this one--it'll take some of that fat off you to +do a hike along the beach with it. I'll shoulder this one." + +"Well, boys, yer certainly made a haul, thanks ter old Skipper +here," declared Captain Job, after the delighted boys had made +known their discovery. "He's a smart one, I tell yer. No better +dog ever lived." + +"That's what we think," agreed Merritt warmly, patting old +Skipper's black and white head. + +The recovery of the uniforms had quite put all thoughts of blue +or any other fishing out of the boys' heads, and after bidding +farewell to the captain, who promised to point out to them a good +site for a camp on their next visit, they made their best speed +back to Hampton. On their way to the armory they spread the news +of their discovery broadcast, so that in a short time the town +was buzzing with the information that the Boy Scouts' lost +uniforms had been found under most surprising circumstances; and +the editor of the Hampton News, who was just going to press, held +his paper up till he could get in an item about it. + +It was this item that caught Jack Curtiss' eye, the next morning +as he and Bill Bender and Sam were seated in Bill's "club room." + +"Confound those brats, they seem always to be putting a spike in +our schemes!" muttered Jack, as he handed the paper to Bill for +that worthy's perusal. "Which reminds me," he went on, "that we +haven't attended to the case of that young Digby yet." + +"I wish you'd leave those kids alone for a while, Jack," objected +Sam, in his usual whining tones. "You've had your fun with them. +They've had to do without their uniforms for a long time. Now +let up on them, won't you?" + +"Oh, you're feeling friendly toward 'em, now, are you?" sneered +Jack. + +"Oh, no, it isn't that," Sam hastened to assure him; "nothing of +the kind. What I mean is that we are liable to get into serious +trouble if we keep on this way. I saw Hank Handcraft the other +day, and I can tell you he's in no very amiable mood. He wants +his money for the other night, he says, and he intimated that if +he didn't get it he'd make things hot for us." + +"He'd better not," glowered Bill Bender, looking up from his +paper. "We know a few things about friend Hank." + +"Yes, and he knows a good deal about us that wouldn't look well +in print," retorted Sam gloomily. "I wish I'd never gone into +that thing the other night." + +"Pshaw, it was just borrowing a little money from the old man, +wasn't it?" snorted Jack. "We'll pay it back some time." + +"When we get it," rejoined Sam more gloomily than ever; "and I +don't see much immediate chance of that." + +"Oh, well, cheer up; we'll get it all right somehow," Jack +assured him. "And in connection with that I've got a scheme. +Why shouldn't we three fellows go camping after the motor-boat +races?" + +"Go camping--where?" asked Bill, looking up surprised. + +"Well, I would have suggested Topsail Island, but those +pestiferous kids are going there, I hear. However, there are +plenty of other islands right inside the Upper Inlet. What's the +matter with our taking possession of one of those?" + +The Upper Inlet was a sort of narrow and shallow bay a short +distance above Topsail Island, and was well known to both Bill +and Jack, who had been there in the winter on frequent ducking +expeditions. + +"We might as well do something like that before school opens," +said Sam. "I think that Jack's suggestion is a pretty good one." + +"I don't know that it's so bad myself," patronizingly admitted +Bill; "but what connection has that with your scheme for getting +money, Jack?" + +"A whole lot," replied the bully. "I'm going to get even with +that young Digby if it takes me a year. He cost me the +fifty-dollar prize, and, beside that, all the kids in the village +now call me 'cheater,' and hardly anybody will have anything to +do with me." + +"Well, how do you propose to get even by going camping?" inquired +Bill. + +"I plan to take that Digby kid with me," rejoined Jack calmly. + +"You're crazy!" exclaimed Bill. "Why, we'd have the whole +country after us for kidnapping." + +"Oh, I've got a better plan than that," laughed Jack coolly, "and +we won't need to be mixed up in it at all. It'll all come back +on Hank Handcraft, I owe him a grudge for bothering me about +money, anyhow, the old beach-combing nuisance!" + +"But where do we come in to get any benefit out of it?" demanded +Sam. + +"I'll explain that to you later," said Jack grandiloquently. "I +haven't quite worked out all the details yet; but if you'll meet +me here this evening I'll have them all hot and smoking for you." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +JACK FORMS A PLOT + + + +The next morning Jack lost no time in making his way toward Hank +Handcraft's tumble-down abode. He found its owner in, and +likewise disposed to be quarrelsome. + +"'Oh, here you are at last!" exclaimed the hairy and unkempt +outcast, as the bully approached heavily through the yielding +sand. "I'd about given you up, and was seriously contemplating +making a visit to your home--" + +"If you ever did," breathed Jack threateningly. + +"Well," grinned Hank impudently, with his most malicious chuckle, +"if I did, what then?" + +"I'd have you thrown out of the house," calmly replied Jack, +seating himself on a big log of driftwood, once the rib of a +schooner that went ashore on the dangerous shoals off Hampton and +pounded herself to pieces. + +"Oh, no; you wouldn't have me thrown out!" chuckled Hank, +resuming his task of scaling a mackerel. "Cause if you did, I'd +go to the chief of police and tell him something about the +robbery of the armory and the cracking of old man Hudgins' safe." + +"You wouldn't dare to do that!" sneered Jack. "You are +implicated in that as badly as we are." + +"That's a matter of opinion," rejoined Hank, industriously +scraping away at his fish, and showing no trace of any emotion in +his pale eyes. "Anyhow, what I want right now is some cash. You +agreed to pay me well for what I did the other night, and I +haven't seen the money yet." + +"Be a little patient, can't you?" irritably retorted the other. +"Money doesn't grow on trees. Now listen, Hank. How would you +like to get a nice little sum of money--more than I could give +you--for camping out on Kidd's Island, in the Upper Inlet, for a +few days?" + +Hank's fishy eyes showed some trace of feeling at this. + +"What do you mean?" he asked. "Is this a new joke you're putting +up on me?" + +"No, I am perfectly serious. You can make a good sum by +following our directions, and I'll see that you get into no +trouble over it." + +"Well, if you can do that, I'll keep my mouth shut," chuckled +Hank in his mirthless way; "but if I don't get some money pretty +quick, I'm going to make trouble fer somebody, I tell you!" + +"Haven't you got some place where we can talk that is less +exposed than this?" said Jack, looking about him apprehensively. + +"Sure, there's my mansion," grinned Hank, pointing over his +shoulder with a fishy thumb. + +"That's the place," said Jack, "although I wish you'd clean it +out occasionally. Now listen, Hank, here's the plan--" + +Still talking, the ill-assorted pair entered the ruinous shack. + + * * * * * * + +Motor-boat engines were popping everywhere. The club house was +dressed in bright-colored bunting from veranda rail to ridge +pole. Ladies strolled about beneath their parasols with +correctly dressed yachtsmen, asking all sorts of absurd questions +about the various boats that lay ready to take part in the +various events. It was the day of the Hampton Yacht Club's +regatta. + +Among the throng the Boy Scouts threaded their way, watching with +interest the events as they were run off, one after the other. +But their minds were centered on the race for the trophy which, +although there were several other entries, had been practically +conceded to Sam Redding's hydroplane. + +"She's a wonder," said one of the onlookers, pointing from the +porch to the float, where Jack Curtiss, Bill Bender and Sam were +leaning over their speedy craft, stripping her of every bit of +weight not absolutely necessary. On the opposite side of the +float the crew of the Flying Fish, the Snark, the Bonita and the +Albacore were equally busy over their craft. + +"Douse the engine with oil," directed Rob, as Merritt gave the +piece of machinery a final inspection; "and how about that extra +set of batteries?" + +"They're aboard," rejoined Tubby, who was perspiringly removing +cushions and other surplus gear from the fleet boat. + +"That's right; if it comes to an emergency, we may need them," +said Rob. "Nothing like being prepared." + +"Do you think we have any show?" asked Tubby, who was to be a +sort of general utility man in the crew. Rob was to steer. + +"I don't see why not," rejoined the other, wiping his oily hands +on a bit of waste. "The race is a handicap one, and we get an +allowance on account of our engine not being as powerful as the +hydroplane's." + +The course to be run was a sort of elongated, or isosceles +triangle. The turning point was at the head of the inlet, a buoy +with a big red ball on it being placed just inside the rough +waters of the bar. It made a course of about five miles. The +race for the Hampton Motor Boat Club's cup, for which the boys +and the others were entered, was twice round. + +The waters about the club house were so dotted with motor craft +which darted about in every direction that Commodore Wingate of +the club and the other regatta officials had a hard time keeping +the course clear for the contestants. On the threat, however, +that the races would be called off if a clear course was not +kept, order was finally obtained. + +The boys were too busy to pay much attention to the results of +the other races, but a member of the club who had won the Blake +trophy for the cabin cruiser boats, warned the boys to beware of +the turn above the far buoy. + +"It's choppy as the dickens there," he said, as he made his way +to the club house, "and you want to take the turn easily. Don't +'bank' it, or you'll lose more than you gain." + +The boys thanked him for his advice, and laid it to heart to be +used when the race was on. + +Sam's boat having been tuned up to the last notch of readiness, +Jack Curtiss strolled consequentially about on the float, making +bets freely on the hydroplane's chance of winning. + +"I'll bet you twenty-five to any odds you like that the +hydroplane wins the race," he said, addressing Colin Maxwell, the +son of a well-to-do merchant from a neighboring town. Young +Maxwell had heard nothing of Jack's mean trick in the aeroplane +contest, and therefore didn't mind talking to him. + +"I like the look of the Flying Fish pretty well," was the +response, "and I'll take you up. You'll have to give me odds, +though." + +"Oh, certainly," responded the bully, with a confident grin; +"twenty-five to thirty, say." + +"Make it thirty-five." + +"All right; done," said Jack. "You know me, of course; no +necessity of putting up the money." + +"Oh, not the least," rejoined the other politely, though had he +known the state of Jack's finances he might have thought +differently. + +The bully went about making several bets at similar odds, until +finally Bill Bender came up behind him and in a low voice warned +him to be careful. + +"What are you going to do if we lose?" he breathed. "You haven't +got a cent to pay with." + +"Oh, it's like taking gum from a busted slot machine," rejoined +the bully, with a laugh. "They can't win. We know what their +boat can do, and the race is practically conceded to us. +Besides--" he placed his hand close to Bill's ear and whispered a +few minutes. "I guess that's a bad scheme, eh?" he resumed in a +louder tone, though his voice was still pitched too low for those +about to hear him. "If it's done right, we'll ram them and it'll +never be noticed." + +"Hum, I'm not so sure," grunted Bill. "However, if we really +perceive we are losing, I don't see what else we are to do. Are +you going to steer?" + +"Sure. Sam lost his nerve at the last moment--like him, eh? +It's a good thing, though, I'm to be at the wheel, because I +don't think Sam would have had the courage to carry out my plan." + +"Not he," said Bill, with a shrug. "He's got the backbone of a +snail." + +More of this interesting conversation was cut short by the "bang" +of the pistol which warned the contestants of the racing boats to +get ready. + +"The race for the Hampton Yacht Club's trophy will take place in +five minutes!" cried the announcer. + +The five contestants cast off from the float and slowly chugged +out to a position in the rear of the starting line and behind the +committee boat. Then came the nervous work of awaiting the +starting gun. The boys had all donned slickers, and the crew of +the hydroplane wore rubber coats which covered them completely. +A sort of spray hood had been erected over the hydroplane's +engines. + +"That means she's going to do her best," remarked Rob, pointing +to this indication that great speed was expected. "That's what +we want to do, too, isn't it?" + +At last came the gun that started off the Snark, the Bonita and +the Albacore, which were all of about the same speed. + +"Our turn next," said Rob, who had previously received his +instructions from the committee. + +"Well, I'm all ready," said Merritt, nervously twisting a grease +cup. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE "FLYING FISH" ON HER METTLE + + +"Bang!" + +With a nervous twitch, Rob threw in the first speed clutch, for +the engine had been kept running on her neutral speed, and was +able to take up way as soon as the propeller began to "bite." + +Rapidly the boy increased the speed up to the third "forward," +and the Flying Fish darted through the water like a pickerel +after a fat frog. + +"Bang!" came behind them once more, as the sound of the cheers +which greeted them as they shot across the line grew faint. + +"Crouch low!" shouted Rob back to his crew. "We'll need every +inch of advantage we can get." + +The white spray shot in a perfect fountain from the sharp bow of +the Flying Fish, and her every frame and plank quivered under the +vibration of her powerful engine. + +"She's doing better than she ever did!" shouted Merritt to Tubby, +who crouched in the center of the boat, ready to take any part in +an emergency. + +The other nodded and kept his eyes ahead on the white wake of the +other three craft. + +Suddenly the Albacore began to fall back. As the Flying Fish +roared by her, Rob heard a shout of something about "missing +fire." + +A steady downpour of spray was drenching the occupants of the +racer, but they paid scant heed to it. Rob dived in his pockets +and put on a pair of goggles. The spray was blinding him. He +waved to Tubby to go further astern and keep the rear part of the +boat well down when they made the sharp turn at the red buoy. + +In an incredibly short time, it seemed, the turning buoy faced +them. Rob set his wheel over and spun the Flying Fish through the +rougher water at the mouth of the inlet at as sharp an angle as +he dared. In a few seconds more they had passed the Snark and +the Bonita, which were racing bow and bow. The crew of the +Flying Fish, though, knew that both boats had a time allowance +over them, so that the mere passing didn't mean much, unless they +could increase the lead. + +Faster and faster the boy's craft forged ahead. A thrill shot +through Rob's frame. The Flying Fish was showing what she was +made of. + +But as he turned his head swiftly he saw that the hydroplane had +rounded the stake and was coming down the straight stretch of +water like an express train. A great wave of water shot out on +either side of her bow. So low in the water had her powerful +engines dragged her that she seemed to be barely on the surface, +and yet, as the boys knew, she was actually "coasting" over the +surface. + +Try as he would, Rob could not get an ounce more speed out of the +Flying Fish, and as the speedy hydroplane roared by them they +heard a mocking shout from her crew. + +Rob, more determined than ever to stick it out, sent the Flying +Fish plunging at top speed through the wash of the speedy craft, +hoping to keep up the distance between them at least equal. But +as he saw the hydroplane gradually drawing away and heard the +great roar that went up from the thrilled spectators as she shot +by the club house, his heart sank. + +It looked as if the Plying Fish was beaten. And now the club +house loomed near once more. + +"Go on, Plying Fish, go on!" + +"You've got a time allowance on her!" + +"Push along, Rob!" + +"Kr-ee-ee-ee-ee!" + +A tumult of other shouts roared in Rob's ears as they tore past +the crowded porch. + +"Kr-ee-ee-ee-ee!" screamed back Merritt and Tubby, with waves of +the hand to the brown uniformed figures they could see perched on +every point of vantage. + +Suddenly the Flying Fish began to creep up on the hydroplane, +which had slowed down for some reason. + +"Hurrah! We've got'em now!" shouted Merritt, as he saw, far +ahead, Jack and the other two occupants of the seeming winner +leaning over the craft's engine, the hood having been raised. + +Rob said nothing, but with burning eyes clung to the wheel and +shot the Flying Fish straight ahead on her course. + +As they thundered past the hydroplane, the slender craft lay +almost motionless on the water, with a great cloud of blue smoke +tumbling out of her exhausts. + +"Looks like they've flooded her cylinder," said Merritt, +observing these signs. + +"Kr-ee-ee-ee-ee!" + +It was Tubby giving utterance triumphantly to the Eagle scream. + +Jack Curtiss straightened up angrily as he heard, his face black +and greasy from his researches into the engine. He shook a +menacing fist at the others as they tore by. The next minute, +however, a quick look back by Rob showed that the hydroplane was +coming ahead again, and that the engine trouble, whatever it was, +had been adjusted. + +As they neared the turning point, Rob saw, to his dismay, that +the hydroplane was creeping up faster and faster. It was the +last lap, and if Sam Redding's boat passed them at the stake the +race was as good as over. + +"Come on, Flying Fish! Come on!" shouted Rob, as the hydroplane +crept ever nearer and nearer to his boat's stern. + +Rob noticed, as he swung a trifle wide of the stake raft, that it +seemed to be the intention of Jack Curtiss, who was at the wheel, +to swing the hydroplane round the sharp angle of the course +inside of the Flying Fish. Guessing that this would mean disaster +to her ill-advised occupants, he waved his hand at them to keep +out. + +"When we need your advice we'll send for it. This is the time +we've got you!" yelled Jack Curtiss, bending low over his wheel, +as he grazed by the Flying Fish's stern to take the inside +course. + +At the same instant, so quickly that the boys did not even get a +mental picture of it, the hydroplane overturned. + +Taking the curve at such a speed and at such a sharp angle had, +as Jack had surmised, proved too much for her stability. Her +occupants were pitched struggling into the water. + +"Shall we pick them up?" yelled Merritt. + +"No," shouted Rob; "they've all got life belts on. A launch from +the club will get them." + +Indeed, as he spoke a launch was seen putting off to the rescue. +The accident had been witnessed from the club, and as the water +was warm, the boys were satisfied that no harm would come to the +three from their immersion. + +But the delay almost proved fatal to the Flying Fish's chance of +winning. Close behind her now came creeping up the speedy +Albacore. + +But a few hundred feet before the finish the Flying Fish darted +ahead once more, and shook off her opponent amid a great roar of +yells and whoops and cheers. An instant later she shot across +the line--a winner. + +"Bang!" went the gun, in token that the race was finished. + +"I congratulate you," said Commodore Wingate, as the boys brought +their craft up to the float. "It was a well-fought race." + +And now came the captains of the Albacore, Snark and Bonita. + +"You won the race fairly and squarely," said the former, shaking +Rob's hand. "I presume, commodore, the time was taken?" + +"It has been," replied that official. "The Flying Fish wins by +one minute and four and seven hundredths seconds." + +More cheers greeted this announcement, mingled with laughter and +some sympathy, as the club launch, towing the capsized +hydroplane, puffed up to the float. From the launch emerged +three crestfallen figures with dripping garments. But wet as he +was, Jack Curtiss was not going to surrender the race without a +protest. + +"A foul! We claim a foul! The Flying Fish fouled us!" he +shouted. + +"My dear young man," calmly replied the commodore, "I was +watching you every foot of the way through binoculars, and I +should rather say that you fouled the Flying Fish. Anyhow, you +should have better sense than to try to shave round that turn so +closely." + +More mortified, and angrier than ever, Jack strode off to put on +dry clothes, followed by his equally chagrined companions, who, +however, had sense enough now not to make any protests. They +knew well enough that Jack, in his hurry to grab the prize, had +attempted a foolish and dangerous thing which had cost them the +race. + +"A great race, a great race," said Mr. Blake, as the boys, +followed by the crowd, entered the club house, where the awards +were to be distributed. "You boys certainly covered yourselves +with glory," he went on. + +"Yes, and here is your reward. I hope it will stimulate you to +put up a fine defense for it next year," said Commodore Wingate, +handing to the elated boys a fine engraved silver cup, the trophy +of the Hampton Yacht Club. + +"Get up and make a speech!" shouted some one. + +The boys felt inclined to run for it. + +"Go ahead! Make some sort of a talk," urged Rob, helping Tubby +on to the platform from which the prizes had been handed out. + +"Ladies and gentlemen," puffed the stout youth, "we want to thank +you for your congratulations and thank the club for the fine cup. +Er--er--er--we thank you." + +And having made what was perhaps quite as good a speech as some +of his elders', Tubby stepped down amid loud and prolonged +cheering. + +Up in the dressing room Jack and his cronies, changing into +other, garments, heard the sounds of applause. + +"It's high time something was done," said Bill, as he gazed from +a window at several of the yacht club attendants bailing out the +unlucky hydroplane. "Those young beggars will be owning the town +next." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE EAGLES IN CAMP + + +The next few days were full of excitement and preparation for the +Boy Scouts. Their headquarters resounded all day to the tramp of +feet, and the Manual of Instructions was consulted day and night. +The official tents had arrived, and every boy in the Patrol was +eager for the time to arrive to put them up. So much so that two +or three confessed that they could hardly sleep at night in their +impatience for the hour when the embarkation for Topsail Island +was to take place. + +Besides the tents, there was much other equipment to be +overhauled and set in order, for, before their departure, the +boys were to be reviewed by their scout master and a field +secretary from New York. There were haversack straps to be +replaced, laces mended, axes sharpened, "Billys" polished and +made to shine like new tin, and a hundred and one things to be +done. At last, however--although it seemed that it would never +come--the eventful Monday arrived, as eventful days of all kinds +have a habit of doing; and the Eagle Patrol, spick and span and +shining from tan boots to campaign hats, fell in line behind the +band. Proudly they paraded up the street, with their green and +black Eagle Patrol sign fluttering gallantly in the van. + +The "reviewing stand" was the post-office steps, around which +most of the citizens of Hampton and the proud parents and +relatives of the young scouts were assembled. + +Plenty of applause greeted them, as, in response to Rob's orders, +given in the sharp, military manner, they drew up in line and +gave the Boy Scout's salute. This done, the young scouts went +through a smart drill with the staffs they carried. Then, after +saluting once more, and being warmly complimented on their +appearance by the field secretary, they marched off to the wharf +where they were to embark for their camp. + +The day before Merritt, Hiram Nelson, Paul Perkins and the three +"tender feet"--Martin Green, Walter Lonsdale and Joe Digby--had +been told off by Rob as on "pioneer service"; that is to say, +that they had gone down to the island in the Flying Fish. +Arrived there, they selected a good spot for the camp, aided by +Commodore Wingate's and Captain Hudgins' suggestions, and set up +the tents and made the other necessary preparations. The camp +was therefore practically ready, for the "army" to move into. + +At Tubby's special request, a list of the rations for the week's +camp had been made out by Rob and affixed to the bulletin board +in the headquarters of the Eagles. As perhaps some of my young +readers may care to know what to take on a similar expedition, is +the list, exclusive of meat, which was to be brought from the +mainland, and fish, which they expected to catch themselves: + +Oatmeal, 8 lbs.; +rice, 4 lbs.; +crackers, 35 lbs.; +chocolate, 1 1-2 lbs.; +tea, 3 lbs; +coffee, 1 lb.; +lard, 6 lbs.; +sugar, 8 lbs.; +condensed milk, 10 cans; +butter, 4 lbs.; +eggs, 12 dozen; +bacon, 20 lbs.; +preserves, 14 jars; +prunes, 8 lbs.; +maple syrup and molasses, 4 quarts; +potatoes, 1 bushel; +white beans, 6 quarts; +canned corn, 6 tins; +canned tomatoes, 6 tins; +flour, 35 lbs.; +baking powder, 2 lbs.; +salt, 4 lbs.; +pepper, 2 ounces. + +"Well," Tubby had remarked, as he gazed attentively at the list, +"we won't starve, anyhow." + +"I should say not," laughed Rob; "and besides all that, I've got +lots of lines and squids, and the blues and mackerel are running +good." + +"Can't I take along my twenty-two rifle--that island's just +swarming with rabbits, and I think I heard some quail when we +were there the other day," pleaded Merritt. + +"Not in season," answered Rob laconically. "Laws not up on them +till November." + +"Oh, bother the law!" blurted out Merritt. "However, I suppose +if there wasn't one there wouldn't be any rabbits left." + +"I guess you're right," agreed Tubby. "Still, it does seem hard +to have to look at them skip about and not be able to take a shot +at them." + +"Maybe we can set a springle and snare some," hopefully suggested +Tubby, as a way out of the difficulty; "that wouldn't be as bad +as shooting them, you know, and I can build a springle that will +strangle them instantaneously." + +"No fair, Tubby," laughed Rob. "You know, a boy scout promises +to obey the law, and the game law is as much a law as any other." + +Arrived at the L wharf, the boys found the Flying Fish and +Captain Hudgins' Barracuda waiting for them. With much laughter +they piled in--their light-heartedness and constant joking +reminding such onlookers, as had ever seen the spectacle, of a +band of real soldiers going to the front or embarking for foreign +stations. + +With three ear-splitting cheers and a final yell of, +"Kr-ee-ee-ee-ee!" the little flotilla got under way. + +They arrived at the camping ground at the northeast end of the +island before noon, and found that the "pioneers" appointed by +Rob had done their work well. Each tent was placed securely on a +level patch of sandy ground, cleared from brush and stamped flat. +The pegs were driven extra deep in anticipation of a gale, and an +open cook tent, with flaps that could be fastened down in bad +weather, stood to one side. + +A small spring had been excavated by the pioneers, and an old +barrel sunk in place, which had filled in the night and now +presented sparkling depths of cool, clear water. + +"I suppose that water is all right, captain?" inquired Leader +Rob, with a true officer's regard for his troops. + +"Sweet as a butternut, son," rejoined the old man. "Makes the +sick strong and the strong stronger, as the medicine +advertisements say." + +For the present, the cooking was to be done on a regular camp +fire which was built between two green logs laid lengthwise and +converging toward the end. The tops of these had, under +Commodore Wingate's directions, been slightly flattened with an +axe. At each end a forked branch had been set upright in the +ground, with a green limb laid between them. From this limb hung +"cooking hooks," consisting of green branches with hooked ends at +one extremity to hang over the long timber, and a nail driven in +the other from which to hang the pots. + +"That's the best form of camp fire, boys," said Commodore--or +perhaps we would better call him scout master now--Wingate, who +had accompanied the boys to see them settled. "Now, then, the +next thing to do is to run up the Stars and Stripes and plant the +Eagle flag. Then you'll be all O.K." + +Little Andy Bowles made the woods behind them echo with the +stirring call of "assembly," and halliards were reeved on a +previously cut pole, about fifteen feet in height. The Stars and +Stripes were attached, and while the whole company stood at +attention and gave the scout salute, Scout Master Wingate raised +the colors. Three loud, shrill cheers greeted Old Glory as it +blew bravely out against the cloudless blue. + +"That's a pretty sight now, shiver my timbers if it ain't," +observed old Captain Hudgins, who had stood, hat in hand, during +the ceremony. "I've seen Old Glory in many a foreign port, and +felt like takin' off my hat and givin' three cheers fer the old +flag; but I never seen her look better or finer than she does +a-streakin' out from that there bit of timber." + +"Now, Patrol cooks," was Scout Master Wingate's next command, +"it's only an hour to dinner time, and we want the first mess to +be right. Come on, and we'll get the pot boiling." + +Cook duty fell that day to Hiram Nelson and Walter Lonsdale, and +under the scout master's directions they soon had potatoes +peeled, beans in water, and a big piece of stew meat chopped up +with vegetables in a capacious pot. + +After every errand to the store tent, Walter was anxious to know +if it was not yet time to light the fire. + +"Never be in a hurry to light your fire when you are in the +woods," rejoined the scout master; "otherwise you will be so busy +tending the fire you won't be able to prepare your food for +cooking. Now we're all ready for the fire, though, and you can +bring me some dry bark and small sticks from that pile of wood +the pioneers laid in yesterday." + +This was promptly done, and the lads watched the next step with +interest. They saw the scout master take a tiny pile of the +sticks and then light a roll of bark and thrust it into them. + +"I thought you piled them up all criss-cross," remarked Hiram. + +"No woodsman does that, my boy," was the rejoinder. "Now get me +some larger timber from that pile, and I'll show you how to go +about it like regular trappers." + +The fire builder shoved the ends of the sticks into the blaze and +then the bean pot was hung in place. + +"We won't put the potatoes on now, as they take less time," he +remarked; "those beans will take the longest." + +Soon the heat was leaping up about the pots, and the cheerful +crackle and incense of the camp fire filled the air. As the +sticks burned down the scout master shoved the ends farther into +the blaze, instead of throwing them on top of it. + +"Now, then, boys, you've had your first lesson in camp fire +making and cooking," he announced. "Now go ahead, and let's see +what kind of a dinner you can produce. I'm going for a tour of +exploration of the island." + +Among the other things the pioneers had accomplished was the +building of a table large enough to seat the entire Patrol, with +planks set on logs as seats. Hiram put Walter to setting this, +while he burned his fingers and smudged his face over his +cookery. Long before the beans seemed any nearer to what +experience taught the young cook they ought to be, Walter +announced that the table was all set, with its tin cups and +dishes and steel knives and forks. + +Suddenly, while Hiram was considering putting the potatoes on +their hook, there came from the rear of the store tent the most +appalling succession of squeals and screams the boy had ever +heard. Springing to his feet, he dashed to the scene of the +conflict--for such it seemed to be though not without a heart +that beat rather faster than usual. He bad no idea what the +creatures could be that were producing all the uproar, and for +all he knew they might have been bears. + +Behind him came Walter, rather pale, but determined to do his +best as a Boy Scout to fight off any wild beasts that might be +attacking the camp. As he dashed behind the tent, however, Hiram +was impelled to give a loud laugh. The contestants--for he had +rightly judged they were in high dispute--were two small black +pigs which had looted a bag of oatmeal from under the flap of the +store tent and were busily engaged in fighting over their spoils. + +"Get out, you brutes! Scat!" shouted the boy, bringing down a +long-handled spoon he carried over the backs of the disputants. + +The spoon, being almost red-hot, the clamor of the porkers +redoubled, and with indignant squeals and grumblings they dashed +off into the dense growth of scrub oak and pine that covered the +island in its interior. At the same moment the captain, who had +been taking a snooze under some small bushes, awoke with a start. + +"Eh--eh--eh! What's all that?" he exclaimed, hearing the yells. +"Why, it's that plagued Betsy and Jane, my two young sows," he +cried the next moment. "Consarn and keelhaul the critters, +they're breakin' out all the time. I reckon they're headed fer +home now," he added, when Hiram related how he had scared them. + +"I'm glad that they were nothing but pigs, captain," said Hiram, +going back with flushed cheeks to his cookery. "I was afraid for +a minute they were I hardly know what. We'll have to fix that +store tent more snugly in future." + +"And I'll have ter take a double reef in my pig Pen," chuckled +the captain. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE CHUMS IN PERIL + + +Even the epicurean Tubby Hopkins voted dinner that day a great +success, and Hiram, with becoming modesty, took his congratulations +blushingly. In mid-afternoon, after seeing that the camp was in +good working order, the scout masters started for the home shore +in Captain Hudgins's boat, which was also to bring back some +additional supplies for the next day. + +After dinner Rob had assigned Merritt and Tubby to form a +"fishing squad," to range seaward in the Flying Fish and "halt +and detain" all the bluefish they could apprehend. The others +were given the afternoon to range the island and practice up +their woodcraft and landmark work, while Rob busied himself in +his tent, which was equipped with a small folding camp table, in +filling out his pink blank reports which were to be forwarded to +Commodore Wingate and dispatched by him to the headquarters of +the Boy Scouts in New York. + +Merritt and Tubby were both ardent fishermen, and in response to +Hiram's pleadings, they allowed him to accompany them on their +expedition. The fish were running well, and the boys cast and +pulled in some time without particularly noticing how far out to +sea they had gone. + +Suddenly the stout youth, who was fishing with an unusually heavy +line and hook, felt a hard tug on his apparatus, so powerful a +tweak, in fact, that it almost pulled him overboard. He tried to +haul in, but the resistance on the other end of his line was so +great that he was compelled to twist it about a cleat in order to +avoid either letting go or being dragged into the sea. + +"What in the name of Sam Hill have you hooked?" gasped Merritt, +as the Flying Fish began to move through the water faster than +even her engine could propel her. + +"I've not the least idea," remarked Tubby placidly, "but I rather +think it must be a whale." + +"Whale nothing!" exclaimed Merritt scornfully and with superior +wisdom. "Whales sound, don't they?" + +"Well, there's not been a sound out of this one so far," +truthfully observed Hiram. + +"What kind of a sound do they make, corporal?" + +"Oh, you chump," responded Merritt good-naturedly, "you've lived +by the sea all your life, and you don't know how a whale sounds. +Sound means when a whale blows, spouts, sends up a big fountain +of water." + +"Oh, I see," responded Hiram, much enlightened. "But see here, +Merritt, whatever we are fast to is beginning to pick up speed +pretty rapidly. Don't you think we'd better cut the line or try +to haul in?" + +"Haul in! Not much!" exclaimed Tubby indignantly. "We'll just +hang on till we tire him out, that's what we'll do, and then haul +in." + +"But we're getting a good way out from shore," objected Hiram, +who, however much at home he was at the key of a wireless +apparatus, had no great relish for blue water in a small motor +boat. + +"Don't you worry, sonny," put in Merritt patronizingly. "We'll +be all right. My, that was a plunge!" + +As he spoke the bow of the Flying Fish dipped till she shipped a +few gallons of green water. + +"I'll pay out some more line," said the unperturbed Tubby. "I +guess whatever we're onto begins to believe that he has swallowed +something pretty indigestible." + +Faster and faster the Flying Fish began to cut through the sea. +The water sprayed out from both sides of her cutwater in a steady +stream. + +"She's doing as well as she did the day of the race," said +Merritt, with a laugh, gazing at Hiram's rather pale face. The +wireless youth was casting longing glances at the shore. + +"Well, I wish Mr. Whale, or whatever he is, would come up and let +us have a look at him!" exclaimed Tubby suddenly. "This is +getting pretty monotonous." + +As he spoke the boy paid nut a little more line. He had only +just time to belay it round the cleat to avoid its being jerked +out of his hand, so fast was the creature they had hooked now +traveling. + +"Say, Tubby," spoke Merritt at length, "I'm beginning to think +myself that it might not be a bad idea to put back. Those clouds +over there on the horizon look as if they meant trouble." + +"Oh, let's keep it on a little while longer pleaded Tubby; +cutting through the water like this, without any expenditure of +gasoline or power, is the real luxurious way of ocean traveling. +It beats the Mauretania. just think if liners could hitch a whole +team of things like whatever has got hold of us to their bows! +Why, the Atlantic would be crossed in four days." + +For some time longer the boat shot along over the waves, towed by +its invisible force. The boys, with the exception of Tubby, +began to get anxious. The shores of the mainland were dim in the +distance behind them, and Topsail Island itself only showed as a +dark blue dot. + +Suddenly the motion ceased. + +"He's free of the line!" shouted Hiram, inwardly much relieved to +think they had got rid of what to him was an alarming situation. + +"No, he's not," replied Tubby, bending over the line. "He's +still fast to us. The line's as tight as a fiddle string." + +He was standing up as he spoke, and as the Flying Fish gave a +sudden, crazy jerk forward, he was almost thrown overboard. In +fact, he would have toppled into the sea if Merritt had not +bounded forward and grabbed the fleshy lad just as he was losing +his balance. + +"We're off again!" exclaimed Hiram, as the Flying Fish once more +began to move through the water. + +But now the creature that had seized Tubby's big hook started to +move in circles. Round and round the Flying Fish was towed in +dizzy swings that made the heads of her young occupants swim. + +"Start the engine on the reverse, and see if that will do any +good," said Tubby, bending anxiously over his line. + +Merritt brought the reverse gear to "neutral," and then started +it up, gradually bringing back the lever governing the reversing +wheel till the Flying Fish was going second speed astern, and +finally at her full gait backward. + +The tug thus exercised seemed to have no effect on the monster +that had caught Tubby's bait, however. With the exception that +the speed was diminished a trifle, the Flying Fish was still +powerless to shake off her opponent. + +Suddenly, and without the slightest warning, a huge, shiny, wet +body shot out of the water almost directly in front of the amazed +and startled boys, and settled back with a mighty splash that +sent the spray flying in a salt-water shower bath over their +heads. + +"Whatever was it?" gasped Hiram in awed tones. + +"A shark," replied Merritt, "and a whopper, too. What are we +going to do, Tubby--keep on or cut loose?" + +"Just a little longer," pleaded the other. "He must be tiring by +this time. If we can only wear him out, we can tow him ashore +and make a little money out of him. You know shark skin is +valuable." + +"I'd rather have a whole skin of my own," quavered Hiram, who had +been considerably alarmed by the momentary glimpse he had had of +Tubby's quarry. + +"He's off again!" shouted Merritt, as the sea tiger started +straight ahead once more. + +Suddenly the line slackened again. + +"Look out!" Tubby had just time to shriek the warning before a +mighty shock threw them all off their feet in a heap on the +bottom of the boat. + +"Zan-g-g-g!" + +The line twanged and snapped under the sudden strain, and a great +rush seaward showed the boys, as soon as they recovered their +senses, that they had lost their shark. + +"And a good line," moaned Tubby. + +"What are you kicking about?" demanded Merritt. "It's a lucky +thing the beast didn't start some plank of the boat when it +charged; but as far as I can see, the Flying Fish stood the shock +all right." + +"It felt like an earthquake," murmured Hiram, whose face was +white and eyes frightened. + +"Well, I suppose we'd better head for home," said Tubby at +length. "Those bluefish will go fine for supper." + +"Spoken like a Tubby," laughed Merritt. "All right, I'll start +up. Hullo--" he looked up with a puzzled face from the reverse +lever. "I can't get her on the forward speed." + +"What's the matter?" gasped Hiram. + +"I don't know. Something's stuck. Shut off that engine, will +you, Tubby, while I see?" + +Tubby promptly shut down the motor, and Merritt struggled with +the refractory lever. It was all in vain, however; he could not +get it on the forward speed. + +"I've got to investigate," puffed the perspiring corporal; +"something must be wrong with the reversible propeller." + +"Well, whatever you are going to do, hurry up about it," spoke +Tubby, with unwonted sharpness in his tones. + +"Why, what's the--" began Merritt. + +Tubby checked him with a finger on his lips. + +"Don't scare the kid," he whispered, leaning forward, "but we're +in for a storm." + +He pointed seaward. + +Rolling toward them was a spreading wall of heavy clouds +traveling at seemingly great speed, while below the wrack the +water darkened ominously and became flecked with "white horses." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +LOST IN THE STORM + + +"The trouble's in the reversible propeller. I always told Rob he +was foolish not to have a regular reverse gear on the shaft +itself and a solid wheel," said Merritt. + +"Well, never mind that now," urged Tubby anxiously. "I'll shift +all the cushions and stuff up in the bow, and Hiram and I will +get as far forward as we can. That will raise the stern and you +can hang over and reach the wheel." + +When the stout lad had done as he suggested there was quite a +perceptible tilt forward to the Flying Fish, and Merritt, hanging +over the stern, could feel about the propeller better. + +"Just as I thought," he shouted presently. "That shark when he +came astern fouled that heavy line on the propeller." + +He got out his knife, and in a few minutes succeeded in cutting +the entangling line free. + +It was not any too soon. From far off there came a low sound, +something like the moaning of a large animal in pain. It grew +louder and closer, and with it came an advancing wall of water +crested with white foam. The sky, too, grew black, and air +filled with a sort of sulphurous smell. + +"It's a thunder squall," shouted Tubby, as Merritt shoved over +the lever and started the engine. + +As he spoke there came a low growl of thunder and the sky was +illumined with a livid glare. + +"Here she comes!" yelled Merritt; "better get out those slickers +or we'll be soaked." + +Tubby opened a locker and produced the yellow waterproof coats. +The boys had hardly thrust their arms into them before the big +sea struck them. Thanks to Tubby's steering, however, the Flying +Fish met it without shipping more than a few cupfuls of water. + +The next minute the full fury of the storm enveloped the Boy +Scouts and the Flying Fish was laboring in a heaving wilderness +of lashed and tumbling water. + +"Keep her head up!" roared Merritt, above the screaming of the +wind and the now almost continuous roar and rattle of the +thunder. It grew almost dark, so overcast was the sky, and under +the somber, driving cloud wrack the white wave crests gleamed +like savage teeth. + +Hiram crouched on the bottom of the boat, too terrified to speak, +while Tubby and Merritt strove desperately to keep the little +craft from "broaching to," in which case she would have shipped +more water than would have been at all convenient, not to say +safe. + +As if it were some vindictive live thing, seized with a sudden +spite against the boat and its occupants, the storm roared about +the dazed boys. + +The Flying Fish, however, rode the sweeping seas gallantly, +breasting even the biggest combers bravely and buoyantly. + +"It's getting worse," shouted Tubby, gazing back at Merritt, who +was bending over the laboring motor. + +"Yes, you bet it is!" roared back the engineer; "and I'm afraid +of a short circuit if this rain keeps up." + +"Cover up the engine with that spare slicker," suggested Tubby. + +"That's a good idea," responded the other, rummaging in a stern +locker and producing the garment in question. In another moment +he had it over the engine, protecting the spark plugs and the +high-tension wires from the rain and spray. But the wind was too +high to permit of the covering remaining unfastened, and with a +ball of marlin the young engineer lashed the improvised motor +cover firmly in place. + +Hiram, with a white face, now crawled up from the bottom of the +boat. In addition to being scared, he was seasick from the +eccentric motions of the storm-tossed craft. + +"Do you think we'll ever get ashore again?" he asked, crawling to +Merritt's side. + +"Sure," responded the corporal confidently. "'Come on, buck up, +Hiram! You know, a Boy Scout never says die. We'll be back in +camp in three hours' time, when this squall blows itself out." + +"I--I don't want you to think me a coward, Merritt," quavered +Hiram, "but--but you know this is enough to scare any fellow." + +Indeed, he seemed right. The Flying Fish appeared no more than a +tiny chip on the immense rollers the storm had blown up. Time +and again it looked as if she would never be able to climb the +huge walls of green water that towered above her; but every time +she did, and, as the storm raged on, the confidence of the boys +began to grow. + +"She'll ride it out, Tubby!" yelled Merritt, dousing the engine +with more oil. + +"Sure she will!" yelled back Tubby, with a confidence that was, +however, largely assumed. The stout youth had just been assailed +by an alarming thought that flashed across his mind. + +"Would the gasoline hold out?" + +There was no opportunity on the plunging, bucking craft to +examine the tank, and all the boy could do was to make a rapid +mental calculation, based on what he knew of the consumption of +the engine. The tank, he knew, had been half full when they came +out, and that, under ordinary conditions, would have sufficed to +drive the Flying Fish for five or six hours. + +But they were not ordinary conditions under which she was now +laboring. Tubby knew that Merritt was piling in every ounce of +gasoline the carburetor could take care of. + +Suddenly, while the stout youth's mind was busied with these +thoughts, and without the slightest warning, there came a sort of +wheezing gasp from the motor. + +Merritt leaned over it in alarm. He seized the timing lever and +shoved it over and opened the gasoline cock full tilt. + +But there was no response from the motor. + +It gasped out a cough a couple of times and turned over in a +dying fashion for a few revolutions and then stopped dead. + +The boys were adrift in the teeth of the storm in a crippled boat. + +"What's the matter?" roared back Tubby from the wheel. "She's +lost steerage way!" + +"Motor's gone dead," howled back Merritt laconically. + +"Great Scott, we are in for it now! What's the matter?" + +"No gasolene," yelled Merritt. + +"Sosh-osh-soh!" + +A huge green wave climbed on to the Flying Fish's bow, shaking +her from stem to stern like a terrier shakes a rat. + +"We've got to do something quick, or we'll be swamped!" roared +Merritt. + +"The cockpit cover, quick!" shouted Tubby, steadying himself +in the bucking craft by a tight grasp on the bulwarks. + +"That's it. Now the oars. Hurry up. Here, you Hiram, grab that +can and bail for all you're worth!" + +The fat youth seemed transformed by the sudden emergency into +the most active of beings. + +"What are you going to do?" yelled Merritt, framing his mouth +with his hands. + +"Make a spray hood. Come forward here and give me a hand." + +With the oars the two boys made a sort of arched framework, secured +with ropes, and over it spread the canvas cockpit cover, lashing +it down to the forward and side cleats. This work was not unattended +with danger and difficulty. Time and again as they worked the +boys had to lie flat on their stomachs and hang on while the Flying +Fish leaped a wave like a horse taking a barrier. At last, however, +their task was completed, and the improvised spray hood served +to some extent to break the waves that now threatened momentarily +to engulf the laboring craft. + +"Now to get out a sea anchor!" shouted the indefatigable Tubby. + +He seized up an old bait tub, a boat hook and a "swabbing-out" +broom, and lashed them all together in a sort of bridle. Then +he attached the Flying Fish's mooring cable to the contrivance +and paid it out for a hundred feet or more, while the +storm-battered craft drifted steadily backward. Instead, +however, of lying beam on to the big sea, she now headed up into +them, the "drag," as it is sometimes called, serving to keep her +bow swung up to the threatening combers. + +"There, she'll ride for a while, anyhow," breathed Tubby, when +this was done. + +"What's to be done now?" shouted Merritt in his car. + +"Nothing," was the response; "we've got to lie here till this +thing blows over." + +"It's breaking a little to the south now," exclaimed Merritt, +pointing to where a rift began to appear in the solid cloud +curtain. + +This was cheering news, and even the seasick but plucky Hiram, +who had been bailing for all he was worth, despite his misery, +began to cheer up. + +"Hurrah! I guess the worst of our troubles are over," cried +Tubby. "It certainly looks as if the sea was beginning to go +down, and the wind has dropped, I'm sure." + +That this was the case became apparent shortly. There was a +noticeable decrease in the size and height of the waves and the +wind abated in proportion. In half an hour after the rift had +been first noticed by Merritt, the black squall had passed, and +the late afternoon sun began to shine in a pallid way through the +driving cloud masses. + +The lads, however, were still in a serious fix. They had been +driven so far out to sea that the land was blotted out +altogether. All about them was only the still heaving Atlantic. +The sun, too, was westering fast, and it would not be long before +darkness fell. + +Without gasoline and with no sail, they had no means of making +land. Worse still, they were in the track of the in and +out-bound steamers to and from New York--according to Tubby's +reckoning--and they had no lights. + +"Well, we seem to have got out of the frying pan into the fire," +said Merritt in a troubled voice. "It's the last time I'll ever +come out without lights and a mast and sail." + +"That's what they all say," observed Tubby grimly. "The thing to +do now is to get back to shore somehow. Maybe we can rig up a +sail with the cockpit cover and the oars. We've got to try it, +anyhow." + +After hauling in the sea anchor, the lads set to work to rig up +and lash the oars into an A shape. The canvas was lashed to each +of the arms of the A, and the contrivance then set up and secured +to the fore and aft cleats by the mooring line they had utilized +for the sea anchor. + +"Well," remarked Tubby, as he surveyed his handiwork with some +satisfaction and pride, "we can go before the wind now, anyhow--even +if we do look like a lost, strayed or stolen Chinese junk." + +"Say, I'm so hungry I could eat one of those fish raw!" exclaimed +Hiram, now quite recovered, as the Flying Fish, under her clumsy +sail, began to stagger along in the direction in which Tubby +believed the land lay, the wind fortunately being dead aft. + +"Great Scott, the kid's right!" exclaimed Merritt. "We forgot +all about eating in the gloom but now I believe I could almost +follow Hiram's lead and eat some of those fellows as they are." + +"Well, that's about all you'll get to eat for a long time," +remarked Tubby, grimly casting an anxious eye aloft at the +filling "sail." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +ALMOST RUN DOWN + + +It grew dark rapidly and the night fell on three lonely, wet, +hungry boys, rolling along in a disabled boat under what was +surely one of the queerest rigs ever devised. It answered its +purpose, though, and under her "jury mast" the Flying Fish +actually made some headway through the water. + +None of the boys said much, and Tubby, under the cover of the +darkness, tightened his capacious belt. It spoke volumes for his +Boy Scout training that, though he probably felt the pangs of +hunger as much or even more keenly than the others, he made no +complaint. Hiram, the second-class scout, complained a bit at +first, but soon quieted down under Merritt's stern looks; as for +the latter, as corporal of the Eagle Patrol, it was his duty to +try to keep as cheerful as possible; which, under the circumstances, +was about as hard a task as could well be imagined. + +The eyes of all three were kept strained ahead for some sign of a +light, for they had been so tossed about in the squall that all +sense of direction had been lost, and they had no compass aboard, +which in itself was a piece of carelessness. + +Suddenly, after about an hour of "going it blind" in this +fashion, young Hiram gave a shout. + +"A light, a light!" + +"Where?" demanded Tubby and Merritt sharply. + +"Off there," cried the lad, pointing to the left, over the port +side of the boat. + +Both the elder lads gazed sharply. + +"That's not the direction in which land would lie," mused Tubby. + +"The light's pretty high up, too, isn't it?" suggested Merritt. +"It might be a lighthouse. We may have been blown farther than +we thought." + +Tubby offered no opinion for a few seconds, but his ordinarily +round and smiling face grew grave. A sudden apprehension had +flashed into his mind. + +"Tell me, Merritt," he said, "can you see any other lights?" + +"No," replied Merritt, after peering with half closed eyes at the +white light. + +"I can," suddenly shouted young Hiram. + +"You can?" + +"Yes; some distance below the white light I can see a green one +to the right and a red one on the left." + +"Shades of Father Neptune!" groaned Tubby. "It's just as I +thought, Merritt--that light yonder is a steamer's mast lantern, +and the fact that Hiram can see both her port and starboard lamps +beneath shows that she's coming right for us." + +This was alarming enough. Without lanterns, without the means of +making any noise sufficiently loud to attract the attention of +those on the approaching vessel, the occupants of the Plying Fish +were in about as serious a predicament as one could imagine. To +make matters worse, the wind began to drop and come in puffs +which only urged the Flying Fish ahead slowly. Tubby made a +rapid mental calculation, and decided that hardly anything short +of a miracle could save them from being run down, unless the +steamer saw them and changed her course. + +"Can't we shout and make them hear us?" asked Hiram in an alarmed +voice. He saw from the troubled faces of both the elder lads +that something serious indeed was the matter. + +"We might try it," responded Tubby, with a bitter shrug. "But +it's about as much use as a mouth organ in a symphony orchestra +would be. Better get on the life belts." + +With hands that trembled with the sense of impending disaster, +the three boys strapped on the cork jackets. + +"Now all shout together," said Merritt, when this was done. + +Standing erect, the three young castaways placed their hands +funnel-wise to their mouths and roared out together: + +"Ship ahoy! St-eam-er a-hoy!" + +They were alarmed and not ashamed to admit it. + +"No good," said Tubby, after they had roared themselves hoarse. +"When she strikes us, jump over the starboard bow and dive as +deep as you can. If you don't, the propellers are liable to +catch us." + +It was a grim prospect, and no wonder the boys grew white and +their faces strained as the impending peril bore down on them. + +They could now see that she was a large vessel--a liner, to judge +from the rows of lighted portholes on her steep black sides. Her +bow lights gleamed like the eye of some monster intent on +devouring the Flying Fish and her occupants. On and on she came. +The air trembled with the vibration of her mighty engines, and a +great white "'bone" foamed up at her sharp prow. + +Not one of the boys spoke as the vessel came nearer and nearer, +although it speedily grew evident that unless a wind sprang up or +the lookout saw them, it was inevitable that they would be cut in +two amidships. + +"Remember what I said," warned Tubby, in a strange, strained +voice. "Dive deep and stay tinder as long as you can." + +And now the great vessel seemed scarcely more than two or three +boat lengths from the tiny cockleshell on which she was bearing +down. As a matter of fact, though, her towering bulk made her +appear much nearer than she actually was. + +"Can't we do anything, Merritt?" gasped Hiram, with chattering +teeth. "We might try shouting once more," suggested Tubby in a +voice that quivered in spite of his efforts to keep it steady. + +"All together now--come on!" + +"Ship ahoy! You'll run us down! St-eam-er a-hoy!" + +Suddenly there were signs of confusion on the bow of the big +vessel. Men could be seen running about and waving their arms. + +"By hookey, they've seen us!" breathed Merritt, hardly daring to +believe it, however. + +The others were speechless with suspense. + +Suddenly from the bow of the oncoming steamer a great fan-shaped +ray of dazzling light shot out and enveloped the boys and their +boat in its bewildering radiance. + +"Hard over, hard over!" the boys could hear the lookout roaring, +and the command rang hoarsely back along the decks to the +wheelhouse. + +Slowly, very slowly, as if reluctant to give up her prey, the +bow of the mighty liner swung off, and the boys were safe. + +"Look out for the wash," warned Merritt, as the great black bulk, +pierced with hundreds of glowing portholes, ploughed regally by +them, her deck crowded with curious passengers. A voice shouted +down from the bridge: + +"What in blazing sea serpents are you doing out here in that +marine oil stove?" + +The boys made no attempt to reply. They had all they could do to +hang on, as the Flying Fish danced about like a drifting cork in +the wash of the great vessel. They could see, however, that +several of her passengers were clustered at her stern rail, +gazing wonderingly down at them in great perplexity, no doubt, as +to what manner of craft it was that they had so narrowly escaped +sending to the bottom. For had the vessel even grazed the Flying +Fish, the small boat would have been annihilated without those on +board the liner even feeling a tremor. It would have been just +such a tragedy as happens frequently to the fishing dories on the +foggy Newfoundland banks. + +"Wh-ew!" gasped Merritt, sinking down on a locker. "That was a +narrow escape if you like it!" + +"I don't like it," remarked Tubby sententiously, mopping his +forehead, on which beads of cold perspiration had stood out while +their destruction had seemed inevitable. So thoroughly unnerved +were the lads, in fact, by their experience that it was some time +before they could do anything more than sit limply on the lockers +while the Flying Fish rolled aimlessly with an uncontrolled helm. + +"Come on," said Tubby at length; "we've got to rouse ourselves. +In the first place, I've got an idea," he went on briskly. "I've +been thinking over that gasoline stoppage, and the more I think +of it the more I am inclined to believe that there's something +queer about it. It's worth looking into, anyhow." + +"You mean you think there may be some fuel in the tank, after +all?" asked Merritt, looking up. + +"It's possible. Have you tried the little valve forward of the +carburetor?" + +"Why, no," rejoined Merritt; "but I hardly think--" + +"It wouldn't be the first time a carburetor had fouled, +particularly after what we went through in that squall," remarked +Tubby. "It's worth trying, anyhow." + +He bent over the valve he had referred to, which was in the +gasoline feed pipe, just forward of the carburetor, and placed +there primarily for draining the tank when it was necessary. + +"Look here!" he yelled, with a sudden shout of excitement. "No," +he cried the next moment, "I don't want to waste it--but when I +opened the valve a stream of gasoline came out. There's plenty +of it. That stoppage is in the carburetor. Oh, what a bunch of +idiots we've been!" + +"Better sound the tank," suggested Merritt; "what came out of the +valve might just be an accumulation in the pipe." + +"Not much," rejoined the other, "it came out with too much force +for that, I tell you. It was flowing from the tank, all right." + +"We'll soon find out," proclaimed Merritt. "Give me the sounding +stick out of that locker, Hiram." + +Armed with the stick, Merritt rapidly unscrewed the cap of the +fuel tank and plunged the sounder into it. + +"There's quite a lot of gasoline in there yet," he exclaimed, +with sparkling eyes, as he withdrew and felt the wet end of the +instrument. + +The carburetor was rapidly adjusted. The rough tossing about the +Flying Fish had received had jammed the needle valve, but that +was all. Presently all was in readiness to get under way once +more with the little boat's proper motive power. The "jury rig" +was speedily dismantled Merritt swung the flywheel over two or +three times, and a welcome "chug, chug!" responded. + +"Hurray! she's working," cried Hiram. + +"As well as ever," responded Merritt. "Now for the shore. By +the way," he broke off in a dismayed tone, "where is the shore?" + +"I know now," rejoined Tubby in a confident tone. "Off there to +the right. You see, that steamer was hugging the coast +preparatory to heading seaward--at least, I'm pretty sure she +was, and that would put the shore on her port side, or on our +starboard." + +They chugged off in the direction Tubby indicated, and before +long a joyful cry from Hiram announced the sudden appearance of +lights. + +"What are they?" asked Merritt. + +"Don't know--they look like bonfires," rejoined the other lad. +"I wonder if we have been lucky enough to pick up Topsail +Island?" + +As they drew nearer the lads soon saw that it was the island that +they were approaching, and that the lights they had seen were +campfires ignited by order of the anxious young Patrol leader to +guide them back. + +In a short time they had anchored the Flying Fish opposite the +camp, and jumped into the dinghy left at her moorings when they +embarked. + +"A fine scare you've given us," cried Rob, as they landed and +flung down their afternoon's catch. "We were afraid for a time +that you were lost in that black squall--it blew two of our, +tents down, and we were mighty anxious about you, I can tell +you." + +"You did not alarm our folks?" asked Hiram anxiously. + +"No, I thought that it would be best to wait. Somehow, I thought +you'd turn up safe. Where on earth have you been and what has +happened? You look as pale as three ghosts." + +"Towed to sea by a shark--caught in a squall--almost run down by +a liner--and so hungry we can't talk now," sputtered out Tubby +comprehensively. + +"All right; come on up to the fire and get dried out and pitch +into the grub." + +After such a meal as it may be imagined the young scouts indulged +in, they told their whole yarn of their adventures to the +listening Patrol. A short time after they concluded--so long had +it taken to relate everything and answer all questions--the +mournful call of "Taps" sounded and it was time to turn in. +Little Digby alone, who was to do sentry service, remained on +duty. + +Merritt's dreams were a strange jumble. It seemed to him that he +was being towed to sea on the back of a huge shark, by a big +liner with a row of blazing portholes that winked at him like +facetious eyes. Suddenly, just as it seem he was about to slip +off the marine monster's slippery back, he thought he heard a +loud cry of "Help, scouts!" + +So vivid was the dream and so real the cry that he awoke +trembling, and listened intently while peering out through the +tent flap. + +There was no sound, however, but the ripple of the waves on the +beach and the "hoot hoot" of an owl somewhere back in the woods +on the island. + +"Funny," mused the boy, as he turned over and dozed off again, +"that certainly sounded loud enough to have been a real, sure +enough call for help." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +JOE DIGBY MISSING + + +"Merritt! Merritt, wake up!" + +The boy sleepily opened his eyes and saw bending over him the +pale features of Rob, whose voice quivered with suppressed +excitement as he shook the other's shoulder. + +"I didn't hear reveille blow yet. What's up? Have I overslept?" +murmured the young corporal. + +"No, it's not six-thirty yet--barely after half past four, in +fact. But young Digby--he had the night watch, you know--and was +to have been relieved at three o'clock. Well, Ernest Thompson, +his relief, roused out at that hour, but not a trace of Digby was +to be found!" + +"What!" The sleepy boy was drowsy no longer. "Digby gone?" + +"Hush! We don't know yet. Don't wake any of the others. +Thompson and I have skirmished around ever since it began to get +light, and we have not been able to find a trace of him." + +Merritt was out of his cot while his leader was still speaking, +and ten minutes later, during which time the boys exchanged +excited questions and answers, he was in his uniform and outside +the tent. + +The sun was just poking his rim above the western horizon and the +chilly damp of early dawn lay over the island. The sea, as calm +almost as a lake, lay sullen and gray, scarcely heaving. Behind +the sleeping camp a few shreds of mist--the ghosts of the vapors +of the night were arising like smoke among the dim trees. At the +further end of the assemblage of tents, and beyond the smoldering +fire, stood a silent figure, that of Ernest Thompson. + +"Have you explored the island thoroughly?" asked Merritt under +his breath. Somehow the dim hour and the situation seemed to +preclude the idea of loud talking. + +"Of course not. Not yet," breathed the other in the same tones. +"We will break the news to the rest of the Patrol after +breakfast. It's no use alarming them yet." + +"It isn't possible that he went off on an early fishing +expedition?" + +For answer, Rob waved his hand toward the water, where the Flying +Fish lay rocking gently at her anchor. Ashore the dingy lay as +Merritt and his companions had left it the night before. + +"But what can have happened to him?" burst out Merritt, as they +made their way over to Ernest Thompson's side. + +"I cannot think. It is absolutely mystifying. I am going to +start for the captain's place now. He may be able to throw some +light on the affair." + +Merritt shook his head. + +"Hardly likely. If there is no trace of Joe Digby on this side +of the island, it is improbable that Captain Hudgins knows +anything about him." + +"Well," rejoined Rob in a troubled voice, "we've got to try +everything. I am responsible for his safe keeping while he is in +camp. I blame myself for allowing the kid to go on sentry duty +at all." + +"No use doing that," comforted Merritt; "there's one thing sure, +he can't have melted away. He must be somewhere on the island. +There are no wild beasts or anything like that here to carry him +off, so if we keep up the search we must come upon him sooner or +later." + +"That's what makes the whole affair the more mystifying," +rejoined Rob. "What can have become of him?" + +"Well, if he's on the island, we'll find him," he continued; "and +if he isn't--" + +"We'll find him anyway," declared Merritt in a determined voice. + +"That's the stuff!" warmly exclaimed the other. "And now I'm +going to take a cruise round to the other side of the island, and +see if I can find out anything there." + +A few seconds later he was in the dinghy and sculling out over +the water to the speedy Flying Fish. In a short time he was off. + +As the "chug chug" of the motor grew fainter, Merritt turned to +young Thompson. + +"Don't breathe a word of this to the others till we know for +certain that Digby has vanished," he said. + +The other boy nodded. + +"I understand," he said, and the look with which he accompanied +the words rendered Merritt perfectly confident that he would be +obeyed. + +"And now let's rouse out Andy Bowles and get him busy with that +tin horn of his," cheerfully went on Merritt, walking toward +Andy's tent. + +That youth was much surprised to find that it was morning, but +tumbled out of his cot in double-quick time, and soon the +cheerful notes of reveille were ringing out over the camp, on +which the sun's rays were now streaming down in that luminary's +cheerful morning way. + +The soldier who immortalized himself by sing the words: "We can't +get 'em up, We can't get 'em up, We can't get 'em up in the +morning--, We can't get 'em up, We can't get 'em up, We can't +get'em up at a-a-l-l-l!" to the stirring notes of the army's +morning call had never been in a camp of Boy Scouts. If he had +he wouldn't have written them, for before the last notes had died +away the camp was alive and astir, with hurrying lads filling tin +washbasins and cleaning up. + +The cook and "cookee" for the day--Jim Jeffords and Martin +Green--soon had their cooking fire going, and presently the +appetizing aroma of coffee and fried ham and eggs filled the +camp. + +"Give the breakfast call, Andy," ordered Merritt, as the proud if +flush-faced cooks announced their labors complete, and with a +clatter and bang of tin dishes and cups the Boy Scouts sat down +to breakfast. + +"Where's Rob and Digby?" demanded Andy Bowles, as be dug his +spoon into an island of oatmeal completely surrounded by an ocean +of condensed milk thinned down with warm water. + +The moment that Merritt had dreaded had arrived. + +"Why, he and Rob went off early to see the captain," he said. "I +guess they'll be back soon." + +"Pretty early for paying social calls," commented Andy, too busy +with his breakfast, however, to give the matter more attention, +for which Merritt was duly thankful. + +After breakfast Merritt ordered a general airing of bedding, and +the side walls of the tents were raised to let the fresh air blow +through them. Still there was no sign of Rob. Merritt grew so +anxious that he could hardly keep from pacing up and down to +conceal his nervous state of mind. However, he stuck to his +duties and oversaw the first routine of the morning without +betraying his anxiety to any of the lads under his charge. At +last there came the awaited chug chug of the returning boat, for +which he had been so eagerly listening, and Rob appeared rounding +the little point below the camp. In the craft was another +figure, that of the captain himself. + +Merritt's first hope when he saw the two persons in the boat--namely, +that one of them might be the missing boy--was promptly dashed, and +he instinctively guessed by Rob's silence as he dropped the anchor +and he and the captain tumbled into the dinghy that there had been +no news. + +"No," said Rob, shaking his head dejectedly as they reached the +shore, "there isn't anything to tell. The captain is as much in +the dark as we." + +"Well, you'd better have some breakfast," said Merritt, after he +and the captain had exchanged greetings, "then we can go ahead +and notify the others and institute a thorough search." + +"That's the stuff, my boy," agreed the veteran. "Overhaul ship +from bilge ter royals, and if not found, then take a cruise in +search uv." + +Rob ate his meal with small appetite, but the captain, urging on +his young companion the necessity of "filling his hold," devoured +prodigious quantities of food, and then, arising, suggested that +the time had come to "pipe all hands aft and read orders." + +The boys had been so busy about their morning tasks that +fortunately none of them, except Tubby, whom Merritt had told of +the disappearance, had found time to notice Rob's return or ask +questions; so that when he announced to them that Joe Digby was +missing it came as a stunning shock. + +"Now, boys," said Rob, after he had communicated the full +details, so far as he knew them, of the circumstances of the +disappearance, "there is only one thing to do, and that is turn +this island inside out. It won't take long, but I want it done +thoroughly. Don't leave a stone unturned. If after a +painstaking search we find nothing on the island, we'll know we +have to look elsewhere. You are all fairly good woodsmen by this +time, and can trail by signs as effectively as first-class +scouts. Use your eyes, and good luck." + +Merritt at once assigned searching parties, he and Rob and Tubby +taking the center of the island and the others being detailed to +search along the shores in two separate squads for any trace of +their missing comrade. + +"Call me a lubber if this ain't the most mystifyin' thing I've +run my bow into since the Two Janes, uv Boston, brig, lost her +bearings in a fog and fetched up off Iceland," declared the +captain, who had elected to accompany the three leaders of the +Patrol. "But drown or swim, sail or sink, we'll find that kid if +he's on deck." + +The searching parties construed this speech as a sort of +valedictory to them as, indeed, the captain intended it--and +greeted it with a cheer. + +"The first scout that finds a trace of Joe is to light the four +'smokes', meaning come to council," was Rob's last order. "Light +them on as prominent a place as you can find and we will all meet +in camp to hear the news." + +The searching parties at once separated, one striking off to the +right, the other to the left and the three young leaders and +their grizzled friend making a dead set for the center of the +island. + +If Joe Digby was to be found, the look of determination on the +face of each scout showed that it would not be the fault of his +young comrades if he were not. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +SAM REBELS + + +In the meantime on a small island in the Upper Inlet a strange +conference was taking place. Three youths whom our readers will +recognize as Jack Curtiss, Bill Bender and Sam Redding; were in +earnest consultation with the unkempt and unsavory individual +whom we know as Hank Handcraft, the beach-comber. + +"Well, the job's put through, all right," Hank was saying, as the +three sat outside a small tent in front of which was a smoldering +fire, about which the remnants of a meal were scattered. + +"Yes, but now we've got to tackle the hardest part of it," said +Jack, knitting his brows. "I've got the letter written and here +it is." As he spoke he drew from his pocket a sheet of paper. +"The question is who to send for the money when the time comes." + +"Oh, Hank is the man," said Ben, without an instant's hesitation. +"We must not appear in this at all." + +"Oh, I am the man, am?" put in Hank, with no very gratified +inflexion in his voice; "and what if I am caught? I'm to go to +prison, I suppose, while you fellows get off scot-free." + +"As for me," said Sam Redding, who was pale and looked scared, +and whose eyes, too, were red-rimmed and heavy as if from lack of +sleep, "you can count me out. I want nothing to do with it. +You've gone too far, Jack, in your schemes against the boys. I'm +through with the whole thing." + +"Well, if you're that chicken-hearted, we don't want you in it at +all," sneered Jack, although he looked somewhat troubled at his +follower's defection. "All we want you to promise is not to +split on us." + +"Oh, I won't peach," promised Sam readily. + +"It will be better for you not to," warned Bill Bender; "and now +let's figure this thing out, and quickly, too. We haven't got +any too much time. They'll have discovered the kid has gone by +this time and the alarm will be spread broadcast." + +"I thought, when he yelled like that last night, we were goners +sure," remarked Jack, scowling at the recollection. "It's a good +thing those kids sleep as hard as they do, or we'd have been in a +tight fix." + +"Oh, well, no good going back to that now," dissented Bill. "How +was the young cub when you left him, Hank?" he asked abruptly. + +"Oh, he'd got through crying, and was lying nice and quiet on his +bunk," remarked Hank, with an amiable chuckle, as though he had +just performed some praiseworthy act, instead of having left +little Joe Digby locked in a deserted bungalow on an island some +little distance from the one on which the conversation related +above was taking place. + +"Well, that's good," said Bill; "although crying, or yelling, +either, won't do him much good on that island. He could yell for +a week and no one would hear him." + +"No; the water's too shallow for any motor boats to get up +there," agreed Hank. "I had a hard job getting through the +channel in the rowboat, even at high water." + +"Is the house good and tight?" was Jack's next question. + +"Tight--tight as the Tombs," was Hank's answer, the simile being +an apt one for him to use. "The door has that big bolt on the +outside that I put on, besides the lock, of which I carried away +the key, and the shutters are all nailed up. No danger of his +getting away till we want him to!" + +"Couldn't be better," grinned Jack approvingly. "Now, here's the +letter. Tell me what you think of it?" + +Opening the sheet of paper, the bully read aloud as follows: + +"MR. AND MRS. DIGBY: + +"Your son is safe and in good hands. I alone know where the men +who stole him have taken him. But I am a poor man, and think +that the information should be worth something to you. Suppose +you place two hundred dollars under the signpost at the Montauk +crossroads to-night. I will call and get it if you will mark the +spot at which you place it with a rock. Look under the same rock +in the morning and you will find directions how to get your boy +back. + +CAPTAIN NEMO." + +"What do you think of that?" inquired Jack complacently, as he +concluded the reading of his epistle. + +"A bee-yoo-tiful piece of composition," said Hank approvingly, +with one of his throaty chuckles; "the only thing is--who is +Captain Nemo?" + +"Why, so far as delivering the letter and getting the, money is +concerned, you are," said Jack decisively. "Eh, Bill?" + +"Oh, by all means," assented Bill. + +Sam was not included in the conversation, and gazed sullenly +straight in front of him as he lay where he had thrown himself on +the fine white sand. + +"Oh, by no means," echoed Hank derisively. "Say, what do you +fellows take me for, the late lamented Mr. Easy Mark? If you do +you have another think coming." + +"Now look here, Hank," argued Jack, "what's the objection? All +you've got to do is to take this note ashore, give it to some boy +to deliver, and then go to the crossroads at whatever time +to-night you see fit and get the money." + +"Of course," Bill hastened to put in, "you've got to bring it to +us for proper division." + +"Oh, I have, have I?" chuckled Hank. "Well, what do you think +of that? I'm to do all the work and you fellows are to get the +bacon! That's a fine idea--not! Four into two hundred doesn't +go very many times, you know." + +"Not four," corrected Jack, "three. Sam is out of this. He's +too much of a coward to have anything to do with it," he added, +mimicking Sam's tone. + +The boat-builder's son reddened, but said nothing in reply to the +bully's taunt. + +"Well, three, then," went on Hank; "that's not percentage enough +for me. If I'm to have anything to do with this here job, I want +half the money. You fellows can split the rest between you!" + +Jack and Bill exchanged blank looks. + +"Now, look here, Hank, be reasonable," began Jack in a tone meant +to be conciliatory. + +"Now, look here, Jack, be sensible," echoed Hank mockingly. "You +seem to forget that you owe me something for the job we did on +those uniforms the other night, and that other little errand you +performed on the island. You've got a very convenient memory, +you have. Why, I daresay those kids would have given me a nice +little wad of tobacco money to have told just who took their +Sunday-go-to-meetin' suits, but did I peach? No, you know I +didn't; but," he added, with rising emphasis, "if I don't get +what's coming to me pretty soon, I will." + +"Well, you idiot," began Jack truculently; "haven't you got your +chance now?" + +"If I choose to take it--yes," was the rejoinder; "but I don't +know as I will. It seems to me I hold all the trumps and you are +at my mercy." + +"Why, you insolent dog!" bellowed Jack, rising to his feet from +the position in which he had been squatting. "For two cents I'd +knock your bewhiskered head off!" + +He advanced threateningly, but Bill, seeing the turn matters were +taking, and realizing that more was to be gained by peaceful +methods, intervened. + +"Now, Jack, shut up. Stow that nonsense," he ordered sharply. +"Look here, Hank, we'll accept your terms. Half to you if you +carry it out successfully." + +"And if I don't?" + +"Then we'll all have to shift for ourselves. This part of the +country will be too hot to hold us. I mean to go out West. I've +got a cousin who has a ranch, and I think I could get along all +right there if the worst comes to the worst." + +"See here, I don't agree with your way of dividing the money," +began Jack, an angry light in his eyes. "Look--" + +"Look here, Jack," cut in Bill sharply, "if you don't like it, it +doesn't do you any good. If you object to it, keep out. Hank +and I form a majority. You chump" he added, quickly, under his +breath, as Hank turned away and began to "skip" flat stones over +the water, "don't you see he takes all the responsibility? It's +a cinch for us to get away if anything goes wrong." + +"Yes, it's a cinch we get cheated out of our share of the money," +argued Jack, with an angry glare in the direction of the +unconscious Hank. + +"Beggars can't be choosers," argued Bill. "You know, as well as +I do, that if we are implicated in this affair it means serious +trouble. Our parents wouldn't stand for it, and we should be +disgraced. By doing it this way we get some of the proceeds--I +admit not our fair share but what's to be done?" + +"Well, I guess you are right, Bill," assented Jack, with a shrug. +"It's go ahead now; we've gone too far to draw back." + +"That's the line of talk," grinned Bill, "and when we've each got +fifty dollars in our pockets, silenced Hank with a golden gag and +had our revenge on those kids, we'll be able to talk over future +plans. I'm sick of school. I hate the idea of going back there. +I've half a mind to strike out for the West anyway." + +"Do you think I could get a job on your cousin's ranch?" asked +Jack. + +"I don't doubt it a bit," rejoined Bill. "You're a good, husky +chap, and brawn and muscle is what they need in the West." + +"Yes, I'm husky, all right," conceded Jack modestly. "Sometimes +I think that I don't get full opportunities to expand here in +this wretched country hole." + +"No, the West is the place," agreed Bill, with an inward smile, +"as the newspapers say--one can expand with the country out +there." + +Their conversation was broken in upon by Sam, who demanded in no +very gentle tones: + +"Well, who's going ashore? I'm off." + +"No hurry, Sam," said Jack in a more amiable tone than he had yet +used that morning. "Let's sit around here a while and enjoy the +sun--we might take a swim after a while." + +"If you don't come now you'll have to swim ashore," grunted Sam, +arising and brushing the sand from himself. "I'm going back to +Hampton. I'm tired of camping out here." + +He walked toward the beach and prepared to shove off the dinghy, +preparatory to sculling out to the hydroplane, which lay a few +rods off shore in the channel. + +"Hold on, Sam," cried Bill; "we're coming. Don't go away sore." + +"I'm not sore," rejoined Sam, in a tone which belied his words, +"but I don't think you fellows are doing the right thing when you +maroon a kid like Joe Digby on a lone island, in a deserted +bungalow in which you'd be scared to stop yourselves." + +"Why, what's got into you, Sam?" protested Jack. "It's more a +lark than anything else." + +"Fine lark," grunted Sam, "scaring a kid half to death and then +writing notes for money. It's dangerously near to kidnapping-- +that's what I call it, and I'm glad I'm not in it." + +Both the others looked rather uncomfortable at this presentation +of the matter, but Jack affected to laugh it off. + +"Pshaw!" he exclaimed, "it's a little bit rough, I know, but such +things do a kid good. Teach him to be self-reliant and--and all +that." + +"Sure," agreed Bill, "you don't look at these things in the right +light, Sam--does he, Hank?" + +Hank, who had shuffled toward the dinghy at the conclusion of +these edifying remarks, agreed with a chuckle that Sam had no +sense of humor, after which they all got into the dinghy and we +sculled off to the unlucky hydroplane. + +It didn't take long to get under way, and the little craft was +soon scudding through the water at a good pace, towing the dinghy +behind her. + +"Better put us ashore before we get into Hampton," suggested +Bill. "We don't want to be seen about there more than can be +helped." + +"That's where you are wrong," objected Jack. "We'll put Hank +ashore up the coast, but the more we are seen about the place the +better. It won't look as if we had anything to do with the Digby +kid--in case things do go wrong." + +So it was agreed that Hank was to be landed in a small cove a few +miles farther down the coast, from which it was a short cut +across country to the neighborhood of the Digby farm. + +Then he was to waylay the first likely-looking messenger and +entrust the note which Jack had read to him for delivery. After +that he was to spend the time as best he could in suitable +seclusion, and after dark conceal himself near the sign-post. He +was not to make any attempt to secure the money if any one +hovered about the place, but if the coast was clear he was to go +boldly in and take it. + +Hank was landed at the spot agreed upon, a short time later, and +the other three then resumed their journey for the hydroplane's +home port. As they turned seaward Jack pointed mockingly to +Topsail Island, which lay a short distance on their port bow. + +"I'll bet there's plenty going on there right now," he grinned. + +"Right you are," assented Bill. + +"Hullo," he added hastily the next moment; "what's that?" + +He pointed toward the island, and the occupants of the homing +hydroplane saw, slowly rising from it in the still air, four +straight columns of blue smoke. + +"Looks like a signal of some kind," suggested Jack after a +scrutiny. + +"It's coming from about the place where we grabbed the kid," +added Bill, a note of apprehension in his voice. + +"I wonder what it signifies?" demanded Jack, whose face began to +bear a somewhat troubled look. + +"I can tell you," said Sam shortly, turning round from the wheel. + +"You can?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, hurry up, then--what does it mean?" Jack spoke sharply at +Sam's deliberation. + +"It means," said Sam slowly, as if he wanted every word to sink +in, "that the Boy Scouts have picked up your trail." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE HUNT FOR TENDERFOOT JOE + + +Rob, Merritt, Tubby Hopkins and Captain Hudgins rested, +perspiring under the noon-day heat, on a group of flat rocks at +the highest point of the island. Their search had been +fruitless, and their downcast faces showed it. + +"How ever are we going to break the news to his parents?" + +Merritt it was who voiced the question that had been troubling +all of them. + +Before any one had time to frame a reply the captain, whose keen +eyes had been gazing about him, gave a sudden shout: + +"There's that smoke yonder yer boys were lookin' fer," he +exclaimed, pointing. + +"Four columns of it," shouted Rob, "hurray, boys, that means +news! It's 'Come to counsel.' Come on, don't let's lose any +time in getting back." + +Rapidly the boys stumbled and ran forward over the rocks and +pushed on among the dense growth that covered the hillside they +had climbed. They hardly noticed the obstacles, however, so +keenly were they bent on getting back to camp and learning the +news which they knew must be awaiting them. They covered the +distance in half the time it had taken them to ascend the +hillside and were met in the camp by the body of searchers--Andy +Bowles, Sim Jeffords and Ernest Thompson--who had swung off to +the left or mainland side of the island. + +"Well, boys, what news?" breathlessly exclaimed Rob, "we saw the +counsel smoke and hurried down at top speed." + +"Well, there's not very much, I'm afraid, Rob," began Andy, "but +we found something that may give us a clue. About half a mile +down the beach there's the distinct mark of a boat keel where it +was drawn up on the hard sand and the marks of three separate +pairs of feet." + +"Good," exclaimed Rob, "that's something and half confirms my +suspicion. Go on, Andy, what else?" + +"Well, we examined the marks carefully and found that two pairs +of feet wore good shoes and the third a very broken, disreputable +pair." + +"Yes," exclaimed Rob, while the others listened breathlessly. + +"Of course that indicated to us that three persons must have +carried Joe off--for I don't think there's much doubt now that he +was carried off, do you?" + +"I don't," said Rob sadly, "but for what possible motive?" + +"I have it," suddenly exclaimed Tubby Hopkins, snapping his +fingers, "you remember the day of the aeroplane model contest?" + +"Yes, but what--" began Rob. + +"Has that to do with it," finished Tubby for him. "Everything. +It was Joe who first told the committee that Jack's model was a +bought one and so lost him the fifty-dollar prize." + +"By cracky, that's right!" assented Rob, "and you think that Jack +and his gang have carried him off in revenge for it?" + +"Looks that way to me," nodded the stout youth. + +"Why, they wouldn't dare," began Andy Bowles. + +"Oh, yes, they would," amended Rob bitterly, "they'd dare +anything to get even on us for their fancied wrongs. But whose +could have been the broken ragged shoes?" he asked, suddenly +taking up another train of thought. + +"Hank Handcrafts, the beach-comber's," suggested Tubby. + +"Gee Whillikens! I'll bet a cracker that's the solution," cried +Andy, "and now I come to think of it I heard, before we left, +that Jack and his gang had gone camping." + +"Where?" + +"Up around the Upper Inlet somewhere. You know that's full of +islands and as there's no drinking water there few people ever +think of frequenting the place. If they wanted to do anything +like carrying off Joe that is where they would have been likely +to go." + +"You may be right, Andy. It's worth looking into, anyway," +declared Rob. "I'll leave a note here for the others and we'll +take a run over there in the Flying Fish. If Joe is there we'll +get him out." + +"And in jig time, too," chimed in Ernest Thompson. + +"Come on, boys, get some gasoline, hop in the dinghy and let's +get aboard. We've got to move fast if we're to accomplish +anything. You get the boat, Andy, while I write a line to tell +the others what we've gone after." + +The young leader hastily ran into his tent and sitting down at +the table dashed off these lines: + +"Boys, we think we have a clue to Joe's whereabouts. Have gone +after him. Keep camp in regular way while we are gone. Hiram +Nelson is leader, and Paul Perkins corporal, in our absence. + +"ROB BLAKE, Leader, + +"Eagle Patrol, B. S. of A." + +With a piece of chalk the boy marked a rough square and an arrow +on a tree--the arrow pointing to a spot in the sand in which he +buried the letter. + +"Now, then, come on," he shouted, dashing toward the boat, "shove +off, boys, and if Joe's in the Upper Inlet we'll find him." + +"Hurray," cheered the others, much heartened by the prospect of +any trace of the missing boy, however slight. + +"Give way, boys," bellowed the captain, who had insisted on +coming along armed with a huge horse pistol of ancient pattern +which he had strapped on himself in the morning when the news of +Joe Digby's disappearance reached him. "This reminds me uv the +time when I was A. B. on the Bonnie Bess and we smoked out a fine +mess of pirates in the Caribees." + +"Regular pirates?" inquired Andy as Rob and Merritt bent to the +oars. + +"Reg'lar piratical pirates, my boy," responded the old salt, "we +decorated the trees with 'em and they looked a lot handsomer +there than they did a-sailin' the blue main." + +Further reminiscences of the captain's were cut short by their +arrival at the Flying Fish's side. They had hastily thrown two +cases of gasoline into the dinghy before they shoved off so that +all that remained to be done was to fill the fast craft's tank +and she was ready to be off. + +"Hold on," warned Rob, as Tubby Hopkins was about to secure the +dinghy to the mooring buoy, "we'll tow her along. We may need +her. There's lots of shoal water in that Upper Inlet." + +"Right yer are, my boy; there's nothin' like bein' forehanded," +remarked the captain as Merritt bent over the flywheel and Rob +threw in the spark and turned on the gasoline. After a few +revolutions an explosion resulted and the Flying Fish was off on +the mission which might mean so much or so little to the anxious +hearts on board her. + +"Do you know the channel," asked Merritt as Rob with his eyes +glued on the coast sent the Flying Fish through the waves, or +rather wavelets, for the sea was almost like a sheet of glass. + +"I've been up here once or twice after duck," rejoined Rob, "but +it's a tricky sort of a place to get through. However, I guess +we'll make it." + +As they drew nearer the shores the boys made out an opening +which Rob said was the Upper Inlet channel. + +"Say, Tubby, get out the lead line and let's see how much water +we have," directed Rob as the color of the ocean began to change +from dark blue to a sort of greenish tinge, lightening in spots, +where the shoals were near to the surface, to a sandy yellow. + +The stout lad took a position in the bow and swinging the lead +about his head cast it suddenly ahead of the Flying Fish's bow. + +"Slow down," ordered Rob, and Merritt cut down the motor to not +more than two hundred revolutions a minute. + +The lead line, tagged with different colored bits of flannel at +each fathom length, sang through the stout lad's fingers. + +"By-a-quarter-three," he called out the next instant. + +This meant that three fathoms and a quarter or eighteen feet +three inches of water was under the keel of the little craft. + +"Nough fer a man-uv-war," grinned old Captain Hodgins. + +Slowly the Flying Fish forged ahead till right under her bow lay +a patch of the yellow water. + +"By-a-half-two," came a sharp hail from the fat youth, who had +once more heaved the lead. + +"Cut her down some more," sharply ordered Rob, without turning +his head, "we draw only three feet so I guess we'll do nicely for +a while." + +"Great hop-toads, there's regular shark's teeth ahead," commented +Captain Hudgins, pointing to the still shallower water indicated +by the lightening tint of the channel. + +"By-one-by-a-quarter-one!" came sharply from Tubby, as the Flying +Fish seemed hardly to crawl along the water. + +"By-a-half!" came an instant later, meaning that only three feet +of water lay right ahead. + +"Stop her," roared out Rob. + +But he was too late. Instantly, almost as Merritt's hand had +flown to the lever, the nose of the Flying Fish poked into the +sandbank and her motor with a gentle sigh came to a stop. + +"Hard a-ground!" roared the captain, "too bad and with a fallin' +tide, too." + +"Full speed astern," came the next order. + +The propeller churned up the water aft into a white turmoil. The +Flying Fish trembled in her every timber, and began to slide +slowly backward from the treacherous shoal. + +"Safe, by the great horn spoon!" roared the captain, fetching +Andy Bowles a slap on the back that almost toppled the small +bugler into the water. + +"For a time," said Rob quietly, "come ahead a bit, Merritt." + +Slowly the little vessel slid ahead once more. Rob seemed fairly +to feel his way through the narrow channel he had picked out and +finally the Flying Fish, after as much coaxing as is usually +bestowed on a balky horse, floated in the deep water beyond the +sandy bar. + +Eagerly the boys looked about them as they "opened up," as +sailors call it, the narrow stretch of water known as the Upper +Inlet. It did not take them long to spy the island with the tent +on it in which the conversation between Jack and his cronies, and +the mutineer to his plans, had taken place. + +"There's their camp!" shouted Rob, eagerly sending the Flying +Fish ahead at full speed, "now we'll find out something." + +"And, maybe, use this." The captain, as he spoke, grimly produced +his formidable weapon and flourished it about. + +"No, none of that," sternly rejoined Rob, "the Boy Scouts can +take care of those fellows--without using firearms." + +"You bet," rejoined Merritt, grimly "musling up," "we'll show 'em +if it comes to a fight." + +But bitter disappointment awaited the boys. As we know, the camp +was deserted and no trace or clue of the whereabouts of its +occupants was to be found. In the tent, however, lay a piece of +blotting paper with ink-marks on it. It was the material with +which Jack had dried his letter. + +"Anybody got a mirror?" asked Rob. "This blotter may help some +if we can read what's on it." + +"I've got a pocket one," said Andy Bowles, who was somewhat +particular about his person and always carried a small toilet +case. + +"That will do; let's have it." + +Rob seized the bit of looking glass and held the blotter to it. + +"Just as I thought," he exclaimed a minute later, with a cry of +triumph. "It's Jack Curtiss' writing, though he has tried to +disguise it, and they've got Joe hidden somewhere. Look here, +they want $200 for his return." + +"Yes, but what good does it do us to know that," objected +Merritt, when the sensation this announcement caused had +subsided. "They evidently had him here overnight and then +deserted the camp for fear we'd pick up their trail. They've +taken Joe with them." + +"By the great sea-serpent, that's right," grunted the captain, +"it's a blind trail, boys!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +SAVED BY "SMOKE MORSE" + + +Each member of the party regarded the other blankly. + +The captain was right. The deserted camp was only a blind trail +and they had all their work to do over again. + +"The first people to communicate with are Joe's parents," mused +Rob. "That note will be delivered very shortly, as the longer +they delay the more dangerous it will be for them." + +"That's right," agreed Merritt, "Jack and his gang will not let +the grass grow under their feet now that they know the chase must +be on. What can they have done with Joe?" + +Rob had been looking about him with the instinct of the Boy +Scout. He was anxious to ascertain if there were not something +tangible, some clue on which they could base a search for the +missing member of the Patrol. Suddenly something remarkable +struck him about the tracks that lay about the tent. + +They were all four those, of persons of larger growth than Joe +Digby and mingling with them unmistakably was the broken-shoed +track of Hank, the beach-comber. + +"Boys," announced Rob suddenly, "Joe has not been here at all." + +"Not been here at all," echoed Merritt, amazedly. + +"I mean what I say. Look at these tracks. There is not a +footmark here that could by any chance be his." + +The others scrutinized the maze of foot-prints with the same care +as had Rob and were forced to come to the same conclusion. There +was no question about it--they would have to seek elsewhere for a +trace of the lad. + +But where? + +They gazed about them at the stretch of lone bay or inlet, the +sparse scrub grass and vegetation fringing it on the shore side +and wheeling sea-gulls swooping and soaring above the shoal +waters. + +Then Rob's gaze rested carelessly on a closed and seemingly +deserted bungalow, occupying the island above them. As his eyes +fell on it they suddenly became riveted and then grew wide with +surprise. + +A stream of smoke was issuing from the fieldstone chimney roughly +constructed at one end of the apparently deserted dwelling. + +"There's some one living in that bungalow," he exclaimed, as he +made the discovery, "maybe whoever it is can give us some clue to +where Joe Digby is." + +They all gazed intently at the weather-beaten old house from +which the paint was scaling, adding to the note of desertion +sounded by its closed shutters and forlorn-looking yard. + +As they looked, astonished at the idea that the barren structure +should actually house a human being, a sudden thought struck +Merritt. + +"Suppose Jack Curtiss and his gang are there?" he said. + +"Hardly likely," rejoined Rob, "however, we'll get over there and +find out just who is making that smoke." + +Suddenly the old captain, who had been watching the smoke +closely, gave an astonished snort. + +"What's the matter, captain?" asked Rob, who was about to walk to +the water's edge and get ready to shove off the dinghy. + +"Why, there's somethin' queer about that thar smoke," responded +the old salt. + +"Queer--how do you mean?" + +"Well, watch it a minute--there--see! now stops--now it starts +ag'in--then it stops--wha, do yer suppose is happenin' to it?" + +Rob knitted his brows and watched the phenomenon to which the +captain had called attention with narrowed eyes. + +There was no question about it the smoke was certainly behaving +"queerly" as the captain put it. + +The blue vapor emerged from the chimney now in a copious puff and +then, for a space, would cease, only to roll forth once more in +larger volume. The boys watched it in some astonishment. + +"What can they be doing, do you suppose?" Merritt asked. + +"I have no idea. It's past me to say," responded Rob, "it comes +out in puffs like--like--by hookey! I've got it!" he broke off +with a shout, "like the Morse code!" + +"Somebody signaling?" stammered Merritt. + +"That's it--watch!" + +The smoke, which had not been visible for some seconds, now +emerged from the stone chimney once more and the boys, +fascinated, watched it closely with burning eyes. There was no +doubt whatever about it now. It was signaling. + +Four short puffs. + +"Four dots--that's H," exclaimed Rob, trembling with excitement. + +The smoke ceased. + +"Here comes some more," shouted Merritt. + +One short puff from the chimney. + +"E, one dot, that's E sure enough," translated Rob. + +The others stood like figures carved in stone as their leader +read off the strange signals. + +Puff! A longer period of smoking by the chimney--then two sharp +puffs. + +"That's L," interpreted the leader of the Eagles. Before they +could say a word the chimney took up its message once more. + +Puff--a long puff--another long one, and then a short one. + +"Dot--dash--dash--dot," exclaimed Rob. + +"That's the letter P," put in Merritt. + +"That's right, old man," shouted Rob, slapping him on the back, +"and we've found Joe Digby. That smoke signal spelled Help in +the Morse code." + +"You're right," shouted Merritt, "come on, Cap, come on, boys, +we've got to get a move on and get it on quick!" + +They dashed toward the dinghy and a few seconds later had once +more embarked and were speeding toward the desolate and forsaken +bungalow. Somehow they managed to get ashore in the dinghy +without anyone being spilled over the side in their desperate +hurry and a minute later were pounding at the door. + +"Joe--Joe Digby," shouted Rob in a strange, strained voice. + +"Here," came back the answer in a feeble tone, "oh, boys, I'm +glad you've come." + +Furiously Rob shook the door. + +"It's locked," came the voice from inside, "I tried to break it +down. Too weak, I guess. Try the shutters." + +At each window in turn the Boy Scouts sought to effect an +entrance, but in vain. The owner of the place had screwed up the +window coverings too tightly for them to be opened without tools. + +The rescue party came to a momentary halt. + +"I've got it," shouted the captain suddenly, "we'll have him out +uv there in two shakes uv a drake's tail." + +He produced his formidable old pistol and waved it grimly. + +"Come on, boys," he yelled, darting round to the front of the +house--the side on which the door was. + +"What are you going to do?" demanded Rob, as much mystified as +the rest at the old eccentric actions. + +"Watch me," grinned the captain as he gained the door. + +"Stand clear!" he bawled at the top of his lungs, "stand clear uv +the door inside there, Joe!" + +"All right," came back the reply, "I'm in a corner." + +"Now, stand by ter receive boarders!" roared the veteran as he +placed the muzzle weapon at the lock and pulled the trigger. + +"Bang!" + +There was a roaring explosion from the wide mouthed weapon and a +cloud of smoke filled the air. But simultaneously there came a +sound of ripping, tearing and splintering and the lock of the +door, shot clean out by the heavy charge, clattered down to the +floor on the inside of the room. + +An instant later Joe Digby, pale and trembling from privation, +surprise and happiness all mingled in one, was in the midst of +his friends and fellow scouts. + +"I don't know what made me think of it," he explained in answer +to eager questions about the smoke telegraph message. "It was +what the books call an inspiration, I guess. There were plenty +of loose boards--fragments of old packing cases lying about, and +luckily they had not taken my matches. I built a blaze and then, +while it was still smoldering, I covered it with an old strip of +sacking that I wetted with some water out of the bottle they left +me." + +"It made about as good a signal, as one could want," responded +Rob warmly, "but now tell us about your capture, Joe, how did it +happen?" + +"Why, you see," exclaimed the lad, his voice growing stronger as +he proceeded, "I was just thinking it was about time to wake my +relief when I heard a rustling noise in the bushes back of the +camp. I walked up there to investigate, for I thought it might +be some animals--maybe the captain's pigs." + +"Keel haul them lubberly swine," from the captain. + +"But, as you shall hear, I was mistaken. Hardly had I reached +the edge of the dark shadows than I was seized and a hand put +over my mouth. I had only time to let out one yell for help." + +"The one that woke me," put in Merritt, in parenthesis. + +"That was it; I guess," went on the small lad, "well, I was +picked up and carried some little distance to where they had a +boat, and thrown into it. Then the three men who were in the +boat rowed to an island with a tent on it and there two of them +got out. The other, a fellow with a big beard and very dirty, +then rowed over to this place with me and, after putting some +bread and a bottle of water inside the door, closed and locked +it. + +"I carried on like a baby, I guess. I cried for a long time and +shouted, but no one came. Then I grew quieter and tried to find +some way of escape but the shutters were all fastened and the +door was too strong for me. I tried to clamber up the chimney +once but I had to give it up. Then suddenly the thought of +making a smoke came to me and then I improved on that idea and +used the Morse code that Rob has been drumming into me. I never +thought that I might be able to use it to save my life maybe--or +at least a lot of hunger and misery." + +"Could you recognize the men who took you if you saw them again?" +asked Rob earnestly. + +"I'm not sure," responded the small lad, "one of them I would +know--the one with the beard. The other two wore masks. But I +think their voices sounded like Bill's and Jack's. I'm sure of +the man with the beard though." + +"Hank Handcraft," exclaimed Merritt. + +"Oh, that's who it was," cried the small lad, "I thought somehow +the voice and something about the man seemed familiar. He's that +old beach comber who lives outside Hampton." + +"That's the son uv a sea-swab," roared the captain, "oh, if I +could only get my hands on him, I'd--" + +The fate the captain had reserved for Hank was doomed not to be +known, for as he was speaking Paul Perkins gave a sudden shout: + +"Look--look there!" he cried, pointing. + +Sneaking up to the tented island was the familiar outline of Sam +Redding's hydroplane. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE ESCAPE OF THE BULLY + + +The group standing about the newly rescued lad on the veranda of +the deserted bungalow galvanized into instant action. + +"Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender are in her!" shouted Rob, "come on, +scouts, we'll get after them while we can." + +With a shout the Boy Scouts ran for the boat and speedily pulled +out to the Flying Fish. Hastily as they executed this move, +however, the two in the other boat had had time to head her about +and start at top speed for the mouth of the inlet. + +"Clap on more sail, my hearties," roared the captain, almost +beside himself with excitement, "I want ter get my hands on them +two piratical craft." + +Rob, with a look of grim determination on his usually pleasant +face, held the Flying Fish true on her course, but, heavily laden +as she was, she could not make her usual speed and the hydroplane +soon distanced her. Jack Curtiss stood in her stern and waved a +mocking hand at the Boy Scouts as the light-draft craft shot over +the shoals and shallows with case while the Flying Fish had to +lose much time and way by threading in and out seeking the deeper +water. + +"Douse my toplights, I can't stand that," bellowed the irate +Captain Hudgins. "I'll put a shot in that jackanapes' locker." + +With these words, and before any of the boys could stop him, he +rose to his feet and sent a bullet from his ponderous revolver +flying in the direction of the fleeing motor boat. It missed and +hit the water near by, sending up a little fountain of spray. + +Even at the distance they were the occupants of the Flying Fish +could see the fear which this warlike move inspired in the bully +and his companion. They threw themselves flat in their boat till +only the hands of Bill, who was steering, were visible. + +They need not have feared, however. The captain's hasty move +brought down on his head Rob's wrath, though the young leader +could not find it in his heart to be really angry with the old +man who had been irritated past endurance by the bully's mocking +defiance. + +"Shiver my garboard strake," he exclaimed contritely, when Rob +pointed out to him that he might have killed one of the occupants +of the hydroplane, "shiver my garboard strake, lad, I saw red fer +a minute just like I did that time the Chinese pirates boarded +the Sarah Jane Butts in the Yellow River." + +Although there was not much hope of catching the two, Rob stuck +to the chase even when he realized the scouts were outdistanced, +and in fact kept his attention so closely riveted on the other +craft that when there came a sudden jar and jolt and the Flying +Fish stopped with a grunt and a wheeze, he realized with a start +that he had not been watching the treacherous channel and was +once more fast on a sand bar. + +With a last shout and a yell of defiance the bully and his +companion, who had by now got over their fright, shot out on to +the ocean and rapidly vanished. + +"There goes our hope of catching those two crooks," cried Tubby +angrily, while the engine of the Flying Fish was set at reverse. +"It's all off now. They know that we have rescued Joe and +they'll fly the coop for some other part of the country." + +"I suppose they came down here to get their tent, not realizing +we'd be here so soon," observed Andy, which indeed was the fact. + +Fortunately the Flying Fish was not very hard aground and a +little manipulation got her off into deep water once more. + +"I guess those two chaps are almost in Hampton by this time and +getting ready to leave town," observed Rob as the motor boat +forged ahead, once more. + +"This will be the safest thing for them to do," exclaimed +Merritt, "they are in a serious position this time. Kidnapping +is a dire offense." + +"I wonder what they came back for?" said Tubby suddenly. + +"No doubt to get their tent and the few things they had left on +the island," vouchsafed Rob, skillfully dodging a shoal as he +spoke, "maybe, too, they intended to see how Joe was making out." + +"I wasn't making out at all," said the small lad, with a shudder +at the recollection of his imprisonment. + +"Never mind, Joe, that's all over now," put in Merritt. + +"I'm glad it is," answered the small lad, "and just think, if I +hadn't been a Boy Scout and understood that code I might have +been there yet." + +"That's true enough," said Rob, "for we had about made up our +minds that the bungalow was deserted, and were not going to +bother investigating it, till we saw the smoke." + +About an hour later the boys landed once more in camp, where +their reception by the others may be well imagined by my young +readers. + +"And now comes the final chapter in the career of Messrs. Jack +Curtiss and Bill Bender," said Rob decisively, "I'm going to take +a run up to Hampton. Joe, you'll come along, and you, Merritt, +and Tubby. If that letter was delivered, as I imagine it was, +Joe's parents must be in a terrible state of anxiety by now and +we must hurry up and see them at once." + +"Right," agreed Merritt, and a few moments later, having left the +captain and the others ashore, the Boy Scouts and their young +leader were speeding toward Hampton. With the craft lightened as +she was, they made good time and arrived at the yacht club pier +speedily. + +News of the events which had transpired at the island had +evidently reached the town, for Mr. Wingate himself, with Mr. +Blake and Merritt's father were at the landing as the Flying Fish +glided up to it. + +The three elders were almost as enthusiastic as the boys had been +over the safe recovery of Joe, the details attendant on which Rob +rapidly sketched to them. He had hardly concluded and had not +had time to ask how they knew of the kidnapping when a wild-eyed +man in faded old farm clothes, accompanied by an equally +distracted woman, came rushing down to the wharf. + +"Where's them Boy Scouts? I allers knew no good would come of my +son joining 'em," the man shouted. "I'll give a hundred dollars +fer a boat that'll take me ter Topsail Island in ten minutes." + +"'No need of that, Mr. Digby," said Rob quietly stepping forward +with his hand on Joe's shoulder, "here is Joe safe and sound." + +"Great hopping watermelons!" yelled the farmer, rushing at his +son followed by his wife. Together the worthy souls almost +squashed the small lad like a butterfly under a harrow. But at +last the first greetings were over and the farmer turned to the +somewhat amused group of boys and men who were looking on. + +"My, what a fright we had," exclaimed Mrs. Digby, a +motherly-looking woman, dabbing at her eyes with capacious pocket +handkerchief, "we gets a letter tellin' us that our boy be +kidnapped." + +"Yes we know all about that, Mrs. Digby," put in Mr. Blake, "you +recollect your husband telephoned to the chief of police here +about it, and expecting news from the island, we came down here." + +"So he did, so he did," cried Mrs. Digby, "oh, dear me, Mr. +Blake, I'm in such a takin! I hardly know what I'm sayin'." + +"Consarn them Boy Scouts," sputtered the farmer, returning to his +original grievance, "if Joe hadn't a joined them none of this +would have happened." + +"Oh, yes it would and worse in fact," said Mr. Blake quietly, +"from what I have learned of the affair it was your lad's +knowledge of the Morse code, which every Boy Scout must know, +that saved him when he was confined on the island." + +"That's right, pop," piped up the lad himself. + +"Wall, I don't know nothin' about Horses, codes," grunted Mr. +Digby, somewhat mollified, "but if it saved Joe here it must be +all right." + +"Then your animosity toward the Boy Scouts is somewhat modified," +smiled Mr. Blake, "let me tell you just what happened. As a +matter of fact the whole trouble dates back to the day your son +exposed the contemptible trick by which Jack Curtiss hoped to win +the aeroplane model prize contest." + +The banker drew the farmer aside and related to him the story +that had been previously narrated by Rob. + +"I want ter shake yer hand, boy," exclaimed the fanner, darting +at Rob at the conclusion, "I want ter shake all yer hands," he +yelled in his enthusiasm. + +"Bless my soul," exclaimed Commodore Wingate suddenly, "we are +clean forgetting about those two young rascals who tried to +extort the money from Mr. Digby. We must get after them at once +and their accomplice who, I suppose, is, the man delegated to +take the money from under the rock." + +"What do you suggest?" asked Mr. Blake. + +"That we hasten to the office of the chief of police and then get +into my car and ferret them out if possible," said the commodore +briskly, "they must be made to suffer for this." + +"I don't believe that Sam Redding had any hand in it," put in Rob +as Merritt mentioned the name of the boat-builder's son. "You +know that all our investigation only pointed to two persons, Jack +and Bill, and their assistant, Hank Handcraft." + +A short time later Merritt, Tubby and the Digbys being left +behind on the landing, a high powered car, containing Rob, his +father, Commodore Wingate and the chief of police of Hampton shot +out on to the road leading to the farm owned by Jack Curtiss' +father. Inquiry at the Bender home had already developed the +fact that Jack and Bill had left there hurriedly a short time +before, saying they were going out to the Curtiss place. The +party was doomed to disappointment, however, so far as the hope +of catching Jack or his accomplices at the farm was concerned. +Old Mr. Curtiss informed them that his son had taken the family +buggy and driven furiously off down the road with Bill Bender a +short time before. + +"He got a hundred dollars from me," explained the old man simply, +"he told me he was goin' ter invest it in some rich mining stock +his friend Bender had promoted but--what's the matter, +gentlemen," he broke off, noticing the half-pitying look on the +faces of the men in the automobile. Mr. Blake hurriedly +explained the attempted extortion of which Jack had been guilty. + +"What, Jack--my son!" exclaimed the old man in half daze at the +stunning intelligence, "my boy Jack do a thing like that? Why, +it can't be true. I don't believe it." + +"I'm afraid, nevertheless, it is," rejoined Mr. Blake, but the +old man only shook his head. + +"I'll not believe it," he kept repeating. + +"I wish that so good a father had a worthy son," remarked Mr. +Blake as the car shot out of the farm and out upon the highroad +in the hope of overtaking the buggy. + +At the Digby farm the machine was turned off to take the cross +roads and at this spot they encountered a buggy coming toward +them driven by a farmer friend of Mr. Blake's. + +"Seen a rig with Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender in it?" shouted the +banker as the car was slowed up by Commodore Wingate. + +"Down the road a piece driving like the Mischief," responded the +rustic pointing back with his whip, "but you're wrong 'bout ther' +bein' only two of them; that no-good beach-comber, Hank +Handcraft, was in there with them." + +With a shouted word of thanks the car dashed forward once more. +It was evident that, realizing that their game was up, Jack and +Bill had picked up Hank, and, with a sense of loyalty for which +Rob certainly would not have given them credit, were trying to +save him too. + +"Where can they be headed for?" wondered Mr. Blake as the car +dashed forward. + +"I can hazard a guess," exclaimed Commodore Wingate, "for the +Sunnyside railroad station. If they make a train they may escape +us yet." + +"Je-rus-a-lem," exclaimed the chief of police, a man named +Applegate, pulling out a huge old-fashioned silver watch, +"there's a train due in a few minutes now; if we don't make it, +they'll slip through our fingers!" + +Faster and faster the car roared forward and suddenly as it shot +round a curve the little station of Sunnyside came in sight. +Tied outside it was the buggy and horse of farmer Curtiss and on +the platform stood three figures that the party in the auto made +out at once as Jack Curtiss, Bill Bender and their unsavory ally. + +The road took a long curve at this point and while they could see +the station the pursuers had the mortification of knowing that it +would be some minutes before they could reach it. As the car +bounded forward, swaying like a rocking ship over the rough +roads, there came a sudden sound that made Rob's heart bound. + +The long whistle of an approaching train. + +Faster the machine shot onward roaring like a battery of machine +guns going into action. Its occupants leaned forward with eyes +glued on the group on the platform. + +The trio of whom the autoists were in pursuit had by this time +realized that they were the objects of the chase and were +nervously staring up the track down which was fast approaching +the train by which they hoped to escape. + +The auto was still a good two hundred yards from the station when +the train rolled in and, hardly stopping, started to move out +again. + +"Stop! stop!" yelled Chief Applegate, at the top of his lungs, +and the others waved their hands frantically. The engineer +looked back at them with a grin. + +"Some more idiots missed their train, Jim," he remarked to the +fireman, "I might have waited for them but we're five minutes +behind schedule time now." + +The fireman nodded understandingly and as the auto, in a cloud of +dust, dashed up to the little depot the train, with a screech +that sounded like the last defiance of the bully, shot round a +curve and vanished with a cloud of black smoke. + +"Beaten!" gasped the chief. + +"We can telegraph ahead and have them arrested in New York," +suggested Rob. + +"No, perhaps it is all for the best," counseled Mr. Blake, "the +parents of both those boys are respected citizens, and it would +be a cruel grievance to them were their boys to be publicly +disgraced. Let them work out their own salvation." + +And so Jack Curtiss, Bill Bender and Hank Handcraft vanish for a +time from the ken of the Boy Scouts, leaving behind them no +regrets, except it be those of their parents who were for many +months bowed down with the grief and humiliation of their boys' +misdoings. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +SCOUTS IN NEED ARE FRIENDS INDEED + + +"Ta-ra-ta-ra-ta! Ta-ra-ta-ra-ta! Ta-ra-ta-rata! Ta-ra-ta-a-a!" + +Andy's bugle briskly announced the last morning of the Boy +Scouts' camp on Topsail Island. Already the first breath of +autumn had begun to tint the leaves of the earlier fading trees, +and the chill of the early dawn was noticeable. + +During their stay in camp the lads had profited in every way. +The scout program as sent out for camps by headquarters had been +gone, through with some modifications, and Sim Jeffords had +qualified as a first-class scout while Martin Green, Walter +Lonsdale and Joe Digby, once more as merry as ever, were all +fitted for their second-class scout diplomas. The prospect of +another patrol in Hampton had been discussed and the outlook for +one seemed favorable. + +As the last notes of Andy's call--to turn to the subject of the +opening of this chapter--rang out the tousle-headed, sleepy-eyed +scouts appeared from their tents and found themselves enveloped +in a fleecy mist--such a light fog as is common on that part of +the Atlantic coast at this season of the year. + +"Pretty thick!" was Rob's comment as he doused his face in his +tin basin. + +"Hull-o-o-o!" suddenly hailed a voice from the water, "got any +breakfast fer an old shipmate?" + +Through the fog the boys could make out the dim outline of the +captain's motor boat even if it's apoplectic cough had not +already told them it was there. + +"Sure, come ashore," hailed Merritt. + +A few moments later the hearty old seaman was sitting down with +the lads and performing miracles of eating. + +"It's a good thing we haven't all got your capacity," remarked +Rob, laughing, "or that provision tent wouldn't have held out +very long." + +"Wall, boys," observed the captain, drawing out a black pipe and +ramming some equally black tobacco into it with a horny thumb, "a +full hold makes fair sailin', that's my motto and 'Be Prepared' +is yers. A man can be no better prepared than with a good meal +under his belt. Give me a well-fed crew and I'll navigate a raft +to Hindustan, but a pack uv slab-sided lime juicers couldn't work +a full-rigged ship uv the finest from here to Ban-gor." + +Having delivered himself of this bit of philosophy, the captain +passed on to another subject. + +"Hear'n anything uv them varmints what slipped their moorings on +the train?" he asked. + +"We heard that they had gone West," rejoined Merritt, "but to +just what part I don't know." + +"That thar Sam Reddin' boy clar'd himself uv all suspicion, did +he?" went on the old man. + +"Yes, after he had admitted that Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender and +himself stole our uniforms and robbed you--" + +"Consarn him," interrupted the captain. + +"You needn't grumble, his father paid you back all that was +taken," observed Merritt. + +"That don't lessen the crime," grunted the captain, "heave ahead +with yer yarn, my boy; yer was sayin' that that Reddin' boy +admitted everythin'." + +"Well," continued Rob, "in consideration of his confession, it +was agreed not to prosecute him and he seems to be a reformed +character. He absolutely denied, though, having had anything to +do with the kidnapping of Joe Digby here, and I believe he is +telling the truth." + +"The truth ain't in any uv them fellers, that's my belief," +snorted the captain, "and if ever I get my hands on that thar +Jack Curtiss or Bill Bender I'll lay onto 'em with a rope's end." + +"Oh, we'll never see them again," laughed Rob. + +It may be said here, however, that in this he was very much +mistaken. Rob and his friends did meet the bully again and under +strange circumstances, in scenes far removed from the peaceful +surroundings of Hampton. + +"Fog's thickenin'," observed the captain squinting seaward. + +As he remarked, the mist was indeed increasing in density, +shrouding the surroundings of the camp completely and covering +the trees and bushes with condensed moisture, which dripped in a +slow, melancholy sort of way from their limbs. + +"Bad weather for ships," observed Merritt. + +"Yer may well say that, my lad, and this is a powerful bad part +uv the coast ter be navigatin' on in a fog. I've heard it said +that there's a lot uv iron in the Long Island shoals and that +this deflects the compasses uv ships that stay too near in shore +in a fog. I don't know how that maybe, I don't place a lot uv +stock in it myself, but I do know that steamers and vessels uv al +kinds go ashore here more than seems ter be natural." + +As he finished speaking there came, the fog a sound that fitted +in so well with subject of his conversation that it almost an +accompaniment to it. + +"Who-oo-oo-oo!" + +"A steamer's siren," exclaimed Rob. + +"That's what it is, lad," assented the old sailor, as the sound +came again, booming through the fog with a melancholy cadence. + +"Who-o-o-o-o-o!" roared the siren once more. + +"I'll bet the feller who's on the bridge uv that ship is havin' +his own troubles just about now," remarked the captain, "hark at +that!" + +The whistle was now roaring like a wounded bull, sending distinct +vibrations of sound through the increasing fog billows. + +"Thick as pea soup," commented the captain, refilling his pipe, +"reckon I'll have ter stay here till she lifts a bit. Wind's +hauled to the sou'west too. Bad quarter means more fog and +smother." + +"Who-o-o-o-o!" boomed the siren of the hidden vessel once more, +and this time it was answered by another whistle somewhere +further off in the fog. + +"Two uv 'em now. Stand by fer a collision," shouted the captain, +while the scouts, intensely interested in the development of this +hidden drama of the fog, clustered about him. + +"Who-o-o-o-o! Who-o-o-o-o! Who-o-o-o-o!" came the nearest +siren. + +"She's standin' in shore," shouted the captain, "boys, she's in +grave danger." + +"What's she coming in for?" asked Merritt. + +"I suppose her skipper thinks he's got plenty uv water under his +keel and wants ter give a wide berth ter the other vessel," +explained the captain. "Boys, if only we had a big bell or a +steam whistle we could warn them poor fellows uv their peril." + +"It does seem hard to hear them blundering in and not be able to +warn them," agreed Rob, "there should have been a lighthouse put +on these shoals long ago." + +"Right yer are, boy, but the government is a slow movin' vessel +and hard ter get under way." + +The boys had to laugh at this odd way of expressing the +difficulty of getting new lights erected, but they knew as well +almost as their companion the dangers of the ocean off this part +of Long Island. + +The whistle boomed out its wailing note again. + +"Closer and closer," lamented the captain, "what's the matter +with those lubbers? Yer'd think they'd have a leadsman out." + +All at once the catastrophe for which they had been more or less +prepared happened. So quickly did it come that they had not time +to speak. + +The echoes of the last note of the siren had hardly died out when +there came a loud explosion. + +"Bang!" + +"A signal gun," roared the captain. + +"They are calling for help?" asked Rob. + +"That's it, my boy. They've struck, just as I thought they +would." + +The distress gun sounded again. + +"They're in a bad mess by the sound uv that," said the captain. + +"It doesn't sound as if they were more than half a mile or so +out," remarked Rob. + +"I guess they're not. Hark at that! They must be scared ter +death." + +The gun was fired three times in rapid succession. + +"They'll never hear that at Lone Hill life savin' station," +grimly commented the captain, "and this fog's too thick fer them +ter see her." + +"Do you imagine she is badly damaged, captain?" asked Rob +anxiously. The idea of the stranded ship lost in the dense fog +affected him strangely. + +"Can't tell," the captain replied to his question, "may have +stove a hole in herself and be sinking now." + +"Can't we do something to help them?" asked Merritt eagerly. + +"Only one thing we can do, boy, and that's full uv danger." + +"What is it?" demanded Rob, ignoring the last part of the +captain's speech. + +"Get in ther boat and go out thar to 'em. If they're sinkin' we +can help 'em a whole lot, and--" + +The captain stopped short in amazement. + +Rob, Merritt and Tubby had already started for the beach and +Hiram, "the wireless scout", was close on their heels. + +"Well, douse my toplights," exclaimed the captain, rising to his +feet and lumbering after them, "Yer can't beat the Boy Scouts." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +A MEETING IN THE FOG-CONCLUSION + + +"Can you make her out?" + +Five pairs of eyes peered through the mist that hung like a white +pall an every side of the Flying Fish. + +"Stop that motor a minute, while I listen!" + +In compliance with Rob's order Merritt shut down the panting +engine. + +"What's that noise off there?" asked Hiram suddenly. + +"That sort of throbbing sound?" rejoined Tubby Hopkins. + +"That's it, sounds like a big heart beating," put in Rob. + +"I guess that's their engine. They're tryin' ter back her off," +suggested the captain. + +"Give them a blast on that fog-horn and see if they answer," said +Rob suddenly. + +Hiram took up the big brass fish-horn, used as a fog signal on +the Flying Fish, and blew a loud, long call. + +After an interval of waiting, from out of the mist came the wail +of the stranded ship's siren once more. + +"There she is, right in there," declared the captain, pointing +seaward into the mist. "Steer right on that tack, Rob, and we'll +pick her up pretty soon." + +The motor was started up once more and the Flying Fish forged +ahead through the smother. Suddenly Rob, with a sharp cry of: + +"Stop her!" swung his wheel over sharp and the Flying Fish headed +about. + +The gleaming black rampart of a large vessel's side had suddenly +loomed up dead ahead of him. + +"Ahoy! aboard the steamer," roared the captain, framing his mouth +with his hands, "what ship is that?" + +"The El Paso from London to New York," came back a hail from +somewhere above them in a somewhat surprised tone, "who are you?" + +"The Flying Fish of Hampton, Long Island," responded Rob, with a +laugh. + +"Never heard of her," responded the voice, "we're hard aground on +one of your Long Island shoals it seems." + +"That's what yer are," exclaimed the captain, "how come yer ter +be huggin' the shore so hard?" + +"Trying to avoid a collision with another vessel." + +"Are yer all right?" bellowed the captain. + +"Seem to be. So far as we can find out there's not a plate +started, but if you're from the land we've got a couple of +passengers we'd be thankful if you'd take ashore. Will you come +on board?" + +"Sure, if yer'll drop a Jacob's ladder," bellowed the captain at +the invisible speaker. + +"In a minute." + +The conversation had been carried on without either of the +parties to it being able to see one another, but the captain of +the vessel--for he had been the boy's interlocutor--now came off +the bridge and with some of the crew watched two sailors lower a +Jacob's ladder and make it fast to the rail. + +"Now we go aboard," said Captain Hudgins, clambering up the +swaying contrivance as nimbly as an athlete, "make our painter +fast ter the ladder, Rob." + +This being done, the boys followed the veteran on board. The +steamer, when they gained her deck, puzzled them a good deal and +it was not till her captain, a genial blond-bearded Britisher, +explained to them that she was a cattle ship that they understood +the utility of the wooden structures with which her decks were +obstructed. + +The captain explained that these were pens for the cattle she +expected to take back to England, from which country she was +returning after having taken over a large consignment of steers. + +"Which," went on the captain, "brings us to my passengers. They +are Mr. Frank Harkness and his son, of Lariat, a small cattle +town in the West, where Mr. Harkness has a large ranch. They +were his cattle that we took over and as he had difficulty in +engaging a berth on a liner at this time of year, when the +passenger ships are crowded, he decided to return with us. Here +is Mr. Harkness now," he added, as a tall, bronzed man, with a +long coat draped over a pair of broad shoulders, and a +wide-brimmed sombrero above keen eyes, approached. + +"Visitors from the shore, captain?" he inquired, a pleasant smile +illuminating his clean-shaven, sun-browned face. + +"That's what they are," rejoined the captain, "just dropped in on +us, don't you know." + +"You mean we dropped in on them," amended the other with a laugh, +"come here, Harry," he called, raising his voice, "we've got some +company out of the fog." + +In response to his call a lad about the age of Rob appeared from +the after-end of the ship, where the cabins were, and greeted the +boys with a smile and a nod. He, like his father, wore a +sombrero and was quite as sunburned. For the rest he was +well-knit and athletic looking and had evidently lived an +out-door life. + +"Well, we are getting plenty of experiences away from the ranch, +eh, Harry?" observed his father, after the boys and the captain +had introduced themselves and there had been a great and +ceremonious hand-shaking all round. + +"We just naturally are," responded the rancher's son. "Say, +captain," he went on, "when do you expect to get off ?" + +"If we are not too badly hung up we ought to get off at +high-water," rejoined the Britisher. + +"That won't be till late to-night," observed Rob. + +"If I could only get a tug we might do better," observed the +captain, "in fact, since I've had the engines going I don't think +we can back off under our own power." + +"Have you got a wireless?" asked Hiram, his pet subject +uppermost. + +"Yes, but our operator went ashore in London and I guess he had +too good a time; anyhow he never showed up so we had to cross +without one." + +"Is she working?" asked Hiram interestedly. + +"Sure, there's plenty of 'juice' as the operators, call it. I +tried to work it coming over," laughed Harry, "but outside of +getting a proper shock, I didn't do much." + +"I'll send out a signal for a tug," said Hiram quietly, "there's +a station at Island. They'll pick up the message and transmit +it." + +"What--you can work a wireless?" + +"A little bit," said the lad modestly. + +"Come on, I'll show you the way," said the delighted captain, +starting off with Hiram, and followed by the others. + +"Say, don't think it personal of me, will you?" remarked Harry +Harkness to Rob as they followed, "but would you mind telling me +what you all are wearing those uniforms for?" + +"Why, we're Boy Scouts," rejoined Rob proudly, and went on to +explain just what the organization is. + +"Say, that's great," exclaimed Harry enthusiastically, "I'd like +to form a patrol out at Lariat. Do you reckon I could?" + +"I don't doubt it," rejoined Rob, smiling the Western enthusiasm. + +"By cracky, I'll do it," went on Harry Harktess, "I'll make it a +mounted patrol and if we don't get old 'Silver Tip' then, besides +all the other sport we'll have, call me a coyote." + +"Who or what is old Silver Tip?" asked Rob, somewhat interested +in his breezy new acquaintance. + +"Silver Tip is a grizzly," explained Harry, "a grizzly bear you +know. Dad says he's the biggest he's ever seen and he seems to +bear--excuse the pun, please--he seems to bear a charmed life. +All the boys on the ranch are crazy to get a shot at him, but +they've never been able to." + +"Say, that sounds bully," agreed Rob, "I wish I could get out +West for a while." + +"It's a great country," said Harry sagely, as they entered the +wireless room, where Hiram was already bending over the +instrument sending out a message for aid, while the blue spark +leaped and crackled across its gap. The others gazed on +admiringly as Hiram, having completed his message, adjusted the +detector on his head and awaited an answer. + +It soon came. Tugs would be dispatched as soon as the fog +lifted, the operator at Fire Island announced. + +"That's a weight off my mind," breathed the captain, while Harry +hastily confided to his father that the lads who had boarded the +vessel out of the mist were Boy Scouts. + +"The fog is lifting," announced Rob, as they streamed out of the +wireless room. + +"Yes, the wind has shifted," remarked Captain Hudgins. "I guess +it was that sou'west breeze that brought the mist. She's hauled +ter the nor'west now, and in an hour's time it will be clear." + +"I wonder if you boys can put us ashore," said Mr. Harkness, as +the group walked aft to the captain's cabin; "I would be very +grateful if you could. It seems that it will be some time before +the steamer is cleared, and I am anxious to make a train for the +West." + +The boys agreed to land the ranchman and his son as soon as the +fog cleared off, which, as the captain had prophesied, it did in +about an hour's time. The boys had spent the interim in +exploring the ship and listening to Harry Harkness' tales of the +ranch and the marvelous exploits of Silver Tip, the huge grizzly, +who derived his name, it appeared, from a spot of white fur on +his breast. In fact, so fast did they get on, that by the time +Harry and his father were called by Captain Hudgins to embark in +the Flying Fish, the boys had become fast friends. + +The run to the shore was made quickly and by landing the two +travelers at a point above Hampton they were enabled to make a +train that would land them in the city in time for dinner. Mr. +Harkness whiled away the trip by plying the boys with all sorts +of questions about the Boy Scouts and seemed greatly interested +in their answers. Altogether the boys felt quite sorry when it +came time to part at the wharf at Farmingdale, the place where +the rancher and his son were put ashore. + +"Well, good-bye, boys," said Mr. Harkness, holding out a big hand +to Rob, who took it and was amazed to find a twenty dollar gold +piece slipped into his palm by the ranchman. + +"Oh, I couldn't think of taking that," he said, insisting on +handing it back despite the ranchman's protests, "I appreciate +your motive, but I couldn't think of taking any money for an +ordinary courtesy." + +"By Sam Hooker, you're right, boy," cried the ranchman heartily, +"and it's a privilege to meet such a bunch of fine lads. I +thought all you Easterners were a bunch of stuck-up tenderfeet, +but I find I'm wrong--anyhow so far as the Boy Scouts are +concerned." + +A few minutes later the rancher and his son were hastening to the +railroad station, followed by the boys' eyes. As they entered +the depot, just in time to catch the New York train--they waved a +hearty farewell and the boys waved and shouted in return. + +"We've only known them a few hours, but I feel as if I'd just +said good-bye to two friends," said Rob as they turned away and +prepared to go back to the island in their boat and break camp. + +"So do I!" said Tubby; "I wonder if we'll ever see them again." + +"No, I guess they're kind of ships that pass in the night,"' +laughed Merritt, "however, I'm glad we did them a good turn." + +The boys, however, were destined to meet the ranchers again and +to have many strange and exciting adventures, among which the +ultimate downfall of Silver Tip was to be one. Could they have +looked into the future, too, they would have seen that in the Far +West they were to face dangers and difficulties of which they had +as yet never dreamed and were to be the victims of the malicious +contrivings of Bill Bender and our old, acquaintance, Jack +Curtiss. + +A few weeks after the events related above there was great +excitement in Hampton over the announcement that Merritt's +courageous act of life-saving and the achievements of the other +young scouts of the Eagle Patrol were to receive official +recognition. A field secretary of the organization arrived at +the village one evening and was met at the depot by the Patrol in +full uniform, and with the village band drawn up at their head. +Proudly, under the Eagle standard, they marched to the Town Hall, +which had been illuminated in a style the villagers would never +have believed possible and were greeted by the local committee +headed by Commodore Wingate and Mr. Blake. + +"Three cheers for the Boy Scouts!" came from a voice in the back +of the crowded hall after the honors had been distributed and the +advances in rank announced. + +The shout that went up cracked the plaster on the ceiling of the +venerable building. + +"Speech, speech," shouted one of those individuals who always do +raise that cry on the slightest excuse. + +Rob Blake, very red and protesting, was hustled to the front of +the stage on which the Scouts had been drawn up. + +"I can't make a speech," he began. + +"Hear! Hear!" shouted the crowd, most of whom couldn't. + +"But on behalf of the Boy Scouts I want to thank you all and-- +and--" + +The rest was drowned by the band which, having been quiescent for +ten whole minutes, could maintain silence no longer and blared +out into that favorite of all village bands, "Hail to the Chief." + +"Come on, let's get out of here," whispered Rob to Merritt, whose +breast was decorated with the coveted bronze cross and red +ribbon, which is the highest honor a scout can attain. + +As they slipped out upon the darkened street a boy came up to +them with an outstretched hand. + +"I want to tell you I'm sorry for the part I played in the mean +tricks Jack Curtiss and Bill Bender put up on you fellows," he +said contritely, "will you shake hands?" + +"Sure we will, Sam Redding," responded Merritt, extending his +palm, while Rob did likewise. + +"At that," added Merritt, "I guess we win." + +And here, with their former enemy become a remorseful friend, we +will, for the present, leave the Boy Scouts to renew our +acquaintance with them in the next volume of this series which +will be called: "The Boy Scouts on the Range." + +THE END + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Boy Scouts of the Eagle Patrol, by Robert Drake + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOY SCOUTS OF THE EAGLE PATROL *** + +***** This file should be named 12112.txt or 12112.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.net/1/2/1/1/12112/ + +Produced by Sean Pobuda + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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