In the meantime the young man who had sprung after her had also become exhausted, and would certainly have sunk had not Dr. Perkins headed the Sea Eagle in his direction. Leaning far out as they came alongside the struggling man, Harry grasped him by the collar, and then half dragged him into the hydroplane portion of the air craft. This done, full speed was made for Frank and the young woman.
None too soon did they reach Frank’s side. With the blind instinct of a drowning person the young woman was clinging so tightly to Frank that, strong swimmer though he was, he had much difficulty in keeping above the water. Dr. Perkins ordered the motor stopped as they neared the two, and allowed the Sea Eagle to glide up to them. Then both he and Harry bent all their strength to hauling on board, first the young woman and then Frank.
By this time the liner’s speed had been checked, and her officers were swinging her in a broad circle to the scene of the accident. A boat had been lowered and was heading for the Sea Eagle, but Dr. Perkins, snatching up the megaphone, hailed the oarsman and told them that everything was all right.
This done, power was applied once more, and the Sea Eagle headed for the liner’s side. As if guessing his intention a gangway had been lowered, and all was ready for their reception as they came alongside. In the meantime the young man had introduced the golden-haired young woman as his bride, and himself as Stanley Travers, of Portland, Me. To say that both he and Mrs. Travers were grateful would be not to state one half of their actual feelings.
In fact, their expressions of appreciation took so long that one of the officers at the head of the gangway shouted:
“This is a mail boat and we must hurry, please.”
While this was going on congratulations on the plucky act had been shouted down from the uniformed skipper on the bridge and from a score of the passengers that banked the rails three and four deep.
At last Mr. and Mrs. Travers, wet to the skin, clambered up the liner’s tall, black side, and the boat was hauled up on the davits. As the big craft, dipping her ensign and blowing her siren, heaved ahead, a shout of enthusiasm went up. But it was drowned by the roar of the Sea Eagle’s motor. Hardly had the propellers of the vessel begun to churn the water once more before Dr. Perkins’ craft rose from the water like a white-winged sea gull after a refreshing dip. As the gallant sea-and-air ship rose, her three occupants waved their hands in farewell in rejoinder to the babel of shouts beneath them.
“Well, at any rate, if the Sea Eagle never does anything more,” remarked Dr. Perkins, “she has accomplished a great deal.”
“I should think so,” exclaimed Frank, who had slipped into dry clothes as soon as the Sea Eagle took the air once more; “it isn’t every craft that finds her baptism in life-saving at sea.”
As long as they could see the Ultonia the big liner continued to blow her whistle, and doubtless the eyes of all her passengers remained fixed attentively on the wonderful sky ship as she waxed smaller and smaller against the blue. That afternoon the voyagers found themselves off Cape Ann. High above the cape they flew, cutting off a good chunk of distance in this way. The folks in West Gloucester stared in wonderment as the huge air ship soared by high above the town, and when a short time later the aviators passed above the white-winged fishing fleet, every tin pan and fog horn in the flotilla of small craft sounded an enthusiastic “God speed” to the air travelers.
Far behind the main body of the fisher craft lagged a small sloop, and as the Sea Eagle came closer to her the boys noticed that her flag was flying from the peak “union down,” a sign of distress the world over. The big hydro-aëroplane was flying low at the time, and it was easy to see, without the aid of glasses, that several men were running about the sloop’s decks and shouting something up at the air voyagers.
“Shall we go down and see what the trouble is?” asked Frank, as he and Harry saw the signs of distress.
“Yes,” decided the doctor, “no craft, either of the air or of the sea, can disregard such a signal of disaster. It will be odd if, for the second time on the very first day of our cruise, we are able to render aid to somebody who needs it badly.”
The boys thought so, too, and as they dropped seaward the minds of all three occupants of the Sea Eagle were busy with speculations concerning what could be the cause of the sloop’s distress. Dr. Perkins caused his craft to alight gently on the sea a short distance from the sloop, and then headed her over the waves toward the distressed vessel. As they drew closer they could see a grizzled-looking fellow, in rough fisher’s garb, leaning over the side.
“Come quick!” he shouted, “there’s been bad work going on aboard!”
CHAPTER XVIII.—AN ERRAND OF MERCY.
“What’s up?” cried Frank.
“Yes, what’s the trouble?” came from Dr. Perkins.
“Trouble enough. We sprang a leak two days ago, out on the fishing banks, and have been at the pumps ever since. Now we’ve got the leak stopped, but my mate, Joe Higgins, was struck on the head by the boom and is so mortal bad that if we don’t get a doctor for him pretty quick I’m afraid he’ll die. Then, too, our provisions is run out.”
While the man was reciting this catalogue of mishaps the Sea Eagle was run alongside, and Dr. Perkins made her fast with a line the man flung to him.
“First let’s have a look at the injured man,” he said and, without further delay, Captain Zebedee Crooks, as he informed the travelers his name was, led them aft to a tiny cabin, stuffy, dark and reeking of fish. The boys followed Dr. Perkins into this wretched little den and Captain Zebedee lighted a sea lantern.
Its rays showed them a heavily built man of middle age lying on a locker. His head was bandaged, and although he breathed he showed no other signs of life. Dr. Perkins, with the skill of a professional man, made a hasty examination.
“This man is badly hurt,” he said at length. “I am afraid his skull is fractured, but of that I cannot be certain. He should be ashore in a hospital.”
“Aye! I know that,” rejoined Captain Zebedee, “but at the rate we are going now we won’t get ashore till to-morrow night, and by that time poor Joe may be dead.”
“I think it extremely likely,” replied Dr. Perkins, “but we must get him ashore at once.”
“What, in that sky schooner of yours?” Dr. Perkins nodded.
“Yes, we must get him on deck without further loss of time. Then we’ll rush him to a hospital.”
“The good Lord who sent you here bless you!” exclaimed the rugged old fisherman, affected almost to tears. “I never thought when I seen you away up thar in ther sky that you’d bother to notice the poor Star of Gloucester; but you did. You come down from the clouds like so many angels.”
“Funny-looking angels,” remarked Frank to Harry, in an undertone. But Captain Zebedee’s gratitude was so heartfelt and earnest that neither of the boys could find it in them to smile at his odd phrases.
Captain Zebedee summoned some of his crew from the deck and as tenderly as possible the injured man was conveyed from the cabin. This done, he was lowered into the Sea Eagle and laid on a pile of blankets already prepared for his reception.
“Better make for Bayhaven,” counseled Captain Zebedee; “there’s a good hospital there, and it lies right on the coast about in a straight line from here.”
Dr. Perkins nodded, and then, having seen that the injured man was in a position to endure the ride comfortably, the flight to the shore was begun; but not till a substantial amount of provisions and some fresh water had been supplied to the fishing smack. As the Sea Eagle took to the air the Star of Gloucester was set before the wind, and staggered off on her slow course once more. The last the boys saw of the clumsy fisherman, the stout figure of Captain Zebedee was leaning on the stern bulwarks waving to them as they winged shoreward.
The coast was a rocky one, with gaunt cliffs and few habitations. But as they reached it and flew low above a small house on the summit of the cliffs, they spied a man at work in a small garden. Of him Frank inquired the way to Bayhaven. The man was too much astonished to answer at first, and stood looking stupidly up at the winged monster above him.
But finally he collected his wits and pointed to the south. The Sea Eagle was thereupon headed round, and, not long after, her passengers came in sight of a tiny town huddled in a cove almost at the water’s edge. Heading out seaward once more, Dr. Perkins dropped to the water in the harbor, and then at reduced speed ran the Sea Eagle up to the long wharf which jutted out at the foot of the little city’s main street.
By the time they arrived alongside of the jetty half the population of the town was on hand to greet them. Their approach through the air had been seen when they were still some distance off, and as the Sea Eagle was the first air ship ever seen in Bayhaven it may be imagined what a sensation Dr. Perkins’ craft created.
But all eager questioners were waved aside while Dr. Perkins and his young friends called for volunteers to help lift the injured man out of the Sea Eagle. A dozen willing hands responded, and before long the mate of the Star of Gloucester was on his way to the hospital in a wagon which had been hastily converted into an ambulance. It may be said here that, thanks to the prompt manner in which aid had been secured for him, the man recovered after a long illness, and was able to resume his work on Captain Zebedee’s ship, where he never tires of telling of how he was saved by an aërial ambulance.
Dr. Perkins accompanied his patient to the hospital, where he saw him comfortably settled. In the meantime Frank and Harry had been left on guard with the Sea Eagle, for the crowd had grown so large, and so curious, that it would not have been wise to have left the ship to the mercies of the inquisitive. The boys answered a perfect hailstorm of questions as good-naturedly as possible, but once or twice they had to use physical means to keep the younger element of the population of Bayhaven off the decks.
By the time Dr. Perkins returned they were heartily tired of their job, and hailed his proposal that they should go up to town and purchase a fresh supply of provisions, with much delight. Leaving Dr. Perkins to cope with the throng, the two boys, arm in arm, made their way through the press and set off for the main street, which sloped up from the wharf. One or two of the crowd followed them, gaping curiously at the youthful aërial voyagers. But the boys were too used to the curiosity of crowds to mind this, and before long their followers dropped back to gape at the great flying machine.
They found the town a small, uninteresting place. There were several shops, a hotel, with the usual group of loungers hanging about the porch, and further back a canning factory, which gave employment, in one way or another, to most of the inhabitants of Bayhaven. Beyond the hotel was a big “general store.” Entering it, the boys made a variety of purchases, and arranged that the goods should be shipped to the Sea Eagle as soon as possible.
They were just leaving the place when out of the dusk—for by this time it was getting late—there came a figure that caused both boys to come to a dead stop in petrified astonishment. As for the man who had caused their sudden stoppage he, for his part, appeared to be nonplussed for a second. But the next moment he turned and fairly ran out of the store.
“After him!” cried Frank; “it’s that rascal Duval!”
“That’s what!” cried Harry, no less excited.
Both boys, to the utter amazement of the storekeeper, who thought they had gone suddenly crazy, dashed out of the door of the emporium, and taking the steps outside in one jump they made off in the direction in which Duval, for there was no doubt it was he, had vanished. But as ill luck would have it, the cannery whistle had just blown for the cessation of the day’s work, and round the corner there streamed a big crowd of the employees.
It took the boys some time to work their way through the throng, for some of the men were inclined to tease them by stepping in their way and otherwise annoying them so that by the time they got through the crowd all hope of catching, or even sighting, Duval was gone.
Greatly disappointed, and almost as much mystified by their sudden encounter with the rascally Frenchman, the boys decided to turn back and go down to the Sea Eagle. On their way they discussed Duval’s sudden reappearance with interest.
“What can he be doing here?” wondered Harry.
“Blessed if I know,” was the rejoinder, “but I’ll bet he’s up to some mischief or other. My! How he ran when he saw us.”
“He had good reason to,” declared Harry; “I guess we’d have had him arrested if we’d ever caught him.”
“Not much doubt of that,” declared Frank; “we could have charged him with the theft of that boat, anyhow, and that would have held him in the custody of the authorities till we could have obtained further evidence.”
“Well, I don’t imagine we’ll see him again,” decided Harry, as they turned into the Main Street.
“No such luck,” declared Frank.
But, after all, the boys were to see Duval again, and sooner than they expected, too.
CHAPTER XIX.—PLUMBO FOUND WANTING.
They were still talking in this vein when they reached the wharf. The crowd had, by this time, thinned out somewhat, and they made their way to the Sea Eagle without difficulty. They found Dr. Perkins talking with a most peculiar looking individual. He was long and lanky as a bean pole, and his thatch of bright red hair was crowned by a hat that a scarecrow might have disowned.
“Wonder who our new-found friend can be?” laughed Harry, as they clambered down a rough ladder to the Sea Eagle’s deck.
They soon found out. Dr. Perkins, it appeared, had decided to spend the night at Bayhaven, and had engaged quarters at the hotel which the boys had passed. The man with whom he was talking rejoiced in the name of Plumbo Boggs, and was a village character. However, he was honest, though not overmuch endowed with brains, and had been recommended to the inventor as a reliable man to leave in charge of the Sea Eagle.
Immediately Dr. Perkins had introduced this strange character, Plumbo broke out into rhymed speech which was a peculiarity of his. Some odd twist in his brain made it impossible for him to express himself in prose.
“I’m Plumbo Boggs of old Bayhaven; from harm your air ship I’ll be savin’,” quoth he, striking an attitude.
“Do you always talk that way?” inquired Frank.
“Yes; I’m a poet, though you didn’t know it,” was the response.
“Well, I don’t know that that will keep you from being a good watchman,” smiled Dr. Perkins.
“I’ll watch by day or I’ll watch by night; you’ll soon find that I’m all right,” was the quick response, while Plumbo’s blue, rather watery eyes, flashed feebly.
“That’s satisfactory. Mind, you are to let no one on board, under any pretext whatever.”
“Pretext is a word that I don’t understand; but I’ll keep them off though they come in a band,” rejoined Plumbo.
“How much will you do the job for?” asked Dr. Perkins.
“Two dollars will be my price to stay here; pay it and then no trouble you’ll fear.”
“I’ll agree to that,” said Dr. Perkins, “we are going uptown now. I’ll have your supper sent down to you and you are to remain here till you are relieved by us early to-morrow.”
“I’ll stay right here, watchful and steady; you’ll find me here when to go you’re ready,” declared Plumbo.
“And now that everything is well I guess we’ll start for the hotel,” said Frank, and not until both Dr. Perkins and Harry burst into a roar of laughter did he realize that he had caught the rhyming “infection” from the poetical Plumbo.
“Be sure and don’t forget my supper; I like pork and beans and bread and butter,” called Plumbo after them as they left the wharf, and he took up his vigil.
“An eccentric sort of character, but I guess he’ll take good care of the Sea Eagle while we’re gone,” said Dr. Perkins.
It was on the tip of Frank’s tongue to tell about their encounter with Duval; but the next instant he decided not to speak of it. Dr. Perkins had several important matters on his mind, and after all, the boy argued, Duval could not do them any harm now. After supper the editor of the local paper called round at the hotel to elicit from the aërial voyagers the story of their trip as far as it had gone. He was also correspondent for the Associated Press, he informed them. Dr. Perkins granted him a careful interview, in which he described part of their adventures, but was cautious not to reveal any of the details of the Sea Eagle’s construction. Shortly after the newspaperman had taken his departure the party retired, having left an early call for the morning, for it had been determined to get under way as soon as possible the next day.
Bayhaven retired early to its rest, and the streets were deserted when, soon after midnight, three men walked down the main street, taking care to keep in the shadows of the buildings as they proceeded. One of the men was Duval, and the others were the Daniels, father and son. Their presence in Bayhaven is soon explained.
As we know, the elder Daniels had offered to get money to finance the trip to the Black Bayou, and it was from relatives in Bayhaven that he calculated on getting it. The trio had arrived in the town the day before, and Daniels had promptly obtained the money as a loan, he having represented that the treasure was undoubtedly to be found in the long-forgotten wreck.
They had been on the streets the day before when the approach of the Sea Eagle was announced, and Duval instantly guessed that the oncoming air ship was the same that had rescued him and his employers from the illfated Wanderer. Neither the Daniels nor Duval himself knew anything of the destination of the Sea Eagle, nor did they guess for an instant that Harry Chester carried with him an exact duplicate of Duval’s stolen plan. But their evil natures prompted them to do all the harm they could to the party, and it was with this end in view that they were making their way down the badly lighted and deserted streets of Bayhaven at such an hour. Duval’s dislike of the boys had been roused to fever heat by their chase of him in the afternoon, and he was burning to do them some injury. From one of the elder Daniels’ relatives the rascals had learned that Dr. Perkins and his two young friends were registered at the hotel, leaving the Sea Eagle in charge of Plumbo. At once they had decided to visit the air ship and see what harm they could do it.
Stealthily they advanced toward the wharf, revolving in their minds as they went what they would do when they got there.
“We’ll have to get that half-witted chap out of the way,” declared Duval, in a low tone, “or he may make an outcry and arouse the whole place.”
“Leave that to me,” Daniels assured him; “we’ll fix him up all right.”
“You don’t mean to hurt him? I don’t want to get mixed up in anything like that,” whimpered Duval, who was somewhat of a coward, as we know.
Daniels actually chuckled.
“Waal, you are a chicken-hearted fool,” he muttered, “but don’t you be scared. There won’t be no necessity of hurtin’ this Plumbo. I can recollect him from a time when I was here years ago. He’s soft-headed and talks poetry. Them two things most allers goes together I’ve found.”
Nothing more was said till they reached the wharf. It was dark and deserted, but in the starlight the dim outlines of the Sea Eagle could be seen as she lay at her moorings.
“I’ll bet a cruller that chap’s asleep,” whispered Zeb, as they crept forward cautiously.
“Hope so. It’ll make our work a lot the easier,” chuckled his worthy father.
But the next moment they had undeniable proof that the watchman was not slumbering. From amidst the ghostly outlines of the Sea Eagle came Plumbo’s voice.
“Who’s there so late? Answer up, mate.”
“Is that you, Plumbo?” said the elder Daniels.
“Yes, this is me, as you can see.”
“How are we goin’ ter see you when it’s so confounded dark?” growled Daniels.
“Well, what do you wish? To bathe or fish?” inquired Plumbo, ignoring this remark. Then he continued:
“You’d better skip. You’ll not board this ship.”
“That’s just what we came here to do,” replied Daniels, in an unruffled tone; “your mother is very ill and we come down to take charge of the air ship while you go home as quick as possible.”
Now poor Plumbo’s love for his widowed mother was a matter of common talk in the village, and the cunning of the elder Daniels had suggested this scheme to him as they came along. It worked even better than he had dared to expect. The rhyming watchman gave a gasp of pained astonishment.
“I must go home; though I ought not to roam,” he said.
“Make your mind easy about that, lad,” Daniels assured him; “we’ll watch this cloud clipper while you’re gone. Dr. Perkins told us to stay here while you are gone.”
“I’ll go home in a hurry; be back in a scurry,” declared Plumbo, who was completely taken in. His none too acute brain had been easily imposed upon by Daniels’ rascally trick. He scrambled up on the wharf and at once set off on a run for his home, crying as he went:
“Watch every crack till I can get back.”
“Oh, go to the dickens while we get our pickin’s,” growled out young Zeb Daniels, at which specimen of wit his father laughed heartily, though in a subdued way.
“Now, then, boys,” said Daniels, as Plumbo’s footsteps died away, “get busy and spile this cruise for that bunch of fine gentlemen. We’ll show ’em what it means to try to take folks’ livings away.”
CHAPTER XX.—FRANK’S BATTLE.
It was about midnight that Frank, for no reason that he could explain, awakened with a vague feeling of uneasiness. Try as he would he could not compose himself to sleep again, but lay awake, struggling with a sort of intuitive suspicion that all was not well with the Sea Eagle.
At last, so strong did his conviction become, that, although he was ridiculing his fears all the time, he arose and dressed himself, and then started out for the wharf. For a moment he thought he would rouse Harry, who slept on another bed in the same room; but in the end he decided not to disturb his brother’s repose. Perhaps he had a vague fear of ridicule, but at any rate Frank crept out of the hotel alone and made his way silently down the dark and empty streets.
“This is certainly a fool’s errand I’m going on,” he told himself; “I suppose that my reward for my pains will be to hear some more of Plumbo’s poetry, and yet—and yet, I can’t help it. I couldn’t sleep another wink unless I was sure that the Sea Eagle was all right.”
Musing thus, and minimizing his own fears, Frank came in due time to the wharf. He made his way down it and was about to step forward to descend the ladder that led to the Sea Eagle’s deck, when he heard something that made him pause. He recognized the sound instantly.
It was the rasp of a file!
“My gracious! Somebody is tampering with the Sea Eagle!” exclaimed the boy to himself. “My fears were not as groundless as I thought them, after all. I wonder if that rascal Duval——”
The current of his thoughts was suddenly checked at this point by another noise near at hand. It seemed to come from behind a big pile of boxes on the wharf.
“Goodness! What’s that?” thought Frank, and then for the first time it flashed across him that if more than one man was engaged in the nefarious work that he was sure was going on, he was at a serious disadvantage. He had no weapons but his hands, whereas the others were undoubtedly well armed.
“I’ll slip back uptown as quickly as I can and arouse the authorities,” he decided, “if they are quick we can catch the rascals red-handed. I wonder what can have become of that fellow Jumbo or whatever his name was? I suppose he went to sleep or something. Well, it serves us right for leaving such an eccentric fellow on guard.”
Frank, who had been crouching in the shadow of the very boxes behind which he had heard the suspicious sounds, rose quickly to his feet. He was just slipping off, congratulating himself that he had been unobserved when from behind the boxes a dark figure suddenly emerged.
“Hands up, Frank Chester,” it exclaimed; “we’ve got you where we want you this time.”
“Zeb Daniels!” exclaimed Frank, dumbfounded with astonishment. He had not supposed the rascally young fisherman within miles of the place.
“Yes; that’s me. Don’t move a step or you’ll get hurt.”
But Frank’s indignation overcame his prudence.
“What are you doing here?” he demanded angrily.
“None of your business.”
“It isn’t, eh? Well I know that you are damaging Dr. Perkins’ boat in some way and——”
Frank stepped deftly aside as Zeb, who was a far heavier, stronger boy than the young aviator, made a tigerish jump at him, at the same time brandishing a thick club threateningly.
But Zeb’s sudden rush proved his undoing. Before he could recover his balance Frank had planted a clean, hard punch on the young ruffian’s jaw, and Zeb reeled back dizzily. He recovered himself almost instantly, however, and without making a sound hurled himself at Frank once more. In a rough and tumble fight the sturdily built fisher boy might have been a match for Frank Chester, but Frank had already gained some advantage and he met Zeb’s frenzied charge coolly.
Zeb, as he got within reach, let loose a tremendous swing which, if it had struck Frank’s head as his burly young opponent intended, might have laid him flat. But to his astonishment Zeb’s fist met only empty air. Frank had ducked the blow with consummate ease, and the next instant:
One! Two!—Crack! Smack! Two well-planted blows landed on Zeb’s face and body. Frank was rushing in to complete his victory when he was suddenly seized from behind in a powerful grip and hurled to the ground with great violence.
Zeb’s father, on board the Sea Eagle, had heard the disturbance, and had swiftly and silently climbed the ladder leading up on to the wharf. Behind him, but at a prudent distance, came Duval. The Frenchman had no love for fighting, unless the odds were all in his favor, and he was by no means certain how many men might have attacked them.
The elder Daniels took in the situation in a flash, and pinioned Frank’s arms, just as the latter was about to put an end to the battle. Duval saw instantly that there was no personal danger to himself, and while the elder Daniels held a grimy, leathery paw over Frank’s mouth to prevent his shouting for aid, Duval pinioned the lad’s lower limbs. Helpless as a baby Frank lay there on his back, completely at the mercy of three individuals whom he had no reason to suppose would handle him gently.
While he still lay there a helpless captive, young Daniels came up, and doubling up his fist deliberately struck the helpless boy in the face. But the elder of the Daniels angrily checked him.
“Stow that,” he muttered roughly. “What’s the matter with you?”
“I wanted to get even with him,” whined Zeb; “he licked me and——”
“Waal, git even some other way. Bring me that rope off them pile of boxes while I make him fast.”
Zeb said no more, but obediently fetched the rope, and before many minutes had passed Frank was bound hand and foot. Moreover, a gag, consisting of a dirty fragment torn from the elder Daniels’ shirt, was thrust into his mouth.
“What’ll we do with him now?” demanded Zeb, when this had been done.
“Humph, I hadn’t thought of that,” rejoined the elder fisherman; “we can’t leave him here, for we don’t want any one to find him when they come down, as they are bound to do afore long when that idiot Plumbo finds out that we’ve fooled him. What will we do with the young game cock?”
“I’d like to chuck him overboard,” quoth Zeb amiably, staunching his bleeding nose with a dirty coat sleeve.
“Don’t waste time talking rubbish,” angrily rejoined his parent; “see here, Duval, kain’t you think of something?”
“Yes, I can,” was the eager reply; “it’s just occurred to me. Ho! ho! I guess that’ll keep him quiet for a while.”
“Well, what do you propose to do?” growled Daniels. “Don’t stand there like an owl. Out with it.”
“Well, my friend, you see those big barrels over there?”
“Yes, what about them?”
“We’ll put him in one of those and give him a sea trip.”
“By Jeehosophat, but that’s a notion! I reckon by the time he’s picked up, or drifts ashore, he’ll be sorry he interfered with us.”
“That’s a great scheme,” chuckled Zeb, equally delighted. “That’s what I call getting even in good shape.”
“Hold on a minute; how’s the tide?” murmured Daniels. “We don’t want him to be picked up too quick.”
“The tide’s running out, pop,” said Zeb, after a minute; “I tell you, though, what’s the matter with putting the barrel in that dory there and then loading him in it? We can row out a ways and then dump him overside.”
“That’s the best idea yet,” warmly approved his worthy parent; “come on, boys, tumble the barrel into that dory. Lively, now!”
The barrel, quite a big one, which had been used for salting down fish and was quite watertight, was lowered into the dory that Zeb’s sharp eyes had spied with some difficulty.
Frank had watched the movements of his captors as well as he could in the darkness; but he was quite unable to guess what all this meant, which, perhaps, was just as well. As the conversation had been carried on in whispers, he had not overheard a syllable of the rascally plan to set him adrift out of pure malice.
Still bound and gagged, he was lowered into the dory, unable to call out or move, despite the now serious alarm he felt. What could the men be going to do with him, he wondered, and was still busy speculating on his probable fate when Zeb and his father cast off the dory and, with rapid strokes, began to row toward the mouth of the harbor on which Bayhaven is situated.
CHAPTER XXI.—A RASCALLY TRICK.
While all this had been occurring on the wharf Plumbo Boggs had discovered the deception that had been practiced on him, and was hastening as fast as he could to the hotel. Even he, whose mind could not be called quick acting, realized that he was the victim of a trick, the object of which was, in all probability, to injure the Sea Eagle.
Arousing the night clerk, Plumbo begged to be directed to Dr. Perkins’ room. The night clerk knew the eccentric character, and lost no time in escorting him to the doctor’s quarters. Plumbo thundered on the door with noise sufficient to arouse the other guests.
“What is it? What’s happened?” shouted Dr. Perkins, thinking for an instant that the place must be on fire at least.
“Oh, doctor, come quick! They’ve played us a trick!” yelled Plumbo.
“Who? Where? What do you mean?” exclaimed Dr. Perkins, coming to the door.
“Two men and a lad; they’ve fooled me bad.”
“Do you mean that they persuaded you to leave the Sea Eagle alone and unguarded?”
“They told me a story to get me from there; or I’d have given your air ship the best of good care,” pleaded Plumbo, seriously alarmed at the angry look that had come over the doctor’s face. “Don’t be angry with me, I pray; if they hurt it I’ll ask you no pay.”
“As if that would help,” cried Dr. Perkins angrily; “wait there till I get some clothes on.”
He retreated into the room and as he hastily donned some garments he wondered who the men could be who had induced the soft-witted poet to leave his position of trust.
“For the life of me I can’t imagine who they can be,” he was thinking, while he hurriedly laced his shoes, when the door opened and in walked Harry fully dressed.
“I heard the noise in the corridor, and heard Plumbo telling you that something had happened to the Sea Eagle,” he said excitedly.
“I don’t know that anything has happened yet,” cried Dr. Perkins anxiously; “I’m hoping not. But from what I can gather from Plumbo’s foolish talk three men induced him, on some pretext, to leave the ship unguarded. I must say it looks suspicious. But I cannot think who there is in this place where we are unknown who would want to harm us.”
The thought of Duval flashed across Harry’s mind. He and Frank had decided not to tell Dr. Perkins about their encounter lest it should worry him; but surely the time to tell about it had come now.
“We ought to have told you,” he said, rather falteringly, “but we did not want to cause you undue anxiety,—we saw Duval this afternoon.”
Dr. Perkins almost shouted the question, or rather exclamation, in a thunderstruck tone.
“Yes. We tried to catch him, but he escaped us. Frank can tell you all about it. By the way, where is Frank?”
“Isn’t he in your room?”
“No; when I was awakened by the noise in the passage I saw that his bed was empty. I supposed that he had got out of bed ahead of me and had come in here.”
“I haven’t seen him since we retired.”
“Then where can he be?”
The inventor and the boy aviator stared at each other for an instant.
“Good gracious, this looks serious, indeed,” exclaimed Dr. Perkins; “not in his room, and not in the hotel, apparently. Where can he have gone to?”
“That’s what’s worrying me,” cried Harry, in a rather quavering tone; “I’m sure, perfectly sure, that that rascal Duval knows something about him wherever he is. Maybe he heard some word of a plot to injure the Sea Eagle and has gone down to see if he can frustrate it. Duval——”
“Yes; but Duval, if it is he, is not alone in this thing. Plumbo says there were two men and a lad.”
“Two men and a lad,” cried Harry joyously, “then the lad must have been Frank.”
“But who could the others have been? They all came together and sent our watchman away.”
“It’s all a deep mystery, doctor. I think our best plan is to make all the speed we can to the wharf. Perhaps we can find some solution there.”
“Yes; let us do so at once. I am all ready, are you?”
“Yes; I hurried to get dressed as soon as I heard the noise in the corridor.”
Plumbo was waiting, and as they hastened down the street he explained in his odd rhyming speech just what had happened. He could not describe the men except to say that one had whiskers on his chin. In a part of the country where this is a favorite facial adornment this information was not much of a clew.
It took the alarmed party much less time to reach the wharf than they would have thought was possible. In fact, almost the whole distance was traversed at a run. But when they arrived at the wharf and a lantern, which Dr. Perkins had had the foresight to bring along, had been kindled, they found nothing to inform them as to what had taken place. The doctor had not expected to find Plumbo’s three men there, but he had had an idea that he would find something damaged about the Sea Eagle. But as careful an examination as it was possible to make by lamplight failed to reveal any trace of damage.
Naturally this, instead of helping to clear the mystery, only deepened it. What object could the men have had who had sent Plumbo off on his wild goose chase if it had not been to wreak injury to the Sea Eagle?
“Maybe they were some inventors who wanted to steal your ideas,” suggested Harry, recalling some experiences of their own with unscrupulous aviators.
But Dr. Perkins shook his head.
“Every important feature of the Sea Eagle is fully covered by patents,” he said; “there isn’t a single idea they could appropriate in the short time they could have spent here anyhow.”
Harry had to admit that this was so, but to tell the truth his thoughts were centered more on Frank and on the strange circumstances surrounding his disappearance than they were on the Sea Eagle.
“I’m as certain as that daylight will come again that Frank fits into this mix-up somewhere,” he said, voicing his thoughts, “but the question is where?”
“Well, he’s not here now, that’s certain,” declared Dr. Perkins. “I propose that we should return to the hotel now that we have discovered that no damage has been done. He may meet us there.”
“Let’s search the wharf first,” said Harry, but, naturally, even their painstaking search failed to reveal any trace of Frank’s fate till, all at once, Harry, who was carrying the lantern, came upon his brother’s cap lying where it had fallen in the scuffle among the boxes.
The bit of headgear had been kicked close to the string-piece of the wharf, and a fearful fear that made Harry’s head swim shot into his mind. Could Frank have come down to the wharf, suspecting mischief was on foot, and have either fallen or been thrown into the water?
“Look—look here, sir,” he exclaimed in a shaking voice, as Dr. Perkins asked him what was the matter.
“What is it?” asked the doctor, coming forward. “A clew?”
“Yes; it’s—it’s Frank’s cap, doctor. Pray heaven no harm has befallen him.”
“If it has, swift vengeance is going to overtake somebody,” declared Dr. Perkins, clenching his hands; “where did you find the cap?”
“Close to the string-piece. You—you don’t think he could have fallen over?”
“Nonsense,” declared Dr. Perkins with a confidence he was far from feeling; “we’ll get him back again safe and sound, never fear.”
But Harry’s heart sank as he fingered his brother’s cap.
“I’m trying to think so, too, sir,” he said miserably; “but—but——”
He paused abruptly, for he could not have gone further without breaking down. Harry had gone through some anxious moments in his life, but never had his heart sunk so low as it did that night on the Bayhaven wharf.
In the meantime, let us see how it was faring with the boy whose disappearance had caused such cruel fears—fears which even the vengeful tempers of Daniels and his son would have been satisfied with. We left Frank gagged and bound on the bottom of the dory, while Zeb and his father were pulling with strong, swift strokes for the open water.
The dory shot swiftly and silently seaward, with Frank completely in the dark as to what was to be his fate. It occurred to him, though, that perhaps they meant to maroon him on some island. This thought did not give him so much anxiety as might have been expected, for he knew that the waters about Bayhaven were fairly populous with boats, and did not suppose that his captors meant to keep him a prisoner any longer time than would be necessary for them to take their departure from that part of the coast before the authorities could be notified.
Imagine, then, his thrill of surprise when the boat suddenly stopped and the barrel, into which some big stones had been thrown to keep it upright in the water, was lowered from the dory. This done, Frank was lifted by main force and placed in it.
A brutal laugh broke from Zeb and his father as they shoved the barrel containing its helpless captive away from the side of the dory. Duval said nothing, but his white teeth showed in a grin in the starlight. Frank, gagged as he was, could not utter a word or move a limb. He could only realize, with dumb agony, the terrible nature of his fate.
Still laughing, the brutal rascals who had conceived the idea of setting him adrift, rowed off at a quick rate, leaving the barrel and its helpless occupant bobbing up and down on the swells of the starlit sea.
CHAPTER XXII.—REUNITED!
Frank’s heart sank as he cast a look about him and perceived the helplessness of his position.
“If I could only get this gag off and shout for help,” he thought, “maybe somebody would hear me.”
But there seemed to be no means of compassing this end, try as he would to think of some way. All at once, as the stars were beginning to fade and a faint flush of gray appeared in the east, he perceived a nail sticking up on the rim of the barrel. This gave him an idea. By bending slightly he would be able to bring the edge of the gag against the sharp pointed bit of metal, and possibly tear it out. At any rate, it was worth trying, and Frank at once proceeded to put his plan into action.
It was a hard job to bend low enough to bring his mouth on a level with the nail, but fortunately the barrel was a large one, and consequently he had not so very far to stoop. By making a desperate effort he succeeded at last in dragging the gag across the nail. In doing this he scratched his chin, but he did not mind that, for the nail caught and held the rag, tearing it out of his mouth as he moved his head.
“Hurray!” breathed Frank, inhaling a great lungful of fresh air. “Now I can at least make a racket, and maybe that will bring some one.”
With all his might he began shouting for help. In the still morning air his voice carried clearly across the water, and to the lad’s huge delight it was not long before he perceived, coming toward him a small fishing boat, which, from the “chugging” sound it made, was evidently furnished with a gasolene engine.
But the question that now agitated the boy was, “Would they see him or hear his voice above the loud noise of the motor?” If they did not, Frank realized that his plight would pass from a serious to a desperate state, for the barrel was, by this time, caught in a current which was rapidly increasing the distance between himself and the shore.
To his intense relief, however, he saw the fishing boat suddenly change her course, and before long she was close enough for him to read the name “Two Sisters” on her broad, bluff bow.
“Waal, by the tarnal!” came a gruff voice, “who and what are yer out here in a ba’rl?”
The speaker, a burly-looking fellow, with a rough but kindly countenance, regarded Frank’s face, which was all that was visible of him, with the most intense astonishment, as well he might. In a long experience off shore, covering all sorts of adventures, Captain Elihu Carney of the Two Sisters had never before beheld a floating barrel with a human head projecting from it.
“It’s a kid—a boy!” shouted one of his mates from the stern of the Two Sisters, where he held the tiller.
“Crack-e-e! so it air. Hey, kid, what yer doin’ out here? Takin’ a cruise, or is this one of them new-fangled health cures?”
“It’s neither, I assure you,” cried Frank; “get me out of this and I’ll tell you all about it.”
“I’ll run alongside and you can climb out.”
“No, I can’t,” returned Frank; “I’m bound hand and foot.”
“What! Say, you be’ant one of them movin’ picter fellers makin’ a fillum be yer?”
Captain Carney’s rugged face held a look full of suspicion. Once not long before his boat had been boarded by a beauteous maiden, apparently fleeing from a band of desperadoes. The gallant captain had fished her out of the dory in which she was rowing from her pursuers and had threatened the apparent rascals with all sorts of dire things. Then to his chagrin a voice had hailed him:
“Hey, you old mossback! You’ve spoiled a grind!”
A “grind” being moving picture language for a film.
“I certainly am not,” returned Frank indignantly; “no moving pictures about this, I can tell you. This is the real thing.”
“Waal, as I don’t see no camera about I reckon it’s all right. Put her head round, Eph, and we’ll pick him up, but ‘once bitten twice shy,’ you know.”
Eph, the helmsman, brought the bow of the Two Sisters round and slowed up the engine. A minute later the fishing boat’s side was scraping the barrel, and Captain Carney’s muscular arms lifted Frank out of his floating prison as if he had been an infant.
“Waal, I’ll be double decked consarned!” he roared, as he saw the ropes that confined the boy’s limbs. “Who done this?”
“Some rascals who had good cause to wish me harm,” said Frank. “I suppose they thought they could get rid of me while they made their escape.”
“What’s the world comin’ to?” cried the rugged skipper, throwing up his hands.
He reached into his belt for a tarry sailor’s knife and cut Frank loose in a few strokes of the keen blade. But the boy was so stiff from loss of circulation that it was some time before he recovered the use of his limbs. The Two Sisters, it turned out, was headed for Bayhaven, to which port she belonged, but so far had Frank drifted in his—or rather somebody else’s barrel—that he was able to tell his whole story before the wharf was reached.
As they neared it the skipper ordered Eph to blow the compressed air whistle so as to apprise every one ashore that something unusual was happening. Among the crowd that hastened to the wharf in response to the frenzied tooting Frank recognized Dr. Perkins and Harry. As they drew close he saw how white and strained their faces were, and realized what anxiety they must have been through on his account. He shouted loudly, and at the sound of his voice both Harry and the staid inventor set up a series of cheers that drowned the tooting of the whistle. As for Plumbo Boggs, who was also on the wharf, he burst into rhyme at once.
“Home again! home again from the stormy sea; now that your chum is found all right, don’t blame me!”
So saying he capered about, snapping his fingers and performing a dozen odd antics while the Two Sisters was making fast. Without waiting for Frank, who was still stiff and sore, to come up on the wharf, Harry and Dr. Perkins jumped to the deck of the Two Sisters, and the former fairly threw his arms about his brother’s neck.
“If you only knew how glad I am you have come back,” he exclaimed.
“What ever happened to you?” demanded Dr. Perkins.
“It’s a long story,” said Frank, “and I’m famished. Suppose we ask Captain Carney and Eph to breakfast with us and while we are eating I’ll tell you all about it.”
CHAPTER XXIII.—OFF ONCE MORE.
AS our readers are fully acquainted with Frank’s adventure it would only tedious to relate all that took place at the breakfast. It may be said, however, that both Captain Carney and his mate received a substantial recognition of their services, from Dr. Perkins, in the form of a check. At first the bluff fishermen were by no means willing to take pay for what they had done, but were finally prevailed upon to accept the present, which, as Captain Carney owned, “would come in mighty handy.”
After the conclusion of the meal all hands adjourned to the wharf, and a thorough examination was made once more of the Sea Eagle, with the object of detecting any damage which the Daniels and Duval might have done her, and which might have been overlooked in the lamplight investigation made by Dr. Perkins and Harry. A bright spot was found on one of the metal braces. Undeniably it had been done by the teeth of a file, but it was only a superficial damage, which did not affect the strength of the Sea Eagle in any way.
“I guess Frank scared them away before they had time to do any more harm,” was Dr. Perkins’ conclusion; but later on he was to have a different opinion.
As things were at present, however, Dr. Perkins felt no hesitation in declaring the Sea Eagle fit to resume her voyage without further delay. The fresh provisions being on board, and there being nothing to prevent an immediate start, the voyagers at once made ready for a continuance of the trip which, so far, had proved so packed with adventure.
The gasolene tank was refilled, and the emergency receptacles for the liquid fuel seen to. Plumbo Boggs was paid and instructions left to telegraph Dr. Perkins in New Orleans in case any trace was found of the miscreants, who undoubtedly had intended to injure the Sea Eagle, and who had played such a dastardly trick on Frank.
“You’ll fly from the sea far up to the sky; good-by! good-by! good-by! good-by!” cried Plumbo Boggs as the ropes that held the Sea Eagle to the wharf were cast off and, amidst a loud cheer from the crowd, the engine was started.
It was a fine summer morning with a glassy sea and a sky that was cloudless, except in the east, where a great mass of castellated white clouds were piled up.
“You’d best hug the shore,” were Captain Carney’s parting words of advice. “To my mind we’ll have a storm of some sort before the day’s out.”
But in the noise and excitement of the departure his words were unheard and the Sea Eagle started off down the coast with the warning unheeded. Dr. Perkins ran the craft over the water till the mouth of the harbor was reached, easily outdistancing some fast launches that tried to keep up with them. When they got “outside,” the Sea Eagle was driven ahead at top speed, and with her rising planes set at a sharp angle she was driven upward till a height of some five hundred and fifty feet had been obtained. Her course was due south.
They were flying over a small island not far from the shore when Frank, who was looking over the side, noticed a dory ashore on the beach. He had hardly noticed this before three figures came running down to the beach and pointed upward. One of them jerked a rifle up to his shoulder, and a minute later a puff of smoke came from the barrel. Simultaneously a bullet sang through the rigging of the Sea Eagle, boring a small hole in one of the upper planes, but, fortunately, not striking any vital part of the craft or doing injury to her passengers.
“That’s those rascals now!” exclaimed Frank indignantly. “They must have rowed down to that island and are waiting there for a chance to get ashore quietly. Shall we go down and attack them?”
Dr. Perkins shook his head.
“Nothing much would be gained by it,” he said, “and it would only delay our trip.”
The Sea Eagle was flying fast, and the rascals on the island, who, as Frank had rightly guessed, were the two Daniels and Duval, had no chance to try a second shot. At noon, after a steady flight all the morning, the voyagers found themselves off Martha’s Vineyard. A hasty lunch was eaten in midair, with the Sea Eagle still winging her way like a grayhound of the sky.
The shore swam by below them like a panorama, but they only viewed it indistinctly, as the course was kept about five miles off shore. In the afternoon they saw, off to the right, a stretch of mammoth hotels and amusement resorts.
“Atlantic City!” cried Frank. “I’ll bet there are hundreds of glasses leveled at us from the boardwalk right now.”
“I guess so,” rejoined Harry. “We must look funny way out here at sea.”
It was half an hour later that Frank’s attention was attracted to the sky by the sudden blotting out of the sun, which had been shining brightly. He gave a cry of alarm as he looked upward. A vast bank of black clouds had come rolling up, like a sable curtain, blotting out the blue sky. The sea below was leaden and angry in hue, and its surface was flecked with white caps.
“We’re in for some bad weather, I’m afraid,” declared Dr. Perkins, when Frank called his attention to it.
Hardly had he spoken before, from the cloud bank, a red, jagged flash of lightning blazed. It was followed almost instantly by a sharp clap of thunder, and some heavy rain drops began to patter on the broad upper planes of the Sea Eagle.
“I’ll make for shore,” declared Dr. Perkins; “we must be about off Cape May now. We can lie there in shelter till this blows itself out.”
“That will be the best idea,” said Frank. “This is going to be a hummer. Wow! Look at that!”
A flash of lightning, that seemed as if the whole curtain of clouds had been split from top to bottom, had caused his exclamation. So brilliant was the glare that it caused them all to blink involuntarily.
“Put on full speed, Frank!” shouted Dr. Perkins above the deafening peal of thunder that followed.
Frank needed no second bidding. He opened both gasolene and spark levers to their full capacity. Dr. Perkins had already headed the Sea Eagle for the distant low-lying shore. This caused the craft to plunge almost as much as if she were “bucking” into a heavy sea. For the wind was off shore, and the thunder storm, as such storms frequently do, was coming up against it.
Suddenly, in the midst of the fight with the wind, Frank noticed an ominous sound from the motor. It gave a sort of spluttering, coughing exhaust and slowed down perceptibly.
“What’s wrong now?” he exclaimed anxiously. “Gracious, if the motor should go out of business now!”
He did not say this aloud, but bent over the laboring machine to try and ascertain what was the matter with it.
“More speed!” cried Dr. Perkins from the forward part of the air ship; “we can’t fight this wind at this pace.”
“There’s something the matter with the motor,” shouted Frank above the now almost continuous rolling of the thunder. “I can’t make out what——”
A sudden loud report, like a pistol shot, came from the engine—a back-fire, as it is called—and the next instant the motor stopped dead.
The Sea Eagle was at that moment some 750 feet above the angry sea, with the storm raging about her furiously. Before Dr. Perkins could realize what had happened, the big craft began to drop downward with sickening velocity, while her occupants clung on to whatever was handy, with the desperate clutch of drowning men.
Frank had just time to shout:
“The life preservers! Quick, quick! for heaven’s sake!”
But there was no time to obey the order before the Sea Eagle struck the waves, hurling spray and wind-driven foam in a great cloud all about her wings and substructure.