Finally and with great difficulty Rogers made it clear that they were going to remain on the island only long enough to lay in some supplies and that they would positively submit to no receptions or other demonstrations much as they appreciated their very cordial welcome.
Immediately a man, evidently an American, stepped forward and informed them that his car was at their disposal for as long a time as they wished to make use of it.
“You go with him and get what we need and Gordon and I will stay here with the plane,” Bill whispered to Rogers and he nodded assent. “I’ll get back as soon as I can,” he promised.
After he had driven away with the man the crowd continued to besiege the boys with questions as to where they were going and what they were going to do and why they couldn’t stay. To all of which they gave more or less evasive answers.
“What island is this,” Gordon asked one of them.
“Ohau.”
“Oh, I’m all right, but what’s the name of this island?”
“Ohau,” the man again replied.
“Is he trying to get funny with me?” Gordon whispered to Bill.
“He only told you what you asked him,” Bill whispered back trying to keep from laughing.
“You mean——”
“Sure, that’s the name of the island, O-H-A-U.”
“Oh,” Gordon grinned. “I thought he was asking after my health.”
It was just noon when Rogers returned with the back of the car nearly filled with packages of all shapes and sizes.
“I’ve got our dinner here,” he told them indicating a package which he had been carrying in his lap. “Thought we’d eat on the way back instead of going to a hotel.”
“Good idea,” Bill told him.
They hurried as rapidly as possible in transferring the parcels to the compartment back of the seats in the plane and by half past twelve were ready to start back. The man who had loaned his car begged them to remain on the island as his guests for as long a time as they might wish, but they soon convinced him of the impossibility of such a visit and thanked him most cordially for his kindness in helping them. He told them his name was James Borden and that he lived in the city and begged them to come and see him whenever they could.
“Now how about that box with our dinner in it?” Gordon asked as soon as the plane was headed south.
“Here it is,” Rogers laughed as he reached back behind his seat. “Go to it.”
They flew along slowly while eating and it was nearly two o’clock when they arrived over Laau Point and prepared to land.
“Doesn’t look exactly like a paradise,” Gordon declared as the plane settled down about a hundred yards from the rocky coast.
“Well, we didn’t come here for a picnic,” Bill reminded him.
“Maybe we’ll have one just the same,” Rogers added.
It was not a pleasant looking prospect so far as the country itself appeared. It was very rocky for as far as they could see and there were but few trees in sight.
“I thought these tropical islands were covered with palms and beautiful flowers and all that sort of thing,” Gordon said as he hopped from the cockpit.
“Then this must be the exception that proves the rule,” Bill told him.
“Well we’re here anyhow and that’s the main thing. Where are we going to live?”
“One place looks about as good as another,” Bill told him as he glanced about. “We’ve got the pup tents and about all we need is to find a soft place to pitch them.”
“Most of these rocks look kind of hard to me,” Gordon grinned.
“Looks rather inviting over there,” Rogers said pointing to a place about a hundred feet from where they were standing.
They hurried over and found a nearly circular spot of sand hemmed in by rocks on all sides. It was about twelve feet in diameter and, as Gordon said, the sand looked reasonably soft.
“Probably it’s as good as we’ll find and at any rate we’ll be rather inconspicuous here,” Bill declared.
“But we ought to get the plane nearer,” Gordon told them.
“Nothing difficult about that,” Bill assured him. “You tell me where you want it and I’ll have it there in nothing flat.”
By skillful manipulation of the two propellers he kept his promise and by three o’clock they had the little tents up and, as Gordon said, “were all fixed for light housekeeping.”
CHAPTER V
SEARCHING
“Now I think we’d better go into a committee of the whole and take a look at that map again,” Rogers told them when they were finished.
“We’re a committee in a hole all right,” Gordon laughed.
“But it isn’t a very deep one just at present,” Bill added.
By this time Rogers had the old map spread out on a flat rock and the two boys looked over his shoulders as he proceeded to explain it more thoroughly to them.
“Now, as near as I can estimate it, we’re right here,” he began placing the point of his pencil on the map. “And right off here it looks to me as though he had tried to represent a cliff or a hill only a short distance from the shore. Unfortunately there’s no scale to the map so we can’t tell how far from here it is, but right here’s where he hid the stuff and it’s evidently in a cave in the side of the cliff.”
“And it’s up to us to find the cliff,” Gordon suggested.
“Exactly, and it ought not to be a very difficult task,” Rogers told them. “The island isn’t large and it’s somewhere on this end of it, that’s certain.”
“Was, you mean, don’t you?” Bill asked.
“What do you mean, was? Caves don’t run around you know.”
“No, but you want to remember that they have earthquakes out here and that cave may have vanished a long time ago. That’s what I’m most afraid of,” Bill explained.
“Of course that’s a chance we’ve got to take. If it’s gone we’re out of luck, that’s all.”
“So far as finding the platinum is concerned you mean?” Gordon asked.
“Certainly that’s what I mean. We’re having the trip in any case.”
“Well, are we going to start to-day or wait till to-morrow?” Bill asked.
“I guess it’s too late to do much to-day,” Rogers said, “but we might take a walk down to the shore and see what it looks like.”
“Wait a minute till we hide those cells,” Bill suggested. “We’ve got to put them where no one will find them and I don’t mean maybe.”
A good hiding place was soon located behind one of the rocks which formed the rim of their bowl, as Gordon called it, and they were soon on their way to the shore only a short distance away.
“There are your cliffs all right,” Gordon said as they stood on the sand close to the water’s edge and looked at the rocky formation.
They had reached the shore by means of a defile which led between two jutting masses of rock and was hardly wide enough to allow them to pass in single file.
“It’s low tide now,” Rogers declared.
“And at high tide the water must reach to the foot of the cliff,” Bill added. “We’ll have to watch our step and not get caught by the tide.”
“Yep, that wouldn’t be so good,” Gordon agreed.
“Well, it shouldn’t take us very long to go over the ground,” Bill mused as he glanced both ways. “There can’t be more than a mile either side of where we are to this end of the island and if we don’t find it at this end we’re——”
“Out of the game,” Gordon finished for him.
They walked slowly back and, as it was nearly five o’clock when they reached the bowl, they at once set about preparing supper.
“You must have thought we were going to stay here a long time,” Bill said as he began taking their cooking utensils from the plane.
“Well, I thought I might as well get plenty while I was at it,” Rogers told him.
“A man after my own heart,” Gordon declared slapping him on the back.
“Feed him and you’ve a friend for life,” Bill laughed.
There was plenty of dry bits of wood lying about and in a very few minutes Gordon had a fire going between two rocks just over the edge of the bowl.
“What’s the bill of fare?” he asked.
“Sirloin steak two inches thick,” Rogers told him.
“My, but I think you’re a very nice man,” Gordon chuckled.
“I told you,” Bill chimed in.
“Say, fellows, I’ve been thinking,” Gordon suddenly said as they were sitting around the fire a couple of hours later.
“Impossible,” Bill declared.
“Why is it impossible?” Gordon demanded.
“Well, the act of thinking implies the possession of something with which to do the thinking and——”
“Oh, you mean brains,” Gordon interrupted.
“I believe that’s what one thinks with,” Bill told him.
“Well, I’ve got ’em and as I was about to say, when I was so rudely interrupted, I’ve been thinking——”
“You said that before,” Bill again broke in.
“I’ve been thinking about that noise we heard last night.”
“Well, what about it?” Bill demanded as he paused.
“I’ve got to know what it was.”
“Well, I sure hope you find out.”
“I’m not going back home till I do,” Gordon assured him.
“I’m with you there,” Rogers told him. “As soon as we find the platinum we’ll go back and investigate.”
“I don’t believe in spooks but if there are any such animals, believe me, they live on that island,” Bill declared.
“I wonder how far away we are from anyone here,” Gordon said a few minutes later.
“I don’t suppose there’s a soul within twenty miles of us,” Rogers told him.
“You getting scared?” Bill laughed.
“Scared nothing,” Gordon snapped. “I was just curious, that’s all.”
“That’s what killed a cat,” Bill told him.
It was getting dark by this time and Rogers suggested that they turn in and get up early, reminding them that it would be high tide about nine o’clock and that if they were to do any searching in the forenoon they would have to get an early start. So half an hour later they were all asleep in the pup tents. Gordon had fallen asleep more than half expecting to be awakened by that same weird cry that had disturbed him the night before. But there was no disturbance and it was light when Bill called him.
“Going to sleep all day?” he asked him as he grabbed hold of his feet and pulled him from the tent.
“What time is it?”
“Almost four o’clock.”
“Gee, I must have overslept,” Gordon groaned sitting up and rubbing his eyes. “Is Steve up yet?”
“Sure he is.”
“But I don’t see him.”
“He’s gone for some water. There’s a little brook about fifty rods back that he discovered yesterday while we were getting supper. I’ve got the fire going.”
“Here he comes now.”
“Breakfast will be ready in two shakes of a lamb’s tail,” Bill told him.
Bill was almost as good as his word and by five o’clock they were ready to start exploring. The tide was coming in but there was a strip of sand some forty feet wide between the sea and the cliffs.
“I reckon it’ll be a couple of hours before the water gets up to the rocks,” Rogers told them as they started along toward the north. “Now we want to keep our eyes peeled and not miss a single bet,” he cautioned them.
“I guess there’s only one to miss and that’s the cave,” Gordon chuckled.
For the greater part of the way so far as they could see the wall of rocks was about twelve feet high and very rugged. As they walked slowly along they scanned every inch closely.
“Looks like a hole up there,” Gordon suddenly cried after they had gone about a hundred feet.
“Where do you mean?” Bill asked eagerly.
“Right up there above that bit of rock that’s sticking out. Can’t you see it?”
“I can see the rock sticking out but I can’t see any hole,” Bill declared.
“Neither can I,” Rogers backed him up.
“You must both be blind,” Gordon asserted. “I believe I can climb up there.”
“But I tell you there’s nothing there,” Bill insisted.
“I’m going to take a look anyhow,” Gordon insisted as he started for the foot of the cliff.
But when he got close up to it it did not look so easy. The wall at that point was almost perpendicular and there seemed to be but few toeholds.
“Give me a boost up so I can reach that crack and I believe I can make it,” he said.
“Look out you don’t slip now,” Bill cautioned as he bent his knee.
Standing on Bill’s shoulders Gordon found that he could reach the crack and by drawing himself up he was able to get his feet on an out jutting rock, but it was a very precarious hold.
“Better spit on your hands,” Bill called up to him.
“My hands are all right but I don’t know what to do with my feet,” he called back.
But he managed a moment later to get his fingers in another crack a little higher up and to bring his feet up to a more secure footing on a bit of ledge. From this position he was able to peep over the rock behind which he was convinced was a hole into the cliff. But the brief glance he caught, while almost hanging by his finger tips, showed him that he had been mistaken. There was no opening there and a second later he dropped to the sand with a sheepish look on his face.
“Satisfied?” Bill demanded.
“Sure, but I wouldn’t have been if I hadn’t looked,” he replied.
“Then I guess it’s a good thing you looked,” Bill told him.
“Well, there might have been a hole there,” Gordon insisted.
“Sure, but I told you there wasn’t, didn’t I?”
“Believe you did say something to that effect.”
“Well, now that it’s settled, suppose we continue,” Rogers suggested.
They went on for perhaps a quarter of a mile without seeing anything which even suggested a cave in the rocks and finally Rogers gave it as his opinion that they’d better turn back. “We’ve got to hurry now if we don’t want to get our feet wet,” he declared.
But they got back without having to run and Gordon grumbled over the fact that they would have to wait six hours before they could do any more exploring.
“That’s the worst of a tide,” he told them. “Up in God’s country you don’t have to wait for them. The water always stays put and you know where it is any time of the day or night.”
“Some people would grumble if they were going to be hanged,” Bill remarked.
“Who wouldn’t,” Gordon retorted.
“I suppose we could take the plane and fly along by the cliff and see what we could find,” Bill suggested as they reached camp.
“Say, that wouldn’t be a bad idea,” Gordon declared. “It’ll kill time anyhow.”
“I’m voting for it,” Rogers added.
“All right, then. Wait a minute till I get a couple of cells,” Bill said as he pulled out the stone which hid the hiding place.
He reached his hand in and a look first of amazement and then of incredulity spread over his face. “Say,” he called, “Isn’t this the place where we hid them?”
“Of course it is,” Gordon told him. “Don’t tell me they aren’t there.”
“I’ve got to,” Bill gasped turning about and facing them.
“Nonsense. Of course they’re there,” Gordon cried.
“Feel for yourself.”
Gordon felt and was obliged to acknowledge that the cells were gone.
“What do you know about that?” he cried as he straightened up.
“Someone must have been watching us when we hid them,” Rogers told them.
“See if there are any foot prints,” Bill ordered.
But the sand of the bowl was too thoroughly covered with their own marks to yield anything and outside there were too many rocks.
“See if any of the other stuff is gone,” Gordon suggested, and they all rushed to the place where they had cached their provisions. But nothing, so far as they could tell, had been disturbed and for a moment they stood and looked at each other speechless. “Can you beat it?” Gordon finally gasped.
“Looks as though——” Bill began and then broke off sharp. “Wait a minute,” he cried as he started for the plane.
They saw him jump into the cockpit and bend over the driver’s seat. For a moment he rummaged in the small compartment and then straightened up with a cry of triumph.
“Oh, baby,” Gordon shouted as he saw that Bill was holding up two of the precious cells. “How’d they happen to be in there?”
“They’re old ones,” Bill explained. “And I’d forgotten all about them till just that minute and even then I wasn’t sure they were there. I don’t know how much juice there is in them but I reckon there’s enough to last an hour or more. You know we’ve never used them till they’re dry.”
“But what are we going to do?” Gordon demanded.
“Why, go after that fellow of course. What did you think we were going to do, sit down and cry about it?”
“But——”
“He can’t be very far off unless he had a car and he didn’t have one, that’s sure.”
“I guess you’re right about that,” Rogers agreed. “He couldn’t get very near here in a car unless it had a caterpillar tread.”
“And if he had that he’d not be very far off yet,” Bill declared. “He can’t have more than a couple of hours start. But come on, we don’t want to give him any more.”
“Maybe there’s more than one of them,” Rogers suggested as they took their seats.
“Doesn’t make any difference if there’s an army,” Gordon told him. “We’ve got to get ’em back just the same. In the first place they don’t belong to us and in the second we need ’em.”
“I’ll tell the world we do,” Bill added, as he started the elevator. “Now use your eyes as you never used them before.”
“Or ever expect to again,” Gordon added.
They had two field glasses and he handed one pair to Rogers as the plane left the ground. Almost as soon as they were in the air Bill started the forward propeller and the plane headed inland. They had decided to fly at an altitude of about 100 feet which would give them a fairly wide vision and at the same time permit them to make a thorough search. The one thing to be feared more than any other, Bill had explained, was that the fugitive would see them before they saw him and find a hiding place. “And, believe me, that wouldn’t be a hard thing to do most anywhere around here,” he declared.
“Good thing the plane doesn’t make a noise,” Gordon said.
“We’d be helpless if it did,” Rogers told him.
Bill had headed the plane toward the north deeming it best to zig-zag across the island so as to cover the entire area. The character of the ground beneath them changed but little as they flew along. Very rocky and rough there was but little vegetation and but few trees except the fringe just back of the cliffs.
“No wonder they picked this island for a leper’s colony,” Gordon said a few minutes after they started. “No man would live here if he could help it, that is if he had any sense.”
They had flown across the island three times and were about half way across again before they sighted their quarry.
“There he goes,” Gordon suddenly cried pointing off to the right of the direction they were going. “See him Steve?”
“Not yet,” Rogers replied. “Where do you mean?”
“Right over there by that big tree there. Don’t you see that fellow running as though the old boy himself was after him?”
“Now I do.”
Bill had stopped the forward propeller and started the elevator at Gordon’s cry and now the plane had nearly lost its momentum.
“Think he’s seen us?” he asked.
“Don’t believe so,” Gordon told him. “He hasn’t looked this way.”
“Well, keep your eyes on him and don’t lose him,” Bill ordered as he again started the forward propeller.
Slowly the plane started forward and in a very few minutes was only a few yards behind the man who was running with the easy swing of the trained athlete. They could see now that he was either Chinese or Japanese and the loose blouse which he wore sagged heavily as if weighted at the bottom.
“He’s got the cells all right,” Gordon declared. “See how that blouse hangs.”
“No doubt of it,” Rogers agreed.
“And we’ve just the same as got him,” Gordon chuckled.
“But we want to be careful,” Rogers whispered, for they were now very close. “Some of those fellows are pretty slippery customers.”
Just then the man looked up and saw them.
CHAPTER VI
THE CELLS RECOVERED
When the Japanese, for that was the nationality of the man, caught sight of the plane, only a few feet over his head, he gave vent to a startled grunt of mingled surprise and fear and stopped in his tracks. The ground, where he was standing, was not so rough as they had so far encountered and Bill had no trouble in selecting a good landing place only a few feet away. Hardly had the plane struck the earth when Gordon was over the side of the cockpit and after the Jap.
“Easy, Gordon,” Rogers called.
But Gordon was mad and paid no attention to the warning as he came in front of the man who was standing with a look of incredulity on his face.
“Hand ’em over,” Gordon demanded.
The Jap held out his hands. “Me no unstand,” he said.
“Well, I reckon you’ll understand this,” Gordon snapped as he leaped for the man.
But in that he showed poor judgment as he afterward acknowledged. He never did understand just what happened but he did know that hardly had he touched the Jap when he was flying through the air to land on his head and shoulders fully six feet away. Fortunately he struck in a soft spot or he would undoubtedly have been severely injured if not killed outright. As it was he was severely shaken up and for a moment was too dazed to move.
“Are you killed, Gordon?” Bill demanded, as he rushed to him.
“I——I don’t know,” he stammered. “What was it?”
Bill pulled him to his feet and a sigh of relief escaped him as he saw that he could stand. “All right?” he asked.
“I——I guess so, but what was it?” Gordon again asked. “Something hit me.”
“I’ll say it did,” Bill chuckled as he pointed to the Jap who was now standing with both hands held high above his head, his eyes fixed on an automatic in the hands of Rogers.
“I told you to go easy,” the latter grinned as the boys stepped to his side.
“I——I didn’t think he——”
“Well, you know now,” Rogers interrupted. “One of you see if he’s got them while I keep him covered. No monkey business, now,” he ordered as Bill stepped forward.
He had no trouble in finding the six cells in the voluminous pocket of the Jap’s blouse, and as he drew them out one by one he chuckled with satisfaction.
“W-what we going to——to do with him?” Gordon asked. His head was still a bit dizzy and his shoulders ached.
“Me no——” the Jap began, but Rogers interrupted:
“Shut up.”
“But——”
“I told you to shut up,” Rogers again snapped. “We’re running the show just now.”
“Guess we’ll have to let him go,” Bill suggested.
“How about shooting him?” Rogers asked and the Jap’s face took on an ashen hue.
“Well, I don’t know but it would be a good plan,” Bill said, catching on to Rogers’ plan.
“Me no want to be shooted,” the Jap pleaded.
“What do you mean by stealing those things?” Rogers demanded.
“Me no steal ’em.”
“Cut out the lying. I suppose you just borrowed them, eh?”
“Yes——yes, me borrow ’em.”
“What were you going to do with them,” Bill asked him.
“Me goin’ bring ’em right back.”
“I suppose so,” Bill laughed. “Now see here if we let you go you going to keep away from us?”
“Yes——yes, me no come again, never.”
“Well, you’d better not. You won’t get off so easily the next time. Now get,” Rogers ordered.
And he got, as Gordon laughingly declared a moment later.
“Say,” he grinned as the Jap, running for dear life, disappeared, “that fellow certainly knows how to defend himself. Did you see him toss me?”
“We saw him all right,” Bill laughed. “And let me tell you one thing, you’re mighty lucky you didn’t get hurt. If your head had struck a stone——but I don’t know though,” he hesitated. “I guess it would have taken a pretty hard stone to make a dent in that skull of yours. But seriously, Gordon, you should have used better judgment. Those fellows are past masters when it comes to rough and tumble stuff.”
“You don’t have to tell me anything about it,” Gordon grinned. “I know it. But I was a fool, there’s no doubt about that part of it, but you see, I was so anxious to get those cells back that I didn’t stop to think. Anyhow, I guess we’ve seen the last of that guy.”
“I’m not so sure of that,” Rogers mused. “Some of those Japs are the very dickens when it comes to pertinacity. But one thing I can’t understand and that is why he took the cells and passed up our grub and other things.”
“If he saw us hide them, and of course he must have, he probably got the idea that they were valuable,” Bill suggested.
“Funny what he was doing away out there anyhow,” Gordon said. “He must have been pretty near us when we landed as we hid them soon after.”
“That’s very true,” Rogers told him. “He was there all right, but it’s pretty hard to guess what for. Maybe we’ll find out later.”
“You really think we’ll see him again?” Bill asked.
“Oh, I don’t know. I guess we gave him a pretty good scare,” Rogers replied. “But a bad Jap is a mighty bad hombre. I know because I’ve had dealings with them before. Once one of them sets his mind on a thing it’s mighty hard to persuade him that he’d better give it up.”
“Anyhow it means that we’ll have to be on our guard from now on,” Gordon suggested.
“Every minute,” Rogers told him.
“Well, if he gets us again it’ll be our own fault,” Bill added.
“Forewarned is forearmed,” Rogers told them.
“Sure is, but I guess we might as well get back. I’m getting——”
“Hungry,” Bill finished the statement.
“And I don’t mean maybe,” Gordon laughed.
“Now,” Rogers began as soon as they were back in camp, “the first thing to do is to find a new hiding place for those cells.”
“How about hiding them in different places?” Gordon suggested.
“That’s an excellent idea,” Rogers agreed.
It took the better part of an hour to find three satisfactory hiding places but it was finally accomplished to their satisfaction and then Gordon suggested that it was time to get dinner.
“You know that blow on the head has made me hungry,” he told them.
“As if you were ever anything else but,” Bill laughed.
“But I mean more than usual,” Gordon grinned.
“Then you must be hungry,” Bill told him.
“Now you’re talking.”
“I don’t believe anyone will find those cells again,” Rogers declared an hour later as they started eating.
“Unless he was watching us hide them,” Bill said.
“Well, that Jap wasn’t, that’s certain,” Gordon told them. “He never could have got back in time.”
“No, I don’t think he could have,” Rogers agreed. “But he isn’t the only Jap on the island, you know.”
“You mean you’ve got a hunch?”
“No, I don’t think so, only I wish that fellow hadn’t been here.”
“I’d feel a bit easier myself if he hadn’t,” Bill said soberly.
“I believe you two fellows are getting the heebie jeebies,” Gordon chuckled. “Just because that guy happened to be out here when we landed you conjure up a deep laid plot against us. I’m here to tell you that we scared the life out of him and he won’t bother us again.”
“Well, I sure hope you’re right,” Rogers told him.
“Of course I’m right,” Gordon declared. “But we’ll not be caught napping just the same.”
“Which means that one of us will have to stay right here all the time,” Rogers said.
“I suppose that’s the best thing to do,” Bill agreed.
“It’s the only thing,” Rogers told him.
After the meal they drew lots to see who would stay behind while the others continued the search along the cliffs. The lot fell to Bill and he told them that he would do the dishes and for them to start at once as the tide would be out far enough to allow them to go on. “And mind you keep an eye on the kid and don’t let him do anything foolish,” he added.
“I’ll look out for him,” Rogers promised.
“Guess I’m old enough to look out for myself,” Gordon grumbled.
“Didn’t look like it this forenoon,” Bill reminded him.
“You’d be surprised,” Gordon laughed.
“Keep your gun handy,” Rogers advised as they started off.
“You bet,” Bill called after them.
Rogers and Gordon found that the tide had receded enough so that they could walk along close to the bottom of the cliffs and hurried along at a smart pace until they had reached the place where they had turned back that morning.
“Now we’ll have to take it slowly,” Rogers said as he stopped and mopped his face as it was very hot.
The face of the cliff reflected the rays of the sun and, as Gordon declared, made the place feel like a furnace.
“The sun will be over it in a short time and then I guess it will be cooler,” Rogers told him.
“Well, it doesn’t seem as though it could get much hotter,” Gordon sighed.
Here the cliff was a little higher than it had been up to this point and they were determined not to miss anything. So they walked slowly along keeping their eyes fixed on the rocks. They had gone about an eighth of a mile from where they had stopped when they reached a rift in the cliff. The opening was not more than three feet wide but reached from the bottom to the top.
“This isn’t a cave,” Rogers said, “but it’s possible that it’s the place.”
“It doesn’t go back more than about fifty feet,” Gordon said as he stood in the entrance.
“Well, it won’t do any harm to take a look at it now that we’re here.”
“Of course we’ll look it over and thoroughly too.”
So they worked their way slowly along the narrow pass climbing over huge rocks and stopping every minute or two to examine the ground as well as the walls.
“Just as like as not this wasn’t here a hundred years ago,” Gordon grunted when they had covered about thirty feet.
“Perhaps not,” Rogers agreed.
“It’s cooler in here anyhow and that’s one thing to be thankful for.”
“Yes, the shade after that hot sun is very grateful.”
“I reckon the sun doesn’t get in here for a very long time each day,” Gordon said glancing up. “Great guns!”
“What is it?”
“Someone was watching us from up there,” Gordon whispered.
“Nonsense.”
“I tell you I saw him. He was right by that shrub there.”
“You’re sure?”
“Dead certain, although he dodged back mighty quick.”
“Jap?”
“I’m not so sure about that. I only had a glimpse of him, but I think it was.”
“Think it was the same one?”
“Don’t know.”
“Well, he’s had time to get back all right, but I didn’t expect him so soon.”
“Look out!”
Gordon jumped to one side and not an instant too soon for a rock about the size of a man’s head struck the ground where he had been standing. Roger’s face was as white as a sheet of paper when Gordon looked at him and he felt, as he afterward told him, rather weak in the knees.
“That was a bit too close for comfort,” he gasped.
“Follow me,” Rogers said as he turned and ran for the entrance of the rift, and Gordon needed no urging. “That rock came mighty near getting you,” he said as soon as they were safely out on the sand.
“But I don’t get his idea.”
“His idea was plain enough: he meant to kill us.”
“But why should he want to do a thing like that?”
“That’s not so plain. But we’d better get back and see if Bill is all right. There may be more than one of them after us.”
“There’s one anyhow all right,” Gordon said as he started after Rogers on the run.
Bill was cleaning the motor of the Albatross when they got back and looked up in surprise as he heard them.
“Found it all ready?” he asked.
“Seen anyone around here?” Rogers asked instead of replying to his question.
“Not a soul.”
“Well, we have,” Gordon told him.
“You have?”
“And he pretty near got one of us,” Gordon added.
“You mean——?”
“Yep, just that,” and Gordon told him what had happened.
“That’s serious,” Bill said when he had finished.
“I’ll say it is,” Rogers agreed.
“And it means that we’ve got to find out what’s up before we do any more searching after the lost treasure,” Bill told them.
“You hit the nail on the head that time,” Rogers declared.
“And the best way to do it is to take the plane and make a search all over this part of the island,” Bill advised.
Ten minutes later they were in the air and for two hours flew back and forth until they had covered the entire end of the island. But not a sign of human life did they see, and about six o’clock they returned to camp greatly disappointed.
“But there’s plenty of places where a fellow could hide so that we couldn’t see him from the plane,” Rogers told them as they climbed from the cockpit.
“And it doesn’t mean a thing that we didn’t see him,” Gordon added.
“Or them,” Bill amended.
“But we’ve got to find him or them,” Gordon insisted.
“Or else give up and beat it home,” Bill grinned.
“Not on your life,” Gordon snorted. “I’m not going to be run off by any little two by four like that fellow.”
“I thought not,” Rogers said. “But one thing’s certain. We must not go below those cliffs again till we know what’s up. We haven’t a chance against a fellow up on top with a good sized rock.”
“Not a chance in the world,” Gordon agreed. “How about some eats?”
Supper was rather a quiet meal. No one seemed to have much to say, each being busy with his own thoughts and, even when they were gathered around the fire after darkness had fallen conversation languished.
“I’ll take the first watch until one o’clock,” Bill finally said.
“Call me then,” Rogers told him.
“And when do I come in?” Gordon demanded.
“I’ll call you at four,” Rogers promised.
“After it gets light: nothing doing. It’s nine now and Bill will watch till twelve and you till three and then I’ll finish it out. Get me?”
“All right, have it your own way,” Rogers laughed.
“And you call us if you see or hear the least thing that seems suspicious,” Gordon added as he rolled himself in his blanket and crawled into his tent.
“I won’t take any chances,” Bill promised as he put some more wood on the fire.
CHAPTER VII
WHERE IS GORDON?
The night passed without incident except that Rogers did not call Gordon until nearly four o’clock and as a result received what he designated “a bawling out for fair.” Breakfast was an early meal as they were all on the anxious seat and were eager for action. So, as soon as the meal was over they held a council of war to decide what steps to take.
“There’s one thing about it,” Rogers opened the discussion, “and that is that we’ve got to do something.”
“Fact?” Gordon asked in a joking tone.
“What I mean is that we’ve got to take the offensive,” Rogers explained. “The fact that he or they made no attack on us last night seems to indicate that they’re going to play a waiting game.”
“And that doesn’t suit us at all,” Bill declared. “We want to get on with the work we came out here to do.”
“Spoken like a soldier,” Gordon told him.
“But we’ve got to keep away from the cliffs until we know it’s safe. As it is now they have all the advantage and we don’t want to stop any stones with our heads.”
“Or with any other part of our anatomy for that matter,” Bill added.
“How about taking a stroll along the top of them?” Gordon suggested. “We couldn’t find him or them with the help of the plane but maybe we can do it on foot.”
“That’s what I was going to suggest,” Rogers said. “But I’m not sure as it will be safe,” he added soberly.
“Well, I’d rather take a walk on the top of them than down below the way things stand now,” Gordon told him.
“So would I,” Rogers told him, “but that doesn’t make it safe, you know.”
“But I don’t believe the fellow, whoever it was, is armed,” Bill declared. “If he had been he’d have used his gun instead of a stone.”
“That sounds reasonable, but it isn’t certain,” Rogers told him.
“Well, there are only two certain things in this world, so I’ve heard, and they are death and taxes,” Gordon smiled.
“But I think it’s a safe bet that he hasn’t got a gun,” Bill insisted.
“All right, but we’ve got to be careful,” Rogers in turn insisted. “Now if you boys will stay here and guard the camp I’ll take a walk and see what I can find.”
“Did you hear what I heard, Bill?” Gordon asked.
“I heard something that doesn’t go,” Bill laughed.
“Not an inch, it doesn’t. Say, Steve, just what do you take us for?”
“Well, I only thought——”
“Just turn your thoughts in another direction,” Gordon interrupted. “You know it doesn’t need but one to guard the camp.”
“All right, all right. You two match to see who goes with me.”
“How about all three of us matching to see who stays?” Bill suggested.
But on that proposition Rogers put his foot down flat and nothing could change him. “No,” he declared, “I’ll take either one of you but I won’t stay here and let you both go and there’s no use in wasting time over it.”
It was finally decided that Gordon would stay, and after cautioning him to keep his eyes open, Rogers and Bill started off.
“You don’t suppose do you that that fellow, whoever he is, knows what we’re here for?” Bill asked after they had gone a short distance.
“I hardly see how he could,” Rogers told him. “Of course he probably suspects that we’re hunting for something.”
“But if he does I shouldn’t think he’d want to bump us off till we find it.”
“That’s so, too. I hadn’t thought of it in that way.”
“Seems to me more likely that in some way we’re treading on his toes if you know what I mean.”
“You mean that he’s hunting for something and that we’re in his way?”
“Something like that.”
“Well, that may be it.”
By this time they had reached the top of the cliffs a little to the right of the pathway along which they had reached the shore. The ground here was very uneven and covered with rocks of all sizes interspersed with clumps of low bushes with here and there a tuft of tall grass.
“Gee, but there are as many good hiding places along here as Carter has liver pills,” Bill declared. “A fellow could keep out of sight of an army easily enough.”
“That’s a lot,” Rogers laughed.
They walked or rather picked their way slowly along the edge keeping both eyes and ears alert for the sight or sound of the man or men they were hunting. But they finally reached the rift, where the rock had been thrown the day before, without seeing or hearing anything at all suspicious.
“Well, I reckon we’ve drawn a blank so far,” Bill whispered as they stood close together on the edge of the rift.
“Looks very much that way,” Rogers agreed. “But, to tell the truth, I didn’t really expect anything different.”
“And neither did I,” Bill agreed with a slight smile.
“Well, what’ll we do now? Go back keeping farther from the edge?”
“I suppose that’s the logical thing to do.”
“But you don’t think it’ll do any good, eh?”
“Frankly, I doubt it.”
“So do I, but we’ll try it. I don’t know of a better plan, so come on.”
Half an hour later they were back again at the point opposite the camp and, as Bill put it, knew just as much as when they started.
“And no more,” Rogers smiled.
“But the discouraging part of it is that we may have passed within a few feet of him and never knew it.”
“Like hunting for a needle in a hay stack,” Rogers declared.
“Well, we might’s well get back to camp and hold another council of war.”
“I reckon.”
But when they arrived a few minutes later a surprise awaited them. Gordon was nowhere in sight. Everything seemed in perfect order and there was no sign that anything out of the ordinary had taken place except that he had disappeared.
“Probably gone to the spring for water,” Rogers suggested.
“I’ll take a look,” Bill said and started on the run.
But he was back in a few minutes with word that the missing boy was not there. “I’ll give him a call,” he said as he put his fingers to his lips and sent forth a loud whistle. “That’ll get him if he’s within a half mile,” he declared.
But the whistle brought no response, and for a moment the two looked at each other without speaking. Then Bill broke the silence:
“Something’s happened and we’ve got to find out what. We must look for signs.”
But a thorough search all about the camp revealed nothing. There was not the slightest sign of a struggle and nothing was missing except Gordon.
“He must have gone somewhere of his own accord,” Rogers declared. “I can’t picture him being carried off without putting up a fight and you couldn’t put up much of a scrap without leaving some indication of it.”
“But why should he go away and leave things to guard themselves? That isn’t like Gordon.”
“That’s true too, but——”
“I used to think I was pretty good at reading signs in the woods and following trails and all that sort of thing,” Bill interrupted, “but I can’t make a thing out of this mess. There’s absolutely nothing to read so far as I can see.”
“Try that whistle once more.”
Bill obeyed but there was no response and for several minutes neither spoke. Never, perhaps, had Bill been so worried. The disappearance of his brother coming so soon after the attempt on his life seemed most ominous, and he felt so helpless not knowing which way to turn.
“Well, we’re not getting anywhere standing still and thinking about it,” he finally declared. “Gordon never went off and left his post without some good reason and, in spite of the fact that we can find nothing to indicate it, I believe he was carried off.”
“What will we do?”
“We’ll take the plane and see what we can find.”
Bill quickly took two of the cells from their hiding place and in another minute threw over the switch. But, greatly to his surprise, nothing happened.
“Maybe there is a sign after all,” he said as he started the search for the trouble. “Wires are all right,” he declared after a short inspection. “I can’t see——yes I can too, here’s the trouble. The brushes are gone from this commutator. Now what do you know about that? Must have been done by someone that knows something about a motor.”
“How about the brushes in the other motor?”
“They’re all right.”
“Then we can go straight up?”
“Tell you in a minute.”
Bill threw on the switch of the elevator and the propeller at once began to revolve. “Yep, it’s all right,” he announced. “But a lot of good it’ll do us.”
“How about changing those brushes? Won’t they fit the other motor?”
“They’ll fit all right but there’s no chance to get off the ground here without the elevator, it’s too rough.”
“That’s so too.”
“If we were only down on the beach we could do it.”
“Couldn’t we push it down?”
“In about a day’s time.”
“Sure you haven’t any spare brushes?”
“It’s just possible Gordon put some in the tool kit. I know I didn’t. I’ll take a look. We sure are in luck,” he announced a moment later. “Here’s a half dozen new ones. Now just a minute and I’ll have them in.”
Ten minutes later they were in the air and ready to start the search.
“I’m going to fly as slow as possible and keep as near the ground as I dare,” Bill told his companion. “He can’t be very far off and unless he’s hidden out of sight we ought to see him. I’ll go around in a circle making it a little larger each time.”
“Don’t build too many hopes on finding him this way,” Rogers advised. “If the parties who did it knew enough to take those brushes out they’ll probably be wise enough to keep out of sight.”
“But they’ll think we can’t use the plane.”
“Unless they see us.”
“Of course we’ve got to risk that.”
“It’s a strange thing to me that he didn’t smash the plane and make sure of it,” Rogers said a few minutes later.
“I’ve thought of that,” Bill told him. “But perhaps he has hopes of using it himself, and so didn’t want to hurt it. I suppose it didn’t occur to him that we’d have any extra brushes along.”
“I dare say you’re right.”
They were flying at about twenty-five miles an hour and not more than a hundred feet from the ground. Rogers was searching the territory with the powerful glass and Bill was keeping his eyes on the region directly beneath them. They had made half a dozen circles when Rogers suddenly cried:
“Come back over that big clump of bushes just to our right, Bill.”
“Did you see something?”
“I’m not sure but I’d like to take another look.”
“Sure thing,” Bill told him giving the wheel a sharp turn.
“Go as low as you can.”
“Touch the tops of them if you say so.”
“Well, come pretty near it,” Rogers ordered as the plane swung around in a broad circle.
“Right?”
“Just a bit more to the left.”
“Right.”
“I thought so,” Rogers said in a low tone as the plane passed over the clump so low that it barely missed the top of the thick growth of bushes.
“What is it?” Bill demanded.
“There’s a little hut in that clump.”
“You sure? I didn’t see it.”
“You wouldn’t from your side of the plane, but it’s there just the same.”
“Didn’t see anyone, did you?”
“No, but I’m betting there’s someone there just the same.”
“We’ll find out mighty soon,” Bill promised as he searched the ground for a good landing place.
He had already started the elevator and now the plane was almost stationary.
“Right there to your right is a good place,” Rogers directed and a moment later they leaped from their seats.
“Better take those cells out,” Rogers advised.
“I’ll do that,” Bill told him. “We don’t want the plane swiped.”
They had landed some hundred yards from the clump of bushes, and taking their automatics from their pockets, they lost no time in approaching it.
“Mum’s the word,” Rogers whispered as they drew near.
“They’ve probably seen the plane, that is, if there’s anyone there,” Bill whispered.
“Wouldn’t wonder, but we’ll be careful just the same. There’s a chance they haven’t.”
The clump of bushes was nearly circular and about eighty feet in diameter and they could see that it was very dense. The bushes, which to Bill, looked much like small fir trees, grew in a tangled mass and it looked as though one would have great difficulty in forcing one’s way through.
“There must be a path somewhere,” Rogers whispered when they were within a few feet of it.
“And it’ll be guarded more than likely if there’s anyone at home. I think we’d better try to get through some other place.”
“Looks pretty thick.”
“Sure does, but we can do it if we take time enough.”
CHAPTER VIII
GORDON KIDNAPPED
Gordon was a great reader and usually had two or three books stuck away somewhere in the plane whenever they went for a long trip. Up to this time he had had little time to read and had taken none of his books from the plane, but soon after Rogers and Bill had gone he bethought himself of a book that he had started before leaving home and which he thought he had put in the space under his seat. So they were hardly out of sight when he had found the book and selected a comfortable seat close by the plane.
The book was most entertaining and soon he was, as Bill often told him when he was reading, “lost to the world.” However, he was not so deeply engrossed that he did not look up from time to time to see that everything was all right. Half an hour passed and the book was getting more interesting every page when, without the slightest warning, a hand was pressed over his mouth and he was pulled over backward. So sudden was the attack that he was on his back before he realized what had happened.
Gordon was not one to submit to such treatment without strenuous protest and he grabbed for the arm which encircled his neck. But, even as he did so, a numbing pain gripped his neck which rung a low moan from his lips. At the same time a voice hissed close to his ear.
“Keep still and you’ll not get hurt.”
Realizing that he was in the hands of an expert when it came to inflicting pain he quickly decided that he had better obey for the time at least. So he ceased struggling and almost before he knew what was happening his hands were tied tightly together behind his back and his captor was ordering him to get up. As he expected his eyes, when he turned, fell on the smiling countenance of a Japanese, but whether or not he was the same one that had stolen the cells he was unable to say.
“What’s the big idea?” he demanded.
Instead of replying to the question the man searched him and took away his revolver which he carried in his coat pocket.
“What’s the idea?” Gordon again demanded.
“Maybe you will find out later, maybe not,” the man told him. He spoke in good English and with almost no accent, a fact which greatly surprised Gordon.
“But——” Gordon began, but the Jap interrupted.
“You stay right where you are a moment and don’t try to get away because I shall surely shoot you if you do and I’m a pretty good shot.”
Keeping his eye on the boy he stepped to the plane and Gordon could tell that he was doing something to it but could only guess what it might be. Then he stepped back and, pointing toward the northwest, ordered Gordon to walk in front of him.
“Suppose I refuse?” Gordon asked.
“Did you like that pain in the back of your neck?” the Jap demanded.
“Not particularly.”
“That was nothing to what I can do.”
“I believe you.”
“Then if you don’t wish for a demonstration you’ll do as I say.”
“You win,” Gordon told him as he turned and started off in the direction indicated.
“Step along lively now and don’t try any funny business,” the Jap ordered as he followed close behind.
“I’m not likely to as long’s you’ve got that gun trained on my back,” Gordon growled.
“You won’t get hurt if you do as I say.”
“Thanks.”
For twenty minutes they hurried along, the Jap directing Gordon as to the direction he was to take and telling him when to change it. Then they reached a thick clump of bushes, and when he had gone half way around it at the order of his captor, he perceived a narrow path leading directly into it.
“Here we are,” the Jap announced. “Go right in and I’ll follow.”
Knowing there was nothing else to do Gordon did not stop to argue the matter but led the way and a moment later found himself inside a small hut built of poles stuck in a circle and fastened together at the top much after the fashion of an Indian tepee. There were three boxes inside which served as chairs and a bed of grass covered with an old blanket.
“This where you live?” Gordon asked as he looked about him.
“Just at present,” the Jap told him.
“Well, now perhaps, you’ll tell me what it’s all about.”
“Not yet.”
“No?”
“You may sit down.”
“Thanks.”
Gordon sat down on one of the boxes and the Jap, still holding the gun in his hand, sat on another.
“What’s the name of the man with you?” he demanded.
“Rogers.”
“That’s a lie,” the Jap snarled.
“Well, if you know, why ask me?” Gordon demanded with no less heat.
“Maybe you think that’s his name.”
“You bet your life I do, and what’s more, I know it is.”
“Who’s the other boy?”
“My brother.”
“What’s his name?”
“Bill Hunniwell.”
“And yours?”
“Gordon.”
“Where do you live?”
“In Maine.”
“Rogers live there too?”
“No, he lives in New York.”
“How long have you known him?”
“Rogers?”
“Certainly.”
“About a year. But, say, what’s the idea of all the questions?”
“That’s my business. You answer them, that’s all you’ve got to do right now. What is this Rogers’ business?”
“You mean what does he do for a living?”
“That’s what I mean.”
The affair was getting more mysterious to Gordon every minute. That the Jap was an educated man was plainly evident and that he was a determined one was even more so. Gordon was, by this time, certain that there was much more involved in the game than appeared on the surface. But what the game was he had no idea. However, he had come to the conclusion that he had better be a bit guarded in his answers. So he hesitated a moment at this last question.
“Well?” the Jap snapped.
“I’m not so sure,” Gordon told him.
“You mean you don’t know what he does?”
“No, I didn’t mean that.”
“What did you mean, then?”
“Why, you said it was well and I said I wasn’t so sure. As a matter of fact it isn’t at all well from my point of view.”
“Don’t get funny,” the Jap snarled. “What does he do?”
“I don’t think I shall tell you that,” Gordon said slowly.
“You won’t? Why won’t you?”
“Well, for one thing I don’t like your attitude and for another I’m not sure that it’s any of your business.”
“Then I’ll make you.”
“How?”
“That pain in your neck, it wasn’t very pleasant, was it?”
“I’ll say it wasn’t.”
“Now you understand how I can make you?”
“I think I get your drift.”
“That pain was nothing.”
“Maybe not, but it felt something to me,” Gordon grinned.
In spite of the man’s actions and threats there was something about him that drew him and he did not believe he would torture him.
“Once more, are you going to answer my question?” the Jap asked getting up from his seat.
“Suppose you tell me why you are so anxious to know,” Gordon suggested.
“You are in no position to dictate.”
“I guess you’re right there. Still, I’d like to know.”
“But you aren’t going to, that is, not now.”
“I reckon that goes both ways then,” Gordon smiled.
“You’ll feel differently about it in a minute,” the Jap told him as he stepped forward still holding the gun pointed at him.
As the man advanced Gordon also got to his feet and for an instant the two looked in each other’s eyes as though it were to be a battle of wills. Then, taking another step, the Jap placed his left hand on the back of the boy’s neck at the same time pressing the gun against his breast.
“You’re a mighty brave man,” Gordon sneered.
Instead of replying to the taunt the Jap pressed with his fingers and again that fierce pain ran through his neck. But only for an instant. Angered now to the point of not caring what happened, Gordon suddenly ducked and threw himself against the other’s legs and they came to the ground together, the gun flying from the Jap’s hand. But it was, of course, a useless gesture. Even had his hands been free he would have been no match for the man skilled as he was in the traditional art of his race. All this Gordon realized as he felt himself yanked to his feet.
“You are a very brave boy,” the Jap declared as he picked up the revolver, “and I shall not hurt you again.”
“Thanks,” Gordon grinned and resumed his seat on the box. “In return for your kindness I wish I could tell you what you want to know but I don’t think it would be right, not with my present amount of knowledge. You see, he’s a very dear friend.”
“All right. I don’t blame you. Maybe I can find out some other way. I suppose they’ll start hunting for you as soon as they get back.”
“Probably.”
“That’s what I want them to do.”
“You do?”
“I certainly do.”
“Say, did you do anything to the plane?” Gordon asked after a short pause.
“I fixed it so that they can’t fly it.”
“What was the idea, if you want them to find me?”
“They might have been scared off and left.”
“Don’t you believe it. They’re not that kind.”
“Probably not, but I wasn’t taking any chances. I’m going outside a minute to see if I can see anything of them. Don’t try to get away because you can’t.”
He was gone only a moment and when he returned it was with a puzzled look on his face.
“See them?” Gordon asked.
“Yes,” was the reply.