Dave Porter on Cave Island Part 49

By this time the officers of the law were boarding the _Aurora_, accompanied by Giles Borden and Captain Sanders.

"Where are those b.l.o.o.d.y rascals who robbed me?" exclaimed the Englishman, excitedly. "Just let me get my hands on them!"

"I don't understand this!" returned the captain of the schooner, in surprise. "You'll have to explain."

"You have three Englishmen aboard here-fellows you took to Cave Island when I was with them."

"Say, you're that fourth man!" gasped Captain Hunker. "But that other chap,-the fellow with smoked gla.s.ses, who had his face tied up--" He did not know how to go on.

"He impersonated me, the villain! But I am after the others, for they robbed me of over a thousand pounds, don't you know!"

"Where are your pa.s.sengers?" demanded the officer in charge of those from the patrol boat, sternly.

"If they are not on deck they must be below,-they had no chance to leave the ship," answered Captain Hunker. "This gets me!" he went on, weakly. "I thought they acted rather strange, but I supposed they were nothing but a crowd of weak-minded critters hunting for pirates'

gold."

At that moment Geswick, Pardell, and Rumney came on deck, having heard the tramping of feet overhead and wondering what it meant. Almost before he could speak, Giles Borden had Geswick by the throat and was shaking him violently.

"Will rob me, and leave me a prisoner in that cave!" he roared. "I'll teach you a lesson! Give me my money, you b.l.o.o.d.y scoundrel!" And then he banged Andrew Geswick's head against a mast.

"Ho, let up!" yelled the criminal. "Let up, I say!" And he tried to squirm away. But it was useless, and in a minute more one of the officers of the law handcuffed him, and Pardell and Rumney were also secured.

"Now I want my money!" stormed Giles Borden. "Every shilling of it!"

"I haven't any of it," replied Rumney. "Geswick and Pardell have it all." Rumney had had a quarrel with his fellows, just as Merwell had quarreled with Jasniff.

"Just you wait, Rumney; we'll fix you for going back on us," growled Andrew Geswick. But this threat did him little good. In the end he and Pardell had to hand over every penny taken from Giles Borden, and then they were marched off to jail, to await a hearing before the authorities.

In the meantime Dave had run across the deck and followed Jasniff down the companionway. He was afraid that the evil-minded youth might hide the stolen jewels or throw them overboard.

When he got below he looked around, but could see nothing of the other boy. He ran along a pa.s.sageway, peering into one stateroom after another, and also into the cabin and the pantry. Then he heard something like a cover drop near by and hurried in that direction.

Jasniff was in a corner stateroom on his hands and knees. Beside him was a flat steamer trunk, which was closed. It was the lid of this trunk that Dave had heard drop.

"Jasniff, come out of that!" ordered Dave, sternly. "Come right out and hand over those jewels."

"Say, Dave Porter, you think you are smart, don't you?" sneered the big youth, as he got up on his feet.

"Never mind what I think. I want those jewels, every one of them, and I am going to have them."

"I haven't any jewels."

"I know better."

"All right then, you can search me if you want to-and search my baggage, too," went on Jasniff, and held out his arms as if willing to have the investigation begin on the spot.

"If you haven't the jewels on your person, you have hidden them," went on Dave. "Bring them out, right away."

"Not much, Porter, I am not that kind of a fool." Jasniff lowered his voice to a whisper. "To outsiders I won't acknowledge I have the jewels, but if you'll fix it so I go clear, I'll see to it that old Wadsworth gets the gems back."

"I'll fix nothing, Jasniff, and you'll hand over every jewel, and do it right now!" cried Dave, and now he was so angry that he leaped on the criminal and threw him backward over the trunk.

But if Dave was strong, so was Jasniff, and, as of old, the rascal thought nothing of playing a foul trick. Around and around the stateroom went both boys, with first Dave on top and then his opponent. Then suddenly Jasniff pulled himself away and caught up a water pitcher that was on a stand.

"I'll fix you!" he roared, in the same tone of voice he had employed when he had once attacked Dave in the Oak Hall gymnasium, and he brought the heavy pitcher down straight for Dave's head.

Had the blow landed as intended, our hero would have been knocked senseless and perhaps seriously hurt. But quick as the bully was, Dave was quicker, and leaped to one side. Then he let out with his fist, landing on Jasniff's jaw,-a blow that sent the fellow crashing over into a corner. As Jasniff came up, Dave hit him again, and this time he went down all but knocked out.

"Dave!" called a voice from the doorway at that moment, and Captain Sanders appeared. "Having a tussle, eh? Want any help?"

"May be," panted our hero. "He attacked me with the water-pitcher!"

And he pointed to the fragments of chinaware that lay on the floor.

"Do-don't h-hit me again!" spluttered Nick Jasniff.

"Will you hand over the jewels and behave yourself?"

"I-I haven't got the jewels," and now Jasniff arose unsteadily to his feet.

"Perhaps he's hidden them," suggested the captain of the _Golden Eagle_. "It would be like him to do it."

"I'll search him first and then look around the room. Where are those officers?"

"They have their hands full just now with those Englishmen. But I'll call them if you wish it."

"No, just see that he doesn't get away," answered Dave.

A rapid search of Jasniff's clothing told our hero that the rascal did not have the gems on his person. Then Dave looked into the steamer trunk.

"Are they there?" inquired Captain Sanders.

"No."

"You'll never get them from me," growled Jasniff, and gave Dave a look that was full of the keenest hatred. "I'll go to prison for life before I'll give them up, now!"

"Watch him carefully," said Dave to the captain, and got down on his hands and knees in front of the berth in the room.

"Nothing under there!" cried Jasniff, but his voice had a trace of anxiety in it.

Dave felt around, but found nothing unusual. Then he lit a match and continued his search. Soon he saw where a board of the side wall had been pried loose and then shoved back into place. He pulled on the board and it came out, revealing a small compartment between two upright posts. In the compartment was something wrapped in a bandanna handkerchief. He pulled it out and crawled from under the berth.

"I think I've found it," he said, in a voice he tried in vain to steady. Then he untied the handkerchief and brought to light a money belt, exactly like that taken from Link Merwell. He placed it on the steamer trunk and opened it with care. The sight that met his gaze was a dazzling one. The money-belt contained all that Jasniff had carried of the Carwith jewels.

"My, but that's a sight!" murmured Captain Sanders.

"Going to return them, I suppose," sneered Nick Jasniff. "You're a big fool to do it! I'd keep them, and have a good time on the proceeds."

"I am not built that way," answered Dave, shortly. "I'll put this around my waist, with the other," he added, and lost no time in adjusting the second money-belt. It wasn't particularly comfortable to wear those two belts, yet Dave felt a tremendous satisfaction in so doing.