Four Afloat Part 43

"We all did," said Dan. "Get a move on, Tommy; Mr. Hawkshaw is in a hurry."

"Well, but I want to hear about it," objected Tom. "You fellows come on down."

So they all adjourned to the engine room and while Tom set about the preparation of luncheon Bob made his report.

"I found out two or three things," said Bob. "In the first place, Spencer Floyd is still there, because I saw him and he saw me. In the second place the _Henry Nellis_ sails to-morrow morning for St. Johns, Newfoundland."

"Then we've got to get busy to-day," said Dan resolutely.

"She'd have been gone several days," Bob continued, "if it hadn't been for some row between her owners."

"Then Captain Chowder doesn't own her?" asked Nelson.

"He owns a fourth," answered Bob. "After I got on the wharf I went across to a schooner lying on the other side, the _Two Brothers_. I told one of the men on deck that I'd like to come aboard and look around and he said all right. We got quite chummy and he told me about the _Henry Nellis_. He had been talking to one of her crew. I asked him what he knew about Captain Sander, only I didn't let on that I'd ever heard of him before. He said he didn't know anything about him except what the other chap had told him, which was only that the captain was a tartar when he got mad. I kept my eye on the _Nellis_ all the time. I could see over her rail from where I sat on the deck of the other boat, but I wasn't in plain sight in case the captain had happened along. But I didn't see anything of him and the chap I was talking to didn't know whether he was on board or ash.o.r.e. The only men I saw on the _Nellis_ were a couple of deck hands, one of them that Dago with the earrings. I guess most of the crew were ash.o.r.e. But presently somebody walked out of the galley and tossed a panful of potato parings over the farther side and I saw that it was Spencer. When he came back toward the galley I stood up. At first he didn't see me, but just as he was going through the doorway he glanced across and stopped. He didn't recognize me at all until I made a motion with my hand. Then he looked forward where the two men were sitting, back to him, and walked over to the rail and pretended to sc.r.a.pe the tin pan clean. But he was looking me over and I saw that he remembered my face but couldn't place me. So I climbed back to the wharf and moved over toward him. When I got about ten feet away I turned my back to him and pretended to be looking at the _Two Brothers_."

"You're a born detective, Bob," said Dan admiringly.

"Shut up, Dan!" said Tom impatiently.

"I called to him softly," Bob went on, "and he answered. 'I'm one of the fellows from the _Vagabond_,' said I. 'Is the captain on board?' 'No,'

said Spencer, 'he's at the head of the wharf, in the office.' 'Can you get by without his seeing you?' I asked, and Spencer said No. Then I asked him if he still wanted to get away and he said he did, and from the way he said it I guess he meant it! So I said: 'We'll come alongside to-night in the launch and get you if you think you can get away.' 'What time?' he asked. 'Any time,' said I. 'Whenever you think best.' 'About half-past nine, then,' said he. 'I'll watch for you.' 'All right,' said I. 'But don't let them suspect anything.' He was just starting to say something else when one of the sailors yelled at him to keep away from the rail or he'd knock his head off. I didn't turn around, but I walked back and forth a couple of times as though I was admiring the _Two Brothers_. Then I sauntered away along the wharf toward the street. I thought I was pretty well through with it when a man came out of a building ahead of me and walked toward me. I saw at once that he was Captain Sander. At first I thought I'd turn around and go back to the _Two Brothers_ until he was out of the way. Then I thought that that would be too raw; he'd think I was trying to avoid him. So I put my hands in my pockets and pa.s.sed him, kicking at the boards and looking at my feet. I only glanced at him once. He saw me but I don't think he paid any attention to me. So there you are. That's how matters stand."

"Bully for you!" cried Dan. "Talk about your Sherlock Holmeses and your-your--!"

"Yes, indeed, Dan," said Nelson soothingly. "But what we want to do now is to--"

"Eat luncheon," interrupted Tom.

Before that meal was over their campaign was fully planned out. It was simple enough and depended for success on their ability to reach the _Henry Nellis_ undetected and Spencer Floyd's ability to reach the _Vagabond_ in the same way.

"If we get him," said Nelson, "we'll make a bee-line for Mullen's Cove."

"How far is it?" asked Bob.

"About eighty miles. We won't try to get there to-night, I guess, but we'll go far enough to throw the captain off the scent; maybe to Hempstead; we can do that in two hours."

"It isn't likely the old pirate will try to chase us this time," said Dan. "He won't have a tug handy as he did at Sanstable."

"Well, we won't run any risks," said Nelson. "As soon as Spencer's aboard we'll make tracks."

And so it was settled. But the plan was discussed and rediscussed many times during the afternoon. Time went very slowly. At four they took a run around the Battery and up the North River for a ways, as Nelson said, to see that the engine worked all right, but in reality, I think, to relieve the suspense of waiting. They had dinner ash.o.r.e at a funny little _cafe_, on South Street, frequented princ.i.p.ally by the better cla.s.s of officers and sailors from the ships and steamboats along the adjacent waterfront. What they had was good, if plain, and they did full justice to it. Bob settled the bill at the little desk near the door when they had finished and the others went on out to the sidewalk. When Bob rejoined them his face showed that something had disturbed him.

"What's up?" asked Nelson. For answer Bob seized him by the arm and hurried him away from in front of the restaurant, the others following.

"Captain Sander," said Bob, when they were some distance away. "He was sitting at the table between the desk and the window!"

Dan whistled.

"Do you think he saw us?" asked Nelson.

Bob shook his head doubtfully.

"I don't believe so. He had a paper propped up in front of him and he never looked up after I noticed him. I wish, though, we'd gone somewhere else for supper."

"Yes," agreed Dan, "it would have been better even to have eaten Tommy's cooking!"

At half-past seven the _Vagabond_ chugged up to the end of the next pier to that at which the _Henry Nellis_ lay. The launch showed no lights.

Seated in the c.o.c.kpit the four waited silently and impatiently for the hands of the clock in the cabin to approach the half hour after nine.

After two bells had struck Dan went down every five minutes or so, struck a match and looked at the clock. Finally he came back and whispered: "Nine-twenty-five, Nel!"

Bob went to the wheel and Nelson disappeared into the engine room. The single line which had held them to the side of a big lighter came away and the propeller churned the water. Out into the stream went the _Vagabond_. Then, when she was opposite the _Henry Nellis_, Bob swung the wheel over and she headed for the darkness of the dock. While still some distance out the engine was shut off and the launch slid quietly into the gloom, headed for the side of the schooner which lay dimly outlined in the darkness.

Slower and slower went the launch. Bob, at the wheel, peered intently forward. At the bow Dan stood ready to thrust her nose away or draw her in toward the schooner. From the _Henry Nellis_ came no sound and only one light showed from her deck. The _Vagabond_ lost all headway and lay rocking gently in the black water. But Dan could reach the side of the schooner, and in another moment the launch was being pulled slowly along past the dark, tarry hull. Then came the most difficult task of all.

They had decided that it would be wisest to have the _Vagabond_ turned around with her head to the stream, and now they set about it. But it was the hardest sort of work, and more than once sounds resulted which would have been sufficient to warn those on the schooner had they been expecting visitors. As no alarm was given the boys hopefully decided that they had escaped detection by the captain in the restaurant.

Finally the launch lay straight alongside the schooner, amidships, and there was nothing left to do but wait for Spencer. Suddenly the clock in the cabin struck three bells so loudly that the four held their breath.

They had forgotten to m.u.f.fle it. They listened but heard no sound from the schooner. The minutes pa.s.sed. Dan crept down and looked at the clock, returning to the c.o.c.kpit to whisper that it was almost a quarter to ten. Then from somewhere on the schooner came the faint sound of a sliding door or hatch.

Nelson groped his way to the cabin door so that he could reach the engine promptly. A moment pa.s.sed. Then something fell at Dan's feet with a soft thud and a dim figure appeared above at the rail. At the same moment a door crashed open on deck and heavy footsteps sounded. The figure scrambled over the rail and came half-falling to the deck of the _Vagabond_. Dan seized Spencer and dragged him into the c.o.c.kpit just as the irate voice of Captain Sauder broke the silence.

"Spencer!" he bellowed. "Where are you? Go below or I'll shoot a hole in you! I see you there! Come out, you sneakin' fool!"

"Hurry, Nel!" whispered Bob hoa.r.s.ely into the gloom of the engine room.

Then the throb of the _Vagabond's_ propeller sounded startlingly loud and the launch slid forward in the darkness. Back against the lighter background of the cloudy sky appeared the form of the captain. A red flare lighted the darkness where he stood and a bullet whistled over Dan's head.

"Duck!" cried Dan, forgetting caution. All save Bob threw themselves on to the floor of the c.o.c.kpit. Again the revolver spoke and a bullet crashed into the cabin roof a foot from Bob's arm. Then the _Vagabond_ was free of the slip and had swung upstream, her propeller churning the water into white froth at the stern. Once more the captain fired, but the bullet was lost far astern. As they pa.s.sed the head of the next pier they could hear the captain raging and swearing back there in the night.

CHAPTER XXV-WHEREIN THE _VAGABOND_ STARTS FOR HOME AND THE STORY ENDS

The _Vagabond_ lay peacefully at anchor at the mouth of Hempstead Harbor. It was almost midnight and a ragged-looking moon was tingeing the quiet water with silver light. In the cabin the crew were preparing for bed. Spencer had finished his narrative of events and was sitting on the edge of Bob's berth looking almost happy.

"Then we guessed right about the empty boat," said Nelson.

"Yes," answered Spencer. "They seen me from the _Henry_ the first thing.

And when they had me aboard the captain told Joe-that's the feller with the rings in his ears-to stave a hole in the bottom of your boat. So he did, with a boat hook."

"And he didn't lick you for running away?" asked Bob incredulously.

Spencer shook his head.

"No, he was too glad to get me back. He kept askin' me if I thought I was smart as he was. He'd lost his cook the night before-ran off, he did-and so he said I was to cook. I've been cooking ever since."

"Hasn't he licked you since then?" Tom inquired.

"Oh, yes, once or twice," replied Spencer cheerfully. "But not to hurt much. But if he'd got me to-night I guess he'd just about have walloped the skin off'n me!"