AN UNEXPECTED MEETING
"They look like Fred and John," replied Grant in a whisper. "Where do you
suppose they came from?"
"I don't care where they came from, the most I want to know is that they
are here. You don't suppose they are ghosts, do you?"
"I think you would find out whether they were ghosts or not if you tried
to throw Fred. Come on, let's go ahead and meet them."
Advancing quickly the boys soon drew near the place where the approaching
forms were seen.
"Fred, is that you?" called George anxiously.
Instantly the trio stopped and in amazement stared in the direction from
which the unexpected hail had come.
"Is that you, Fred? Is that you, Jack?" George called again, this time
speaking a little more loudly.
"Yes," replied John. "Who is it calling us?"
"You have been gone so long you don't recognize your own friend," called
back George. "What are you doing here?"
"That's the same question we might ask you," retorted Fred. "We didn't
expect to find you here."
"Neither did we expect to find you," said George. "We're mighty glad we
have though, for we have been looking for you a long time."
"The trouble is you didn't look in the right place," laughed Fred, who
was delighted to be with his friends once more.
"You don't need to tell us that," retorted Grant. "We have had troubles
enough of our own without having you twit us about them. We looked all
around Western Duck Island and up and down the shore but couldn't find
any trace of you. Now tell us where you have been and what you have been
doing."
All six were now returning to the shore together, the strange companion
of Fred and John walking in advance of the boys. Several times George
nudged Fred as he pointed toward the ungainly figure which was somewhat
dim in the obscure light. The peculiar gait, the strange swinging motion
of the shoulders were not to be forgotten when once they had been seen.
Rufus, however, had not spoken since the meeting of the boys and because
of that fact there were still further revelations to be made that were to
startle the newcomers.
"How did you get here, Fred?" demanded George unable longer to restrain
his curiosity when the boys were within a few yards of the shore.
"We came in a motor-boat."
"From where?"
"Sault St. Marie."
"Be honest, Fred. This is no time for joking. Where did you come from?"
"I'm not joking and I'm telling you the truth. We started from Sault St.
Marie."
"How long have you been here?"
"About two hours."
"Why did you come to Cockburn Island?"
"Because our skipper said he had to come here before he could take us to
Mackinac."
"What did he want to come here for?"
"Don't talk any more now," said Fred. "Wait until we get back and we'll
tell you all about it and there are some things worth hearing, too."
When the boys and the strange skipper returned to the shore and it was
discovered that there were two motor-boats there, John quickly said to
Rufus, "Our friends are going back to Mackinac and we can go with them so
you won't have to go out of your course. You can go right back to Sault
St. Marie."
"How about them ten dollars?" demanded Rufus, speaking in his shrillest
tones. "I don't intend to let go of you until I see the color of them
dollars."
"Have you got any money with you?" demanded Fred, turning quickly to
George and Grant.
"How much do you want?" inquired George.
"Ten dollars. That's what we agreed to pay our skipper."
"I guess we can make that up between us," said Grant, and in a brief time
the money was produced and the brilliant-hued Rufus was paid. With
evident satisfaction, he said, "I don't know, boys, but I shall stay over
here to Cockburn Island for three or four days. If you show up again in
these parts you might let me know and maybe I can do somethin' more for
you."
"Thank you," laughed Fred. "You certainly have helped us out of our
troubles."
"Did he help you out of your clothes, too?" demanded Grant, who now had
become aware for the first time of the strange garb in which both his
friends were clad.
"No, we picked them up on the lake-boat."
"On the what?"
"On the steamer. We weren't proud. We didn't want the crew to think that
we felt above them so we put on the suits that they provided us with."
"They certainly picked out choice ones," laughed George, as he grasped
the sleeve of Fred's coat. "When are you going to start for Mackinac?"
"What's become of our friend whose house is on the island here?" inquired
Grant in a low voice.
So interested had they all been in the recent experiences that the
passenger they had brought with them had been forgotten.
When the boys looked quickly about them they were aware that the man had
disappeared. However, as he had landed and their duty was done they were
all ready now for the return to Mackinac Island, where they could not
expect to arrive before two or three o'clock the following morning.
The ungainly Rufus was again thanked for his aid and then the four boys
speedily took their places on board the little motor-boat in which the
searching party had set forth early that morning.
After the boat had left the shores of Cockburn Island behind them, so
eager were George and Grant to learn what had befallen their friends that
they insisted that the entire story should be told them.
And what a strange story it was. Fred or John, alternately breaking in
upon each other, each insisting upon describing the perilous adventures
through which they had passed, finally related the story of their rescue
and the strange manner in which they had been taken to Sault St. Marie.
Stranger still was the story they had to tell of their return and the
reason why they had been found on Cockburn Island.
"But that isn't the strangest part of all," explained Fred when the first
of their story had been told. "We have something else worth telling and
when you hear it you'll both sit up and listen to it."
"What is it?" inquired George.
"This man Rufus who took us in his motor-boat over to Cockburn Island is
a queer Dick."
"I'm surprised to hear you say that," laughed George.
"His clothes and his voice, to say nothing of his hair and his long legs,
are a small part when you stop to think of some other things," said John.
"What other things?"
"Now listen and we'll tell you. We've about decided that the man who
stays on Cockburn Island is a regular smuggler. You know those letters we
found, or rather the letter that came to me and the one we picked up on
the shore of Western Duck Island, don't you?"
"Yes," replied George and Grant together.
"Well, I suspect," resumed Fred, "that this man Rufus wrote them both."
"He's almost as good a letter writer as he is a dresser, isn't he?"
laughed Grant.
"You just wait until I'm done," retorted Fred. "That's always the trouble
in this party. Whenever I start in to give you information and try to
teach you some things you need to know and don't know, there's always
somebody that has to spoil it all."
"We're not spoiling it," laughed George. "Go ahead with your story. What
makes you think he wrote those letters?"
"Be quiet, me child," said Fred, "and I will enlighten thee. We suspect
Rufus wrote them because he talked almost all the way from Sault St.
Marie to Cockburn Island. Even when we stopped on the shore of Mud Lake
and he cooked our dinner for us he kept on talking just the same whether
we were there or not."
"That's just the trouble with you, Fred," retorted George. "You say he
kept on talking whether you were there or not. Now how do you know he
kept on talking when you weren't there? You see that's the reason we have
to put in intelligent questions sometimes. You are just as likely to talk
about things you don't know as you are about things that you do."
"Never mind," retorted Fred. "This man in the course of his extended
remarks dropped a few words that made us think he knew more than at first
we thought he did. We suspect that he runs a motor-boat for this man over
on Cockburn Island."
"Is that the reason why he took you there?" inquired George.
"Probably," answered Fred. "At any rate he told us that he had to go that
way and that he had to be there this afternoon. I tell you, fellows, that
man is doing something he doesn't want Uncle Sam to find out and my own
impression is that he's a smuggler and carrying on a regular trade at
it."
"What do you think he smuggles?" inquired George.
"I'm not just sure yet about that, but I'm pretty sure that I know where
he hides the stuff before he takes it over to Mackinac or up to Sault St.
Marie. In fact I think he has two places, one on Cockburn Island and the
other down on Western Duck Island and I think, too, that he has a man or
two on each island. Rufus runs a boat between Cockburn Island and Sault
St. Marie and we suspect that he has another man down on Western Duck who
gets rid of things there for him. And the strangest part of all is where
he hides the stuff on Cockburn Island."
"Where is that?" demanded George and Grant, who now were greatly
interested in the story of their friends.
"I think he hides it in the barn."
"Do you mean that old barn right behind his shanty?" inquired Grant.
"That's the very place."
"What makes you think he hides the stuff there?"
"From what Rufus said. You see, Rufus isn't more than half or three
quarters witted, and he feels that he hasn't been treated by this man as
he ought to have been. So he wrote those letters to get even, as he said,
with the smuggler, and then as nothing was done about them he felt just
as much provoked at Mr. Button as he had at the smuggler himself. So he
has been first on one side and then on the other."
"Whose side is he on now?" asked Grant.
"Just at the present time he's on the smuggler's side. But he was so
anxious to talk all the while that we think he let out more than he knew.
Among other things he told us why the smuggler keeps that big dog that we
saw the other night. It seems there are three of those dogs and at night
two of them guard the barn and the other is taken inside the house to
protect that place. When we asked Rufus why they had to have two dogs
around the barn he said that if we knew what was in the barn we wouldn't
ask any such foolish questions as that. Putting that together with some
other things he said, I haven't any doubt that whatever it is that Mr.
Halsey deals in it is something that is very valuable and isn't very
large and can be easily carried."
"What do you suppose it is?" inquired Grant. "That sounds like money."
"Men don't smuggle money," sniffed Fred scornfully. "When we get back to
Mackinac I'm going to tell Mr. Button, if he's there, all about it and
ask him what he thinks. And if he goes over to Cockburn Island and makes
a search I want to go with him."
"But he can't make a search on Cockburn Island," said George positively.
"That's in Canada. An American officer can't go over there and make
searches."
"Not unless he gets a Canadian officer to go with him," retorted Fred.
"At all events when we get back to Mackinac we'll find out what can be
done and then we'll just go ahead."