THE STRANGE LEAK.
"Gee whiz! but this is a bad job!" Merritt remarked, after the four of
them had clambered over the bow of the stranded sailboat. "Here we are
as much as three miles away from home, with night coming on and not much
chance of getting the boat fixed so we can go on again in her."
"She never played you such a mean trick before, did she, Rob?" asked
Andy, who had managed to get his feet wet in making a jump for the sandy
beach, but, boylike, seemed to care very little about such a small
thing.
"No, and I'm wondering right now what could have happened to make her
spring a big leak like that all of a sudden," replied the other.
As though impelled by curiosity, Rob once more climbed aboard the boat
and started to look around. One of the first things he did was to fling
ashore a sack that seemed to be pretty heavy,--as might be expected,
since it contained the half bushel of extra large oysters for which he
had been sent to the beds near the ocean side of the bay, a long way
from Hampton town.
"I'm bound to get that sack home with me if I have to carry it on my
back," he called out; at which the other boys, of course, declared that
they would willingly "spell" him, though the prospect could not have
seemed very inviting.
"But see here, will it be safe to leave the boat in this little cove all
night with a big storm heading along up the coast?" Merritt asked next.
"Safe or not," came from the one aboard the stranded boat, "there's
nothing else we can do, is there? Besides, if that storm holds off till
noon, I'll be up here on my wheel the first thing to-morrow, bale her
out, fix the leak, and work her back home by hook or crook. Hello! what
in the wide world does this mean, now?"
"Found the place where the water came in, have you, Rob?" called Tubby,
who was hefting the sack of bivalves, and perhaps secretly wondering
whether it might not make their labor of transporting the same to the
Blake house easier if they proceeded to discard a few of the shells and
partake of the juicy contents.
"Why, it's a _round_ hole, I tell you!" shouted Rob.
"What's that you're giving us?" demanded Andy. "I've seen some queer
things happen to boats, but that's the first time I ever knew one to
spring a leak with a round hole. Are you joshing us, Rob?"
"I tell you it's as round as a quarter, and about as big into the
bargain!" continued the other vigorously. "And what's more, this boat
never sprung a leak!"
"Oh! say, p'raps now a sword fish rammed his beak through her planks!"
ejaculated Tubby, who could always be depended on to think up the most
extraordinary explanation possible when anything out of the ordinary
happened.
All of the other scouts had now crawled back on the boat, their
curiosity having been fully aroused by the strange announcement made by
Rob. Merritt even insisted on feeling down in the water, and thrusting
his forefinger through the said hole.
"Jiggered if what Rob says isn't so, boys," he called out; "because I've
got my finger all the way through the hole right now! Why, it's as
smooth as if it had been made with an inch bit. Take my word for it,
that's the truth!"
"And I've got a good notion that was what did make it!" Rob observed
solemnly; at which Tubby gasped, opening his mouth in the queer way he
had of doing when greatly astonished.
"You mean somebody went and bored a hole right through the planks of
your boat, do you, Rob?" he asked excitedly. "But why didn't the water
rush in before, when we've been more than a whole hour sailing?"
"Why, you silly," cried Andy, "of course it must have had a plug in the
hole! It was probably fixed so that sooner or later it just had to be
jarred loose, and the pressure of the water outside would push the same
in. That was what happened when we made our last turn. And this same old
plug must have been hidden under the false bottom, which none of us
thought to pull up till she floated loose!"
"Here's the proof of it, fellows!" said Rob just then; and he held up
something he had discovered floating on the surface of the water, that
already partly filled the cockpit toward the stern of the stranded boat.
"It is a plug, as sure as you live!" ejaculated Merritt. "Let's look at
it, Rob!"
One after another they examined the round piece of wood, which had
undoubtedly been shaped just to fit the hole bored in the bottom plank.
"That was about the meanest trick I ever heard tell of!" grumbled Tubby,
his round face redder than ever with indignation. "If ever I could find
out who did it, I'd feel like showing him up to all Hampton, that's
what. Here, what's this on the water, fellers? Looks to me like a curled
chip, such as would come out when an auger or a brace and bit was used."
"Just what it is, Tubby," added Merritt; "which shows that this measly
hole was bored since the last time Rob went sailing. Otherwise, he must
have seen the plug when he took out the false flooring to clean the
boat."
"It's a queer shaving, boys," continued Tubby, with his head bent low
over the object he held in his hand. "See, here, where there's a break
all the way along, and right in the middle, too! What would you make of
that, Rob?"
"I might be away off in my guess," the other went on to say, after he,
too, had closely examined the shaving; "but it seems to me as though
that bit must have had a good-sized nick in each half of the biting
edge, queer as that would be. As it kept on turning, it left this
raised ridge, you see."
"Just what I had in my mind, Rob, give you my word for it," Tubby
continued excitedly. "And I'm thinking right now that this ought to be a
pretty good clew to prove who made that hole in your boat. All we've got
to do is to find a bit with a nick in both tongues that fits this
shaving; and the thing is as plain as the nose on Andy's face, here."
"Suppose you leave me out when you're making comparisons, Tubby; but
then you're only saying that because you're envious; your own nose
doesn't count for much, with such fat cheeks alongside!" Andy burst out.
But Rob considered that what Tubby had said was worth noticing for he
immediately started to congratulate him,--as a patrol leader always
should do when one of his comrades has given positive evidences of
waking up and noticing things.
"Tubby, that's a smart dodge of yours, let me tell you," he went on to
say, as he turned on the fat scout; "and if you keep that chip so it
won't break, and can find a bit that fits the marks to a dot, the
chances are you'll know who played this dirty trick on me. And because
you thought of it first I'm going to hand that job over to you, see?
Here's the plug and the chip for you to keep. And some fine day I'll
expect to have a report from you."
"Well, what's the next word, Rob?" asked Merritt, as they all made the
flying leap ashore again. This time it was Tubby who made a
miscalculation and landed in six inches of water. He hastily scrambled
up on the beach to the accompaniment of rude laughter from Andy, who
felt better now that there were a pair of them with wet feet; for misery
always likes company.
"Oh! we'll make the cable fast to this stunted tree here, and leave the
old boat to take her chances to-night," replied the other, as he started
to carry his words into action. "Doubtless I'll find her safe in the
morning, and be able to get her home if the storm holds off."
"You don't come up here without having me along, remember," warned
Merritt; at which Rob stopped long enough in his labor of securing the
end of the rope to the tree to give the other a nod and a smile; for
they were chums in everything, and almost inseparable.
"And the rest of you just keep mum about this nasty little business, so
that I c'n have the whole field to myself," Tubby warned them, as though
feeling of considerable importance since the patrol leader had handed
the mysterious case over into his charge. "I'm going to learn who bored
that hole, or know the reason why, if I have to visit every workshop in
Hampton by degrees, and find some excuse for examining every blessed bit
there is. But right now I want to say I've got a hunch I c'n lay my
finger on the guilty one, even if I dassent say so till I get the proof
fixed on him good and hard. Then look out for explosions, that's all!"
Having fastened his boat as well as circumstances allowed, Rob picked up
the sack containing the selected oysters, threw it over his shoulder,
and announced himself ready for the three mile walk along the road that
skirted the shore side of the bay.
The four scouts soon found themselves trudging along the highway which
led from the direction of Montauk Point. It was in fair condition, as
they well knew, having been over it many times on their wheels, or in
vehicles of various types from a car to a hay wagon.
"If we had any sort of luck, now," remarked Merritt, after they had been
walking for some little while, and he made ready to relieve Rob of his
load, "we'd hear some sort of wagon coming up behind, and get a ride
home."
"Don't I wish it would happen, though?" sighed Tubby, who on account of
his burden of flesh always found it much harder than the other Eagles to
hike over the country. He was so stubborn, however, that he would
persist in anything he undertook until he fairly dropped in his tracks,
rather than give up.
"Well," remarked Rob, chuckling, "some good fairy must have heard that
wish, Tubby, because right now I can get the thud of horses' hoofs on
the road back yonder. And there goes the crack of a whip."
"You're right, Rob," observed Andy quickly; "queer how you get on to all
these little wrinkles before the rest of us. Seems like you must always
'be prepared,' like every true scout is expected to keep himself."
"Hope it's an empty wagon, and not a loaded hay rig," grunted Tubby.
"According to the way the sounds hit me," continued Rob, "it's a wagon,
all right; and it rumbles like an empty one, too. But we shall soon
know, for it is overtaking us right fast now."
"Let's halt here, and line up, two on each side of the road," suggested
Merritt. "The darkness has gathered so it's hard to see any distance;
but there around the bend back of us comes a white horse on the trot!
Rob, you hit the nail right on the head, for sure enough it's drawing an
empty wagon, with two men sitting on the seat and using the whip."
"Looks like they might be in a hurry," suggested Andy. "Watch that one
turning around to take another look along the road behind. Get ready to
give 'em a hail, Eagles. Rob, you do the talking while the rest of us
let out our Eagle cry."
Two minutes later and the vehicle had arrived almost opposite where the
scouts stood half screened by the bushes. At a signal from Rob the four
stepped out upon the road. Rob started to call to the men in the wagon,
meaning to ask them for permission to ride, while Merritt and Tubby and
Andy gave a united "K-r-e-e-e," that sounded very weird as heard under
such conditions.
What followed astonished the four boys very much indeed. The men, seeing
so many uniformed figures blocking the road, as it seemed, gave vent to
exclamations of abject alarm. Jumping from their seat, they started to
run back along the way they had just come. Then suddenly turning to one
side they plunged into the brush, where their hasty progress was marked
by all sorts of sounds that would indicate that they were stumbling
blindly through the thick undergrowth, tumbling over logs and rocks,
evidently on the verge of being panic-stricken!