POWELL SEATON'S BAD CASE OF "FORGET"
"Don't let any more get away!" called Powell Seaton, excitedly.
Tom Halstead promptly leaped at one of the rough fugitives just as the
latter was trying to reach the wharf. Another one Joe Dawson grabbed.
Several of the fishermen sprang to help. For a minute or two there was
a good deal of confusion. When matters quieted down, it was found that
Halstead and Dawson, with the fishermen helping, had secured five of
the rough lot.
Powell Seaton, by threatening with his shot-gun, had induced a sixth
to swim ashore. But Anson Dalton and another man, believed to be
Captain Dave Lemly of the "Black Betty," had escaped, swimming under
water in the darkness. They must have come to the surface at some
point not far away, yet, in the black darkness of the night, they
managed to escape safely for the time being, at any rate.
The six men thus arrested were forced inside a ring of the fishermen,
whose numbers had been greatly increased by new arrivals. Powell
Seaton, his shot-gun on his shoulder, now patrolled close to the human
ring. Three or four men hurried with Tom and Joe on a quest for Anson
Dalton and the latter's companion in flight.
In less than a quarter of an hour one of the messengers who had first
hurried away returned with a deputy sheriff, who brought several pairs
of handcuffs. A justice of the peace was aroused at his home, and held
the prisoners over for trial, after Powell Seaton had preferred
against them a charge of stealing the yacht that was under his
charter.
The search for Dalton and his companion was given up, for it became
plain that both had succeeded in their effort to get away.
"It's altogether too bad," sighed Mr. Seaton, on coming out of the
justice's house. "However, we can be thankful for what success we have
had. We have the boat back and have balked Dalton's rascals in what
they were planning for to-night."
"Are you going back to Lonely Island now, sir?" asked Captain Tom.
"We must, very soon," replied Mr. Seaton. "Yet, Halstead, I've been
thinking that I cannot afford to take any further chances, with Anson
Dalton still at large. These fishermen are a rough but honest lot of
splendid fellows in their way. I'm going to see if I can't hire a
special guard of eight men for Lonely Island for the present. I'll
engage the deputy sheriff to vouch for the men I engage. So go down to
the boat and be ready for me as soon as I arrive."
Joe was aboard, waiting, when the young skipper returned. Several of
the men of the village were still about the dock.
"We're to be ready to cast off as soon as Mr. Seaton gets here, Joe,"
Captain Tom Halstead announced. "Better look to your motors. If you
want any help, call on me."
It did not take Mr. Seaton very long to recruit the guard of eight men
that he wanted. Carrying rifles or shot-guns, borrowed in some
instances, the men tramped along after their new employer. They came
aboard, two or three of them going below, the others preferring to
remain on deck.
"Cast off, Captain, as soon as you can," directed Powell Seaton.
Two or three of the new guards sprang forward to help in this work.
Halstead rang for half speed, then threw the wheel over, making a
quick start. Once under way, he called for full speed, and the
"Restless" went bounding over the waves, which were running much lower
than a couple of hours earlier.
During the first half of the run Captain Halstead remained at the
wheel. Then Joe came up from below, relieving him. Tom strolled back
to take a seat on the deck-house beside Mr. Seaton.
"I'm on tenterhooks to get back," confessed the charter-man.
"Anxious about your friend, Clodis, of course," nodded Tom,
understandingly.
"Partly that, yes. But there's another matter that's bothering me
fearfully, too. You remember the packet of papers I took from Clodis's
trunk?" asked Mr. Seaton, lowering his voice.
"Yes," murmured Tom. "But you have those in an inner pocket."
"I wish I had!" uttered Powell Seaton. "Halstead, the truth is, after
you young men went out, this evening, to patrol about the island, I
became a little uneasy about that packet, and took it out and hid
it--under some boxes of ammunition in the cupboard where I keep my
gun. Then I locked the closet door. When Dawson called me from the
porch, in such haste, and I was needed on board with my gun, I clean
forgot the packet for the instant."
"Oh, it will be safe, anyway," Tom assured his employer. "Even if
Dalton had been able to get a boat at once, in this neighborhood,
there's no other craft in these waters capable of reaching Lonely
Island earlier than we shall do it."
"I _do_ hope that packet is safe," muttered Mr. Seaton, in a voice
tense with anxiety. "Halstead, you've no notion of the fearful blow it
would be to friends and to myself to have it disappear."
Hearing a slight noise on the opposite side of the deck-house top,
Seaton and Tom Halstead turned together. They were just in time to see
one of the new guards leaning toward them, one hand out as though to
steady himself.
"It's rough footing on deck to-night," said the guard, with a pleasant
laugh, then passed on aft.
Tom took the helm again as the "Restless," after picking up the
landing place with the searchlight, moved into the harbor and went to
her berth.
Powell Seaton led all of his guards but one up to the bungalow. The
eighth man, armed with a rifle, was left aboard the "Restless," with
the searchlight turned on, ready for use at any moment. Tom and Joe
went up to the bungalow with their employer.
"Wait out on the porch for just a little while," called Mr. Seaton, in
a low voice. "And be careful to make no noise that will disturb the
sick man."
Five minutes later Mr. Seaton returned to the porch.
"I've been looking for that packet," he whispered to the young
skipper. "It's safe, so I've left it in the same place."
Then, after a moment, the owner of the bungalow added:
"Captain, you can have your friend, Butts, now, as we can do without
him in the house. I think you three had better turn in on the boat and
get some sleep. Then, soon after daylight, I can have the guard at the
wharf rouse you, for I want you to go over to Beaufort and get
supplies for repairing the wireless outfit at the earliest hour.
Things are likely to happen soon that will make it dangerous for me to
be without wireless communication with land and sea."
Twenty minutes later the three Motor Boat Club boys were stretched out
in their berths in the motor room. It was considerably later, though,
ere sleep came to them. When slumber did reach their eyes they slept
soundly until called by the guard.
Hank prepared a breakfast in record time. After eating this, and after
Hank had been sent up to the house to learn whether there were any
further orders, the Motor Boat Club boys were ready to cast off.
Once they were under way, Hank, not being needed, went aft to stretch
himself on one of the cabin cushions. Joe, having his motors running
smoothly, followed Hank into the cabin. Dawson, however, did not seek
further sleep. He wanted to make a more thorough test than he had done
a few hours before, in order to make sure that the vandals locked in
there the night before had not thought to destroy his beloved wireless
instruments or connections.
"The whole wireless plant is in shape for instant use," he reported,
coming back at last to the bridge deck.
"That's mighty good news," declared Tom Halstead. "With the man we are
working for now we're likely to need the wireless at any minute in the
twenty-four hours."
"Say," ejaculated Joe, after a few moments of silent thought, "there's
something hugely mysterious and uncanny back of all these doings of
less than twenty-four hours. I wonder what that big mystery really
is?"