THE FIRST KINK OF THE PROBLEM SOLVED
Again the roaring chorus rang out.
"What's this? College boys' joke on me, or a floating mad-house?"
huskily roared down the freighter's captain from the bridge.
"It's all right, captain," sang back Tom Halstead. "We'll make it
plain to you as soon as we get a chance. We're neither as bad nor as
dangerous as we seem."
The "Glide's" headway had all but ceased by this time, and the side
gangway was at last in place. The "Restless" was run in close, while
Hank stood up on the top of the forward deck-house with a coil of
line, waiting until it came time to leap across onto the platform of
the freighter's gangway and make the line fast.
As quickly as the line was secured Captain Tom Halstead followed
Butts, and dashed on past him up the steps of the gangway. Ab and Dick
came down to meet him, each grabbing one of the young skipper's hands
and wringing it.
Then they turned to give the same greeting to Joe Dawson, who gasped:
"Gracious, but it _does_ seem good to meet fellows of the Club and
from the old home town at that!"
Mr. Seaton, though following in more leisurely fashion, now passed
them, going on up to the deck. There he met Captain Rawley.
"Don't mind what my young men do, captain," begged the charter-man,
"and don't mind if they delay you for a few minutes. I'll make good
the damage."
"Help yourself to a little of my time, then, sir," grimaced the
freighter's captain. "Anything that I can spare from the proper time
of the run, you understand."
"How on earth do you fellows happen to be on this ship, of all places
in the world?" demanded Tom Halstead.
"Easy enough to explain," laughed Dick Davis. "Port authorities at Rio
were good enough to order six motor boats for harbor purposes. My dad
got the chance of building the boats at his yard at Bath. The Rio
motor boats are on board, down in the hold, and Ab and I are sent
along to deliver the motor boats, put them in running order at Rio,
and, if necessary, teach the natives how to run such craft."
"Did you fellows know we were signaling you by wireless?" Joe was
asking Ab Perkins. "Did you know that you were going to see us?"
"Didn't know a blessed thing about it," admitted Ab Perkins, almost
sheepishly. "Dick and I were asleep in our stateroom. We were getting
ready to come out on deck when we felt the old tub slackening speed.
Then we came out to see what was happening. We looked over the rail,
and--_wow_!"
Ab again seized Joe Dawson's hand, giving it another mighty shake.
Then the irrepressible Ab reached out for Tom's hand, but Dick Davis
was drawing Halstead up on deck.
Readers of the first volume of this series will remember both Ab and
Dick well. They, too, were boys born near the Kennebec River, and took
part in the stirring adventures narrated in THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB OF THE
KENNEBEC, just before Tom and Joe left for the next scenes of their
activities, as related in THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AT NANTUCKET and THE
MOTOR BOAT CLUB OFF LONG ISLAND. Ab Perkins and Dick Davis were two of
the most valued of the early members of the Club.
All in a twinkling, Tom Halstead was seized by an idea. He looked
about for Powell Seaton, saw that gentleman talking with Captain
Rawley, and caught the charter-man's eye.
"See here, Mr. Seaton," whispered Halstead, as soon as he had gotten
his employer aside, "there's no great need for me to go to Rio."
"No?"
"Of course not. Give the papers to Dick Davis, with exact instructions
as to who is to receive them at Rio Janeiro, and those papers will get
into exactly the hands for which you intend them."
"You feel certain of that, Halstead?" demanded Powell Seaton, his
voice tremulous with anxiety.
"Absolutely sure, sir. Dick Davis can be trusted as long the world
holds together. There isn't the faintest yellow streak in him, either.
Square, straight, keen, brave--that's Dick Davis. And Ab Perkins would
go through the jaws of anything with Davis! Why, Mr. Seaton, they're
Motor Boat Club boys! You can trust them to the same degree as you're
willing to trust me. Moreover, they're going down to Rio on a mission
to the Government. They've got a better chance to get ashore,
unmolested and unwatched, than any other stranger would have."
"Get your friends together, then, somewhere where we can have a
private corner," begged Powell Seaton. "We'll talk this matter
over--we've got to talk like lightning, at that."
While Mr. Seaton sought Captain Rawley, Tom shot back along the deck
to where Joe, Hank and the two Rio-bound members of the Motor Boat
Club stood talking.
"Hank," said Tom, in a low voice, "Hepton is all alone down on the
'Restless,' except for our prisoner aft. Hepton may be all right, and
I think he is--but one of our own crowd ought to be on board our
boat."
"I'll be the one, then," half-sighed Hank Butts, turning to descend
the side gangway.
Captain Rawley promptly agreed to turn his own cabin over to the
friends who wanted a private chat.
"But only for five minutes, mind you," he insisted. "Then I must be on
my way."
Behind the closed door of the captain's room Powell Seaton and Tom
Halstead swiftly explained what was wanted.
"Will we do it?" said Dick Davis, repeating the question that had been
asked him. "Why, of course we will. There's only one answer possible.
Tom Halstead is fleet captain of the Motor Boat Club, and a request
from Captain Tom is the same thing as an order."
"You will go straight to the American consulate at Rio Janeiro, then,"
directed Mr. Seaton. "From the consulate you will send a messenger to
bring to you Shipley D. Jarvis, whose address is the American Club.
The American consul will be able to assure you that it is Shipley D.
Jarvis who comes to you. You will turn over these papers to Mr. Jarvis
in the presence of the American consul. A letter from me is in the
envelope with the papers. That is all, except----"
After a brief pause Mr. Seaton went on to caution Dick Davis and Ab
Perkins as to the dangers against which they must guard on the way.
This Tom Halstead supplemented with an exact description of Anson
Dalton and of Captain Dave Lemly, of the now seized "Black Betty."
"Either, or both, of the rascals may board this ship a little further
along," cautioned Mr. Seaton. "Night and day you must be on your guard
against them."
Then Tom Halstead quickly outlined to Davis a system of apparently
common-place wireless messages by means of which Davis might be able
to keep Mr. Seaton informed of the state of affairs, for some days to
come, on board the "Glide."
Some further last instructions were added. Powell Seaton wound up by
forcing a few banknotes into the hands of both these unexpected
messengers.
"Wait until we've succeeded," proposed Dick Davis.
"This is for expense money, for sending wireless messages, and other
things," replied Mr. Seaton. "Your real reward will come later on."
"When we've succeeded," nodded Davis.
So much time had been taken up by this talk that now all had to step
out on deck.
"We're ready to go aboard our boat, sir," Skipper Tom reported.
"You and Dawson go, Halstead," nodded Mr. Seaton. "I want not more
than sixty seconds with Captain Rawley in his own room."
When the charter-man of the "Restless" came out once more the thick
pile of banknotes in his pocket had grown a good deal thinner, but
Captain Rawley had been enlisted as a friend to the cause.
"Good-bye, old chums," cried Dick Davis, gripping a hand of Tom and
Joe with each of his own.
"Good-bye! Good luck now, and all the way through life!" murmured Tom,
earnestly, and with a hidden meaning that Davis caught.
As speedily as Tom and Joe had assisted Powell Seaton aboard the
motor boat, Hank cast off, while the crew of the "Glide" began to
raise the side gangway.
There were more rousing farewells between the two groups of Motor Boat
Club boys. Then the hoarse whistle of the "Glide" sounded, and the
freighter began to go ahead at half-speed.
The "Restless" fell away and astern, yet she followed the freighter.
That she should do so had been understood with Captain Rawley, and
with Dick and Ab. Powell Seaton intended to keep the "Glide" within
sight for at least thirty-six hours, if possible, in order to make
sure that the seventy-foot drab boat did not attempt to put Anson
Dalton or any other messenger on board.
"If we stick to the sea for a hundred years, Joe," laughed Skipper
Tom, as he followed the bigger craft at a distance of eight hundred
feet, "nothing as lucky as this is likely to happen again. I was
afraid I was booked for Rio, for sure, and it made me heartsick to
think of leaving the 'Restless' so long and living aboard a big tub of
an ordinary, steam-propelled ship!"
"I've taken the step, now, and can't very well change it," declared
Mr. Seaton, who looked both pale and thoughtful. "Halstead, all I can
hope and pray for is that your comrades on the ship ahead are as
clever and watchful, as brave and honest as you think."
"If wondering about Dick and Ab is all that ever worries me," laughed
Tom Halstead, easily, "I don't believe I shall ever have any wrinkles.
I know those boys, Mr. Seaton. We were born and raised in the same
little Maine seacoast town, and I'd trust that pair with the errand if
it were my own diamond field at stake."
The fog had lifted sufficiently, by this time, so that clear vision
was to be had for at least a quarter of a mile.
Skipper Tom whistled as he handled the wheel. Joe Dawson was so
relieved in mind that, after a careful look at the motors, he threw
himself upon one of the berths opposite and dozed. Hank put in his
time looking after preparations for supper.
"What ails you, Halstead?" demanded Seaton, pausing abruptly beside
the young skipper.
For the boy had turned, suddenly, to a sickly pallor.
"It has just struck me, sir," confessed the young motor boat skipper,
"that, if Dalton has the slightest suspicion of what we've done to
outwit him, he's just the man who will be desperate enough to put his
whole set of papers in at the nearest cable office for direct sending
to Rio Janeiro!"