OUT OF THE CLOUDS.
Ten minutes or so later, a puff of wind blew the folds of fog apart for a
brief instant. Beneath them Peggy could see a sandy beach and some
scrubby-looking brush. Like a flash she took advantage of the momentarily
revealed opportunity. The _Golden Butterfly_, under her guidance, sank
swiftly, grounding a few seconds later into a bed of soft sand. It was
like lighting on a pillow of down, so gently had the glide to earth been
made.
Shutting off the engine, Peggy took hold of Jimsy's outstretched arm and,
followed by Jess, she jumped lightly out upon the sand. The roar of the
surf, as the big swells rolled upon the beach was in their ears. A
wholesome, stinging tang of salt in their nostrils.
"I wonder where on earth we've landed," said Jimsy, looking about him;
"perhaps this is some enchanted land and we are to face new
perils--dragons or something."
"Well, gallant knight," laughed Jess, in the highest spirits to be back on
the firm ground again--even if it was only shifting sand--"we trust to
you."
"And by my troth," exclaimed the mercurial Jimsy, "ye shall not be
disappointed in me fair damsels. Hullo! an adventure already. Hark!"
Through the smother a dull sound was borne to their ears. A sound that
came in muffled but rhythmic thumps. At intervals it paused, but then was
resumed again.
"Somebody chopping wood!" exclaimed Peggy, recognizing the sound.
"That's just what it is, if I ever wielded an axe in my life," agreed
Jimsy; "now logic tells us that an axe can't work itself. Therefore
somebody must be using it. Where there is human life there is--or ought to
be--food. How about it girls, are you hungry?"
"Hungry! I could eat anything," declared Jess.
"I'm almost as bad," laughed Peggy.
"Well," said Jimsy, "as there is no sign of the fog lifting yet awhile,
what's the matter with our starting out to find the wood-chopper and
seeing if he has anything to eat?"
"Jimsy, you're a genius," cried Jess.
"That's what all my friends tell me," rejoined the modest youth.
They set off over rough sand dunes, overgrown with coarse grass, in the
direction of the sounds of the axe. The sand was loose and their feet sank
ankle deep in it, but they plodded along pluckily.
All at once, just as if a curtain had been drawn, the outlines of a rough
shanty appeared in front of them. It was a tumble-down sort of a place,
seemingly made of driftwood and old sacks and bits of canvas. From a rusty
iron stove-pipe on top, a feeble column of blue smoke was ascending.
The noise of chopping had ceased on their approach and as they stood
hesitating a strange figure suddenly appeared round the corner of the
wretched rookery of a place. The man, who stood facing them, a startled
look in his light blue eyes, was apparently about middle age. He wore a
full beard of a golden brown color and was barefooted and hatless. His
clothes consisted of a tattered shirt and a pair of coarse canvas
trousers.
"Well, shiver my toplights!" he cried as his eyes fell on the trio, "whar
under ther sun did you come from? Drop from ther clouds?"
"That's just what we did," said the debonnaire Jimsy, as the girls drew
back rather affrighted at the weird looking figure and his queer, wild way
of talking.
"What's that? Don't try to fool with me young feller. I ain't as crazy as
I reckon I looks."
There was a certain dignity about the man when he spoke, that, despite
his ragged clothing and miserable habitation, was impressive.
"No, it's really so," Jimsy hastened to assure him, "we--we came in an
aeroplane, you know."
"Well, now," said the man scratching his head, "I reckon that's the first
of them contrivances to reach Lost Brig Island."
"Lost Brig Island," echoed Jess in an alarmed tone; "is this an island?"
"If the geography books still define an island as a body of land
surrounded by water, it is," rejoined the man, with a smile.
"Are we far from Cape Charles?" asked Peggy, eagerly.
"Why, no. Not more than six miles to the north. But what under ther sun
air you young folks in your fine clothes a-doin' out here?"
Peggy hastily explained, and the man said that he had seen some reference
to the coming contests in a stray paper the light-keepers had given him
the last time he passed the lighthouse in a small boat he kept.
"Is the island inhabited?" inquired Jimsy; "we'd like to get something to
eat. If there's a hotel or----."
The man of the island burst into a laugh. Not a rough guffaw, but a laugh
of genuine amusement.
"I guess I'm the only hotel keeper on the island," he said, "and my guests
is sea gulls and once in a while a turtle. But if you don't mind eating
some fish and potatoes, you're welcome to what I have."
"I'm sure that's awfully good of you," said Peggy, warmly, "and we love
fish."
"Well, come on in and sit down. This fog won't last forever. I was
chopping wood to get dinner when I heard you coming over the sands. I
don't often have visitors so you'll have to rough it."
So saying, the strange, lone island dweller led them into his hut. It was
rough inside but scrupulously clean. Some attempts had been made to
beautify it by hanging up on the walls shells and curiosities of the
beach. Here and there, too, were panels of rare woods, which the
island-dweller explained had come from the cabins of wrecked ships. A big
cat, his only companion, lay beside the fire and blinked at the visitors,
as if they were an everyday occurrence.
Chairs, fashioned out of barrels and boxes, stood about, some of them
cushioned after a fashion, with sacking stuffed with dried sea weed.
"Sit down," said their host hospitably, "ain't much to boast of in the way
of furniture, but it's the best I can do. Can't expect to find a Waldorf
Hotel on Lost Brig Island."
"You have been in New York, then?" exclaimed Peggy, struck by the
reference.
The man's face underwent a transformation.
"Once, many years ago," he said, "but I never like to talk about it."
"Why not?" blundered the tactless Jimsy.
"Because a wrong--a very great wrong--was done to me there," said the man
slowly.
Without another word he rose and left the hut. None of the visitors dared
to speak to him, so black had his face grown at the recollections called
up by Peggy's unlucky remark.
After an absence of some moments he came back. He carried a string of
cleaned fish in one hand and a tin measure of potatoes in the other. In
the interval that had elapsed he seemed to have recovered his equanimity.
"Well, here's dinner," he announced in a cheery voice, "it ain't much to
boast of, but hunger's the best sauce."
Sitting on an upturned box he started to peel potatoes, and presently put
them on the fire in a rough iron pot. When they were almost done, a fact
which he ascertained by prodding them with a clean sliver of wood, he set
the fish in a frying pan or "spider," and the appetizing aroma of the meal
presently filled the lowly hut.
On a table formed of big planks, once the hull of some wrecked schooner,
laid on rough trestles, they ate, what Peggy afterward declared, was one
of the most enjoyable dinners of her life. Their host had at one time of
his life been a sailor it would seem. At any rate, he had a fund of
anecdote of the sea and its perils that held them enthralled.
Every now and again, through the open door, Peggy cast a glance outside.
But the fog still hung thick. Suddenly, in the midst of their meal,
footsteps sounded and voices came to their ears.
"Hullo, more visitors!" exclaimed the man of the island starting to his
feet, "this is a day of events with a vengeance. Who can be coming now?"
The footsteps had drawn close now and a voice could be heard saying:
"What a rickety, tumble-down old place. I wonder what kind of savage lives
here."
"Fanning Harding!" gasped Peggy, as another voice struck in. A voice she
instantly knew as Regina Mortlake's.
[Illustration: The next minute the man of the island ushered in his two
new guests.]
"Oh, what a dreadful place. Why won't this miserable fog lift. I'll be
dead before we get back to the hotel."
The man of the island had hastened hospitably out to welcome the
newcomers.
Peggy, Jess and Jimsy exchanged glances. The prospect of spending the
afternoon marooned on an island with Fanning Harding and Regina Mortlake,
was not alluring. But there was no escape. The next minute the man of the
island ushered in his two new guests.
"What, you here?" said Fanning in an ungracious tone, while Regina
Mortlake, more skilled at disguising her feelings, exclaimed:
"Oh, how perfectly wonderful that we should both have landed on the same
island."
"It wasn't from choice," grumbled Fanning in a perfectly audible tone.
Jimsy flushed a dark, dangerous flush.
"Jess, tell me not to punch that chap," he muttered to his sister.
"I certainly do tell you not to," whispered Jess emphatically.
The man of the island looked on wonderingly.
"Did you come in an aeroplane, too?" he asked Fanning in the manner of a
man prepared to hear any marvels.
"Yes. We had the race won, too. But this fog has delayed us. What can you
give us to eat. I can pay for it," said Fanning in a loud, rude tone.
"I don't take pay," said the hut-dweller in a quiet tone that ought to
have caused Fanning to redden with shame, "but if you are hungry I can
cook some more fish. There are plenty of potatoes left."
"They'll be very nice, I'm sure," Regina had the grace to say. But Fanning
mumbled something about "pauper's food."
But nevertheless he ate as heartily as Jimsy himself, when the food was
put on the rough table. It was hard work trying to be pleasant to the two
young people who had so unexpectedly come into their midst, and the
conversation languished and went on by fits and starts.
"Hullo, the fog's lifting," cried Fanning suddenly; "I'm off. Come on
Regina."
The girl rose, and as she did so the trio from the Prescott machine
noticed the island dweller's eyes fixed on her in a curious way.
"Pardon me," he said, "but is your name Regina?"
The girl looked at him in a half-startled way, while Peggy, as she said
afterward, felt as if she was watching a drama.
"Yes," she said; "why?"
"Because," said the island dweller slowly, "because I once knew someone
called Regina who was very dear to me."
"Come on," called Fanning from outside, "we've got to win this race back."
The girl lingered hesitatingly an instant and the next moment was gone.
"The fog is lifting," said Peggy, "we must be going, too. Come along Jess.
Come on, Jimsy, we don't want to let the Mortlake craft beat us at the
eleventh hour."
"What name was that you just mentioned?" asked the man of the island,
quickly. He was bending forward eagerly, as if to catch the answer.
"Do you mean Mortlake?"
"Yes, that's the name. What of him? Do you know him?"
The man's eyes gleamed brightly. He seemed to be much excited. Peggy
answered him calmly, although she felt as if some sort of a life tragedy
was working out to swift conclusion.
"Of course, Mr. Eugene Mortlake is the man who is manufacturing the
Mortlake aeroplane. He is our chief rival. That's the reason we must hurry
off."
"Why, did they?" the man nodded his head in the direction in which Fanning
and Regina had vanished, "did they come in a Mortlake aeroplane?"
"Yes," said Peggy, "didn't you know? That girl is Mr. Mortlake's
daughter, Regina Mortlake."
The man gave a terrible cry and reeled backward. Jimsy stepped forward
quickly and caught him. For an instant they thought their host was going
to swoon. But he quickly recovered.
"Good heavens," he cried, "Eugene Mortlake is here. Close at hand?"
"He is in Hampton--why?"
"I must see him as soon as possible. No, I can explain nothing now. But I
must see him."
The man's manner showed that he was terribly in earnest. He seemed almost
carried away by excitement. Outside came suddenly a whirring sound.
"Fanning is starting his engine," exclaimed Jimsy; "we must hurry."
"Will you do something for me--will you aid a miserable outcast to right a
great wrong?" pleaded the ragged man who faced them.
"What can we do for you?" asked Jimsy.
"Take me back to Hampton in your aeroplane. I must see Mortlake at once.
It is imperative I tell you. See, I am not poor, although I appear so."
In two strides the man had crossed the room and lifting a board in the
floor he drew forth bag after bag. The seams of some of them were rotten.
Under the sudden strain they broke and streams of gold coin trickled out
upon the floor.
"Years ago when I was first an exile here," said the man, "a Spanish ship
came ashore one stormy night. Not a soul of her crew was saved. I found
this money in the wreck. I will give you half of it if you will take me to
Hampton with you. The other half I must keep till--till I learn from
Mortlake's lips the secret he holds."
"Put your money back," said Jimsy quietly after a telegraphic exchange of
looks with Peggy, "we'll take you to Hampton; but hurry!"
Fifteen minutes later a golden-hued aeroplane flashed past the Cape
Charles light. The announcer posted there, instantly sent in a wireless
flash to Hampton.
"Number Six has just passed. Two minutes behind Number Five (The _Silver
Cobweb_), four persons on board."
Mortlake was among the crowd that read the bulletin which was instantly
posted upon the field outside Hampton.
"I wonder who the fourth can be?" he thought, little guessing that through
the air fate was winging its way toward him.
"Anyway," he added to himself the next instant, "the _Mortlake_ is
leading. Now if only----"
But what was that roar, at first a sullen boom, gradually deepening into
the excited skirling cheers of a vast throng.
Mortlake looked round, startled. Out of the distance two tiny dots,
momentarily growing larger, like homing birds, had come into view. Hark!
What was that the crowd were shouting? Those with field glasses threw the
cry out first, and then came a mighty roar, as it was caught up by
hundreds of throats.
"The Nameless! The Nameless wins!"
Mortlake paled, and caught at a post erected to hold up a telephone line.
He gazed at the oncoming aeroplanes. There were three of them now, but one
was far behind, laboring slowly. But the first was unquestionably the
_Golden Butterfly_. He could catch the yellow glint of her wings. And that
second craft--its silvery sheen betrayed it--was the Mortlake _Cobweb_, as
Roy had called it.
"Come on! Come on!" shouted Mortlake, uselessly as he knew, "what's the
matter with you?"
But alas, the _Cobweb_ didn't "come on." Some three or four minutes after
the _Golden Butterfly_ had alighted and been swallowed up in a surging,
yelling throng of enthusiasm-crazed aero fans, the _Cobweb_ fluttered
wearily to the ground, unnoticed almost amid the excitement over the
_Golden Butterfly's_ feat.
Mortlake raged, old Mr. Harding almost wept, and Fanning sulkily explained
that it wasn't his fault, the cylinders having overheated again. But not
all of this could wipe out those figures that had just been put up on the
board, which proclaimed a victory for the Prescott aeroplane by a margin
of three and twenty-one hundredths minutes!