The two men stopped and listened a moment, when Tom Pearce
started to go toward the door, exclaiming:
"Something has scared Renie!"
"Hold on! Nothing is the matter with the girl," said Garcia.
"How do you know?" retorted the old smuggler; and he made
another step toward the door, when the man Garcia suddenly
dealt him a blow with a club.
The blow was a powerful one, and it brought the old man to the
floor, which laid him insensible upon the broad of his back.
Meantime, the detective had overheard the scream; and had slid
away from his hiding-place, and started to run toward the
point from whence the cry had come.
Spencer Vance was convinced that the scream had been uttered
by Renie, and, remembering Sol Burton's attack upon the girl,
he suspected the man had renewed his attempt.
The detective ran for some distance, and saw no one; and his
anxiety became intense lest some real harm had befallen the
helpless girl. He could not understand what had become of
her. When he first heard the cry, it did not appear as though
the screamer could be more than a few hundred feet distant
from where he lay ensconced; but he had covered thousands of
square feet, and could see nothing of the girl, or, indeed,
was there a living soul visible.
The detective was straining his eyes in glances in every
direction when he caught sight of the figure of a man moving
stealthily across the sand.
The detective started to follow the man, and speedily
discerned that the stealthy prowler was the man Garcia.
The latter had not seen the detective, and our hero kept upon
his track, following him to the shore. On the beach were
gathered a group of men, and in their midst Vance beheld the
girl Renie.
At a glance the detective took in the situation, Garcia,
despairing of success with the old smuggler, had determined to
kidnap the girl.
There were three men besides the man Garcia, and four to one
was pretty good odds; besides, the detective knew the men to
be desperate and well prepared to fight. What should he do?
He could not stand by and see the fair, helpless girl carried
oft; and yet he was alone, and had no one to call upon for
assistance.
Lying off the shore was a sloop-yacht, and on the beach was a
boat; the intention of the men was apparent. It was their
purpose to carry the girl off to the yacht.
Spencer Vance was an experienced officer, well posted in all
the tricks and devices of his craft, and he at once began to
carry out a scheme.
He took up a position behind a sand-rift, and commenced to
shriek and scream like a woman; and a moment later he became
aware that his ruse was successful; two men came running
toward the place where he lay concealed and as they approached
the detective leaped to his feet. He had the men at a
disadvantage; they were not expecting an attack, and were
unprepared.
The detective, however, was ready to receive them as they ran
down the incline, and quick as lightning sprung upon the two
men. The men were both stunned, and were down before they had
a chance to make an outcry.
Having disposed of the two men, the detective advanced toward
the point on the beach where the two remaining men stood. He
walled straight up to the kidnappers, who stood and gazed at
him in amazement.
"Heh, Renie!" he called, "are you going willingly with these
men?"
The men answered for the girl:
"Yes; she is going with us. Who are you, and what have you
got to say about it?"
"When I speak, it will be from these; you fellows get in your
boat or I fire!"
"Who are you?" came the question.
"Get in your boat, and leave, or down you go! The other two
chaps are settled."
"But give us an explanation."
One of the men made a movement to draw his weapon, but the
detective called:
"Hold on there, my friend! And now, you fellows, get in your
boat, or at the call of three it will be too late!"
"One!" called the detective, and he made one step nearer the
men.
"Two!" he called a second later, and he advanced another step.
The men did not wait for the third call, but leaped into their
boat.
The detective advanced to the spot where Renie stood, and in a
low voice, he said:
"Am I right?"
The girl made no reply.
A suspicion of the truth flashed through the detective's mind,
and he said:
"Renie, run to your father's cabin, the road is clear!"
The girl, who had stood speechless during the whole time that
the exciting incidents we have described were transpiring,
suddenly bounded away, but without speaking one word.
The detective called to the two men in the boat:
"Don't you fellows land again, or it will cost you your
lives!"
The men made no reply, and the detective moved away in the
same direction that had been pursued by Renie. He had gone
less than a hundred feet, when he met the girl coming toward
him.
The detective was both amused and pleased. He realized that
in case of an emergency the girl would be of great help.
"Never mind, my child, I've settled 'em!" he said:
Still the girl made no reply, and it was then the detective
discovered that she had been gagged. He also discovered that
her arms had been secured, so she could not raise them to her
head.
It took him but a moment to release her with his knife, when
she exclaimed:
"I thank you for coming to my aid; but where are the villains?"
"I reckon they've gone off to their boat; but come, we will
see. With such a noble and brave ally I would not hesitate to
invite a scrimmage with half a dozen of them."
The detective's guess proved correct. The two men whom he had
first dropped had evidently recovered their senses, and had
joined their pals on the beach, as a boat bearing four persons
could be seen moving off toward the yacht.
As our readers can well imagine, it was not because of the
detective's warning that the men pulled away to their boat.
Garcia remembered that he had stricken down the old smuggler,
and it was the consequences of that act which made him anxious
to get away.
"There they go, Renie!"
"Yes; thanks to you, I am not going with them;" answered the
girl.
"Why was the assault made upon you, my child?"
"You are my friend; I will tell you all now. That man Garcia
is a villain! He has made all manner of propositions to me to
induce me to leave the coast and go to the city with him, but
I knew the man to be a villain, a murderer, and criminal of
the worst sort, and I refused all his offers."
"On what pretense did he make offers to you, my child?"
"Oh, he told me I was fitted to adorn a mansion, that this
life with these rough fishermen was no life for me, and that
he would take me to live as his child in luxury and splendor."
"In one respect, Renie, the man told you truly. You are not
fitted to dwell among these rough men around here."
"I know that well enough, but I will not leave my father, and
when I do I shall not place myself under the protection of a
man like Garcia."
"Who is this man Garcia?"
"He is a Cuban, or rather his father was a Cuban, and his
mother, as I've heard him say, was an Irish lady. I think he
is one of the capitalists engaged in the smuggling trade; and
that he is a villain and scoundrel I know!"
"He had a long interview with Tom Pearce to-night."
"Yes; I requested you to be a listener to their talk. What
did you overhear?"
"Tom Pearce is an honest and good man, as far as you are
concerned; the fellow Garcia was seeking with the offer of
bribes to induce the old man to take you to New York and
surrender you to his keeping. He used the same arguments with
your father that he used with you."
"And what did my father say to his propositions?"
"He gave no decided answer; but one thing is certain, the old
man would never surrender you to that fellow if he had the
least suspicion that any harm would come to you."
"What has occurred this night will convince him, I reckon."
"Yes, I should say so," responded the detective.
"I would not have gone to that man's house even had my father
consented. I have a mind and will of my own; and now that I
am on my guard I will take care of myself against any such
attacks in future."
"I don't know, Renie; I do not think you will be safe here."
"The men around here will protect me."
At that moment a diminutive shadow was cast on the sand in
front of Renie and the detective, and a moment later a little
fellow, a mere child seemingly in years, appeared before them.
"Hello, Tommy, where did you come from?" demanded Renie.
"I want to speak to you, Renie."
"Well, speak out, Tommy."
"I won't speak before anyone. I've awful news to tell you."
"Go and hear what the lad has to say to you," suggested Vance.
Renie stepped aside with the lad, when the latter whispered in
a low tone:
"Sol Burton has made trouble."
"What has he done?"
"He told the men that you gave that man warning, and they're
awful mad at you, and they've put up a job to get the man into
a quarrel."
"Where are the men now?"
"Down to Rigby's."
"They expect the detective down there to-night?"
"Yes."
"And Sol Burton was the man who told them I gave the detective
warning?"
"Yes."
"You go down to Rigby's and listen to what goes on, and in
about an hour come up and report to me."
"Where will you be?"
"At the cabin."
Tom Pearce's house was generally called the cabin, as the
timbers and other materials of which it was constructed were
portions of a wreck that had come ashore many years
previously.
Tommy bid the girl good-night, and the latter returned to the
detective.
"Well, is the communication confidential?"
"You are in great peril."
"Am I?"
"You are."
"From which quarter does the danger threaten me?"
"Sol Burton has reported against me."
"What has he reported?"
"He has told the men that I warned you, and that is the reason
you did not go off in the yacht."
"The men will not harm you, I reckon."
"No, they will not harm me."
"Then I reckon no harm is done."
"The men have sworn to get square with you to-night!"