ADRIFT.
At first Fritz had no idea of what could have happened, but it did not
take him long to come to one conclusion on the matter, that he had
been captured at night, thrust into the frail boat, and sent adrift on
the ocean. Who had been the authors of the job? There could be no
doubt in his mind about that.
The Greyvilles--or the Greggs, as he believed they were--were anxious
to have him leave the neighborhood, and had probably, through their
agents, caused his removal in this very promiscuous manner.
By an effort he sat up in the little boat and gazed around him. He was
now some distance from the beach, beyond the white-capped breakers,
and, as the tide was receding, the frail craft was of course drifting
farther and farther from land each moment, a reflection that might
have caused any one a start, while to Fritz, bound and helpless, it
was the next thing to being alarming.
"Vel, py shimminy dunder!" was his exclamation, as he gazed dolefully
around him. "Off I don'd vas in a duyfel off a fix, den I don'd vant a
cent. They've come von cute game ofer me, und I'll bet a half-dollar I
go down der same throat vot Jonah did--der w'ale's. Vonder vich von
off dem vellers put up der shob on me? I'd like to punch his nose.
Reckon id vas dot veller whose eyes I placked mit Jersey plue up at
der pig-nic. I vonder vot der plazes a veller can do, anyhow?"
There was a sorry prospect for his being able to do anything much
toward helping himself from the unenviable situation in which he had
been placed. He was unable to use his hands or feet, and was,
therefore, helpless and at the mercy of the wild waters over which he
was drifting.
Did he have the use of hands and feet he was not yet out of danger,
for the boat was without oars and the distance to the land was so
great as to make it a daring attempt to breast the outgoing tide in a
struggle to reach the shore by swimming.
Still, it seemed the only hope for him, if by any way he could free
himself of the straps which bound him, and he was not the one to
despair without first proving to his satisfaction that it was the
only thing left for him to do.
Therefore he set to work industriously in an attempt to loosen the
bonds from his hands. Luckily they were not bound behind his back,
which was one advantage, as he could use his teeth upon them.
But, being leather straps, he made slow headway, nibbling at the strap
around his hand; but little by little it yielded, so that after awhile
a violent wrench broke it asunder, and his hands were free.
"Py shimminy, dot ish goot, anyhow," he muttered, making haste to
unloosen his feet. "Now, der next t'ings is somedings else. How ish I
going to got pack mit der shore?"
It was an all-important question.
The boat was perhaps a mile farther from shore than when he first had
estimated the distance.
"I don'd know vedder I can swum dot furder or not," he muttered,
doubtfully. "But subbosin' der whale, or der duyfel-fish, catch 'old
mit mine pootleg, und suck me in under der vater. Vot a duyfel o' a
fix I'd be in den. Off I only had some paddles, I vould haff no
droubles getting to shore vid der poat."
He was in the midst of these reflections when he heard a shout farther
out at sea, and for the first time beheld dimly a dusky object
floating in the water not far ahead of him.
"Hello! who you vas, und vot you vant?" Fritz shouted, in answer.
"I am a poor devil more or less drowned, and can't hang on to this
barrel much longer. Be you man or devil, for Heaven's sake hurry along
with your boat."
"All righd. I vil pe dere in der sweedness py-und-py. Keep a stiff
upper lip, und I'll got you soon," the young detective replied,
heartily. "Dere's nodding like hang-on at der critical minute."
Kneeling, and leaning over the front part of the boat, he used his
hands as propellers, and in this way was able to improve the slow
progress of his light craft to some extent, and in a few moments was
alongside the barrel, on top of which a drenched human was balancing
himself.
At a glance Fritz perceived who it was.
"Hartly!" he exclaimed, in surprise.
"Yes, what's left of me," the sentenced smuggler replied, clambering
into the boat. "Thank Heaven you came along just as you did, for my
gripe wouldn't hold out much longer."
"Vel, I should dink not. I'd giffen you up ash dead. How ish it dot
you don'd vas kilt by der smugglers?"
"It is no fault of theirs," Hartly replied, grimly. "They chucked me
under night afore last, miles out at sea, supposing my hands and feet
were bound, and a heavy stone tied to my head. But while they were
rowing me out, I contrived to loosen up matters, so that I was really
free the minute I struck water. But I went under all the same to
deceive them. When they headed for shore I arose to the surface, and
after swimming about until nearly exhausted, I caught onto this empty
cask, which has in one sense been my salvation. By the tides I have
been carried quite near to the shore, but my lower limbs being numb by
remaining so long in the water, I dared not attempt to swim ashore,
and the outgoing tide has carried me out again--not so far as it
would, however, if I had not struggled shoreward constantly. But how
come you out here, in this frail shell, without even oars?"
Fritz explained as far as he had known, and Hartly scowled.
"There'll be a reckoning for some one," he said, "if I ever succeed in
getting ashore. But there's not much prospect of that, unless we can
get some oars, or something to pull ashore with. The tide will begin
to ebb in before a great while, too."
"I haff von idea," Fritz said. "Uff ve can got der parrel apart, we
might do somedings vid der staves--vot you t'ink apoud _dot_?"
"Good idea. We can easily get the staves."
Hartly drew the barrel up alongside the boat, and soon had it knocked
to pieces, and four of the staves secured.
"Now, then, for shore," he cried. "When we get there, I will leave
you, on business, for a few hours, after which I will join you, and we
will work together against the Gregg gang. We will paddle to land on
the lower side of the bluff, as it wouldn't be particularly healthy
for me to land in front of the village. You can, and in fact, had
better keep shady, in the vicinity of the old rookery on the bluff,
and I will join you, as soon as possible."
Accordingly they paddled as rapidly toward the beach as their strength
would permit. By the time it was daybreak they had landed below the
bluff.
Here they drew the light boat up on the beach, and Hartly said:
"I'll leave you now, but will return, in the course of a few hours."
"All righd. I vil remain in der neighborhood," Fritz replied, and then
the young smuggler clambered up the side of the bluff, and was soon
gone from view.
"I vonder vot dot veller ish oop to, now," Fritz muttered, after he
had gone. "Der is somet'ing he vas goin' to do, vot he ain'd
purticular apoud my knowing somedings apoud. I have haff a notion dot
he ain'd vos so nice a veller vot I firsd t'ought, und I vouldn't pe
much surprised if he vould give me avay off he got a chance. But, oh!
I'll keep watch of him! I've got der smugglers und der kidnapper
spotted, und I'll bet a half-dollar id don'd vas be some centuries
till I get 'em trapped. In der meantime, der is somet'ing I vant to
investigate."
This was something he had noticed as he and Hartly had paddled in to
the shore from the ocean.
In about the center of the bluff, at the water's edge, as it faced the
open Atlantic, was a dark hole of considerable size, which looked as
if it might lead to a cavern in the hill.
If Hartly knew of its existence, he had kept it a secret, but our
German detective had noticed it, and resolved to see where the
aperture led to.
Under any other circumstances he would not have given it a second
thought, but the fact that the smugglers held out in this vicinity--of
which he now had no doubt--gave that hole in the bluff more than
ordinary significance.
Jumping into the boat he paddled off once more into the water, and
headed toward the front of the bluff.
Not knowing what danger he might unexpectedly run into, he had drawn
his revolver, which, strangely enough his captors had not taken from
him, and placed it on the stern seat beside him.
Working silently but steadily along the face of the bluff, which was
quite perpendicular, he soon came before the aperture, and headed his
boat into it.
* * * * *
Mr.--or, as he styled himself, Honorable--Granby Greyville sat in his
private study this same morning, engaged in smoking a cigar, as he
rocked in an easy-chair and gazed out through an open glass door upon
the pretty lawn.
That his thoughts were of an unpleasant nature was evident by a frown
which disfigured his florid countenance.
And this frown did not lessen, but rather increased as there suddenly
appeared in the doorway no less a wild-looking personage than Silly
Sue, whom Fritz had encountered upon the beach.
She made a grimace and sort of a jerky bow as she saw his honor, and
then stood staring at him in a strange manner.
"Well!" he growled, angrily, "what brings you here?"
"What allus brings me?" she replied, with a chuckle. "I want to come
back and play up high-cockolorum, like my big-feelin' sister. S'pose
that's silly, too, ain't it, daddy?"
"No more so than your accursed obstinacy, you fool!" was the severe
reply. "You well know the only terms that can ever restore you as a
member of my family."
"But I won't accept 'em!"
"Then clear out. You shall never be anything to me till you surrender
the stolen money."
"Bah! it ain't yours! You're a bad, wicked man, and you got it
wickedly, and get all your wealth wickedly, and the more you get the
wickeder you get. Get out! I'd cut my head off, silly's I am, before
I'd give you up the money."
"Curses on your mulishness!"
"Ha! ha! I know you cherish the most fatherly regard for me. If it
wasn't for the hope that I will some day restore you your lost ten
thousand you'd had me drowned months ago. By the way, old man, what
have you done with my feller?"
"Your fellow?"
"Yes--Hal Hartly."
"How should I know anything about him?"
"Who should know better? Oh! you wicked monster!"
"Take care, girl!"
"No, I won't take care!" and her eyes flashed in defiance of his
anger. "I ain't a bit afraid of you, because I can outrun any dog in
the town. I know what's become of Hal. Your tools took him out and
chucked him under. But, ha! ha! he's all right!"
Greyville started a little.
"What foolishness is this of yours?"
"Oh! only silliness, of course," and she laughed loudly. "But Hal's
all right, and, now that his scruples have had a pickle, I allow he'll
come around to my cherished plan, and we'll make it warm for you!"
"What! you dare to threaten _me_?"
"Didn't I tell you I'd go for you if you didn't reform? Well, I must
be off. How's my stately sister? How's the countess? Ha! ha! ha! shoot
her. She's an old hag, with a glass eye and false teeth. The future
Mrs. G! Bah! and such a model private excursion steamer, too! Still,
it serves its purpose. I'm off now--just come up to spice your
breakfast. Better mend your ways. The way of the transgressor is hard.
By-by! Yours, truly, Silly Sue!"
And then, with a wild laugh, she vanished.