"Hold on!" said the agent abruptly.
A dark figure had risen up before them; and as the moonlight fell upon
the man Jack saw that it was in truth the Indian guide who had been with
the "professor" in the noisy motor boat.
"Did you get him, Josh?" demanded the employer, eagerly.
"He lies under hemlock, tied hand and foot. No danger he get away," came
the confident reply.
"All right," said the other. "Come along with me, John. These boys will
guard the cabin and not let any one steal the hidden goods. We have
other work cut out for us. We want to get our hands on that head man,
Glenwood. So long as he is at large there can be no peace on the
border."
Great was the astonishment of the five boys when Jack and his companions
made their appearance on the shore, and the former called to have the
small boats pushed in, so that they might come aboard.
"Jack, what's all this mean?" asked George, greatly excited.
"Can't tell you everything just now, fellows," the other replied. "This
gentleman is a government revenue agent, and he's on the track of a band
of smugglers who have been using this island as a place to land goods
brought over from Canada. He captured three, but the leader got away.
George, he wants to borrow your boat."
"What?" gasped the other, astounded beyond measure.
"He and his man and myself will go with you, Josh changing over," Jack
continued. "While we're gone the rest of you keep on the watch and don't
let anybody come aboard, no matter who he is. These scoundrels have
captured the _Flash_."
"Now, what d'ye know about that?" exclaimed Nick, as he helped Josh over
the side of the big _Comfort_, so as to make room for the others who
were to go in the speed boat.
"But George, you haven't said yet whether you are willing to chase the
_Flash_, and try to overtake her?" said the energetic agent.
"Sure I am," came the ready response; "and I believe we can get her, if
nothing happens to my motor. I've had some hard luck with it when I
tried to push the thing to the limit. But tumble in here, and we'll be
off."
George was trembling with delightful anticipations. If anything in all
the world appealed to him it was a race. None of the others had the same
feeling, and, like Jack, they preferred comfort in a boat beyond speed,
though none were averse to making good time.
Everybody wanted to help, and as many hands make light work, the
_Wireless_ was in condition to start almost as soon as the two men
climbed aboard.
"Sit as near the middle as you can, please, to balance her," the others
heard the skipper say, as she shot away.
"Yes," called out Nick, derisively, "and be sure your hair is parted in
the middle, or it's all up with you. I know, because I was there for
some four weeks."
"Which way, sir?" asked George, wisely paying no attention to this
shout, which, after all, was Nick's only method for getting even, after
all the agony he had endured in that cranky narrow motor boat.
"Turn to port, and head for the upper part of the island. We haven't
wasted much time, and I hope to discover that boat somewhere," replied
the agent.
"If we do," said George, with firmness, "make up your mind the good old
_Wireless_ is going to hang on like a bulldog till she cuts down the
lead, and overhauls that _Flash_. Always said she had the look of a
pirate, and others thought the same thing, it seems, since those men
picked her out as the boat they could use."
"Just think of Clarence and Joe being in their hands all this time,"
remarked Jack, as they tore through the water. "Must seem like a pretty
tough vacation for those boys, all right."
"Oh! I don't suppose Glenwood has really harmed them," said the agent;
"but he's a hard man to deal with; and unless they knuckled down to him
perhaps they've felt his fist before now. I'm hoping that, perhaps, when
Clarence sees who is after him he may find some way to slow down and let
us overhaul him."
George only laughed at this and remarked:
"That's because you don't know Clarence, sir. He hates me like poison,
and sooner than have me beat him with my boat I believe he'd take the
chances of staying in the power of those smugglers for a month. Oh! no,
when he sees who is after him he'll put things at top-notch speed, and
try every trick he knows how to win out. But I'm not afraid, if only
things go right with my engine."
"Look yonder!" cried the eagle-eyed agent just then, the Indian having
pulled his coat sleeve and pointed ahead.
"Say, that's her, as sure as fate!" cried George, as he altered the
course of his own boat a little.
"And they know we're after them, too," remarked Jack.
"Then the race is on; and good luck attend the better boat," said the
government agent, coolly taking out a cigar, biting off the end, and
proceeding to apply a lighted match to the same.
They were fairly flying through the water. On either side the waves
parted, and rolled over smothered in foam; while in their wake a roller
kept following close on their heels.
"Twenty miles if anything?" the gentleman guessed.
"More than that, sir," replied the skipper, proudly; "but she can do
better still. I've got another notch to let out if I have to. Don't want
to take the chances unless it's positively necessary; because you see
the quivering rattles her so much. Are we holding our own, do you think,
Jack?"
"I am sure of that," came the reply. "And if you asked me again I'd say
we are gaining a little all the while."
"Bully old _Wireless!_" exclaimed George, his voice filled with pride.
"She can do the stunt all right if only something don't happen to throw
us out of our gear. She's a wonder, that's what, and I've always said
so. Talk about sprinting, did you ever go as fast as this in a small
boat, sir?"
"I certainly never have," replied the government agent; and from the way
he was staggering around, clutching hold of every object that promised
to keep him erect, it looked as though he might just as well have added:
"and Heaven deliver me from ever experiencing it again."
"Everybody keep a sharp lookout for rocks or anything of the sort," said
George; "because those men must know this region like a book, and it
would be just like 'em to lead us in a trap, so we'd be wrecked."
"Yes, you're correct there, George," observed the agent, "and I give you
credit for having a long head. That's the kind of chaps you're up
against right now, full of trickery; desperate men, whose one idea is
escape."
"This moonlight is all right as long as the other boat isn't any further
away than she is," remarked George a minute or two later.
"I'm sorry to state that you can't count on the candle up in the sky
much longer," remarked the gentleman; "for there is a suspicious bank of
black clouds hovering near, and at any time she's apt to be eclipsed."
"All right," and George laughed a bit hysterically, since he was
laboring under so great a strain of excitement. "Jack, would you mind
attending to my searchlight. Then we'll be ready for the trouble when
she comes."
And a couple of minutes later, when the dark mask did cover the face of
the moon, a long vivid white gleam reached out from the brass
searchlight on the forward deck of the quivering speed boat. It widened
as it extended in the distance; and plainly seen was the flitting craft
they pursued. The position of the _Flash_ could be detected better by
means of the white foam-tipped waves thrown aside by her swift passage,
rather than by viewing the boat itself.
"That's splendid!" remarked the government agent, as he looked along
this lane of illumination, and watched the desperate struggles of the
_Flash_ to outrun her determined pursuers.
"Still picking up on her, ain't we, Jack?" asked George, after a little.
"No doubt about that, I think," came the reply. "And I guess you were
right when you declared the good old _Wireless_ was the better boat. She
can certainly walk over the water some. I would enjoy this more if it
was day-time."
"I guess we all would," laughed the gentleman, still gripping hold of
the brass rail to make sure he might not be plunged overboard should
anything suddenly go wrong.
"If only the engine behaves half-way decent," sighed George. "She's
doing nobly right now, though, ain't she, Jack? But I hope they don't
toll us in among the rocks. If we ever come slap up against one at this
rate there's going to be some high vaulting, I tell you. Whew! did you
see that one sticking out of the water? I just swerved in time, though.
Keep watching, everybody, and tell me quick if you see anything ugly
ahead!"
Their pace was not abated a particle, even though George knew that new
perils were strewn in their course. If that other boat ahead could speed
through this same tortuous channel he believed he dared take the same
chances. And George had always been reckoned a daring boy by his
schoolmates, in football games or on the diamond; so that this
venturesome spirit was no new freak on his part.
It was only by the greatest effort that he refrained from throwing on
the last atom of speed, and hastening the overtaking of the fugitive
motor boat.
They were rushing on at this tremendous pace, and constantly gaining,
when George gave vent to a sudden loud exclamation.