A CHASE UP THE COAST
“You saw her sail for Portland!” cried Sam.
“Less than an hour ago?” exclaimed Tom.
“Where from?” queried Dick, quickly. “Hurry up and tell me—it will be
money in your pocket.”
“The Mary Delaway sailed from Cruser’s dock,” answered the old sailor.
“That’s about four blocks from here. I can show you the place. But you
can’t get aboard, messmates—she’s gone.”
“We must catch her!” ejaculated Dick. “No matter at what cost, we must
catch her. How can we do it?”
“Can’t we follow her in a motor boat, or a steam launch?” asked Tom.
“You can follow her in a tug,” said the old tar. “But she is out of sight
now.”
“Do you know where she is going to land in Portland?” asked Sam.
“No.”
“Do you know anybody on board?”
“I know Jack Crumpet. He sailed in the old Resolute with me. I went to
see him—that’s how I know the Mary Delaway sailed.”
“You were on board?” asked Dick.
“No, I wasn’t—I saw Jack on the dock. He said as how the cap’n had given
orders for nobuddy to come aboard—why, I don’t know.”
“Well, I know,” muttered Dick. “It was to keep their villainous doings
secret. Who did you see on the schooner?”
“I saw several men and two ladies. One lady looked kind of excited.”
“It must have been Mrs. Stanhope!” murmured Dick. “Come!” he cried. “Let
us get some kind of a boat and follow that schooner.”
The Rover boys were accustomed to quick action, and they had supplied
themselves with plenty of ready cash to use in case of emergency.
Consequently, it was an easy matter for them to pick up a steam tug at
one of the docks. The captain said he would willingly follow up the Mary
Delaway and try to overtake her if he was paid for it.
“Will you go along?” asked Dick, of the old tar. “I want you to aid in
picking up that schooner. You know her by sight. I will pay you good
wages.”
“I’ve signed articles for a trip to Africy, starting next week Thursday,”
answered Larry Dixon, for such was the sailor’s name.
“We’ll get you back long before that time,” answered Dick. “And pay you a
nice salary in the bargain.”
“Then I’m your man, messmate,” responded Larry Dixon.
While the steam tug was getting ready to leave, Dick called up Spud on
the telephone and acquainted their college chum with what had occurred.
“When will you be back?” asked Spud.
“I don’t know,” replied Dick. “Better not wait for us. This may prove a
long chase.”
“Well, I hope you rescue the lady, get back the fortune, and land those
rascals in jail,” said Spud.
The steam tug carried a crew of six, all good, strong, hearty fellows. In
a few brief words Dick and his brothers explained to the captain how
matters stood, and Captain Wells promised to aid them all he could in
thwarting the plans of the evildoers. He was armed, and said he could
lend the Rovers some pistols if they wanted them.
“I reckon the Mary Delaway will take the regular route to Portland—that
is, so far as the wind will allow,” said the owner of the tug. “We’ll
follow that route just as fast as our steam will permit. But let me give
you a tip. Perhaps it will be better for you to merely follow ’em to
Portland, and have them locked up when they reach that place. If you
tackle ’em on the high seas they may show fight and get the best of you.”
“I’ll think that over,” answered Dick, slowly. “But meanwhile crowd on
all steam and get after them. Never mind using up your coal—we’ll pay for
it.”
The docks were soon left behind, and the black smoke pouring from the
funnel told how the fireman was doing his best to make steam. But it was
now late, and it would soon become a problem, as to whether it would be
advisable to run so fast during the night. They might pass the schooner
without knowing it.
“I’ll leave the matter to you, Captain Wells,” said Dick, after talking
the matter over with his brothers. “I’ll pay you your regular price for
chartering the tug, and one hundred dollars additional if we succeed in
rescuing Mrs. Stanhope.”
“I’ll do my level best for you, Mr. Rover,” responded the captain. “I’ll
talk to my crew.” And he did, promising each man an extra five dollars if
they succeeded in doing what the Rovers desired. As a consequence every
man, including Larry Dixon, was constantly on the lookout for the Mary
Delaway.
Inside of an hour Boston Harbor had been left well behind, and then the
bow of the steam tug was turned up the coast in the direction of
Portland, about a hundred miles distance. The day was now over and the
lights on the tug were lit.
“Don’t see anything of the Mary Delaway yet,” remarked Larry Dixon. “I’m
afraid we’ll have to shut up shop till mornin’.”
“Could the schooner reach Portland by that time?” asked Sam.
“She’d be there early in the morning,” answered the old sailor.
“Then we had better run for Portland, too,” said Tom. “We might hang
around outside the harbor on the watch.”
It was a clear night, with no moon, but with countless stars bespangling
the heavens. The boys and some of the others remained on the watch,
although they could see but little.
“It would be great if we had a searchlight,” said Sam.
“Just the thing!” cried Tom. “But we haven’t any, so what’s the use of
talking about it?”
“Might as well try to get some sleep,” said Captain Wells, about nine
o’clock. “I can call you if anything turns up.”
“We’ll stay up a couple of hours yet,” answered Dick, although the
excitement of the day had worn him out.
But not a sight of the schooner was seen, and one after another the Rover
boys laid down to get a few hours’ sleep. Captain Wells allowed them to
rest until six o’clock. By that time they were standing around near the
entrance to Portland harbor.
“See anything yet?” asked Dick, as he sprang up from the berth upon which
he had been resting.
“Not yet,” answered the captain of the tug.
“You don’t think they got here ahead of us?”
“No, for we have been here for several hours.”
The boys got up and washed, and then had breakfast. In the meantime the
steam tug cruised around, and those on board watched eagerly for a sign
of the Mary Delaway.
Thus two hours passed. As the time went by the three Rovers grew more
anxious than ever.
“What do you make of this, Dick?” asked Tom.
“I don’t know what to make of it, Tom.”
“It looks to me as if they had given us the slip,” said Sam.
“If they didn’t come here, where did they go to?”
“I don’t know. What did that scrap of paper say?”
“That spoke of Slay’s Island. But none of the men on this tug ever heard
of such a place.”
“That is not to be wondered at, Dick,” went on Sam. “I understand there
are scores of islands in Casco Bay. It isn’t likely these men from Boston
would know the names of all of ’em.”
They remained around the entrance to Portland harbor until noon and then
Dick ordered the captain to run in and land them.
“You might go up and down the docks a bit,” he said. “They might have
slipped us after all.” They entered the harbor, passing the old
lighthouse, and soon were within easy reach of the docks. They looked on
all sides for the Mary Delaway, but in vain.
“We have missed her!” groaned Dick.
“What are you going to do next?” questioned Tom.
“See if I can’t find out in some way where the schooner went to—and also
find out where Slay’s Island is located.”
“We might get a map of Casco Bay. That would have the names of the
islands on it,” suggested Sam. “I know there are a great many of ’em,
some of ’em quite small and others very large.”
At last they started to go ashore. They ran up to a dock where the tug
was in the habit of landing when at Portland, and the boys walked to the
gangplank that was put out for them.
“Look! look!” cried Tom, suddenly, and pointed to a motor boat lying
alongside the steam tug.
“Well, I never!” gasped Sam.
The motor boat was a craft of fair size, and very gaudily painted, in
red, blue and yellow. It was piled high with suit-cases, bundles and
fishing outfits. At the wheel was a tall young man, smoking a cigarette—a
stranger to the Rovers. In the bow, also smoking, were two other young
men, Jerry Koswell and Bart Larkspur.