A MIDNIGHT AUTO DASH.
The auto, a fast and heavy machine, plunged along through the night at a
great rate. Its bright searchlight cast a brilliant circle of radiance
far ahead into the darkness. Occasionally frightened birds could be seen
flying out of the inky hedges, falling bewildered in the path of the
white glare.
It was exhilarating, blood-stirring work, all the more keenly delightful
from the sense of adventure with which it was spiced.
Rob was at the wheel, steering straight and steady. He knew the road
well. Part of it had been the scene of that thrilling night ride
described in _The Boy Scouts and the Army Airship_, when the boys had
overtaken the two thieves who had stolen the aeroplane documents. On that
occasion, it will be recalled, an accident had been narrowly averted by a
soul-stirring hair's breadth, as a train dashed across the tracks.
Rob's three companions sat back in the tonneau and conversed in low
tones. Only the irrepressible Tubby was not duly impressed with the
momentousness of the occasion. From time to time a snicker of laughter
showed that he was cracking jokes in the same old way.
"Say," he remarked, as they bumped across the railroad tracks, "even if
we do find out where these fellows are, I don't know just what we're
going to do with them at this time of night. Reminds me----"
"Oh, for goodness' sake, Tubby," groaned Merritt.
"Let him go ahead," struck in Hiram, "the sooner he blows off all his
steam the sooner he'll shut up for good."
"Reminds me," went on the unruffled Tubby, "of what a little girl said to
her mother when the kid asked her what sardines were. The mother
explained that they were small fish that big ones ate. Then the little
girl wanted to know how the big fish got them out of the tins."
There was a deathly silence, broken only by a low groan from Merritt.
"Call that a joke?" he moaned.
"Don't spring any more. My life ain't insured, by heck," put in Yankee
Hiram.
"Well, that got a laugh in the minstrel show where I heard it," responded
the aggrieved joke-smith.
Before long, lights flashed ahead of them, and, descending a steepish
hill, they chugged into the town of Aquebogue. It was a fairly large
town, and here and there lighted windows showed that some of the low
resorts were still open for business. Far down the street shone two green
lights, which marked the police station. The auto glided up to this, and
Rob jumped out, accompanied by Merritt, leaving Tubby and Hiram in the
car.
"Let's get out and stretch our legs a bit," said Tubby presently. It was
taking some time for Rob to explain his errand to a sleepy police
official.
"All right, my boy," drawled Hiram. "I'm not averse to a bit of
leg-stretching."
The two lads got out and strolled as far as the street corner.
"H's'h!" exclaimed Tubby suddenly, as they reached it. He seized Hiram's
arm with every appearance of excitement.
"Wa-al, what is it now?" asked the down-east boy; "more jokes and
didoes?"
"No. See that chap just sneaking down the street from the opposite
corner?"
"Yes; what of it? Are you seeing things?"
"No. But it's Freeman Hunt--I'm sure of it."
"By ginger, I believe you are right! It does look like him, for a fact.
But what can he be doing here?"
"I've no more idea than you. But he must be up to some mischief."
"Reckon that's right."
"I tell you that where Freeman Hunt is, his father is not far off, and
the rest of the gang must be about here, too. I guess it was a good thing
we came out here."
"Well, what shall we do? Go back and tell the police?"
"No. While we were gone he'd sneak away, and we might miss him
altogether. I've got a better plan."
"Do tell!"
"We'll follow him at a distance and see where he goes. Then we can come
back and report."
"Sa-ay, that's a good idea. Come on."
Freeman Hunt was almost out of sight now. But as the two scouts took up
the trail, they saw him pause where a flood of light streamed from the
window of a drinking-place. He paused here for an instant and gave a low
whistle; presently the boys' hearts gave a bound. From the doors of the
resort issued three figures, one of which they recognized, even at that
distance, as Stonington Hunt. With him were the two men who had played
such a prominent part in the filching of the wallet belonging to Major
Dangerfield.
"Keep in the shadow," whispered Tubby, crouching in a convenient doorway;
"they haven't seen us. Hullo, there they go. Keep a good distance
behind--as far back as we can, without losing them."
The men the scouts were trailing struck into a lively pace. They seemed
to be conversing earnestly. Through the shadows the two boys crept along
behind them. Presently they were traversing a residence street, edged
with elms and lawns and white picket fences. It was deserted and silent.
The occupants of the houses were wrapped in sleep.
"Maybe they're going to turn into one of these houses," whispered Hiram.
But the men didn't. Instead, they kept right on, and before long the last
electric light had been passed and they were in the open country.
"Hadn't we better turn back?" murmured Hiram. "It looks as if we were
going too far for safety."
"Let's keep on," urged Tubby. "There's no danger. If we gave up the chase
now we'd have had all our work for nothing."
Hiram made no reply, and the two boys, taking advantage of every bit of
cover--as the game of "Hare and Hounds" had taught them--kept right on
dogging the footsteps of their quarry. All at once Tubby began sniffing
the air.
"We're getting near the sea," he proclaimed. "I can smell the salt
meadows."
Aquebogue lay some distance back from the open waters of the ocean. It
was situated, like Hampton itself, on an inlet. In the dim light of the
stars, the two boys presently perceived that they were traversing a sort
of dyke or raised road leading across the marshes.
"Where can they be going?" wondered Hiram.
"Don't know. But there are lots of fishermen's huts and shacks dotted
about in the marshes. Maybe they are making for one of them."
"Maybe," opined Hiram, "but if you weren't so all-sot on following them,
I'd be in a good mind to turn back."
"Not yet," persisted Tubby, and the chase continued.
But it was soon to end. All at once the faint glimmer of a watercourse,
or inlet from the sea, shone dimly in front of them. Upreared, too,
against the star-spangled sky, they could see the inky outlines of a
structure of some kind.
"Crouch down here," said Tubby suddenly, as the men ahead of them came to
a halt.
A bunch of marsh grass offered a convenient hiding place, and behind it
the two boys lay flat. Pretty soon they heard the scratch of a match, and
then the grating of a lock, as the door of the dark building they had
remarked was opened. The men entered the place and slammed the door to. A
few instants later, from the solitary window of the shack, a light shone
out. The window was toward the creek, and the glare from it showed the
two watching boys the mast and rigging of a large sloop. At least, from
her spars, they judged her to be of considerable size.
"Gee whiz!" exclaimed Tubby, "we've found the place, all right. They must
have come in that sloop. Maybe that's the way the two men who took the
wallet got out of Hampton unobserved."
"But the wind's against the sloop, and she couldn't have beaten her way
down here in that time," objected Hiram.
"She might have an engine, mightn't she?" whispered Tubby in scornful
tones.
"That's so. Lots of boats do have gasoline motors. I guess you're right,
Tubby. What are you going to do now? Go back?"
"Not much," rejoined the fat boy. "We'll just have a look into that hut
and see what's going on. We might even get a chance to get that wallet
back."
"Say, you're not going to take such a chance! If you looked through that
window----"
"Did I say I was going to look through the window, stupid? Don't you see
that chimney on the roof? Now, the roof comes down low, almost to the
ground. I'm going to climb up on it, and, by leaning over the chimney, I
can hear what is said."
"But they'll hear your feet on the roof," objected the practical Hiram.
"I'm going to take my shoes off."
"It's awfully risky, Tubby."
"Say, look here, Hiram," sputtered the fat boy, "if this country was to
go to war, you'd want to go to the front and fight for Old Glory as a Boy
Scout, wouldn't you?"
"Of course."
"Well, then, don't you suppose that if you were scouting after an enemy
you'd have to take bigger chances than this?"
Hiram said no more. Kicking their shoes off, and leaving them by the
grass hummock, the two boys crept forward as silently as two cats. In the
yielding sand their feet made no noise.
As Tubby had surmised, at the rear of the house the roof came almost to
the ground, for the sand was heaped up against that particular wall,
being driven in big dunes by the winds off the ocean.
"Up with you," whispered Tubby, giving Hiram a "boost." The Yankee boy's
long legs carried him onto the roof in a jiffy. Then came Tubby. Already
the two boys could hear below them the low hum of voices, Freeman Hunt's
sharp, boyish tones mingling with the bass drone of the elder men's
conversation.
The roof was formed of driftwood and old timbers, and was as easy to
climb as a staircase. Before many seconds, the boys were at the chimney.
With beating pulses and a heart that throbbed faster than was altogether
comfortable, in spite of his easy-going disposition, Tubby raised himself
and peered down the flue. It was of brick. But to his astonishment, as he
peered over the edge, he found he had a clear view of the room below.
The chimney, as is often the case in rough dwellings, did not go all the
way down to the floor. Instead, it was supported on two beams, so that,
peering down it, the boy could command a view of the room below, just as
if he had been looking down a telescope.
Round a table were seated Stonington Hunt, the two rough-looking men who
had stolen the wallet, and Freeman Hunt. A smoky glass lamp stood on the
rough box which served for a table. Spread out on the table, too, was
something that almost made Tubby let go his hold of the chimney and go
sliding down the roof. It was the wallet, and beside it lay the paper
covered with figures and markings, which, the boy had no doubt, was the
precious document of the major.
"We'll have to get out of here early in the morning," Stonington Hunt was
saying. "I don't fancy having the police on my heels."
"No. And Jim here says that those pesky Boy Scouts are mixed up in the
search for the wallet," struck in Freeman Hunt.
"Well, this is the time we give those brats the slip," growled his
father. "Come on, let's turn in. We'll get the motor going and drop down
the creek before daylight."
"Better leave the light burning then," said one of the men who had been
in Hampton that afternoon.
This was done, and presently snores and heavy breathing showed the men
were asleep. Tubby could not see what resting places they had found, but
assumed that there must be bunks around the edge of the hut, as is usual
in such fishermen's shelters.
Before retiring, the men had shoved the paper into the wallet, but for
some reason, probably they didn't think of it during their preparations
for sleep, the wallet had been left on the table. It was almost directly
below the chimney. As Tubby looked at it, he had a sudden idea.
"Got a bit of wire, Hiram?" he asked, knowing that the mechanical genius
of the Eagle Patrol usually carried such odds and ends with him.
"Guess I've got a bit of brass wire right here," rejoined Hiram, "but it
isn't very long."
"Long enough," commented Tubby, scrutinizing the bit handed to him, "now,
if you had some string----"
"Got a bit of fish line."
"Couldn't be better. Give it to me."
Much mystified, Hiram watched the fat boy bend the bit of wire and tie it
to the string.
"Going fishing?" he asked in a sarcastic tone.
"Yes," replied Tubby quite seriously.
His quick eye had noted that the straps that closed the wallet had not
been placed round it but lay in a loose loop on the table. If only he
could entangle his improvised line in the loop, it would be an easy
matter to fish up the wallet. If only he could do it!
Very cautiously, for he knew the risk he was running, Tubby lowered his
line. Then he waited. But the breathing below continued steady and
stentorian. Swinging his hook, which was quite heavy, the stout boy
grappled cautiously for the wallet. It was tantalizing and delicate work.
But after taking an infinity of pains, he finally succeeded in getting it
fast.
Tubby at this moment had difficulty in suppressing a shout of "hooray!"
But he mastered his emotions, and slowly and delicately began to haul in
his "catch." Hiram, fascinated, crept close to his side. Perhaps it was
this fact that was responsible for the disaster that occurred the next
instant.
Without the slightest warning, save a sharp, cracking sound, the roof
caved in under their feet. In a flash, both boys were projected in a heap
into the room below. As they hurtled through the rotten covering of the
hut, shouts and cries resounded from the aroused occupants.