A THRILLING ESCAPE.
It was Peter Bumpus and Jim Dale who were talking. From their first words
Rob gathered that Stonington Hunt and his son had gone fishing, and that
Jumbo, like himself, was asleep.
"You're sure that kid is off good and sound, too?" asked Dale.
"Soon find out," rejoined Bumpus.
Rob felt the man bend over him, his hot breath fanning his ear. It was a
hard job not to open his eyes, but Rob came through with flying colors.
"He's sound as a top," decided Pete, "and old Hunt and the kid won't be
back for half an hour anyway. Now's our time to see if the old rope
ladder is still there."
"It sure did us a good turn the night the revenues came," said Jim Dale.
"Let's see, it was over this way, wasn't it? Right under that big hemlock
on the top of the cliff?"
"That's right."
Rob heard them cross the sandy strip of beach. Luckily, he was lying with
his face toward that side, and by half-opening his eyes could observe
their movements without danger of being discovered.
They approached a clump of bushes and fumbled about in it for a brief
time. Peter did most of the searching, for that was what it seemed to be,
while Dale stood over him.
"Well?" demanded Dale at length, "is it there?"
"Is what there?" wondered Rob.
"It's here, all right," responded Peter Bumpus and in triumph he held up
something which only by great straining of his eyes Rob was able to
recognize as a strand of wire. It was so slender that if his attention
had not been drawn to it he would never have seen it.
"I'd like to give it a yank and bring the rope ladder down," said Dale.
"I wouldn't mind a run in the old woods myself," said Peter. He seemed
half inclined to pull the wire, which Rob judged, though he could not
distinguish it against the dull background of rock, must lead to the
cliff summit. On that cliff summit the boy also assumed, from what he had
heard, there must lie a rope ladder. The mystery of the escape of the
rascals from the revenue officers was solved. They had mounted by the
rope ladder on the first alarm and pulled it up after them. Rob could
hardly help admiring the strategy that had conceived such a scheme.
Suddenly, while Peter Bumpus still hesitated, there came the sharp
"splash" of a paddle.
"Here comes the boss," warned Dale.
Instantly the two men strolled aimlessly across the beach, as if their
minds were vacant and idle. Evidently then, Hunt was not aware of the
existence of the rope ladder, and the two men had some strong object in
wishing to hide it from him.
The two Hunts brought back several fish, perch and pickerel, which were
cooked for supper. After that meal the men sat about and talked a while,
and then preparations were made for bed. Jumbo was tied hand and foot,
much as Rob was. But not content with these precautions, Dale was
stationed to watch the captives. From what Rob could hear he was to be
relieved by Bumpus at midnight.
That Dale took his duty seriously was evident by the fact that, beside
him, as he crouched by the fire, he laid out a ready cocked rifle, and
kept one eye always upon the two prisoners. To amuse himself during his
vigil he drew out a big case knife and began whittling a bit of driftwood
into the likeness of a ship--a reminder of his old seafaring days. Rob,
watching the ruffian at this innocent employment while the firelight
played on his rough features, caught himself wondering what sort of
childhood such a man could have had, and how he came to drift into his
evil courses.
"I'll bet that the Boy Scout movement in big cities is keeping hundreds
of lads out of mischief," he thought, "and helping to make good men out
of them. After all, or so dad says, most bad boys are only bad because
they have no outlet but mischief for their high spirits."
After a while, Dale finished his carving. Then he darted a cautious look
about him.
"Wonder if any of that old moonshine is still in the hiding place?" he
muttered.
For a while he remained still. Then he once more cast a scrutinizing look
around him. Rob interpreted this as a meaning that Dale was anxious to
see if everything was quiet. The boy lay still and silent and Dale
evidently assumed he was asleep. After a careful inspection of the spot
where the others slumbered, the fellow cautiously made for the base of
the cliff near the clump of bushes where he and Bumpus had investigated
the wire that afternoon. Reaching toward a stone he pulled it aside, and
thrust his arm into a recess which was suddenly revealed. When he drew
his hand out it clasped a demijohn. The recess was the hiding place
formerly used by the moonshiners to conceal their product.
With a swift glance about, to make sure he was not observed, Dale raised
the demijohn to his lips. It stayed there a long time. He set it down and
looked about him furtively once more. Then he raised the jug again and
took another long swig of the poisonous stuff. Rob, through lowered lids,
watched him with a shudder of disgust.
When Dale finally thrust back the jug into its hiding place and returned
to the firelight, his step was unsteady and his eyes had a strange,
glassy light in them. He sank down on the log which served him as a seat,
and once more drew out his knife. His intention, apparently, was to
resume his whittling. But after a few unsteady strokes at the bit of wood
he had selected, he gave over the attempt.
His head lolled limply forward and the corners of his mouth drooped. One
by one his fingers relaxed their grip on the knife, and, resting his head
on his hands, he allowed himself to sink into oblivion.
Instantly the Boy Scout's faculties were alert and at work. The firelight
played temptingly on the knife the liquor-stupefied man had dropped. Very
cautiously the fettered Rob rolled over upon his stomach and, slowly as a
creeping snail, began a tedious progress toward the weapon. How he
blessed the days he had spent practicing such stealthy means of advance.
It was the old scouting crawl of the Indians he used. A means of approach
as silent as that of a marauding weasel.
It was ticklish, scalp-tightening work, though. But Rob did not dare to
hurry it. The rattle of a misplaced stone, the snap of a twig, might
spoil all. To add to the peril at any moment, either the drowsy man by
the fire, or one of the sleeping men beyond, might awaken.
But at last, without a single accident, Rob reached the proximity of the
precious knife. It was a heavy weapon and lay on the rock-strewn ground
with its blade upward. The boy noted this with a quick gulp of
thankfulness. For, fettered as he was, he could not have manipulated it
till he got his hands free.
With infinite caution he rolled his body so that his wrists were close to
the keen blade. Then he began sawing at the ropes, rubbing them back and
forth against the blade. At length one of the strands parted. Then
another was severed, and, with a strong jerk, Rob tore loose the rest.
Then, cautiously picking up the knife in his freed hand, he slashed his
leg-bonds. In less time than it takes to tell it he was free.
His next task was to liberate Jumbo. And then----
Rob had allowed his thoughts to dwell on the daring possibility of
recovering the canoes and paddling away with them. But on second thoughts
he deemed this too risky. Instead he determined to trust to the rope
ladder. It had flashed across his mind in this connection, that the
strands of the ladder might be too weak to support his weight, or the
much greater avoirdupois of Jumbo. But the lad felt that they must risk
it.
Jumbo very nearly ruined everything. For, as Rob bent over him, he
awakened with a start.
"Oh, fo' de lan's sake, massa, don' you go to confustigate dis yar----"
But in a flash Rob had clapped his hand over the garrulous black's
capacious mouth. Jumbo's first fear that his last hour had come was
speedily relieved as he saw who it was.
Rob, after a quick look about, assured himself that Jumbo's words had not
aroused any of the sleepers. Then, taking his hand from the negro's lips,
he quickly slashed his bonds. In another instant Jumbo, too, was at
liberty.
"Wha' you go fo' ter do now, Marse Blake?" he whispered.
"Hush! Not a word. Follow me," breathed the boy.
"Dis suttingly am a pawtuckitus state of affairs," muttered the black,
"don' see no mo' how we can git out uv this lilly place dan er fly kin
git out of a mo'lasses bar'l."
However, he followed Rob, who, on tip-toe, approached the clump of bushes
where he knew the wire he had observed that afternoon lay hidden. With
beating pulses he poked about in the scrub-growth till, suddenly, his
fingers encountered the filament of metal. The most dangerous step of
their enterprise still lay before him. What would happen when he pulled
it? Would the ladder come down with a crash that would awaken their foes,
or----
Rob lost no time in further indulging his nervous thoughts, however. He
gave the wire a good hard tug. Simultaneously, from out of the blackness
above them, something came snaking down. Rob dodged to avoid it.
He could have cried aloud with joy as, in the faint glow cast by the
fire, he saw that, right in front of him were the lower rungs of a rope
ladder. It was padded at the bottom so that its descent, abrupt as it had
been, was almost noiseless. Rob noted, too, with inward satisfaction,
that the ropes seemed strong and in good condition.
"Up with you, Jumbo," he ordered in a tense, low whisper.
The black turned almost gray with apprehension.
"Ah got ter clim' dat lilly ladder lak Massa Jacob in de Bibul?" he
whimpered.
"You certainly have, or----"
Rob made an eloquent gesture toward the camp of Hunt and his gang. The
hint conveyed proved effectual.
"Mah goodness, dis am suffin' dis coon nebber thought he hab to do,"
muttered Jumbo, "but all things comes to him who waits--so heah goes!"
He set his foot on the ladder and, rapidly ascending it, soon disappeared
in the darkness above. As soon as the slackness of the appliance showed
Rob that the negro was at the cliff summit, the boy prepared to follow
him.
But as he set his foot on the lower rung the man by the fire awakened
with a start. Before Rob, climbing like a squirrel, could mount three
more steps he became aware that his prisoners were missing.
Snatching up his rifle he ran straight toward the rope ladder. The next
instant Rob, with a hasty glance backward, saw that the weapon was aimed
straight at him. His blood chilled as he recollected having heard Dale
that afternoon boasting of his ability as "a dead shot."