AN OLD FRIEND JOINS THE PARTY
The party on the hill was surprised at the action of the mestizo as he
fairly pounced upon his rifle. But before he could even lift it a
clear-cut voice spoke out back of them.
“Keep your hands off of that gun, or I’ll drill a few holes into you!”
They turned, to find back of them a little short man in a blue uniform
of a sailor, who had crept up on them quietly from the rear. He held a
rifle in his hand and turned it unwaveringly toward the members of the
watching group.
“What is the meaning of this?” demanded the professor, after a second of
silence.
“No meaning at all,” chuckled the man, whose uniform proclaimed him a
mate on a sailing ship. “You fellows march down the hill until my
captain looks you over.”
“Who are you to tell us to march down the hill?” snapped Ned. “This is a
free country, in case you don’t know it.”
“I know it,” chuckled the mate. “But this here gun of mine don’t know
nothing about it! I’ve tried my best to teach the blooming thing, but
it’s just naturally ignorant!”
“Who are you?” Don asked.
“Go on down the hill!” commanded the mate, suddenly changing his tone.
“The captain will answer all questions.”
There was nothing to do but to obey, so, in silence the boys and the
older man walked down the hill, leading their mounts. The crowd below
saw them coming and looked on with marked interest. The captain of the
attackers strode to the front. He was a tall old man with a white beard
and snow white hair, and at sight of him Don caught his breath.
“What have you here, Harvey?” the captain asked.
“This bunch was lying on their tummies and looking over the hill at
you,” answered the mate, a twinkle in his eyes.
“Yes, we were, Captain Blow,” said Don, boldly. “How are you, sir?”
Captain Blow, their old friend from Mystery Island, started at hearing
his name, and looked closely at Don’s smiling face. He had been their
staunch friend at the time they made their summer cruise and captured
the marine bandits. Recognition dawned on him and he joyously seized the
boy’s hands.
“Why, by jumping Tunket, if it isn’t Don Mercer!” he roared heartily.
“What in the name of Goshen are you doing out here, boy?”
Don explained briefly that he was staying with the Scotts at their ranch
and then looked around at the sullen captives. “What is all this,
Captain Blow?” he asked.
“These fellows are one fine bunch of prison birds who are soon going in
their cage!” retorted the captain vigorously. “I’m running a schooner
out here, in the carrying trade now, and this Captain Jake Ryan run off
with two of my men. Last night I chased them but lost ’em in the storm.
Early this morning I saw the wreck and sent my mate there ashore to
locate them. When he gave me the signal, from the hill back of where you
were looking, we came ashore. He saw you fellows and thought you were
part of the enemy.”
Don then introduced the Scotts and told the captain of their search for
Jim and Terry. The captain was deeply interested.
“These fellows are part of Sackett’s gang,” he said. “Maybe they know
something.” He turned to the scowling Ryan. “Did you have anything to do
with two boys?” he asked.
“No!” said Ryan, promptly.
But one of the men who had been liberated by the coming of Captain Blow
spoke up quickly. “Yes he did, Captain Blow! Those two boys came aboard
yesterday just before the storm, down at the old tannery. And they are
still aboard the wreck!”
“How do you know they weren’t swept overboard?” shouted Jake Ryan.
“You know how I know, you scoundrel!” snapped the sailor, shaking his
fist in Ryan’s face. “When you stampeded for the lifeboat I saw those
two boys duck down behind some canvas and I told you to put back and
make ’em come off in the lifeboat, but you was so scared you wouldn’t go
back!”
“It’s a lie,” Ryan retorted.
“No it isn’t. Those boys are still on the ship,” said the sailor.
“I guess they decided to stay on the schooner and keep out of the hands
of these fellows,” decided Captain Blow. “Too bad they didn’t come right
along, and we would have them now. But we’ll probably find them out
there.”
“That is once Jim and Terry figured their move wrong,” grinned Don,
greatly relieved at the news concerning his chums.
“Yes, but they thought they were doing the correct thing,” put in the
professor. “Now, what do you propose to do with these men, Captain
Blow?”
Blow turned to his mate. “Harvey, you and the men march these fellows
back to the boats and take ’em to the schooner. I’m going out to the
wreck with these men and I’ll be back to the ship later. Don’t let one
of these rats escape, and we’ll take them to prison.”
“Aye, aye, sir!” replied Harvey. The crew hustled the captives away over
the top of the hill and then Captain Blow turned to the party of
friends.
“Now we’ll go out and look that wreck over,” he announced. The boat in
which the crew of the _Galloway_ had reached shore was still lying upon
the sand, and they all climbed in and pushed off, the old captain, Ned
and Don taking the oars. It was the first time that the mestizo had ever
been in a boat and he sat gingerly in the bow, holding himself stiffly.
“When did you leave Mystery Island, Captain Blow?” asked Don, as they
rowed out to the wreck.
“Early in the spring,” replied the old captain. “When I saw you last I
told you that Mystery Island would soon be a regular summer colony, now
that the old house and bandits are gone, and sure enough, that is what
happened. Got so full of young men with white pants and slicked down
hair and young ladies with tootin’ roadsters that my polly and me didn’t
have any peace at all. So I came west, got a nice schooner, and am now
running between here and Mexico, picking up anything I can get, mostly
fruit. I didn’t have any trouble, although I had heard plenty about this
Sackett, until a few days ago when this Ryan ran off with two of my men.
Kidnapped them in some eating house in San Francisco and I went right
after them.”
“I see,” nodded Don. “So Bella, the parrot, is still living?”
“Oh, yup! She’s still sayin’ ‘Bella is a good girl.’ Probably she’ll
still be saying that after I’m dead and gone.”
They had now approached the wreck and the captain made fast the painter
of the lifeboat. Climbing aboard was somewhat of a task, as the deck
sloped dangerously, but by dint of clinging to every support available
they managed to do so. But a hasty survey of the deck revealed that the
two boys were not on board.
“Maybe they are in the hold,” suggested Ned.
“I doubt that,” replied Captain Blow. “That hold must be full of water.
You see, these fellows crowded on all canvas to get away from me and
they ran in too close to shore, with the result that they jammed hard
and fast aground. The bottom must be stove in plenty and full of water,
and the only reason they didn’t sink is because they are sort of lying
on a shelf. However, we’ll give a look down the companionway.”
A look down into the hold of the wrecked schooner proved that Captain
Blow was right in his surmises. The hold was filled with water and it
was manifestly impossible for anyone to have gone down there. Don was
worried.
“You don’t suppose they were swept overboard, do you?” he asked,
anxiously.
“No,” said the captain promptly. “I don’t. My sailor says they ducked
down behind something to keep hidden probably with the idea of escaping
all by themselves. My idea is that they grabbed a spar or two, swam to
shore, and got away that way. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if they was
even now heading up the shore toward your ranch, professor.”
“I believe you are right, Captain,” replied the professor. “They
certainly wouldn’t stay here when there was no necessity for it, and
they probably swam ashore, as you say. I think, therefore, that we
should go ashore and follow up the coast, in the hope of overtaking
them.”
“We ought to overtake them,” said Ned. “We are mounted and they aren’t.
No use in wasting any more time around here, is there?”
“No,” Captain Blow answered, slipping down the deck. “Let’s go back.”
On the way to the shore the professor told the captain about the
treasure hunt and he was tremendously interested. Once on shore he spoke
about going back to his boat.
“I wish you the best of luck,” he told Don. “By thunder mighty! I
wouldn’t mind going with you!”
“Why don’t you?” asked Don, quickly. “Can’t your mate sail with these
men to the city and stop for you on the return trip? I feel sure that
the rest of us would be glad to have you.”
“We surely would!” said Ned and his father, together.
“Why, yes, I guess that would do,” said the captain slowly. “I’d sure
like to go along. Will you give me time to go out and tell Harvey what
to do?”
They assented and the captain signalled for a boat, which took him off
to his schooner. He was gone for about fifteen minutes, and when he came
back he had a blanket and some supplies. He joined them and the boat put
off once again for the schooner.
“Harvey is in complete charge,” he announced. “He’ll stop for me at
Quito on the way back. I’m ready to go now.”
The mestizo surrendered his horse to the captain, who protested
vigorously, but the mestizo was a far better hand at trotting along than
the old salt, so they arranged to share the horse, and when it was
cooler, to ride it double. Feeling that their best plan was to push on
back to the ranch they started off, leaving the deserted wreck far
behind them.