A GATHERING OF THE CLAN
"If there are any of the gang around here, where on earth are they?"
The question came in a whisper from Billy, as he and the Seminole
pursued their way cautiously along the edge of a watercourse, in the
direction of the cabins. Bending forward, sometimes crawling on
hands and knees, they advanced---an inch at every step, it seemed to
impatient Billy.
"Do you think they're hiding near here?" he asked, and Dave shook his
turbaned head.
"Gone 'way," was his answer. "Boat come back to-night, mebbe so."
"Boat? What boat?"
"_Esperanza_."
"Oh! Then you think they'll try to leave this part of the coast soon?"
"Dunno. Wait. We see, we tell _Petrel_."
There was nothing else to do, so Billy curbed his eagerness to learn
the present whereabouts of the smugglers and crawled forward in
silence. Once he drew back with a gasp of horror as a large moccasin
snake darted across his path; but seeing the loathsome creature glide
away to a safe distance, he went on, following the guide.
Nevertheless, a chill ran down his spine when he thought how narrowly
he had escaped stumbling full tilt upon the reptile, which, unlike the
rattlesnake, never gives warning of its presence.
When they had traversed the stretch of marsh between the peninsula
and the cove, alternately walking on soft springy ground above a bed
of coralline limestone and wading knee-deep along the watercourse,
they emerged upon the left bank of the cove. The two smaller cabins
were not more than twenty paces distant, and between them was a plank
bridge rudely built in the form of a trestle. Dave and Billy
approached this bridge.
Suddenly they stopped short and crouched in the high grass. Plainly
to their ears came the shrill barking of a dog.
Dave expressed his feelings in one round oath, which, being uttered
in his native dialect, sounded to Billy "Like gargling the throat."
It needed no expletives to inform Billy that the dog's appearance on
the scene of action was certain to cause trouble.
"Ketch um dog, choke um!" said Dave, looking about him to see if the
barking had brought anyone to the place.
"Where is the cur?" Billy asked.
"Don't see um," replied the Seminole. He straightened up until his
head was above the top of the grass. "A-ah!" he exclaimed in a
guttural tone. "Man in sailboat yonder."
Impulsively Billy scrambled to a kneeling position, and his gaze
followed Dave's. The two spies then beheld the figure of a man
seated in the stern of a dug-out canoe that carried a mast and
sail and was coming around the bend of a stream.
"If he sees us-----" began Billy.
"S-s-sh!" Dave interrupted warningly. "Wait, see where he go."
"Is the dog barking at us or at him? What d'you think, Dave?"
"At us," was the answer. "Man come, let dog loose,---we better
go back! Incah!"
"No," said Billy firmly. "Dog or no dog, I'm not going back till
I've found out where they've hidden Hugh!"
If Billy had only known that Hugh was locked in that further cabin!
If Hugh had only been able to communicate with his friends on
picket duty! How much trouble would have been avoided,---yet what
an adventure they would have missed!
Dave now explained to Billy that his purpose had been to purloin
the sailing canoe, so that the smugglers on shore would be dependent
on a boat from the _Esperanza_ to take them and their goods away.
This would enable the crew of the _Petrel_ to intercept the smugglers
as soon as they landed. But now, with the appearance of this man in
the canoe, Dave's plan seemed about to be thwarted.
* * * * * *
Meanwhile, what of the others who remained on the peninsula?
More than an hour passed before any one saw a suspicious figure on
the landscape. Then Alec, whose post was farthest removed from the
landing place, suddenly caught sight of two men walking along the
shore. They were carrying the same battered tin box which he and
Billy had found half buried in the sand, many hours ago. Evidently
the box was heavy, for they appeared to stagger with its weight.
Alec raised his voice in the weird, low call of the otter. As his
patrol was named after that animal, he knew that Chester, also of
the Otter patrol, would recognize the signal. In this case it meant
"Danger. Look around you."
From a distance, hidden behind a clump of palmettos, Chet responded
with the same call twice, in quick succession.
But the men carrying the box heard the calls. They knew it was still
too early in the afternoon for otters to be hunting so noisily, and
they were surprised, startled, suspicious. To Alec's dismay, they
dropped the box, stood still, and stared all around them. Alec lay
flat on the ground, trusting that his khaki suit and brown flannel
shirt would help him to escape observation. At the same time he
dread lest one of the other pickets would be seen too soon.
The two men, after gazing out to sea as if expecting to sight a
vessel on the horizon, picked up the box and came on again. Every
step brought them nearer Alec, who of course had been told to allow
all strangers to pass unchallenged---until to-morrow.
"Hark!" said one of the men, listening. "That's Rover barking!"
"He barks at nothing!" declared the other. "Eet is a fool dawg, zat
Rover! I know heem, yes."
"You haven't as much sense as that 'fool dawg,' Max!" retorted the
first speaker, who was none other than the swarthy ruffian, Harry
Mole. "Somethin's going on over there at the settlement or the dog
wouldn't bark. Come on, hurry; Branks may need us."
So saying, he and his companion passed by, and Alec, who had heard
every word, breathed a sigh of relief. He wished the two men were
not going in the same direction Dave and Billy had taken; but he
felt sure that the latter could give a good account of themselves
if discovered in hiding.
"But that would upset the whole scheme," he reflected. "Perhaps I'd
better sneak around, ahead of those two rascals, and warn Dave and
Billy to lie low? Or shall I---no, I've been stationed here, and
it's up to me to stick to this post."
As he watched the two men stumbling on over the uneven ground, he
wondered with a little thrill of apprehension whether they would run
across any of the other pickets, or even meet Billy and Dave returning
from their quest.
However, no such undesired event came to pass, and the two smugglers
finally disappeared behind a row of trees covered with vines.
After that, the watchful young pickets waited in silence, with only a
low-spoken word now and then as they paced back and forth under cover
to emphasize the stillness. An hour passed,---another hour,---the sun
began its slow descent into the broad bosom of the ocean. Long before
this, the _Arrow_ had slipped away a little farther up along the coast,
so that she would be out of sight behind one of the numerous islands
in case the _Esperanza_ drew near Durgan's cove.
Once the dog's barking sounded louder, and nearer, but after a minute
or two it ceased, and silence reigned over all.
"What's become of Dave and Billy?" wondered Chester.
The same question was troubling the minds of Roy Norton and Mark
Anderson, in their respective station-points; but there seemed to be
no answer to it at present.
Twilight crept upon them apace, then deepened into the shadows of
night. As they had arranged, they left their posts and assembled at
the place chosen for their landing. After hours of more-or-less
solitary watching, it seemed good to be together in council, to eat
their simple supper, and to compare notes.
In the midst of their evening meal, the faint purring of a motorboat's
engine reached their ears, and after a few minutes a boat with two
figures in it was seen approaching them, gliding almost noiselessly
along one of the waterways. The occupants of the boat were Billy
Worth and Dave. Reaching the place, they stopped the engine, ran the
boat's nose into the soft bank, and sprang ashore.
"Where---how----did you get it?" asked Norton in surprise.
"The boat? Oh, we just borrowed it from Joe Durgan and his friends!"
Billy declared. "We saw the boat tied to a little trestle over there
at the deserted settlement, and when we saw Durgan and two other men
go into one of the cabins, we sneaked up quickly and took the boat
from them without asking permission and got away with it!"
"Didn't they see you, or hear the engine?"
"No," answered Billy.
"That's strange! Are you sure?"
"There were no windows in the cabin, that we could see," explained
Billy, "and when they got inside, they made a lot of noise."
"Gee! won't they be wild when they find their boat gone!" said Mark.
"They may think it slipped its moorings and drifted away on the tide.
At least, that's what Dave says."
The Seminole grinned. "Anyhow, they look for boat soon," he said.
"Something doin' tonight, you bet!"
Alec had risen and was standing erect, his face turned toward the ocean.
"What are you staring at?" queried chester. "See any stars?"
"There's just one," replied young Sands, pointing southwest. "Mighty
low down---there! Now it's out."
"No, it isn't. I see it!"
"So do I!" exclaimed Billy and Norton.
"There it is again!"
"What a queer star!"
"Perhaps it's a lighthouse. Captain Vinton said that there is one
somewhere near this locality."
The sky was cloudy; there was no moon. Overhead, a few large stars
glittered brilliantly, but the seeming star at which they were gazing
was unlike any of those celestial lights. It steadily grew larger,
yellower. Finally two lower gleams appeared, and then all three
vanished, as if they had been snuffed out.
"What is it?" asked Norton, turning to Dave.
But the Seminole guide apparently did not hear the question. He was
staring in the direction of the three cabins, whence arose in the
murky darkness a shower of sparks, then one---two----three shooting
green stars.
"Look!" he exclaimed hoarsely.
"By Jove! a Roman candle!" ejaculated Norton. "It's a signal!"
"No star out to sea," Dave said. "No star, but um boat."
"Boat? You mean-----"
"_Esperanza_! She come here to-night."