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With a bound, big Jim Hawley was at Alec's side. "Did they hurt you,
lad?" he cried.
"Not much," replied Alec, "but I guess they would have killed me if you
hadn't come."
Alec turned partly away to watch what was doing. The light fell on his
face so that the raw, red mark from the blow, now rapidly turning black,
stood out plainly.
"Who did that?" demanded Hawley.
"Hawkins."
"Jim!" rang out Captain Rumford's voice, as Hawley leaped toward the
cowering bully. Hawley stopped in his tracks. "We've had enough violence
already. Let him alone."
The shipper turned to the commander of the _Dianthus_. "You wanted
evidence before you would make an arrest," he said. "Here's your
evidence." He pointed toward the pile of seed-oysters on the deck of the
_Shark_. Then he faced Alec. "You saw them dredged, did you not?"
"Yes, sir. They came out of the bed just to starboard, sir."
Again the shipper faced the captain of the _Dianthus_. "That's my bed
and these are my oysters. I charge these men with theft and also with
assault and battery on this lad."
"You are under arrest," said the guardsman to the crew of the _Shark_,
"and we will shoot at the slightest attempt at resistance." He turned to
his men. "Search them," he commanded.
A revolver and an ugly dirk were found on Hardy. Wallace had some brass
knuckles in his pocket. The others were not armed.
"We'll just add a charge of carrying concealed weapons when these two
are arraigned," said the captain of the _Dianthus_.
"You'll have to watch them," said Captain Rumford. "They're a desperate
lot. They won't go to prison without a struggle."
"We won't take any chances with them," said the captain of the
guard-boat. "Get your irons, men."
The guardsmen produced handcuffs and in another moment Hardy and his
band of desperadoes were securely shackled. Then they were taken aboard
the guard-ship.
"We'll bring the _Shark_ in," said the shipper. "You take care of your
passengers."
"Hoist the sailing lights," said the shipper, as the _Dianthus_ moved
away into the darkness.
Alec pulled out his flash-light and hunted about in the _Shark's_ cabin
until he found her lanterns. He lighted them. While Jim Hawley hoisted
the white light aloft, Alec was fastening the red and green lights in
the rigging.
"Now make the _Osprey_ fast astern," ordered the shipper.
Alec leaped aboard the little craft and pushed her along the side of the
_Shark_, while Hawley pulled on a rope from her bow. In a moment the
_Osprey_ floated astern and Alec was back on the _Shark_.
"Haul those sheets a bit tighter," called the shipper.
Alec and Hawley obeyed the command. The shipper twirled his wheel, the
_Shark_ slowly gathered headway, and in a moment was sailing briskly on
the starboard tack.
"Now, you young rascal," said Captain Rumford, when the _Shark_ was
fairly under way, "tell me what all this means. Whatever led you to do
such a foolhardy trick? You had us nearly scared to death. Didn't you
know that those fellows are a desperate lot? It's God's mercy alone that
prevented them from murdering you."
"I think your own arrival had a lot more to do with it," laughed Alec.
Then his face grew very sober. "I think they really meant to kill me,"
he said. "I know they would at least have beaten me badly if the
_Dianthus_ hadn't appeared when she did."
"Tell us all about it," urged the shipper. "How did you ever learn that
Hardy intended to raid my bed, and what in the world ever made you do
such a foolish thing as to follow him all alone?"
Alec explained how he had overheard the conversation in the cabin. "You
should have told me at once," said the shipper.
"I started to tell you," said Alec. "Then I was ashamed to bother you
until I had something more definite to tell you. I was afraid you would
think I was suffering from a bad imagination. So I decided to wait until
I had something really definite. I followed the _Shark_ out to the
oyster-beds, keeping far enough back of her to escape discovery. At the
mouth of the river I stopped and told Elsa where I was and what I was
doing."
"It's a mighty good thing for you, lad, that you did. If you had waited
half an hour longer, we might never have seen you again. You've had a
narrower shave than you think, lad. The _Dianthus_ just happened to be
in the harbor. Her captain came up this afternoon to see me about some
business matters. There wasn't another boat in the river that could have
got to you anywhere near as quick. The minute Elsa told me what you were
up to, I jumped in my car and raced over to Bivalve. The captain was
just boarding a trolley-car to go away for the night. He didn't want to
come. Said he could arrest the oyster thieves any time I had the
evidence ready. I told him it wasn't a question of oysters but of your
life and that he _had_ to come. And you should have seen us come, lad.
The captain crowded on everything he had. But what I don't understand is
how you prevented those ruffians from murdering you, once they had you
in their power."
"They were going to murder me," said Alec, his cheek paling at the
memory of his danger. "I don't believe there's any doubt of it. But I
bluffed them." And Alec related what had happened on the deck of the
_Shark_. "If the _Dianthus_ hadn't shown her light just when she did,"
he said soberly, "I don't believe I would be talking to you now."
"Watch that boom," cried the captain. "I'm going to come about."
Alec dodged as the boom swept across the deck. Suddenly he thought of
Elsa, standing by at the wireless. "Oh, Captain!" he cried. "I must go
aboard the _Osprey_. Elsa said she would stand by in case I needed to
call her again."
"I reckon you'll have to talk to her, Alec," replied the shipper. "She
was just scared to death when she got your message."
The captain swung the ship straight into the wind. The sails began to
flap. The boat lost headway. Big Jim Hawley laid his hand on the
_Osprey's_ line and hauled the little craft close beside the _Shark_.
Alec stepped aboard of her. Flashlight in hand, he made his way into the
cabin and sat down at his instrument.
"3ARM--3ARM--3ARM de 3ADH--3ADH--3ADH," he signalled.
Instantly came the response.
"Everything O. K.," flashed Alec. "_Dianthus_ arrived and took Hardy and
his crew ashore. No difficulty. Nobody hurt. Your father, Jim, and I are
bringing back the _Shark_. We're some distance off the bar now.
_Dianthus_ is already in the river. Don't know how to thank you for your
help. I think you saved my life. Will tell you about it when I see you."
"I want to see you to-night," flashed back Elsa.
"Impossible," telegraphed Alec. "Won't be in until very late."
"I won't take no for an answer. You must come home with Dad. Say you
will."
"Maybe he won't take me," signalled Alec.
"Tell him if he comes home without you I'll never forgive him."
Outside Alec heard the captain bawling, "Are you going to talk all
night?"
"Good-bye," flashed Alec, and stepped out on deck. Then, "Aye, aye,
sir," he called. "Be there as soon as I hoist this light." He lighted
his lantern and ran it aloft. Then he climbed aboard the _Shark_.
"Your daughter ordered me to tell you, sir," he said, "that she'll never
forgive you if you don't bring your wireless man home with you."
"Oh! She did, eh? I suppose the wireless man has no wishes in the matter
himself!"
Alec blushed. "Captain Rumford," he said, "you know I like to come to
your house whenever I properly can. It's more like home to me than any
other place in the world."
"God bless you, lad!" said the shipper, his tone instantly changing. "We
should have missed you sadly if anything had happened to you to-night.
You certainly shall go home with me and you shall spend the night there.
I don't like the idea of your sleeping alone on that little boat, after
what has happened. Remember now. You must watch like a hawk or somebody
_will_ get you. Hardy and his gang have lots of friends, and if they get
a good chance they'll harm you. So be on your guard at all times and
places."
"Thank you, sir," said Alec. "I don't think they'll catch me off my
guard. I've had enough experience since I came to Bivalve to make a
statue watchful."
Quickly the _Shark_ gathered headway, and was soon bowling along toward
her pier. "She's a nice stepper," said the shipper. "She's built for
speed. I reckon old Hardy found speed useful in his business. But I
guess he'll soon learn that slow but sure is a good motto after all. I
think he'll make a pretty long visit to Trenton. And I don't believe
he'll ever show his face around here again. He's done as an oysterman,
at least at Bivalve."
Captain Rumford fell into a brown study. He was so deep in thought that
he almost forgot what he was doing, which was something very unusual.
Presently Hawley spoke out of the darkness forward, where he was on
watch. "Hadn't we better go about, Cap'n?" he said in a deep, quiet
voice.
Captain Rumford woke up with a start, strained his eyes into the
darkness, then twirled his wheel like mad. "Look out for the boom!" he
said, then added, with a laugh, "Wouldn't they have given me the laugh
if I had laid the _Shark_ up on the bank. And she'd have been there in
about sixty seconds more."
The _Shark_ wore away on the other tack, but Captain Rumford did not
forget himself again. "Jim," he called presently.
"Aye, aye, sir," came the big sailor's response from the forepeak hatch
where he was sitting.
"Come here a moment."
As the big sailor made his way aft, the shipper said, "Hawley, it kind
of runs in my mind that you once had some sort of a claim to Hardy's
oyster-beds. Am I right?"
"I owned them once," said Hawley.
"You owned them! Why, I never knew that. How'd Hardy come to get them?"
"You see, sir, I staked out them beds years ago when everybody else was
plantin' in shallow water. You know them beds is out deep. Everybody
laughed at me. Of course I never had no outfit to work 'em, but I
figured that some day I might get a boat somehow. And then, too, I
noticed that every year planters were putting seed farther out. I
figured they'd reach my beds after a bit, and if I couldn't do anything
more, I could at least get a few loads of shells down and maybe get a
set of spat from the other beds. And I would, too, if I had kept hold of
them beds. Why, Lord bless you! Look where they are now--right in the
middle of the oyster-beds."
"Why didn't you hang on to them, Jim?"
The big sailor hung his head. "I got to drinkin', Cap'n. You know how I
used to hit it up. Hardy got me into a poker game, and when all my money
was gone, I put up my oyster-beds and he got them, too. I reckon he had
a crooked deck, too."
"I reckon you're right. Everything about that fellow seems to have been
crooked."
For a time there was silence. The _Shark_ sailed swiftly on. She was now
well up the river. Soon the solitary light at Bivalve shone close at
hand. Then the shipper laid the _Shark_ skilfully alongside the pier.
They bade good night to Hawley, and in another moment Alec and the
shipper were bowling homeward in the captain's motor-car. At least it
seemed to Alec as though he were going home.
It seemed even more like home when the shipper threw open the door and
ushered Alec into the big house. For his own mother and sister could
hardly have given Alec a more cordial welcome than Mrs. Rumford and Elsa
gave him. Despite that welcome Alec suddenly became self-conscious and
bashful. He was embarrassed by the warmth of the greeting given him.
Also he saw in Elsa's eyes a light he had never seen there before. Had
he but known it, a similar light was shining in his own eyes. His heart
beat with strange and unaccustomed irregularity. More than once he
flushed like a schoolgirl. He felt curiously awkward and at the same
time unaccountably happy. Now he realized that Elsa would never be the
same to him in future as she had been in the past. His lonely vigil in
the dark, his hour of supreme danger when only the hand of this girl
comrade thrust out through the night had saved him from death, had
revealed to him the inner meaning of the friendship that had sprung up
between them.
A question arose in his mind, a question that seemed more important to
him than anything else in the world. Yet he could not ask that question,
and he knew it would be a long, long time before he dared. Still he did
not need to ask any question to learn his answer. He could read it in
Elsa's eyes. The hour of peril, when she had sat in mute apprehension,
listening, listening, listening, breathless in her fear, had told Elsa
also that she could never again think of Alec in the old way.
So, although Alec at first was unaccountably ill at ease, he was happier
than he had ever been in his life. He was happy in what he saw in Elsa's
eyes. He was also happy in the thought that he had been true to the
shipper, that he had not betrayed the captain's confidence, that he had
really saved his friend and benefactor from great loss. And that was no
little thing for a lad still in his teens.
Of course time went by unobserved. Nobody at that Rumford household
cared a farthing that night how fast the time went or how late it was.
Once more Alec had to relate every incident in connection with his
adventure, from the moment he left the Rumford house in the early
evening to the moment he returned to it after his rescue from the
oyster pirates.
When all the story had been dragged from the reluctant lad, the shipper
once more expressed his opinion of Alec's folly in wasting his time over
the silly notion that a microscope and a thimbleful of sea water would
tell him anything about the value for oyster-culture of a piece of land
three fathoms under the waves. Instantly Elsa flew to Alec's defense.
"Now, father," she said, "Alec is doing just what he ought to do, and
you ought to be the last person in the world to discourage him. He's
going to find out the truth even if he doesn't find the oysters he hopes
to, and that's worth a lot."
"Well, all he finds out won't begin to make up for the money he'll lose
while he's finding it out," said the shipper dogmatically. "If there had
really been anything to find out, don't you suppose we would have found
it out in all these years? Why, I've been oystering thirty years and I
never heard of such nonsense before. But I suppose boys will be boys. We
all have to have our fling. Now that I know you're both so set on this
foolishness I wouldn't say another word if it wasn't for this business
to-night. Alec means to live aboard the _Osprey_ most of the summer and
I don't like the idea. Why, anybody can come aboard of her in the middle
of the night and do anything he likes. We can't always be waiting on the
wireless to get this youngster out of trouble. I tell you I don't like
it."
At the mention of danger to Alec, Elsa's face went pale. Presently she
fell into a brown study, from which she awoke only when she heard her
father say, "For goodness sake! Look at the clock! We must be getting to
bed."
He and Mrs. Rumford bustled off, after bidding Alec a hearty good night.
"Now, don't you youngsters stay up any longer," said the captain, when
Elsa lingered behind.
"We won't," said Elsa. Then she turned to Alec. "It makes me sick to
think of you alone in the _Osprey_ at night, now that you have had this
trouble with Tom Hardy. Yet you mustn't quit your investigation, either,
Alec. Won't you come home at night and sleep ashore?"
"I can't, Elsa. Think of all the time I should waste, sailing back and
forth. I can never get over all the oyster grounds as it is. But I can
do a great deal if I am right on the job all the time. And besides, I
don't really believe there's any danger at all. That gang has had a
lesson that will make them pretty careful. They have seen what wireless
will do, and they can never be sure what I might do with it."
"You mustn't trust to the wireless, Alec. You must be on your guard all
the time. If you insist upon sleeping in the _Osprey_, you must pass the
nights where nobody can find you. I know a place where you can hide
easily, where you couldn't be found in a week. To-morrow I'm going out
to the Bay with you and show you the place. I shall feel better about
you when I know you are safe there at night. I wouldn't ever run in to
the place until after dark. Then if you douse your light nobody can see
where you go, and your hiding-place will never be known."
"Bully for you!" cried Alec. "I needed help to-morrow the worst way
possible. I'm going to study old Hardy's oyster-beds, and I want to make
the best job possible."
"Whenever you need help, Alec, don't hesitate to ask me. I'll help you
whenever I can."
"Elsa," said Alec, his eyes shining, "nobody ever had a better friend
than you have been to me. I owe my life to you. I can't tell you----" He
broke off short, afraid to say any more.
Just then a great voice boomed in the hallway. "Are you youngsters going
to talk all night?"
"Good night," said Elsa. She held out her hand to Alec. And he was a
surprisingly long time letting go of it.