THE PROFESSOR IS KIDNAPPED.
The faces of all grew grave. A leak at sea is a serious menace. The
point at which the water was entering the Southern Cross was soon
found to be through a sprained plank a little below the water line.
Captain Hazzard ordered canvas weighted and dropped overboard around
the leak so that the pressure of water would hold it there. The
carpenter's gang then set to work to calk the hole temporarily.
In the meantime the Brutus had put back, blowing her whistle
inquiringly.
"Send them a wireless message telling them what has happened," the
commander ordered Frank, who hastened to obey.
The captain of the Brutus ordered out his boat as soon as Frank's
message had been conveyed to him and came aboard the Southern Cross.
He agreed, after a consultation with Captain Hazzard, that it would be
necessary to put in somewhere to refit.
"We are now off the mouth of the Santa Cruz river in Patagonia," said
Captain Barrington, "it is a good place to lie to. I was there once on
a passenger steamer that met with an accident. We can shift the cargo
to the stern till we have raised the bow of the Southern Cross, and
then we can patch up her prow easily," he said.
All agreed that this was a good plan. There was only one objection,
and that was the so-called giants of Patagonia, who are hostile to all
strangers. In view of the large force of men on board the two ships,
however, and the numerous weapons carried, it was agreed that there
was not much to be feared from the Patagonians.
The broken steel hawser was at once detached and a new one put in
place and the two vessels headed for the shore, about one hundred and
fifty miles distant. They arrived off the mouth of the Santa Cruz
river the next day and the boys, who had been up before dawn in their
anxiety to get their first glimpse of "The Land of the Giants," were
rather disappointed to see stretched before them a dreary looking
coast with a few bare hills rising a short distance inland. There were
no trees or grass ashore, but a sort of dull-colored bush grew
abundantly.
"I thought the giants lived in dense forests," said Billy,
disgustedly; "this place is a desert."
"It was a fortunate accident though that brought us to this shore,"
said a voice behind them and Professor Sandburr's bony, spectacled
face was thrust forward. "I would not have missed it for a great deal.
I would like to capture a specimen of a Patagonian alive and take him
home in a cage. The Patagonian dog-flea, too, I understand, is very
curious."
The boys all laughed at this, but the professor was perfectly serious.
There is no doubt that he would have liked to have done so and caged
up a Patagonian where he could have studied him at his leisure.
The Brutus, with leadsmen stationed in her bows to test the depth of
the water, proceeded cautiously up the river and finally came to
anchor with her tow behind her about two miles from its mouth. The
work of shifting some of the cargo of the Southern Cross to the stern
so as to elevate her bow, was begun at once; as time was an important
consideration. Soon all was declared ready for the carpenters to start
work and they were lowered on stages over the side and at once began
to rectify the trouble. Some of them worked from a boat secured to the
bow.
"Do you think you can persuade the captain to let us go ashore with
you?" asked Frank of the professor, who was busy at once getting out
all his paraphernalia in anticipation of going on what Billy called "a
bug hunt."
"Certainly," declared the scientist confidently, "come along. I should
like above all things to have you boys go ashore with me. Besides, I
may teach you all to become faunal naturalists."
The delighted boys followed the old man to Captain Hazzard's cabin,
but, to their disappointment, he forbade the expedition peremptorily.
"The Patagonians are dangerous savages," he said, "and I will not
assume the responsibility of allowing you to risk your lives."
Nor did any persuasion of which the boys or the professor could make
have any effect in causing the commander to change his mind. He was
firm as adamant and reluctantly the boys made their way forward and
watched the carpenters fix the leak, and when that palled they were
compelled to fall back on fishing for an amusement.
The professor joined ardently in this sport despite his disappointment
at not being allowed to go ashore. He managed to fix up a net attached
to an iron ring with which he scooped up all kinds of queer fish out
of the river, many of which were so ugly as to be repulsive to the
boys. But the professor seemed to be delighted with them all.
"Ah, there, my beautiful 'Piscatorius Animata Catfisio,'" he would
say, as he seized a struggling sea monster with a firm grip and
plunged it into one of his tin tanks. "I'll dissect you to-night. You
are the finest specimen of your kind I have ever seen."
The boys were suddenly interrupted in their fishing by blood-curdling
yells from the old scientist. Looking up in alarm they saw him dancing
about on the deck holding his arm as if in great pain, while in front
of him on the deck a queer-looking, flat fish with a long barbed tail
flopped about, its great goggle eyes projecting hideously.
Frank ran forward to pick up the creature and throw it overboard, but
as he grasped it he experienced a shock that knocked him head over
heels. As he fell backward he collided with the professor and the two
sprawled on the deck with the professor howling louder than ever.
"No wonder they're hurt," shouted Ben Stubbs, coming up with a long
boat-hook, "that's an electric ray."
"An electric what?" asked Billy.
"An electric ray. They carry enough electricity in them to run a small
lamp, and when they wish they can give you a powerful shock. They kill
their prey that way."
"Ouch--," exclaimed the professor, who had by this time got up, "the
ray nearly killed me. Let me look at the brute so that I'll know one
of them again."
"Why don't you put him in your collection?" asked Frank with a smile,
although his arm still hurt him where the electric ray had shocked it.
"I want no such fish as that round me, sir," said the professor
indignantly, and ordered Ben to throw the creature overboard with his
boat-hook.
After supper that night the boys hung about the decks till bedtime.
The hours passed slowly and they amused themselves by watching the
moonlit shores and speculating on the whereabouts of the Patagonians.
Suddenly Billy seized Frank's arm.
"Look," he exclaimed, pointing to a low ridge that stood out blackly
in the moonlight.
Behind the low eminence Frank could distinctly see a head cautiously
moving about, seemingly reconnoitering the two ships. In a few seconds
it vanished as the apparent spy retreated behind the ridge.
"That must have been a Patagonian," said Frank.
"Just think, they are so near to us and we cannot go ashore," sighed
the professor, who was one of the group. "I wonder if they have any
dogs with them?"
"I have a good mind to go, anyway," said the old man, suddenly, "I
would like to write a paper on the habits of the Patagonians and how
can I if I don't study them at first hand?"
"What if they chopped your head off?" asked Billy.
"They would not do that," rejoined the scientist, with a superior
smile. "I have a friend who lived with them for a time and then wrote
a book about them. According to him Captain Hazzard is wrong; they are
not hostile, but, on the contrary, are friendly to white men."
"Then you think that Captain Hazzard doesn't know much about them?"
asked Billy.
"I did not say that," replied the professor; "but he may be mistaken
just like I was about the electric ray, which I thought was a South
Atlantic skate. Just the same, I mean to find out for myself," he went
on. "To-night when everyone is asleep but the man on duty, I am going
to watch my opportunity and go ashore in the boat the carpenters left
at the bow this afternoon. There are ropes hanging from the prow down
which I can climb."
Soon after this the boys determined to turn in and, naturally, the
professor's decision occupied a great deal of their conversation.
"Do you think we ought to tell the captain about what Professor
Sandburr means to do?" asked Frank of the others.
"I don't think so," said Billy. "He is much older than we are and
doubtless he knows what he is about. At the same time, though, I think
we should watch and if he gets into trouble should try and help him
out of it."
"Very well, then we will all be out on deck at midnight," said Frank,
"and if we find that the professor is really serious in his intention
to go ashore in the boat we will try and stop him. If he still
persists we shall have to tell the captain."
The others agreed that the course that Frank recommended was the best
one, and they all decided to adopt his plan.
But the boys were heavy sleepers and besides were tired out when they
sought their bunks, so that when Frank, who was the first to wake,
opened his eyes it was past one in the morning. With a start the boy
jumped out of bed and hastily called the others.
"We may not be too late yet," he said, as he hastily slipped into
trousers, shirt and slippers.
But the boys WERE too late. When they reached the bow they could see
by peering over that the boat had gone and that the professor had
penetrated alone into the country of the Patagonians.
Suddenly there came a shot from the shore and a loud cry of:
"Help!"
"It's the professor!" exclaimed Frank; "he's in serious trouble this
time."