LIKE THIEVES IN THE NIGHT.
In the meantime, the Motor Rangers and their western chum had jogged
into the little town, creating some excitement among the inhabitants
thereof. Santa Inez was one of those sleepy, little places not
uncommon along the coast of northern California, connected with the
outer world only by a semi-weekly stage and by an occasional steamer.
Shut in by the Coast Range to the east, and the broad Pacific to the
west, its inhabitants lived an almost patriarchal existence.
Small and primitive as it was, however, the place boasted a hotel.
The hostelry was not large, but still not bad of its kind, and having
inquired the direction the boys made the best of their time toward it.
"I expect Captain Akers will be there already," remarked Nat, as they
rode through the dusty street, shaded by feathery pepper trees with
pungent-smelling foliage.
"You told him to meet us there, then?" asked Joe.
"I did--yes. It was in the expectation that he would arrive there
first. But in any event, it is no doubt the first place he will make
for, expecting to hear news of us."
The party had no difficulty in engaging rooms; indeed the
landlord--one Calvo Pinto--appeared as if he could not do enough for
them. It was not often that the Gran Hotel De Santa Inez, as it was
grandiloquently called, boasted such a numerous party of guests. As
Nat told Pinto that their party might be recruited by two more, the
fellow was naturally obsequious enough. In fact, he was servility
itself, and bowed and cringed in most abject fashion.
All this super-civility filled Nat with a feeling of distrust.
However, as they had nothing to be apprehensive over, he soon
dismissed the idea from his mind.
The landlord insisted on helping them stable their mounts. They
would much have preferred to perform this duty themselves, but Pinto
seemed to think it a part of his work to aid them, and they could not
peremptorily order him to leave. Thus it came about, that when the
pack of the burro was removed, the keen eyes of the landlord fell on
the rather unusual-looking brass bound box in which the precious
sapphires were carried till they could be given over to the
authorities.
He asked many questions concerning the receptacle, none of which,
naturally enough, were answered other than vaguely. This served to
increase the landlord's curiosity, but he cunningly refrained from
betraying his inquisitiveness. His speculations concerning the
strange box were not allayed when, on his laying hold of it,
ostensibly to help the boys into the hotel, Cal Gifford told him,
rather roughly, to let go.
Pinto shrugged his shoulders, but said nothing but that he was "the
servant of the señors, and their wishes should be respected."
After some consultation held in undertones, it was decided to place
the box in the room occupied by Nat and Joe. This was at one end of
the hotel and boasted a stout lock on the door. Beneath the window
was the flat roof of a porch.
"Handy in case of fire," remarked Nat, looking out.
"That's right," agreed Joe, "but has it occurred to you that it would
be equally handy for any intruders who might wish to examine the box?"
"You mean the landlord?"
"Well, I didn't exactly like the way he looked at it."
"Pshaw," scoffed Nat, "what could a puny rat like that do against
four able-bodied persons--not to mention Captain Akers and the man we
noticed helping him on the 'Nomad.' However, we will keep watch
to-night if you like. Hullo"--he broke off suddenly as voices were
heard on the porch below--"there's Captain Akers now. He must have
just come ashore. Let's shove the box in under the bed and go down
and meet him. I'm dying to hear how the 'Nomad' behaved on her trip
up the coast."
Locking the door behind them, the two lads descended. On the landing
they met Cal Gifford and Ding-dong Bell who shared the next room to
themselves. Both had had a good wash-up, as had Nat and Joe, and the
party looked considerably spruced up from the travel-stained
individuals who had entered the hotel a short time before.
Captain Akers, a bluff, blond-bearded seaman, greeted them
effusively. He knew all of them except Cal. The mountaineer and the
sailor shook hands with a feeling of mutual respect as they surveyed
each other. Both were men of action and decision and recognized
those qualities in the other.
The captain's assistant on board the "Nomad" turned out to be a
slender yet muscular youth, introduced by the mariner as Sam
Hinckley. He was a capable young chap, said the captain, and had
been of the greatest assistance to him when the "Nomad's" engine
became cantankerous in a blow she had encountered on her way up the
coast. It was this that had caused the delay. But Hinckley, who
possessed a wonderful knowledge of marine gasolene engines, had
managed to adjust the difficulty more speedily than the captain would
have thought possible.
Presently, after an enthusiastic discussion of the boat and her good
points, Captain Akers drew Nat aside.
"I regard this young chap Hinckley as quite a find," he said. "He
presented himself at the boat yard some time ago and said he was
looking for work. Although I didn't much need a hand, I tried him
out and he proved himself so capable that he was hired regularly. He
has rather a remarkable history. It seems that he hails from the
South Seas--somewhere in the Marquesas Group, I believe. He left
there on account of some trouble he had with a relative. He did not
confide to me what it was and since he did not seem anxious to let me
know, I have never pressed him on this part of his history. It was
sufficient for me to know that I had a good, capable workman who, so
far as I have been able to observe, is as honest as the day is long,
and a thorough seaman."
"He looks all of that," agreed Nat, with a glance at Hinckley's broad
shoulders and upright bearing. The young sailor stood chatting with
the others at some little distance down the hotel porch.
"And now what do you say if we go out and inspect the 'Nomad'?" asked
Captain Akers.
This was a proposal which naturally met with no negative votes. But
right here a problem presented itself. Who was to stay to guard the
sapphires; for, of course, such a thing as leaving them unwatched was
not to be thought of. The question was settled by Cal Gifford, who
insisted on remaining behind. Maybe the mountaineer was anxious to
postpone his introduction to Old Ocean. At any rate, he seemed
anxious to remain, so the boys, who were dancing about with
impatience to inspect the "Nomad," did not press him very hard to
change his resolution, as that would have meant that one of their
number must remain on shore.
The "Nomad" proved all that Captain Akers had claimed for her. Her
main cabin was roomy and provided with a stateroom for "the owner,"
and several berths of the type used on sleeping cars which folded up
during the day or when they were not in use. Aft of the main cabin
came a tiny galley, fitted with bright, new utensils, and opposite
was a washroom.
A short flight of steps led to the cockpit, forward of which the
engines were located, being reached by a door from the cabin. The
cockpit was of the shallow, self-baling type. From it a short flight
of steps led to a miniature "bridge" placed athwartship on top of the
cabin. This was surmounted by a "military-mast," with cross-trees
and halliards for hoisting signals.
There were other features about the "Nomad" which will be mentioned
as occasion arises. The boys enthusiastically voted her a perfect
little ship.
"She's capable of taking a cruise almost anywhere!" declared Nat.
Captain Akers nodded.
"Yes, she has large auxiliary tanks for carrying an extra supply of
gasolene. Her engines are so constructed, moreover, that they will
consume kerosene just as well as gasolene, so that if you ever get in
a part of the world where gasolene is unobtainable you can burn the
other fuel, which can be found almost anywhere on the globe."
"What if the engines break down?" asked Joe Hartley, with the air of
one who has propounded a poser.
"In that case all we have to do," responded Captain Akers, "is to
take to sail. The 'Nomad' has an extra deep keel, fitted for just
that purpose."
"But the masts?" demanded Joe.
Captain Akers raised the hinged lid of one of the lockers that ran
the length of the cockpit. Inside were several lengths of rounded,
varnished timber, fitted with brass sockets. They may be compared to
the dissembled sections of a fishing rod.
"There are our masts," he said. "Sockets have been provided, fore
and aft, for the reception of their 'heels.' Everything is ready to
attach their stays and rigging to. The sails are in that other
locker. The 'Nomad' can be equipped for sail in less than half an
hour."
The boys exchanged radiant glances. Truly there seemed nothing
wanting to make the "Nomad" as complete a little vessel as could be
desired. The inspection completed, they rowed shoreward once more.
They found Cal on the watch, but nothing had occurred to require his
attention. The remainder of the afternoon was spent in strolling
about the little town and buying a few necessities for the voyage
down the coast, for it had been determined that the start would be
made in the morning, there being nothing to delay our adventurers at
Santa Inez.
"How I wish we were going to cruise to the South Seas," sighed Nat.
"Never mind, maybe we will some day," put in Joe. "The Motor Rangers
seem to be always running into adventures of all kinds."
That his prophecy was to be verified, and that in no very short time,
never occurred to Joe, and as for the others, they concluded that,
having reached Santa Inez in safety, they were through with the most
risky part of their expedition. Little did they imagine that their
adventures had not yet begun.
All hands turned in early that night, for a quick start was to be
made on the morrow. Sam Hinckley rowed off to the "Nomad" after
supper to keep watch and ward over her for the night, while the rest
sought their previously assigned sleeping quarters in the hotel.
Folks retired early to bed in Santa Inez and by ten o'clock most of
the lights in the place were out. It was about this time that two
figures appeared in front of the hotel, taking care, however, to keep
in the dark shade of the pepper trees lining the opposite sidewalk.
The two men watched the hotel for some time in silence, listening
while the landlord went his nightly rounds, testing locks and
fastening the lower windows. By and by he, too, vanished, and before
long his light, which had appeared at an upper window, was
extinguished.
"Shall we try for it now?" asked one of the men, slouching in the
obscurity of the tree shadows.
"Not yet, Dayton. Give them time to get settled down to sleep. Is
everything in readiness?"
"Yes, colonel. While you went to the camp to tell the men to be
ready to embark to-night, I arranged for a boat. She is at the wharf
now. All we have to do is to secure that chest, join the rest of the
boys, get on board the schooner and then, 'Ho for the Marquesas!'"
"You talk as if it were all accomplished."
"And so it is, to all intents and purposes. We know the room where
the boys are sleeping. That garrulous old fool of a landlord told
us, when we dropped into his drinking bar, that the chest was in Nat
Trevor's room. All we have to do, then, is to climb that trellis
work leading up to the porch roof, walk in through the open window,
and make good our escape."
"What if they make any resistance?"
"I don't think they will," said Dayton, grimly fingering his revolver
as he spoke; "but if they do, we can easily subdue them."
"But they may raise the whole town about our ears," objected Colonel
Morello, who seemed to be weakening now that the actual moment for
carrying out their rascally plan had arrived. Dayton, on the
contrary, was confident as if they already had the sapphires on board
the "Nettie Nelsen."
"Let them raise the town if they want to," scoffed Morello's
lieutenant. "The boys are waiting at the landing, and at the first
sign of trouble they'll start a fusillade that will scare the life
out of any one who tries to interfere. Now, then, you remain on
watch here. I'm going to see how the coast lies."
Morello nodded. The next moment he was alone, while Dayton, swiftly
but silently, glided across the dark street. He gained the foot of
the trellis work, glanced upward for a minute, and then setting his
foot in the criss-cross work began to climb. He made no more noise
than a marauding cat.
His companion, watching nervously from the dark shadows, saw Dayton's
form gain the porch roof, slip noiselessly across it to the boys'
window, and cautiously push aside the shade.
The next instant he stepped through the casement and disappeared from
Morello's view.