While all this had been occurring on the wharf Plumbo Boggs had
discovered the deception that had been practiced on him, and was
hastening as fast as he could to the hotel. Even he, whose mind could
not be called quick acting, realized that he was the victim of a trick,
the object of which was, in all probability, to injure the _Sea Eagle_.
Arousing the night clerk, Plumbo begged to be directed to Dr. Perkins'
room. The night clerk knew the eccentric character, and lost no time in
escorting him to the doctor's quarters. Plumbo thundered on the door
with noise sufficient to arouse the other guests.
"What is it? What's happened?" shouted Dr. Perkins, thinking for an
instant that the place must be on fire at least.
"Oh, doctor, come quick! They've played us a trick!" yelled Plumbo.
"Who? Where? What do you mean?" exclaimed Dr. Perkins, coming to the
door.
"Two men and a lad; they've fooled me bad."
"Do you mean that they persuaded you to leave the _Sea Eagle_ alone and
unguarded?"
"They told me a story to get me from there; or I'd have given your air
ship the best of good care," pleaded Plumbo, seriously alarmed at the
angry look that had come over the doctor's face. "Don't be angry with
me, I pray; if they hurt it I'll ask you no pay."
"As if that would help," cried Dr. Perkins angrily; "wait there till I
get some clothes on."
He retreated into the room and as he hastily donned some garments he
wondered who the men could be who had induced the soft-witted poet to
leave his position of trust.
"For the life of me I can't imagine who they can be," he was thinking,
while he hurriedly laced his shoes, when the door opened and in walked
Harry fully dressed.
"I heard the noise in the corridor, and heard Plumbo telling you that
something had happened to the _Sea Eagle_," he said excitedly.
"I don't know that anything has happened yet," cried Dr. Perkins
anxiously; "I'm hoping not. But from what I can gather from Plumbo's
foolish talk three men induced him, on some pretext, to leave the ship
unguarded. I must say it looks suspicious. But I cannot think who there
is in this place where we are unknown who would want to harm us."
The thought of Duval flashed across Harry's mind. He and Frank had
decided not to tell Dr. Perkins about their encounter lest it should
worry him; but surely the time to tell about it had come now.
"We ought to have told you," he said, rather falteringly, "but we did
not want to cause you undue anxiety,--we saw Duval this afternoon."
"What!"
Dr. Perkins almost shouted the question, or rather exclamation, in a
thunderstruck tone.
"Yes. We tried to catch him, but he escaped us. Frank can tell you all
about it. By the way, where is Frank?"
"Isn't he in your room?"
"No; when I was awakened by the noise in the passage I saw that his bed
was empty. I supposed that he had got out of bed ahead of me and had
come in here."
"I haven't seen him since we retired."
"Then where can he be?"
The inventor and the boy aviator stared at each other for an instant.
"Good gracious, this looks serious, indeed," exclaimed Dr. Perkins; "not
in his room, and not in the hotel, apparently. Where can he have gone
to?"
"That's what's worrying me," cried Harry, in a rather quavering tone;
"I'm sure, perfectly sure, that that rascal Duval knows something about
him wherever he is. Maybe he heard some word of a plot to injure the
_Sea Eagle_ and has gone down to see if he can frustrate it. Duval----"
"Yes; but Duval, if it is he, is not alone in this thing. Plumbo says
there were two men and a lad."
"Two men and a lad," cried Harry joyously, "then the lad must have been
Frank."
"But who could the others have been? They all came together and sent our
watchman away."
"It's all a deep mystery, doctor. I think our best plan is to make all
the speed we can to the wharf. Perhaps we can find some solution there."
"Yes; let us do so at once. I am all ready, are you?"
"Yes; I hurried to get dressed as soon as I heard the noise in the
corridor."
Plumbo was waiting, and as they hastened down the street he explained in
his odd rhyming speech just what had happened. He could not describe the
men except to say that one had whiskers on his chin. In a part of the
country where this is a favorite facial adornment this information was
not much of a clew.
It took the alarmed party much less time to reach the wharf than they
would have thought was possible. In fact, almost the whole distance was
traversed at a run. But when they arrived at the wharf and a lantern,
which Dr. Perkins had had the foresight to bring along, had been
kindled, they found nothing to inform them as to what had taken place.
The doctor had not expected to find Plumbo's three men there, but he had
had an idea that he would find something damaged about the _Sea Eagle_.
But as careful an examination as it was possible to make by lamplight
failed to reveal any trace of damage.
Naturally this, instead of helping to clear the mystery, only deepened
it. What object could the men have had who had sent Plumbo off on his
wild goose chase if it had not been to wreak injury to the _Sea Eagle_?
"Maybe they were some inventors who wanted to steal your ideas,"
suggested Harry, recalling some experiences of their own with
unscrupulous aviators.
But Dr. Perkins shook his head.
"Every important feature of the _Sea Eagle_ is fully covered by
patents," he said; "there isn't a single idea they could appropriate in
the short time they could have spent here anyhow."
Harry had to admit that this was so, but to tell the truth his thoughts
were centered more on Frank and on the strange circumstances surrounding
his disappearance than they were on the _Sea Eagle_.
"I'm as certain as that daylight will come again that Frank fits into
this mix-up somewhere," he said, voicing his thoughts, "but the question
is where?"
"Well, he's not here now, that's certain," declared Dr. Perkins. "I
propose that we should return to the hotel now that we have discovered
that no damage has been done. He may meet us there."
"Let's search the wharf first," said Harry, but, naturally, even their
painstaking search failed to reveal any trace of Frank's fate till, all
at once, Harry, who was carrying the lantern, came upon his brother's
cap lying where it had fallen in the scuffle among the boxes.
The bit of headgear had been kicked close to the string-piece of the
wharf, and a fearful fear that made Harry's head swim shot into his
mind. Could Frank have come down to the wharf, suspecting mischief was
on foot, and have either fallen or been thrown into the water?
"Look--look here, sir," he exclaimed in a shaking voice, as Dr. Perkins
asked him what was the matter.
"What is it?" asked the doctor, coming forward. "A clew?"
"Yes; it's--it's Frank's cap, doctor. Pray heaven no harm has befallen
him."
"If it has, swift vengeance is going to overtake somebody," declared Dr.
Perkins, clenching his hands; "where did you find the cap?"
"Close to the string-piece. You--you don't think he could have fallen
over?"
"Nonsense," declared Dr. Perkins with a confidence he was far from
feeling; "we'll get him back again safe and sound, never fear."
But Harry's heart sank as he fingered his brother's cap.
"I'm trying to think so, too, sir," he said miserably; "but--but----"
He paused abruptly, for he could not have gone further without breaking
down. Harry had gone through some anxious moments in his life, but never
had his heart sunk so low as it did that night on the Bayhaven wharf.
In the meantime, let us see how it was faring with the boy whose
disappearance had caused such cruel fears--fears which even the vengeful
tempers of Daniels and his son would have been satisfied with. We left
Frank gagged and bound on the bottom of the dory, while Zeb and his
father were pulling with strong, swift strokes for the open water.
The dory shot swiftly and silently seaward, with Frank completely in the
dark as to what was to be his fate. It occurred to him, though, that
perhaps they meant to maroon him on some island. This thought did not
give him so much anxiety as might have been expected, for he knew that
the waters about Bayhaven were fairly populous with boats, and did not
suppose that his captors meant to keep him a prisoner any longer time
than would be necessary for them to take their departure from that part
of the coast before the authorities could be notified.
Imagine, then, his thrill of surprise when the boat suddenly stopped and
the barrel, into which some big stones had been thrown to keep it
upright in the water, was lowered from the dory. This done, Frank was
lifted by main force and placed in it.
A brutal laugh broke from Zeb and his father as they shoved the barrel
containing its helpless captive away from the side of the dory. Duval
said nothing, but his white teeth showed in a grin in the starlight.
Frank, gagged as he was, could not utter a word or move a limb. He could
only realize, with dumb agony, the terrible nature of his fate.
Still laughing, the brutal rascals who had conceived the idea of setting
him adrift, rowed off at a quick rate, leaving the barrel and its
helpless occupant bobbing up and down on the swells of the starlit sea.