The Voyage of the Hoppergrass Part 28

S-Someone p-pa.s.sed him up a g-g-gun, and when we saw that, I t-tell you, we d-dropped d-down in the b-bottom of the b-boat. S-Spike c-c-clung on to the wheel, and held her on her c-course, and we c-crouched down there, waiting for the old b-brute to b-b-blaze away. But he c-couldn't s-see us, and so there wasn't anyone for him to f-fire at. M-M-Maybe it was all b-b-bluff, b-but we didn't intend to s-stand up and t-try it, I t-tell you' After about t-ten minutes we p-p-peeked over the rail, and they were w-way b-back.

They had g-given it up, and s-s-stopped r-rowing. P-Pretty s-soon, they t-turned around and went b-back. B-But we thought B-B- Bailey's Harbor was a p-pretty healthy p-place to k-k-k-keep away from!"

"And we didn't find out until this morning," said Spike, "why they were after us. It wasn't for taking this boat at all. We sailed around on the Bay all night,--we didn't dare land. We stood watch- and-watch,--I'd sleep while Spook took the wheel, and then I sailed her while he had a nap. This morning we were off this island about seven o'clock and we met a lobsterman in his boat. We bought some lobsters of him and he gave us this paper."

Spike pulled it out from under a seat and handed it to me. I still have that paper. It was the "Lanesport Herald" of the evening before,--Wednesday evening. There was an article on the front page headed "Capture Marauders!" Underneath, it went on: "Good Detective Work--Flanders Holds Crooks--Daring Escape." Then I read the article aloud:

"A clever piece of detective work on the part of Constable Eben Flanders of Bailey's Harbor resulted in landing in jail the gang of miscreants who have been making a series of breaks on Little Duck Island and vicinity and terrorizing the neighborhood Tuesday night. The miscreants who are believed to be well-known crooks and are the same who perpetrated the breaks at the residence of Mrs.

Sarah B. Ellis last Sat.u.r.day night and at the residence of Dr.

Horace Bigelow the well-known physician Monday night were apprehended in the act of pillaging the summer residence of T.

Parker Littlefield, the prominent attorney of Boston.

"Constable Flanders was notified by Moses Silloway of Bailey's Harbor that he had observed some parties acting suspiciously in the vicinity of his residence and that these parties were walking stealthily in the direction of the Littlefield residence. With his usual promptness Constable Flanders gathered a posse and seized the miscreants in the act. In a very short time the miscreants were all lodged in the new jail at Bailey's Harbor to await the action of the Court in the morning when they would have an opportunity of explaining their actions to His Honor Judge Tredd.i.c.k but when Deputy Constable Justin c.o.ker opened the jail this morning he found that the parties had all vanished and that they could not be found. Considerable mystery surrounds the escape of the miscreants and it is believed that they received a.s.sistance from outside and that some dastard or dastards gaining access to the jail liberated the parties.

"An important clue is held by Constable Flanders as it is known that the parties came to Bailey's Harbor in a yacht named Hoppergra.s.s and a search is being made for that yacht, Constable Flanders promising the yacht a warm reception if he finds her in the vicinity of Bailey's Harbor with the miscreants on board."

"W-Well, he k-k-k-kept that p-p-p-promise, all r-right!" remarked Spook.

"Only you see," said Spike, "the miscreants weren't on board."

"That wouldn't have made any difference to Eb," I told him, "he'd have run you in just as quick."

"Now you s-see why we're a l-l-little sh-shy of going anywhere! W- With F-Father at B-Big D-Duck, p-p-p-probably, n-n-n-gnas.h.i.+ng his t-t-teeth, w-we have only g-got the ch-choice b-between being s-s- strung up for pup-pup-pirates at L-L-Lanesport or j-j-jugged f-for b-b-b-burglars at B-B-Bailey's Harbor."

"But you haven't told us yet what you had done," Spike remarked, "did YOU break into Littlefield's house?"

So I gave them the whole story, beginning with Tuesday afternoon, when we left Captain Bannister on the "Hoppergra.s.s" at Bailey's Harbor. I told them how we came back there and found our boat gone, how we blundered into Littlefield's house in the fog, how we were caught, how we escaped from jail, and all the rest of it.

Then I told about my trip to Rogers's Island, how I saw the Professor and Mr. Snider under the wharf, and how they suspected me of spying on them, and tried to keep me on the Island.

"It was about the first lucky thing that has happened," I said, "when I found you. Snider could run pretty well, and the Professor was there, too, to head me off,--and I couldn't keep running around that island forever."

"S-Say," said Spook, "l-l-let's have some g-g-grub. T-Take the wheel, will you, S-Spike?"

He and I went below, and brought up some things to eat. We were well out in the Bay now,--Rogers's Island was only a dim blue spot astern. We ate luncheon, and discussed where we should go. I was trying to make them see that it would be safe enough to sail over to Lanesport, when Spook paused, with a banana raised toward his mouth.

"W-W-What's that b-boat?" he asked.

He was looking straight ahead. Both Spike and I looked under the boom and saw the sail of a yacht about a mile away. She was headed directly for us.

"Oh, some boat,--or other," said Spike, nibbling at a jam-covered cracker, which Spook had fixed for him.

"L-L-Let's ch-change our c-course a b-bit,--she m-may be f-full of p-p-persons with pup-pup-pitchforks."

"Rats!" remarked Spike.

But he s.h.i.+fted the course, just the same. We drew away from the strange yacht for about three minutes, and then,--

"Sh-She's c-coming about!" shouted Spook.

She certainly was coming about. In a few seconds she was headed for us once again.

"I d-don't know about you f-fellows, b-but I'll never b-be t-taken alive. It's those d-d-d-duffers from B-Bailey's Harbor again,-- they've p-probably got c-c-cannon on b-board this t-time!"

Spike sat in silence, looking back at the stranger now and then.

After about five minutes he said:

"They're not gaining on us much."

It was hard to tell whether they gained or not. As far as I could see there had not been any change in the distance between us since the other boat came about. There was a good breeze and both boats were now running before it.

"L-Let's c-clear away this g-g-grub,--we want r-room to r-repel b-b-boarders."

"We won't have to repel them," said I, "they can't catch us."

"If they do," replied Spike, "they'll only get aboard this boat through a perfectly murderous fire of raspberry jam."

"R-Raspberry j-j-jam d-doesn't r-repel b-b-boarders," said Spook, hustling the dishes below, "h-h-half as m-m-much as s-s-stewed p-p-prunes." He stopped, with his head out of the cabin door.

"S-S-Say!" he exclaimed, pointing, "isn't th-that another b-boat?"

There was another boat, certainly,--a sail had appeared some distance behind the yacht we had first sighted.

"They're not chasing us," remarked Spike; "somebody's chasing them!"

"What makes you think anybody is chasing anybody?" I asked. "They may be just out for a sail. Anyone would think there was a war going on here in Broad Bay."

"Th-There's b-b-battle, m-murder, and s-s-sudden d-death g-g- going on for us,--at B-Bailey's Harbor. And l-l-look! B-By J-J-J- Jiminy Kuk-Kuk-Crickets! There's another b-boat!"

"Oh, they're all probably pleasure boats, like this one."

"D-D-Do you c-c-call this a p-p-pleasure b-boat? S-Seems to m-me the 'H-Hoppergra.s.s' is b-becoming a b-b-burden, like the one in the B-Bible."

"Just the same," said Spike, looking back uneasily, "this last one has come from Rogers's Island, I should think. Do you suppose it is Snider and the other man? Did they have a boat?"

"I didn't see any," I replied.

"They'd be sure to have one, though."

Spook went down into the cabin again, to get Captain Bannister's spy-gla.s.s. While he was down there, hunting for it, his brother and I watched the yacht and the two smaller sailboats behind us.

The yacht and the boat which came from the direction of Rogers's Island were so situated that a line drawn between them would have formed the base of a triangle at the apex of which was the "Hoppergra.s.s." The other small boat was half a mile or more behind the yacht. As we watched the three of them, the wind dropped a little, and there came a hot puff from the land.

"Hullo!" said Spike, "there won't be any chasing if the wind goes down much more."

Spook came on deck with the spy-gla.s.s and spent some time in trying to make out who was on the three boats. Beyond thinking that he saw pitchforks on all of them, however, he did not give us much information. The wind continued to fail, and it got hotter and hotter. In ten minutes we were sailing at a very slow rate,-- hardly more than moving. The yacht was becalmed, its sail flapping. The little boat from Rogers's Island, however, still had a breeze; it was about half a mile distant and drawing up on us.

The behavior of the wind was explained by a ma.s.s of white clouds, dark underneath, which had been piling up in the west. For an hour they had been gathering, and now we saw that they were thunder- heads. They promised all the wind we needed, before long.

Presently the small boat ran into the calm streak, and her sail, too, hung loose. She was near enough now for us to see that she was merely a large sailing dory. There were two men on board her, but whether they were Mr. Snider and the Professor I could not tell. I reached for the spy-gla.s.s, when Spike said:

"They're going to row."