Four Afloat: Being the Adventures of the Big Four on the Water

Of course every one had, but none of them were practical and they were still discussing the problem when Bob arrived on the scene.

“What did you find out?” asked Nelson and Dan as one. Bob looked surprisedly about the circle to the accompaniment of Barry’s tapping tail.

“Isn’t there going to be any luncheon?” he asked.

“Thunder!” cried Tom. “What time is it? I forgot all about it!”

“We all did,” said Dan. “Get a move on, Tommy; Mr. Hawkshaw is in a hurry.”

“Well, but I want to hear about it,” objected Tom. “You fellows come on down.”

So they all adjourned to the engine room and while Tom set about the preparation of luncheon Bob made his report.

“I found out two or three things,” said Bob. “In the first place, Spencer Floyd is still there, because I saw him and he saw me. In the second place the Henry Nellis sails to-morrow morning for St. Johns, Newfoundland.”

“Then we’ve got to get busy to-day,” said Dan resolutely.

“She’d have been gone several days,” Bob continued, “if it hadn’t been for some row between her owners.”

“Then Captain Chowder doesn’t own her?” asked Nelson.

“He owns a fourth,” answered Bob. “After I got on the wharf I went across to a schooner lying on the other side, the Two Brothers. I told one of the men on deck that I’d like to come aboard and look around and he said all right. We got quite chummy and he told me about the Henry Nellis. He had been talking to one of her crew. I asked him what he knew about Captain Sander, only I didn’t let on that I’d ever heard of him before. He said he didn’t know anything about him except what the other chap had told him, which was only that the captain was a tartar when he got mad. I kept my eye on the Nellis all the time. I could see over her rail from where I sat on the deck of the other boat, but I wasn’t in plain sight in case the captain had happened along. But I didn’t see anything of him and the chap I was talking to didn’t know whether he was on board or ashore. The only men I saw on the Nellis were a couple of deck hands, one of them that Dago with the earrings. I guess most of the crew were ashore. But presently somebody walked out of the galley and tossed a panful of potato parings over the farther side and I saw that it was Spencer. When he came back toward the galley I stood up. At first he didn’t see me, but just as he was going through the doorway he glanced across and stopped. He didn’t recognize me at all until I made a motion with my hand. Then he looked forward where the two men were sitting, back to him, and walked over to the rail and pretended to scrape the tin pan clean. But he was looking me over and I saw that he remembered my face but couldn’t place me. So I climbed back to the wharf and moved over toward him. When I got about ten feet away I turned my back to him and pretended to be looking at the Two Brothers.”

“You’re a born detective, Bob,” said Dan admiringly.

“Shut up, Dan!” said Tom impatiently.

“I called to him softly,” Bob went on, “and he answered. ‘I’m one of the fellows from the Vagabond,’ said I. ‘Is the captain on board?’ ‘No,’ said Spencer, ‘he’s at the head of the wharf, in the office.’ ‘Can you get by without his seeing you?’ I asked, and Spencer said No. Then I asked him if he still wanted to get away and he said he did, and from the way he said it I guess he meant it! So I said: ‘We’ll come alongside to-night in the launch and get you if you think you can get away.’ ‘What time?’ he asked. ‘Any time,’ said I. ‘Whenever you think best.’ ‘About half-past nine, then,’ said he. ‘I’ll watch for you.’ ‘All right,’ said I. ‘But don’t let them suspect anything.’ He was just starting to say something else when one of the sailors yelled at him to keep away from the rail or he’d knock his head off. I didn’t turn around, but I walked back and forth a couple of times as though I was admiring the Two Brothers. Then I sauntered away along the wharf toward the street. I thought I was pretty well through with it when a man came out of a building ahead of me and walked toward me. I saw at once that he was Captain Sander. At first I thought I’d turn around and go back to the Two Brothers until he was out of the way. Then I thought that that would be too raw; he’d think I was trying to avoid him. So I put my hands in my pockets and passed him, kicking at the boards and looking at my feet. I only glanced at him once. He saw me but I don’t think he paid any attention to me. So there you are. That’s how matters stand.”

“Bully for you!” cried Dan. “Talk about your Sherlock Holmeses and your – your – !”

“Yes, indeed, Dan,” said Nelson soothingly. “But what we want to do now is to – ”

“Eat luncheon,” interrupted Tom.

Before that meal was over their campaign was fully planned out. It was simple enough and depended for success on their ability to reach the Henry Nellis undetected and Spencer Floyd’s ability to reach the Vagabond in the same way.

“If we get him,” said Nelson, “we’ll make a bee-line for Mullen’s Cove.”

“How far is it?” asked Bob.

“About eighty miles. We won’t try to get there to-night, I guess, but we’ll go far enough to throw the captain off the scent; maybe to Hempstead; we can do that in two hours.”

“It isn’t likely the old pirate will try to chase us this time,” said Dan. “He won’t have a tug handy as he did at Sanstable.”

“Well, we won’t run any risks,” said Nelson. “As soon as Spencer’s aboard we’ll make tracks.”

And so it was settled. But the plan was discussed and rediscussed many times during the afternoon. Time went very slowly. At four they took a run around the Battery and up the North River for a ways, as Nelson said, to see that the engine worked all right, but in reality, I think, to relieve the suspense of waiting. They had dinner ashore at a funny little café, on South Street, frequented principally by the better class of officers and sailors from the ships and steamboats along the adjacent waterfront. What they had was good, if plain, and they did full justice to it. Bob settled the bill at the little desk near the door when they had finished and the others went on out to the sidewalk. When Bob rejoined them his face showed that something had disturbed him.

“What’s up?” asked Nelson. For answer Bob seized him by the arm and hurried him away from in front of the restaurant, the others following.

“Captain Sander,” said Bob, when they were some distance away. “He was sitting at the table between the desk and the window!”

Dan whistled.

“Do you think he saw us?” asked Nelson.

Bob shook his head doubtfully.

“I don’t believe so. He had a paper propped up in front of him and he never looked up after I noticed him. I wish, though, we’d gone somewhere else for supper.”

“Yes,” agreed Dan, “it would have been better even to have eaten Tommy’s cooking!”

At half-past seven the Vagabond chugged up to the end of the next pier to that at which the Henry Nellis lay. The launch showed no lights. Seated in the cockpit the four waited silently and impatiently for the hands of the clock in the cabin to approach the half hour after nine. After two bells had struck Dan went down every five minutes or so, struck a match and looked at the clock. Finally he came back and whispered: “Nine-twenty-five, Nel!”

Bob went to the wheel and Nelson disappeared into the engine room. The single line which had held them to the side of a big lighter came away and the propeller churned the water. Out into the stream went the Vagabond. Then, when she was opposite the Henry Nellis, Bob swung the wheel over and she headed for the darkness of the dock. While still some distance out the engine was shut off and the launch slid quietly into the gloom, headed for the side of the schooner which lay dimly outlined in the darkness.

Slower and slower went the launch. Bob, at the wheel, peered intently forward. At the bow Dan stood ready to thrust her nose away or draw her in toward the schooner. From the Henry Nellis came no sound and only one light showed from her deck. The Vagabond lost all headway and lay rocking gently in the black water. But Dan could reach the side of the schooner, and in another moment the launch was being pulled slowly along past the dark, tarry hull. Then came the most difficult task of all. They had decided that it would be wisest to have the Vagabond turned around with her head to the stream, and now they set about it. But it was the hardest sort of work, and more than once sounds resulted which would have been sufficient to warn those on the schooner had they been expecting visitors. As no alarm was given the boys hopefully decided that they had escaped detection by the captain in the restaurant. Finally the launch lay straight alongside the schooner, amidships, and there was nothing left to do but wait for Spencer. Suddenly the clock in the cabin struck three bells so loudly that the four held their breath. They had forgotten to muffle it. They listened but heard no sound from the schooner. The minutes passed. Dan crept down and looked at the clock, returning to the cockpit to whisper that it was almost a quarter to ten. Then from somewhere on the schooner came the faint sound of a sliding door or hatch.

Nelson groped his way to the cabin door so that he could reach the engine promptly. A moment passed. Then something fell at Dan’s feet with a soft thud and a dim figure appeared above at the rail. At the same moment a door crashed open on deck and heavy footsteps sounded. The figure scrambled over the rail and came half-falling to the deck of the Vagabond. Dan seized Spencer and dragged him into the cockpit just as the irate voice of Captain Sauder broke the silence.

“Spencer!” he bellowed. “Where are you? Go below or I’ll shoot a hole in you! I see you there! Come out, you sneakin’ fool!”

“Hurry, Nel!” whispered Bob hoarsely into the gloom of the engine room. Then the throb of the Vagabond’s propeller sounded startlingly loud and the launch slid forward in the darkness. Back against the lighter background of the cloudy sky appeared the form of the captain. A red flare lighted the darkness where he stood and a bullet whistled over Dan’s head.

“Duck!” cried Dan, forgetting caution. All save Bob threw themselves on to the floor of the cockpit. Again the revolver spoke and a bullet crashed into the cabin roof a foot from Bob’s arm. Then the Vagabond was free of the slip and had swung upstream, her propeller churning the water into white froth at the stern. Once more the captain fired, but the bullet was lost far astern. As they passed the head of the next pier they could hear the captain raging and swearing back there in the night.

CHAPTER XXV – WHEREIN THE VAGABOND STARTS FOR HOME AND THE STORY ENDS

The Vagabond lay peacefully at anchor at the mouth of Hempstead Harbor. It was almost midnight and a ragged-looking moon was tingeing the quiet water with silver light. In the cabin the crew were preparing for bed. Spencer had finished his narrative of events and was sitting on the edge of Bob’s berth looking almost happy.

“Then we guessed right about the empty boat,” said Nelson.

“Yes,” answered Spencer. “They seen me from the Henry the first thing. And when they had me aboard the captain told Joe – that’s the feller with the rings in his ears – to stave a hole in the bottom of your boat. So he did, with a boat hook.”

“And he didn’t lick you for running away?” asked Bob incredulously. Spencer shook his head.

“No, he was too glad to get me back. He kept askin’ me if I thought I was smart as he was. He’d lost his cook the night before – ran off, he did – and so he said I was to cook. I’ve been cooking ever since.”

“Hasn’t he licked you since then?” Tom inquired.

“Oh, yes, once or twice,” replied Spencer cheerfully. “But not to hurt much. But if he’d got me to-night I guess he’d just about have walloped the skin off’n me!”

“You think he suspected something was up this evening, do you?” asked Bob.

“Yes, ’cause he was watchin’ me all the time till I turned in, just like he was a cat. There was only him and Joe aboard, ’cause he’d let the others go off. When I sneaked out I guess he heard me – the captain, I mean; Joe was asleep. But I guess he thought I would try to make for the street, ’cause he went over to the wharf after me. If he hadn’t I wouldn’t have made it, I guess.”

“Lucky he did,” said Bob. “I’ll bet he saw us at supper. Well, all’s well that ends well, Spencer. We’ll have you at home in the morning, and if you’ll take my advice you’ll stay there!”

“I’m a-goin’ to,” was the answer. “Ma, she won’t let him take me away again.”

“Good,” said Bob. “Let’s turn in. Did you fix Spencer’s bunk, Dan?”

“Yes, it’s all ready,” was the answer. “As for me, I’ll bet I can sleep a few lines to-night. This thing of kidnaping folks is interesting, but wearing.”

“Yes,” yawned Tom. “It makes you sleepy to be shot at.”

The next morning the Vagabond took up her journey for Mullen’s Cove. It was a sixty-mile trip, but the launch made it in record time, something under five hours and a half, turning into Mattituck Inlet at a little before two in the afternoon. Spencer begged them to go home with him.

“Ma,” he said earnestly, “she’d like to thank you fellers for bein’ so good to me.”

But the four were shy of gratitude and so Spencer was set ashore a mile from his home, his belongings knotted up in a blue cotton shirt under his arm. They watched him out of sight. At the top of the sandy road he turned and waved them farewell with the bundle. Then he passed from sight.

“All aboard!” cried Dan. “Swing her around, Mr. Navigating Officer. Ho, for the deep blue sea!”

“We’ll make Shelter Island,” said Nelson, “and have a civilized dinner once more. Does that suit you chaps?”

“Sounds good to me,” answered Tom.

“Me, too,” said Bob.

“Any old place will suit me,” cried Dan as he seized Barry and tried to waltz him about the cockpit. “Any old place so long as it’s on the water. A sailor’s life for us, eh, Barry?”

And Barry barked wildly, possibly in assent.

THE END