H. Irving Hancock

“ Only time could tell.
“Lend ’em a hand, Hepton!” roared Joe, as he saw the young captain and helper appear with the bulky canvas.
It was all the three of them could do, in the rolling, high seas in which the “Restless” pitched like a chip of wood, to get that sail on top of the cabin deck-house. Bit by bit they rigged it in place, working fast, straining muscle and sinew to hold the sail against the gale that strove to carry the canvas overboard. At last, they had it in place, ready for hoisting.
“Stand by to hoist,” sang out Captain Tom. “The two of you. Go slow! ”

“ Within ten minutes back came the reply from Beaufort to this effect:
“I have men out watching for the schooner. Man Dalton will be arrested as you request. Will notify you.”
“Good!” cried Mr. Seaton, rubbing his hands vengefully. “Oh, Dalton, you scoundrel, you can’t escape us now, for long! You knew that, if you continued down the coast, there was danger that a United States revenue cutter would intercept the ship and take you off. At best, you knew you would be arrested at Rio Janeiro, if I suspected you, as I was bound to do. ”

“ Seaton and Tom Halstead were keenly aware of the presence of the prisoner in the starboard stateroom.
“You don’t seem as overjoyed as I thought you might be,” observed Powell Seaton, in a tone of disappointment.
“I’m going through for you, sir, and I’ll deliver the papers into the proper hands, if I live,” replied Tom Halstead.
“And you’re not afraid of the big chances of danger that you may be running?” persisted his employer.
“Why, I believe every human being has times when he’s afraid,” Skipper Tom replied, honestly. ”

“ Tom moved the speed control slowly, until the “Restless” went loafing along at a speed of six miles an hour. Heading weatherward, he gave more heed to the wheel, for there were signs that the water was going to roughen somewhat.
“Hank!” called the young skipper, and Butts came to the bridge deck.
“Sound the fog-whistle every minute,” directed Halstead.
“Too-whoo-oo-oo!” sounded the melancholy, penetrating note through the mist.
“Are you going to keep that up, Captain Halstead?” inquired Mr. Seaton, in instant apprehension.
“Got to, sir. It’s the law of the ocean in a deep fog.” ”

“ Rascals on shore are shooting at us,” exclaimed Powell Seaton, turning swiftly to peer at the forest-clad shore line.
“No; they’re shooting at our aerials!” retorted Captain Tom Halstead.
Bang! Whe-ew-ew! Clash! Then there was a metallic clash, for the second rifle shot from the land had scored a fair bull’s-eye among the clustered aerial wires. There was a rattle, and some of the severed wire ends hung down.
With an ugly grunt, Hepton bounded down into the motor room, passing up the two rifles.
“We must be careful, though,” warned Mr. Seaton. “This time they’re not shooting at us.” ”

“ When the charter-man of the “Restless” came out once more the thick pile of banknotes in his pocket had grown a good deal thinner, but Captain Rawley had been enlisted as a friend to the cause.
“Good-bye, old chums,” cried Dick Davis, gripping a hand of Tom and Joe with each of his own.
“Good-bye! Good luck now, and all the way through life!” murmured Tom, earnestly, and with a hidden meaning that Davis caught.
As speedily as Tom and Joe had assisted 194 Powell Seaton aboard the motor boat, Hank cast off, while the crew of the “Glide” began to raise the side gangway. ”

“ We’ve got to get our own boat back unless the heavens fall on us on the way over!”
“Humph! What are we going to do,” demanded Hank Butts, “if we find a gang aboard that we can’t whip or bluff?”
“That,” spoke Captain Tom, softly, “will have to be decided after we get there. But swim over there we must, since there isn’t anything on this island that even looks like a boat. See here, Joe, you and Hank trot up to the bungalow and tell Mr. Seaton what we’ve seen. The ‘Restless’ is at anchor in the cove yonder. There are plenty of logs up at the bungalow. ”

“ Seaton is done with the boat I’ll tie her up until you get back—that’s what I’ll do,” grunted Dawson. “No sailing without a skipper for me.”
“You needn’t look so bad about it, Cap,” grinned Hepton. “I wish it was me, cut out for a long trip to Rio and back. Maybe I wouldn’t jump at such a chance. Some folks are born lucky!”
Too-woo-oo!
The oncoming steamship’s deep fog-horn sounded loud and sullen, now. Tom Halstead, still at the wheel, was peering constantly forward for the first glimpse of the freighter, for the fog had lightened much by this time. ”

“ Halstead might have been badly hit.
But Hank Butts, on duty in the corridor, had heard the cries.
As the door was thrust open Hank leaped forward. Out from under his rain coat he brought that same old hitching weight.
There was an instant, only, for action, but young Butts was an expert with the weapon he had made his own.
His hands flew aloft, then descended, just as Anson Dalton’s left foot was thrust forward in his running.
“Halt, you––” roared Dalton.
Bim! Down came the hitching weight, and landed squarely across the left foot of the pursuer. ”

“ The ports were too small to permit of a man forcing his way through. Even though they broke the glass overhead, the prisoners in the cabin would still have iron bars to overcome. Tom Halstead, with his club, could hinder any work at that point.
In the meantime, the “Restless,” once out of the cove, was bounding over the waves like a thing of life. Though the water had been hard to swim through, it did not present a rough sea for a fifty-five foot power boat.
In less than three minutes Engineer Joe Dawson was sounding his auto whistle like mad as he neared the dock at Lonely Island. ”

“ Even below decks, going through the electric-lighted passage and cabin, Tom and Hank made their way with not a little difficulty. They paused, at last, before the starboard stateroom door, and Tom fitted the key in the lock.
Jasper, the man locked within, faced them with affrighted gaze.
“We’re going to the bottom?” he demanded, hoarsely, tremulously. His very evident terror gave the young skipper a new idea.
“Are you prepared to go to the bottom, Jasper?” demanded Halstead.
“Am I fit to die, do you mean?” asked the man, with a strange, sickly grin. “No, sir; I’m not. ”

“ Tom motioned him to remain where he was.
Clutching at the rail, Tom Halstead kept his face turned weatherward most of the time. He knew, now, that a fifty-five-foot boat like the “Restless,” weather-staunch though she was, was going to have about all she could do in the sea that would be running in a few minutes more.
Nor did he make any mistake about that. A darkness that was almost inky settled down over them. Bending through the hatchway, the young sailing master yelled to Powell Seaton to switch on the running lights.
“For we’ll need ’em mighty soon, if we don’t now,” Captain Tom added. ”

“ When the work was done Halstead let himself to the deck again, half-expecting that the force of the pitching and fury of the gale would catch him and sweep him over into the dark, raging waters.
Yet he reached the deck in safety, finding 209 himself beside Hank Butts, who, by this time, looked more like some water-logged thing than a natty steward.
“Come on below to the sail-locker,” roared Captain Tom in the other boy’s ear. “Be careful to hold to the life lines and go slow when the boat heels over. We’ll get the new sail out and rig it—if we can.” ”

“ With this small sail there was not wind enough to carry the boat at much more than two miles per hour on her northwest 200 course for the nearest Florida town where gasoline was likely to be had.
“We’ll have a jolly long sail of it,” laughed Skipper Tom, “unless the wind should freshen.”
“Well, we don’t care,” smiled Mr. Seaton. “At least, you won’t be overworked. And our minds are easier—mine especially.”
“All of us have easier minds,” Halstead retorted. “Don’t you understand, sir, that the rest of us have taken this whole business to heart? ”

“ In such lazy weather Tom Halstead felt that he could go below for a nap, especially as Joe was around. Hepton was left at the wheel. Tom speedily closed his eyes in one of the soundest naps he had enjoyed in many a day. He was awakened by Hank, who came into the stateroom and shook him by the shoulder.
“Weather’s all right, up to now,” Butts informed the young captain. “Still, we don’t like the looks of the sky, and the barometer is beginning to show signs of being eccentric. Won’t you come up on deck for a minute, anyway?” ”

“ All three, reared at the edge of salt water, as they had been, were strong, splendid swimmers. This night, however, with the rough waves, the feat was especially dangerous.
“Swim the way a fellow does when he knows he’s really got to,” was the young skipper’s terse advice as they started.
It became a contest of endurance. Tom and Joe, the two Maine boys, were doggedly determined to reach their boat or perish in the attempt. Hank Butts, the Long Island boy, though perhaps possessing less fine courage than either of his comrades, had a rough way of treating danger as a joke. ”

“ In the big sitting room, beside the large open fire-place, was a pile of long sticks of firewood. Tom Halstead stopped to snatch up one of these, and Joe quickly followed suit.
“I’ll go down to the boat with you, boys,” said Mr. Seaton, who had followed them. “If there’s anyone around to put up a fight you’ll want some help.”
But Captain Tom, acting, for the moment, as though he were aboard the yacht, suddenly took command.
“Mr. Seaton,” he said, “you’d better remain here to guard your unconscious friend. Doctor, wake up! Better go in and send Hank Butts out on the trot. ”

“ Hank helped himself to a fresh club—a stouter one than that which he had broken over the snubbing post at the dock. Then out into the black night fared the three Motor Boat Club boys.
“Shall we keep together, or spread?” asked Joe Dawson.
“Together,” nodded Tom Halstead. “If there are prowlers about, we can’t tell how soon three of us may be even too few. Remember, we have only firewood to fight with, and we don’t know what kind of men we may run up against.” ”

“ Steel-clad bullets sang a song full of menace about that signal mast.
“Come down, boys! You’ll be killed!” roared Mr. Seaton, looking up apprehensively. 160
While Joe kept on climbing, in silence, Skipper Tom looked down with a cool grin.
“Killed?” he repeated. “Well, if we’re not, we’ll fix the aerials. We can’t allow strangers to put us out of business!”
Joe found his place to go to work. Tom halted, with his head on a level with his chum’s knees. From the shore there came another burst of rifle-fire, and the air about them was sternly melodious with the pest-laden hum of bullets. ”

“ Readers of the preceding volume of this series, “The Motor Boat Club Off Long Island,” will at once recall that story, throbbing with the interest of human life—will remember how faithfully and wisely Tom Halstead, Joe Dawson and Hank Butts, all members of the Motor Boat Club, served that leader in Wall Street finance, Francis Delavan, and the latter’s nervous, wavering friend, Eben Moddridge. To such former readers the tale is familiar of how the Motor Boat Club boys aided materially in frustrating a great conspiracy in finance, aimed against their employer. ”

“ As soon as the final plans of the great new American diamond syndicate at Rio Janeiro had been established on a safe and firm basis, the charter-man of the “Restless” was prepared to talk of a splendid reward. His plans were so big, in fact, that all three of the boys felt bound to call a halt. Yet the reward that they did finally accept made very important additions to the bank accounts of all three of these daring young motor boat navigators.
Dick Davis and Ab Perkins, on their return from Rio, were “remembered” by Mr. Seaton with bank drafts the size of which almost took away their breath. ”

“ Halstead shouted back. “I’d go all the way to Havana in a gale like this if I could use the twin propellers. The ‘Restless’ is a sea boat, and she can’t sink unless the watertight compartments are smashed.”
“But she can turn over and ride keel upward, can’t she?” demanded Mr. Seaton, with a ghastly grin. 210
“She can, sir, if she heels enough,” Tom admitted. “But that’s why Joe’s at the wheel—because we need a fellow who can make the most out of such headway as the force of wind and waves gives us. And now, sir, Hank and I must try to rig a new sail.” ”

“ Tom went on, slipping Captain Hampton’s report of the accident into his pocket. “I’ll go over the side, sir, as soon as you can ascertain whether Mr. Clodis had any papers that ought to be sent ashore with him.”
“There are none in the injured man’s pockets,” replied the steamship’s sailing master, “and none were deposited with the purser. So, if there are any papers, they must be in Mr. Clodis’s trunk or bag.”
“Thank you, sir. Then I’ll bid you good-bye and hurry over the side,” said Halstead, energetically. ”

“ It was such a fate that Terrero was preparing for me, but I escaped his wicked designs.”
“That must be a nice country!” murmured Hank Butts.
“Yet you say the President of Brazil is an honorable man?” asked Halstead. “Can’t he remove such a governor?”
“The President would, in a moment, if he could be supplied with proofs,” rejoined Powell Seaton, with emphasis. “Governor Terrero is a wily, smooth scoundrel who is well served by 97 men of his own choice stamp. Terrero is wealthy, and backed by many other wealthy men who have been growing rich in the diamond fields. ”

“ Then Halstead threw off the power without applying the reverse. The “Restless” drifted under what was left of her headway.
“They’ve done it,” uttered Tom Halstead, grimly. “They’ve given us the slip—gotten away in this white mass of mystery!” ”

“ You don’t know what a man like Terrero is like. The constant danger to you––”
“Constant danger,” laughed Tom Halstead, softly, “is something that most men learn readily to face. Otherwise, wars would be impossible.”
“But that is very different,” retorted Powell Seaton, quickly. “In war men have the constant elbow-touch, the presence and support of comrades. But you would be alone—one against hundreds, perhaps, at the very instant when you set foot ashore in Brazil.”
“I’ll take the chance, if you let me,” declared Captain Tom. “But, now, sir, you’re losing time. ”