Quincy Allen

“ The boat had moved a length or so, and then floated on the smooth water of the lagoon.
A shout from the sharpie had told that the spongers believed they meant to run off, and at the same time one of them was seen flourishing a gun.
"Hold up, there, you rascals, you!" came across the water, and a shot followed, the bullet splashing close to the motor-boat.
"Don't you try that again, there, or we'll give you a broadside! Do you hear?" shouted Frank, as he and his chums lifted their array of weapons so that the men could easily see what they were up against. ”

“ One look Frank gave.
"Boys, there's a chance for us!" he cried, "for that is certainly an island, and if there only happens to be deep water back of it we can make a harbor."
"Then you're going to risk it?" demanded Bluff.
"There's nothing else to be done. If we head straight on we must go ashore perhaps half a mile from the land itself. If we try to run down the coast we will be capsized, because we present our broadside to the seas, and they're getting worse and worse every minute," declared Frank firmly.
"Frank is right. It is our only hope," said Jerry. ”

“ Jerry declared that he felt sure he heard a sound not unlike a child crying, but the heavy voices of the men drowned this.
"Can't we do anything?" asked Will.
"Well, we're only a lot of boys, and they are big strapping men. Probably they've got the law on their side, too," suggested Frank, shaking his head.
"What do you mean by that, Frank?" queried Bluff indignantly.
"Why, the chances are ten to one that the boy, if it is a boy, must belong to one of the men—his own son, I mean—and you know, Mr. Lawyer, that a fellow has to be mighty careful how he steps in between a man and his son. ”

“ It would be hard at any other time to find the gulf around here so utterly forsaken," he remarked, beginning to feel discouraged himself.
"It certainly looks as though we had the field to ourselves," remarked Bluff; "here we've come some miles from shore, which is getting 'hull-down,' as the sailors say, in the distance, and yet not a peep of the lost balloonists. How much further ought we go, Frank?"
"Just as long as there seems to be the slightest chance of our striking those we're looking for, or we can see shore with the glasses. ”

“ His pulses thrilled, while Joe, who had taken up a position alongside him after the adventure with the panther, put out a hand and nudged Jerry several times.
"Bear!" he said, in the lowest of whispers.
Again and again came the grunting and the swishing of bushes. Bruin was sniffing the delightful aroma of honey. It was so strong that his usual caution was apparently thrown to the winds, and he pushed forward straight toward the spot where the broken tree hive had scattered much of its delicious contents over the ground. ”

“ It is wonderful how quickly one recovers from an attack of this sort when smoother water is reached. Will was commencing to lose a little of his ghastly whiteness already, while Bluff had started to sigh, as though he thought of supper.
After they had found a safe asylum behind the island Frank thought it best to anchor. He did not care to go too near that sharpie, for the recollection of the three rough spongers or fishermen on board deterred him from wanting to renew their acquaintance. ”

“ Not so good as pompano, but better than bonita," was Joe's verdict.
"All right. He looks good to me," said Bluff. "Do it some more, Jerry. We need a couple more to make good all around."
"Now, talk to me about that, will you! Listen to how the greedy fellow gauges everybody's appetite by his own voracious longings." ”

“ Then finally, Jerry, whose business it seemed to be to mind the hawsers, unfastened the rope that held the bow of the boat, still pointing with the current, just as they had stopped.
"Tell me when!" he called out as he stood by to repeat this maneuver with the second hawser at the stern.
The motor began to chug away cheerily.
"There's life about that sound, all right," laughed Will, who had been impressed with the dreadful monotony and stillness of the swamp.
"Let her loose!" called Frank, at the wheel. ”

“ Something is moving all the while, and it's either the boat or the tide," claimed Will.
Frank stuck his head over the side and gave a look.
"He's right about it," was his speedy comment. "The tide is carrying us out all the time, and that's why you don't hear the sound of the rollers on the sand!"
"Wow! You're giving it to us good and hard now. That sounds like trouble. This old gulf is some wide, I know, and it'll take us quite a spell to cross the duck pond at this rate!" exclaimed Bluff in dismay. ”

“ It's the greatest luck ever!" observed Will.
"Talk to me about your automobiles and aeroplanes, give me a neat little motor-boat for mine. I wouldn't change places with King George just now."
Frank said nothing, but the smile on his face was a satisfied one. Indeed, it could not well be otherwise. Any boy who loved camping and cruising as much as he did must have been thrilled at the prospect of running that jaunty little craft for a spell, navigating new waterways and making discoveries constantly, such as are calculated to please the hearts of hunters and water-dogs in general. ”

“ But, after all, it might have been another bunch of old pelicans!" he exclaimed.
"Not that. Pelicans would not be so far out. They hug pretty close to the shore, where the water is more shallow, and the fish come in to feed. Still, it may have been the fin of a shark cutting the water like that one—" started Frank, when Jerry interrupted him:
"There it is again! As sure as you live, I believe it's a man clinging to some sort of wreckage! Here, take the glasses, Frank! Right over there, dead ahead! Now be ready! There! See?"
"It is a man! Yes—two of them! Fellows, we are in time!" cried Frank. ”

“ There's old Jesse Wilcox, the trapper, who invited us up to spend a week with him and see how he runs out his string of traps in cold weather, catching muskrats, mink, 'coons, foxes and all such things in more or less abundance. We had about decided that we would accept, and I was even getting ready to go when something happened."
"Talk to me about your tantalizing chaps, did you ever meet up with one as bad as Frank can be when he knows the rest of us are so keen to hear?" cried Jerry. ”

“ A place was easily found for little Joe. Indeed, as Bluff remarked in a whisper, the motorboat seemed capable of expansion.
"Just like an elevator or an electric car, there's always room for just one more," was the way he put it.
Frank sat there, listening and thinking, for a couple of hours at least. There was no alarm. Once he thought he heard sounds such as might be made by the movement of a push-pole; but if so, the searching party failed to locate the anchored motor-boat in its new lodgings. ”

“ I can be trusted not to eat more than one in five. And my appetite for oysters isn't one-third what yours is," laughed Frank.
Bluff seemed to think he could stand that, for he yielded up the opener.
"Don't you let that scoffer, Will, have another one. I'll bring back another bucketful in about ten minutes. There's millions of 'em. They set me wild to think of such riches going to waste. I'll dream about 'em, fellows."
Grumbling thus, he stalked through the water to the reef, and set to work again.
Frank had watched Jerry push in to shore and vanish among the tangled undergrowth. ”

“ Keep your gun ready, Bluff, for there's no telling but what you may need it," Frank went on.
"It's in apple-pie shape for business at the old stand. Jerry laughs at it, but before now he's found that it could help a fellow out of a hole. Suppose you try him again?"
Bluff's suggestion was a good one, and Frank raised his voice in a shout. This time the answer came from a point closer at hand. Still, although they were peering eagerly through the dense foliage, they could see nothing out of the way.
"This beats the Dutch! Where under the sun can the fellow be?" ”

“ You don't think there can be any danger of that happening, do you, Frank?"
"Hardly. If a little breeze rises, it may carry this beastly old fog away, and then we can see where we are. Meanwhile, Jerry and I will try to find out what it is that makes our motor balk just when we want it most."
They sat there for a long while, Bluff and Will looking this way and that, to see if there was any object near by; but only that heavy blanket of sea fog surrounded them.
"Do you hear the roll of the water on the shore still?" asked Frank finally.
"I haven't for some time, now," admitted Bluff. ”

“ CHAPTER XIII LOST IN THE FOG "What's to be done?" asked Will presently.
"I'm looking the motor over, first of all. Perhaps it's a small matter, and I can fix it up. Sometimes these new machines act a bit cranky. Want of oil will even bring about trouble. Jerry, you take a look with me. Two heads are often better than one," said Frank.
"Can we do anything?" questioned Bluff.
"Just try and see if you can hear a sound like water washing up on the beach. We couldn't land with this boat as though it were smaller." ”

“ I only hope we can find the professor!" cried Jerry as he embarked.
"If Fortune is kind, we must, boys. Now we're off!"
With these words, firmly spoken, Frank opened up, and the power-boat began to move through the water. Fortunately, it was deep in this shelter, so that they could make decent speed from the beginning. Had they anchored in such a shallow bayou as their last stopping place, it must have taken an hour to get clear of the various oyster bars, running out in finger-like ridges from the shore. ”

“ Jerry had left his shotgun at home, and carried a rifle on this trip. He and Bluff had entered into many an argument because this new weapon was a six-shot gun; for Jerry had made all manner of fun over Bluff owning a shotgun built after the same principle, nor could they settle the dispute, Jerry claiming that it was all right in a rifle, as a man hunted big game with that, and his life might be in danger; while with the other weapon he usually only shot birds and inoffensive small animals; while Bluff declared that what was black for the pot was also black for the kettle. ”

“ How picturesque bloodhounds are! I feel sick."
Will jumped up, snatched his camera, and stalked off beyond the edge of the camp, as if to brood alone. Presently they heard him calling:
"Oh, Frank! Won't you come here for a minute? I'm just taking the picture of a big snake, and he's as angry as you please. There's a locust somewhere close by, too, keeping up a tremendous rattling. Please hurry! He won't wait long!"
Frank, followed by Jerry, was off like a shot. His face turned white with sudden apprehension as he ran. ”

“ All of us are only boys, older than you, of course, but ready to hold out a helping hand to a poor chap in trouble. Suppose you tell us, in a whisper now, what brought you aboard that sharpie. Who are those three men, and how did you happen to be sailing with them?"
"They're Hank, and Carlos, the Cuban, and my Uncle Ben," came the reply.
"Hello! He's got an uncle aboard!" said Jerry uneasily.
"But he's the worst of the whole lot. He beats me, and calls me bad names. My mother is afraid of him. She didn't want to let me go on this trip with Uncle Ben, but he just made me. ”

“ Then such boats as this are apt to carry a few guns along. Just sleep in peace, Will. The chances are ten to one the only thing apt to arouse us to-night may be the howl of a norther," said Frank soothingly.
About ten o'clock both Bluff and Will began yawning.
"Go to bed, you fellows. Jerry and I will manage the first and second watches between us. If we want help, we'll knock you up," observed Frank.
He gave Jerry a wink at the same time, as if to notify him to remain up; and the observant Jerry understood that Frank had a card of some sort up his sleeve. ”

“ Jerry, who had been pulling on a pair of heavy old shoes, with the intention of going overboard, so as to put his shoulder to the bow, and lifting while the motor worked, looked a little dubious.
"Humbug! Can't be any such thing, eh, Frank?" he asked, turning to the one in whose opinion he always felt the most implicit faith.
"What's holding her is that ridge of 'coon oysters. They grip like all creation, Joe, here, says. Wait till I get some old shoes on, Jerry, and I'll be with you," he observed. ”

“ CHAPTER VIII WILL DOES IT "Talk to me about babes in the woods!" gasped jerry.
He was staring at the enormous rattler, that still kept up a buzzing with his rattle, and which sound poor Will had believed was made by a locust.
"Shoot the thing, Jerry! You've been wise enough to fetch your gun!" said
Frank.
"That just suits me. Have you got all the snapshots you want, Will?" demanded Jerry, falling on one knee and elevating his rifle.
"There! He's reforming! You see, he did actually think of me, for once. Oh, yes. I snapped him three times. ”

“ Frank had turned the wheel over to Bluff, and was conning his charts, with Jerry bending over his shoulder.
"There's where we are right now. Looking along the shore, you can see where a key offers the same sort of refuge we enjoyed last night. In cruising along this coast, it's the only thing to do—run behind one of those islands each night. Only big boats anchor off shore. It's too dangerous for little craft, for a storm is liable to spring up during the night." ”

“ All was silent now in the direction of the sharpie, and not even a riding light marked the spot where the boat lay.
Frank had recommended that they put out their own lights, all but one lantern, which was to be fastened in such a way that it would mark the anchorage of the little modern motor-boat.
"It'll be an invitation to the sharks to visit us," remarked Bluff.
"Not at all. If they mean to drop in on us during the night, the presence of one lantern, or its absence, will make mighty little difference," responded Frank. ”