The Boy Aviators' Flight for a Fortune

“I wanted to get even with him,” whined Zeb; “he licked me and – ”

“Waal, git even some other way. Bring me that rope off them pile of boxes while I make him fast.”

Zeb said no more, but obediently fetched the rope, and before many minutes had passed Frank was bound hand and foot. Moreover, a gag, consisting of a dirty fragment torn from the elder Daniels’ shirt, was thrust into his mouth.

“What’ll we do with him now?” demanded Zeb, when this had been done.

“Humph, I hadn’t thought of that,” rejoined the elder fisherman; “we can’t leave him here, for we don’t want any one to find him when they come down, as they are bound to do afore long when that idiot Plumbo finds out that we’ve fooled him. What will we do with the young game cock?”

“I’d like to chuck him overboard,” quoth Zeb amiably, staunching his bleeding nose with a dirty coat sleeve.

“Don’t waste time talking rubbish,” angrily rejoined his parent; “see here, Duval, kain’t you think of something?”

“Yes, I can,” was the eager reply; “it’s just occurred to me. Ho! ho! I guess that’ll keep him quiet for a while.”

“Well, what do you propose to do?” growled Daniels. “Don’t stand there like an owl. Out with it.”

“Well, my friend, you see those big barrels over there?”

“Yes, what about them?”

“We’ll put him in one of those and give him a sea trip.”

“By Jeehosophat, but that’s a notion! I reckon by the time he’s picked up, or drifts ashore, he’ll be sorry he interfered with us.”

“That’s a great scheme,” chuckled Zeb, equally delighted. “That’s what I call getting even in good shape.”

“Hold on a minute; how’s the tide?” murmured Daniels. “We don’t want him to be picked up too quick.”

“The tide’s running out, pop,” said Zeb, after a minute; “I tell you, though, what’s the matter with putting the barrel in that dory there and then loading him in it? We can row out a ways and then dump him overside.”

“That’s the best idea yet,” warmly approved his worthy parent; “come on, boys, tumble the barrel into that dory. Lively, now!”

The barrel, quite a big one, which had been used for salting down fish and was quite watertight, was lowered into the dory that Zeb’s sharp eyes had spied with some difficulty.

Frank had watched the movements of his captors as well as he could in the darkness; but he was quite unable to guess what all this meant, which, perhaps, was just as well. As the conversation had been carried on in whispers, he had not overheard a syllable of the rascally plan to set him adrift out of pure malice.

Still bound and gagged, he was lowered into the dory, unable to call out or move, despite the now serious alarm he felt. What could the men be going to do with him, he wondered, and was still busy speculating on his probable fate when Zeb and his father cast off the dory and, with rapid strokes, began to row toward the mouth of the harbor on which Bayhaven is situated.

CHAPTER XXI. – A RASCALLY TRICK

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.”