The Motor Boat Club at Nantucket: or, The Mystery of the Dunstan Heir

Yet Tom’s teeth were threatening so persistentlyto chatter that he had to hold his jawsfirmly together for a moment before he daredattempt a slight signal.

“Pss-sst!” It was a low signal indeed. TedDunstan half raised his gaze from the printedpage, then glanced down again.

“Whirr-rr-ugh!” came the noisy safety-signalfrom Pedro.

Tom ventured to raise his head a trifle higherabove the port gunwale.

“Pss-sst! pss-sst!” he hissed desperately.

Ted Dunstan looked up now, his glance travelingswiftly astern. Then he caught sight ofthe eager face of the “Meteor’s” young skipper.At sight of the peeper’s face the Dunstanheir’s face was a study in amazement. Atfirst he just stared, as though suddenly in adaze.

“Come here!” whispered Tom ever so softly.

Ted laid his book down, shot a swift, uncertainglance at the cubby in which Pedro lay, thenrose uncertainly. Tom hauled himself up, perchinghimself on the gunwale.

“Be quick and silent about it,” whisperedTom, as Ted reached him and stood staring withall his might. “Can you swim?”

“Why?” demanded Ted curtly, and not exactlyin a whisper, either.

“If you can we’ll be ashore in a jiffy,” Halsteadresponded eagerly.

“Ashore?” demanded Ted.

“Why, of course. I’ve come to rescue you.There’s nothing to fear if you’re quick about it.But be lively. If you can’t swim, then justslip down into the water and trust yourself tome. I’ll manage it for both of us. Be quickabout it, though, for every minute counts.”

“There’s some mistake, somewhere,” pronouncedTed, a decided coldness in his tone.

“Mistake?” echoed Halstead, as though theother had struck him. “What do you mean,Ted? Don’t you remember me? I’m in chargeof your father’s motor boat. I’ve been lookingfor you for days, and now you can escape.”

“But I don’t want to escape,” declared MasterTed coolly, almost sneeringly. “Besides, there’s nothing to escape from.”

“Nothing to escape from?” echoed Tomaghast. “Why, Ted Dunstan, you simply can’tknow what you’re saying. Look how this crowdhave used you.”

“Well, then, how have they used me?” Tedchallenged coolly. “I am having the time ofmy life.”

“The time of your – Say, Ted Dunstan, have you any idea how nearly crazy your fatheris over your absence?”

“That’s strange,” mocked the Dunstan heir.“My father knows perfectly well where I am, and just why, too.”

This was uttered so candidly that Halsteadwondered if he had taken leave of his ownsenses. There could be no doubt at all thatyoung Dunstan believed every word he was uttering.

“Your father knows you’re here?” Tom insistedquestioningly.

“Of course he does. It’s by his orders thatI am here and that I am keeping quiet. Andnow, clear out. I’ve talked to you more than isright. I know what you and your chum are – apair of slippery eels!”

“You say your father knows – You say heordered you – ” Tom went on vaguely. “TedDunstan, do you think you’re telling the truthor anything like it? And who on earth shouldyou – ”

“Clear out of this,” ordered the Dunstanheir firmly. “I don’t like to see you get intoany trouble, but I’m not going to listen to youany longer. My father can tell you about this,if he has a mind to. I’ve no right to talk aboutit and I won’t. Now if you can swim as well asyou say you can, prove it and reach shore onthe double-quick. Pedro! Pedro! Wake up!Now you git, Halstead!”

“But Ted – ” persisted the dumfoundedyoung skipper.

“Well, stay, then, and let Pedro get his handson you,” defied the Dunstan heir. “Pedro!Aren’t you going to wake up?”

“Coming, chile,” sounded a drowsy voice, followedby the noise of heavy movements.

Dazed, thunderstruck, his mind wholly befuddledby this astounding turn to the mystery,Tom Halstead did not linger. He knew too wellwhat was likely to happen to him if he fell intoPedro’s hands.

Slipping over the side, Tom cast off from therope, striking out strongly, swiftly for the shorewhich was distant not more than one hundredand fifty feet.

“That’s him!” cried Ted Dunstan, pointing, and forgetting his grammar in his excitement.“That’s one of those slippery boys. He had thecheek to say he had come to rescue me.”

“He did, hey? Huh! I’se gwine fix him!”uttered the black man savagely. “Jest yo’ wait, chile, twell I’se bring out dat shotgun.”

“Oh, no, no, Pedro! Not that!” pleaded Tedin sudden dismay and terror.

But Pedro dived back into the forward cubby.All this conversation the young motor boat captainhad heard, for it passed in no low tones.Just as Pedro reached the cubby Tom scrambledup on the beach. Before him were the deepwoods. In among the trees he plunged. Theinstant he was satisfied that he was out of sightof the launch, he turned at right angles, speedingswiftly for some hundred and fifty yards.Then he halted to listen.

“Where he done gone?” demanded Pedro, reappearing on deck, gripping a double-barreledshotgun.

“I’m not going to tell you,” retorted Tedsulkily. “Shooting is not in the game.”

Tom heard the murmur of the voices – nothingmore. A minute later he heard the steadychug! chug! of the launch’s steam engine asthat craft started. Then the noise ceased as thecraft got smoothly under way. But Halsteadwas up a tree, now, where he could watch.

“Heading out to sea, are you?” he chuckled, despite his great anxiety. “And in a six-mileboat. Hm! I think the ‘Meteor’ can overtakeyou and at least keep you in sight. For thatmatter, three boys can fight better than one!”

Tom didn’t linger up the tree to think all that.Ere he had finished speaking to himself he wasdown on the ground, making speedily for wherehe judged the road to be. As he came in sightof the road he heard another chug! chug! thatmade his heart bound with delighted hope.

“Hi, there! Stop there, please!” shouted theyoung motor boat captain, waving his arms ashe sighted a touring car headed toward the village.

There was only the chauffeur on the front seatand an elderly man in the tonneau. The chauffeurglanced back at this other man, then sloweddown the auto.

“If you’re going into Wood’s Hole, take mewith you?” begged Tom so earnestly that theolder man swung open the door, saying crisply:“Jump in!”

Nor did Halstead lose a second. He plumpeddown into the seat by the door and the car wasoff again, going at some twenty miles an hour.

“I hope you won’t mind my wet clothes inyour car,” hinted Tom apologetically. “I gota big drenching in the ocean and there wasneither chance nor time to make a change.”

“You’re in a hurry to get to the village, eh?”smiled the elderly man.

“In as big a hurry as I ever was to get anywhere,”breathed Halstead fervently. Theelderly man smiled, though he evidently wasnot curious, for he asked no further questions.Halstead sat there delightedly watching the distancefade. Even to his anxious mind the tripseemed a brief, speedy one. As the car ran inby the railway station Halstead saw thelate afternoon train slowly backing down thetrack. It had been in, then, for three or fourminutes.

“Thank you, thank you!” breathed Tom fervently,as he threw open the door to leap out, then closing it behind him. “You haven’t anyidea what a huge favor you’ve done me.”

“I’m glad I’ve been able to be of some usein the world to-day,” laughed the old gentlemanpleasantly.

But Tom, bounding across the tracks and overthe ground, hardly heard him. The young skipperhad but one thought at this moment – to getaboard and have his craft under way at theearliest possible second.

As Halstead neared the pier he saw Joe andJed seated on the deckhouse, while Mr. Crane, the Dunstan lawyer, arrived on the train, waswalking along over the boards.