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

At first Ted acted as though he intended todrag, but the quality of muscle in the youngmotor boat skipper’s arms must have shown himthe folly of such tactics, for presently he trottedat the older boy’s side.

Yet they had not gone more than two hundredyards before something else happened. Outfrom behind a tree shot a human figure. Itsowner sprang at Tom Halstead, locking him ina sturdy embrace. Down to the ground wentHalstead and his assailant, rolling over and overin fierce, battling embrace.

Ted Dunstan lost not an instant in seeing andseizing his opportunity. His feet, at least, freeand able, that youngster whirled and dashedback toward the farmhouse.

CHAPTER XX – BLIND MAN’S BUFF IN FEARFUL EARNEST

For a few seconds the two combatantsfought strenuously in the darkness.

“Now, I’ve got you!” growled theassailant, wrapping his arms around youngCaptain Halstead.

But that astounded youth only gasped:

“Joe!”

“Tom! Pompey’s ghost! Is this you?”

Joe Dawson rolled swiftly from his point ofvantage, and the chums sprang instantly totheir feet.

“That was Ted Dunstan who got away,”quivered Halstead.

“I know it,” admitted Joe. “I thought youwere one of the other crowd. I had eyes onlyfor him, when I saw him.”

“Quick, then!”

They could hear Master Ted running, somewhatuncertainly, in the woods, with which heseemed to be unfamiliar. Yet he was nearingthe opening where the house stood.

After him pelted both motor boat boys. Tedheard them coming, of course, and increased hisspeed. Yet Ted must have gotten into theopening, but for an accident. One of hisfeet tripped over something. Down he went, and, with his hands tied behind him, it wasnot the simplest task in the world for himto get on his feet again. Just as he didaccomplish it, Tom and Joe reached him, grasping him on either side. Ted made aslight, useless struggle, but what he didsucceed in doing was to kick a tree ratherresoundingly.

The busy eight, unsuspicious until then, hadjust returned to the rear yard. Some of themheard that kick against the tree.

“What was that noise?” demanded DonEmilio.

“Nothing,” replied Jonas French.

“Come on! I want to make sure, anyway.Hasten!”

Tom, leading the way, and Joe, bringing upthe rear with Ted Dunstan gripped in his arms, were in motion, but Don Emilio and severalof his comrades pursued at lively speed.

“There’s some one running in these woods,”called back Don Emilio. “Spread out, andtravel fast!”

When they had gone some little distance Tomfell back, snatching Ted from Joe’s arms. Theyran until they came to a low-hanging thicket.Burdened as the motor boat boys were, therace must prove an unequal one. Joe haltedat the thicket, holding out his arm to stopTom. The two crept in under there withtheir burden, Joe holding the Dunstan heir’sfeet.

And just in time, too, for Don Emilio andJonas French went by within striking distance.

“Whoever it was didn’t get as far as theroad,” the boys heard Don Emilio declare, notfar away. “French, you stay here. If you seea living figure in the road you’ll know what todo. I’ll send another man to watch with you.These woods have got to be searched.”

Just at that moment some one else must havereached Don Emilio Alvarez and must have reported, for the Honduran’s voice screamed:

“What do you say? The youngster’s gonefrom the attic? Listen, men! Let nothingstand in your way, now. We must have thatboy back. We’ll watch the road and drag thewoods. Waste no sympathy on any meddleryou find!”

It was at once made plain to the motor boatboys that Don Emilio and his comrades werenow frantic. Everywhere could be heard thesteps, or the low voices of the searchers. Tomand Joe dreaded capture at each instant. Dawsonhad made it his task to secure Ted’s feetagain, and to hold them doubly secure with hisown hands.

Once, as some of the searchers went by,Gambon’s voice was heard. Joe nudged hischum; the latter understood how the young engineerof the “Meteor” had come so handilyupon the scene through trailing the Frenchmanhere. Not once, after they had hidden themselves, did the motor boat boys dare to stir.Their covering, though dense enough in thedark, was thin at best. Two or three timessome of the searchers passed by within a yardof those they sought. At such times Ted Dunstan’sbody shook with suppressed emotion.But he was so tied and held that he could notmake a sign to betray himself. Whenever theseekers came close Halstead reached out a handholding the young heir’s nostrils closed, so thathe could not even sniff.

The conviction of Don Emilio that his longed-forprey was close at hand was shown by therepeated searchings over an area of barelymore than five acres. The time even slippedinto hours without the hunt being abandoned.

Half the time Tom and Joe felt as thoughtheir hearts were up in their throats, so closedid discovery seem. The first gray streaks ofdawn showed at last, but Don Emilio wouldnot agree that the chase extend beyond thisstrip of lonely woods.

“It is more important than anything elsecould be that we should find the boy,” Tomheard the Honduran explain to Gambon. “Anddaylight will show that they have not gottenaway from here. It was here that the soundsof flight stopped. Somewhere, within a stone’sthrow or two we shall yet come upon the meddlersin hiding. I shall not give up.”

“Confound him,” whispered Joe, a littlelater, in his chum’s ear. “Before this I alwaysadmired persistency.”

Following the first dawn the light came inmore strongly. Now, the two chums crouchedmore closely than ever, also seeing to itthat Master Ted was forced to lie as flat aspossible.

Joe Dawson, lying flat on his stomach, peeringout beyond their retreat, moved one of hisfeet restlessly. Something made him turn toglance behind him. With that he began to slideslowly backward. His feet went further andfurther into a narrow hole. Then, after nudgingHalstead in one leg, Dawson crept back untilonly his shoulders were exposed. Tomwatched his chum in overjoyed wonder. Joe’snext performance was to vanish from sight.Then, very soon, he wriggled silently out again, until his lips were beside one of his comrade’sears.

“There’s a hole running into that hummockthere,” Dawson explained. “It is a crampylittle bit of a hole, but it will conceal all threeof us. Let’s work Ted in there first.”

This they proceeded to do, though with intensestealth and no hurry. They got Ted outof sight under the ground, at last, then morespeedily concealed themselves.

“Fine, Joe, fine!” cheered Halstead, in achuckling whisper. “Our chances of not beingfound have improved a hundred times!”

“If only Alvarez and his infernal crew willget away from this spot,” Joe whispered, in answer.“But the day that is beginning is absolutelythe last day to save Ted’s fortune tohim. If we trip up to-day there isn’t a chanceof any kind left. He’ll simply lose!”

Tom kept his face close enough to the openingin the ground so that he could see outsidefor some little distance, and yet was sure thathe himself was enough in the shadow not to beseen from outside.

By the time that the sun was well up DonEmilio insisted on another keen search. Thistime French and Gambon even trod through theedge of the thicket that had concealed the boysduring the darkness. But the mouth of thehole under the hummock was still hidden fromtheir eyes by other bushes.

By the time that the sun had been up forsome time quiet had fallen in these woods. Tomand Joe might have felt tempted to make a suddenbreak for freedom, but the scratch of amatch, not far away, warned them that at leastone watcher was still in hiding.

“I wonder what time it is,” thought tormentedHalstead, his mind ever upon that fatefulsession of probate court over at Nantucket.He got his watch out, holding it before his face.Then he made an appalling discovery. He hadforgotten to wind up the time-piece, and it hadrun down.

“Your watch going, Joe?” the young skipperasked.

“No,” Dawson whispered back, after a momentspent in investigation.

“This is a pretty fix. We can’t even guesshow much time we have left to get out of hereand over to Nantucket.”

It was not long after that a gentle sound attractedHalstead’s notice to his friend. Sleeplessand worn out, Dawson had fallen intoslumber.

“That’ll be all right,” thought Tom, “if onlyhe doesn’t snore. If he does, I’ll have to holdhis nose and pull him out of it.”

As for Ted, the idea of making a snoringsound didn’t seem to have occurred to him, orhe would have tried it. Tom moved closer to thelittle fellow, that he might be at hand to preventany such attempt to send warning outsidetheir cramped retreat.

Whizz-zz! It was an automobile going by athigh speed. It passed and was gone, almostat once, but the sound gave Tom a good ideahow close they lay to the road. Yet it was surelya lonely road, little traveled, for time wentdragging by without any other sound of travel.

“I’d feel starving if I weren’t so fearfullyanxious,” thought Tom. “Joe is lucky that hecan sleep. He’ll forget how awfully hungry heis. As for poor Ted, his mixture of feelingsmust be something wonderful!”