The Mercer Boys on a Treasure Hunt
CHAPTER IV THE PROFESSOR IS ATTACKED
After three days of preparation the boys and the professor were ready toleave for the west coast. They were to go to San Francisco and take asteamer there down to the settlements in Lower California. It was abright Saturday morning when they waved out of the window to theirfriends on the station platform.
"Well," remarked Don, as the train moved out of the station. "We are offfor new scenes at last."
The journey across the continent was uneventful. They enjoyed itthoroughly, never growing tired of the endless views which unfolded asthe train sped westward. The professor, with his varied knowledge ofplaces and people, his understanding of scientific facts and hishistoric incidents, proved to be a most delightful companion. In a fewdays they left the train at the great city of the coast and theprofessor hunted up a hotel.
Professor Scott had never been to California, although he had been inmany other cities in the United States, and his interest was as keen asthat of the boys. One of his first tasks, after they had been installedin a good hotel, was to hasten to the water front and inquire concerninga steamer to take them down the coast. When he returned he reported hisfindings to the boys.
"There is a steamer named the _Black Star_ that will take us down theday after tomorrow," he said. "I went aboard and arranged for ourpassage. It isn't a passenger boat, but I didn't have any trouble inpersuading the captain to take us as passengers. The boat is a fruitsteamer, but they have one or two extra cabins for our use."
They turned in early that night and the next day took an extensive tourof the great city. A great many of the foremost buildings and places ofinterest were visited, and they obtained their longed-for view of thepiece of wreckage of the Spanish galleon of which Ned Scott had writtenthem. It was a huge piece, worn by the action of the waves, with studdedleather on the sides and pieces of rigging still clinging to it. Itoccupied a prominent place in the city museum.
"If that thing could only talk," the professor remarked, as they walkedaround it. "What a story it could tell!"
"I guess it would be very helpful to us, in our search," smiled Jim.
When evening came the boys were tired, but strange to relate, theprofessor was not. His interest in places and men amounted to a passionwith him, and he loved to study them at every opportunity. The boys weresitting around in the hotel room and the professor, after walking aroundrestlessly, suddenly faced them.
"Are you boys too tired to do some more walking?" he asked.
"Well, I'm pretty well played out," admitted Don. "But if you'd like usto go with you, anywhere, professor, we'll gladly go."
"Oh, no," replied the professor, hastily. "I just wanted to ask you ifyou'd care to take a stroll down near the water front. There are somevery quaint places down there, and I'd like to visit some of them. But Idon't want you boys to go out if you are tired." He reached for his hatand went on: "I'm going down there for a stroll. I'll be back shortly."
"If you want us--" began Jim, but the professor cut him short.
"No, no, not at all. You boys stay here and I'll wander a bit myself.See you later."
"Take care of yourself, professor," called Don, as he went out.
"I will, thanks. Don't worry; I'll be right back."
Once on the street the professor struck off for the water front at abrisk pace. In the hotel room Jim looked inquiringly at Don.
"Do you suppose it is alright for him to go?" he asked.
"I guess so," nodded Don. "He is pretty well able to take care ofhimself."
The city was wrapped in darkness when the professor began his wandering,a darkness which was broken by the bright lights on the business streetsand the more feeble ones on the side streets. The professor headed forthe wharves, where the masts of the medley of crafts could be seenrising above the low houses which fronted the bay. Down in this sectionthe savant found some queer crooked streets, lined with rows of box-likehouses and cheap eating places. Groups of men and women sat on thedoorsteps and fire escapes, children whooped and played in the streets,and scraps of music, jarring one on the other, came from phonographs andradios. Sailors and business men walked back and forth in the narrowstreets, and the professor found much to study.
He strode along the docks, examining with interest the multitude ofships there, ranging from huge ocean steamers to small private boats.Liners, tramp ships, battered steam boats, sailing vessels, schooners,yachts, sloops, catboats, yawls and power cruisers lay side by side withtugs and ferries. An army of stevedores worked under blazing arc lightsloading and unloading, and the air vibrated with the rattle ofmachinery, the hoarse cries of the men, and the thump of boxes andcrates. So deeply engrossed was the professor in the scenes which he waswitnessing that he forgot the passage of time.
He had wandered far down the shore line when he came at last to a streetmore narrow and crooked than the rest. It was in fact nothing more thanan alley, flanked by tall seamen's houses, with restaurants and poolparlors on the ground floors. The professor looked at a sign post andsaw that it was named Mullys Slip.
"Mullys Slip, eh?" thought the teacher. "This is the quaintest of themall. I think I'll stroll up it."
Accordingly, he walked up the narrow sidewalk, looking with interestinto the stores and eating houses as he passed by, listening to snatchesof conversation as he passed groups who sat out taking advantage of thecool air. When he had walked to the end of the Slip he walked back, andseeing a well-lighted eating place near the dock, entered it and satdown at a round table. While he ordered a sandwich and coffee he lookedaround him.
It was a long, low room, the air of which was nearly obscured by tobaccosmoke, half filled at the time with men who evidently came from theships. Most of them were eating, the rest were smoking and talking, anda few slept, hanging over the tables. The professor ate his sandwich andsipped his coffee, content and easy in his mind, until, looking acrossfrom him into a narrow corner, he found the eyes of two men fixed uponhim.
One of the men was a powerful individual with a heavy, unhealthy lookingface, whose eyes, set close together, looked slightly crossed. The otherwas tall and thin, with long and dangling arms. Both of them weredressed in rough black clothing, which gave no real hint as to whatbusiness they were engaged in. They might have been sailors orstevedores, and both showed unmistakable signs of hardy, adventurouslives. They had evidently been talking about the professor, for theireyes were bent on him with earnest scrutiny, and when they observed thathe had seen them they hastily resumed their conversation.
The professor paid no attention to them at first, but went on eating,looking around with keen eyes and mentally cataloguing the men in theplace. But when he once more looked across at his neighbors they werebending the same intent look upon him. Vague doubt began to stir themind of professor Scott.
"I don't altogether like the looks of those fellows," decided theprofessor, as he called a waiter and paid his small bill. "By the waythey look at me I'd say they were talking about me. All in all, I'm in apretty rough neighborhood, and perhaps the sooner I get out of it, thebetter."
He went out of the place at once, casting a single look back of him ashe did so, and he was not made to feel any easier as he noted that theywere following him with the same steady look. He was not greatlyalarmed, for he did not carry much money with him, but feeling that hewould be better off on a well-lighted thoroughfare, he made his way backalong the dark street. It was now growing late and the lights were beingextinguished. He found his road darker than it had been when he hadfollowed it earlier in the evening, and so he hurried on, bent onreaching the business section.
He had covered two blocks when he began to think that he was beingfollowed. It was as much of a feeling as an actual fact, for each timehe looked around he was unable to see anyone who looked as though hemight be trailing him. He fancied once that he saw a shadow dart quicklyinto a doorway, but though he looked keenly in that direction he wasunable to make sur
e.
"Humph, I had better get back to the hotel," mused the teacher. "I thinkI'm beginning to imagine things."
On the block beyond a number of dark alleys opened from the houses, andthe professor was compelled to pass them. Either the houses weredeserted or there was no one up at the time, for he saw no one as hecrossed the corner. Only far ahead of him, on the opposite side of thestreet, a battered old car was pulled up to the edge of an empty dock,and a man sat looking out over the water at a group of three-masted coalcarriers.
Just as the professor was passing a wide alley he thought he heard astep beside him. He turned his head quickly, and then gasped. Twoshadows seemed to detach themselves from the passageway and bore down onhim. Before he could utter any cry a powerful pair of arms was thrownaround him and he was strained close to the body of a big man. At thesame time, without loss of a moment, the second man dipped his handsinto the professor's trousers pockets and into his inside coat pocket.
Taken completely by surprise the old teacher for a second did not offerany kind of resistance and when he did it was rather feeble, for hisarms were pinned close to his sides, and he was fairly standing on histoes. But his feet were free, and he managed to kick the man who heldhim a smart blow in the shin. A low, growling curse was his reward, anda blow of considerable force followed, landing on his shoulder. By asudden twist the professor squirmed from the arms of the man who washolding him, and strengthened by his indignation, which was kindlinginto hot wrath, the savant punched the second man full on the mouth.
The first man, who was none other than the narrow-eyed individual of therestaurant growled in his throat. "I'll bust your head, you oldwindjammer!" he roared, and swung his fist at the professor. The blow,which landed on the teacher's neck, felled him instantly to thesidewalk.
"Grab him up," ordered the second man, stooping over the professor, whowas somewhat dazed. "We'll dump him in the bay."
Both men leaned down to pick up the form of the professor when there wasan interruption. The young man who had been sitting in the nondescriptautomobile had had his attention attracted by the beginning of thestruggle, and unnoticed by any of the principals he had jumped out ofthe car and was now upon them. Although he did not know one from theother he could see that two were against one, and noting, under thefaint light from a nearby lamp-post that the lone fighter was an elderlyman, threw himself without hesitation upon the two wharf-men. His activefist jarred against the jaw of the heavyset man.
"Take that, with the compliments of the lone star ranger!" he muttered."Don't know what it's all about, but that's my share."
His blow infuriated the man, who drove at him with an angry roar, butthe professor was scrambling to his feet, and the second man grasped hisleader by the arm. He spoke to him in a low tone, and the two, with aslight hesitation, turned and fled up the alley. Convinced that pursuitwould be useless, the young man turned to the professor.
"Are you hurt, sir?" he asked, quickly.
In the faint light the professor saw that he was a boy of twenty orthereabouts, tall and somewhat lanky, with red hair and a lean face, onwhich freckles had taken up a permanent home. The professor shook hishead.
"No, thanks to you. Those fellows were going to throw me into the water.Were you in that car?"
"Yes," grinned the boy. "That is my private chariot, called 'Jumpiter,'because of its habit of doing something very much like jumping! Have youbeen robbed?"
The professor felt through his pockets and nodded. "Yes, a few dollarsand a letter has been taken from me. I don't care much about the money,but the letter was from my son Ned, and I valued that somewhat. I wouldlike to thank you sincerely for your timely arrival."
"Don't mention it," begged the young man. "Let's get out of here. I'lldrive you to wherever you want to go."
When they entered the battered car the professor told the boy the nameof the hotel at which he was staying and they rolled away. Then theteacher asked the name of his rescuer.
"Mackson is my name," replied the boy. "Terry Mackson, from Beverley,Maine."
"Why," exclaimed the professor. "I come from Maine, too. I am a historyteacher in Bridgewater!"
"In Bridgewater!" cried Terry as they entered the business section."Then you must know the Mercer brothers."
"Know them!" laughed the professor. "I have them here with me!"
"Here, with you? Well, I'll be jiggered! They are my very best chums!"said Terry. "Last summer I was in Bridgewater, sailing with them, and wego to Woodcrest together, in fact, we room together. What are they doinghere?"
"We are going down to Lower California to visit my son Ned, on hisranch, and make some scientific studies, and perhaps look up a treasurethat Ned feels sure that he can find nearby. How did you come to be outhere?"
"I didn't have a thing to do this summer," explained Terry. "My motherand sister went to visit friends in New Hampshire, and so I decided totour the country in my car. I've been out here for the last two days,and I was going to head for Mexico tomorrow."
"How very strange that we should meet," commented the professor. "Youmust step up and see the boys. They will be glad to see you."
"I won't be a bit sorry to see them," returned Terry, heartily. "Theycertainly will be surprised."
They drove on until they were almost at the hotel, and then Terry, whohad been thinking deeply, suddenly began to chuckle. Then, as theprofessor looked inquiringly at him, the red-headed boy spoke.
"Professor," he said, "how would you like to help me in a little joke?"