CHAPTER V
THE MYSTERIOUS SCHOONER
Three or four weeks slipped by uneventfully, and Frank was commencing tolike the simple, laborious life at the ranch. He and Harry were standingtogether one evening on the shingle down in the cove. It was close uponhigh water and a long swell worked in, breaking noisily upon thepebbles, while they could see the blue undulations burst into snowyfroth about the dark rocks at the entrance. The sun had just dipped; itwas wonderfully fresh and cool, and a sweet resinous smell drifted outof the forest behind them.
Harry glanced at a canoe which lay close by. It was about fourteen feetlong and just wide enough to sit in, and had been hollowed out of acedar log by a Siwash Indian. The bow, which swept sharply upward, hadbeen rudely cut into the likeness of a bird's head. The craft was keptthere so that anybody who wished to reach the sloop could go off in her.
"I don't think it's quite high water yet, and the breeze is dropping,"Harry was saying. "There's just enough to take us a mile or two down thebeach over the tide with the spritsail set. Then we could lower the mastand paddle home."
"Wouldn't she sail back?" Ray asked.
"No," was the answer, "only with a fair wind. You can't beat a thinglike that to windward. There's not enough of her in the water."
Frank said that he would like to go, and after running the canoe downthey lifted the short mast into place and set the little sail. It filledwhen a few strokes of the paddle had driven them out of the cove, andthey slid away, rising and falling smoothly, with the swell runningafter them. Harry took hold of the rope that held the foot of the sailfast to a peg.
"You want to keep the sheet handy in a very small craft," he instructed."Then if a hard puff of wind strikes her you can slack it up, or let itgo altogether, when the sail will blow out loose. There's more weight inthis breeze than I expected."
It seemed to Frank from the gurgle at the bows and the way the foamslipped by them that they were sailing very fast, but for a while hewatched the rocky heads that dipped to the water open out one afteranother and then close in again behind them. The woods that creptbetween them down to the strips of shingle were rapidly growing shadowy,and the ridges of water that followed them seemed to be getting darker,though here and there one of them was flecked with bright wisps offroth. At length Harry let the sheet go and brought the canoe around.
"We'll have the mast down and get back," he said.
They had no trouble in rolling up the sail and laying the mast in thebottom of the craft, but when they dipped the paddles, Harry kneeling inthe stern and Frank toward the bow, the latter realized that their nexttask would not be quite so easy. A chilly wind which seemed considerablystronger than before they turned struck his face, the bows splashednoisily, throwing up little spurts of spray, and now and then the narrowcraft lurched rather wildly over the top of a swell. He worked hard forabout twenty minutes, and then glancing astern was a little astonishedto see that a rock which had been opposite them was now a remarkablysmall distance behind. Harry, who had evidently followed his glance,scowled disapprovingly.
"We'll have to paddle, that's a cold fact," he declared. "The tide seemsto have turned quite a while before it ought to have, and the breeze isgetting up again. We might find slacker water right inshore."
They edged close in to the rocks, the sight of which did not add toFrank's comfort, though the boat crept on a little faster. The swellbroke in long white swirls about their feet, and it was evident that anyattempt to land there was out of the question. Besides, even if theymanaged to reach the bush, there was no trail to the ranch, and he hadno desire to struggle through the tangle of fallen branches and densethickets in the darkness. His knees and hands were getting sore, but hetoiled on patiently with the single-ended paddle, while the canoelurched more viciously and little showers of spray flew in over her bow.It was becoming exceedingly hard work to drive the craft into the risinghead sea. The foam-girt rocks were, however, slowly crawling by, and atlength, after laboring, panting and breathless, around a somewhat largerhead, Harry suddenly stopped paddling.
"Hold on!" he exclaimed. "Just keep her from swinging, and look yonder!"
Frank, glad of a brief rest, gazed astern. It was neither light nordark, for a pale moon hung low in the sky, casting a faint silvery trackupon the water, which was now flecked with white froth a little offshore. Across the sweep of radiance there moved a tall black spire ofslanting canvas, with the foam leaping up about the shadowy strip ofhull beneath.
"The schooner!" said Harry significantly. "She's beating up over thetide and she'll probably stand close in, but I don't think they couldsee us against the land."
He spoke as if he did not wish to be seen, and for no very clear reasonFrank felt glad that they lay in the shadow of a big black head. Theschooner was coming on very fast, rising, it seemed to him, bodily,until he could make out the curl of piled-up water that flowed awaybeneath her depressed side. The mass of straining sailcloth hid most ofher slanted deck, and he could see nobody on board her, but it seemedcurious that she carried no lights. Then it occurred to him that she washeading straight for them, and he was about to dip his paddle when Harrystopped him.
"Keep still!" he commanded. "They'll have to come round before theyreach us."
Frank could now hear the roar of water about the bow of the vessel, andin a minute or two she swayed suddenly upright and there was a greatthrashing of canvas as, shooting forward, she came round. She was verynear them and as her boom-foresail and mainsail swung across, leavingclear the side of the deck they had shrouded, he saw two or threeshadowy figures busy forward. They became more distinct as she droveback into the moonlight, which fell upon the form of her helmsman. Frankcould see him clearly, and there was, he fancied, something peculiarabout the man.
The splashing top of a sea slopped into the canoe as they got way onher, and they taxed their strength to the utmost during the next hour.The craft bucked and jumped as they laboriously drove her over theconfused swell, which was rapidly getting higher, and there was alreadya good deal of water washing about inside her. Once or twice Frank heldhis breath as a threatening mass of water heaved up ahead, but in eachcase she lurched across it safely, and presently they found smootherwater under another crag. He gave a sigh of relief when at length theyreached the cove and beached her upon the shingle. They turned her overto empty before they ran her up, and then Harry sat down upon a boulder.Frank already had discovered that he seldom talked of anything they haddone as though it were an exploit.
"I'm quite puzzled about that schooner," he said presently.
"Why?"
Harry paused and thought a moment. "Well, it's a sure thing she's thevessel that crept past us the morning we were lying beneath the point,and though she's been seen three or four times now there's no notice inthe papers of any arrival that seems to fit her. She has the look ofbeing built for the Canadian sealing trade, and most of the craft inthat business are mighty smart vessels."
"Doesn't a ship have to carry papers saying where she's from and whereshe's going?"
"Oh, yes," assented Harry. "Still, she might clear from somewhere inCanada, say for the halibut fishing--I've heard they're trying to startit there--or something that would keep her out a month or so. Then, asthere is no end of quiet inlets in British Columbia and a good manyhere, she could run up and down from one to another and go back with afew fish, and there'd be nothing to show what she had been doing in themeanwhile."
"You think it's something illegal?"
"If it is anything honest I don't see why she was beating up without herlights in the strength of the tide, when she'd have slacker water overtoward the other side, only there'd be a chance of her being seen fromthe Seattle boat if she ran across yonder. Now it's a general idea thatthere's a good deal of dope--that's opium--smuggled into this country,and now and then Chinamen, too. Our people won't have any more of them,but though they have no trouble in getting into Canada, they seem tolike the States better. I guess wages are higher."
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"Have you talked to your father about it?"
"I told him what we'd seen the other time and he looked kind of amused,or as if he didn't want to be bothered about the thing; though that maynot have been it, either. Unless he tells you right out, you can neverfigure on what he's thinking. Anyway, I'll say nothing more to himunless there's some particular reason."
Harry was afterward sorry that he had arrived at this decision, and, forthat matter, so was his father, but it was the next morning before thiscame about. In the meanwhile the boys went back to the ranch, and soonafterward retired to rest in the room they now shared. Frank went tosleep at once, and it was some time later when, awaking suddenly, hefancied that Harry had left his bed, which was fixed against theopposite wall. A faint light from outside crept into the room, and Frankmade out a black figure standing by the open window. Slipping softly tothe floor he moved toward it and Harry raised his hand warningly when hejoined him.
"What are you doing here?" Frank inquired.
"Well," answered Harry, "since you ask me, I don't quite know, but Ifancied I heard somebody about the ranch. Keep still and listen."
He spoke in a low and rather strained voice, and Frank, who was uneasilyimpressed by it, leaned out of the window. There was a moon somewhere inthe sky, but it was obscured by clouds, and only a dim, uncertain lightfiltered down. It showed the great black firs which rose, a rampart ofimpenetrable darkness, beyond the rather less shadowy clearing, acrosspart of which the fruit trees stretched. Then ran back, in regular rows,little clumps of deeper obscurity which presently grew blurred and fadedinto one another. The wind had apparently dropped again, for it wasimpressively still.
"I can't hear anything," whispered Frank.
"I'm not sure that I did," rejoined Harry. "It may be that seeing thatschooner put the thing into my head, but we'll wait a little now thatwe're up."
For a couple of minutes they waited in silence. Then Harry suddenlygripped his companion's arm.
"Look!" he whispered. "Across the clearing--yonder!"
Frank fancied that he could make out a shadowy object in the open spacebetween the fruit trees and the forest. It was very dim and indistinct,and he realized that he would not have noticed it only that it moved.Shortly afterward it disappeared and a faint rattle like that made bytwo pieces of wood jarring together came out of the deep gloom beneaththe firs.
"The fence," suggested Harry. "It sounded like the top rails goingdown."
The fence was made of split rails interlocked together in the usualmanner without the use of nails, and it seemed to Frank very probablethat anybody climbing over it in the darkness would be apt to knock oneor two of them down. The question was who would be likely to climb overit, since there was no one living within some miles of the ranch. Thenhe caught another sound which seemed farther off. It suggested thecrackle of rotten branches or torn-down undergrowth, but it ceasedalmost immediately.
"Slip on your things," whispered Harry. "I'm going down."
In a few moments they crept softly down the stairway barefooted, andHarry opened the outer door very cautiously. He picked up an ax outside,and they moved silently around the house, stopping now and then tolisten. There was only a deep stillness. Nothing seemed to move; thoughFrank wished that he had at least a good thick stick in his hand. He hadan uncomfortable feeling that they might come upon a man hiding in somestrip of deeper gloom as they slowly crept along the wall. When atlength they had satisfied themselves that there was nobody about, Harrysat down.
"I can't figure out this thing," he mused. "It seems to me that whoeverthose strangers were they haven't been near the house, and it's a quietcountry, anyway." He glanced down at his bare feet. "I'd go along andlook around the barn and stables only that I'd certainly stub my toes,and it wouldn't be any use. Nobody steals horses around here. Theycouldn't get rid of them if they did."
The outbuildings stood at some little distance from the house, andFrank, who remembered that they had strewn the trail to them with brokentwigs in dragging some branches from the slashing, agreed with hiscompanion that it would not be wise to traverse it in the darkness withunprotected feet.
"Couldn't you slip into the kitchen and get our boots?" he suggested.
"Not without waking dad," answered Harry. "He's in the next room, and hesleeps lightly. I'm not anxious to bring him out if no harm's beendone."
"He'd get angry?"
"No, he'd only smile; and somehow that makes you feel quite cheap andsmall. Besides"--and he hesitated--"there was another time, when Iroused them for nothing; and I don't want to do it again. You wouldn'teither, if you had stood as much about it from Jake as I've had to eversince."
They decided to say nothing about the matter unless some reason fordoing so appeared in the morning, and creeping back through the house assilently as possible they went to bed. They awoke a little later thanusual, and going down found Mr. Oliver standing at one side of thekitchen table rather grave of face, with Jake, who also lookedthoughtful, opposite him. A strip of paper with some writing on it laybetween them. Mr. Oliver looked around as the boys came in.
"Did either of you hear anything suspicious last night?" he asked.
"Yes," said Harry hesitatingly. "In fact, we came down."
He briefly related why they had done so, and Jake broke in:
"Then why in the name of wonder didn't you call somebody?"
"It's a reasonable question," said Mr. Oliver.
Harry explained with some diffidence that they were afraid of beinglaughed at, and Frank felt a little uncomfortable under the rancher'ssteady gaze.
"Well," said the latter dryly, "I suppose your idea was natural, andwe'll let it go at that. It's perhaps scarcely worth while to point outthat most people get laughed at now and then, and there's no reason forbelieving that it hurts them. I wonder if you will be surprised to hearthat my team has gone?"
They were certainly somewhat startled.
"I found this stuck up on the stable door," said Jake, pushing the stripof paper across toward them.
The boys read the straggling writing: "_If you want your team back keepyour mouth shut._"
For a moment they looked at each other in silence, and then Mr. Oliverturned to them.
"It's all we know in the meanwhile. Have you anything more to tell us?"
Harry diffidently mentioned the schooner, and his father drew down hisbrows.
"Whether her appearance has any connection with the matter is more thanI can say, but I'll sail up to the settlement this morning. You andFrank can go on with the drain cutting while I am away."
Just then Miss Oliver came in to get breakfast ready, and when the mealwas finished the two boys made for the clearing where they were cuttinga trench. When they reached their destination Harry sat down and pushedback his hat.
"This thing isn't very clear to me, but I'm beginning to get the driftof it," he announced. "It's quite likely that dad knows a good deal moreabout it than I do, but until he has it all worked out he won't tell.First of all, we'll allow that they're smugglers on that schooner. Theyborrowed two of our horses and that fixes it."
"You couldn't smuggle a great deal on two horses," Frank pointed out.
"Sure," admitted Harry. "Still, they might have picked up another teamsomewhere else, and you want to remember that it only pays to smugglethings that are valuable and can be easily moved. Now one packhorse loadof dope would be worth a good many dollars, and you can't move anythingmuch easier than a man. He's got feet."
This was incontestable, but Frank considered the matter.
"If you turned a number of Chinamen loose in the bush wouldn't they berecognized as strangers at any settlement they reached and have to givean account of themselves to somebody?"
"The trouble is that, although I believe they have to carry papers ofsome kind, it's mighty hard to tell one Chinaman from another and theyall work into each other's hands."
"Your idea is that the smugglers have confederates?"
"They h
ave them, sure," said Harry. "There's some diking being done on asalt marsh not far away, and the last time I was there it struck methere were some hard-looking white toughs on the workings. Then there'sa small Chinese colony behind the settlement, and it's thick bush withonly a few ranches for some leagues beyond. Just the kind of country forrunning dope through."
"Are the ranchers likely to stand in?"
"No, not in a general way, but it's possible that a man here and thereliving by himself in the bush would say nothing if they borrowed ahorse or two. It's not nice to have a gang of toughs up against you."
"Your father doesn't seem inclined to look at it that way."
Harry laughed. "I'll allow that there's a good deal of sense in dad. Itwould be clear to him that he couldn't well give them away afterward ifhe did nothing this time. They'd certainly have got him; and dad's notthe man to let a gang of dope runners order him round." He paused amoment, and added significantly: "If they try any bluffing in this casethere'll be trouble."
Frank asked no further questions and they set about the trenching.