CHAPTER XV
A GLIMPSE OF SOMETHING
The steamer was a small one running between Wiscasset and BoothbayHarbor by way of the Sheepscot. She rounded gracefully to at the wharfat Charmount, making fast with the ease of long habit, and amid thetrucks, laden with freight and shoved and pulled by trotting men, nearlya dozen passengers hurried aboard, among them being Mr. Richards and hisyoung friends.
Leaving Alvin and Chester to themselves, Richards entered the pilothouse where he shook hands with the captain and sat down. The visitorwas welcome wherever he went, for every one knew him as among the mosttrustworthy of men. During the brief halt at the landing, Richards toldhis story to which the captain listened attentively.
"I have noticed that boat," he remarked; "she is one of the prettiest inthese parts; it was a daring piece of thievery, and is sure to get thescamps into trouble."
"I want you to keep a lookout on the way to Squirrel."
"Don't I always do that, Keyes?"
"I am not certain; but a good many folks think so, and that's as good asif you really did attend to business. Now, if the launch has kept going,of course we shall see nothing of her."
"And if she hasn't kept going and doesn't wish to be seen by us, shewon't have any trouble in hiding. There are lots of places where youcouldn't glimpse her with a telescope. I won't forget, and will give youwhat help I can."
Just then the captain signalled to the engineer, the screw of thesteamer began churning and she swung out into the crystalline current.Richards kept his seat behind the captain, the two exchanging remarksnow and then and both scanning the water and banks as they glided past.Several times the caller slipped out of the small pilot house, and,shading his eyes with one hand, studied the shore like an eaglewatching its prey. They passed small sailboats, exchanged toots withother steamers and made their landings nearly always on time.
While Mr. Richards was scrutinizing the banks, islands and the mouths ofthe small bays and inlets, Alvin and Chester were similarly engaged.They seated themselves at the extreme stern under the awning where theview on the right and left was as unobstructed as it could be.
They had come to the belief that the persons who robbed the Rockledgepost-office included the two whom they saw at Boothbay Harbor, and thatone of the couple took part in the attack upon Alvin when making his wayhome some nights before.
"When you remember that they were the same number as ourselves and thatthey wore yachting suits, it is easy to understand how the constablemade his mistake."
"Not forgetting our villainous looks," added Chester.
"I understand there have been so many post office robberies in this partof Maine that there is no doubt that a well-organized gang is at work."
"And these three belong to it."
"There are more beside them. It looks as if they have divided a certainpart of the State among them, and our acquaintances have been given thissection. There are several facts about this business which I don'tunderstand."
"It's the same with me. For instance, why should those fellows stealyour boat? They have one of their own."
"It may be so far off that they could reach it much sooner with the helpthey got from the _Deerfoot_."
"I don't see how that can be, for they must have come up the river intheir own craft and meant to go back to it with their booty. They wouldbe sure to leave it at the most convenient place, which would be as nearif not nearer than where we went ashore at the blockhouse."
"That would seem so, but if true they must have known they would add totheir danger by stealing another boat. No, Alvin, we are off in ourguesses."
"Can you do any better?"
"No, but you remember when studying in our school history the captureof Major Andre, that the British sloop-of-war _Vulture_ went up theHudson to take him on board after his meeting with Benedict Arnold. Thespy would have been saved that way, if the sloop hadn't been forced todrop down stream, so that when Andre needed it, the vessel was notthere. Now suppose it was something like that with these people."
Alvin thought over this view of the situation, but shook his head.
"It doesn't strike me as likely. But what's the use of guessing? Themost curious part of it all to me is that they should have come alongwhen we were sitting behind the blockhouse and find the _Deerfoot_waiting for them. A few minutes earlier or later and nothing of the kindcould have happened. Then, too, we hadn't a thought of halting theretill Mike's curiosity caused us to go ashore. Do you know, Chester, I ammore anxious about Mike than about the motor boat?"
"I don't understand why."
"We are sure to get back the launch sooner or later, but, as I said,Mike is so headlong, so fond of a shindy, as he calls it, and so eagerto get another chance at the fellow who ran away from him, that he islikely to run into trouble."
"He has been doing that all his life, and yet has managed to fight hisway out. I haven't any fear of his not being able to do so this time."
"It seems to me that if we don't get any trace of the _Deerfoot_ on theway down, we may as well get off at Southport and send despatches to allthe points along the river, asking that a lookout be kept for our boat,and word be sent to me as soon as anything is picked up. I am notworrying about the launch, only that those villains are robbing us of alot of fun which we counted upon."
"We'll take the advice of Mr. Richards; he may think that BoothbayHarbor, where he lives, is the best point to send out inquiries."
Now, our young friends cannot be censured because they talked in theirordinary tones, taking no pains to keep what they said from those aroundthem. They were equally blameless in not noticing a certain gentlemanwho sat two or three paces away on the bench which curved around theupper deck, apparently absorbed in reading the last copy of the Lewiston_Journal_. He smoked a big black cigar and seemed to be interestedsolely in his paper. None the less, he had taken his seat for thepurpose of hearing the conversation, and he did not allow a word toelude him. He wore a gray business suit, with a white Fedora hat, acolored shirt and a modest striped necktie. The face was strong, withclean cut features, and was shaven clean of all beard. His eyes weregray and his manner alert. Most of the time he held the paper so highabove his crossed legs that his face would have been invisible to theboys had they looked at him. But there were three other men, as manywomen, and a couple of children near that were equally interesting toAlvin and Chester, who feeling they had nothing to conceal, made noeffort to conceal it.
"There would be a good hiding place for the _Deerfoot_," suddenlyexclaimed Alvin, springing to his feet and indicating a part of BarterIsland, whose northern end is just below Point Quarry, from which it isseparated by Cross River. Thence it reaches southward for nearly fivemiles, not far from Sawyer Island and the Isle of Springs.
The point indicated by Alvin was near the southern extremity of BarterIsland, and was a small inlet, inclosed by dense pines on all sides, andcurving slightly to the north a little distance from the stream. Theopening was broad enough to admit any of the steamers which pass up anddown the river, though none of them ever turns in, since there is nocause for doing so. Had the _Deerfoot_ chosen to make the entrance, itcould have been screened from sight by the turn of the small bay, andthe thickly wooded shores.
As the boat glided swiftly past the boys scrutinized every part of theinlet in their field of vision, but saw nothing to give hope that it wasthe hiding place of the stolen launch. It was not to be wondered at, forthey had already passed a score of places that offered just as saferefuge.
Neither Alvin nor Chester noticed that the man in a gray suit turnedpartly round, dropped his paper on his knee, and also studied the littlebay upon which their gaze was fixed. He wore no glasses, for his sharpeyes did not need artificial help. Even had his action been observed bythe youths, they would have thought nothing of it, for the exclamationof Alvin caused several of the passengers to take the same survey.
The steamer had hardly passed the bit of water and the boys were stillstanding,
when Mr. Richards came out of the pilot house and hurried tothem.
"Did you see anything?" he asked.
"No; did you?" asked Alvin in turn.
"I am not certain, but the captain and I caught a glimpse of somethingwhich we thought might be the stern or bow of a motor boat like yours,though as likely as not it was nothing of the kind."
"Can you get the captain to put us ashore?" eagerly asked Alvin. "I'llpay him for his trouble."
Richards shook his head and smiled.
"He wouldn't do it for a thousand dollars; there is no place to make alanding, though he might use one of the boats to have you rowed to land.He halts only at certain fixed points."
"What is the best we can do?"
"Do you mean to find out what it is that is lying in that inlet?"
Alvin replied that such was the wish of himself and his companion.