CHAPTER V
A BATTLE ROYAL
Jack, being desirous of ascertaining just what was taking place overwhere the sloop laden with contraband was anchored, did his best glideor coast, a feature at which he was most competent.
When the engine ceased to function and the whizzing propeller lost muchof its dizzy momentum, both he and Perk strained their ears so as tocatch any sound calculated to inform them as to what was going on.
The trick proved worth while, for plainly they could make out humanvoices; also a certain rumbling sound that Jack imagined might be causedby the rush back and forth of a small hand truck on which cases ofimported liquid refreshment were loaded.
This told the story to the effect that the speed launch must havereached the schooner and was lying alongside with its intended cargobeing delivered with no loss of time. Probably, if everything went withmachine-like precision, the speed boat would soon be fully laden andstarted back toward some secret haven where big motor trucks would bewaiting to transport the cargo to Tampa, St. Petersburg, or some othercity to the north.
Meanwhile the second boat was due around that time--they could hear herhoarse exhaust as she bucked the billows rolling in toward the shoreline and a moving light about half a mile distant betrayed her position.
If one thing tickled Perk more than another just then it was therealization that he and Jack held aces in the game--their possession ofthat almost priceless muffler, by means of which they could approachfairly close without the working motor betraying their coming, gave theman enormous advantage.
"We sure have got the upper hand in this tangle," Perk was tellinghimself in great glee as he listened to the chugging of the secondtransfer boat. "Huh! I kinder guess them guys been sleepin' at theswitch not to savvy what a bully thing one o' these here silencers'd beto the smugglin' game. Looks like it might be a walk-over for our team,if the luck on'y holds good."
Jack had about decided on his course of action. He did not mean thateither of those boats should get safely ashore with their loads, if hehad anything to say about it, and he reckoned he had.
Still, it was not politic to be too quick on the trigger--they couldjust continue to hang around and be ready to pounce down on theirintended prey after the fashion of a hungry eagle striking a fat duckthat had been selected out of the flock on the feeding grounds.
One thing he did do was to cut his intended wide circle short and againhead toward the scene of action, a move that certainly afforded theeager Perk more or less satisfaction, he being thrilled with theexpectation of breaking into the game without much more loss of time.
But you never can tell just what may happen when rival forces arestriving against one another. The best laid plans often go wrong andthere was always a chance of the unexpected happening.
Hardly had the airship whipped around again so as to head into the norththan Perk became aware of the fact that there was a sudden accesssion ofweird noises springing up from the goal toward which they were nowaiming. Jack, too must have caught the increased volume, for he sheeredoff as if to hold back a bit so as to grasp the meaning of the newracket.
Men were no longer simply talking or laughing as they so cheerfullylabored in transferring some of the contraband from the sloop to thedeck of the speedboat--their voices were raised to shouts in whichsurprise, even the element of near-panic, could be detected.
Then came a flash, succeeded by a sharp report, undoubtedly standing forthe discharge of some species of firearm! Others of a similar characterimmediately followed until there were all the elements of a genuinerough and tumble fight discernible in the growing confusion and uproar.
Perk was astounded by such unaccountable goings-on. Whatever couldpossess these smugglers to start a fight among themselves, when such adisturbance was likely to be heard by any Coast Guard boat that mighthappen to be cruising within ten miles of the spot and bring down allmanner of serious trouble on their heads, certainly breaking up the finecombination that had been effected for that especial delivery?
"Holy smoke! they sure must a'gone looney!" Perk was telling himself,lost in wonder and dismay, for he began to suspect that this would beapt to mix their own plans and upset all Jack's calculations.
It would seem to be the only explanation possible--that some of the casegoods had been tampered with, the result being that the willing workerswere not only hilarious, but ready to start a rough-house then and thereon the deck of the schooner.
Then suddenly remembering how both he and Jack had their head-phoneharness attached, and could thus exchange words when they pleased, Perkbroke loose in his usual impulsive fashion, seeking the light which hesomehow had reason to believe his chum could give him.
"Gee whiz! partner, what's broke loose, would you say?" he demanded."Them guys act like they'd been tryin' out the high power stuff theyfetched all the way from the Bahamas. Danged if it don't sound to melike a reg'lar old Irish Tipperary Fair fight--listen to 'em shootin'things up to beat the band! Say, if they keep agoin' like that, they'llsmash every case they got an' we won't find any evidence to grab. Got aline on the racket, old boss?"
"It's a fight, and a lively one at that," admitted the pilot, "but Ireckon you're away off when you figure it's a ruction between those onthe schooner and the boys of that speedboat."
"You got me guessin' partner," said the puzzled Perk; "then who's mixedup in the shindy, I want to know?"
"Sounds a whole lot like hijackers to me, Perk."
"Ginger pop! Is _that_ what it means then, Jack--some tough guysbeen out there on the gulf keepin' a close watch on the schooner thatcame up the coast loaded to the gun'ls with case goods, an' crept inwith small boats to make a big haul! Listen to 'em squabble, will you,boy? What wouldn't I give for daylight so's to see that bossshindy--shootin' keeps a'goin' on like the old days over there--wow!They must be a bunch o' rotten marksmen, or the whole lot'd be wiped outafore this time. What're we a'goin' to do 'bout it, Jack--we ought tohave some say what's to be done with all that stuff--no use bein' eagleso' the skies if we gotter stick around an' let a measly set o' hawks getaway with the game."
"Don't worry, that's what we're _not_ aiming to do!" snapped Jack,as he banked, and once again headed in the direction of the spot whereall that wild commotion was taking place.
"I get you, boy--the machine-gun, is it?" barked Perk, starting up fromhis seat as though to make ready.
Before he could throw off his head-harness Jack stopped him.
"Wait--you got me wrong--let the gun lie where it is. You know we neverexpect to use it unless our lives are in danger. Get the bombs,Perk--the simple tear bombs--they ought to fill the bill!"
Perk evidently not only understood now but was fully in sympathy withthe scheme Jack had hatched out under the spur of necessity--quickthinking was one of young Ralston's strong points and his clevernessalong those lines had served him wonderfully on more than a few previousoccasions, where the situation looked desperate.
They were sliding down a steep glide with the engine shut off. The deckof the nearby schooner was plainly visible due to the lights aboard, andthe successive discharges of firearms, each looked like a miniatureflash of lightning. As they approached the scene of confusion the racketgrew in volume,--a dozen men seemed to be whooping things up as thoughunder the impression that the battle could be won by sheer noise--andbroken heads.
Perk kept his wits, and managed to locate the small stock of tear bombsthat had been given into their charge, with the idea they might findthem more or less useful should they strike a superior force of recklesslaw breakers and get into what Perk would call a "jam."
Already he had succeeded in clutching a couple of the round missilesthat were charged with the acrid gas that could play such havoc withhuman eyes as to render the strongest men as weak as babes and settleddown in a position where he could throw them to advantage.