CHAPTER II
A CONTRABAND CARGO
"Well, what d'you know about that?" queried Billy, easily relapsinginto slang when the first few minutes' surprise had worn off.
"Dunno much about it," Captain Vinton answered in a somewhat grufftone, "but it looks to me mighty like a filibuster's craft, or p'rhapsa smuggler's."
At the word "filibuster," the boys---figuratively speaking---prickedup their ears.
"What on earth can they be trying to smuggle?" was Hugh's eagerquestion, to which the captain replied promptly:
"Arms,---leastways, cartridges or gunpowder. They ain't tryin' tosmuggle 'em _into_ Fluridy, but _out_ of it," he explained. "Somegang of raskils is buyin' small quantities of war goods up state---orelse from Cuby---totin' 'em down the coast an' through th' Everglades,and gettin' 'em aboard some steamboat like that one, and so away wherethey'll do the most harm. Get me?"
"Yes," replied Alec, "but I never would have thought such tricks werepossible in these days."
"Boy, you can't never tell what's just possible or what ain't, inthese days," gravely asserted Captain Vinton. "All sorts o' thingsis like to happen, and sometimes it's durned hard to know just what'sgoin' on. But if that's any filibustin' outfit, they'd better maketracks out o' these waters as fast as they can lay beam to wind'ard."
So saying, he shifted the helm again and bore away at an angle thatwould enable them to come close to the revenue cutter, now scarcelya quarter of a mile astern. Lighter and lighter came the wind,slower glided the _Arrow_ over the long heavy swells, nearer andnearer came the cutter, going at a steady, rapid rate. Soon the twovessels were within hailing distance, and a megaphone call cameacross the water, clear and distinct:
"Sloop, ahoy! Can you understand?"
"Aye, aye!" called Vinton.
The five boys gathered around him, eager to hear the interchange ofcalls. Even Dave rose and shambled over to the little group at thetiller. On the other vessel they could now see a number of men inblue uniforms and one in a civilian's suit of gray tweeds.
"Who've you got aboard?" came the next question from the captain ofthe _Petrel_.
Vinton briefly stated his passenger list and explained the purpose oftheir cruise.
"Bound for Key West now?" shouted the _Petrel's_ captain, whomVinton, studying him through the marine glass, recognized as JamesKelsey. "Trying to dodge that craft that just passed us, or tryingto catch her?"
"We were goin' to report as how we seen her las' night off SnipePoint," bawled Vinton, speaking through a megaphone which Dave hadhanded to him. "Thought you fellows were at Key West."
"We were until this morning," came the answer. "We've been chasingthat boat. She's the _Esperanza_, a smuggler. Have you seen herthrowing anything overboard, or picking up stuff---like boxes orsmall kegs?"
Then a light of understanding broke upon Vinton's mind. So that waswhat the smuggler had been doing all night! Not grappling for thecable, but stealthily picking up a contraband cargo of munitions ofwar, small stores such as could be cast adrift along the coast insome prearranged method and gathered in by those who had beeninstructed to recognize the floating objects! What were they?Water-tight kegs of dynamite, submerged, but buoyed up by thricetheir weight of corks? Boxes of rifle bullets? Or merely harmlessglass bottles containing, perhaps, written descriptions of the countryto be invaded, photographs of fortifications, details of naval ormilitary equipment?
The answer was not long forthcoming.
"Ain't seen her pick up anything," shouted Vinton, "but reckon that'sher lay. What's she after?"
"Dynamite."
"By thunder!" ejaculated the captain in a low tone of awe.
"Yes, that's just what they'll do, if they can," Billy commented withone of his irrepressible grins. "They'll buy thunder. You've saidit, Cap! But what'll they use it for?"
Vinton paid not the slightest heed to Billy's poor pun. Instead,while Alec gave Billy a dig in the ribs, the captain put the samequestion to Kelsey.
"Oh, you know they've started another one of those dinky revolutionsin Panama, two generals fighting for the presidency," explainedKelsey. He no longer was obliged to shout curtailed messagesthrough his megaphone, but spoke through it in a tone only a fewdegrees louder than ordinarily; for the sloop and the steamerwere now almost alongside. "Well, the U.S. and Cuba want to stayentirely out of the little war game; but one side of the revolution,the Visteros, are sore at Uncle Sam and trying to make him takea hand. They've got agents in all the Gulf states, in Cuba andHayti, and they're trying to stir up trouble."
What kind o trouble?
"Any old kind. They're not particular as to the brand. It's warstores they want, and discontented loafers for soldiers of fortune.And the Visteros are stealing dynamite to threaten the Canal."
"Bosh!" roared Vinton in a loud guffaw. "They couldn't do it! Let'em try!"
"Yes,---let 'em! But meanwhile, we're out to put the kibosh on thissmuggling. By the way, Vinton, now that you've made your report, youcan turn around again when you've got the wind, and go back up alongthe coast. No need to go to Key West now."
"Hum-mp!" grunted Dave. "Waste time, get sick---all for nuthin'!"
"Shut up, you greasy Seminole!" muttered Vinton, and he turned awayscornfully. "All right, we will," he called to the _Petrel_. "Whatyou goin' to do?"
"First find out if that craft hid anything over there behind that keywhere she was lying, and then follow her."
More confabbing of an unimportant and general nature followedbetween Vinton and Kelsey and the man in tweeds, who was evidentlythe special correspondent of some newspaper. At the end of theconference, Kelsey called out:
"Well, I guess we'll mosey on, Lem. Goodby and good luck to you.If you meet any smugglers in the upper 'glades or along the coast,send word to Tampa; they'll rush a cutter with some of the Gulf policeto the spot. Keep a sharp eye on strange-looking craft, will you?"
"Aye, aye!" responded the _Arrow's_ captain, little knowing into whatadventures this pursuit of smugglers would lead him and his crew.
In a few minutes the _Petrel_ had swung about and was heading in thedirection from which the _Esperanza_ had appeared. The _Arrow_ wasleft becalmed and drifting on the heavy swells of the Gulf; but hercrew, excited by the prospect of encountering freebooters of the main,forgot to be seasick, even if they had been so inclined, and fell topreparing their noonday meal.
Vinton tilted his cap over his left eye and surveyed the trim _Arrow_with frank satisfaction, at the conclusion of their repast.
"All shipshape, boys? Good! Reckon I'll let one of you steer awhile,and hit my bunk for an hour or two. There'll be wind out'n thesou'east, later on; and then I'll take charge again. All you've gotto do now is to turn her around, with her nose pointin' yonder,"---hewaved a hand toward the distant Sanibel Islands that stretch alongthe coast south of Charlotte Harbor,---"and take 'vantage of everypuff of wind that you can use for tackin'. Understand?"
They signified their readiness to manage the sloop, once she had gonewell beyond any reefs or bars, and they drew lots to see who shouldbe first to take the captain's place while he rested. The draw,fell to Chester and he took charge of the helm. Alec came next,then Billy took his turn, and finally Hugh. While one steered, theothers kept a look-out for the erratic _Esperanza_, thinking itmight again appear from some unexpected quarter. Mark and RoyNorton lounged in the bow and lazily swapped fishing stories, not atall averse to leaving the work to the rest.
With the departure of the _Petrel_ on her return to the waters nearSnipe Point, and with a barely-perceptible rise of wind, the sloop_Arrow_ laid a zigzag course toward the Ten Thousand Islands andcame abreast of them about five o'clock. Beyond a broad inlet thatled into the bay, a white sand beach, sparsely overgrown withcrabgrass and waving palmettos, indicated to Dave that they werenear one of his old camping places. He called Captain Vinton'sattention to it, hinting that it would be a good place to spendthe night.
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"Why not aboard the sloop?" queried Vinton, though he knew perfectlywell that Dave would seek any excuse to stretch his unseaworthy limbson _terra firma_ in preference to tossing on the bosom of old ocean.
"Bad weather comin',---windy to-night," said the Seminole prophet,pointing to a bank of jagged slaty-gray clouds that was rising in thewest over the gulf.
"Reckon you're right, Dave. If that brings half the wind its lookspromise, I'd ruther have these keys between it and us---eh? There'sanuther squall brewin' out yonder. Come on, let's go ashore, lads."
Making in shoreward, the _Arrow_ presently cast anchor off a shallowcove "inside" the nearest bar. All five boys got into the sloop'sdory, and after landing the others on the beach, Hugh rowed back tothe sloop to bring the captain, Norton and the guide ashore. Whenthey landed, they discovered Billy and Alec, Chester and Markengaged in examining a big battered tin box, locked, with its coversealed up with black sealing wax, which they had found half buriedin the sand.
"What is it? What have you got there?" Hugh asked quickly, runningforward.
"It looks like part of Captain Kidd's buried treasure!" said Billy,whose eyes were sparkling with anticipation.
"Nothing of the sort!" declared matter-of-fact Chester. "It'sprobably a lot of old maps and charts."
"Let's open it and see," was Alec's advice.
But the captain interposed.
"Let it alone, boys," he said. "It's marked with a small initial 'B.'That may stand for Bego or---bait."