Peter Cotterell's Treasure

by Rupert Sargent Holland

  XIII--ON THE FISHING-SMACK

  When Tom and Lanky had turned to the right and investigated thefishermen's shanties that were nearest to the marshes, David had turnedto the left, in the direction of the ocean. He had no particular objectin view, except to see what the man they had met on the other bank ofthe cove was doing and exchange a few more words with him, if theopportunity offered.

  He looked through the clutter of small, weatherbeaten sheds withoutseeing the man, and came to the beach on the ocean side. A shortdistance to the south was a spit of sand, and there, seated on a log,was the fellow with the straw hat.

  David enjoyed an argument. He was not by nature so curious about otherpeople as Ben was, but he liked to tease. So, with his hands stuck inhis pockets and a little swagger in his walk, he went toward the man.

  "Looking for a boat to come along and take you for a sail?" he said."It's a long walk to town."

  "You'd better be on your way then," the man retorted. His tone was notvery civil, and it made David flush.

  "I can look out for myself."

  "Oh, you can, can you?" The man turned round and glared at the youngfellow. "Well, my advice to you is to make yourself scarce prettyquick."

  David squared his shoulders. "You don't want me and my friends roundhere, do you? A person might think you owned the beach."

  "No," said the man, "I don't want you round here." He looked at the boyfixedly for a minute. "That's plain enough, isn't it?"

  "Yes, it's plain enough," David admitted. "But I don't see that it's anyreason why we should go."

  "I've business here, and you haven't."

  "Business? You don't seem very busy."

  The man got up from the log and walked away, down the beach toward aledge of rock that shut off the southern end.

  What was the man's business? David, rather amused at the other'ssurliness, followed after, walking jauntily.

  He climbed the ledge of rock. There was another scallop of beach, withbushes close down to the sand. The man was not in sight. But there was asmall fishing-smack at anchor not far from the shore, and a dory wasjust pulling away from her.

  David stepped down on the beach, and the first thing he knew somethinghad knocked him flat. He lay sprawling on the sand, a heavy weight onhis back. Someone had caught his two hands and held them like a vise.

  "Holler if you want to," said the man with the straw hat.

  David had no wish to shout. The breath was knocked out of him.

  The man pinned him down, and after kicking a little, David decided thewisest course was to lie still.

  After a few minutes there was a grating sound on the sand. David twistedhis head enough to see that the dory had landed and that two men werecoming ashore.

  "Hello, Sam, what you got there?" exclaimed one of the strangers.

  "A fresh guy, who wouldn't mind his own business," was the answer. "NowI'm going to teach him not to meddle:"

  "Good for you, old sport! Give him a good licking."

  "Pity we left the cat-o'-nine-tails out on the boat," said the secondman.

  "Three of them came to the cove," said the man on David's back. "Theother two went away; but this fellow had to go nosing around into otherpeople's business. I told him to make himself scarce. But not he! Oh no,he had to find out what I was doing. And now I'm going to take him outon the boat and watch me do some fishing."

  There was a laugh at this. "You'll let him bait your hook, won't you,Sam?" asked one.

  "I'll let him take the fish off," Sam retorted. "You fellows row us out,will you?"

  The others agreed. The man on David's back eased his position. "Now,"said he, "you can come along without any fuss or trouble, or you cancome with a black eye. Suit yourself; it doesn't make any difference tome."

  Three to one was greater odds than David cared to tackle. "I'll goalong," he grunted.

  The man got up. David followed. Assuming a care-free manner he walked tothe boat and climbed over the high side. A man sat at the oars, and Samand the two others took seats on the thwarts. The oars dipped in thewater, and the dory was rowed out to the smack.

  David and Sam went aboard, and the dory with her crew of three rowedaway again in the direction of the cove.

  "Now," said Sam, "make yourself comfortable. You've found out mybusiness. I'm going to fish for flounders." And he walked aft and downinto the cabin.

  David was puzzled. He could understand that this man might have had agrudge against him, even that he might have lost his temper and attackedhim as he had; but why should he carry a grudge so far as to make him aprisoner on his fishing-boat?

  He stared at the shore some time, then walked up toward the bow. Sam hadreappeared from the cabin with fishing-tackle and was angling over theside. There was a line for David, and so, there being nothing better todo, David also set to fishing.

  Fish were not biting on that particular afternoon, however. PresentlySam hauled in his line. "The pesky things never come when you wantthem," he said morosely. "I suppose there are lots of them swimmingaround everywhere except where _I_ cast my hook."

  "You're not a real fisherman," said David. "There's a knack to catchingfish."

  "No, I'm not; and I don't want to be," was the man's answer. "Of all thestupid jobs, I think fishing takes the cake."

  David was about to argue this point when another man came out from thecabin and joined them. At once David, wise in the look of sailormen fromhis acquaintance with them on the docks of Barmouth, decided that thiswas the skipper. The new arrival stretched his arms and yawnedprodigiously. "Golly, I'm only half-awake yet," he declared. "Sam,where'd you pick up this fellow?"

  "He wanted to have a look at the boat," said Sam. "In fact he was so seton having a look at her that I just had to invite him aboard."

  He said this with a sly glance at David, but if he had expected to getan angry denial he was disappointed, for David, leaning his arms on therail, appeared to be in such a deep study of the shore as to allow forno interruption.

  "The others gone ashore?" asked the skipper, evidently regarding thereason for David's presence on the boat as a matter of small importance.

  "Yes," said Sam. He pulled a large watch from the upper pocket of hiscoat and looked at it. "And it's about time they were coming back."

  There was no sign of them, however; and the sun began to slant towardthe west, and then to dip behind the trees, and still there was no boatto be seen coming out from the cove. David, strolling up and down thedeck, noticed that Sam was becoming impatient. After a while there was afragrant odor of cooking, and David, putting his head in at the cabindoor, saw that the skipper was getting supper in the galley.

  The sun had set when the skipper's voice announced that food was ready."Come along," Sam said to David, and though the invitation was not verycordial David went down to the cabin and ate his fair share of the meal.

  Afterwards the three, on deck, watched the shore for a boat. And whenthe beach was quite dark and Sam had looked at his watch a dozen times,he said, almost angrily, "Well, Captain, I think it's about time to beatit. They must have changed their plans. We don't want to stay here allnight."

  The skipper glanced at David. "How about him?" he asked, with a jerk ofthe head.

  "He can help you sail the boat down to Gosport. That'll pay for hissupper."

  David was tired of inaction. To sail to Gosport attracted him much morethan staying here at anchor any longer. He spoke up quickly:

  "Yes, Captain. I know something about handling sails."

  "Good enough. That's more than Sam does," remarked the skipper. "He'sabout as useful in handling this boat as a belaying-pin."

  Shortly the anchor was up and the fishing-smack under way. David carriedout the skipper's orders with proper efficiency. With a gentle breezethe boat stole southward along the shore, and in half-an-hour the lightsof the little settlement of Gosport were glimmering over the water.

  The smack came up to a wharf. "Now," said Sam to David, "you
can goashore if you like. The captain and I may do a little cruising, but wedon't need you any longer."

  "Thanks," said David. He had a retort on the tip of his tongue, butwisely forbore to utter it. He jumped ashore. "If you come to Barmouth,look me up," he called back. "I'll be glad to show you the town."

  There was a laugh from the skipper, but none from Sam. Immediately thefishing-smack pushed out again.

  Gosport was a small place, and David knew no one there. He felt in hispocket, and found he had no money to pay his fare to Barmouth. He walkedalong the waterfront, considering what he should do, and presently cameupon a young man, who was starting the engine of a small motor-boat.

  "You're not going anywhere in the neighborhood of Camp Amoussock, areyou?" David asked the man in the boat.

  The other looked around and surveyed the fellow who had asked thequestion. "Are you one of the boys from the camp?"

  "I was there at dinner." And in a few words David told the story of whathad happened to him during the afternoon.

  "Well," said the man, "that's a queer yarn. I was just going out for amoonlight spin, and I might as well go up to the camp as anywhere. Jumpaboard."

  David accepted with alacrity. The motor-boat chugged out from thelanding-stage, and leaving a smooth silver ripple, darted north.

  The owner of the motor-boat--he had told David that his name was HenryPayson--said that, although he had only been a month at Gosport, he knewthat part of the coast quite well, and had never happened to see anyfishermen in the cove that David described. "That fellow Sam was avindictive chap," he added musingly. "But you know, it almost seems asif he had some other object than merely showing his spitefulness when hetook you off in his boat."

  "That's what I thought," agreed David. "But Tom and Lanky were still atthe cove. He didn't lay hands on them."

  "Well," said Payson, "the cove's around that next point of land. No usestopping there now, I suppose. Your friends will surely have gone backto camp."

  When the motor-boat rounded the point, however, Payson changed his mind.On shore there were a score of lanterns; both banks of the cove fairlybristled with them. "Hello," exclaimed Payson, "there's something doingthere all right!" And he altered his course so as to bring his craftinto the mouth of the river.

  As the boat ran up to the bridge boys came down from both sides,apparently all the boys of Camp Amoussock.

  "Why, it's Dave!" cried John Tuckerman. And immediately the two in theboat were the target of a volley of questions.

  "Hold on!" cried David. "Wait a minute." He swung himself out of theboat and up to the bridge.

  "Where are Lanky and Tom?" someone asked.

  "Aren't they here?" said David. And as Tuckerman and Mr. Perkins and theboys from the camp crowded around he told them briefly his adventuressince dinner.

  "We've been hunting for you ever since supper," said Mr. Perkins. "Ican't imagine where Larry and Tom can have gone."

  "Those three men rowed in here in the dory," said David. "Perhaps theycarried Larry and Tom off somewhere."

  "We've hunted through every shack," said Bill Crawford. "And we've beendown the coast a couple of miles."

  The chorus of voices explaining where they had hunted started in again,interrupted by Mr. Perkins giving the order to his troop to take theroad back to camp.

  David thanked Henry Payson, and the motor-boat chugged away. By the pathalong the shore the searchers regained Camp Amoussock. And there Mr.Perkins and John Tuckerman and David held a council as to what to donext.

  The upshot was that Mr. Perkins got out a small car, and with Tuckermanand David set out to see if they could learn any news of the missingboys.