Chapter VIII
THE CORK CHAIN
With the white sabre of light blinding her vision, Dorothy walked outfrom behind the stack of barrels, hands above her head.
"_Dorothy!_" exclaimed the tall figure in astonishment. "What on earthare you doing here?"
There was an instant's pause; then Dorothy giggled.
"Gee, what a relief--but you scared me out of six years' growth, BillBolton!"
As her arms dropped to her sides, she staggered and would have fallen ifBill had not stepped quickly forward and placed his arm about her. Heled her to an empty packing case and forced her to sit down. Thesurprise of this meeting coming as a climax to the strenuous events ofthe evening had just about downed her splendid nerves.
"Oh, Bill--" she sobbed hysterically on his shoulder--"you can't guesshow glad I am to see you. I've really had an awful time of it tonight."
"Take it easy and have a good cry. Everything's all right now. You'llfeel better in a minute," he soothed.
"What a crybaby you must think me," she said presently, in a limp voice."Do you happen to have a handkerchief, Bill?"
"You bet. Here's one--and it's clean, too."
Dorothy dried her eyes and blew her nose rather violently.
"Thanks--I do feel much better now. Do you mind turning on the lightagain? I must be a sight. There--hold it so I can see in my compact."
Bill began to laugh as her deft fingers worked with powder, rouge andlipstick.
"What's the joke?" she asked, then answered her own question. "Oh, Iknow! You think girls do nothing but prink. Well, I don't care--it'shorrid to look messy. Is there such a thing as a comb in your pocket,Bill? I have lost mine."
"Sorry," he grinned, "but I got my permanent last week. I don't botherto carry one any more."
"Don't be silly!" she began, then stopped short. "We've got to get outof here," she said and snapped her compact shut. "They are coming afterme in a car. Donovan or Peters, I forget which, said so."
"Who are Donovan and Peters--and where are they going to take you?"
"Not that pair--other members of the same gang. D. and P. are two of thecrew over at the beach cottage who chloroformed me, then tied me up andcarted me over here in an open motor sailor."
"Well, I'll be tarred and feathered!" Bill switched off his torch. "HereI've been following you for over two hours and never knew it _was_ you!Never got a glimpse of your face, of course--took you for a man in thatrig! Well, I'll be jiggered if that isn't a break!"
"So _you_ were the man I thought I saw in the grass clump?"
"Sure. You led me to the house. I knew the gang had a cottage somewherealong that beach, but I didn't know which one it was. By the way, I'vegot your Mary Jane tied to a mooring out yonder--Couldn't take a chanceon running in closer. That old tub's engine has a bark that would wakeGeorge Washington."
Dorothy sprang to her feet. "That's great! We'll make for the Mary Jane,Bill, right now. If those men in the car catch us here there'll beanother fight. Dorothy has had all the rough stuff she wants for onenight, thank you!"
Bill took her arm.
"O.K. with me," he returned. "Think you're well enough to travel?"
"I'm all right. Hanging around this place gives me the jim-jams--let'sgo."
Together they crossed the yard and hurried along the narrow planking ofthe dock to the dinghy. Bill took the oars and a few minutes later theywere safely aboard the motor boat. It began to rain again and the dark,oily water took on a vibrant, pebbly look.
"Come into the cabin," suggested Dorothy, watching Bill make the painterfast. "We'll be drier there--and I've got about a million questions foryou to answer."
"Go below, then. I'll join you in a minute."
Dorothy slid the cabin door open and dropped down on a locker. PresentlyBill followed and took a seat opposite her.
"Better not light the lamp," he advised, "it's too risky now. By theway, Dorothy, I'm darn glad to see you again."
Dorothy smiled. "So 'm I. I've missed you while you were away, and Isure do need your help now. Tell me--where in the wide world am I?"
"This tub is tied up to somebody else's mooring off the Babylonwaterfront,--if that's any help to you."
"It certainly is. I hate to lose my bearings. Here's another: I don'tsuppose you happen to know what this is all about?"
Bill crossed his knees and leaned back comfortably.
"There's not much doubt in my mind, after tonight's doings. Those men inthe beach cottage are diamond smugglers and no pikers at the game, takeit from me!"
"Ooh!" Dorothy's eyes widened. "Diamonds, eh! That's beyond my wildestdreams. How do they smuggle them, Bill?"
"Well, these fellows have a new wrinkle to an old smuggling trick.Somebody aboard an ocean liner drops a string of little boxes, fastenedtogether at long intervals--the accomplices follow the steamer in a boatand pick them up. And now, from what I've found out, there's everyreason to believe that this gang are chucking their boxes overboard inthe neighborhood of Fire Island Light."
Dorothy sat bold upright, her eyes snapping with excitement.
"Listen, Bill! Those men in the cottage--I heard them talking, youknow--couldn't make anything out of their conversation then, but now I'mbeginning to understand part of it."
"Didn't you tell me they were arguing against going somewhere--ormeeting someone--in the fog?"
"That's right. It was the man they called Charlie--the one who'd been aphysician. Let me see ... he said that there was a rotten sea runningout by the light. That must mean the Fire Island Light! Then, listen tothis. He was sure that by three o'clock the fog off the light would bethick enough to cut with a knife--and that they would probably miss heranyway!--Don't you see? 'Her' means the liner they are to meet off theFire Island Light about three o'clock this morning!"
"Good work, Miss Dixon--" Bill nodded approvingly. "And that is whereDonovan and Charlie headed for when they parked you with Peters," hesupplemented. "On a bet, they're running their motor sailor out to thelight right now."
Dorothy glanced at the luminous dial of her wrist watch.
"It is just midnight. Think we have time to make it?"
"Gosh, that's an idea! But, look here, Dorothy--" Bill hesitated, thenwent on in a serious tone, "if we run out to the lightship and those twoin the motor sailor spot us, there's likely to be a fight."
Dorothy moved impatiently. "What of it?"
"Oh, I know--but you'll stand a mighty good chance of getting shot. Thisthing is a deadly business. They're sure to be armed. Now, listen to me.I'll row you ashore and meet you in Babylon after I've checked up onthose guys."
Dorothy stood up and squeezing past Bill, opened the cabin door.
"And my reply to you is--_rats_!" she flung back at him. "Of course I'mgoing with you. There'll be no argument, please. Get busy and turn overthat flywheel while I go forward and slip our mooring."
Bill made no answer, but with a resigned shrug, followed her out to thecockpit. They had known each other only a few months, but theiracquaintance had been quite long enough to demonstrate that when MissDixon spoke in that tone of voice, she meant exactly what she said. Billknew that nothing short of physical force would turn the girl from herproject, so making the best of things as he found them, he started theengine.
Bill was heading the boat across the bay when Dorothy came aft again.She went inside the cabin and presently emerged with a thermos of hotcoffee, some sandwiches and hard-boiled eggs.
"We may both get shot or drowned," she remarked philosophically, "but weneedn't starve in the meantime."
"Happy thought!" Bill bit into a sandwich with relish, "One drowns muchmore comfortably after having dined."
"Hm! It would be a cold wet business, though. Doubly wet tonight." Shelooked at the black water pock-marked with raindrops and shook her head."Hand me another sandwich, please. Then tell me how _you_ came to bemixed up with this diamond smuggling gang, Bill."<
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By this time they were well on their way across Great South Bay towardthe inlet. From the bows came the steady gurgle and chug of short choppyseas as the stiff old tub bucked them. Holding a straight course, thetwo by the wheel were able to make out the grey-white gleam of sand onSexton Island.
"Well, it was like this," began Bill. "You remember the WingedCartwheels.[1] Well that was a Secret Service job for the government."
"I know," nodded Dorothy.
"Well, as I was saying--because of that and some other business, UncleSam knew that I could pilot a plane. Six weeks ago I was called toWashington and told that an international gang of criminals wereflooding this country with diamonds, stolen in Europe. What theofficials didn't know was the method being used to smuggle them intothis country. However, they said they had every reason to believe thatthe diamonds were dropped overboard from trans-Atlantic liners somewhereoff the coast and picked up by the smugglers' planes at sea. My job wasto go abroad and on the return trip, to keep my eyes peeled night andday for airplanes when we neared America."
"Did you go alone?"
"Yes, but I gathered that practically every liner coming over fromEurope was being covered by a Secret Service operative. I made a tripover and back without spotting a thing. On the second trip back,something happened."
"When was that?"
"Night before last. The liner I was aboard had just passed Fire Islandlightship. I stood leaning over the rail on the port side and I saw halfa dozen or more small boxes dropped out of a porthole. They seemed to befastened together. Once in the water, they must have stretched out overa considerable distance. Of course, there are notices posted forbiddinganyone to throw anything overboard: and there are watchmen on deck. Butthey can't very well prevent a person from unscrewing a porthole andshoving something out!"
"Did you report it?"
"You bet. The skipper knew why I was making the trip. We located thestateroom and found that it belonged to three perfectly harmlessY.M.C.A. workers who were peaceably eating their dinner at the time.Somebody slipped into their room and did the trick."
"Did you hear or see any plane?"
"I thought I heard a motor, but it didn't sound like the engine of aplane. I couldn't be sure."
"The motor sailor, probably?"
"It looks like it, now. Well, to continue: I landed in New York and tookthe next train to Babylon. Then I got me a room in one of those summercottages on the beach. I was out on the dunes for a prowl when the MaryJane put in at that little cove. That in itself seemed suspicious, so Ifollowed you to the house and saw Peters scrag you. Although, at thetime I had no idea who you were. Then when they tied you up and went offwith you in the motor sailor, I knew for certain that some dirty workwas on. So I beat it back to the cove and came along in this old tub."
Dorothy finished the last of the coffee.
"Did you see the amphibian tied up to the cottage dock?" she asked.
"Yes. It took off just before the motor sailor left."
"Just how do you figure that it comes into the picture?"
"I think these people have a lookout stationed farther up the coast--onNantucket Island, perhaps. When a ship carrying diamonds is sighted offthe Island, the lookout wires to the aviator or his boss and the planeflies over to let the men in the cottage know when to expect her off thelightship. Then when they pick up the loot, he flies back with it totheir headquarters next day. Of course, I don't know how far wrong Iam--"
"But he's been doing it every day for weeks, Bill--maybe longer. Surelythey can't be smuggling diamonds every day in the week?"
"He probably carries over their provisions and keeps an eye on themgenerally. I don't know. What he is doing is only a guess, on my part,anyway."
Dorothy smothered a yawn. "Do you suppose the red flag those men spokeof is a signal of some kind?"
"Guess so. But look here, you're dead tired. I can run this tub bymyself. Hop in the cabin and take a nap. I'll call you when we near thelightship."
"You must be sleepy, too."
"I'm not. I had an idea I might be up most of the night, so slept untillate this afternoon. And after those sandwiches and the coffee, I feellike a million dollars. Beat it now and get a rest."
Dorothy yawned again and stretched the glistening wet arms of herslicker above her head.
"Promise to wake me in plenty of time?"
"Cross my heart----"
"Good night, then."
"Good night. Better turn in on the floor. We're going to run into a seapretty soon. Those lockers are narrow. Once we strike the Atlantic swellyou'll never be able to stay on one and sleep!"
"Thanks, partner, I'll take your advice." She turned and disappearedbelow.
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Footnote 1:
See Bill Bolton and The Winged Cartwheels.
Dorothy Dixon and the Mystery Plane Page 8
