The Adventure Club Afloat

by Ralph Henry Barbour

  CHAPTER XII

  WHAT STEVE SAW

  Waiting was weary work after that. It was two hours and a half tosunrise and, since two of their number were sufficient to keep watch,the others presently went below and napped. Steve and Bert Alleyremained on deck. Steve, although he perhaps needed sleep more thananyone, refused to trust other eyes than his own, and while darknesslasted he watched the white path cast across the water by the_Adventurer's_ searchlight. But darkness and silence held until shortlyafter four, when the eastern sky began to lighten. The next half-hourpassed more slowly than any that had gone before. Gradually their rangeof vision enlarged, and Steve, peering into the greyness, drew Bert'sattention to a darker hulk that lay a few hundred yards up the harbour.They watched it anxiously as the light increased. That it was a boat ofabout the size of the _Follow Me_ and that is was painted dark becamemore and more apparent. Then, quite suddenly, a ray of rosy light shotup beyond Eastern Point and the neighbouring motor-boat lay revealed.Steve sighed his disappointment. She was not the _Follow Me_ after all,but a battered, black-hulled power-boat used for gill-netting.

  One by one, as the light strengthened, the others stumbled on deck,yawning and rubbing their sleepy eyes. The _Adventurer_ was anchoredmore than a mile from the inner harbour, and between her and Ten PoundIsland lay a big, rusty-red salt bark, high out of water, and fivefishing schooners. But these, aside from the disreputable littlegill-netter, were all the craft that met their gaze.

  "Either," said Steve wearily, "she never came in at all or she's up inthe inner harbour. I'll wager she didn't get out again last night. We'llgo up and mosey around, I guess. Ossie, how about some coffee?"

  "I'll make some, Steve. Guess we'd better have an early breakfast too."

  "It can't be too early to suit me," murmured Bert Alley, as he draggedhis feet down the companion way and toppled onto a berth. The_Adventurer_ weighed anchor and in the first flush of a glorious Summerdawn, chugged warily up the still harbour. She kept toward the easternshore and the boys swept every pier and cove with sharp eyes. ThenRocky Neck turned back them and they picked a cautious way over sunkenrocks to the entrance of the inner harbour. By this time it was broaddaylight and their task was made easier. Still, as the inner harbour wasnearly a mile long and a good half-mile wide, and indented with numerouscoves, the search was long. They nosed in and out of slips, circledbasins and ran down a dozen false clues supplied by sailors on thefishing schooners that lined the wharves. And, at seven o'clock they hadto acknowledge defeat. The _Follow Me_ was most surely not in GloucesterHarbour. Nor, for that matter, was there a cabin-cruiser that resembledher in any way. It was the latter fact that puzzled them, for they hadsomehow become convinced that the darkened craft that had led them pastthe breakwater last night was, if not the _Follow Me_, at least a boatof her size. "And," said Harry Corwin, "we know that that boat did comein here, for we saw her light disappear behind the breakwater. Let'slook around again."

  "If she came in for gasoline," said Phil, "we might find out whether shegot it. There can't be many places where she could fill her tanks." The_Adventurer_ was slowly rounding a point that lay between the cove fromwhich she had just emerged and Western Harbour, and Wink Wheeler, whowas sitting on the rail on the starboard side of the deck, gaveutterance to an exclamation of surprise and pointed ahead to where adrab-coloured power-boat had suddenly emerged into sight nearly ahalf-mile away.

  "Look at that!" he cried.

  "That's not the _Follow Me_, you idiot," said Joe.

  "No, but where'd she come from?" demanded Wink.

  For a moment the boys stared and then Steve leaned quickly over thechart. "By Jiminy!" he muttered. "There's a way out there. Look,fellows! See where it says 'Drawbridge'? Evidently you can get throughthere into the Squam River, and the river takes you out into IpswichBay! It's dollars to doughnuts that's where they took the _Follow Me_!"Steve drew down the throttle and the cruiser lunged forward in response."We'll have a look, anyway," he said. "It was stupid of me not to havenoticed that on the chart, but it's hardly big enough to be seen."

  Straight for the beach at the curve of the wide cove sped the_Adventurer_, her nose set for the drawbridge that showed against theblue sky. As they got closer an outlet showed clear, a narrow spacebetween the bridge masonry, with a strong current coming through fromthe further side.

  "Gee, it doesn't look very big," said Joe. "And how about head-room,Steve?"

  "Room enough," was the answer, as the _Adventurer_ slowed down. "They'llraise the draw if we whistle, I suppose, but we don't need to."

  "We'll scrape our funnel, as sure as shooting!" cried Perry as thecruiser neared the bridge.

  "We'll miss by two feet," answered Steve untroubledly.

  They held their breaths and watched nervously as the shadow of thebridge fell across the boat. Then, with the sound of the engine andexhaust echoing loudly, the cruiser dug her nose into the out-runningtide and shot safely through to emerge into a narrow canal thatstretched straight ahead before them until it joined the river. Theybreathed easier as the bridge was left behind. Once in the river it wasnecessary to go cautiously and watch the channel buoys, for the chartshowed a depth of only four feet at low tide for the first mile and ahalf. If they had not all been so absorbed in the fate and recovery ofthe _Follow Me_ they would have enjoyed that journey down the SquamRiver immensely, for it was a beautiful stream, quiet and tranquil inthe morning sunlight. Summer camps and cottages dotted the shores andgreen hills hemmed it in. They had breakfast on the way, eating it forthe most part on deck. Now and then the _Adventurer_ paused while theyexamined a motor-boat moored in some cove.

  "There's one thing certain," said Steve. "Those folks couldn't havebrought the _Follow Me_ through here in the dark. If they did comethrough that cut last night they anchored and waited for light. Keep awatch for gasoline stations, fellows."

  They found the first one at Annisquam, near where the yacht club pierstuck out into the channel. Steve sidled the _Adventurer_ up to alanding and, while Han held her with the hook, made inquiry of agrizzled man in faded blue jumpers.

  "We're looking for a motor-boat called the _Follow Me_," he explained."Have you seen her?"

  The man shook his head. "What was she like?" he asked.

  Steve described her, aided by Harry Corwin, and the man pushed his oldstraw hat back, and rubbed his forehead reflectively. Finally: "Therewas a launch answerin' to that description stopped here about"--he gazedat the sun--"about two hours ago, I cal'ate. She was black, but shedidn't have no name on her so far as I could see. I sold 'em thirtygallons o' gas an' they went on out toward the bar."

  "Who was on her?" asked Steve quickly.

  "Two or three men I never seen before. Three, I cal'ate there was. Shewasn't here very long. They come up to the house an' got me up from thebreakfast table. Said they was in a hurry. Come to think on it, boys, Ibelieve they'd painted the name out on the stern. They ain't stolen her,have they?"

  "That's just what they have done," answered Steve. "Shove off, Han!Thank you, sir. About two hours ago, you say?"

  "Might be a little less than two hours. Well, I hope you get her. Ididn't much like the looks of the fellers aboard her."

  "Where do you think they'd take her?" called Joe as the boat swung herstern around.

  "I dunno. They might switch around into the Essex River, or they mighttake her in Ipswich way, or they might head straight for Newburyport. Ifthey wanted to hide her I cal'ate they might run in behind Plum Islandsomewheres."

  "Sounds pretty hopeless," said Steve as the _Adventurer_ took up her wayagain. "Look at this chart and see all the places she _might_ be, willyou? It's a regular what-do-you-call-it--labyrinth!"

  "It certainly is," agreed Joe. "And there's a lot of shallows abouthere, too. Where's this Plum Island he spoke of?"

  Steve pointed it out, a seven-mile stretch of sand behind which emptiedfour or five small rivers. "Shall we try it?" he asked.

  "Might as well be thorough," J
oe replied. "What do you say, Harry?"

  "I say yes. Seems to me they'd be mighty likely to slide into some suchplace if only to paint a new name on."

  "We'll have a look then," agreed Steve. The _Adventurer_ dipped her wayacross Squam Bar and Steve swung the wheel. "Southeast, one-fourthsouth," he muttered, looking from the chart to compass. "Watch for ablack spar buoy off the lighthouse. If they took the _Follow Me_ intoEssex Bay, though, we're running right away from her."

  To port, the sand dunes shone dazzlingly in the sunlight and a longstretch of snow-white beach kept pace with them as they made for theentrance to Plum Island Sound. Several boats, sailing and power craft,had been sighted, but nothing that looked in the least like the _FollowMe_. The sun climbed into a hazy blue sky and the day grew hot in spiteof the light westerly breeze. Steve picked up his buoys, a black andthen two red, and swung the cruiser in toward the mouth of the IpswichRiver. The chart showed feet instead of fathoms in places and Steveslowed down cautiously until they were in the channel. They left IpswichLight on the port beam and kept on past the river mouth and into thesound.

  "What happens," asked Harry Corwin, looking at the chart over Steve'sshoulder, "when there aren't any soundings shown?"

  "Just what I was wondering myself," replied the navigator. "It doesn'ttell you anything after you pass that last red spar buoy. Still, withthose two rivers coming in beyond up there, there must be enough waterfor us if we can find it. I've about arrived at the conclusion that the_Follow Me_ was mighty well named, Harry. We've been following her fortwelve hours, pretty near, and as things look now we'll be stillfollowing her a week from Christmas!"

  "I suppose," sighed the captain of the lost boat, "that what we shouldhave done was report it to the police and stayed right where we were.Dad's going to be somewhat peeved if we lose that boat."

  "I thought she belonged to you and Tom," said Wink Wheeler.

  "So she does, but dad gave her to us and he's rather fond of herhimself."

  "Well, it's too bad," Wink answered, "but I don't believe we'll everfind her now. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack, this sort ofthing. We don't even know for sure that she isn't down around New Yorksomewhere by this time!"

  "Yes, we do," said Steve quietly.

  "We do? How do we?"

  "Because I'm looking at her," was the reply. Steve nodded ahead andpushed back the throttle. "If that isn't the _Follow Me_ I'll--I'll eather!"