by John Blaine
Where could they have gone? The boys hurried to the front of the lab building again and found Joe Blake still getting a bit of sunshine.
“Did you see the girls?” Rick asked hurriedly.
Joe nodded. He motioned across the island. “They came and got aqualungs and hauled the cart across to the north side. They’re probably swimming over there.”
Rick doubted it. He doubted it very much. The currents on the north side kept the bottom stirred up and visibility was too poor for diving.
Without the need of exchanging a word, Rick and Scotty were suddenly running. As they passed the house Rick had a sudden thought. He went in and ran up the stairs to his room, grabbed his radio unit and turned it on.
“Barby!” he called frantically. “Barby!”
There was no answer. Tucking the unit into his pocket, he ran out and joined Scotty again. If Barby had her set she wasn’t using it.
“Come on.” He led the way to the boat cove and stopped short. The speedboat was there, and so was the Scuba cart, but the rowboat wasn’t. Anxiously he scanned the water. There was no sign of the girls.
Where were they? Where? The thought struck him. He remembered Barby’s comment of the night before.
Had they gone to the houseboat?
CHAPTER XVII
Pointer to Disaster
Scotty ran to the speedboat and yelled, “Come on!”
“Wait!” Rick called. “Let’s not go barging off without knowing what we’re doing.”
Scotty turned, puzzled. “What do you mean?”
“The girls have some kind of plan, and we don’t know what it is. If we go barging
around in the speedboat, we might throw a monkey wrench into the works.”
“But we can’t just stand here and do nothing,” Scotty said desperately.
“We won’t. Go get the plane warmed up and wait for me.”
Rick hurried into the house and ran up the stairs to Barby’s room. Working fast, he went through the dresser, then through the shelves in her closet. Not finding what he wanted, he paused to look around in case he might have overlooked a possibility.
He didn’t know where girls kept things, and he suspected that sometimes the places weren’t the same as boys might pick. But he could see no possible place that he hadn’t searched.
That meant Bar by had her Megabuck unit with her, unless she had left it somewhere else in the house.
He plugged in his earphone and called. “Barby!”
There was no reply. His lips set grimly. No use wasting time here. He ran from the house, hearing the sound of the Sky Wagon as Scotty warmed it up. Joe Blake was not in sight. Rick hurried into the lab and found him watching Professor Morrison who was checking some calculations on the lab’s small computing machine.
“Joe, step outside with me for a moment, please.”
Outside, Rick explained that the girls were missing,then asked, “Can you get the plane frequency on your receiver?”
“Sure. It’s an all-wave job. What’s the frequency you use?”
Rick told him,then explained, “We don’t know what’s going on, so we want to be prepared. If some of your Scout leaders can move down the coast to North Cove and keep an eye on the houseboat, Scotty and I will search from the air. If we see anything, we’ll let you know on the plane’s radio. You won’t be able to talk back, but at least you can hear us, and you can let the Scouts know.”
He wished his mind had worked faster. Then he could have taken Scotty’s Megabuck unit and given it to Joe. But there was no time now, and this other arrangement probably would do as well.
“I’ll pass the word to the gang on the mainland right away,” Joe agreed.
Joe went back into the lab while Rick ran to Pirate’s Beach. Scotty was waiting, the plane’s engine turning over. Together, they launched the Sky Wagon,then climbed in, Scotty in the pilot’s seat.
As Scotty took off, Rick tried Barby again on the radio. “Barby, this is Rick. Can you read me?”
There was no reply.
“Better fly as though we were heading for White-side,” Rick suggested. He rubbed his palms on his handkerchief. They were damp with nervous perspiration. He was not as calm as he looked.
Scotty swung around on course and Rick scanned the water as they passed over the north side of Spindrift. There was no sign of the rowboat yet.
The plane traveled in a straight line right across North Cove. The houseboat was at anchor a few hundred yards offshore, and the pram was tied up to the rear rail. There was no sign of life.
The boys reached the Whiteside pier without seeing the girls or the boat. Scotty put the plane into a tight circle and looked at Rick helplessly.“Now what?”
“They can’t have gone far,” Rick mused. “Not in the rowboat.”
“They had the aqualungs,” Scotty pointed out. “They must have expected to use them.”
“Right.But how?If they planned to get aboard the houseboat, they wouldn’t be using the aqualungs. Or would they?”
“Search me.”
“Wouldn’t they just row up to the houseboat on some excuse or other? I wish I’d looked. Barby might have taken those clothes Dad wore home last night.”
“We can’t just float around and talk,” Scotty saidargently . “Let’s do something.”
Rick felt the same way. “Okay. Throttle down and go slow. We’ll scan the whole coastline from here to Spindrift.”
Scotty did so, holding the little plane barely above stalling speed. Rick leaned out and
traced the shore with anxious eyes.
The plane turned and twisted as Scotty followed the coastline as accurately as he could.
They reached the upper tip of North Cove and swung into the cove itself.
Scotty tapped Rick on the shoulder and pointed. A man and a woman had come out of the houseboat and were watching the plane.
“Wonder where the other pair is?” Rick asked. There was nothing they could do about the people on the houseboat now. Let them wonder what the plane was doing. Rick turned his attention back to the shore below.
The plane traveled the length of the cove’s shoreline and rounded the southern tip. They passed over a section where the woods came right down to the water. Birches leaned far over. Rick caught a glimpse of what might have been the rowboat, then the plane swung and he lost it.
“Circle,” he said quickly. “I think I saw something!”
Scotty gunned the Sky Wagon and threw it into a tight turn. Rick watched carefully as the clump of birches came into view. There was a boat under them, all right. He wished for the binoculars, but they were probably at the attic lookout where Barby and Jan had spied on the houseboat.
He had no real doubt. He was sure the boat was the Spindrift rowboat.
“Circle over the island,” he called to Scotty, then reached over and took the hand microphone from the instrument panel rack. He turned on the radio and waited a moment while it warmed.
“Joe, this is Rick,” he said.“Rowboat under a clump of birches just south of North Cove. Have the boys go there and look it over. See if the girls are in the woods. We’ll watch for sign of the girls on the water.”
To Scotty, he directed, “Over the cove. Circle the whole area. Well watch for their bubbles. Joe’s men will check the woods.”
The plane turned obediently. Presently they were moving in a wide circle with the houseboat as a center. A slight surface wind had arisen and the water in the cove was a bit choppy, but not enough to obscure bubble tracks made by Scuba divers below.
“See anything?” Rick asked.
“Not a trace. Can you see the water around the houseboat well enough?”
“Yes. No bubbles in the vicinity.” Rick dried his palms again,then mopped his forehead.
He was becoming thoroughly frightened. Where were they?
He checked his Megabuck radio to be sure it was on and called, “Barby. Where are you?”
The air was silent, except for the slight background hiss tha
t was always present.
“Look right under the houseboat’s gunwales,” Scotty urged. “If they’re directly under it, the bubbles would rise along the sides.”
“Why would they go under the houseboat?” Rick asked.
Scotty shook his head. “Why did they come over here in the first place?”
Rick had no answer. “Let’s go over to the shore. Joe’s men ought to be at the rowboat by now. Maybe they found the girls.”
Scotty banked around and headed over the clump of birches. In a small clearing behind the clump they saw two men in Scout uniforms. The men looked up, and one spread his hands wide in a gesture that said nothing of importance had been turned up.
“There’s only one thing to do,” Rick said decisively. “We’ve got to check on the . . .”
He stopped as though a hand had clutched his throat. Barby’s voice, in his earphones!
Rick pulled the unit from his pocket and turned up the volume. He couldn’t hear her well. “It’s Barby,” he said swiftly. “Circle!” Rick strained to hear. She was talking to someone. “. . . It won’t do the slightest bit of good to keep us here, because my brother will know where we are.”
The signal faded as she talked. Rick turned the little radio unit, trying to keep the volume constant.
“You’d better let us go,” Barby was saying. “You’ll get into a lot of trouble if you don’t.”
Rick groaned. Her threats would do about as much good as a bunny threatening a wolf pack. Where was she?On the houseboat?
Suddenly he realized ... he had the key in his hands!
Barby’s voice was high-pitched and frightened now. “What are you doing? Why are you putting that plastic cap on Jan?”
Rick turned the radio unit as the plane circled. The sweat stood out on his face.
Unerringly, the axis of the built-in antenna pointed to the houseboat.
There was no longer any doubt!
“Land!” he yelled.“Land next to the houseboat!”
Scotty slammed the throttle in instant response, and as the Sky Wagon dived toward the water he cast a quick look at Rick. “What did you hear?”
Rick was already slipping off his shoes, getting ready to jump. “On die houseboat!” he choked. “They’re using the mind reader on the girls!”
CHAPTER XVIII
The One-Man Boarding Party
Scotty hit the water and bounced once, but he held the plane down and in a moment the water slowed it. He revved up again and taxied as rapidly as he dared to the houseboat, swung broadside to it, and throttled back.
Rick was waiting. He flung the door open and dove far enough to clear the pontoon.
The cold water closed over him briefly,then with a powerful kick he flashed to the surface again. A few strokes brought him to the houseboat.
The two men were leaning on the rail. One, a hefty man of middle age with a striped shirt and glasses, said politely, “Do you want something?”
Rick stopped andtread water. “I want the two girls you have inside. Havethem come out here, and we won’t bother you any more.”
The second man, the dark-haired one who had come to Spindrift, smiled. “You mean our wives? They’re having a nap. Sorry.”
“I mean my sister and her friend. Stop stalling, Mister.”
Striped shirt shook his head.“Sorry, boy. We haven’t seen your sister. Now climb back on your little airplane and get out of here.”
Rick’s reply was a stroke that brought him to the houseboat. He reached up for a handhold, when a boat hook suddenly touched his forehead.
“Don’t try it,” striped shirt said. “Stay off this barge or I’ll bend this pole over your head. Now get out of here.”
Rick back-pedaled helplessly. Now what? He knew there was no possibility of his climbing aboard while the men were on deck.
And what was happening inside? He swam forward, to the front of the boat, and the men followed. They could move faster than he; there was no possibility of outdistancing them.
If only he had a weapon! But wishing was useless. He had to do something! He called,
“Barby! Can you hear me?”
There was no answer from inside. His pulse speeded. Were Barby and Jan all right, perhaps gagged, or had the mind reader already worked?
Rick swam away from the houseboat a few feet andfloated, his mind racing. There had to be a way of getting aboard. There had to!
Where was Scotty? He listened, and heard the plane’s engine on the other side of the houseboat. In a few seconds Scotty came into view. He was on the water close to shore, traveling at high speed. As Rick watched, Scotty swung the plane on a line with the houseboat and opened the throttle wide.
Rick stared. Was his pal out of his mind? If he crashed the houseboat, the girls would be hurt, too! Then he realized Scotty would never pull such a stunt, no matter how desperate he became.
The men on the houseboat were at the rail now, eyes on the racing plane. In that instant Rick divined Scotty’s plan, he hoped, and turned to gauge his distance. The plane was on the upper step now, almost air-borne. Even as he watched, the pontoons pulled away.
But Scotty held the plane on the water, roaring propeller pointed right at the men at the rail.
Rick put his head down and sprinted for the front of the houseboat. He had to time it perfectly!
To the horrified eyes of the men at the rail a collision was inevitable. They could only assume that the madman in the plane was going to smash right into them. And as Scotty had planned, they lost all interest in Rick, in the presence of immediate, personal danger.
The men threw themselves to the deck, clawing frantically for some kind of cover. At the last instant, Scotty pulled the plane up in a power climb. So near disaster had he come that the suction of the passing pontoons lifted a coiled rope into the air on
“Stay away or I’ll bend this pole over your head!” top of the cabin. Even as he mounted the rail and stood on deck, Rick gave a prayer of thanks for his pal’s perfect judgment and lightning reflexes.
He ran along the deck, jumped over the two prostrate men, swung around and launched himself into the cabin. Hestopped, eyes wide with fright.
Barby was lashed to a chair just inside the door, a gag in her mouth. Jan was on the other side of the cabin, also lashed. But Jan had a plastic cap on her head, and wires ran from it to a machine on a nearby table. Two women were standing over the girl, and one had a pistol in her hand.
Rick started forward,then stopped helplessly. The pistol wasn’t pointed at him. It was pointed at Jan’s head!
He looked into Jan’s pleading eyes and shifted his weight uncertainly. He didn’t know what to do now.
Jan did. Her arms were lashed tight, but her legs were free. She lifted one of them in a kick that caught the pistol-holding woman behind the knees. The pistol hand lifted as the woman flailed for balance, and Rick sprang like a charging fullback. His widespread arms embraced both women and slammed them back into the cabin wall. Then he
scrambled to his feet in search of the gun. It was under Jan’s chair. He bent to pick it up when Barby gave a muffled cry from behind the gag. Rick whirled.
The two men were rushing him from the cabin entrance.
There wasn’t much room in the cabin, but it gave Rick an advantage. He dove toward the men, who stopped their rush briefly. But Rick hadn’t made the dive with the intention of meeting them head on. There was a table along the wall next to the corner where Barby was tied up. Rick went under it.
The men rushed for the table. Rick reached out and grabbed an ankle. Bracing his legs, he gave a mighty heave. Striped shirt went over backward in front of Barby, who stamped with both bare feet on his stomach. The breath went out of him with a whoosh.
Rick gathered his legs and shoved upward. The table heaved into the other man and threw him off balance long enough to give Rick a chance to get to his feet. Keeping the table between him and the dark man, Rick watched for an opening. Striped shirt was on his kn
ees, shaking his head.
The dark man was tired of waiting. He launched himself across the table, arms outstretched. It was the best move he could have made, from Rick’s point of view. The boy knew he could not compete with either man in strength. He had to depend on speed, and the infighting tricks he had learned from Scotty. He used one now. At the last moment he side-stepped and his hand flashed down. It was a judo chop, the hand held stiff, the blow delivered with the side opposite the thumb. It was effective. The man dropped to the floor, shaking his head. Rick used the savate, the blow delivered with the heel. It landed against the side of the man’s neck. He went over sideways.
Striped shirt was on his feet now, but still starved for air. His mouth hung open as he gasped, but he was coming forward.
Rick met him. He dove into the man’s stomach and felt his head smack into soft flesh.
The breath went out of striped shirt again. Rick regained his feet and turned to Barby.
She was making sounds through her gag, her eyes desperate.
The boy whirled. The women were back in the fight, one of them scrambling for the gun under Jan’s chair. Jan kicked it far back, out of reach. Rick scooped up the table and slid it along the floor at them. The table caught them like a pair of tenpins and knocked them into the corner. He turned back to Barby and started to untie her, his fingers racing.
A blow landed on his shoulder. He turned in time to meet another one across the cheek that knocked him back against the wall. He rebounded, fighting. The dark man was crouched low, fists weaving. Rick danced lightly around him waiting. Let the man come to him.
The man led with a right. Rick rolled away from it, watching the left that was cocked for a Sunday punch. The man threw his punch. Rick caught it on the forearm and gasped with the pain of it. The guy had a wallop like a mule!
Rick feinted with the hurt arm,then drove a chop at the man’s nose. It connected and brought a gasp of pain. Barby was screaming through the gag again, but he couldn’t look
now. He brought a roundhouse punch up under his opponent’s guard and felt it smack solidly against ribs. Then an arm encircled his neck and a clenched fist crashed against the back of his head. He saw stars, and for a moment his guard dropped. Then both arms were pinioned.
