Part 27 (1/2)
”The _Flyaway_? What sort of a looking craft is she?”
”I can't tell you that.”
”One boat there attracted my attention,” said Martin Harris slowly. ”I saw two boys and a girl on board of her.”
”How was the girl dressed?” cried d.i.c.k.
”She had on a light-blue dress and a sailor hat.”
”And the boys?”
”One was dressed in gray and the other in dark-blue or black.”
”That was the boat! Where did she go?” e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed d.i.c.k, who remembered well how Mumps and Baxter had been attired, and the pretty dress and hat Dora was in the habit of wearing.
”She was bound straight down the river.”
”We must follow her.”
”That's the talk!” burst out Tom. ”But how?”
”What do you want to follow the _Flyaway_ for?” asked Martin Harris curiously.
”Those two boys are running away with that girl!”
”Impossible!”
”No, it isn't. One of the fellows--the fellow in dark clothing--is the chap who ran into us that day.”
”Well, now, do you know I thought it looked like him,” was Harris' comment. ”And, come to think of it, that boat got as far away from me as she could.”
”Do you think you would know her again? I mean the _Flyaway_--if we got anywhere near her?” asked d.i.c.k.
”I think I would, lad. She had a rather dirty mainsail and jib, and each had a new patch of white near the top. Then, too, her rig is a little different from what we have around here. Looked like a Southern boat.”
”Have you your boat handy?”
”Yes, she's right at the end of this street. Do you want me to follow up that crowd?”
”Could your boat catch the _Flyaway_, do you think?”
”My boat, the _Searchlight_, is as good a yacht as there is anywhere around, if I do say it myself,” answered Martin Harris promptly. ”It you don't believe it, try her and see.”
”We will try her,” came promptly from d.i.c.k. ”And the sooner you begin the chase the better it will suit me.”
”All right; we'll start as soon as I've swallowed this coffee,”
answered the skipper of the _Searchlight_. ”But, hold on, this may prove a long search.”
”Do you want to make terms?”