Part 14 (1/2)
The boys strained their ears for the sound of a small boat. It did not come and they were puzzled. They also wondered why Petty Officer Brown seemed to be doing nothing about trying to apprehend the person.
The tense skipper suddenly handed the binoculars to Phil. Without a word the puzzled boy looked through them at the spot where Brown had been gazing. To his amazement he could make out the dim shape of a speedboat with two figures in it. Each held an oar and was rowing the small boat away from the Marco Polo as fast as possible.
”We've got the smugglers dead to rights!” Petty Officer Brown whispered to the boys.
”Aren't you going to arrest them?” Phil asked.
”Not yet,” the officer told him. ”I'm afraid we can't do it without some shooting. I don't want to scare the pa.s.sengers on the Marco Polo. We'll wait a few minutes.”
Suddenly the engine of the smugglers' speedboat was started. Tersely, Brown began issuing orders to his men. The motors roared into action.
The chase was on!
CHAPTER XIX.
The Chase IN A few minutes the Henley's brilliant searchlight was turned on. It picked up the speedboat which was racing toward sh.o.r.e at full power. But gradually the Coast Guard boat lessened the distance between them.
Chief Petty Officer Brown picked up a megaphone and shouted for the fleeing men to stop. They paid no attention.
”We'll have to show them we mean business,” the officer told Biff, Phil, and Jerry. ”We'll shoot across their bow.”
He ordered the boys out of the line of fire, in case the smugglers should attempt to retaliate. They obeyed, and though from their shelter the three could not see the speedboat, they listened intently to what was going on.
The Henley plowed ahead and presently the boys heard a shot whistle through the air.
”Stop your engine!” Brown commanded. A second later he added, ”Drop those guns!”
The smugglers evidently did both, for Skipper Brown said to the boys, ”You fellows can come forward now.”
The three scrambled to his side. Biff was just in time to see one of the two captured men half turn and slyly run his hand into the large pocket of his sports jacket. Biff expected him to pull out a gun and was about to warn Brown when the smuggler withdrew his hand and dropped something into the water.
”The rare drugs!” Biff thought.
Instantly he began peeling off his clothes, and when the others asked him what he was doing this for, he merely said, ”Got an underwater job to do.”
Biff was over the side in a flash and swimming with strong, long strokes to the speedboat. He went beyond it and around to the far side.
In the meantime, Petty Officer Brown had ordered the smugglers to put their hands over their heads. As the Henley came alongside, two of the enlisted coastguardmen jumped across and slipped handcuffs on them. Brown instructed one of the enlisted men to take their prisoners back to Coast Guard headquarters in the smugglers' boat.
”You got nothin' on us! You ain't got no right to arrest us!” one of the captured men cried out.
At that moment Biff Hooper's head appeared over the side of the speedboat and a moment later he clambered aboard. He called out, ”You've got plenty on these men! Here's the evidence!”
He held up a waterproof bag, tightly sealed. It was transparent and the printing on the contents was easily read. ”I happen to know that what's in here is a rare drug,” Biff added. ”I heard our doctor mention it just a few days ago.”
This announcement took the bravado out of the smugglers. The two men insisted they were only engaged to pilot the speedboat and deliver the drugs. But they would not give the name of the person who had hired them, nor the spot to which they were supposed to go.
”We know both the answers already,” Petty Officer Brown told the smugglers. Then he said to his wheelsman, ”Head for the house on the cliff 1 They may need a little more help over there.”
Biff was hauled aboard, and as he put his clothes back on, the Henley shot through the water. He whispered to his pals, ”We'll see some more excitement, maybe.”
Some time before this, Chet and Tony had reached the area where the secret tunnel was. The patrol boat which had been following them turned on its great searchlight to pick out the exact spot.
”Look!” Chet cried out.
A speedboat with two men in it had just entered the choppy, rocky waters in front of the tunnel.
”Halt!” Skipper Bertram of the Alice ordered.
The man at the wheel obeyed the command and turned off his motor. But instead of surrendering, he shouted to his companion, ”Dive, Sneffen!”
Quick as a flash the two smugglers disappeared into the water on the far side of their boat. When they did not reappear, Chet called: ”I'll bet they're swimming underwater to the tunnel. Aren't we going after them?”
”We sure are,” Petty Officer Bertram replied. ”Tony, can you find the channel which leads to that tunnel?”
”I think so,” Tony answered, eying the smugglers' speedboat which now, unattended, had been thrown violently by the waves onto some rocks.
”Then we'll come on board your boat,” the chief petty officer stated. He left two of his own men aboard the Alice to guard it and to be ready for any other smugglers who might be arriving at the hide-out.
The rest of the crew, including Bertram himself, climbed aboard the Napoli, and Tony started through the narrow pa.s.sage between the rocks leading to the tunnel. One of the enlisted men in the prow of the boat operated a portable searchlight. Everyone kept looking for the swimmers, as they went through the tunnel, but did not see them. When the Napoli reached the pond, the man swung his light around the circular sh.o.r.e line.
”There they are!” Chet cried out.
The two smugglers, dripping wet, had just opened the secret door into the cliff. They darted through and the door closed behind them.
Tony pulled his boat to the ledge in front of the door, turned off the engine, and jumped ash.o.r.e with the others. To their surprise the door was not locked.
”I'll go first,” Bertram announced.
”But be careful!” Chet begged. ”There may be a man with a gun on the other side!”
The officer ordered everyone to stand back as he pulled the door open. He beamed the searchlight inside. No one was in sight I ”Come on, men!” the skipper said excitedly.
The group quickly went along the route the Hardys had discovered earlier. When they reached the corridor and saw the three doors, Tony suggested that they look inside to see if the Hardys were prisoners. One by one each room was examined but found to be empty.
The searchers hurried on down the corridor and up the stairway which led to the woodshed of the Pollitt place. They pushed the trap door but it did not open. Their light revealed no hidden springs or catches.
”The two smugglers that got away from us may have sounded an alarm,” Bertram said. ”They probably set something heavy on. top of this trap door to delay us.”
”Then we'll heave it off!” Chet declared.
He and Tony, with two of the enlisted men, put their shoulders to the trap door and heaved with all their might. At last it raised a little, then fell back into place.
”It isn't nailed shut from the other side at any rate,” Bertram said. ”Give it another shovel”