Part 11 (1/2)

”We must, very soon,” replied Mr. Seaton. ”Yet, Halstead, I've been thinking that I cannot afford to take any further chances, with Anson Dalton still at large. These fishermen are a rough but honest lot of splendid fellows in their way. I'm going to see if I can't hire a special guard of eight men for Lonely Island for the present. I'll engage the deputy sheriff to vouch for the men I engage. So go down to the boat and be ready for me as soon as I arrive.”

Joe was aboard, waiting, when the young skipper returned. Several of the men of the village were still about the dock.

”We're to be ready to cast off as soon as Mr. Seaton gets here, Joe,”

Captain Tom Halstead announced. ”Better look to your motors. If you want any help, call on me.”

It did not take Mr. Seaton very long to recruit the guard of eight men that he wanted. Carrying rifles or shot-guns, borrowed in some instances, the men tramped along after their new employer. They came aboard, two or three of them going below, the others preferring to remain on deck.

”Cast off, Captain, as soon as you can,” directed Powell Seaton.

Two or three of the new guards sprang forward to help in this work.

Halstead rang for half speed, then threw the wheel over, making a quick start. Once under way, he called for full speed, and the ”Restless” went bounding over the waves, which were running much lower than a couple of hours earlier.

During the first half of the run Captain Halstead remained at the wheel. Then Joe came up from below, relieving him. Tom strolled back to take a seat on the deck-house beside Mr. Seaton.

”I'm on tenterhooks to get back,” confessed the charter-man.

”Anxious about your friend, Clodis, of course,” nodded Tom, understandingly.

”Partly that, yes. But there's another matter that's bothering me fearfully, too. You remember the packet of papers I took from Clodis's trunk?” asked Mr. Seaton, lowering his voice.

”Yes,” murmured Tom. ”But you have those in an inner pocket.”

”I wish I had!” uttered Powell Seaton. ”Halstead, the truth is, after you young men went out, this evening, to patrol about the island, I became a little uneasy about that packet, and took it out and hid it--under some boxes of ammunition in the cupboard where I keep my gun. Then I locked the closet door. When Dawson called me from the porch, in such haste, and I was needed on board with my gun, I clean forgot the packet for the instant.”

”Oh, it will be safe, anyway,” Tom a.s.sured his employer. ”Even if Dalton had been able to get a boat at once, in this neighborhood, there's no other craft in these waters capable of reaching Lonely Island earlier than we shall do it.”

”I _do_ hope that packet is safe,” muttered Mr. Seaton, in a voice tense with anxiety. ”Halstead, you've no notion of the fearful blow it would be to friends and to myself to have it disappear.”

Hearing a slight noise on the opposite side of the deck-house top, Seaton and Tom Halstead turned together. They were just in time to see one of the new guards leaning toward them, one hand out as though to steady himself.

”It's rough footing on deck to-night,” said the guard, with a pleasant laugh, then pa.s.sed on aft.

Tom took the helm again as the ”Restless,” after picking up the landing place with the searchlight, moved into the harbor and went to her berth.

Powell Seaton led all of his guards but one up to the bungalow. The eighth man, armed with a rifle, was left aboard the ”Restless,” with the searchlight turned on, ready for use at any moment. Tom and Joe went up to the bungalow with their employer.

”Wait out on the porch for just a little while,” called Mr. Seaton, in a low voice. ”And be careful to make no noise that will disturb the sick man.”

Five minutes later Mr. Seaton returned to the porch.

”I've been looking for that packet,” he whispered to the young skipper. ”It's safe, so I've left it in the same place.”

Then, after a moment, the owner of the bungalow added:

”Captain, you can have your friend, b.u.t.ts, now, as we can do without him in the house. I think you three had better turn in on the boat and get some sleep. Then, soon after daylight, I can have the guard at the wharf rouse you, for I want you to go over to Beaufort and get supplies for repairing the wireless outfit at the earliest hour.