Part 36 (1/2)
”Humph! I ain't had nothing to do with any kidnapping, young fellow,”
growled the man. ”I'm the mate o' this schooner, that's all. If anything is wrong, you'll have to see the captain about it.”
”You say he went ash.o.r.e?”
”Yes.”
”Did those men and my father go with him?”
”All of 'em went, yes.”
”Who was left here besides you?”
”Those two dago sailors, that's all,” and the mate pointed to two men who lay on the forward deck, asleep.
”Are you willing to have me take a look around?” went on d.i.c.k, after a pause.
”You'll have to wait till the captain gets back,” answered the man, doggedly. ”If there is anything wrong I don't want to be mixed up in it.”
”If you want to keep out of trouble you'll help us all you can,” put in Tom. ”This is a serious business.”
”I don't know a thing about it,” and the man shrugged his shoulders.
Without another word d.i.c.k walked across the deck and descended into the cabin. The burly man's face clouded and he made a move as if to follow him.
”You stay here,” said Tom, and put his hand in his hip pocket, as if about to draw some weapon.
The man changed color and s.h.i.+fted uneasily.
”All right, have your own way,” he said. He was a coward at heart, and as he had not been in the plot against Anderson Rover he did not wish to get any deeper into the trouble.
It did not take d.i.c.k long to convince himself that his father was not on board the schooner. He called his parent's name, and then pa.s.sed swiftly through the cabin and several staterooms and also a cook's galley. He saw where somebody had been locked in one of the staterooms, for the compartment was in disorder and the door was marred and cracked.
”Dad must have struggled to get away,” he murmured. ”I hope they didn't hurt him.”
When d.i.c.k came on deck he found Tom guarding the burly man. The two sailors were still asleep--or pretended to be.
”Nothing doing below,” he announced. ”I guess they took him ash.o.r.e.”
”We might as well go ash.o.r.e, too, then,” said his brother. ”We are wasting valuable time here.” He turned to the mate. ”Will you tell us where they went? It will be to your interest to open your mouth.”
”They mentioned the old Blue Horseshoe Tavern,” growled the burly mate. ”But I don't know if they went there.”
d.i.c.k said no more, but hurried over the side, followed by Tom. As he left the schooner the fun-loving Rover could not help but bring from his hip pocket an extra handkerchief and flourish it at the mate.
”There's my gun, how do you like it?” he cried, with a grin.
”Go to gra.s.s!” grunted the burly fellow, and scowled deeply.
In a few words the pair told Sam what they had learned. The motor-boat was headed for a nearby dock, and a few minutes later the Rovers leaped ash.o.r.e.