"Can you tell me anything at all about them?" went on Dave. "It is very important, indeed."
"I might as well tell you," put in Mr. Porter, in a low voice. "They were a pair of criminals."
"You don"t say! Well, do you know, I didn"t much like their looks,"
returned the clerk. "And come to think of it, one acted rather scared-like, the fellow calling himself Leeds-this one," and he pointed to the picture of Link Merwell.
"And you haven"t any idea where they went to?"
"Not the slightest. They simply paid their bill and went away."
"Did they have any trunks sent off?" asked Roger. "We might find the expressman," he explained, to the others.
"No, they had nothing but hand baggage."
"What-can you remember that?" questioned Dave.
"Yes, each had a suit-case and a small valise,-kind of a tool-bag affair."
"Better look for that schooner, Dave," said his uncle, in a low voice, and in a few minutes more they left the hotel, telling the clerk that they might be back.
"Shall we get breakfast now?" questioned the senator"s son. He was beginning to grow hungry.
"You can get something to eat if you wish, Roger," answered Dave. "I am going to try to locate that schooner first."
"No, I"ll wait too, then," said Roger.
The shipping along the St. John"s River at Jacksonville is rather extensive. But Dunston Porter knew his business and went direct to one of the offices where he knew he could find out all about the ships going out under charter and otherwise.
"We want to find out about a schooner named the _Emma Brown_, or _Black_, or _Jones_, or some common name like that," said Dave"s uncle, to the elderly man in charge. "She was in this harbor several days ago.
I don"t know if she has sailed or not."
"_Emma Brown_, eh?" mused the shipping-clerk. "Never heard of such a schooner."
"Maybe she was the _Emma Black_, or _Emma Jones_," suggested Dave.
"No schooner by that name here,-at least not for the past month or two.
We had an _Emma Blackney_ here about six weeks ago. But she sailed for Nova Scotia."
"Well, try to think of some ship that might be named something like what we said," pleaded Dave. "This is very important."
"A ship that might have sailed from here in the past two or three days,"
added Roger.
The elderly shipping-clerk leaned back in his chair and ran his hand through his hair, thoughtfully.
"Maybe you"re looking for the _Emma Brower_," he said. "But she isn"t a schooner, she"s a bark. She left this port yesterday morning."
"Bound for where?" asked Dave, eagerly.
"Bound for Barbados."
"Where is that?" questioned Phil. "I"ve heard of the place, but I can"t just locate it."
"It"s an island of the British West Indies," answered Dunston Porter.
"It lies about five hundred miles southeast of Porto Rico."
"If that"s the case, then good-by to Merwell and Jasniff," murmured Phil. "We"ll never catch them in the wide world."
CHAPTER XVII-MEETING OLD FRIENDS
"They may have gone on some other vessel," remarked Roger, after a pause. "Let us find out what other ships have left here during the past few days."
"Say," said Phil, to the elderly shipping-clerk. "Maybe you know my father or some of the captains working for him. His name is Lawrence, of the Lawrence Lines."
"Indeed!" cried the shipping-clerk. "Well, of course I know him! Are you Phil Lawrence?" he questioned, eagerly.
"I am."
"Now isn"t that strange!" The man put out his hand. "I don"t suppose you know me. My name is Sam Castner. I was once a supercargo for your father, on the _Arvinus_. You took a trip in her with your mother, when you were about ten years old,-down to Tampa and back, from Philadelphia."
"That"s right, so I did!" cried the shipowner"s son. "I remember you now. We went fishing together."
"So we did, Mr. Lawrence. My, how you"ve grown since then!" added the former supercargo, as he gazed at Phil"s tall and well-built form.
"Mr. Castner, we are in a hurry, and maybe you can help us a good deal,"
went on Phil. "We are after two fellows who we think sailed in that schooner, or bark, or some vessel that left here within the past two days. They were young fellows, not much older than us boys. Will you aid us in getting on their track?"
"Sure I will," was the ready answer. "What do you know about "em?"
"All we know is that they went under the names of Leeds and Cross,"
answered Dave. "But those are not their right names."
"And that they are supposed to have sailed on the ship known by a common name-_Emma_ something or other," put in Roger.
"I can soon find out who sailed on the _Emma Brower_" answered Sam Castner. "Come with me to the next shipping office."
He called another clerk to take charge, and accompanied the party to the next shipping office. On the way he was introduced to Dave and the others.
"One of your father"s vessels is in this harbor now," he said to Phil.
"What ship is that?"
"The _Golden Eagle_, Captain Sanders."
"Captain Sanders!" cried Dave. "Do you mean Bob Sanders, who used to sail on the _Stormy Petrel_ with Captain Marshall?"